Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 10%; GenMark Diagnostics Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.32% to 20151.35 while the NASDAQ rose 0.80% to 7,207.99. The S&P fell 0.31% to 2,401.89.

US reported a total of 14,000 coronavirus cases with around 200 deaths. Italy reported a total of at least 41,000 confirmed cases and 3,400 deaths, while Iran confirmed a total of over 18,400 coronavirus cases. Mainland China reported no new domestic coronavirus case for the second consecutive day. In total, there are at least 245,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 10,000 deaths.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares climbed 1.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Penn National Gaming, Inc. PENN, up 59%, and Red Rock Resorts, Inc. RRR, up 50%.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares dipped 3.6%.

Top Headline

Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

Hibbett posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.51 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $0.62 per share. The company’s sales came in at $313 million, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $303.63 million.

Hibbett Sports reported a 4% year-over-year rise in Q4 same-store sales.

Equities Trading UP

Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc. BLPH shares shot up 424% to $17.75 after the company reported that the FDA granted emergency expanded access for INOpulse for the treatment of coronavirus infection.

Shares of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. TNXP got a boost, shooting 67% to $0.945 after the company's 8-K showed it would present certain info related to the TNX-1800 for a potential coronavirus vaccine to the World Health Organization on Friday.

GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. GNMK shares were also up, gaining 31% to $5.40 after the company received FDA emergency use authorization for its ePlex SARS-CoV-2 test. The test is available in hospitals and labs across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries.

Equities Trading DOWN

Biomerica, Inc. BMRA shares tumbled 47% to $8.50 after surging over 55% on Thursday.

Shares of Waitr Holdings Inc. WTRH were down 37% to $1.63 after rising around 32% on Thursday.

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. APRN was down, falling 31% to $9.95. Blue Apron reported a sharp increase in demand.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 10.4% to $22.60, while gold traded up 1% to $1,494.20.

Silver traded up 3.7% Friday to $12.585, while copper fell 0.8% to $2.1685.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.7% the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.8%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.9%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 3.3%, and the French CAC 40 rose 4.5% while UK shares rose 0.6%.

Economics

US existing home sales rose 6.5% to an annual rate of 5.77 million units in February.

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