Crude Oil Moves Higher; Kroger Earnings Beat Estimates

U.S. stocks traded mostly higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite edging higher on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.10% to 34,535.92 while the NASDAQ rose 0.02% to 13,751.67. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.05% to 4,453.21.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1.4% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell by 0.7%.

Top Headline

The Kroger Co. KR reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and reached an opioid settlement agreement, agreeing to pay up to $1.2 billion to states and subdivisions and $36 million to tribes.

Kroger reported a second-quarter FY23 sales decline of 2.3% year-on-year to $33.85 billion, missing the analyst consensus of $34.13 billion. Adjusted EPS of $0.96 beat the consensus estimate of $0.91.

Kroger sees FY23 adjusted EPS of $4.45 - $4.60 versus an estimate of $4.51.

Equities Trading UP

Biocept, Inc. BIOC shares shot up 56% to $1.31 after the company announced non-exclusive licensing agreement for CNSide with Plus Therapeutics.

Shares of Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. SWBI got a boost, shooting 13% to $11.83 after the company reported a second-quarter earnings beat and issued strong guidance.

Lantronix, Inc. LTRX shares were also up, gaining 25% to $4.99 following better-than-expected quarterly sales.

Equities Trading DOWN

Grom Social Enterprises, Inc. GROM shares dropped 46% to $2.1716 after the company reported pricing of $3.0 million public offering.

Shares of Rent the Runway, Inc. RENT were down 28% to $0.98 after the company reported downbeat second-quarter sales and issued weak third-quarter forecast.

Arqit Quantum Inc. ARQQ was down, falling 32% to $0.6509 after the company reported a $16.2 million registered direct offering.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $87.42 while gold traded up 0.1% at $1,943.80.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $23.21 on Friday while copper fell 1.1% to $3.72.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.22% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.49% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.59% The German DAX rose 0.14% French CAC 40 rose 0.62%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.28%.

Industrial production in Spain declined by 1.8% year-over-year in July following a revised 3.2% fall in the prior month. French industrial output increased by 0.8% month-over-month in July versus a 0.9% decline in June.

Germany’s consumer price inflation rate eased to 6.1% year-over-year in August from 6.2% in the earlier month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 1.16% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.18%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.5%.

The gauge for Japan's service sector sentiment fell to 53.6 in August from 54.4 a month ago. Japanese current account surplus widened to JPY 2.772 trillion in July from JPY 1.509 trillion in the previous month, while the country’s economy expanded 1.2% quarter-over-quarter in the second quarter.

Economics

Wholesale inventories in the U.S. declined by 0.2% from a month ago in July versus the preliminary estimate of a 0.1% fall and compared to a 0.7% decline in the previous month.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs climbed by 1 to 513 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 108,268,240 cases with around 1,174,460 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,997,460 cases and 531,930 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 695,034,570 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,913,060 deaths.