Mid-Day Market Update: SYNNEX Tumbles On Weak Forecast, Signet Spikes Higher

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.30 percent to 14,570.06 while the NASDAQ gained 0.12 percent to 3,260.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.25 percent to 1,566.72.

Top Headline

BlackBerry BBRY reported a surprise profit for its fourth fiscal quarter.

BlackBerry posted a quarterly net profit of $98 million, or $0.19 per share, versus a year-ago net loss of $125 million, or $0.24 per share. Its adjusted earnings from continuing operations came in at $114 million, or $0.22 per share. However, analysts were expecting an adjusted loss of $0.30 per share.

Its quarterly revenue fell to $2.68 billion, from $2.73 billion, missing analysts' estimates of $2.84 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Signet Jewelers SIG shot up 6.75 percent to $67.54 after the company reported upbeat Q4 results.

Shares of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company NV CBI got a boost, shooting up 5.37 percent to $62.18 after the company expects FY13 earnings of $4.00 to $4.35 per share.

Deckers Outdoor DECK was also up, gaining 7.31 percent to $56.36 after Jefferies raised price target on the stock from $65 to $100.

Equities Trading DOWN
SYNNEX SNX shares tumbled 9.10 percent to $37.16 after the company issued weak Q2 earnings forecast.

Aegion AEGN was also down, falling 8.06 percent to $22.71 after the company issued downbeat Q1 earnings view.

Shares of Southcross Energy Partners LP SXE were down 14.57 percent to $22.00 after the company reported Q4 results.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.26 percent to $96.83, while gold traded down 0.50 percent to $1,599.10.

Silver traded down 0.58 percent Thursday to $28.45, while copper fell 0.19 percent to $3.44.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today. German retail sales in February rose faster than expected, gaining 0.4 percent vs. an expected decline of 1.0 percent. However, sales rose slower than the 3.1 percent rate in January.

The Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.55 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index rose 0.46 percent. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.71 percent, London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.69 percent, French CAC 40 Index surged 0.80 percent and German DAX 30 index gained 0.28 percent.

Economics
US weekly jobless claims climbed 16,000 to 357,000 in the latest week ended March 23. However, economists were expecting initial jobless claims to increase to 339,000, versus an original estimate of 336,000 in the earlier week.

US fourth-quarter GDP rose 0.4% in the fourth quarter, versus the previous estimate of a 0.1% rise. Aftertax corporate profits rose 3.3% in the quarter.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell to minus 34.4 in the latest week ended March 24, versus minus 33.9 in the previous period.

Chicago PMI fell 4.4 percentage points to 52.4% in March, missing economists' estimates of 56.4%.

Natural gas supplies dropped 95 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 22, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a fall between 83 billion cubic feet and 87 billion cubic feet.