Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 1%; Stealth BioTherapeutics Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.38% to 28485.64 while the NASDAQ rose 0.39% to 8,921.56. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.52% to 3,221.89.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed 0.9% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Rite Aid Corporation RAD, up 26%, and Primo Water Corporation PRMW, up 5%.

In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares rose by just 0.2%.

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 31% to $34.74 on post-IPO volatility after the stock opened at $8.35 on Thursday and rallied roughly 400% since then.

Shares of Rite Aid Corporation RAD got a boost, shooting up 26% to $14.92 on continued momentum after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results. The company also issued FY20 EPS guidance above analyst estimates.

Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MRNS shares were also up, gaining 40% to $2.1005 after Oppenheimer initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and a price target of $6 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Stealth BioTherapeutics Corp MITO shares tumbled 61% to $5.38 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 35% to $3.26 after the company priced offering of common stock and warrants at $2.50 per share. Abeona Therapeutics received EMA PRIME designation for ABO-102.

Valeritas Holdings, Inc. VLRX was down, falling 54% to $0.7604 after the company announced it has revised its Q4 and FY19 guidance due to manufacturing yield issues. The company issued Q4 and FY19 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $60.48, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,480.70.

Silver traded up 0.2% Friday to $17.19, while copper fell 0.8% to $2.8035.

Euro zone


European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.8%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.61%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.24%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.81%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.82% while UK shares rose 0.11%.

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's manufacturing production index declined to a reading of -7 in December, versus a reading of -5 in the prior month.

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