Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Marriott Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.55 percent to 25,685.15 while the NASDAQ declined 0.66 percent to 7,859.28. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.57 percent to 2,854.41.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the real estate shares rose by 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included FRP Holdings Inc FRPH up 8 percent, and Stratus Properties Inc STRS up 6 percent.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 0.8 percent.

Top Headline

Marriott International Inc MAR reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed views.

Earnings came in at $1.41 per share, beating estimates of $1.34 per share. Sales came in at $5.012 billion, versus estimates of $5.11 billion.

Marriott expects Q2 earnings of $1.52 to $1.58 per share and gross fee sales of $990 million to $1.01 billion. The company projects FY19 earnings of $5.97 to $6.19 per share on gross fee sales of $3.845 billion to $3.925 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Genetic Technologies Limited GENE shares got a boost, shooting up 73 percent to $1.22 after the company announced the successful completion of two new groundbreaking genetic risk tests for colorectal cancer and breast cancer.

Shares of Cardlytics Inc CDLX shot up 28 percent to $21.50 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and provided Q2 sales guidance above analyst estimates.

Buckeye Partners, L.P. BPL shares were also up, gaining 28 percent to $41.78 after the company announced it will be acquired by IFM Investors for $41.50 per unit.

Equities Trading DOWN

Puma Biotechnology Inc PBYI shares dropped 38 percent to $18.51 after the company reported Q1 Nerlynx sales decline from last quarter due to an increase in patients discontinuing treatment. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Puma Biotechnology from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $57 to $20.

Shares of Transenterix Inc TRXC were down 35 percent to $1.37 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

Melinta Therapeutics Inc MLNT was down, falling around 21 percent to $3.64 after the company reported Q1 results. Jefferies downgraded Melinta Therapeutics from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $14 to $5.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2 percent to $61.82 while gold traded up 0.3 percent to $1,289.10.

Silver traded up 0.3 percent Friday to $14.82, while copper fell 0.1 percent to $2.7685.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.5 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.5 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.7 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.3 percent.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent increase.

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

The U.S. Treasury budget report for April will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.