Mid-Day Market Update: Michael Kors Gains On Upbeat Earnings; Take-Two Shares Slip

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.59 percent to 15,464 while the NASDAQ surged 1.03 percent to 4,038. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.81 percent to 1,756.

Top Headline
Yesterday, Yum! Brands YUM reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. Yum Brands posted its quarterly profit of $321 million, or $0.70 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $337 million, or $0.72 per share. Excluding one-time items, Yum earned $0.86 per share. Its total revenue climbed 1% to $4.18 billion versus $4.15 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.79 per share on revenue of $4.26 billion. The company expected earnings per-share growth of at least 20% for 2014.

Equities Trading UP
ATMI ATMI shot up 25.51 percent to $33.80 after the company reported upbeat Q4 earnings. Entegris ENTG announced its plans to acquire ATMI. 

Shares of Furiex Pharmaceuticals FURX got a boost, shooting up 130.58 percent to $106.00 on positive top-line results from two pivotal Phase III clinical trials of eluxadoline for IBS-d.

Michael Kors Holdings KORS was also up, gaining 17.67 percent to $90.21 after the company reported upbeat Q3 earnings and issued strong FY14 outlook.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of ARM Holdings plc ARMH were down 6.92 percent to $42.64 after the company posted a loss in the fourth quarter.

Take-Two Interactive Software TTWO shares tumbled 9.39 percent to $17.13 on weak Q4 forecast. Benchmark downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold.

Dun & Bradstreet DNB was down, falling 8.75 percent to $97.14 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.95 percent to $97.35, while gold traded down 0.67 percent to $1,251.50.

Silver traded up 0.06 percent Tuesday to $19.42, while copper rose 0.36 percent to $3.20.

Eurozone
European shares were mixed today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.30 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.60 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX tumbled 0.64 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 0.24 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.25 percent.

Economics
The ICSC Goldman same store sales gained 0.3% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week.

U.S. factory orders fell 1.50% in December, versus economists' expectations for a 1.80% decline.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.2% in the first four weeks of January versus December.