Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Fuwei Films Drops After Q4 Results; Diana Shipping Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.11 percent to 20,686.09 while the NASDAQ rose 0.09 percent to 5,884.28. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.09 percent to 2,359.51.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Ballard Power Systems Inc. (USA) BLDP and Sunoco LP SUN.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.22 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) KEP, down 2 percent, and Calpine Corporation CPN, down 2 percent.

Top Headline

The U.S. economy added 98,000 new jobs in March, versus an addition of 235,000 jobs in the prior month. However, economists were expecting a gain of 180,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate declined to 4.5 percent in March, compared to 4.7 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Cleantech Solutions International Inc CLNT shares shot up 21 percent to $8.10 as the company reported that it has regained compliance with the NASDAQ minimum bid price listing requirement.

Shares of Ryerson Holding Corp RYI got a boost, shooting up 11 percent to $13.70. Ryerson expects Q1 net income of $12 million to $15 million.

Diana Shipping Inc. DSX shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $5.91. JP Morgan upgraded Diana Shipping from Neutral to Overweight.

Equities Trading DOWN

DryShips Inc. DRYS shares dropped 29 percent to $0.730. DryShips Inc. DRYS reported a 1-for-4 reverse stock split.

Shares of Catalyst Biosciences Inc CBIO were down around 27 percent to $5.36. Catalyst Biosciences reported the pricing of $18 million offering of Class A units at $5 per unit

Fuwei Films (Holdings) Co., Ltd FFHL was down, falling around 22 percent to $2.98. Fuwei Films reported a Q4 loss of $0.83 per share on revenue of $10.2 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.91 percent to $52.17 while gold traded up 0.18 percent to $1,255.60.

Silver traded down 1.40 percent Friday to $17.99, while copper fell 0.45 percent to $2.646.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.13 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.10 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.02 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.27 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.63 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 98,000 new jobs in March, versus an addition of 235,000 jobs in the prior month. However, economists were expecting a gain of 180,000 jobs. The unemployment rate declined to 4.5 percent in March, compared to 4.7 percent.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.4 percent for February.