Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Apple Drags the NASDAQ Down as Fusion-io Rallies on Speculation of a Buyout

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.68 percent to 15,295.76 while the NASDAQ declined 0.16 percent to 3,723.45. The S&P rose, gaining 0.16 percent to 1,686.55. Top Headline
Texas Instruments TXN narrowed its third-quarter forecast. Texas Instruments expects Q3 earnings of $0.51 to $0.55 per share on revenue of $3.15 billion to $3.29 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.53 per share on sales of $3.23 billion. In July, the company had expected sales of $3.09 billion to $3.35 billion. Equities Trading UP
Fusion-io FIO rallied hard following Wednesday's open, gaining 11.65 percent to $14.66 after more speculation surrounded the possibility of the company being acquired, with a price being rumored to be between $22 and $27. Shares of Polycom PLCM got a boost, shooting up 9.55 percent to $10.90 after the company announced the repurchase of $400 million of its common stock. SYNNEX SNX was also up, gaining 20.87 percent to $57.99 after the company announced its plans to buy IBM's customer care unit for $505 million. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Restoration Hardware Holdings RH were down 9.15 percent to $69.07 on Q2 results. Apple AAPL shares tumbled 5.03 percent to $469.70 as the company unveiled two new iPhones yesterday. Analysts at Bank of America downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral. Multimedia Game MGAM was also down, falling 7.26 percent to $36.17 after the company announced a 2 million share offering yesterday. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.07 percent to $107.31, while gold traded down 0.29 percent to $1,360.80. Silver traded up 0.63 percent Wednesday to $23.12, while copper rose 0.09 percent to $3.27. Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index surged 0.84 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 1.33 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.58 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.06 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.07 percent. Economics
The MBA's index of mortgage application activity dropped 13.5% last week from the previous week. US wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in July, while wholesale sales rose 0.1%. Crude oil supplies declined by 200,000 barrels for the week ended September 6, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a fall of 2 million barrels. The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes.