Mid-Day Market Update: Markets Mixed; Weathorford International Falls Further

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.19 percent to 12,839.64 while the NASDAQ fell 0.21 percent to 2,8998.17 The S&P also rose, increasing 0.22 percent to 1,383.07. Top Headline In a surprise move after the close Monday, Microsoft's MSFT Windows Live president Steven Sinofsky announced he would be leaving the company. While both Sinofsky and Microsoft had nothing but good things to say about one and other, investors were shaken by the departure of the lead behind the Windows 8 project shortly after its launch. The news lead to a near 3 percent drop in Microsoft's share price Tuesday morning. Equities Trading UP Idenix Pharmaceuticals IDIX traded up 8.17 percent to $5.03 despite a downgrade by Maxim Group from Buy to Hold this morning. Shares of Clean Energy Fuels CLNE also saw a boost, rising 11.85 percent to $12.37 after the company announced it would buy technology from General Electric that allows it to liquefy natural gas, and would receive a loan of up to $200 million from GE Capital Halcon Resources HK rallied 9.85 percent to $5.91after the company filed a series of SEC form 4's on Monday. Equities Trading DOWN Weatherford International WFT fell 13.37 percent to $9.43 after the company announced it would have to refile its first-quarter earnings statement and missed on revenue after the close Monday. AECOM Technology ACM was also down, dropping 11.95 percent to $19.16 following a revenue miss Tuesday morning. Shares of Tronox TROX regained some their losses, remaining down 16.29 percent at $15.67 following a very poor earnings report after the close Monday. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 0.13 percent to $85.45, while gold traded down 0.12 percent to $1,728.90. Silver traded up 0.08 percent Monday to $32.60. Eurozonev European markets traded down Tuesday morning as the EU and IMF renewed their struggle over details of the Greek bailout. The Euro got a slight boost Tuesday morning after a German newspaper reported that the German government was currently at work on at EU44B aid package to cover Greece for the remainder of the year. Economics In economic news Tuesday morning, the NFIB small business optimism came in at 93.1, slightly above the expected 93.0 and the prior report of 92.8. IBD/TIPP economic optimism came in at 48.6, well below the expected 53.8 and the previous figure of 54.0. The monthly budget statement will be announced at 2:00 PM EST, so stay tuned to Benzinga for an up to the second release once the data is available.