Mid-Day Market Update: Dropbox Jumps On Upbeat Q4 Results; Lianluo Smart Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.82% to 28979.46 while the NASDAQ fell 1.26% to 9,628.04. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.93% to 3,342.02.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed 0.2% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. SFM, up 17%, and New Age Beverages Corporation NBEV, up 7%.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell 1.7%.

Top Headline

Deere & Company DE reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Friday.

Deere posted quarterly earnings of $1.63 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.26 per share. Its quarterly sales came in at $7.631 billion, beating expectations of $6.42 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Trans World Entertainment Corporation TWMC shares shot up 111% to $7.38 after the company disclosed that its subsidiary etailz entered into a deal with Encina for $25 million 3-year secured revolving credit facility.

Shares of Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. CLDX got a boost, shooting 38% to $3.13. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Celldex Therapeutics with an Overweight rating and a $8 price target.

Dropbox, Inc. DBX shares were also up, gaining 23% to $22.99 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and disclosed a $600 million buyback program.

Equities Trading DOWN

Document Security Systems, Inc. DSS shares tumbled 30% to $0.17. Document Security Systems priced its 22.2 million share common stock offering at $0.18 per share.

Shares of Lianluo Smart Limited LLIT were down 27% to $0.62 after the company priced a 3.5 million share common stock offering at $0.70 per share.

Valaris plc VAL was down, falling 20% to $4.545 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 earnings.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1.9% to $52.85, while gold traded up 1.6% to $1,646.10.

Silver traded up 1.2% Friday to $18.53, while copper rose 0.8% to $2.608.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.77% the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.73%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.5% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.99%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.94% while UK shares fell 0.64%.

Economics

The IHS Markit US composite PMI slipped to 49.6 in February, versus a reading of 53.3 in the prior month.

U.S. existing home sales fell 1.3% to an annual rate of 5.46 million units in January.

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

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester is set to speak at 1:30 p.m. ET.