TradingMarkets 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Friday: ORCL, RIMM, HAL, SLB, DRI, F, HD

The stock market advanced for a second day, pushing more stocks into overbought territory above the 200-day moving average. Technology was the strongest sector in the market ahead of the final trading day of the week. Shares of ^MU^ soared by more than 8%, ^NVDA^ gained just short of this amount.

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Here are 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Friday.

Reporting quarterly earnings after the bell on Thursday were both ^ORCL^ and ^RIMM^. Oracle beat earnings estimates by four cents, with revenue estimates that also bested expectations. As for Research in Motion, the company reported quarterly earnings that beat estimates by two cents.

Sellers took profits from energy stocks like ^HAL^ and ^SLB^ (below) ahead of trading on Friday.

SLB chart

Shares of SLB have closed lower for three days in a row heading into Friday’s trading and were down another 1% on Thursday before rallying to trim intraday losses in half going into the close.

Also reporting earnings after the close on Thursday was ^DRI^ (below). Darden Restaurants’ family of restaurants includes Red Lobster and Olive Garden.

DRI chart

DRI has closed higher for six days in a row, the last two in overbought territory above the 200-day moving average. The stock was higher by more than 1% ahead of Friday’s open.

Breaking out to a new short term high ahead of trading on Friday were shares of ^F^ (below).

F chart

Shares of Ford gained more than 5% to close in overbought territory above the 200-day moving average for the first time since late January.

Also rallying to new short term highs on Thursday were shares of ^HD^. HD closed higher for a second day in a row, gaining nearly 2% to end the day in overbought territory.

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David Penn is Editor in Chief of TradingMarkets.com