Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2%; Stonegate Mortgage Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 20,099.19 while the NASDAQ gained 0.01 percent to 5,655.69. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08 percent to 2,294.89.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares gained around 0.69 percent in trading on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP, and C R Bard Inc BCR.

In trading on Friday, energy shares slipped by 0.97 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SandRidge Permian Trust PER, down 17 percent, and Enbridge Energy Management, L.L.C. EEQ, down 16 percent.

Top Headline

Alphabet Inc GOOGL reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, but sales exceeded expectations.

Alphabet reported Q4 EPS of $9.36, missing analysts’ expectations by $0.28. However, its revenue of $21.22 billion topped estimates by $640 million.

Equities Trading UP

Stonegate Mortgage Corp SGM shares shot up 30 percent to $7.73. Home Point Financial agreed to acquire Stonegate Mortgage for $211 million.

Shares of Lantronix Inc LTRX got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $1.93. Lantronix reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $11.2 million.

K12 Inc. LRN shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $19.32. K12 reported Q2 earnings of $0.30 per share on revenue of $221.1 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Athersys, Inc. ATHX shares dropped 30 percent to $1.06. Athersys reported the pricing of its public offering of 19.8 million common stock at $1.01 per share.

Shares of Novan Inc NOVN were down around 78 percent to $4.12 after the company reported top-line results from SB204 Phase 3 pivotal trials.

KEYW Holding Corp. KEYW was down, falling around 16 percent to $10.22. KeyW priced 8.5 million shares at $10.50 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.01 percent to $52.70 while gold traded down 0.17 percent to $1,190.50.

Silver traded up 1.36 percent Friday to $17.08, while copper rose 0.52 percent to $2.69.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.30 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.09 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.57 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.29 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.56 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.32 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable-goods orders declined 0.4 percent for December, missing economists’ expectations for a 2.6 percent increase

The U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.2 percent growth.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 98.50 in January, versus a prior reading of 98.10. Economists were expecting a reading of 98.10.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.