Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Walter Energy Soars as Sherwin-Williams Falls on Earnings

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.49 percent to 15,546.37 while the NASDAQ gained 0.08 percent to 3,612.04. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.49 percent to 1,689.19. Top Headline
Morgan Stanley MS reported a rise in its second-quarter profit. Morgan Stanley's quarterly profit surged to $980 million, or $0.41 per share, from $591 million, or $0.29 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time items, the bank earned $0.45 per share. Its total net revenue rose to $8.5 billion from $6.9 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.43 per share on revenue of $7.89 billion. Morgan Stanley's equity sales and trading net revenue surged to $1.8 billion from $1.3 billion. Equities Trading UP
SUPERVALU SVU shot up 16.99 percent to $7.92 after the company reported upbeat quarterly profit. Shares of Walter Energy WLT traded up 9.07 percent to $13.59 despite there being seemingly no relevant headlines on the company. Overstock.com OSTK was also up, gaining 21.38 percent to $34.67 on Q2 results. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Select Comfort SCSS were down 9.43 percent to $24.06 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results. Sherwin-Williams SHW also took a hit, falling 7.69 percent to $169.11 after the company posted a poor earnings report this morning. Fairchild Semiconductor International FCS shares tumbled 10.12 percent to $12.87 on weaker-than-expected Q2 earnings. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.36 percent to $107.93, while gold traded up 0.47 percent to $1,283.50. Silver traded up 0.71 percent Thursday to $19.48, while copper rose 0.08 percent to $3.13. Eurozone
European shares were higher following the positive British retail sales data and bond auctions from France and Spain. British retail sales rose in line with estimate in June, gaining 0.2 percent in the month. However, the year-over-year figure was strong, showing 2.1 percent growth vs. an expected gain of 1.7 percent while May's year over year figure was revised higher to show 2.1 percent growth vs. the previous estimate of 1.9 percent. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.85 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index gained 2.28 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 1 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 1.44 percent while U.K. shares surged 0.95 percent. Economics
US jobless claims fell 24,000 to 334,000 in the week that ended July 13. Economists were expecting initial claims to decline to 341,000. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index rose to 19.80 in July, versus a prior reading of 12.50. However, economists were expecting a reading of 8.00. US leading economic index came in unchanged in June, versus a growth of 0.2% in May. However, economists were projecting the leading economic index to rise 0.3%. Natural-gas supplies rose by 58 cubic billion cubic feet in the last week, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting an increase between 66 billion cubic feet and 70 billion cubic feet.