Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.15 percent to 16,657.51 while the NASDAQ surged 0.34 percent to 4,239.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.23 percent to 1,914.19.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in trading on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included The Hillshire Brands Company (NYSE: HSH), up 15.3 percent, and Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN), up 5.7 percent.
In trading on Thursday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.05 percent. Top losers in the sector included Korea Electric Power (NYSE: KEP), down 3.1 percent, and Consolidated Water Co (NASDAQ: CWCO), off 1.8 percent.

Top Headline
On Wednesday, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced that it will be buying Beats Electronics and Beats Music for $3 billion, making it the largest acquisition in the company’s history.
Apple is acquiring the two companies for a total of $3 billion, consisting of a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time.
Equities Trading UP
The Hillshire Brands Company (NYSE: HSH) shares shot up 15.43 percent to $51.73 following the announcement of $50.00 per share bid from Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN).
Shares of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (NASDAQ: PLKI) got a boost, shooting up 10.65 percent to $42.13 after the company reported upbeat Q1 results and raised its FY14 earnings forecast.
Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) shares were also up, gaining 10.27 percent to $76.65 after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter results and said it settled patent dispute with Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR).

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Fabrinet (NYSE: FN) were 6.44 percent to $18.31 after the company priced a secondary offering by selling shareholder of 3.15 million shares.
Fred's (NASDAQ: FRED) shares tumbled 5.51 percent to $15.12 after the company reported weak Q2 earnings and lowered its FY14 earnings outlook.
RCS Capital (NYSE: RCAP) was down, falling 7.11 percent to $27.63 after the company 4:37 announced a proposed public offering of 15 million shares of Class A common stock.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.26 percent to $102.99, while gold traded down 0.40 percent to $1,254.60.
Silver traded down 0.97 percent Thursday to $18.88, while copper fell 0.91 percent to $3.14.

Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today.

The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.01 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.26 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index tumbled 0.63 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.02 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.13 percent while UK shares rose 0.30 percent.

Economics
The US economy shrank 1% in the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5% decline.

US exports dropped 6%, while imports increased 0.7%.
US jobless claims declined 27,000 to 300,000 in the week ended May 24. However, economists were projecting claims to reach 318,000 in the week.

The pending home sales index increased 0.4% to reach 97.8 in April versus 97.4 in March, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6 month bills.
Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.