Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Falls Over 5%; Big Lots Shares Tumble On Downbeat Q4 Results

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 2.12% to 25219.27 while the NASDAQ fell 0.82% to 8496.61. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.65% to 2929.69. Coronavirus cases continued to rise outside China. South Korea confirmed 256 new coronavirus cases, while China reported an additional 327 new cases. In Italy, total number of infections surged to 650.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 0.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. PRTH, up 23%, and RealPage, Inc. RP, up 12%.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 3.6%.

Top Headline

Foot Locker, Inc. FL reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Foot Locker reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.63 per share on Friday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.60 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.221 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.25 billion.

Foot Locker reported fourth-quarter comparable-store sales decreased 1.6%.

Equities Trading UP

Altimmune, Inc. ALT shares shot up 92% to $3.37. Altimmune reported completion of first development milestone toward a single-dose intranasal coronavirus vaccine.

Shares of Allied Healthcare Products, Inc. AHPI got a boost, shooting 100% to $30.99 after climbing around 322% on Thursday. The company manufactures emergency medical supplies and respiratory devices, including 'mass casualty' products, and has attracted investor interest amid the coronavirus outbreak.

iBio, Inc. IBIO shares were also up, gaining 153% to $2.19 after jumping around 159% on Thursday. iBio disclosed a $100 million mixed securities offering.

Equities Trading DOWN

Glaukos Corporation GKOS shares tumbled 30% to $42.91 after the company Q4 results. JP Morgan downgraded Glaukos from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $65 to $55.

Shares of Big Lots, Inc. BIG were down 27% to $16.32 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 results. The company also issued Q1 and FY20 earnings guidance below estimates. JP Morgan downgraded Big Lots from Neutral to Underweight and lowered the price target from $31 to $14.

Gulfport Energy Corporation GPOR was down, falling 32% to $0.6102 after reporting downbeat Q4 results.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 5.4% to $44.57, while gold traded down 3.2% to $1,590.30.

Silver traded down 5.5% Friday to $16.755, while copper fell 1.1% to $2.543.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 3.91% the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 3.37%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 3.71% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 4.43%, and the French CAC 40 fell 3.91% while UK shares fell 3.39%.

Economics

The US trade deficit on goods shrank to $65.5 billion in January, versus $68.7 billion in the prior month. Imports slipped 2.2%, while exports declined 1.0%.

US wholesale inventories fell 0.2% in January, versus a revised 0.3% decline in the prior month.

Personal spending increased 0.2% in January, while personal income climbed 0.6%.

The Chicago PMI climbed to 49 in February, versus a prior reading of 42.9.

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index rose to 101 in February, versus a preliminary reading of 100.9.

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

Data on farm prices for January will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.