Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Falling as the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference Continues to Make Waves

Toward the end of through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.15 percent to 16,442.67 while the NASDAQ declined 0.62 percent to 4,292.01. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.46 percent to 1,837.54.

Top Headline
General Electric Co (NYSE: GE) reported a rise in its fourth quarter profit.

GE's quarterly net earnings climbed to $4.2 billion, or $0.41 per share, versus $4.01 billion, or $0.38 per share, in the year-ago period. Its operating earnings surged to $5.4 billion, or $0.53 per share.

Its revenue jumped 3% to $40.38 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.53 per share on revenue of $40.27 billion. GE's industrial segment profit jumped 12% to $5.5 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Shares of NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD) got a boost, shooting up 23.02 percent to $2.95 after the company announced an agreement with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to bring iPhone to its Nextel Brazil operations.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) shot up 11.68 percent to $24.06 after CRT Capital initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $26.00 price target.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IDIX) was also up, gaining a staggering 18.27 percent to $8.08 after the company presented at JP Morgan's annual healthcare conference Wednesday, which has created significant buzz in the pharma sector this week.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Silver Spring Networks (NYSE: SSNI) were down 23.66 percent to $17.91 after the company issued downbeat Q4 forecast. Credit Suisse downgraded the stock from Outperform to Neutral and cut the price target from $26.00 to $23.00.

Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) shares continued to get hammered on Friday's session, falling 8.82 percent to $24.45 after UBS downgraded the stock to a Neutral rating early in the session.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was down, falling 3.56 percent to $25.59 after the company reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter results.Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.32 percent to $94.40, while gold traded up 0.94 percent to $1,251.90.

Silver traded up 1.08 percent Friday to $20.32, while copper rose 0.06 percent to $3.34.Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.07 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.29 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.24 percent and the French CAC 40 surged 0.20 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.12 percent.

Economics
U.S. housing starts dropped 9.8% to an annual rate of 999,000 in December. However, economists were expecting housing starts to drop to 985,000 in the month.

U.S. industrial production climbed 0.3% in December, versus economists' expectations for a 0.3% rise.

The preliminary reading of the Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 80.40 in January, versus a prior reading of 82.50. However, economists were expecting a reading of 83.50.