Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher, Loews Q1 Profit Drops 34%

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.11 percent to 14,728.76 while the NASDAQ gained 0.51 percent to 3,295.94. The S&P also rose, surging 0.28 percent to 1,586.64. Top Headline Loews

reported a 34% drop in its first-quarter earnings. Loews' quarterly profit declined to $242 million, or $0.62 per share, from $367 million, or $0.92 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, its adjusted net income came in at $334 million. Its revenue fell 0.3% to $3.73 billion, while revenue from insurance premiums gained 7%. Equities Trading UP Conceptus

shot up 19.50 percent to $30.95 after Bayer AG agreed to acquire the company for about $1.1 billion. Shares of SINA

got a boost, shooting up 17.75 percent to $59.23 after Alibaba acquired 18% stake in Sina's Weibo for $586 million. Tenet Healthcare

was also up, gaining 11.44 percent to $45.87 after UBS upgraded the stock from “neutral” to “buy.” Equities Trading DOWN Nam Tai Electronics

was down, falling 29.69 percent to $7.97 on Q1 results. Shares of National Bank of Greece SA

were down 7.02 percent to $1.06 after the bank's shareholders approved a 9.75 billion euro ($12.7 billion) share offering. Sinclair Broadcast Group

shares tumbled 8.99 percent to $25.02 after the company reported downbeat Q1 revenue. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 1.43 percent to $93.40, while gold traded up 0.91 percent to $1,466.90. Silver traded up 1.67 percent Monday to $24.19, while copper rose 1.02 percent to $3.22. Euro zone European shares were higher on stimulus hopes, sentiment from Italy over the formation of the new government, and news out of Greece that parliament passed a set of legislation enabling the country to receive the next bailout payment. Eurozone consumer confidence improved slightly in April as the index rose to -22.0 from -23.5 in March, in line with estimates. Business confidence was slightly weaker than expected in April at 88.6 vs. 89.3 forecast. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.25 percent while the Italian FTSE MIB Index gained 1.47 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.40 percent and the French CAC surged 0.83 percent and U.K. shares climbed 0.17 percent. Economics Consumer spending climbed 0.2% in March, versus 0.7% in February. Personal income gained 0.2% last month. However, economists were expecting a 0.1% rise in spending and a 0.4% rise in income. Pending sales of homes surged 1.5% in March. The pending-home-sales index rose to 105.7 in the month, versus 104.1 in February. The Dallas Fed general business activity index for April will also be released today. The Treasury will hold its weekly 3- and 6-month bill auction.