Mid-Day Market Update: Potbelly Shares Surge On Upbeat Profit; Safe Bulkers Falls

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.34 percent to 15,696.73 while the NASDAQ gained 0.07 percent to 3,922.48. The S&P also fell, declining 0.08 percent to 1,766.34.

Top Headline
Macy's M reported a rise in its third-quarter profit.

Macy's quarterly profit surged to $177 million, or $0.47 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $145 million, or $0.36 per share.

Its sales climbed 3.3 percent to $6.28 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.39 per share on sales of $6.18 billion. Its same-store sales increased 3.5 percent, beating analysts' expectations for a 2.1 percent rise.

Equities Trading UP

Potbelly

PBPB

shot up 13.72 percent to $30.77 after the company reported an upbeat Q3 profit.

Shares of E-House (China) Holdings EJ got a boost, shooting up 7.63 percent to $10.78 after the company reported Q3 results.

SINA

was also up, gaining 12.98 percent to $85.76 after the company reported a

strong rise

in its Q3 profit.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Safe Bulkers SB were down 6.99 percent to $7.58 after the company priced 6 million shares at $7.43 per share.

Frank's International NV

shares tumbled 12.40 percent to $25.86 on Q3 results.

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes GOL was down, falling 6.31 percent to $4.0850 after the company posted a loss in the third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news,

oil traded up 1.33 percent

to $94.28, while gold traded up 0.28 percent to $1,274.70.

Silver traded down 0.57 percent Wednesday to $20.66, while copper fell 2.33 percent to $3.16.

Eurozone

European shares

were lower

today. The Spanish Ibex Index tumbled 0.36 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 1.28 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.32 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.53 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.19 percent.

Economics
The MBA's index of mortgage application activity declined 1.80 percent in the week ending November 8.

The Treasury budget data for October will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to speak at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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