Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Remain Down, Bankrate Rallies

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.15 percent to 14,842.98 while the NASDAQ fell 0.22 percent to 3,292.44. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.40 percent to 1,586.51.

Two of the big banks, Wells Fargo

and J.P. Morgan

released earnings this morning, both missing on the top line and beating on the bottom line. The performance lead many traders to question how this earnings season will pan out, with two of the top banks seemingly unable to expand revenues, and helped send markets lower this morning.

Bankrate

traded up 12.17 percent to $13.42 following an upgrade at Stifel Nicolaus to a Buy rating. Shares of Sinclair Broadcast Group

were also up, gaining 16.02 percent to $26.87 after acquiring Fisher Communications for $373.3 million after the close yesterday. Ashland

was up as well, gaining 9.46 percent to $86.29, riding a wave of gains in the coal sector.

McEwen Mining

traded down 9.68 percent to $2.24 as precious metals have taken a beating today. NovaGold Resources

was also down, falling 11.63 percent to $2.66 also linked to the drop in precious metals. Shares of MannKind

were down as well, dropping 8.37 percent to $3.93 after a Seeking Alpha article stated that one of its primary drugs was likely to fail.

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.43 percent to $91.24, while gold traded down 4.44 percent to $1,495.50. Silver traded down 5.31 percent Friday to $26.18, while copper fell 2.50 percent to $3.34.

European markets fell this morning on reiterated fears over Cyprus and a weak industrial production report. The fall was lead by the Italian FTSE MIB index, which was down 1.6 percent while the French CAC lost 1.08 percent.

In economic news for Friday, retail sales came in down at -0.4 percent, below the projected 0.0 percent and the prior release of 1.10 percent. Retail sales ex autos and gas came in at -0.10 percent, missing expectations of 0.30 percent and the prior figure of 0.40 percent. PPI year over year was also released, coming in at 1.10 percent, missing the anticipated 1.40 percent and the prior release of 1.70 percent, while Core PPI year over year came in at 1.70 percent, inline with expectations. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment was also out, coming in at 72.30, much lower than the expected 78.60 and the prior release of 78.60.