Mid-Day Market Update: Champions Oncology Surges Following Q1 Earnings Beat; IRIDEX Shares Drop

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.12 percent to 26,176.58 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.27 percent to 8,035.62. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.10 percent to 2,906.95.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the financial shares rose 0.56 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included China Internet Nationwide Financial Services Inc. CIFS up 11 percent, and Golden Bull Limited DNJR up 7 percent.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell 1.27 percent.

Top Headline

Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc PLAY reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter.

Dave & Buster's posted quarterly earnings of $0.84 per share on revenue of $319.188 million. However, analysts expected earnings of $0.67 per share on sales of $315.25 million. The company raised its FY18 sales guidance from $1.20 billion-$1.24 billion, to $1.23 billion-$1.26 billion. Dave & Busters initiated $0.15 per share quarterly cash dividend and expanded its buyback authorization by $100 million.

Equities Trading UP

Champions Oncology Inc CSBR shares shot up 10 percent to $9.35 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Shares of Radiant Logistics, Inc. RLGT got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $5.18 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Frequency Electronics, Inc. FEIM shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $9.01. Frequency Electronics reported Q1 net income of $31,000 on sales of $11 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

IRIDEX Corporation IRIX shares dropped 15 percent to $6.60. IRIDEX priced its 1.67 million share common stock offering at $6 per share.

Shares of Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. TNDM were down 7 percent to $47.645. Baird downgraded Tandem Diabetes Care from Outperform to Neutral.

Valvoline Inc. VVV was down, falling around 9 percent to $20.38 after analysts at JP Morgan downgraded the stock from Neutral to Underweight and lowered the price target from $22 to $20.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.57 percent to $68.20 while gold traded down 0.47 percent to $1,202.50.

Silver traded down 0.62 percent Friday to $14.155, while copper fell 0.78 to $2.662.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.32 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.29 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.56 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.55 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.29 percent.

Economics

U.S. retail sales rose 0.1 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent gain.

U.S. import prices declined 0.6 percent in August.

U.S. industrial production rose 0.4 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.

U.S. business inventories rose 0.6 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent gain.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased to 100.8 for September, compared to 96.2.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.