Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Microsoft Falls; Home Depot Sees a Boost

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.22 percent to 12,843.46 while the NASDAQ fell 0.43 percent to 2,891.72 The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.11 percent to 1,378.52.Top HeadlineIn a surprise move after the close Monday, Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Live president Steven Sinofsky announced he would be leaving the company. While both Sinofsky and Microsoft had nothing but good things to say about one and other, investors were shaken by the departure of the lead behind the Windows 8 project shortly after its launch. The news lead to a 3.20 percent drop in Microsoft's share price Tuesday morning.Equities Trading UPThe Home Depot (NYSE: HD) saw a 4.68 percent boost to $64.03 following an earnings beat before the market opening Tuesday.Shares of Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS) saw a boost as well, rising 3.93 percent to $52.57 after posting an earnings beat, despite releasing lower guidance than expected by analysts.Halcon Resources (NYSE: HK) rallied 8.64 percent to $5.85 after the company filed a series of SEC form 4's on Monday.Equities Trading DOWNWeatherford International (NYSE: WFT) fell 11.76 percent to $9.60 after the company announced it would have to refile its first-quarter earnings statement and missed on revenue after the close Monday.AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) was also down, dropping 10.26 percent to $4.90 after the company announced $475 million in new debt offerings and a 25 million share common stock offering before the market opening Tuesday. The debt offering, which nearly matches the $545.4 million market cap of the company clearly worried investors.Shares of Tronox (NYSE: TROX) fell 19.07 percent following the market opening to $15.15 following a very poor earnings report after the close Monday.CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded down 0.89 percent to $84.80, while gold traded down 0.23 percent to $1,727.00.Silver traded up 0.09 percent Monday to $32.62.EurozoneEuropean markets traded down Tuesday morning as the EU and IMF renewed their struggle over details of the Greek bailout.The Euro got a slight boost Tuesday morning after a German newspaper reported that the German government was currently at work on at EU44B aid package to cover Greece for the remainder of the year.EconomicsIn economic news Tuesday morning, the NFIB small business optimism came in at 93.1, slightly above the expected 93.0 and the prior report of 92.8.IBD/TIPP economic optimism came in at 48.6, well below the expected 53.8 and the previous figure of 54.0.The monthly budget statement will be announced at 2:00 PM EST, so stay tuned to Benzinga for an up to the second release once the data is available.