Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Up 350 Points; TriNet Group Shares Climb On Earnings Beat

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.37 percent to 25,788.77 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.41 percent to 7,457.65. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.84 percent to 2,768.75.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the financial shares climbed 1.9 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Civista Bancshares Inc CIVB up 9 percent, and Radian Group Inc. RDN up 9 percent.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.1 percent.

Top Headline

Deere & Company DE reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

First-quarter earnings came in at $1.54 per share, versus estimates of $1.76 per share. Sales came in at $6.94 billion, versus estimates of $6.81 billion. The company cited higher material costs and customer tariff concern as weaknesses during the quarter.

Deere expects FY19 equipment sales to rise 7 percent year over year.

Equities Trading UP

Sky Solar Holdings Ltd SKYS shares got a boost, shooting up 130 percent to $1.30 after Hudson Solar offered to resolve a default issue by either purchasing equity in certain Sky Solar projects for $240 million or acquiring the company for $2.15-$2.25 per share.

Shares of Talend SA ADR TLND shot up 22 percent to $45.54 after reporting a narrower-than-expected Q4 loss.

TriNet Group, Inc. TNET shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $61.90 after the company beat Q4 earnings estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Marin Software Incorporated MRIN shares dropped 29 percent to $4.71 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings of $(0.06), up from $(0.92) year-over-year. Sales came in at $15.825 million, down from $17.692 million year-over-year.

Shares of Newell Brands Inc. NWL were down 20 percent to $17.38 after the company reported downbeat Q4 sales and issued weak sales outlook.

TrueCar, Inc. TRUE was down, falling around 23 percent to $7.91 after the company missed Q4 earnings estimates and issued weak Q1 guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.3 percent to $55.65 while gold traded up 0.5 percent to $1,320.40.

Silver traded up 0.8 percent Friday to $15.655, while copper rose 0.8 percent to $ 2.797.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 1.41 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.91 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index surged 1.9 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.89 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.79 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.55 percent.

Economics

The Empire State manufacturing index increased 4.9 points to a reading of 8.8 in February. However, economists were expecting a reading of 7.6.

The import price index declined 0.5 percent in January, versus a drop of 1 percent in December. The export price index fell 0.60 percent for January.

U.S. industrial production fell 0.6 percent for January, versus economists' expectations for a 0.1 percent rise.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased to 95.5 for February, versus a reading of 91.2 in January.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 3 to 857 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.