Mid-Day Market Update: Precision Castparts Rises as Rackspace Plummets

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 15,104.07 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05 percent to 3,414.18. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.19 percent to 1,629.25. Top Headline
Tesla TSLA reported earnings after the close yesterday, crushing estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Following the first recorded profit for the company, a violent short squeeze ensued, sending shares skyward as high as $72.99. Shares are currently up 25.84 percent to $70.26. Equities Trading UP
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters GMCR reported earnings after the close Wednesday, and was thrust into the spotlight once again. Despite missing estimates slightly on the top line, the company crushed bottom line estimates, causing shares to rise 24.75 percent to $74.15. Shares of Barnes & Noble BKS were up as well, gaining 17.90 percent to $20.95 after a rumor that the company's digital Nook unit would be acquired by Microsoft MSFT hit the street from a Techcrunch article. Precision Castparts Corp PCP shot up, gaining 8.41 percent to $208.20 after the company higher-than-expected Q4 results, with a 25 percent increase in revenue, as compared to the year-ago quarter. Equities Trading DOWN
LivePerson LPSN plummeted early on in trading Thursday, falling 33.88 percent to $8.43 after the company released some very poor guidance after the close Wednesday, and subsequently received a slew of downgrades. Rackspace Hosting RAX was down as well, falling 26.11 percent to $38.60 after the company missed analyst expectations on the top and bottom lines, while guiding lower in its earnings report Wednesday. Shares of Dendreon DNDN were down as well, plummeting 10.34 percent to $4.25 after the company reported poor earnings before the market opening this morning. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.02 percent to $95.63, while gold traded down 0.53 percent to $1,466.50. Silver traded down 0.14 percent Thursday to $23.94, while copper fell 0.98 percent to $3.34. Eurozone
European shares were lower in early trade following the downgraded forecasts from the European Central Bank and ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate decision. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.67 percent while the Italian FTSE MIB Index declined 1.2 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.18 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.99 percent while U.K. shares lost 0.08 percent. Economics
In economic news Thursday, initial jobless claims came in at 323.00K, below the anticipated 335.00K and the prior report of 324.00K Continuing claims were also reported, coming in at 3.00 million, slightly better than the estimated 3.02 million, which was equal to the previous report. Wholesale inventories were in as well, coming in at 0.40 percent, better than the expected 0.30 percent, and much better than the prior report of -0.30 percent.