Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise; Ford Profit Tops Street View

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.27 percent to 15,454.55 while the NASDAQ surged 0.11 percent to 3,911.52. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.02 percent to 1,746.69. Top Headline
Ford Motor Co F reported an upbeat third-quarter profit. Ford's quarterly profit declined to $1.3 billion, or $0.31 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $1.6 billion, or $0.41 per share. Excluding one-time items, its pretax profit climbed to $0.45 from $0.40 per share.

Its revenue gained to $36.0 billion from $32.1 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.37 per share on revenue of $33.8 billion. For the full year, Ford now projects pretax profit to be higher than its profit in 2012.

Equities Trading UP
NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI shot up 9.05 percent to $39.29 after the company reported upbeat third-quarter earnings. Shares of McKesson MCK got a boost, shooting up 7.32 percent to $153.52 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results. McKesson also agreed to buy Celesio for $8.3 billion. Agnico Eagle Mines AEM was also up, gaining 12.41 percent to $29.07 after the company reported strong Q3 results and lifted its production forecast. Analysts at BMO Capital upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Fusion-io FIO were down 22.77 percent to $10.03 after the company posted a FQ1 loss and issued a weak revenue forecast for the current quarter. JP Morgan downgraded the stock from Neutral to Underweight. Symantec SYMC shares tumbled 14.78 percent to $20.98 after the company lowered its full-year view. Novadaq Technologies NVDQ was down, falling 10.71 percent to $16.72 after the company announced a public offering of common shares.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.69 percent to $96.19, while gold traded up 0.58 percent to $1,341.80. Silver traded up 0.48 percent Thursday to $22.73, while copper fell 0.40 percent to $3.25.

Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.54 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.46 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.61 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.18 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.57 percent. Economics
US jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 350,000 in the week ended October 19. However, economists were projecting claims to drop to 340,000. The US trade deficit increased to $38.8 billion in August, versus a revised $38.6 billion in the previous month. However, economists were expecting the deficit to widen to $39.4 billion.

The preliminary reading of the Markit flash manufacturing PMI fell to 51.1 in October, versus a reading of 52.8 in September. However, economists were expecting a reading of 52.5.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index declined to -36.10 for the week ended October 20, versus a prior reading of -34.10.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills. The Treasury will also auction 2-year, 5-year and 7-year notes. Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.