Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Hasbro Misses Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.8 percent to 24,968.01 while the NASDAQ declined 0.66 percent to 7,240.64. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.62 percent to 2,689.28.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the utilities shares climbed 0.02 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Black Hills Corporation BKH up 2 percent, and ALLETE, Inc. ALE up 2 percent.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell 1.4 percent.

Top Headline

Hasbro, Inc. HAS reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Hasbro earned $1.33 cents per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $1.39 billion. However, analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.69 per share on revenue of $1.53 billion. Hasbro raised its quarterly dividend from $0.63 per share to $0.68 per share.

Equities Trading UP

eGain Corporation EGAN shares got a boost, shooting up 37 percent to $10.16 after the company reported strong Q2 results and raised 2019 SaaS revenue growth expectations from 25%-30% to 30%-35%.

Shares of Coty Inc. COTY shot up 27 percent to $8.96 after reporting better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Mattel, Inc. MAT shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $15.11 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Biocept, Inc. BIOC shares dropped 46 percent to $1.10 after the company priced its 6.25 million share offering at $1.20 per share.

Shares of Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. APOP were down 46 percent to $1.24 after the company priced a stock and warrant combination unit at $1.50 per unit.

Vocera Communications, Inc. VCRA was down, falling around 22 percent to $31.02 after the company reported downbeat Q4 sales and issued a weak forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.28 percent to $52.49 while gold traded up 0.32 percent to $1,318.40.

Silver traded up 0.49 percent Friday to $15.79, while copper fell 0.16 percent to $2.824.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.62 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 0.73 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.94 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.43 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.12 percent.

Economics

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

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly is set to speak in San Francisco, CA at 1:15 p.m. ET.