Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; D. R. Horton Profit Misses Views

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 1.08 percent to 24,819.47 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.03 percent to 7,145.94. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.93 percent to 2,667.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the materials shares climbed 2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Venator Materials PLC VNTR up 7 percent, and New Gold Inc NGD up 6 percent.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

D. R. Horton Inc DHI reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

D. R. Horton posted quarterly earnings of $0.76 per share on revenue of $3.519 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $3.5 billion. Net sales orders rose 3 percent to 11,042 homes for the first quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Clearone Inc CLRO shares got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $2.36 after the company reported a favorable outcome in its patent infringement dispute with Shure.

Shares of Western Digital Corporation WDC shot up 9 percent to $43.62. Western Digital reported weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter. However, the company said it projected revenue to rise in the second half.

OSI Systems, Inc. OSIS shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $82.55 after reporting a second-quarter earnings beat. The company raised FY19 earnings and sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Interlink Electronics, Inc. LINK shares dropped 19 percent to $1.63. Interlink Electronics announced plans to delist from the Nasdaq and deregister its common stock.

Shares of ResMed Inc. RMD were down 16 percent to $98.24. ResMed reported a second-quarter earnings beat, while sales missed estimates. The company also announced it has suspended its buyback program due to recent acquisitions.

Midatech Pharma Plc MTP was down, falling around 23 percent to $0.1261 after the company received FDA feedback on its clinical plan for MTD201. The FDA indicated a multi-dose study or a study in patients would be needed to support a study design for a new drug application.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.21 percent to $53.24 while gold traded up 0.57 percent to $1,293.20.

Silver traded up 1.1 percent Friday to $15.47, while copper rose 1 percent to $2.672.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.77 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.5 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.89 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.7 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.1 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.25 percent.

Economics

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.