Mid-Day Market Update: Markets Extend Losses, Mattress Firm Surges On Earnings Beat

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.76 percent to 15,062.00, while the NASDAQ fell 0.82 percent to 3,417.18. The S&P was also down, dropping 0.84 percent to 1,617.64.

Brown-Forman

reported an 8% rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit. Brown-Forman's quarterly profit surged to $113 million, or $0.52 per share, versus $105 million, or $0.49 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue climbed 8% to $866 million from $801 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.46 per share on revenue of $801 million. Brown-Forman projects fiscal 2014 earnings of $2.80 to $3.00 per share.

Avanir Pharmaceuticals

shot up, gaining 10.53 percent to $3.73, after the FDA agreed to an expedited development pathway for AVP-786. Mattress Firm Holding

was also up 6.39 percent to $39.96 after the company reported upbeat fiscal first-quarter results. Cyberonics

got a boost, shooting up 6.22 percent to $50.63 after the company reported an 8.1% rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings.

Mechel OAO

was down, falling 4.07 percent to $2.83 after the company signed a coking coal supply agreement with Shasteel Group. Thermon Group Holdings

shares tumbled 4.91 percent to $19.74 on downbeat Q4 results. Giant Interactive Group

was down 9.18 percent to $7.72 after the company announced secondary offering of 15,137,853 American Depositary Shares by selling shareholders.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.68 percent to $93.94, while gold gained 0.61 percent to $1,405.60. Silver traded up 0.99 percent Wednesday to $22.63, while copper rose 0.33 percent to $3.38.

European shares were lower today. Eurozone first quarter GDP contracted 0.2 percent, in line with expectations, however the annualized rate fell 1.1 percent vs. an expected drop of 1.0 percent. eurozone retail sales were also a poor print this morning as April retail sales declined 0.5 percent from March on expectations of a decline of 0.1 percent. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.80 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.75 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.99 percent and the French CAC 40 tumbled 1.71 percent while U.K. shares dropped 1.86 percent.

The MBA index of mortgage application activity declined 11.5% in the latest week, versus a fall of 8.8% for the prior week. The US economy added 135,000 jobs in May, according to Automatic Data Processing. However, economists were projecting a gain of 170,000 jobs. Productivity increased 0.5% in the first quarter, matching economists' estimates. Hourly compensation declined 3.8% in the quarter. The ISM non-manufacturing index rose to 53.70 in May, versus a reading of 53.10 in April. However, economists were expecting a reading of 53.50. Factory orders rose 1.00% in April. However, economists were expecting factory orders to rise 1.50%. US crude oil inventories fell by 6.30 million barrels to 391.30 million barrels during the week ended May 31, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were projecting oil inventories to drop 800,000 barrels last week. The Federal Reserve will also release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.