Mid-Day Market Update: National Penn Bancshares Surges On Acquisition News; Vera Bradley Shares Slide

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.14 percent to 17,520.46 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.38 percent to 5,072.33. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.22 percent to 2,097.93.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Healthcare shares gained by 0.01 percent in the US market on Tuesday. Top gainers in the sector included Omeros Corporation OMER, BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. BSTC, and Magellan Health Inc MGLN.
In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares dipped by 1.03 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Century Aluminum Co CENX, down 10 percent, and Coeur Mining Inc CDE, off 8 percent.

Top Headline
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the second quarter and lowered its full-year forecast.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company posted a quarterly profit of $3.48 billion, or $1.08 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $4.09 billion, or $1.26 per share.
Its revenue rose slightly to $120.2 billion from $120.1 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.12 per share on revenue of $119.7 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Omeros Corporation OMER shares shot up 89 percent to $27.56 as the company reported additional positive data in its Phase 2 clinical trial of OMS721.

National Penn Bancshares NPBC shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $12.69 after the company agreed to be acquired by BB&T Corporation BBT for $13.00 per share.

Shares of NN, Inc. NNBR got a boost, shooting up 5 percent to $25.74 after the company announced its plans to acquire Precision Engineered Products Holdings for $615 million in cash.
Equities Trading DOWN
Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. ANW shares tumbled 18 percent to $9.24 after the company reported downbeat Q2 earnings.
Shares of Vera Bradley, Inc. VRA were down 8 percent to $10.10. Jefferies downgraded Vera Bradley from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $18.00 to $11.00.
Amira Nature Foods Ltd ANFI was down, falling 26 percent to $5.60. BMO Capital downgraded Amira Nature Foods from Outperform to Market Perform.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.96 percent to $42.27, while gold traded down 0.26 percent to $1,115.50.
Silver traded down 3.39 percent Tuesday to $14.78, while copper fell 1.74 percent to $2.28.

Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.22 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.02 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.08 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.22 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.20 percent while UK shares fell 0.22 percent.

Economics
Housing starts rose 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.21 million in July.