Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; US March Payrolls Exceed Forecasts

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.1 percent to 26410.60 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.47 percent to 7,928.68. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 2,889.33.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the energy shares rose 0.9 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. XOG up 9 percent, and Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. TOO up 9 percent.

In trading on Friday, communication services shares fell 0.1 percent.

Top Headline

The U.S. economy added 196,000 new jobs in March, far exceeding estimates of 175,000 and a previous mark of 33,000.

The figures contributed to quarterly employment growth averaging 180,000 per month — short of 2018’s per-month growth of 223,000. As forecasted, the unemployment rate remained at 3.8 percent.

Equities Trading UP

TrovaGene, Inc. TROV shares got a boost, shooting up 15 percent to $4.15 after the company announced a positive data update from its Phase 1b/2 AML trial of onvansertib for patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Shares of Vital Therapies, Inc. VTL shot up 89 percent to $0.3950 after the company announced 98.82 percent of its stockholders voted to approve proposals to merge the company with German biotech company Immunic AG.

Triumph Group, Inc. TGI shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $25.30 after the company disclosed that it is exploring strategic alternatives for its Aerospace Structures unit.

Equities Trading DOWN

LivaNova PLC LIVN shares dropped 26 percent to $71.29 after the company provided Q1 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Shares of Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SYRS were down 24 percent to $7.45 after the company priced its 8.667 million share and warrant offering at $7.50 per share.

Aquabounty Technologies Inc AQB was down, falling around 20 percent to $2.44 after the company announced a public offering of 2.5 million shares at $2.25 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1 percent to $62.04 while gold traded down 0.1 percent to $1,292.90.

Silver traded up 0.1 percent Friday to $15.095, while copper fell 0.1 percent to $2.907.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.5 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.3 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.3 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.3 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 196,000 new jobs in March. However, economists were expecting a gain of 175,000 jobs. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent last month.

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

Data on consumer credit for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Atlanta, Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET.