Mid-Morning Market Update: Cree Continues Earnings Fueled Rally, General Dynamics Feels Defense Spending Slowdown

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.42 percent to 13,770.13 while the NASDAQ rose 0.37 percent to 3,154.63. The S&P fell however, decreasing 0.05 percent to 1,491.25.

Following the market close on Tuesday, Google

beat on EPS but missed on revenue, sending shares up over 5 percent, while IBM

beat on both revenue and EPS, while guiding higher than street expectations. The announcements set the stage for today's highly anticipated big tech releases: Apple

and Netflix

, both of which happen after the close.

MAP Pharmaceuticals

shot up 58.47 percent to $24.69 after it was announced that Allergan would buy the company for $958 million this morning. Shares of Cree

were also up, gaining a staggering 18.11 percent to $39.53 after the company posted a large earnings beat following the market close on Tuesday. Advanced Micro Devices

rose sharply as well, trading up 10.20 percent to $2.70 after beating earnings expectations yesterday.

Coach

dropped sharply this morning, falling 14.12 percent to $52.11 after missing earnings estimates this morning and announcing it will pivot to become a lifestyle brand. IAMGOLD

was also down, falling 9.29 percent to $9.86 following a mineral resource update yesterday and a subsequent downgrade at BMO Capital. Shares of General Dynamics

were down as well, losing 4.20 percent to 67.74 as the company posted a loss linked to a slowdown in defense spending.

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.16 percent to $96.53, while gold traded down 0.19 percent to $1,690.50. Silver traded up 0.17 percent Wednesday to $32.35.

European markets fell this morning despite some strength in the core. Leading the fall were the Italian MIB index and the Spanish Ibex, both fell 0.25 percent, while the German DAX lead the gainers, rising 0.30 percent.

In economic news for Wednesday, the world economic conference in Davos Switzerland has begun. So watch for interviews from economic, political, and business leaders from around the world over the course of the next few days. For economic releases, MBA mortgage applications came in at 7.0 percent, below the prior figure of 15.20 percent, while redbook month over month came in at 1.90 percent, beating the last report of -0.30 percent. The house price index month over month was also out, coming in at 0.60 percent, the expected 0.70 percent but beating the last reading of 0.50 percent. The Chicago PMI report for December was revised this morning from its initial report of 51.6 down to 48.9.