Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Up 1%; Aehr Test Systems Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.13 percent to 26,419.44 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.53 percent to 7,933.29. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.39 percent to 2,890.61.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the energy shares rose 1.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. XOG up 9 percent, and Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. TOO up 8 percent.

In trading on Friday, communication services shares fell 0.1 percent.

Top Headline

The U.S. economy added 196,000 new jobs in March, far exceeding estimates of 175,000 and a previous mark of 33,000.

The figures contributed to quarterly employment growth averaging 180,000 per month — short of 2018’s per-month growth of 223,000. As forecasted, the unemployment rate remained at 3.8 percent.

Equities Trading UP

TrovaGene, Inc. TROV shares got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $4.1848 after the company announced a positive data update from its Phase 1b/2 AML trial of onvansertib for patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Shares of Vital Therapies, Inc. VTL shot up 204 percent to $0.6360 after the company announced 98.82 percent of its stockholders voted to approve proposals to merge the company with German biotech company Immunic AG.

Aehr Test Systems AEHR shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $1.81 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results. The company also received $2.1 million for a follow-on order of FOX-XP wafer level test and burn-in system for the production of photonics devices.

Equities Trading DOWN

LivaNova PLC LIVN shares dropped 27 percent to $70.34 after the company provided Q1 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Shares of Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SYRS were down 24 percent to $7.41 after the company priced its 8.667 million share and warrant offering at $7.50 per share.

Duluth Holdings Inc. DLTH was down, falling around 24 percent to $17.93 after the company reported downbeat results for its fourth quarter and issued weak FY19 earnings forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1 percent to $62.74 while gold traded up 0.1 percent to $1,295.90.

Silver traded up 0.3 percent Friday to $15.125, while copper fell 0.5 percent to $2.895.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.22 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.03 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.31 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.34 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.78 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 196,000 new jobs in March. However, economists were expecting a gain of 175,000 jobs. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent last month.

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

Data on consumer credit for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Atlanta, Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET.