Mid-Morning Market Update: April Retail Sales Beat Expectations, Business Inventories for March Show a Decline

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.26 percent to 15,079.29, while the NASDAQ diped 0.10 percent to reach 3,433.12. The S&P also fell, declining 0.20 percent to 1,630.41. Top Headline
The US Commerce Department reported retail sales for April higher than the market expectations. Retail sales increased 0.1% (seasonally adjusted) in April, following a decline of 0.5% in March. Economists polled by Reuters had expected retail sales to declient 0.3% in April, while economists polled by MarketWatch had forecasted at 0.6% drop. US retail sales rose in April on the back of an increase in sales of automobiles, building materials and various other goods, reflecting underlying strength in the economy. Equities Trading UP
Theravance Inc THRX shot up, gaining 13.19 percent to $39.55 after Elan ELN agreed to pay $1 billion for a stake in Theravance's royalties. Kubota Corporation KUB was also up 11.46 percent to $82.07. Kubota Corporation's trailing twelve month Return on Equity is 10.69%. National Bank of Greece SA NBG got a boost, shooting up 9.15 percent to $1.43. National Bank of Greece's five-year expected PEG ratio is 5.67. Equities Trading DOWN
GenVec Inc GNVC was down, falling 28.57 percent to $0.86, after GenVex reported its results for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, with revenues down 62% from the year-ago quarter. Platinum Group Metals Ltd PLG were down 8.24 percent to $0.99. Platinum Group Metals' trailing twelve month ROE is -2.19%. Cimatron Ltd CIMT shares tumbled 5.65 percent to $7.85 after the company its Q1 2013 results revenues of $10.2 million and non-GAAP operating profits of $1 million. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.80 percent to $95.27, while gold dropped 0.30 percent to $1,432.30. Silver traded up 0.43 percent Monday to $23.76, while copper fell 0.03 percent to $3.35. Eurozone
European shares were lower overnight as bond spreads crept higher while the euro weakened. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.39 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index fell 1.00 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.59 percent and the French CAC 40 lost 0.29 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.29 percent. Economics
The Commerce Department announced the April retail sales figures today, with an increase of 0.1%, despite the decline in gasoline process. Analysts had expected a 0.3% decline. Business Inventories data for March 2012, reported at 10:00 am EST on Monday, showed a 1.1 percent rise in total revenues, q-o-q, as compared to the 1.5 percent build reported for the fourth quarter of 2012.