Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Sprint Rises on News it Has the Financing to Acquire T-Mobile

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.07 percent to 15,457.62 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.37 percent to 4,016.13. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.14 percent to 1,752.35.

Top Headline
Time Warner TWX reported a 12% drop in its fourth-quarter profit. Time Warner's quarterly profit fell to $983 million, or $1.06 per share, from a year-ago profit of $1.11 billion, or $1.15 per share. Excluding one-time items, its earnings climbed to $1.17 per share from $1.16 per share. Its revenue climbed 4.9% to $8.57 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.15 per share on revenue of $8.39 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Sprint S was up on Wednesday's session, gaining 11.10 percent to $8.70 after the company reportedly secured financing to acquire T-Mobile TMUS.

Shares of Myriad Genetics MYGN got a boost, shooting up 15.63 percent to $31.42 after the company reported upbeat fiscal second-quarter results and lifted its revenue outlook for the year. Myriad also bought Crescendo Bioscience for $270 million.

Level 3 Communications LVLT was also up, gaining 9.52 percent to $34.39 on Q4 results.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of 3D Systems DDD were down 14.04 percent to $65.14 after the company lowered its quarterly earnings outlook.

Extreme Networks EXTR shares tumbled 15.38 percent to $5.96 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results and issued a weak Q3 profit forecast.

Bill Barrett BBG was also down, falling 16.07 percent to $23.24 after the company lowered its guidance after the close Tuesday.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.16 percent to $97.35, while gold traded up 0.59 percent to $1,258.60.

Silver traded up 2.12 percent Wednesday to $19.91, while copper fell 0.08 percent to $3.19.

Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.21 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.26 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX tumbled 0.13 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 0.01 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.13 percent.

Economics
The MBA reported that its index of mortgage application activity rose 0.4% in week ended January 31.

U.S. private sector employers added 175,000 jobs in January, Automatic Data Processing said. However, economists were expecting an addition of 185,000 jobs in the month.

The ISM non-manufacturing composite index rose to 54.00 in January, versus a prior reading of 53.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 53.70.

Crude oil supplies climbed 400,000 barrels for the week ended January 31, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 1.5 million barrels.

Gasoline supplies increased 500,000 barrels, while distillate supplies declined 2.4 million barrels in the same period.