Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Lantronix Rises After Q2 Results; PG&E Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.66 percent to 24,715.06 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.13 percent to 7,153.52. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.77 percent to 2,662.74.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday afternoon, the materials shares climbed 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ferroglobe PLC GSM up 10 percent, and Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. RYAM up 8 percent.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 1.2 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 21 percent to $2.23 after the company reported a favorable outcome in its patent infringement dispute with Shure.

Shares of Lantronix Inc LTRX shot up 16 percent to $3.17 following a Q2 sales beat and in-line EPS.

OSI Systems, Inc. OSIS shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $84.52 after reporting a second-quarter earnings beat. The company raised FY19 earnings and sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

PG&E Corporation PCG shares dropped 14 percent to $12.03. Although the company was cleared of its role in the 2017 Tubbs fire, it warned that it still faces extensive litigation and financial challenges as a result of other 2018 fires.

Shares of ResMed Inc. RMD were down 18 percent to $96.57. 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 25 percent to $0.1239 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 0.88 percent to $53.60 while gold traded up 1.34 percent to $1,303.10.

Silver traded up 2.48 percent Friday to $15.68, while copper rose 2.97 percent to $2.723.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.61 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.38 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 1.26 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.36 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.11 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.14 percent.

Economics

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs increased by 10 to 862 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.