Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Turn Upwards, Ply Gem Rises

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.13 percent to 15,327.52, while the NASDAQ fell 0.12 percent to 3,459.98. The S&P was also down, declining 0.24 percent to 1,651.88.

Top Headline
Dollar Tree DLTR reported a 15% rise in its fiscal first-quarter earnings and lifted its full-year earnings forecast. Dollar Tree now expects full-year earnings of $2.61 to $2.77 per share on sales of $7.81 billion to $7.97 billion. The company, in February, expected earnings of $2.54 to $2.74 per share on sales of $7.79 billion to $7.97 billion. It also expects current-quarter earnings of $0.52 to $0.57 per share on sales of $1.81 billion and $1.86 billion.

However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.57 per share on sales of $1.86 billion.

Dollar Tree's quarterly profit surged to $133.5 million, or $0.59 per share, from $116.1 million, or $0.50 per share, in the year-ago period. Its sales climbed 8.3% to $1.87 billion. The company, in February, projected earnings of $0.53 to $0.58 per share on revenue of $1.84 billion to $1.89 billion.

Equities Trading UP
rue21 RUE shot up, gaining 22.80 percent to $41.90, after the company agreed to be acquired by Apax for $1.1 billion. Hewlett-Packard Company HPQ was also up 15.49 percent to $24.52, after the company reported upbeat FQ2 earnings. Ply Gem Holdings PGEM was up as well, gaining 12.14 percent to $23.55 after the company's successful IPO this morning.

Equities Trading DOWN
SolarWinds SWI traded down 1.67 percent to $40.65 as the company continued its sell off from Wednesday, but recovered strongly from the lows of the day. Tempur-Pedic TPX was also down, falling 1.62 percent to $42.58 after the company completed a debt round this morning. SunPower SPWR was down early in Thursday's session but recovered late in the day, remaining down 0.10 percent to $19.17 after the company priced $300 million of its 0.75% Senior Convertible Debentures due 2018.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.90 percent to $96.02, while gold fell 2.06 percent to $1,358.70. Silver traded up 1.47 percent Thursday to $22.62, while copper fell 1.70 percent to $3.32.

Euro zone
European shares were lower on Thursday. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.01 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index dropped 2.72 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX tumbled 2.63 percent and the French CAC 40 fell 2.52 percent while U.K. shares declined 1.92 percent.

Economics
US jobless claims declined 23,000 to 340,000 in the week ended May 18. However, economists were estimating claims to fall to 343,000. Continuing claims fell 112,000 to 2.9 million in the week ended May 11. US home prices surged 1.3 percent in March, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported. The US flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index dropped to a reading of 51.9 in May, versus a reading of 52.1 in April, Markit reported.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to minus 29.4 for the week ended May 19, versus minus 30.2 in the earlier week. New home sales rose 2.3% to an annual rate of 454,000 in April, versus an upwardly revised 444,000 in March. However, economists were projecting new home sales to reach 430,000 in April. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for May will be released today. Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.