Mid-afternoon market update: NASDAQ turns higher; Hewlett Packard shares tumble

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.14% to 24,440.10 while the NASDAQ rose 0.40% to 9,322.26. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.16% to 9,322.26.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 1,577,750 cases with around 94,720 deaths. Brazil confirmed a total of over 310,080 COVID-19 cases with 20,040 deaths, while Russia reported a total of at least 326,440 confirmed cases and 3,240 deaths. In total, there were at least 5,125,610 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 333,380 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 1.7% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. ASPS 14.51%, up 14%, and Redfin Corporation RDFN 7.16%, up 7%.

In trading on Friday, energy shares dipped 1.3%.

Top Headline

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - ADR BABA 5.85% reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Alibaba reported quarterly earnings of $1.30 per share on Friday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 87 cents. The company reported quarterly sales of $16.144 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $15.200 billion. Domestic same-store sales slipped 5.7% during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

LiveRamp Holdings, Inc. RAMP 23.87% shares shot up 23% to $47.74 after reporting upbeat Q4 results.

Shares of Sundial Growers Inc. SNDL 39.8% got a boost, shooting 42% to $0.861 after gaining over 9% on Thursday.

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. NAVB 88.26% shares were also up, gaining 92% to $2.4398 after the company announced positive preliminary results from the second interim analysis of its ongoing NAV3-31 Phase 2B study.

Equities Trading DOWN

Recon Technology, Ltd. RCON 45.41% shares tumbled 45% to $2.0301 after the company reported pricing of approximately $2.1 million registered direct offering.

Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE 11.44% were down 11% to $9.22 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q2 results. The company also announced plans temporarily slash salaries and carry out job cuts.

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNDX 20.49% was down, falling 18% to $16.72 after the company said a late-stage study that evaluated its investigational compound entinostat along with exemestane in patients with HR+, HER2- breast cancer who have progressed on a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor did not achieve the primary endpoint of demonstrating a statistically significant overall survival benefit over hormone therapy alone.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.8% to $33.30, while gold traded up 0.7% to $1,733.20.

Silver traded up 1.6% Friday to $17.635, while copper fell 1.6% to $2.3925.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.03%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.17%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.34%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.07%, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.02% while UK shares fell 0.37%.

Economics

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 21 to 237 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.