Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls Over 250 Points; Crude Oil Down 2.5%

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.90% to 28,896.48 while the NASDAQ fell 1.2% to 9,289.59. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.18% to 3,286.22.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares slipped by just 0.05% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PG&E Corporation PCG, up 3%, and Pure Cycle Corporation PCYO, up 2%.

In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 1.8%.

Top Headline

American Express Company AXP reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Friday.

American Express reported fourth-quarter earnings of $2.03 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.01. The company reported quarterly sales of $11.365 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $11.36 billion.

Equities Trading UP

SAExploration Holdings Inc SAEX shares shot up 30% to $2.95 after the company announced two new projects in offshore West Africa valued at $42 million. The company also announced it has reduced its debt by $14.5 million.

Shares of Casa Systems, Inc. CASA got a boost, shooting up 25% to $4.55 after the company raised its FY19 sales guidance. The company also reported the resignation of CFO Maurizio Nicolelli.

eHealth, Inc. EHTH shares were also up, gaining 25% to $121.61 after Cantor Fitzgerald analysts reiterated an Overweight rating on the stock and raised the price target from $120 to $150.

Equities Trading DOWN

SenesTech Inc SNES shares tumbled 22% to $0.35. SenesTech priced its 3.55 million share common stock offering at $0.40 per share.

Shares of CHF Solutions Inc CHFS were down 43% to $0.46 after the company priced a 3.755 million unit offering at $0.55 per unit.

ToughBuilt Industries, Inc. TBLT was down, falling 44% to $0.15 after the company reported pricing of upsized $9.0 million underwritten public offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.5% to $54.19, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,573.60.

Silver traded up 1.7% Friday to $18.13, while copper fell 1.6% to $2.6825.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.86%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.46%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.11%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.41%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.88% while UK shares rose 1.04%.

Economics

The IHS Markit Composite PMI climbed to 53.1 in January, versus a reading of 52.7 in the prior month. The IHS Markit services PMI surged to 53.2 in January versus 52.8 in the prior month.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 3 to 676 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.