Mid-Day Market Update: Friday's Market Movers: European Banks Retrenching As US Banks Soar; Exxon, Moneygram, Natural Grocers, Avolon, and More!

European banks are retrenching and aiming to shrink as United States banks are booming; according to the Wall Street Journal, US bank executives are “touting the gloom emanating from their European counterparts as a big opportunity to press their newfound advantage.”

Deutsche Bank’s John Cryan, co-Chief Executive, on Thursday concluded the first half’s earnings period for big European banks by warning of more pain to arise; he specified that “we must shrink our balance sheet,” hinting that the German bank “pull-back” from numerous businesses and countries in order to do so.

The day previous to Cryan’s remarks, Chairman of Barclays PLC warned that big Wall Street firms are “an enormous threat” to Europe’s investment banks. He declared that “they have the scale that we no longer have to be global.” According to the WSJ, US major investment banks, such as JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America Corp, and Morgan Stanley on average, have climbed 45 percent in the past five years; while European investment banks, like Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse Group AG, UBS Group AG, Barclays, and Royal Bank of Scotland PLC were down an average 17 percent in the previous 5 years.

Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM reported a revenue fall of 33 percent alongside earnings that were slashed in half. The world’s biggest/richest oil company announced a six-year low earnings report; although it had growing refinery numbers, it could not counteract for the declining oil prices. Shares have tumbled nearly 4.8 percent in Friday’s session while the oil giant announced a $500 million buyback plan for the current quarter, down from its $1 billion buyback in the first quarter, and it’s previous buyback of $3 billion in the quarters before that.

The US labor costs have risen in the spring, but at a sluggish rate that is the lowest in the previous three decades; the employment cost index increased just 0.20 percent in the second quarter, according to the Labor Department. This wage growth will play a vital role in the Fed’s decision in raising the short-term interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Index was stagnant, the S&P 500 Index rose 0.21 percent, the NASDAQ Composite increased 0.47 percent, and the US Dollar Index declined 0.45 percent in Friday’s midday session.

Stocks still continued to move:
Winners:
Moneygram International Inc MGI soared nearly 30 percent after the money transfer and payment service provider reported earnings; the company had earnings of 23 cents per share versus expected 16 cents per share on sales of $358.80 million versus a projected $346.13 million.

Hutchinson Technology Incorporated HTCH was up 27 percent after the manufacturer beat earnings by 5 cents per share, and met revenue expectations; the company also introduced a new Gemini Shape-Memory Alloy Optical Image Stabilization (SMA OIS) actuator to tier 1 camera module manufacturers.

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc NGVC was lifted 22 percent after the specialty natural foods retailer reported Q3 profits; the retailer announced earnings of 19 cents a share on sales of $158.65 million; analysts had expected earnings of 15 cents a share on sales of $159.31 million.

SkyWest Inc SKYW was heightened 20 percent after the airlines holding company reported Q2 earnings of 61 cents per share on sales of $788.42 million; analysts expected earnings of 27 cents per share and revenues of $771.15.

Avolon Holdings Limited AVOL was lifted 18 percent after the aircraft leasing holding company announced that it is considering two unsolicited offers for 100 percent of equity for $30 per share and $31 per share, according to Briefing.com

Losers:
RADA Electronics Industries Ltd RADA dwindled 34 percent after the defense electronics contractor priced a public offering of ~6.91 million of its ordinary shares at $1.23 per share.

Ocwen Financial Corp OCN was down 31 percent after the financial services holding company missed analyst estimates for Q2; the company reported earnings of 8 cents per share on sales of $463 million. Analysts projected the company to report earnings of 20 cents per share and sales of $463.52 million.

QLogic Corp QLGC declined 21 percent after the storage networking company missed Q1 profits; the company reported earnings of 12 cents a share on sales of $113.4 million. The company reported earnings of 16 cents per share in the previous quarter.

Solazyme Inc NASDAQ: SZYM) shot down 19 percent after the renewable oils and bioproducts creator reported a Q2 loss; the company reported a loss of $37.2 million, disappointing investors yet again.