Mid-Day Market Update: Ambarella Rises On Upbeat Results; American Outdoor Brands Shares Drop

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.25% to 26426.97 while the NASDAQ fell 0.29% to 7950.19. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11% to 2,927.82.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 0.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included First Bank FRBA, up 5%, and Noah Holdings Limited NOAH, up 5%.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

Big Lots, Inc. BIG reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings and issued Q3 EPS guidance above analyst estimates.

Big Lots reported second-quarter earnings of 53 cents per share on Friday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 40 cents. The retailer reported quarterly sales of $1.25 billion, which met the analyst consensus estimate. Comps rose by 1.2%.

Big Lots guided for an adjusted non-GAAP loss of 15-25 cents per share in the third quarter against Street expectations of a 31-cent per share loss; guided for flat comps in the coming quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Ambarella Inc AMBA shares shot up 20% to $56.73 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Shares of SeaChange International SEAC got a boost, shooting up 21% to $2.33 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS results.

Fang Holdings Ltd SFUN shares were also up, gaining 11% to $2.42 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ulta Beauty Inc ULTA shares tumbled 29% to $237.95 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results. The company also cut its FY19 EPS guidance.

Shares of Yext Inc YEXT were down 11% to $16.32 after the company issued Q3 EPS and sales guidance below analyst estimates.

American Outdoor Brands Corp AOBC was down, falling 18% to $6.32 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results. The company also issued Q2 EPS and sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.8% to $55.13, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,533.50.

Silver traded up 0.8% Friday to $18.47, while copper fell 0.9% to $2.554.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.73%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.21%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.35%. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.85% and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.56% while UK shares rose 0.32%.

Economics

U.S. consumer spending rose 0.6% in July, versus economists’ estimates for a 0.5% increase. Incomes increased 0.1% last month.

The Chicago PMI rose to 50.4 in August, compared to 44.4 in July.

The final reading of University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to 89.8, versus initial reading of 92.3.

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

Data on farm prices for July will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.