Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Fludigm Rises on Earnings While Bankrate Plummets on its Report and a Stifel Downgrade

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.12 percent to 15,601.10 while the NASDAQ fell 0.06 percent to 3,927.26. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.06 percent to 1,762.16.

MasterCard

reported a

in its third quarter. MasterCard's quarterly net income surged to $879 million, or $7.27 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $772 million, or $6.17 per share. Its revenue climbed 16% to $2.22 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $6.94 per share on revenue of $2.14 billion.

Expedia

shot up 18.11 percent to $59.01 after the company reported upbeat quarterly profit. Bank of America upgraded the stock Neutral to Buy and lifted the target price from $60 to $75. Shares of Alcatel-Lucent SA

got a boost, shooting up 17.42 percent to $3.87 after the company posted a

in the third quarter. Fluidigm

was also up, gaining 25.50 percent to $31.79 after the company posted a narrower than expected loss after the close on Wednesday.

Shares of Avon Products

were down 23.66 percent to $17.10 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 results. NII Holdings

shares tumbled 28.75 percent to $3.42 after the company reported Q3 results. Bankrate

was also down, falling 18.67 percent to $17.03 following a miss on the bottom line after the close Wednesday and a downgrade at Stifel Nicolaus.

In commodity news,

to $96.33, while gold traded down 1.83 percent to $1,325.20. Silver traded down 3.64 percent Thursday to $21.93, while copper fell 0.71 percent to $3.30.

European shares

today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.90 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.40 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.15 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.43 percent while U.K. shares declined 0.67 percent.

US jobless claims declined by 10,000 to 340,000 in the week ended October 26. However, economists were projecting claims to drop to 337,000. The Chicago PMI rose to 65.90 in October, from a prior reading of 55.70. However, economists were expecting a reading of 55.00. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index dropped to minus 37.6 in the week ended October 27, versus a prior reading of minus 36.1. Natural gas supplies climbed 38 billion cubic feet for the week ended October 25, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were projecting a rise of 33 billion cubic feet to 37 billion cubic feet. Data on farm prices will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET, while data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.