Active broad-market exchange-traded funds in Friday's regular session:
SPDR Select Sector Fund - Financial ( XLF ): -0.5%
iShares MSCI Emerging Index Fund ( EEM ): +0.7%
United States Oil Fund ( USO ): +0.6%
iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN ( VXX ): -0.8%
SPDR S&P 500 ( SPY ): +0.3%
Broad Market Indicators
Broad-market exchange-traded funds, including SPY, IWM and IVV were inching higher. Actively traded PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) was up 0.4%.
U.S. stocks were higher in session's half, as oil prices tried to recover from the recent selloff and technology shares supported the Nasdaq Composite in its third day of increases.
In economic data news, May new home sales beat Wall Street expectations at 610,000.
The June preliminary Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 52.1 versus expectation for 52.7; while the services index slid to 53.0 versus the consensus for 53.7.
Power Play: Consumer
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) and other consumer staples funds Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC) and iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Goods (IYK) were higher.
Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and retail funds SPDR S&P Retail (XRT), PowerShares Dynamic Retail (PMR) and Market Vectors Retail ETF (RTH) were mixed.
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) was down 11.9% to the lowest since June 2009 after the omnichannel retailer reported late Thursday Q1 EPS decreased to $0.53 for the three months ended May 27, including $0.05 per share related to an unfavorable impact from new share-based accounting, down from $0.80, a year ago. That trailed the $0.66 average estimate of analysts polled by Capital IQ. Q1 sales slightly inched up to $2.742 billion, from $2.738 billion. That missed the analyst consensus of $2.79 billion. The company said it is not updating its full year modeling assumptions provided during its April 5, conference call with analysts and investors.
Winners and Losers
Financial
Select Financial Sector SPDRs ( XLF ) was down 0.3%. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X shares (FAS) was up 0.2%, while its bearish counterpart, FAZ, was down 0.1%.
Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS) fell after the Wall Street Journal said that though the two banks passed the Federal Reserve's stress test, the banks scored low on supplementary leverage ratio, or SLR, which could prompt the Fed to limit the amount of capital they can return to shareholders. The SLR measures banks' total leverage, including off-balance sheet exposures. MS shares were down 2% and GS shares were down 1.1%
Technology
Tech funds Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), iShares 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 firmer. SPDR S&P International Technology Sector ETF (IPK) was up 0.48%.
Among semiconductor ETFs, SPDR S&P Semiconductor (XSD) was up 1.4% while Semiconductor Sector Index Fund (SOXX) was up 0.8%.
Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR) jumped 34.3% after the company received a cash buyout offer from Siris Capital Group for $18.00 per share. The offer was disclosed in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Energy
Dow Jones U.S. Energy Fund (IYE) was up 0.5% and Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) was up 0.4%.
Samson Oil & Gas (SSN) has agreed with Mutual of Omaha Bank to extend both its term loan and the reserve based facility until October 2018. The previous maturity date was Oct. 31, 2017. The $4 million term loan was entered into on May 5. The interest rate on the term loan is 6.75%, being the prime rate plus 2.5%. The Reserve Based facility is drawn to $19.45 million, has a borrowing base of $20 million, and an interest rate of 5.25%, being the prime rate plus 1%.
Commodities
Crude was up 0.2%. United States Oil Fund ( USO ) was up 0.8%. Natural gas was up 1.1% while United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was up 1.2%.
Gold was up 0.6%. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) was up 0.4%. Silver was 0.8% higher while iShares Silver Trust (SLV) was up 0.7%.
Health Care
Health care funds Health Care SPDR (XLV), Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT) and iShares Dow Jones US Healthcare (IYH) were weaker. Likewise, Biotechnology fund iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) was down 0.4%.
bluebird bio (BLUE) was down 8.6% after the company unveiled early interim data from an ongoing phase 3 trial of its blood disorder gene therapy LentiGlobin in patients with beta-thalassemia. The company said a first patient achieved a normal level of hemoglobin in six months but added a follow-up on a second and third patient was not sufficient for total hemoglobin or days since last transfusion to be clinically relevant. bluebird bio also said it presented new data from another study (HGB-205) evaluating LentiGlobin in patients with beta-thalassemia and severe sickle cell disease at the European Hematology Association in Paris, France.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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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.
