Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Trade Up as Bank of America Shares Remain Down

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.83 percent to 16,397.79 while the NASDAQ jumped 0.92 percent to 4,071.51. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.82 percent to 1,858.04.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Industrials sector surged 0.85 percent, saw Arrowhead Research (NASDAQ: ARWR) as the top gainer. Meanwhile, other gainers in the sector included ION Geophysical (NYSE: IO), with shares up 6.1 percent, and China Distance Education Holdings (NYSE: DL), with shares up 5 percent. In trading on Wednesday, technology shares gained by just 0.28 percent.

Top decliners in the sector included ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ: ASML), off 5 percent, and ADTRAN (NASDAQ: ADTN), down 6.3 percent.

Top Headline
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) reported a net loss in the first quarter. Bank of America posted a quarterly net loss of $276 million, or $0.05 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $1.5 billion, or $0.10 per share. The results include a pretax litigation expense of $6 billion, or around $0.40 per share after tax.

Its total net revenue slipped to $22.77 billion versus $23.41 billion, while revenue net of interest expense fell to $22.57 billion versus $23.20 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.05 per share on revenue of $22.32 billion.

Equities Trading UP
SodaStream International (NASDAQ: SODA) shares shot up 8.52 percent to $40.90. Calcalist reported that the company is in talks to sell its 10% to 16% stake to Pepsi, Dr. Pepper Snapple or Starbucks.

Shares of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) got a boost, shooting up 6.17 percent to $36.32 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter results. Yahoo reported its adjusted earnings of $0.38 per share on revenue of $1.09 billion. However, analysts were estimating a profit of $0.37 per share on revenue of $1.08 billion. Wells Fargo upgraded Yahoo! from Market Perform to Outperform.

CBS Outdoor (NYSE: CBSO) was also up, gaining 5.65 percent to $30.66 following a favorable ruling from the IRS that the company was indeed a REIT.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ: ASML) were down 3.39 percent to $82.22 after the company reported a rise in its first-quarter net profit and lowered its first-half forecast.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was down, falling 2.24 percent to $16.02 after the bank reported a net loss in the first quarter. Bank of America posted a quarterly net loss of $276 million, or $0.05 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $1.5 billion, or $0.10 per share.

NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) was also down, dropping 2.28 percent to $36.14 after UBS released a bearish report on the company.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.04 percent to $103.71, while gold traded up 0.18 percent to $1,302.40.

Silver traded up 0.13 percent Wednesday to $19.65, while copper fell 0.61 percent to $3.03.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.58 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index jumped 3.44 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 1.56 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 1.39 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.70 percent.

Economics
US housing starts gained 2.8% to an annual rate of 946,000 in March, versus an original estimate of a rate of 907,000 in February. However, economists were expecting a rate of 970,000.

The MBA reported that its index of mortgage application activity gained 4.30% in the week ended April 11.

US industrial production rose 0.70% in March, versus economists' expectations for a 0.50% gain.

Crude stockpiles rose 10 million barrels for the week ended April 11, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 2.4 million barrels.

The Federal Reserve will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.