Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Eyeing Record Close, American Axle Rises

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.88 percent to 14,962.73 while the NASDAQ surged 1.10 percent to 3,377.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.99 percent to 1,613.66.

Yesterday, LinkedIn

issued a downbeat revenue view for the second quarter. LinkedIn posted its first-quarter earnings at $22.6 million, or $0.20 per share, versus $5 million, or $0.04 per share, in the year-ago period. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.45 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $0.30 per share. Its revenue climbed 72% to around $325 million. LinkedIn projected Q2 revenue of $342 million to $347 million, versus analysts' expectations of $360 million.

InvenSense

shot up 23.09 percent to $11.46 on upbeat Q4 results. Shares of Blucora

got a boost, rising 19.91 percent to $17.59 on Q1 results. American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings

was also up, gaining 9.10 percent to $14.99 on Q1 results.

Arena Pharmaceuticals

was down, falling 9.33 percent to $7.62 after the company reported disappointing 1Q results. Shares of LinkedIn

were down 13.40 percent to $181.16 after the company issued a downbeat revenue view for the second quarter. Thoratec

shares tumbled 10.97 percent to $32.51 on downbeat Q1 profit.

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.57 percent to $95.47, while gold traded down 0.14 percent to $1,465.60. Silver traded up 0.99 percent Friday to $24.08, while copper rose 6.54 percent to $3.31.

European shares were higher following the revised EC growth forecasts. The European Commission has released its revised growth forecasts for 2013 and 2014 and now expects the eurozone to contract 0.4 percent this year before expanding 1.2 percent next year. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 1.65 percent while the Italian FTSE MIB Index rose 1.04 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 2.02 percent while the French CAC 40 rose 1.40 percent and U.K. shares gained 0.94 percent.

The US economy added 165,000 jobs in April. The unemployment rate declined to 7.5% in April, versus 7.6%. However, economists were projecting a 135,000 gain in jobs and unemployment rate to remain at 7.6%. The ISM services index declined to 53.1 in April, versus 54.4 in March, missing economists' estimates of 53.7. Factory orders dropped 4.00% in March. However, economists were expecting a 2.90% drop in orders. The Fed's Daniel Tarullo and Jeffery Lacker are set to speak.