Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Gold Briefly Dips Below 1200, Westport Innovations Rallies

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.88 percent to 15,040.39 while the NASDAQ gained 0.81 percent to 3,402.65. The S&P rose, surging 0.71 percent to 1,614.54. Top Headline
ConAgra Foods CAG posted a profit in the fiscal fourth quarter. ConAgra posted a quarterly profit of $192.2 million, or $0.45 per share, versus a year-earlier loss of $86.2 million, or $0.21 per share. Its net sales surged 34% to $4.59 billion. ConAgra projects FY14 adjusted earnings of $2.40 per share. Equities Trading UP
Progress Software PRGS shot up 5.98 percent to $23.37 after the company reported upbeat fiscal second-quarter results and announced its plans to repurchase an additional $100 million of its common stock by December 31, 2013. Shares of ConAgra Foods CAG got a boost, shooting up 5.44 percent to $35.17 after the company posted a profit in the fiscal fourth quarter. Westport Innovations WPRT was also up, gaining 9.56 percent to $33.49 after the company, possibly linked to comments in a keynote by UPS at ACT Expo in Washington DC. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Paychex PAYX were down 4.00 percent to $36.47 a after the company reported weak fourth-quarter profit. Clearwire CLWR was down, falling 1.96 percent to $4.99 after Dish Network DISH withdrew its offer to acquire the company. Applied Micro Circuits AMCC shares tumbled 6.29 percent to $8.94 after the company announced the retirement of its Chief Financial Officer Robert G. Gargus. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.64 percent to $97.07, while gold traded down 2.23 percent to $1,202.80. Silver traded up 0.39 percent Thursday to $18.61, while copper rose 0.31 percent to $3.05. Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The Eurozone Economic Confidence Index for June rose to 91.3 from 89.4 in May, beating the consensus forecast of 90.3. Industrial and consumer sentiment improved in the month while the services sentiment dropped. The U.K. economy grew 0.3 percent in the first quarter, in line with forecasts, but only 0.3 percent from the first quarter a year ago, below the forecast of 0.6 percent growth. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.37 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index surged 0.71 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.82 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 0.97 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.32 percent. Economics
US jobless claims fell 9,000 to 346,000 in the week ended June 22. However, economists were estimating initial jobless claims to fall to 345,000. US consumer spending increased 0.3% in May, versus a 0.3% drop in April. Personal income rose 0.5%. However, economists were expecting a 0.3% rise in spending and a 0.2% increase in personal income. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to -28.30 for the week ended Jun 23, versus a prior reading of -29.40. The pending home sales index rose 6.7% to 112.3 in May. However, economists were expecting a 1% rise. Natural-gas supplies rose 95 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 21, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting an increase between 88 billion cubic feet and 92 billion cubic feet. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index declined to -5 in June, versus a reading of 2 in May. However, economists were expecting the index to rise to 3 in June. The Treasury will auction 7-year notes. Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.