Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Cavco Industries Gains After Q4 Results; Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.43 percent to 25,600 while the NASDAQ rose 0.39 percent to 7,657. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.33 percent to 2,831.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose by 0.6 percent on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc SC, up 9 percent, and ICICI Bank Ltd IBN, up 7 percent.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.3 percent.

Top Headline

Foot Locker, Inc. FL reported downbeat results for its first quarter.

Foot Locker reported first-quarter earnings of $1.53 per share Friday, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $1.61 by 4.97 percent. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.078 billion, missing the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the quarter, Foot Locker said it opened 14 new stores, remodeled or relocated 13 stores and closed 34 stores. Comps rose 4.6 percent, the retailer said.

Equities Trading UP

Aphria Inc. APHA shares shot up 14 percent to $7.31. Jefferies initiated coverage on Aphria with a Buy rating.

Shares of Cavco Industries, Inc. CVCO got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $155.18 after the company posted upbeat Q4 results.

Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $23.88 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales. The company raised its FY20 EPS and sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Urban Tea Inc MYT shares tumbled 54 percent to $1.09 after the company announced a direct offering of its ordinary shares worth approximately $4.6 million.

Shares of Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc DFFN were down 20 percent to $3.82 after the company announced a direct offering of 1.3 million shares priced at $4.77 per share.

Foot Locker, Inc. FL was down, falling 17 percent to $43.87 after reporting downbeat results for its first quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9 percent to $58.43, while gold traded down 0.2 percent to $1,283.50.

Silver traded down 0.4 percent Friday to $14.55, while copper rose 0.7 percent to $2.699.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.56 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.66 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 1.19 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.49 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.67 percent while UK shares rose 0.65 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders fell 2.1 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 2 percent drop.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs declined by 5 to 797 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.