Mid-Day Market Update: Monster Worldwide Continues to Rise While Markets Fall

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.42 percent to 12,877.82 while the NASDAQ fell 0.74 percent to 2,915.64. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.57 percent to 1,386.52.

McDonald's

shocked some investors this morning after the company announced that its global comp sales had declined 1.8 percent, with US and European comps falling 2.2 percent. The announcement caused McDonald's shares to fall roughly one percent in early trading.

Whiting Petroleum

saw an early boost and a subsequent drop, remaining up 2.54 percent to $43.11 on renewed chatter that Statoil

had offered $65 per share for the company. Following the rumour, Statoil came out denying the rumour, causing the subsequent drop. Stay tuned to Benzinga for more up to the second news on the possible deal. Monster Worldwide

continued to rally, rising 17.34 percent to $6.70 after the company reported an earnings beat Thursday morning and was reported to be seeking the sale of ChinaHR as part of its restructuring. Shares of Sapient

also rose, trading up 16.77 percent, to $11.56 following a strong earnings beat after the close Wednesday.

Universal Display

dropped 18.42 percent to $22.99 following a downgrade at Wedbush Securities. Shares of The Babcock & Wilcox Company

fell 11.92 percent to $23.12 following an earnings miss after the close Wednesday. Genomic Health

was also down, falling 13.36 percent to $27.62 despite an earnings beat after the close Wednesday.

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.09 percent to $85.36, while gold traded up 0.48 percent to $1,726.60. Silver traded down 0.07 percent Thursday to $32.10.

In the eurozone, amid sweeping violent protests, Greece passed its latest round of austerity measures, securing a new round of bailout money for the ailing country. The ECB also made headlines, deciding to leave rates unchanged, despite hints from some economists that they may be coming down. Following the decision, ECB president Mario Draghi made some comments about the expected near future performance of the euro zone economy, and the message was bleak. Following in the footsteps of the ECB, the Bank of England also decided to hold rates flat.

In economic news, initial jobless claims were reported at 355 thousand, below the forecasted 370 thousand and the prior figure of 363 thousand, while continuing jobless claims came in at 3.127 million, better than the expected 3.253 million, and the previous report of 3.262 million. Trade balance was also reported, coming in at -41.5 billion, better than the expected -45 billion and the prior figure of -44.2 billion.