Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Urban Outfitters Drops On Q4 Profit Warning; Mead Johnson Nutrition Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.42 percent to 16,346.40 while the NASDAQ surged 0.93 percent to 4,256.52. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.14 percent to 1,883.96.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrials shares jumped by 1.53 percent on Friday. Top gainers in the sector included ITT Educational Services ESI, Heritage-Crystal Clean HCCI, and Textron TXT.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.48 percent. Top losers in the sector included SJW SJW, down 2.4 percent, and Atlantic Power AT, off 3.6 percent.

Top Headline

General Electric Co GE reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company posted quarterly earnings of $3.54 billion, or $0.35 per share, compared to $3.19 billion, or $0.31 per share, in the year-ago period. Its operating earnings climbed to $0.38 per share.

Its revenue surged to $36.17 billion versus $35.66 billion. However, analysts were expecting operating earnings of $0.37 per share on revenue of $36.79 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Westmoreland Coal Co WLB shares shot up 20.20 percent to $36.84 after the company announced its plans to acquire Oxford GP for $30 million.

Shares of QLogic QLGC got a boost, shooting up 13.23 percent to $10.81 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results and announced a $100 million stock repurchase program. Summit research upgraded QLogic from Hold to Buy.

Mead Johnson Nutrition Company MJN shares were also up, gaining 9.51 percent to $99.88 on news that Danone SA has targeted the company for a takeover.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Urban Outfitters URBN were down 14.79 percent to $29.45 after it warned that fourth-quarter profits may be hurt by lower-than expected sales. Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded Urban Outfitters from Overweight to Equal-weight and lowered the price target from $44 to $31.

athenahealth ATHN shares tumbled 9.95 percent to $108.50 after the company posted a third-quarter net loss and issued a full-year forecast close to Wall Street's expectations.

Google GOOG was down, falling 2.35 percent to $512.19 on reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.08 percent to $82.77, while gold traded down 0.19 percent to $1,238.90.

Silver traded down 0.87 percent Friday to $17.29, while copper rose 0.72 percent to $3.00.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 2.79 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index jumped 2.97 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 3.42 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 3.12 percent and the French CAC 40 surged 2.92 percent while UK shares rose 1.85 percent.

Economics

The preliminary reading of Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 86.40 in October, versus a prior reading of 84.60. However, economists were expecting a reading of 84.00.

US housing starts climbed 6.3% to an annual rate of 1.02 million in September, versus 957,000 in August.