Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Gain on Jobs Number; InterOil Falls on Sale of Major Asset

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 1.02 percent to 15,982.76 while the NASDAQ surged 0.62 percent to 4,058.71. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.92 percent to 1,801.50.

Top Headline
American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) reported a drop in its third-quarter profit and issued a weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.

American Eagle now projects Q4 earnings of $0.26 to $0.30 per share, versus analysts' estimates of $0.39 per share.

American Eagle's quarterly profit declined to $24.9 million, or $0.13 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $78.6 million, or $0.39 per share. Its adjusted earnings fell to $0.19 per share from $0.41 per share. Its revenue dropped to $857.3 million from $910.4 million. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.19 per share on revenue of $856 million.

Equities Trading UP
AMR Corporation (OTC: AAMRQ), the parent company of American Airlines, gained 8.11 percent to $11.46 after a judge rejected a bid to block the AMR US Air merger on price claims.

Shares of Finisar (NASDAQ: FNSR) got a boost, gaining 1.28 percent to $22.04 as the stock gradually sold of on Friday's session following the company's upbeat Q2 results and strong Q3 forecast.

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AUXL) was also up, gaining 12.11 percent to $21.67 following FDA approval of its Peyronie's disease treatment, Xiaflex.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance (NASDAQ: ULTA) were down 21.05 percent to $93.18 after the company reported downbeat third-quarter results and issued a weak fourth-quarter outlook. Piper Jaffray downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the target price from $129 to $113.

Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) shares tumbled 13.14 percent to $32.25 after the company reported posted a Q3 loss of $0.17 per share on revenue of $1.15 billion.

InterOil (NYSE: IOC) shares were down as well, falling 36.66 percent to $56.15 after the company announced it would sell its interest in a Papua New Guinea bloc to Total, for between $1.5 billion and $3.6 billion according to InterOil, and $1.2 billion according to Total. The deal appears to have disappointed traders as they smacked the stock down following the announcement.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.27 percent to $97.64, while gold traded down 0.47 percent to $1,226.50.

Silver traded up 0.03 percent Friday to $19.43, while copper rose 1.35 percent to $3.24.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.09 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index surged 0.73 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.96 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.72 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.83 percent.

Economics
The U.S. economy added 203,000 jobs in November, while the country's unemployment rate declined to 7.0% from 7.3%. However, economists were projecting a gain of 185,000 jobs in the month.

U.S. consumer spending increased 0.3% in October, while personal income dropped 0.1% in the month. However, economists were expecting a 0.3% gain in both consumer spending and personal income.

The preliminary reading of the Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 82.50 in December, from a final reading of 75.10 in November. However, economists were expecting a reading of 76.00.

Data on consumer credit will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Posted-In: Earnings News Guidance Eurozone Commodities Forex Events Global Econ #s Economics Hot Intraday Update Markets Movers Tech

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