Mid-Day Market Update: Abercrombie & Fitch Surges On Strong Outlook; Sears Shares Slip

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.35 percent to 16,386.70 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.17 percent to 4,149.01. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.24 percent to 1,833.69.

Alcoa

reported a loss in the fourth quarter on Thursday. Alcoa posted a quarterly loss of $2.34 billion, or $2.19 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $242 million, or $0.21 per share. Excluding one-time items, it earned $0.04 per share. Its revenue dropped 5% to $5.59 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.06 per share on revenue of $5.36 billion.

Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals

got a boost, shooting up 54.79 percent to $427.02. Citigroup lifted the price target on the stock from $60.00 to $400.00, while Bank of America raised the price target from $81.00 to $872.00. Abercrombie & Fitch Co

shot up 9.52 percent to $36.37 after the company lifted its adjusted earnings guidance for the year. Francesca's Holdings

was also up, gaining 21.74 percent to $22.01 after the company narrowed its Q4 revenue forecast to $93 million to $95 million from $90 million to $95 million. It projects earnings of $0.27 to $0.29 per share, versus its earlier forecast of $0.25 to $0.29 per share.

Shares of MannKind

were down 11.30 percent to $6.28 after the company announced a tentative date of the FDA advisory committee review of AFREZZA. Bazaarvoice

tumbled 11.52 percent to $7.30 as the US District Court in the Northern District of California ruled against the company's acquisition of PowerReviews. Sears Holdings

was down, falling 13.88 percent to $36.66 after the company reported a 7.4% drop in same-store sales at Kmart and Sears for the nine-week period ended January 6. The department store expected to post a loss for the fourth quarter and full year.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.57 percent to $92.18, while gold traded up 1.27 percent to $1,245.00. Silver traded up 2.14 percent Friday to $20.11, while copper rose 1.12 percent to $3.34.

European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.49 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index surged 0.24 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.52 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.49 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.78 percent.

The US economy added 74,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate declined to 6.7% from 7.0%. However, economists were projecting an addition of 197,000 jobs and unemployment rate to remain steady at 7.0% in the month. US wholesale inventories rose 0.50% in November, versus economists' expectations for a 0.40% gain. However, wholesale sales climbed 1% in the month.