Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.13 percent to 22,329.74 while the NASDAQ declined 0.10 percent to 6,416.11. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.09 percent to 2,498.25.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
On Friday, the energy shares surged 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE: ANW), up 5 percent, and Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE: STNG), up 3 percent.
In trading on Friday, utilities shares fell 0.33 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG), down 2 percent, and TransAlta Corporation (USA) (NYSE:
Top Headline
CarMax, Inc (NYSE: KMX) reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter.
CarMax reported Q2 earnings of $0.98 per share on revenue of $4.39 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $0.95 per share on revenue of $4.25 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ: ASND) shares shot up 33 percent to $37.00. Wedbush raised price target on Ascendis Pharma from $36 to $65 following Versartis data.
Shares of TDH Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PETZ) got a boost, shooting up 39 percent to $8.89. TDH Holdings priced IPO at $4.25 per share.
Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALPN) shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $11.15. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Alpine Immune Sciences from Hold to Buy.
Equities Trading DOWN
Versartis Inc (NASDAQ: VSAR) shares dropped 86 percent to $3.03 after the company disclosed that somavaratan did not meet primary endpoint in Phase 3 VELOCITY trial. Barclays downgraded Versartis from Overweight to Underweight, while Cowen & Co. downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.
Shares of Revolution Lighting Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: RVLT) were down 19 percent to $6.16 as the company lowered its FY2017 sales guidance.
Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ICPT) was down, falling around 14 percent to $63.68. Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals lost around one quarter of their value Thursday and another 14 percent Friday in reaction to a concerning U.S. Food and Drug Administration letter sent to doctors regarding its liver treatment product called Ocaliva for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis. Citigroup downgraded Intercept Pharmaceuticals from Buy to Neutral.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.10 percent to $50.60 while gold traded up 0.40 percent to $1,300.00.
Silver traded up 0.01 percent Friday to $17.02, while copper rose 0.05 percent to $2.936.
Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.01 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.18 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.08 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.25 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.70 percent.
Economics
The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Oklahoma City at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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