Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.15 percent to 17,958.14 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.27 percent to 5,072.25. The
S&P also rose, gaining 0.28 percent to 2,094.44.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
On Friday, healthcare shares gained by 0.86 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cambrex Corporation
(NYSE: CBM), and Air Methods Corp (NASDAQ: AIRM).
In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 0.35 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Clean Energy Fuels
Corp (NASDAQ: CLNE), down 12 percent, and TETRA
Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TTI), down 7 percent.
Top Headline
Humana Inc (NYSE: HUM) delivered better than expected
results for the third quarter. However, the company’s adjusted EPS forecast came in below the estimates.
Humana reported quarterly adjusted EPS of $3.18, beating estimates by $0.03. Its revenue of $13.69 billion exceeded expectations
by $0.28 billion.
The company expects full adjusted EPS to be about $9.50, versus Street expectations of $9.51.
Equities Trading UP
ConforMIS Inc (NASDAQ: CFMS) shares shot up 32
percent to $8.94 after the company posted better-than-expected Q3 earnings.
Shares of Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE: CBK)
got a boost, shooting up 29 percent to $1.56 after the company reported strong preliminary revenue for the third quarter.
Bristow Group Inc (NYSE: BRS) shares were also up,
gaining 21 percent to $12.38 after the company reported a smaller-than-expected Q2 loss.
Equities Trading DOWN
MDC Partners Inc (NASDAQ: MDCA) shares dropped 61
percent to $3.30. MDC Partners reported a Q3 loss of $0.64 per share on revenue of $349.3 million.
Shares of Invuity, Inc. (NASDAQ: IVTY) were down
43 percent to $5.30. Invuity reported a Q3 loss of $0.56 per share on revenue of $8.5 million.
Hill International Inc (NYSE: HIL) was down, falling
around 18 percent to $3.00. Hill reported a delay in the release of its Q3 financial results.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.07 percent to $44.18 while gold traded up 0.15 percent to $1,305.20.
Silver traded up 0.05 percent Friday to $18.43, while copper rose 0.64 percent to $2.26.
Eurozone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.93 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 1.05 percent,
while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.70 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.79 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined
1.01 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.61 percent.
Economics
The U.S. economy added 161,000 new jobs in October, while the unemployment rate declined tp 4.9 percent from 5 percent.
Economists were expecting a gain of 175,000 nonfarm jobs.
The U.S. trade deficit dropped 10 percent to $36.4 billion in September, versus a revised $40.5 billion in August. However,
economists were expecting a deficit of $36.9 billion. Exports increased 0.6 percent to $189.2 billion, while imports declined 1.3
percent to $225.6 billion in September.
The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer will speak at the International Monetary Fund at 4:00 p.m. ET.
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