Mid-Afternoon Market Update: VrinetX Falls as Veeco Continues to Boost

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.48 percent to 14,452.18 while the NASDAQ dropped 0.33 percent to 3,234.06. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.38 percent to 1,551.26.

The S&P 500 looks to be showing support at 1,545, with overhead resistance at 1,562. The Dow is showing support at the 14,400 level, while holding its overhead resistance at 14,550. The NASDAQ has support at 3,220 and resistance at 3,260. Finally, the Russell is holding resistance at the 952 level, while 940 acting as support below that.

Dollar General

reported a rise in its fourth-quarter earnings. Dollar General's quarterly earnings rose to $317 million, or $0.97 per share, from $293 million, or $0.85 per share, in the year-ago period. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.90 per share. Its net sales gained 0.5% to $4.21 billion from $4.19 billion, while same-store sales climbed 3%.

Apollo Group

shot up 6.34 percent to $18.12 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results. Shares of Veeco Instruments

got a boost, shooting up 7.92 percent to $37.73 after analysts at Canaccord Genuity upgraded the stock from “sell” to “buy.” Array BioPharma

was also up, gaining 7.23 percent to $4.60 after analysts at Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock from “neutral” to “overweight.”

Idenix Pharmaceuticals

shares tumbled 19.35 percent to $3.71 after the company lost its first phase of a patent dispute with Gilead Sciences

. BlackBerry

was also down, falling 4.23 percent to $14.28 after analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from “buy” to “neutral.” Shares of VirnetX Holding

were down as well, dropping 8.37 percent to $20.06 after a rumor of an Apple

appeal from its litigation last week.

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.23 percent to $94.86, while gold traded down 0.63 percent to $1,596.10. Silver traded up 0.31 percent Monday to $28.83, while copper fell 0.43 percent to $3.45.

European shares were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index tumbled 1.88 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index dropped 2.09 percent. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.03 percent, London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.12 percent, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.80 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.22 percent.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index climbed to +0.44 in February, versus a revised reading of -0.49 in January. The Dallas Fed general business activity index surged to 7.4 in March, versus 2.2 in February. New York Fed President William Dudley is set to speak at the Economic Club of New York and Chairman Ben Bernanke is set to speak alongside Bank of England Governor Mervyn King at the London School of Economics on lessons learned from the crisis.