Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Genesco Profit Beats Views

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.33 percent to 20,927.97 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.54 percent to 5,870.19. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.46 percent to 2,375.74.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic materials shares rose 0.73 percent in trading on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Gold Resource Corporation GORO, and Dmc Global Inc BOOM.

In trading on Friday, healthcare shares rose by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Oclaro, Inc. OCLR, down 5 percent, and Immunomedics, Inc. IMMU, down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Genesco Inc. GCO posted better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Genesco reported Q4 adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $2.15 per share on revenue of $883 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.78 per share on revenue of $901.4 million.

Equities Trading UP

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc TTPH shares shot up 17 percent to $7.12. BMO Capital upgraded Tetraphase Pharmaceutical from Market Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $6.00 to $10.00.

Shares of Internap Corp INAP got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $2.96. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Internap from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $2.00 to $5.50.

Cogint, Inc. COGT shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $4.10. Cogint reported a Q4 loss of $0.65 per share on revenue of $54.2 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Finisar Corporation FNSR shares dropped 18 percent to $28.54 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued disappointing forecast for the current quarter.

Shares of MeetMe Inc MEET were down around 10 percent to $5.25. MeetMe reported an offering of common shares.

Ocera Therapeutics Inc OCRX was down, falling around 19 percent to $1.54. Ocera Therapeutics reported a Q4 loss of $0.22 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.53 percent to $49.54 while gold traded down 0.03 percent to $1,202.80.

Silver traded up 0.02 percent Friday to $17.04, while copper rose 0.94 percent to $2.60.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.39 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.08 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.79 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.33 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.56 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.58 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 235,000 new jobs in February, while the unemployment rate declined to 4.7 percent from 4.8 percent. Economists were expecting a gain of 200,000 jobs.

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

The U.S. Treasury budget report for February will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.