Benzinga Mid-Afternoon Market Update

Towards the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.03 percent to 13,322.29 while the NASDAQ fell 0.06 percent to 3,047.57. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.26 percent to 1,429.07. In equity news, JP Morgan

posted a $0.19 earnings beat, leading many investors to expect earnings beats from the banking sector as a whole.

NPS Pharmaceuticals

continued to trade up Friday afternoon, increasing 18.62percent to $10.83 in early trading Friday after the company's bowel drug Gattex received FDA support. Shares Workday

shot up 78.14 percent to $49.88 following its IPO Friday morning, as traders expressed their confidence in the company with their portfolios. JB Hunt Transport Services

consolidated its gains Friday afternoon, trading up 7.03 percent to $58.64 after a handful of analysts raised their price targets on the company Friday morning.

Advanced Micro Devices

continued to fall on massive volume, trading down 12.03 percent to $2.815 Friday, after the company lowered its guidance after the close yesterday. Despite the lowered guidance however, analysts across the board have maintained Buy and Neutral ratings, while lowering the price target. Alpha Natural Resources

fell 7.60 percent to $7.90 after the company tendered $122.3 million in notes, and was subsequently downgraded from Buy to Sell by CLSA. Exact Sciences

traded down 7.63 percent to $10.72 after a downgrade at WEdbush to Neutral this afternoon.

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.30 percent to $91.79, while gold traded down 0.79 percent to $1,756.60.. Silver slowed declined further Friday afternoon, trading down 0.56 percent to $33.52.

It was announced today that the EU had won the Nobel Peace Prize, the committee citing that while the EU has a long way to go to solve the fiscal problems, it had greatly promoted peace in the region. The EU's Herman Van Rompuy made some comments in an emailed statement, calling for a reduction in the EU budget, and highlighting the current problems in the Euro zone.

In economic news, the producer price index (PPI) month over month was reported at 1.1 percent, above the expected 0.8 percent, but below the prior figure of 1.7 percent. The PPI year over year came in at 2.1 percent, above the expected 1.8 percent and the prior figure of 2.0 percent. The PPI ex food & energy month over month, was reported flat at 0.0 percent, below the expected and prior figure of 0.2 percent, while the PPI ex food & energy year over year came in at 2.3 percent, below the expected and prior number of 2.5 percent. The Michigan consumer confidence sentiment was also reported, coming in at 83.1, above the expected 78, and the prior figure of 78.3. The federal budget balance was released as well today, coming in at $75 billion, which was equal to expectations, and much higher than the previous figure of -$62.7 billion.