Post Market Update

Stocks that were active in U.S. trading on Friday include Accenture Plc. (NYSE:ACN), Hospira Inc. (NYSE:HSP), Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) and Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE:ACI).

Market Levels

• U.S.: Dow Jones: 14,986.44 (-0.25%), S&P 500: 1,611.57 (-0.10%), Nasdaq: 3,413.83 (+0.35%)
• World Markets: Shanghai: 1,979.21 (+1.50%), Nikkei 225: 13,677.32 (+3.51%), Hang Seng Index: 20,803.29 (+1.78%), TSEC: 8,062.21 (+2.26%), FTSE 100: 6,215.47 (-0.45%), EURO STOXX 50: 2,602.59 (-0.66%), BSE Sensex: 19,395.81 (+2.75%)
• Metals: Gold: $1,226.20 (+1.21%), Silver: $19.46 (+0.07%), Platinum: $1,337.80 (+0.07%)
• Currency: EUR/USD: 1.3009 (-0.29%), USD/JPY: 99.22 (+0.84%), GBP/USD: 1.5213 (-0.31%), USD/CAD: 1.0512 (+0.31%), USD/CNY: 6.1376 (-0.19%), AUD/USD: 0.9166 (-1.21%)
• 10 year U.S. Treasury: 2.50% (-0.02), 30 year U.S. Treasury: 3.52% (-0.04)

Market & Economy Update

U.S. stocks edged down as the end of the second quarter approached. After three days of rally, investors found little reason to push the stock up. European shares plunged as well, with Euro STOXX dropping as much as 0.66% on Friday. However, Asian stock markets witnessed a steep rise as Nikkei rose, 3.51%, Shanghai Index jumped 1.50% and Hang Seng surged 1.78%. Back to the United States, Dow Jones slipped 67.74 points to 14,956.75, the S&P 500 Index was down 7.49 points to 1,605.71, while Nasdaq rose 1.39 points to end the session at 3,403.25.

Stocks In Focus

Accenture Plc (NYSE:ACN)

Though Accenture’s Q3 earnings rose 18 percent due to stronger revenues from health, public services and financial services segments, results missed Wall Street expectations. Accenture also reduced its full year earnings outlook. Shares tumbled 10.30 percent to end the trading session at $71.96.

Hospira, Inc. (NYSE:HSP)

Hospira said in a statement that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in Europe has recommended approval of its  infliximab drug in Europe. Infliximab can be used to treat inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis and plaque psoriasis. Shares surged 5.98 percent to end the session at $38.31.

Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)

The BlackBerry maker reported pathetic first quarter results. The company shipped only 2.7 million units of its new smartphones during the quarter, much lower than the consensus estimate. Its subscriber base also declined from 76 million to 72 million. Research In Motion incurred $84 million or 16 cents a share in quarterly losses with $3.1 billion in revenues. Shares tanked 27.76 percent to end the session at $10.46.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO)

Halozyme’s European partner Roche Holding’s injectable breast cancer treatment has received a positive recommendation from a regulatory committee to approve the drug in Europe. Halozyme develops the synthetic enzyme required for that breast cancer treatment. Shares rose 24.80 percent to end the session at $7.95.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE:ACI)

Arch Coal has announced to sell three of its mines in Utah to Bowie Resources LLC in a $435 million cash deal. Arch Coal has been strategically offloading non-core assets amid poor demand for coal. Shares gained 5 percent to $3.78 at the end of the trading session.