Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Big Lots Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.68 percent to 25,299.98 while the NASDAQ declined 0.94 percent to 7,351.99. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.86 percent to 2,725.32.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the real estate shares rose 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CIM Commercial Trust Corporation CMCT up 5 percent, and Farmland Partners Inc. FPI up 2 percent.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 2.7 percent.

Top Headline

Big Lots, Inc. BIG reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Big Lots said it earned $2.68 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $1.599 billion versus expectations of $2.30 per share and $1.6 billion. Big Lots reported a $50 million buyback plan.

Big Lots expects FY19 adjusted earnings of $3.55 to $3.75 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Stellar Biotechnologies Inc SBOT shares got a boost, shooting up 103 percent to $2.43 after the company reported a share exchange deal with Edesa Biotech.

Shares of TrovaGene, Inc. TROV shot up 62 percent to $6.70 on continued strength after traders on Thursday circulated word of an FDA abstract document for the company's prostate cancer treatment; analysts at Maxim and Noble Financial reiterated bullish positions on the stock.

Seelos Therapeutics, Inc. SEEL shares were also up, gaining 43 percent to $4.34 after surging 96.13 percent on Thursday. Seelos Therapeutics reported an offering for 15.96 million shares via selling shareholders.

Equities Trading DOWN

CHF Solutions, Inc. CHFS shares dropped 44 percent to $4.41 after the company filed for a $6.21 million offering.

Shares of Eventbrite, Inc. EB were down 30 percent to $22.77 after the company reported a wider-than-expected Q4 loss and issued weak earnings forecast.

Altimmune, Inc. ALT was down, falling around 34 percent to $I3.00 after surging 50.33 percent on Thursday. Altimmune reported a $14 million registered direct offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.4 percent to $55.29 while gold traded up 0.5 percent to $1,293.00.

Silver traded up 0.5 percent Friday to $15.115, while copper fell 1.1 percent to $2.8785.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.8 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.2 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.7 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.6 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.9 percent.

Economics

The economy added 20,000 new jobs in February. However, economists were expecting a gain of 181,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent from 4 percent.

Housing starts rose 19 percent at an annual rate of 1.23 million in January, while housing permits rose 1.4 percent a 1.345 million annual rate.

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

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak in Stanford, CA at 10:00 p.m. ET.