Mid-Morning Market Update: CAT Releases Poor Guidance, Best Buy Sees Some Relief

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.08 percent to 13,885.13 while the NASDAQ rose 0.19 percent to 3,155.63. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.23 percent to 1,499.25.

One of the biggest names for tracking Chinese markets and global economic growth conditions, Caterpillar

reported earnings this morning, beating estimates. Despite the beat, the company released very poor guidance, expecting a weak first-quarter. Traders weren't scared away by the guidance however, as shares rose roughly 2.4 percent in early trading.

Hess Corporation

saw a 6.62 percent rally to $62.80 this morning as the company announced it would exit the refining business and and is weighing the sale of its terminal network. Shares of Georgia Gulf

were also up, gaining 4.38 percent to $52.44 after the company reported its preliminary results of its exchange offer, announcing that it had tendered 72.1 million shares. Best Buy

saw a boost this morning, gaining 2.50 percent to $16.17 following an upgrade to Buy at BB&T Capital.

Molycorp

traded down 4.00 percent to $7.68 as shares gave back some of the gains from Friday resulting from the pricing of the company's follow on offering. 8x8

was also down, falling 3.25 percent to $6.85 as the company continued its decline from Friday. Shares of Jos. A Bank

took a 15.93 percent hit to $38.90 this morning after the company snuck in a poor earnings announcement and very weak guidance Friday night after the close of regular and post markets.

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.72 percent to $96.57, while gold traded down 0.13 percent to $1,654.50. Silver traded up 0.76 percent Monday to $30.97.

European markets were relatively flat this morning, with Italy seeing some strength led by its financial sector. While the Italian MIB index saw a 0.42 percent boost, the German DAX, French CAC and Spanish Ibex were all down.

In economic news Monday morning, durable goods orders were reported late, but came in at 4.6 percent, well above the projected 1.8 percent and the previous report of 0.80 percent. Core durable goods came in at 1.30 percent, a smaller beat but still above the estimates of 0.8 percent, and slightly higher than the revised previous figure of 1.20 percent. Pending home sales month over month were reported at -4.3 percent, well below the projected 0.0 percent and the prior figure of 1.70 percent, while pending home sales year over year were reported at 4.90 percent, missing expectations of 11.50 percent and the previous report of 8.90 percent.