Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Drop, Lead Lower by NASDAQ Momentum Names

Related BZSUM Mid-Day Market Update: NASDAQ Tumbles 1.8%; SYNNEX Shares Gain After Upbeat Results Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; CarMax Results Miss Estimates

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.82 percent to 16,435.78 while the NASDAQ declined 2.37 percent to 4,137.45. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.09 percent to 1,868.55.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Utilities sector gained 1.12 percent, with Companhia Paranaense de Energia (NYSE: ELP) moving up 4.3 percent to gain the top spot. Among leading sector stocks, gains came from Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (NYSE: SBS), CPFL Energia SA (NYSE: CPL) and Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais SA (NYSE: CIG).

Technology sector was the leading decliner in the US market today. Top losers in the sector included Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT), off 8.1 percent, and Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV), down 9.1 percent.

Top Headline
CarMax (NYSE: KMX) reported weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results and increased its share-buyback plan by $1 billion. CarMax's quarterly profit fell to $99.2 million, or $0.44 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $107.2 million, or $0.46 per share. Its revenue climbed 8.8% to $3.08 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.53 per share on revenue of $3.12 billion.

Equities Trading UP
SYNNEX (NYSE: SNX) shares shot up 22.86 percent to $76.69 after the company reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and issued a strong forecast for the fiscal second quarter. For the current quarter, Synnex expected earnings of $1.34 to $1.38 per share on revenue of $3.1 billion to $3.2 billion.

Shares of Mylan (NASDAQ: MYL) got a boost, shooting up 2.49 percent to $51.10 on reports of interest in Sweden's Meda.

IMS Health Holdings (NYSE: IMS) shares were also up, gaining 17.40 percent to $23.45 in their debut on the NYSE.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HALO) were down 25.40 percent to $8.65 after the company announced the temporary halt of Phase 2 trial enrollment.

Kandi Technologies (NASDAQ: KNDI) was also down, falling 10.36 percent to $14.10 after the company's shares took the drop in the NASDAQ particularly harshly on Friday's session.

E*TRADE Financial (NASDAQ: ETFC) was down, falling 8.32 percent to $20.34. E*TRADE has replaced the talking baby with Kevin Spacey, according to Bloomberg.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.80 percent to $101.09, while gold traded up 1.44 percent to $1,302.80.

Silver traded up 0.51 percent Friday to $19.95, while copper fell 0.30 percent to $3.01.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.88 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.83 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 0.70 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 0.79 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.59 percent.

Top 10 Prefered Companies To Invest In 2014

Economics
The US economy added 192,000 jobs in March, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.7%. However, economists were estimating an addition of 200,000 nonfarm jobs in the month.

Posted-In: Earnings News Guidance Eurozone Futures Forex Global Econ #s Economics Intraday Update Markets

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