Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 1%; Biocept Shares Surge On Marketing Agreement For Proprietary Liquid Biopsy Tests

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.38 percent to 25,019.40 while the NASDAQ declined 0.03 percent to 7,821.33. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11 percent to 2,801.37.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the energy shares climbed 0.87 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Dril-Quip, Inc. DRQ up 6 percent, and Lonestar Resources US Inc LONE up 7 percent.

In trading on Friday, telecommunication services shares fell 1.02 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 78 percent to $4.88 after the company issued upbeat guidance for the third quarter.

Shares of Biocept, Inc. BIOC got a boost, shooting up 56 percent to $10.23 following the announcement of a provider agreement with Alliance Global. Biocept, a provider of liquid biopsy tests, said it has signed a provider agreement with Alliance Global to market its Target Selector liquid biopsy tests in the United Arab Emirates and select countries in the Middle East; north and sub-Saharan Africa; and Southeast Asia region.

Camber Energy, Inc. CEI shares were also up, gaining 51 percent to $0.57 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 48 percent to $0.29. 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. The combined price per unit, comprising of one share, one Series A warrant and one Series B warrant, is 39 cents per share.

Shares of Ingredion Inc INGR were down 10 percent to $100.30 after the company disclosed a $125 million cost-savings program. The company issued weak Q2 earnings forecast and lowered its FY18 outlook.

Oragenics, Inc. OGEN was down, falling around 37 percent to $0.76 after the company reported pricing of $12 million underwritten public offering.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.15 percent to $71.14 while gold traded down 0.33 percent to $1,242.50.

Silver traded down 0.76 percent Friday to $15.855, while copper rose 0.05 to $2.7785.



Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.33 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.47 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.38 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.43 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.14 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.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs was flat at 863 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Afternoon Market Update
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