Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Foot Locker Tops Q3 Expectations

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.21 percent to 23,409.28 while the NASDAQ declined 0.05 percent to 6,789.64. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10 percent to 2,583.18.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Friday morning, the cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF 26.16% and Shoe Carnival, Inc. SCVL 28.89%.

In trading on Friday, financial shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.29 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included National Bankshares Inc. NKSH 2.84%, down 2 percent, and Fang Holdings Ltd SFUN 5.43% down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Foot Locker, Inc. FL 20.97% posted stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Foot Locker posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.87 per share on revenue of $1.87 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.80 per share on revenue of $1.83 billion. Its same-store sales fell 3.7 percent during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Diana Containerships Inc DCIX 94.4% shares shot up 97 percent to $12.99. Diana Containerships reported a Q3 loss of $128.67 per share on sales of $6.73 million.

Shares of Foot Locker, Inc. FL 20.97% got a boost, shooting up 24 percent to $39.35 after the company posted stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF 26.16% shares were also up, gaining 28 percent to $16.02 as the company posted upbeat Q3 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Century Casinos, Inc. CNTY 13.87% shares dropped 14 percent to $7.84. Century Casinos priced its 4.25 million share offering at $7.50 per share.

Shares of Vascular Biogenics Ltd VBLT 18.89%  were down 19 percent to $7.30. VBL Therapeutics reported pricing of 2.5 million share common stock offering for $18.75 million.

Birks Group Inc BGI 22.77% was down, falling around 21 percent to $2.00 after the company reported financial results for the twenty-six week period ended September 23, 2017.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.41 percent to $55.92 while gold traded up 0.38 percent to $1,283.10.

Silver traded up 0.02 percent Friday to $17.075, while copper rose 0.01 percent to $3.0715.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.15 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.44 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.41 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.07 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.01 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.01 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts increased 13.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.29 million for October. However, economists were expecting a 1.19 million rate.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for November will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Berkeley, California at 12:45 p.m. ET.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.