Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise; Exxon Mobil Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.62 percent to 25,154.21 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.15 percent to 7,292.82. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.31 percent to 2,712.55.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the energy shares climbed 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Weatherford International plc WFT up 8 percent, and FTS International Inc FTSI up 5 percent.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.3 percent.

Top Headline

Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Exxon Mobil delivered earnings of $1.41 per share, beating estimates of $1.17 per share.

 

Equities Trading UP

Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TTNP shares got a boost, shooting up 50 percent to $1.85 after company announced positive results of the company's Probuphine relaunch.

Shares of Continental Materials Corporation CUO shot up 27 percent to $19.00 after the company reported the sale of substantially all the assets of Transit Mix Concrete for around $27 million.

Gravity Co., Ltd. GRVY shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $44.00 after the company reported that Ragnarok M: Eternal Love is in collaboration with “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” Gravity expects a tentative unaudited consolidated revenue of KRW 111 billion for the fourth quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Vedanta Limited VEDL shares dropped 17 percent to $9.27 after the company announced it would buy a $200 million stake in mining company Anglo American.

Shares of Nano Dimension Ltd. NNDM were down 21 percent to $0.755 after the company announced a $12 million stock and warrant offering at $0.75 for both units.

Bottomline Technologies (de), Inc. EPAY was down, falling around 16 percent to $43.65 after the company reported Q2 results.
.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3 percent to $53.95 while gold traded down 0.04 percent to $1,324.70.

Silver traded down 0.54 percent Friday to $15.985, while copper fell 0.32 percent to $2.7755.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.83 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.36 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.02 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.1 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.53 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 304,000 new jobs for January. However, economists were expecting an increase of 165,000 nonfarm jobs. The unemployment rate rose to 4 percent from 3.9 percent.

The Markit PMI manufacturing report for January is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET.

The ISM manufacturing index climbed to 56.60 in January, versus prior reading of 54.10. Economists projected a reading of 54.20.

U.S. construction spending rose 0.8 percent for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent increase.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to 91.2 in January, versus a reading of 98.3 in December.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.3 percent for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent increase.

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