Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Walter Energy on the Rise as Gold Rallies

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 15,076.76 while the NASDAQ rose 0.28 percent to 3,406.09. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22 percent to 1,629.87.

AOL

reported a 23% rise in its first-quarter profit. AOL's quarterly profit surged to $25.9 million, or $0.32 per share, versus $21.1 million, or $0.22 per share, in the year-ago period. Its adjusted operating income came in at $105.3 million. Its revenue climbed to $538.3 million from $529.4 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.44 per share on revenue of $541 million.

WebMD Health

shot up at the open, but has settled since then, remaining up 10.94 percent to $28.30 on its Q1 results. Shares of Electronic Arts

also got a boost, shooting up 14.92 percent to $21.16 on strong full-year forecast. Walter Energy

was up as well, gaining 13.01 percent to $18.98 following an insider buy of 28.5K shares and a meeting between electric utility companies and the President this afternoon.

Fusion-io

was down, falling 21/17 percent to $14.19 after resignations of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. Shares of ValueClick

were down 16.86 percent to $26.39 after the company issued weak Q2 revenue view. Axiall

shares tumbled 16.45 percent to $47.22 on downbeat Q1 results.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.99 percent to $96.57, while gold traded up 1.70 percent to $1,473.60. Silver traded down 0.35 percent Wednesday to $23.88, while copper rose 1.77 percent to $3.36.

European shares were higher following continued earnings momentum globally as well as following the positive sentiment from Asia on the back of the Chinese trade data. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.62 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index gained 0.78 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX added 0.83 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.89 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.40 percent.

The MBA reported that its index of mortgage application activity gained 7 percent in the week ended May 3. Crude supplies surged 200,000 barrels for the week ended May 3, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were projecting a 1.9 million-barrel rise. The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes.