Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Procter & Gamble Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.73 percent to 25,565.36 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.14 percent to 7,570.50. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.91 percent to 2,793.95.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the consumer staples shares climbed by 2.01 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Procter & Gamble Co PG up 8 percent, and Colgate-Palmolive Company CL up 4 percent.

In trading on Friday, health care shares rose by just 0.3 percent.

Top Headline

Procter & Gamble Co PG reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter.

P&G posted quarterly earnings of $1.12 per share on revenue of $16.69 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.10 per share on sales of $16.51 billion. P&G reaffirmed its FY19 organic sales growth guidance of 2 percent to 3 percent year over year.

Equities Trading UP

Skechers U.S.A., Inc. SKX shares shot up 22 percent to $31.80 after the company reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter and issued a strong outlook for the fourth quarter.

Shares of Anavex Life Sciences Corp. AVXL got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $2.8898 after reporting the FDA approval of Investigational New Drug Application for Phase 2 trial of ANAVEX 2-73 in patients with Rett syndrome.

Planet Green Holdings Corp. PLAG shares were also up, gaining 175 percent to $7.3502. Planet Green Form 4 filings from Thursday afternoon showed open market purchases of 1.176 million shares of common stock by 2 executives, CEO, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer.

Equities Trading DOWN

ServiceSource International, Inc. SREV shares dropped 46 percent to $1.398 after the company lowered its sales forecast and disclosed that its CFO Robert Pinkerton will leave the company.

Shares of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MACK were down 31 percent to $3.58 after the company announced it would discontinue its Phase 2 SHERLOC study due to 'futility.'

Bank OZK OZK was down, falling around 24 percent to $26.60 after the company reported weak earnings for its third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.77 percent to $69.18 while gold traded up 0.14 percent to $1,231.80.

Silver traded up 0.83 percent Friday to $14.725, while copper rose 1.29 to $2.782.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.17 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.75 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.6 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.86 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.28 percent.

Economics

U.S. existing home sales declined 3.4 percent at an annual rate of 5.15 million for September. However, economists were expecting a 5.34 million rate.

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Macon, GA at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak in New York, New York at 12:45 p.m. ET.

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