Benzinga Mid-Afternoon Market Update

Towards the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.08 percent to 13,117.47 while the NASDAQ fell 0.34 percent to 2,977.86. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.14 percent to 1,413.93. Top Headline Trading resumed on the NASDAQ, NYSE, and other major US exchanges Wednesday after having been suspended for 2 days by the effects of hurricane Sandy. While we're happy to see the markets open again, we here at Benzinga wanted to say that what is more important is that everyone hopefully ended up safe. To those still suffering the effects of the storm, the 8.2 million or so buildings without electricity, we wish the best. Equities Trading UP Warnaco Group WRC remained up 38.29 percent to $70.36 after it was announced that PVH would acquire the company for $2.9 billion in cash. Schiff Nutrition International SHF settled a bit, up 45.86 percent at $33.83 after Bayer announced it would acquire the company for $1.2 billion. Shares of Netflix NFLX shot up over 20 percent, consolidated their gains around 12 percent at $78.50 following a series of circuit breakers. The spike was a result of Carl Ichan's announcement that he owned nearly 10 percent of the company, and sought to push it towards acquisition. Equities Trading DOWN Western Union WU remained down 28.56 percent on massive volume to $12.81 after a downgrade at D.A. Davidson Wednesday morning. Riverbed Technology RVBD also remained at a low, down 18.92 percent at $18.34 following a pair of downgrades at Jefferies & Co and Wunderlich Securities. Shares Vringo VRNG fell as much as 45 percent, but calmed down around 35 percent at $2.56 after word got out that the company had lost its case against Google GOOG Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.61 percent to $88.71, while gold traded up 0.55 percent to $1,721.50. Silver traded up 0.43 percent Wednesday to $32.25. Eurozone In the eurozone, markets were up across the board as Greece prepares its budget. German chancellor Angela Merkel came out making some comments, saying the eurozone could use a dynamic economy like that of Turkey's, hinting at the possibility of Turkey joining the EU in the near future. Economics In economic news, the employment cost index came in at 0.4 percent, slightly below the expected reading and previous figure of 0.5%. MBA Mortgage Applications were reported as well, coming in at -4.8 percent, well above the prior figure of -12.0 percent. The Chicago PMI was also reported, coming in at 49.9, below the expected 51, and slightly above the previous report of 49.7.