Mid-Afternoon Market Update: eHealth Rises On Earnings Beat; Flex Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.03 percent to 24,314.65 while the NASDAQ gained 0.03 percent to 7,120.79. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.14 percent to 2,670.59.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the telecommunication services shares gained 2.13 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sprint Corporation S, up 8 percent, and Windstream Holdings, Inc. WIN, up 7 percent.

In trading on Friday, energy shares tumbled 1.09 percent.

Top Headline

Phillips 66 PSX reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Friday.

The company reported Q1 EPS of $1.04 vs. $0.89 estimates and revenue of 24.05 billion vs. $29.46 billion estimates.

Equities Trading UP

DMC Global Inc. BOOM shares shot up 23 percent to $39.00 after the company reported upbeat Q1 results and issued upbeat Q2 guidance.

Shares of eHealth, Inc. EHTH got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $18.64 as the company posted upbeat Q1 results.

Enova International, Inc. ENVA shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $28.35 following Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

World Fuel Services Corporation INT shares dropped 21 percent to $22.05 following Q1 results.

Shares of Biglari Holdings Inc. BH were down 17 percent to $352.05. Washington Prime Group Inc. WPG will replace Biglari Holdings in the S&P SmallCap 600 on Tuesday, May 1.

Flex Ltd. FLEX was down, falling around 19 percent to $13.56 after a mixed fourth quarter report.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.06 percent to $68.23 while gold traded up 0.43 percent to $1,323.60.

Silver traded down 0.31 percent Friday to $16.515, while copper fell 2.17 percent to $3.07.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.23 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.23 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.47 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.64 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.54 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.09 percent.

Economics

The U.S. expanded at an annual pace of 2.3 percent in the first quarter. However, economists were expecting a 2 percent growth.

U.S. employment cost index rose 0.8 percent in the first quarter.

The University of Michigan's consumer confidence index rose to 98.80 in April, versus prior reading of 97.80. Economists expected a reading of 98.00.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 5 to 825 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.