U.S. indices were struggling across the board Friday afternoon with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.1%, the S&P 500 falling 0.2% and the Nasdaq even.
Steel stocks were falling following a bearish note from Goldman Sachs downgrading the sector. U.S. Steel (X) shares were down nearly 5% Friday afternoon.
KeyBanc analyst Philip Gibbs wrote that slowing demand, stronger imports and other fourth-quarter supply risks will hurt the U.S. steel industry. The firm lowered its ratings for U.S. Steel, AK Steel (AKS) and Olympic Steel (ZEUS) . AK Steel and Zeus were down 8.5% and 15.7%, respectively.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares were up over 10%, continuing to climb midday after the company unveiled a new microprocessor, Zen, that AMD CEO Lisa Su said could rival the fastest processor on the market from rival Intel (INTC) .
Restoration Hardware (RH) shares were up more than 8% Friday after analysts at Goldman Sachs published a bullish note on the company. Goldman analysts raised the company's rating to Buy from Hold while also being added to the firm's Conviction Buy List.
"RH is in the unique position of operating a potent franchise with low current expectations, idiosyncratic business drivers, and, we believe, two ways to create value: (1) achieving current expectations, and returning to growth in 2017, or (2) by engaging in a 'trading sales for profits' strategy, pulling back its capital spending plans and conserving cash," Goldman analyst Matthew Fassler wrote.
Shares of Foot Locker (FL) were up more than 10% following the release of the company's latest quarterly earnings report. The sports apparel retailer reported a 5% increase in quarterly revenue to $1.78 billion, leading to earnings of $0.94 per share.
"Gross margins increased 35bps (basis points) y/y to 33.0%, likely driven by occupancy cost leverage on the solid comp, while expenses increased 20bps y/y as a percentage of sales, resulting in 10bps operating margin expansion to 11.1%," analysts at Citigroup wrote.
