Active broad-market exchange-traded funds in Friday's pre-market session:
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust ( SPY ): +0.5%
SPDR Select Sector Fund - Financial ( XLF ): +0.7%
Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF ( GDX ): -1%
iPath S&P 500 VIX ST Futures ETN ( VXX ): -1.8%
iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund ( EWJ ): +0.7%
Broad-Market Indicators
Most broad-market exchange-traded funds, including SPY, IWM, IVV and others, were higher. Actively traded PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) was up 0.7%.
U.S. stock futures were also firmer after reports that the U.S. economy grew more than expected in Q4. Investors were also focusing on the meeting of G20 finance ministers in Shanghai for measures to boost the global economy.
In economic data, the second estimate for U.S. gross domestic product in Q4 showed a 1% increase compared to the 0.4% increase expected as well as above the initial 0.7% reading. The consensus range was between 0.2% and 0.8% growth, according to data compiled by Econoday.
Meanwhile, data on personal income will be released at 10 am ET. Expectations are for personal income to show a 0.4% increase in January from a 0.3% increase in December while consumer spending is seen up 0.3% from unchanged in December.
Power Play: Consumer
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) and other consumer staples funds iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Goods (IYK) and Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC) were inactive.
Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY) was up 1.1% while retail funds SPDR S&P Retail (XRT), PowerShares Dynamic Retail (PMR) and Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH) were also flat.
Foot Locker (FL) was down 0.7% after it reported Q4 non-GAAP net income of $1.16 per share, up from $1 per share in the prior year period and higher than the $1.12 per share Street estimate provided by Capital IQ. Sales were $2 billion, up from $1.91 billion reported for the same period last year and came in line with the Street estimate. Q4 comp store sales increased 7.9%, vs. the Street view of 6%.
Winners and Losers
Financial
Select Financial Sector SPDRs ( XLF ) was up 0.9%. Daily Financial Bull 3X shares (FAS) was up 1.8% while its bearish counterpart, FAZ, was down 1.2%.
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc. (ARI) was down 2.5% after it agreed to buy Apollo Residential Mortgage (AMTG) for a mixture of cash and stock, valuing the company at about $641 million. Apollo will pay $14.59 a share, a premium of about 44% to Thursday's closing price. AMTG stockholders will receive about 0.417 ARI shares of common stock per AMTG share of common stock and approximately $7.53 per share in cash. It is expected that the transaction will be accretive to ARI's book value per share of common stock in 2016. AMTG shares jumped 34%.
Technology
Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), Shares Dow Jones US Technology ETF (IYW), iShares S&P North American Technology ETF (IGM) and iShares S&P North American Technology-Software Index (IGV) were inactive. SPDR S&P International Technology Sector ETF (IPK) was also unchanged.
Semiconductor ETFs SPDR S&P Semiconductor (XSD) and Semiconductor Sector Index Fund (SOXX) were flat in pre-market trading .
SunEdison (SUNE)was up some 32% pre-bell Friday after a court ruling Thursday preventing hedge fund Appaloosa Management from blocking a part of its $1.9 billion deal to buy Vivint Solar. The Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware denied Appaloosa Management's request for a preliminary injunction over the purchase by SunEdison's TerraForm unit of certain Vivint assets. As part of the deal, TerraForm is supposed to buy a portfolio of Vivint's rooftop solar assets. Appaloosa, which owns a stake in TerraForm, sued to block that portion of the deal, saying it benefits SunEdison more than TerraForm.
Energy
Dow Jones U.S. Energy Fund (IYE) was up 0.1% and Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) was up 1.3% in the pre-market session.
Broadwind Energy (BWEN) reported its Q4 net loss widened to $10.8 million or $0.73 per diluted share from a loss of $5.2 million or $0.35 a year ago, missing the $0.62 loss expected by analysts polled by Capital IQ. The provider of products and services to turbine manufacturers and wind farm developers and operators said revenue fell to $37.6 million from $49.2 million and fell short of the $38.1 million consensus estimate.
Commodities
Crude was up 3.3%. United States Oil Fund (USO) was up 3.6%. Natural gas futures were down 1.3. United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was down 0.8%. Gold was down 0.8% and SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) was down 0.2%. Silver was up 0.7% while iShares Silver Trust (SLV) was down 0.3%.
Health Care
Health Care SPDR (XLV), Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT) and iShares Dow Jones US Healthcare (IYH) were flat. Biotechnology fund iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) was up 1%.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (PPHM) was down 60.8% after it said late Thursday it decided to discontinue a Phase III trial of bavituximab in patients with previously-treated locally-advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. Peregrine said the decision to stop the trial was based on a recommendation made by the study's Independent Data Monitoring Committee following an interim analysis which showed that bavituximab plus docetaxel did not show a sufficient improvement in overall survival versus the docetaxel group to warrant continuation of the study.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
