Mid-Day Market Update: NASDAQ Dips 2%; Finisar Shares Jump On Strong Results

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 1.69 percent to 17,278.24 while the NASDAQ dipped 2 percent to 4,944.28. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.76 percent to 2,016.17. Leading and Lagging Sectors In trading on Friday, utilities shares slipped by just 0.8 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Empire District Electric Co EDE, up 10 percent, and CenterPoint Energy, Inc. CNP, up 5 percent. Energy shares tumbled by 3.35 percent in the US market on Friday. Top losers in the sector included Southwestern Energy Company SWN, Energy Transfer Equity LP ETE, and Targa Resources Partners LP NGLS. Top Headline Dow Chemical Co DOW and E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co DD confirmed the earlier reports and announced an all-stock merger of equals. The new entity will be named DowDuPont and will be separated into three independent, publicly traded companies via a tax-free spin-off. Equities Trading UP KMG Chemicals, Inc. KMG shares shot up 29 percent to $24.50 after the company reported upbeat Q1 earnings. Shares of Finisar Corporation FNSR got a boost, shooting up 21 percent to $14.09 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal second quarter. Concord Medical Services Hldg Ltd (ADR) CCM shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $4.93 after the company declared a special dividend of $0.33 per share, or $0.99 per ADS. Equities Trading DOWN Argan, Inc. AGX shares tumbled 13 percent to $31.00. Argan reported Q3 earnings of $1.21 per share on revenue of $113.967 million. Shares of Nordson Corporation NDSN were down 6 percent to $64.59 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter and issued a downbeat forecast for the current quarter. Vince Holding Corp VNCE was down, falling 16 percent to $4.73. Vince Holding reported Q3 earnings of $0.16 per share on revenue of $80.8 million. The company issued a weak earnings forecast for the full year. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 2.97 percent to $35.67, while gold traded up 0.30 percent to $1,075.20. Silver traded down 1.56 percent Friday to $13.89, while copper rose 2.20 percent to $2.12. Eurozone European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 2.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 1.51 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.84 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 2.44 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.84 percent, while U.K. shares fell 2.22 percent. Economics U.S. producer prices increased 0.3 percent in November, versus economists' expectations for a 0.1 percent growth. US retail sales surged 0.2 percent in November, versus economists' expectations for a 0.3 percent gain. US business inventories came in flat in October, versus economists' estimates of 0.10 percent growth. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index rose to 91.80 in December, versus prior reading of 91.30. However, economists were expecting a reading of 92.00.