Mid-Afternoon Market Update: DeVry Remains Up, Copa Holdings Takes a Hit

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.39 percent to 13,932.18 while the NASDAQ fell 0.50 percent to 3,152.18. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.35 percent to 1,506.25.

Making headlines all over the street today was Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn, and his vehement defense of a proposal for Apple

to issue preferred stock. In a series of interviews on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and a few other outlets, the hedge fund titan stated that the company will no longer grow at its former rate of 80 percent, but that he owns more Apple than ever before.

DeVry

shot up 16.77 percent to $30.50 after the company crushed on the top and bottom lines, once again leaving analysts in the dust. Shares of True Religion

shot up 21.59 percent to $28.83 following the market opening Thursday after the company beat analyst expectations on the top and bottom lines in its earnings report. ViaSat

rose sharply following the market opening, gaining 24.21 percent to $49.36 after beating on EPS and Revenue, and receiving an upgrade at Needham this morning.

Akamai

traded down 15.91 percent to $34.96 after releasing some weak sales numbers and terrible guidance. Copa Holdings

was also down, falling 11.26 percent to $98.55 after the company missed on top and bottom lines after the market close on Wednesday. Shares of Atmel

traded down 14.45 percent to $6.11 after the company reported in line on EPS and beat on revenue, but lowered its first-quarter revenue guidance.

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.85 percent to $95.80, while gold traded down 0.35 percent to $1,673.00. Silver traded down 0.42 percent Thursday to $31.46.

In the eurozone this morning, markets were higher across the board, disregarding the increase in bond yields. Leading the rise were the volatiles Spanish Ibex and Italian MIB index, gaining 0.84 percent and 0.76 percent respectively, while the French CAC rose 0.34 percent.

In economic news this morning, non-farm productivity quarter over quarter came in at -2.0 percent, lower than the projected -1.3 percent, and far below the revised prior report of 3.2 percent. Unit labor costs quarter over quarter were also reported, coming in at 4.5 percent, beating expectations of 3.0 percent, and coming in far above the last report of -2.3 percent. Continuing jobless claims were reported at 3.224 million, above the expected 3.197 million and the prior report of 2.216 million, while initial jobless claims were reported at 366 thousand, above estimates of 360 thousand, but below the previous release of 371 thousand.