Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Turn Lower; Electronic Arts Shares Rise On Upbeat Earnings

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.11 percent to 15,662.50 while the NASDAQ declined 0.34 percent to 3,938.73. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.24 percent to 1,767.78.

Top Headline
General Motors GM reported better-than-expected third-quarter net income. GM's quarterly earnings declined to $698 million, or $0.45 per share, from $1.48 billion, or $0.89 per share, in the year-earlier period.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned $0.96 per share. Its revenue climbed 4% to $39 million. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.94 per share on revenue of $39.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP 

Electronic Arts EA shot up 7.13 percent to $25.85 after the company reported upbeat profit for the fiscal second quarter. Shares of

Ariad Pharmaceuticals ARIA got a boost, shooting up 5.01 percent to $3.98. Sarissa Capital Management LP has taken a 6.22% stake in Ariad Pharmaceuticals.

DreamWorks Animation SKG DWA was also up, gaining 15.74 percent to $32.20 on upbeat Q3 results. 

Equities Trading DOWN 

Shares of The Western Union Company WU were down 12.27 percent to $16.88 on Q3 results. Raymond James downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.

InvenSense INVN shares tumbled 13.54 percent to $16.10 on Q2 results.

Cirrus Logic CRUS was down, falling 13.02 percent to $21.24 after the company reported Q2 results. Barclays downgraded the stock from Equal-Weight to Underweight.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.91 percent to $97.31, while gold traded up 0.68 percent to $1,354.60. Silver traded up 2.41 percent Wednesday to $23.04, while copper rose 1.43 percent to $3.33.

Eurozone 

European shares were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.99 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 0.69 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.19 percent and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.10 percent while U.K. shares declined 0.08 percent.

Economics 

Private-sector employers added 130,000 jobs in October, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc. However, economists were expecting an increase of 150,000 jobs. US consumer prices increased 0.2% in September, while the core CPI climbed 0.1%.

However, economists were expecting a 0.2% rise. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its index of mortgage application activity rose 6.40% in the week ended October 25.

Crude supplies climbed 4.1 million barrels for the week ended October 25, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a rise of 3.5 million barrels. The FOMC is scheduled to announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.