Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Big Lots Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.51 percent to 21,894.64 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.67 percent to 6,300.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.53 percent to 2,451.94.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.86 percent.

In trading on Friday, utilities shares rose by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included NRG Energy Inc NRG, down 3 percent, and Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. CWCO down 1 percent.

Top Headline

Big Lots, Inc. BIG reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Big Lots earned $0.67 per share in the second quarter on revenue of $1.22 billion. However, Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.62 per share on revenue of $1.21 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc ADMS shares shot up 46 percent to $20.80 following announcement of the FDA approval of GOCOVRI.

Shares of XOMA Corporation XOMA got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $10.46 after the company disclosed that it has licensed the global commercial rights to gevokizumab and its IL-1beta intellectual property portfolio.

Kamada Ltd KMDA shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $4.76. Kedrion Biopharma and Kamada received FDA approval of KEDRAB for post-exposure prophylaxis against rabies infection.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aceto Corporation ACET shares dropped 24 percent to $12.22. Aceto reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.27 per share on revenue of $194.6 million.

Shares of GameStop Corp. GME were down 12 percent to $19.06 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Tahoe Resources Inc TAHO was down, falling around 20 percent to $4.39 after the Guatemalan Constitutional Court issued a decision upholding the lower court's decision to provisionally suspend the mining license of Minera San Rafael.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.48 percent to $47.66 while gold traded down 0.08 percent to $1,291.00.

Silver traded up 0.08 percent Friday to $17.06, while copper rose 0.62 percent to $3.0755.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.32 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.40 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.38 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.30 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.24 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.36 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders declined 6.8 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 6 percent drop.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak at Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole at 10:00 a.m. ET.

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