Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; BlackBerry Earnings Beat Views

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.33% to 28469.20 while the NASDAQ rose 0.28% to 8,911.80. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.41% to 3,218.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed 0.8% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Rite Aid Corporation RAD, up 15%, and Kellogg Company K, up 3%.

In trading on Friday, communication services shares fell 0.1%.

Top Headline

BlackBerry Ltd BB reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views

BlackBerry reported third-quarter earnings of 3 cents per share Friday, beating the analyst consensus estimate by a penny. The company reported quarterly sales of $267 million, missing the consensus estimate of $275.73 million.

Equities Trading UP

Monopar Therapeutics Inc. MNPR shares shot up 53% to $40.48 on post-IPO volatility after the stock opened at $8.35 on Thursday and rallied roughly 400% since then.

Shares of Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation AGTC got a boost, shooting up 21% to $3.5866.

Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SYRS shares were also up, gaining 16% to $7.22. Syros Pharmaceuticals reported the appointment of Mark Alles to its Board of Directors.

Equities Trading DOWN

Stealth BioTherapeutics Corp MITO shares tumbled 67% to $4.55 after the company announced data from the Phase 3 MMPOWER-3 trial evaluating elamipretide for patients with mitochondrial myopathy did not meet the primary endpoint.

Shares of Abeona Therapeutics Inc. ABEO were down 41% to $2.9704 after the company priced offering of common stock and warrants at $2.50 per share. Abeona Therapeutics received EMA PRIME designation for ABO-102.

Contango Oil & Gas Company MCF was down, falling 20% to $3.64. Contango Oil and Gas reported signing of joint development agreement with Juneau Oil & Gas, LLC and announced private equity capital raise.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $60.94, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,481.30.

Silver traded down 0.4% Friday to $17.09, while copper fell 0.5% to $2.812.

Euro zone


European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.6%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.6% while UK shares rose 0.3%.

Economics

The US economy expanded by an annual rate of 2.1% in the third quarter, unchanged versus the second estimate and compared to a 2% growth in the prior three-month period.

US consumer spending increased 0.4% in November, while personal income rose 0.5% in November.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 99.3 in December, versus a preliminary reading of 99.2 and compared to 96.8 in November.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for December will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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