Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; JPMorgan Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.01 percent to 24,926.78 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.05 percent to 7,819.90. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.09 percent to 2,795.68.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the consumer staples shares climbed 0.60 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Smart & Final Stores, Inc. SFS up 3 percent, and Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição CBD up 4 percent.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 1.38 percent.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

The bank posted Q2 profit of $2.29 per share on revenue of $27.8 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $2.22 per share on revenue of $27.36 billion.

Equities Trading UP

ShiftPixy, Inc. PIXY shares shot up 35 percent to $3.699 after the company issued upbeat guidance for the third quarter.

Shares of Biocept, Inc. BIOC got a boost, shooting up 47 percent to $9.62 following announcement of marketing & distribution agreement for its biopsy tests with Alliance Global FZ for the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa regions.

Camber Energy, Inc. CEI shares were also up, gaining 56 percent to $0.5833 after the company disclosed execution of asset purchase agreement that will extinguish all of the company’s existing bank debt.

Equities Trading DOWN

Auris Medical Holding AG EARS shares dropped 47 percent to $0.2975. Auris Medical said it has priced an underwritten public offering of 17.95 million common shares, series A warrants to buy 6.28 million common shares and Series V warrants to purchase 4.49 million shares.

Shares of IZEA, Inc. IZEA were down 21 percent to $2.01 after surging 173.65 percent on Thursday.

Oragenics, Inc. OGEN was down, falling around 32 percent to $0.8301 after the company reported pricing of $12 million underwritten public offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.44 percent to $70.64 while gold traded up 0.49 percent to $1,240.50.

Silver traded down 0.98 percent Friday to $15.82, while copper fell 0.36 to $2.767.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.24 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.25 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.54 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.34 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.35 percent.

Economics

The import price index fell 0.4 percent for June, while the export price index increased 0.3 percent.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to a reading of 97.1 in July, from June’s reading of 98.2. However, economists were expecting a reading of 98.1.

Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Falls Church at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.