Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Alibaba Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.83% to 27269.60 while the NASDAQ rose 0.96% to 8371.82. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.85% to 3,063.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares climbed 1.1% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included United States Steel Corporation X, up 15%, and Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. OEC, up 11%.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

Alibaba Group Holding BABA reported better-than-expected second-quarter EPS and sales results on Friday.

Alibaba reported earnings of $1.83 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.50 by 22%. This is a 30.71% increase over earnings of $1.40 per share from the same period last year. The company reported sales of $16.651 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $16.46 billion.

Equities Trading UP

California Resources Corporation CRC shares shot up 41% to $7.89 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings.

Shares of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. LOCO surged 31% to $15.18 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results.

BeiGene, Ltd. BGNE shares gained 30% to $179.67 after the company announced a global strategic collaboration with Amgen for the commercialization and development in China. Amgen will buy a 20.5% stake in BeiGene for $2.7 billion in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Casa Systems, Inc. CASA shares tumbled 34% to $4.4250 after the company reported its Phase 2 study of praliciguat in diabetic nephropathy did not reach statistical significance on its primary endpoint.

Shares of Arista Networks, Inc. ANET were down 25% to $183.12 after the company issued Q4 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Pinterest, Inc. PINS was down, falling 22% to $19.55 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales results and issued soft guidance.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.6% to $55.02, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,513.10.

Silver traded down 0.1% Friday to $18.045, while copper rose 0.3% to $2.646.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.7%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.8%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.8%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.7% while UK shares rose 0.5%

Economics

The U.S. economy added 128,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate saw just a tiny tick upward as employers continued to hire in spite of worries about a global economic slowdown. The unemployment rate in October was 3.6% in October, up slightly from 3.5% in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI fell to 51.3 in October, versus a preliminary estimate of 51.5.

The ISM manufacturing index climbed to 48.3 in October, versus a reading of 47.8 in the prior month.

U.S. construction spending rose 0.5% for September.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in Newark, New Jersey at 12:00 p.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Board of Governors Vice Chairman Richard Clarida is set to speak in New York, NY at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Board of Governors Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles will speak in New Haven, Connecticut at 1:00 p.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly is set to speak in Washington, DC at 1:00 p.m. ET.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in Newark, New Jersey at 2:30 p.m. ET.