Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises More Than 400 Points; Synthesis Energy Systems Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.77% to 26,966.72 while the NASDAQ rose 1.98% to 8,108.51. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.73% to 2,989.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrial shares climbed 2.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Fastenal Company FAST, up 17%, and Titan International, Inc. TWI, up 14%.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

Fastenal Company FAST reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Fastenal reported third-quarter earnings of 37 cents per share Friday, beating the analyst consensus estimate by a penny. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.379 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.37 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. SES shares shot up 150% to $4.48 after the company announced it has purchased Austalian Future Energy for $36 million.

Shares of Fastenal Company FAST surged 17% to $36.22 after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Solid Biosciences Inc. SLDB was up, rising 12% to $10.51. Evercore ISI Group initiated coverage on Solid Biosciences with an Outperform rating and a $22 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

Yandex N.V. YNDX shares tumbled 13% to $30.76 after a media report on concerns over draft law on limiting foreign ownership.

Shares of The ExOne Company XONE were down 16% to $6.89 after the company issued weak sales guidance. The company said it expects Q3 sales of $10 million to $11 million, versus prior guidance of 'modest' growth from Q2 sales of $15.3 million. ExOne projects FY19 sales growth to be lower than its previous forecast.

Auris Medical Holding Ltd. EARS was down, falling 15% to $2.20 after reporting interim results from AM-201 from Phase 1b study in antipsychotic-induced weight gain.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 2.3% to $54.76, while gold traded down 0.9% to $1,488.00.

Silver traded down 0.5% Friday to $17.52, while copper rose 0.5% to $2.6265.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 2.31%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.86%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.88%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 2.86%, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.73% while UK shares rose 0.84%.

Economics

U.S. import prices rose 0.2% in September, versus a revised 0.2% decline in August. Export prices slipped 0.2% in September, versus a 0.6% drop in the prior month.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index climbed to 96 in October, versus a reading of 93.2 in the previous month.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 2 to 712 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.