Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; Foot Locker Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.03 percent to 18,909.00 while the NASDAQ gained 0.03 percent to 5,335.31. However, the S&P declined 0.01 percent to 2,186.86.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, technology shares gained by 0.34 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Nuance Communications Inc. NUAN, and Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MRVL.

In trading on Friday, healthcare shares fell by 0.49 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Simulations Plus, Inc. SLP, down 5 percent, and Endologix, Inc. ELGX, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Foot Locker, Inc. FL reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Friday.

Foot Locker posted quarterly EPS of $1.13, beating analysts’ estimates by three cents per share. Its revenue of $1.89 billion was in-line with estimates.

Its same-store sales rose 4.7 percent in the quarter. Foot Locker paid investors a quarterly dividend of $0.275 and also bought back 1.15 million shares during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

DryShips Inc. DRYS shares shot up 85 percent to $20.33. DryShips shares tumbled around 85 percent on Thursday after the company announced a registered direct offering to raise roughly $20 million.

Shares of Eyegate Pharmaceuticals Inc EYEG got a boost, shooting up 35 percent to $1.96 after the company disclosed that the FDA has confirmed a 510(k) De Novo path for its Ocular Bandage Gel following a pre-submission meeting.

Diana Containerships Inc DCIX shares were also up, gaining 34 percent to $5.44 after dropping 68.51 percent on Thursday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Apricus Biosciences Inc APRI shares dropped 21 percent to $1.60 as the company issued an update on Vitaros NDA following receipt of the FDA feedback, The company reaffirmed plans to re-submit Vitaros NDA in the U.S.

Shares of Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB were down 14 percent to $38.90 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF was down, falling around 12 percent to $14.91 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.24 percent to $46.09 while gold traded down 0.49 percent to $1,210.90.

Silver traded down 0.91 percent Friday to $16.62, while copper fell 0.84 percent to $2.48.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.15 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.83 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.18 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.30 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.22 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.12 percent.

Economics

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent growth

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for November is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak at the Dallas and Kansas City Fed's oil conference in Houston, Texas at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell is set to speak in San Francisco at 9:45 p.m. ET.