Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Largely Flat; Hostess to Continue With Liquidation

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.21 percent to 12,815.24 while the NASDAQ fell 0.02 percent to 2,916.13. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.01 percent to 1,387.68.

Last night it was announced that the mediated negotiations between Hostess and the Bakers Union had failed, and that the company would move forward with liquidation. As such, Flowers Foods

, a publicly traded baker, saw just under a 5 percent boost.

VIVUS

traded up 14.78 percent following the market opening to $11.88 after Aetna favorable revised its obesity drug policy. Shares of SalesForce

rose 6.69 percent to $155.66 following an in-line earnings report after the close yesterday and bullish sentiments from a number of analysts. Sarepta Therapeutics

was also up, increasing 6.67 percent to $28.80 after a company officer was officially awarded a patent this morning.

Best Buy

traded down 3.20 percent to $11.58 following a poor earnings report Tuesday. Bill Barret

was also down, falling 3.93 percent to $17.84 after a natural gas explosion at one of its facilities Tuesday. Shares of St. Jude Medical

fell 10.11 percent to $32.10 following a series of negative analyst reports this morning.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.75 percent to $87.50, while gold traded up 0.15 percent to $1,725.80. Silver traded up 0.11 percent Tuesday to $33.04.

In the eurozone, markets were largely down following the Moody's downgrade of France to Aa1 and the failure to come the compromise needed to give Greece its bailout. Negotiations are set to re-start Monday.

In economic news, the Markit US PMI came in at 52.4, above the expected 51.0 and the prior report of 51.3. Michigan consumer sentiment was also released, coming in at 82.7, below the expected 84.5 and the last report of 84.9. Continuing jobless claims came in at 3.33 million, below the expected 3.345 million and the prior report of 3.367 million, while initial claims came in as expected at 410 thousand, but below the last report of 451 thousand.