Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Decline; Adobe Shares Gain On Cloud Subscriptions

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.37 percent to 15,472.70 while the NASDAQ declined 0.19 percent to 3,738.49. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.23 percent to 1,700.78.

FedEx

reported a

profit. FedEx's quarterly profit surged to $489 million, or $1.53 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $459 million, or $1.45 per share. Its revenue gained 2% to $11 billion from $10.8 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $1.50 per share on revenue of $11 billion.

Adobe Systems

shot up 7.56 percent to $51.78 after the company reported that its subscription revenue climbed 73% to $299.4 million and its Creative Cloud service added 331,000 paying subscribers in the same quarter. Shares of New Residential Investment

got a boost, shooting up 4.93 percent to $6.71 after the company declared a third quarter dividend of $0.175 per share. FedEx

was also up, gaining 2.72 percent to $113.69 after the company reported a rise in its fiscal first-quarter profit.

Shares of Tower Group International

were down 26.77 percent to $10.15. Tower Group announced its plans to release its Q2 results during the week of October 7, 2013. FBR Capital downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

shares tumbled 4.67 percent to $102.00 after the company

in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and issued a downbeat Q1 forecast. Five Below

down, falling 5.74 percent to $45.72 after the company announced the secondary offering of 7.1 million shares by selling shareholders.

In commodity news,

to $107.53, while gold traded down 0.73 percent to $1,299.90. Silver traded down 2.11 percent Wednesday to $21.33, while copper rose 1.54 percent to $3.27.

European shares

today. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.78 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 0.30 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.45 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.60 percent while U.K. shares dipped 0.17 percent.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its index of mortgage application activity rose 11.20% in the week ended September 13 versus the prior week. US housing starts rose 0.9% to an annual rate of 891,000 in August. However, economists were expecting housing starts to reach an annual rate of 921,000. Crude stockpiles declined 4.4 million barrels for the week ended September 13, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a fall of 1.5 million barrels. The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision and economic projections at 2:00 p.m. ET.