Mid-Day Market Update: Tower International Jumps Following Acquisition News; US Xpress Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.54% to 27233.14 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 8,223.71. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22% to 3,006.54.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrial shares rose 0.9% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Milacron Holdings Corp. MCRN, up 25%, and YRC Worldwide Inc. YRCW, up 9%.

In trading on Friday, health care shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Infosys Limited INFY reported upbeat June-quarter profit and raised revenue forecast for the fiscal year.

Infosys posted a profit of 38.02 billion rupees ($554.00 million), compared to 36.12 billion rupees in the year-ago period. Revenue from operations increased around 14%. Analysts were expecting a profit of 37.05 billion rupees.

Infosys raised its full-year sales growth guidance from 7.5%-9.5% to 8.5%-10%.

Equities Trading UP

Tower International, Inc. TOWR shares shot up 69% to $30.89 after the company announced it will be acquired by Autokiniton Global for $31 per share in cash.

Shares of SG Blocks, Inc. SGBX got a boost, shooting up 61% to $1.0279 after the company executed an agreement to own a 50% membership interest in CPF GP, which is expected to own a 302-unit multifamily project in Sullivan County, NY.

HOOKIPA Pharma Inc. HOOK shares were also up, gaining 26% to $8.42 after the company reported FDA clearance of investigational new drug application for HB-201 for treatment of HPV-positive cancers.

Equities Trading DOWN

U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Inc. USX shares tumbled 14% to $4.18 after the company lowered its financial outlook for the second quarter 2019 as well as the full year.

Shares of SenesTech, Inc. SNES were down 14% to $1.3179 after the company reported a common stock offering of 3.03 million shares at $1.35 per share.

Illumina, Inc. ILMN was down, falling 15% to $308.39 after the company reported preliminary Q2 sales below analyst estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $60.43, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,409.60.

Silver traded up 0.1% Friday to $15.165, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.6795.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.04%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.11%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.12%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.14%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.22% while UK shares fell 0.05%.

Economics

The Producer Price Index rose 0.1% for June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1% increase.

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