Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Herbalife Falls Despite Bill Ackman Modifying His Short Position; Shooting in Capital Dominates Headlines

Toward the end trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.80 percent to 15,013.75 while the NASDAQ declined 1.03 percent to 3,775.44. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.81 percent to 1,680.78. Top Headline
Constellation Brands STZ reported a better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter profit. Constellation's quarterly profit surged to $1.522 billion, or $7.74 per share, from $124.6 million, or $0.71 per share, in the year-ago period. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.96 per share in the quarter. Its net sales rose to $1.46 billion from $698.5 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.88 per share on sales of $1.53 billion. Constellation now projects FY14 adjusted earnings of $2.80 to $3.10 per share. Equities Trading UP
CalAmp CAMP shot up 14.13 percent to $21.33 after the company reported upbeat fiscal second-quarter results. Shares of HomeAway AWAY was up as well, gaining 8.69 percent to $29.88 on speculation of takeover talks with Priceline.com PCLN. ICG Group ICGE was also up, gaining 9.77 percent to $15.39 after the company announced the sale of Procurian to Accenture plc ACN for $375 million in cash. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Clean Energy Fuels CLNE were down 5.44 percent to $13.04. The company reported that it will be the first company to commercially distribute a transportation fuel made from waste. Herbalife HLF was also down, falling 6.85 percent to $68.08 despite the New York Post reporting that Bill Ackman had converted 40% of his short position to put options. Imax IMAX was down, falling 8.38 percent to $26.02 after Cormark Securities downgraded the stock from Market Perform to Reduce. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.90 percent to $103.16, while gold traded down 0.26 percent to $1,317.70. Silver traded up 0.06 percent Thursday to $21.74, while copper fell 1.40 percent to $3.26. Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.61 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.44 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.44 percent and the French CAC 40 fell 0.73 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.06 percent. Economics
US initial claims rose by 1,000 to 308,000 in the week ended September 28. However, economists were projecting claims to increase to 313,000 last week. The Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index declined to -29.40 for the week ended September 29, versus a prior reading of -28.10. The ISM non-manufacturing index dropped to 54.40 in September, from a prior reading of 58.60. However, economists were expecting a reading of 57.00. Natural-gas supplies increased 101 billion cubic feet for the week ended September 27, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting an increase of 98 billion cubic feet. Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.