Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Gold Futures Down 3.5%; PTC Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.08 percent to 18,822.16 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.32 percent to 5,225.49. The S&P dropped 0.23 percent to 2,162.61.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.52 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Crocs, Inc. CROX, and Gray Television, Inc. GTN.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 2.06 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Resolute Energy Corp REN, down 10 percent, and Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR) PBR, down 6 percent.

Top Headline

J C Penney Company Inc JCP posted in-line Q3 loss, but revenue missed expectations.

The department store chain said it lost $0.21 per share, which matched analysts’ expectations. Its revenue of $2.86 billion missed estimates by $0.10 billion.

Its comparable sales fell 0.8 percent during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

PTC Therapeutics, Inc. PTCT shares shot up 78 percent to $10.65 after the company announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended the renewal of the company's therapy called Translarna (ataluren).

Shares of Avalon Holdings Corp AWX got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $3.16. Avalon Holdings reported Q3 earnings of $0.21 per share on revenue of $19.13 million.

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA shares were also up, gaining 27 percent to $86.05 as the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter. The company boosted its quarterly dividend by 22 percent and authorized an additional $2 billion in share buyback program.

Equities Trading DOWN

Photronics, Inc. PLAB shares dropped 16 percent to $9.00 as the company reported weak preliminary Q4 results.

Shares of eMagin Corporation EMAN were down 15 percent to $2.05. eMagin reported a Q3 loss of $0.08 per share on revenue of $4.3 million.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd KORS was down, falling around 7 percent to $48.12. Michael Kors posted upbeat earnings for its second quarter, but issued poor guidance for fiscal full year.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.89 percent to $44.05 while gold traded down 3.51 percent to $1,222.00.

Silver traded down 7.70 percent Friday to $17.30, while copper fell 1.72 percent to $2.51.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.41 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 1.34 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.04 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.36 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.92 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.43 percent.

Economics

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 91.60 in November, versus a prior reading of 87.20. Economists were expecting a reading of 87.50.