Mid-Day Market Update: HomeAway Gains On Acquisition News; FireEye Shares Drop

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.31 percent to 17,922.59 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.19 percent to 5,153.27. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.28 percent to 2,108.12.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares jumped by 0.31 percent. Top gainers in the sector included

, up 23 percent, and

, up 18 percent. Basic materials shares declined around 1.14 percent in Thursday's trading. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included

, down 11 percent, and

, off 9 percent.

reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter on Wednesday. The Menlo Park, California-based company reported quarterly net income of $896 million, or $0.31 per share, compared to $806 million, or $0.30 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.57 per share. Its revenue climbed to $4.50 billion from $3.20 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.52 per share on revenue of $4.37 billion.

shares shot up 23 percent to $39.25 after

announced its plans to acquire HomeAway for around $3.9 billion in cash and stock. Shares of

got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $66.01 after the company reported upbeat Q4 earnings.

shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $21.15 after the company reported upbeat quarterly results.

shares tumbled 28 percent to $3.79. Castlight Health reported a Q3 loss of $0.17 per share on revenue of $19.5 million. Shares of

were down 24 percent to $16.53 after the company reported a wider-than-expected Q3 loss.

was down, falling 23 percent to $22.55. FireEye reported a Q3 loss of $0.37 per share on revenue of $165.6 million. FBR Capital downgraded FireEye from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered the price target from $53.00 to $28.00.

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.60 percent to $46.04, while gold traded down 0.12 percent to $1,104.90. Silver traded down 0.42 percent Thursday to $15.00, while copper fell 2.45 percent to $2.27.

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 0.23 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.26 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.10 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.64 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.87 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.36 percent.

US jobless claims rose 16,000 to 276,000 in the week ended October 31, 2015. However, economists were projecting claims to reach 262,000 in the week. U.S. nonfarm productivity increased at an annual pace of 1.6 percent in the third quarter, versus economists' expectations for a 0.2 percent decline.