Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rising, Hewlett Packard Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.26 percent to 13,916.46 while the NASDAQ rose 0.46 percent to 3,145.79. The S&P also fell, surging 0.37 percent to 1,508.02.

Index Technicals:

Top Headline

Yesterday, Hewlett-Packard Co HPQ posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and issued an upbeat outlook for the fiscal second quarter.

H-P expected FQ2 adjusted earnings of $0.80 to $0.82 per share, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $0.77 per share. It posted FQ1 adjusted earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $28.4 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $27.9 billion.

Analysts at UBS also upgraded the stock from Sell to Neutral.

Equities Trading UP

Aruba Networks ARUN shot up 27.94 percent to $26.61 after the company reported upbeat FQ2 results.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard Company HPQ got a boost, shooting up 6.32 percent to $18.18 after the company posted better-than-expected FQ1 results and issued an upbeat FQ2 outlook.

WebMD Health WBMD was also up, gaining 28.20 percent to $20.90 after the company’s Q4 revenue surpassed analysts’ estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Volcano VOLC took a 15.81 percent hit to $20.77 this morning after the company reported a decline in its Q4 net income.

AMN Healthcare Services AHS was also down, falling 15.84 percent to $10.89 following the company’s fourth-quarter results.

Shares of MRC Global MRC were down 9.59 percent to $28.00 this morning, after the company issued downbeat FY13 forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.03 percent to $92.87, while gold traded down 0.41 percent to $1,572.20.

Silver traded down 0.76 percent Friday to $28.48, while copper dropped 0.21 percent to $3.55.

Eurozone

European shares were higher following the strong IFO survey. The Ifo Business Climate index surged to 107.4 in the month of February, beating estimates of a 104.7 reading and better than last month's 104.3. German Q4 GDP was reported as contracting 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, in line with expectations, and growing 0.1 percent on an annualized basis, also in line with expectations.

The European Union has cut its growth forecasts for 2013, slashing estimates to a contraction of 0.3 percent from a previously projected growth of 0.1 percent. German growth forecasts were cut to 0.5 percent from 2 percent previously and U.K. growth forecasts were cut to 0.9 percent from 1.9 percent previously.

The Spanish Ibex surged 1.65 percent, while the Italian MIB index jumped 1.67 percent. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.27 percent, London’s FTSE 100 Index surged 0.74 percent, French CAC 40 Index rose 1.92 percent and German DAX 30 index gained 1.07 percent.

Economics

On the economics calendar Friday, Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell is set to speak in New York.