Mid-Day Market Update: Oracle Drops On Downbeat Results; Shire Shares Climb

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.25 percent to 16,964.42 while the NASDAQ surged 0.03 percent to 4,360.73. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.17 percent to 1,962.85.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares gained 0.81 percent in the US market on Friday. Top gainers in the sector included Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG), StemCells (NASDAQ: STEM), and Flamel Technologies SA (NASDAQ: FLML).

Telecommunications services shares dropped about 0.48 percent in trading on Friday. Top decliners in the sector included DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI), down 5.7 percent, and NQ Mobile (NYSE: NQ), off 3.8 percent.

Top Headline

CarMax (NYSE: KMX) reported upbeat results for the first quarter.

CarMax posted its quarterly profit of $169.7 million, or $0.76 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $146.7 million, or $0.64 per share.

Its sales climbed to $3.75 billion from $3.31 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.67 per share on sales of $3.598 billion. Total wholesale unit sales gained 9.9%.

Equities Trading UP

Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG) shares shot up 16.62 percent to $223.58 after the company confirmed the rejection of Abbvie (NYSE: ABBV) bid.

Shares of CarMax (NYSE: KMX) got a boost, shooting up 17.18 percent to $53.06 after the company reported upbeat results for the first quarter. CarMax posted its quarterly profit of $169.7 million, or $0.76 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $146.7 million, or $0.64 per share.

Entegris (NASDAQ: ENTG) shares were also up, gaining 2.45 percent to $13.40 after the company lifted its second-quarter outlook.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Smith & Wesson Holding (NASDAQ: SWHC) were 10.47 percent to $15.22 after the company issued downbeat forecast for the first quarter and fiscal year.

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) shares tumbled 5.33 percent to $40.25 after the company reported weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.92 per share, missing analysts’ estimates of $0.95 per share. Citigroup downgraded Oracle from Buy to Neutral.

Targa Resources (NYSE: TRGP) was down, falling 6 percent to $141.58. On Thursday, Targa confirmed that it had high level discussions to be acquired by Energy Transfer Equity, but the talks have been terminated.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.63 percent to $107.10, while gold traded up 0.11 percent to $1,315.60.

Silver traded up 1.15 percent Friday to $20.89, while copper rose 1.20 percent to $3.11.

Eurozone
European shares were mostly lower today.

The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.02 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.29 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.03 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.17 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.48 percent while UK shares gained 0.25 percent.
Economics
On the economics calendar Friday, there is no important data due out.

Posted-In: Earnings News Eurozone Futures Commodities Top Stories Economics Intraday Update Markets

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