Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rally, Procter & Gamble Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.94 percent to 15,645.53 while the NASDAQ surged 1.08 percent to 3,665.43. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.11 percent to 1,704.45.

Procter & Gamble Co

reported a 48% drop in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. P&G's quarterly profit fell to $1.88 billion, or $0.64 per share, from $3.63 billion, or $1.24 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, its core earnings declined to $0.79 from $0.82 per share. Its sales rose 2.2% to $20.66 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.77 per share on revenue of $20.54 billion.

Yelp

shot up 18.25 percent to $49.43 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected Q2 loss. Shares of Ctrip.com International

got a boost, shooting up 18.83 percent to $43.49 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results. Ruckus Wireless

was also up, gaining 13.30 percent to $15.08 on strong Q2 results.

Shares of Halozyme Therapeutics

were down 13.88 percent to $7.33 on VPHM update. NII Holdings

shares tumbled 5.69 percent to $6.79 on Q2 results. SunPower

was down, falling 7.15 percent to $25.67 after the company issued weak Q3 revenue outlook.

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.90 percent to $107.03, while gold traded up 0.77 percent to $1,323.10. Silver traded up 0.62 percent Thursday to $19.75, while copper rose 1.84 percent to $3.18.

European shares were higher on strong PMI data. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.84 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index surged 1.39 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 1.38 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.97 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.37 percent.

US jobless claims declined by 19,000 to 326,000 in the week ended July 27. However, economists were projecting claims to total 345,000 in the week. The final reading of the Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 53.7 in July, versus the flash reading of 53.2 and up from a reading of 51.9 in June. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to -27.00 for the week ended July 28, versus a prior reading of -27.30. The ISM manufacturing index rose to 55.40 in July, versus a prior reading of 50.90. However, economists were expecting a reading of 52.00. US construction spending dropped 0.6% to an annualized rate of $883.9 billion in June. However, economists were expecting a 0.5% rise.