Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Rise; TASER Shares Drop On Downbeat Earnings

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.50 percent to 17,917.45 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.28 percent to 5,141.28. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20 percent to 2,108.17. Leading and Lagging Sectors In trading on Tuesday, energy shares jumped by 1.96 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Unit Corporation UNT, up 22 percent, and Stone Energy Corporation SGY, up 16 percent. Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares declined around 0.72 percent in Tuesday's trading. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Archer Daniels Midland Company ADM, down 9 percent, and Kellogg Company K, off 5 percent. Top Headline On Monday, Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI announced its plans to acquire King Digital Entertainment PLC KING for $5.9 billion. Activision will pay $18 per share in cash, representing a 16 percent premium to King's closing price on Monday. Equities Trading UP RetailMeNot Inc SALE shares shot up 17 percent to $10.26 after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter. Shares of Unit Corporation UNT got a boost, shooting up 22 percent to $16.65. Unit reported Q3 adjusted earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $212.4 million. Nautilus, Inc. NLS shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $19.06 after the company reported upbeat Q3 results. Equities Trading DOWN AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AMAG shares tumbled 20 percent to $32.97 on Q3 results. AMAG Pharmaceuticals reported Q3 earnings of $1.02 per share on revenue of $103.5 million. Shares of TASER International, Inc. TASR were down 14 percent to $20.59 after the company reported downbeat Q3 earnings. Avis Budget Group Inc. CAR was down, falling 14 percent to $44.85 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the third quarter and issued a weak FY15 forecast. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 2.51 percent to $47.30, while gold traded down 1.20 percent to $1,122.30. Silver traded down 0.70 percent Tuesday to $15.30, while copper fell 0.22 percent to $2.31. Eurozone European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 climbed 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.30 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dipped 0.10 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.11 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.23 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.20 percent. Economics US factory orders declined 1.00 percent in September, versus economists' expectations for a 0.90 percent drop.