U.S. stock markets were trading mixed on Friday morning, ahead of data from the University of Michigan that showed the consumer sentiment index in August fell to 95.3, down from 97.9 in July, which was the lowest level in almost a year.
The Nasdaq traded in red territory, pulled down by companies like Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT, Financial), which fell on Friday morning after the company posted fiscal third-quarter earnings. Applied Materials reported earnings per share of $1.20 on revenue of $4.47 billion, reflecting 19.5% revenue growth. It beats earnings estimates by 3 cents and revenue estimates by $40 million.
On a GAAP basis, gross margin was 45.4%, and grew operating income reached 23% or $1.26 billion or 28.1% of net sales.
Now the company expects for the fourth quarter net sales to be between $3.85 billion and $4.15 billion. Also, it is expected non-GAAP adjusted diluted earnings per share in the range of 92 cents to $1.00. For the first quarter of fiscal 2019, the company projects revenue growth of 5-7%, a gross margin between 63-64% and an operating margin of 30-31%. Also, it is expected non-GAAP earnings per share between 70 cents and 72 cents.
Gainers
• Nordstrom Inc. (JWN, Financial)
• Fluor Corp. (FLR, Financial)
• Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG, Financial)
Losers
• NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA, Financial)”‹
• Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD, Financial)
• Autodesk Inc. (ADSK, Financial)
• Albemarle Corp. (ALB, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded in the green.The U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.85%, France's CAC 40 gained 0.73%, Germany's Dax jumped 0.40% and Spain's Ibex 35 rose 0.56%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.35%, India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.75%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.42% and China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.34%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
