Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Apple Releases Two New iPhones, SolarCity Rallies on New Contract

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.80 percent to 15,184.85 while the NASDAQ surged 0.54 percent to 3,726.68. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.69 percent to 1,683.09.

Apple

finally broke the silence and released a series of much awaited products this afternoon. Among them was a lower priced plastic iPhone 5c, and a more advanced and feature rich iPhone 5s. The 5s included the expected feature of fingerprint identification, while sporting a blazingly fast 64 bit processor. Following the release, shares traded in a choppy range until falling below the $500 dollar level, currently resting at $495.99, down 2.02 percent.

Five Below

shot up 17.36 percent to $48.16 after the company reported

results. Shares of Tuesday Morning

got a boost, shooting up 9.76 percent to $13.95 after the company

as chief administrative officer and chief financial officer. SolarCity

was up as well, gaining 19.74 percent to $35.76 after the company announced a deal with direct energy this morning.

Shares of Neurocrine Biosciences

were down 29.22 percent to $11.82 after the company reported

Of VMAT2 Inhibitor NBI-98854 for treatment of tardive dyskinesia. Alon USA Energy

was up as well, gaining 6.67 percent to $11.26 after the company announced an offering of $130 million in senior notes this morning. Urban Outfitters

was down, falling 9.15 percent to $38.78. William Blair cut its Q3 earnings view for Urban Outfitters to 45c.

In commodity news,

to $107.38, while gold traded down 1.54 percent to $1,365.80. Silver traded down 2.91 percent Tuesday to $23.02, while copper fell 0.35 percent to $3.26.

European shares

today. The Spanish Ibex Index surged 1.96 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 0.51 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 2.06 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.89 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.82 percent.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.3% for the first week of September versus August. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell to 94.00 in August, from a prior reading of 94.10. However, economists were expecting a reading of 95.00. The ICSC/Goldman Sachs Chain Stores Sales gained 1.5% in the week ended Saturday versus the previous week. The Treasury is set to auction 3-year notes.