Stock market live Friday: Stocks close little changed, utilities record, Tesla swings

Finance

Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during an unveiling event for the Boring Co. Hawthorne test tunnel in Hawthorne, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018.

Robyn Beck | Bloomberg | Getty Images

This is a live blog. Check back for updates.

9:34 am: Stocks open little changed, strong earnings boost the S&P 500 and NASDAQ

Stocks opened little changed on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around the breakeven line, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2%, boosted by earnings from Nvidia and Expedia, among others. The NASDAQ Composite was the top-performer, gaining 0.3%. For the week, the major averages were up at least 1% and were headed for back-to-back weekly increases. The weekly increases come even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. -Stevens

9:11 am: Here are Friday’s biggest analyst calls

  • Bernstein increased its price target on Beyond Meat to $117 from $106
  • Deutsche Bank downgraded BlackRock to hold from buy
  • Barclays downgraded Yelp to underweight from equal weight
  • Evercore ISI raised its price target on Tesla to $550 from $250
  • Benchmark upgraded Expedia to buy from hold
  • Wells Fargo raised its price target on Home Depot to $265 from $240

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here. —Bloom

9:05 am: China eases refinancing rules to help listed firms fight coronavirus

The China Security Regulatory Commission loosened its refinancing rule to help listed companies resume production and combat the coronavirus outbreak, according to Reuters. The regulator encouraged listed companies to introduce strategic shareholders and said the lighter rules would make it easier to raise additional funding, according to the report. — Pound

9 am: Consumer hits wall, watch for GDP downgrades

The surprise dip to zero in a core number inside the retail sales report surprised traders and could result in downgrades to first quarter GDP. The control group number feeds into GDP calculations, and it was expected to show a 0.3% gain. It includes retail sales excluding autos, gasoline, building materials and food services. To make matters worse, the December control number was revised lower to 0.2% from a gain of 0.5%. The headline retail sales for January gained 0.3%, as expected. Treasury yields moved lower, with the 10-year Treasury yield hitting 1.57% after the report. —Domm

8:59 am: Pinterest under pressure as Facebook releases competing app

Pinterest slid more than 3% after Facebook released a new app that could directly compete with Pinterest, which was first reported by The Information. Called Hobbi, the app has so far been rolled out in Colombia, Belgium, Spain and the Ukraine. In a statement to CNBC, a spokesperson for Pinterest said the company remains “focused on building a visual discovery engine,” and that the new app “appears to be a photo saving app that lacks the discoverability, search, and recommendations of Pinterest.” —Stevens

8:51 am: Roku surges 8%

Shares of Roku jumped more than 8% during premarket trading on Friday following fourth-quarter results which beat analyst expectations. The company, which makes TVs and other devices to stream various services, reported a loss of 13 cents for the quarter, and $411 million in revenue. Analysts had been expecting a loss of 14 cents and $392 million in revenue, according to estimates from Refinitiv. Roku said that monetized video ad impressions more than doubled over the year, and that streaming hours reached 40.3 billion, which was a 16.3 billion hours year-over-year increase. Shares have gained 172% over the last year. —Stevens

8:43 am: Retail sales report hitting futures?

Retail sales figures may have had something to do with the futures pullback. While the January top line figure came in as expected for January at a 0.3% increase, December’s number was revised lower. The report also showed the biggest drop in clothing store sales since 2009. -Melloy

8:41 am: Futures cut gains

Stock futures were pulling back ahead of the open. Dow futures are now negative by a point. – Melloy

8:30 am: Nvidia climbs after strong Q4

Shares of Nvidia rose more than 6% after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that handily topped analysts’ expectations. Additionally, Nvidia’s first-quarter revenue forecast of $3 billion was higher than Wall Street anticipated. —Sheetz

8:27 am: Expedia shares jump 11%

Shares of travel booking site Expedia soared more than 11% during Friday’s premarket trading on the back of strong fourth-quarter results. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.24, which was 5 cents above what the Street was looking for, according to estimates from FactSet. The company reported $2.75 billion in revenue, which was slightly short of the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. Expedia did not give full-year guidance due to uncertainties surrounding the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, but said that it’s targeting between $300 million and $500 million in cost savings across the business. —Stevens

8:22 am: Tesla shares slip after pricing $2 billion offering

Tesla‘s stock fell about 2% in premarket after the company priced its secondary common stock offering at $767 a share. Tesla will sell 2.65 million shares at that price, just a 4.6% discount to the stock’s close on Thursday. Tesla said it plans to use the proceeds “to further strengthen its balance sheet, as well as for general corporate purposes.” The stock jumped nearly 5% Thursday on news of the offering. The stock traded higher briefly in the premarket on Friday before turning lower. —Sheetz

8:20 am: Stock futures rise to end the week after strong earnings

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