Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.02 percent to 24,477.00 while the NASDAQ declined 0.1 percent to
7,133.20. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.03 percent to 2,664.85.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Friday morning, the utilities shares climbed 0.83 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Spark Energy,
Inc. (NASDAQ: SPKE), up 3 percent, and Exelon
Corporation (NYSE: EXC), up 2 percent.
In trading on Friday, financial shares fell 0.27 percent.
Top Headline
Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) reported better-than-expected
profit for its first quarter.
The company said it earned $1.68 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $18.9 billion versus expectations of $1.61 per
share on revenue of $18.86 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Pulse Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLSE) shares shot
up 12 percent to $20.34 after the company disclosed positive results from its first multi-center study of NPS technology for
seborrheic keratosis lesions.
Shares of Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) got a
boost, shooting up 7 percent to $8.633 after gaining 8.93 percent on Thursday.
First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) shares were also up,
gaining 3 percent to $93.06 after reporting upbeat quarterly earnings.
Equities Trading DOWN
SemiLEDs Corporation (NASDAQ: LEDS) shares dropped
27 percent to $4.00. SemiLEDs posted a Q2 net loss of $0.32 per share, versus a year-ago net loss of $0.11 per share. Its revenue
fell 23 percent to $1.5 million.
Shares of EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYEG) were down 21 percent to $0.30. EyeGate Pharma priced its 35.16 million share
offering at $0.32 per share.
Sphere 3D Corp. (NASDAQ: ANY) was down, falling
around 45 percent to $0.605 after the company reported pricing of $2.3 million public offering of common stock and warrants.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.18 percent to $66.95 while gold traded down 0.23 percent to $1,338.80.
Silver traded up 0.01 percent Friday to $16.475, while copper rose 0.52 percent to $3.0795.
Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.86 percent, while
Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.35 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.75 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.43 percent
while U.K. shares rose 0.12 percent.
Economics
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 97.8 in April, versus 101.4 in March. Economists projected a
reading of 101.
U.S. job openings slipped to 6.05 million, compared to 6.23 million in January.
The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Odessa, Texas at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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