Mid-Day Market Update: Plus Therapeutics Surges After Q2 Earnings; SAExploration Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.05% to 25,848.10 while the NASDAQ rose 1.54% to 7,886.23. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.35% to 2,886.09.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 1.9% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Bancorp Of New Jersey, Inc. BKJ, up 10%, and Atlanticus Holdings Corporation ATLC, up 9%.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.3%.

Top Headline

Deere & Company DE reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and lowered FY19 outlook.

Deere reported third-quarter earnings of $2.71 per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.85. The company reported quarterly sales of $8.97 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $9.39 billion.

Deere cut its fiscal year 2019 net income from ~$3.3 billion to ~$3.2 billion and sales growth from 5% down to 4%.

Equities Trading UP

Plus Therapeutics, Inc. PSTV shares shot up 203% to $11.76 after the company reported Q2 earnings.

Shares of IMAC Holdings, Inc. IMAC got a boost, shooting up 29% to $4.52 after reporting Q2 results.

Solid Biosciences Inc. SLDB shares were also up, gaining 30% to $7.97 after Chardan Capital upgraded the company's stock from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $7.50 to $10.

Equities Trading DOWN

Accuray Incorporated ARAY shares tumbled 12% to $2.7075 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.

Shares of SAExploration Holdings, Inc. SAEX were down 35% to $2.12 after the company reported SEC investigation regarding accounting matters and establishment of special committee. The company announced restatement of historical financial statements and appointment of interim CFO.

Trupanion, Inc. TRUP was down, falling 8% to $26.78. Craig-Hallum downgraded Trupanion from Buy to Hold.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $54.76, while gold traded down 0.8% to $1,519.30.

Silver traded down 0.7% Friday to $17.10, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.5865.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.24%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.78%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.51%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.31%, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.22% while UK shares rose 0.71%.

Economics

U.S. housing starts dropped 4% to an annual rate of 1.19 million in July, while building permits increased 8.4% to 1.34 million.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 92.1 in August, compared to 98.4 in the prior month.

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