Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Slow Their Rally; Groupon Trades Down on Massive Volume

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.09 percent to 12,822.69 while the NASDAQ rose 0.51 percent to 2,910.29. The S&P also rose, increasing 0.35 percent to 1,382.31. Top Headline J. C. Penney took a beating in early trading after the company posted a much wider than expected quarterly loss. Following the report, retail analyst Brian Sozzi gave a live interview on the Benzinga Squawk chat room in Thinkorswim, which lead the stock to fall another 2.5 percent. Equities Trading UP Isis Pharmaceuticals ISIS traded up 14.73 percent to $8.80 despite Jefferies & Co reiterating its Underperform rating and an earnings miss Wednesday. Shares of Sequenom SQNM were also up, increasing 18.48 percent to $3.59 after the company reported worse earnings than expected by the street Thursday after the close. Lions Gate Entertainment LGF continued its rally, rising 15.00percent to $16.79 following a big earnings beat after the close Thursday. Equities Trading DOWN Groupon GRPN continued its toward the end of trading, down 29.21 percent to $2.78 on over 100 million share trade volume after the company posted poor earnings after the close Thursday. Molycorp MCP rallied a bit but dropped again, falling 12.22 percent to $7.62 following an SEC investigation over its company disclosures. Shares Enerplus Corporation ERF were also down, falling 14.46 percent to $12.84 following a poor earnings report before the market opening Friday. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 1.26 percent to $86.16, while gold traded up 0.37 percent to $1,736.90. Silver traded up 0.93 percent Friday to $32.59. Eurozone European markets fell overnight over fears that Greece may not receive its bailout and default on its T-bills due to mature in mid-november. As a side note, the euro hit its two month low vs the Dollar this morning. Economics In economic news, the import price index month over month came in at 0.5 percent, above the expected 0 percent, but below the prior figure of 1.1 percent. The Michigan consumer sentiment index came in at 84.9, above the expected 82.9 and the previous report of 82.6. Wholesale inventories were also reported, coming in at 1.1 percent, well above the expected 0.4 percent and the prior report of 0.8 percent.