Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.87 percent to 18,511.69 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.02 percent to 5,218.84.
The S&P also rose, gaining 0.71 percent to 2,179.59.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Friday afternoon, the financial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from
Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE: AHT) and
NewStar Financial Inc (NASDAQ: NEWS).
In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell by 0.93 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Sempra Energy
(NYSE: SRE), down 3 percent, and CenterPoint Energy,
Inc. (NYSE: CNP), down 3 percent.
Top Headline
Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ: PCLN) reported
stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter on Thursday.
EPS of $13.93 came in well above the Street’s consensus of $12.69, while revenue of $2.56 billion missed estimates of $2.6
billion.
Equities Trading UP
Freshpet Inc (NASDAQ: FRPT) shares shot up 25
percent to $10.36. Freshpet reported a Q2 loss of $0.10 per share on revenue of $33 million.
Shares of Lantheus Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: LNTH) got
a boost, shooting up 50 percent to $5.84 as the company reported strong Q2 results.
PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT) shares were
also up, gaining 27 percent to $7.73 as the company posted a narrower-than-expected Q2 loss.
Equities Trading DOWN
Hortonworks Inc (NASDAQ: HDP) shares dropped 23
percent to $9.77 after the company reported a wider-than-expected loss for the second quarter.
Shares of Computer Programs & Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CPSI) were down 31 percent to $27.00 after the company posted weaker-than-expected
Q2 results.
Sierra Wireless, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ: SWIR) was
down, falling around 17 percent to $14.32. Sierra Wireless posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings, but issued a weak
outlook.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.67 percent to $41.65 while gold traded down 1.76 percent to $1,343.40.
Silver traded down 3.27 percent Friday to $19.78, while copper fell 0.64 percent to $2.16.
Eurozone
European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.84 percent, while
Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 2.4 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 1.36 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 1.49 percent,
while U.K. shares rose 0.79 percent.
Economics
The U.S. economy added 255,000 new jobs in July, versus economists’ estimates for an addition of 180,000 jobs. The unemployment
rate remained unchanged 4.9 percent in the month.
The U.S. trade deficit widened 8.7 percent to $44.5 billion in June. However, economists were projecting the trade gap to
increase to $43.2 billion in the month. U.S. imports rose 1.9 percent to $227.7 billion in June, while exports rose 0.3 percent to
$183.2 billion.
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