Benzinga Mid-Afternoon Market Update

Towards the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.17 percent to 13,080.49 while the NASDAQ fell 0.23 percent to 2,983.60. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.27 percent to 1,409.29. As a heads up for the week, we have now entered the most busy period of earnings season, so watch for some serious price action. Top Headline The Defense sector proved itself in a major way this morning, as both Lockheed Martin LMT and Boeing BA posted solid earnings beats in revenue and EPS. While the threat of defence cuts looms, both companies show no signs of weakness as they provided strong guidance for the fourth-quarter. Equities Trading UP Facebook FB remained up 18.67 percent at $23.14 after the company posted an EPS miss, but a revenue beat after the close yesterday. Monster Beverage MNST posted a 15.56 percent rally to $47.47 Wednesday after the company released a statement underlining the safety of its products. Shares Silicon laboratories SLAB rose 14.21 percent to $41.24 following positive third-quarter earnings report. Equities Trading DOWN Tempur Pedic TPX remained down 19.86 percent at $25.54 after the company posted lower than expected revenue guidance after the close yesterday. iRobot IRBT fell 18.78 percent to $18.39 following the release of lower guidance than expected after the market close Tuesday. Shares of Netflix NFLX regained some of its losses, be was still down 11.89 percent to $60.11 after Jeffries and BMO capital markets lowered their price targets on the company. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 0.48 percent to $88.30, while gold traded down 0.37 percent to $1,703.00. Silver traded down 0.05 percent Wednesday to $31.74. Euro Zone The European Central Bank's Mario Draghi made a strong defence for the ECB's bond buying program this morning, telling German politicians that their fears that the program would spur inflation would not come to fruition. There was also some confusion in Greece as the Greek Finance Minister announced the Troika had agreed to extend the Greek bailout, while German lawmakers said the opposite. As a result, European markets managed to post a rally. Economics In economic news, MBA mortgage applications were -12.0 percent, well below the prior figure of -4.2 percent. New home sales came in at 389 thousand, slightly above the expected 385 thousand and the previous figure of 368 thousand. New home Sales month over month came in at 5.7 percent, far above the expected 3.2 percent and the previous number of -1.3 percent. Also, the FOMC decided to keep interest rates at 0.25 percent, equal to projections and the prior level.