Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.76 percent to 25,905.70 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.09 percent to 7,714.40.
The S&P also rose, gaining 0.69 percent to 2,827.87.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Friday afternoon, the information technology shares climbed 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included
Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) up 24
percent, and Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO)
up 9 percent.
In trading on Friday, real estate shares fell 0.3 percent.
Top Headline
Adobe Inc (NASDAQ: ADBE) reported
stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter, but issued weak earnings outlook for the second quarter.
Adobe reported first quarter earnings of $1.71 per share, beating by a dime the Street estimate of $1.61 per share. The company
beat revenue estimates for the 11th straight quarter, coming in at $2.6 billion, slightly ahead of the consensus forecast of $2.55
billion.
Adobe said it sees adjusted second quarter earnings of $1.77 and fiscal 2019 adjusted earnings per share of $7.80. Analysts
project Q2 earnings of $1.88 per share and FY19 earnings of $7.77 per share.
Equities Trading UP
Achieve Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: ACHV) shares got a boost, shooting up 35 percent to $3.31 after the company
reported a narrower-than-expected Q4 loss.
Shares of Catasys, Inc. (NASDAQ: CATS)
shot up 30 percent to $14.32 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results. The company issued strong full-year 2019
sales guidance and reported the expansion of its debt financing deal to $15 million.
Soleno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SLNO)
shares were also up, gaining 216 percent to $4.26 after the company received positive feedback from the Data Safety Monitoring
Board, and recommended that the company should continue in its Phase 3 trials for Prader-Willi Syndrome patients.
Equities Trading DOWN
Ra Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: RMED)
shares dropped 32 percent to $4.46 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 results.
Shares of BioScrip Inc (NASDAQ: BIOS)
were down 30 percent to $2.46 after announcing plans to merge with Option Care. The company also reported a wider-than-expected
loss for its fourth quarter.
Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: ENT) was down, falling around 30 percent to $1.75 after the company reported
worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.17 percent to $58.51 while gold traded up 0.6 percent to $1,302.70.
Silver traded up 1 percent Friday to $15.325, while copper rose 0.64 percent to $2.91.
Eurozone
European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.68 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.44 percent,
while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.8 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.85 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 1.04
percent while U.K. shares rose 0.6 percent.
Economics
The Empire State manufacturing index declined to 3.7 in March, compared to 8.8 in the previous month. Economists were expecting
a reading of 10.
U.S. industrial production rose 0.1 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent increase.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 97.8 for March, compared to 98.3 in the previous month. However,
economists projected a 95 reading.
U.S. job openings increased to 7.58 million in January, from 7.33 million, the Labor Department reported.
The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 1 to 833 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.
The Treasury International Capital report for January is schedule for release at 4:00 p.m. ET.
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