Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Rally Ahead of Fed Announcement Tomorrow; MannKind Drops

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.97 percent to 15,327.18 while the NASDAQ surged 0.94 percent to 3,484.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.83 percent to 1,652.81.

FactSet Research Systems

reported an 11% rise in its fiscal third-quarter earnings. FactSet's quarterly profit surged to $53.4 million, or $1.20 per share, versus $48 million, or $1.05 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, its adjusted earnings came in at $1.15 per share in the recent period. Its revenue rose 6.1% to $214.6 million. FactSet in March had expected earnings of $1.14 to $1.16 per share on revenue of $213 million to $216 million. FactSet's operating margin narrowed to 33.4% from 33.9%. For the current quarter, FactSet expects earnings of $1.18 and $1.21 per share on revenue of $218 million to $221 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.18 per share on revenue of $220 million.

Walter Energy

shot up 17.68 percent to $13.77 after Morgan Stanley defended the stock Monday evening, sending traders to the bullish side. Shares of FLIR Systems

got a boost, shooting up 6.27 percent to $26.51 after Raymond James upgraded the stock from “market perform” to “strong buy.” United Rentals

was also up, gaining 5.41 percent to $51.83 despite seemingly little news on today's session.

Ship Finance International

was down, falling 5.84 percent to $16.30 after the company priced its public offering. MannKind

was down as well, dropping 12.20 percent to $6.62 after a bullish Seeking Alpha article was written about a competing producer of diabetes treatments. Shares of John Wiley & Sons

tumbled 5.02 percent to $39.37 after the company reported an 84% drop in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.49 percent to $97.87, while gold traded down 1.22 percent to $1,366.70. Silver traded down 0.79 percent Tuesday to $21.70, while copper fell 1.39 percent to $3.15.

European shares were mostly higher today. The German ZEW Economic Sentiment Index rose to 38.5, beating expectations of a reading of 38.1 and better than the prior 36.4. European car sales fell to a 20-year low in May as new car registrations fell to 1.08 million from 1.15 million a year ago. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.54 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index gained 0.02 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.17 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.08 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.69 percent.

US housing starts rose 6.8% to an annual rate of 914,000 in May, versus a previous estimate of 853,000 in April. However, economists were expecting starts to rise to 953,000 in May. US consumer prices increased 0.1% in May, while the core CPI gained 0.2%. However, economists were projecting a 0.2% rise in the CPI and a 0.1% gain in the core CPI. The ICSC/Goldman Retail Chain Store Sales Index increased 0.3% in the recent week ended Saturday versus the prior week. The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.4% for the first two weeks of June versus May. The Federal Open Market Committee begins its 2-day meeting today