Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; BlackBerry Earnings Beat Expectations

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.05 percent to 26,427.67 while the NASDAQ declined 0.18 percent to 8,027.34. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.09 percent to 2,911.39.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the utilities shares rose 0.83 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included SCANA Corporation SCG up 2 percent, and American States Water Company AWR up 2 percent.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 0.68 percent.

Top Headline

BlackBerry Ltd BB reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter.

BlackBerry posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.04 per share on sales of $210 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.01 per share on sales of $209.38 million.

Equities Trading UP

ChemoCentryx, Inc. CCXI shares shot up 18 percent to $12.7999 after dropping 18.04 percent on Thursday. ChemoCentryx disclosed that it has withdrawn plans for public offering of common stock.

Shares of India Globalization Capital, Inc. IGC got a boost, shooting up 29 percent to $5.926 after climbing 52.32 percent on Thursday.

CafePress Inc. PRSS shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $1.45 after the company agreed to be acquired by Snapfish.

Equities Trading DOWN

Altimmune, Inc. ALT shares dropped 50 percent to $4.40 after dropping 27.62 percent on Thursday. Altimmune priced its 2.4 million unit offering at $5.00 per share.

Shares of Geron Corporation GERN were down 18 percent to $1.90 after dropping 63 percent on Thursday. Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit decided to terminate a collaboration and licensing agreement it had with Geron since 2014.

Progress Software Corporation PRGS was down, falling around 15 percent to $36.35. Progress Software reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views. The company also issued weak forecast for the fourth quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.01 percent to $72.11 while gold traded up 0.02 percent to $1,187.60.

Silver traded up 0.94 percent Friday to $14.425, while copper rose 0.01 to $2.783.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.14 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.01 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 4.35 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.97 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 1.41 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.70 percent.

Economics

U.S. consumer spending rose 0.3 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase. Personal income also increased 0.3 percent in August.

The Chicago PMI dropped to a reading of 60.4 for September, versus August's reading of 63.6.

The final reading of University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index slipped to 100.1 for September, versus preliminary reading of 100.8.

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

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in New York at 4:45 p.m. ET.