Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Deere Earnings Miss Expectations

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 1.11 percent to 25,722.75 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.3 percent to 7,449.05. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.72 percent to 2,765.41.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the financial shares climbed 1.7 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Yirendai Ltd. YRD up 5 percent, and Radian Group Inc. RDN up 7 percent.

In trading on Friday, communication services shares rose by just 0.2 percent.

Top Headline

Deere & Company DE reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

First-quarter earnings came in at $1.54 per share, versus estimates of $1.76 per share. Sales came in at $6.94 billion, versus estimates of $6.81 billion. The company cited higher material costs and customer tariff concern as weaknesses during the quarter.

Deere expects FY19 equipment sales to rise 7 percent year over year.

Equities Trading UP

Talend S.A. TLND shares got a boost, shooting up 20 percent to $44.93 after reporting a narrower-than-expected Q4 loss.

Shares of SAExploration Holdings, Inc. SAEX shot up 28 percent to $4.97 after Morgan Stanley holdings raised stake in the company, from 67.3K shares to 309.04K shares.

TriNet Group, Inc. TNET shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $58.67 after the company beat Q4 earnings estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Marin Software Incorporated MRIN shares dropped 32 percent to $4.48 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings of $(0.06), up from $(0.92) year-over-year. Sales came in at $15.825 million, down from $17.692 million year-over-year.

Shares of AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. AMN were down 18 percent to $53.12 after the company missed Q4 sales estimates and issued weak Q1 sales guidance.

TrueCar, Inc. TRUE was down, falling around 22 percent to $7.99 after the company missed Q4 earnings estimates and issued weak Q1 guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7 percent to $55.33 while gold traded up 0.6 percent to $1,322.30.

Silver traded up 0.8 percent Friday to $15.645, while copper rose 0.5 percent to $2.788.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.3 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.9 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 1.7 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.9 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.8 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.7 percent.

Economics

The Empire State manufacturing index increased 4.9 points to a reading of 8.8 in February. However, economists were expecting a reading of 7.6.

The import price index declined 0.5 percent in January, versus a drop of 1 percent in December. The export price index fell 0.60 percent for January.

U.S. industrial production fell 0.6 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent rise.

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