Mid-Day Market Update: Aspen Technology Rises On Upbeat Profit, Nordstrom Shares Slip

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.02 percent to 15,109.31 while the NASDAQ surged 0.22 percent to 3,614.16. The S&P fell, dropping 0.05 percent to 1,660.43.

Index Technicals:

Top Headline

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) reported a 72% fall in its fiscal second-quarter earnings.

Dell's quarterly earnings declined to $204 million, or $0.12 per share, from $732 million, or $0.42 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, Dell would have earned $0.25 per share.

Its revenue came in at $14.5 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.24 per share on revenue of $14.1 million.

Equities Trading UP

E-House (China) Holdings (NYSE: EJ) shot up 10.58 percent to $7.00 after the company reported Q2 results.

Shares of Aspen Technology (NASDAQ: AZPN) got a boost, shooting up 9.84 percent to $34.95 after the company reported better-than-expected profit for its fourth fiscal quarter. Benchmark Company reiterated its Buy rating on the stock.

Pandora Media (NYSE: P) was also up, gaining 7.66 percent to $21.37 after Goldman upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Jos. A Bank Clothiers (NASDAQ: JOSB) were down 5.49 percent to $41.68 after the company issued weak Q2 earnings outlook.

Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) shares tumbled 3.42 percent to $57.30 after the company cut its profit view for the year.

Universal Truckload Services (NASDAQ: UACL) was down, falling 5.91 percent to $23.90 after the company priced its 1 million share offering at $23.00 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.68 percent to $108.06, while gold traded up 0.44 percent to $1,366.90.

Silver traded up 0.74 percent Friday to $23.16, while copper rose 0.91 percent to $3.37.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.96 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index surged 1.18%. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.18 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 0.66 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.22 percent.

Economics

US housing starts increased 5.9% to an annual rate of 896,000 in July. However, economists were projecting housing starts to reach an annual rate of 915,000.

US non-farm business productivity rose to an annual rate of 0.9% in the second quarter. Economists were estimating productivity to rise 0.7% in the quarter.

The preliminary reading of the Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to 80.0 in August, from 85.1 in July. However, economists were expecting a reading of 85.2.