Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Toll Brothers Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 16,014.61 while the NASDAQ declined 0.04 percent to 4,067.24. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.05 percent to 1,807.44.

Top Headline
Toll Brothers TOL reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit. Toll Brothers' quarterly profit declined to $94.9 million, or $0.54 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $411.4 million, or $2.35 per share.

Its income before taxes climbed to $150.2 million from $60.7 million. Its revenue rose 65% to $1.04 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.43 per share on revenue of $1.03 billion.

Equities Trading UP
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals ARIA shot up 9.56 percent to $4.70 after Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy.

Shares of Geron GERN got a boost, shooting up 5.80 percent to $5.84 following the company's Monday presentation at ASH. Needham upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy.

Rambus RMBS was also up, gaining 13.48 percent to $9.68 as the company and Micron Technology MU signed a broad patent cross license agreement.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack PBY were down 10.51 percent to $12.00 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for the third quarter.

Icahn Enterprises LP IEP shares tumbled 8.37 percent to $136.10 after the company announced the sale of 2 million depositary units.

Analogic ALOG was down, falling 7 percent to $86.16 after the company reported Q1 results and declared a quarterly dividend.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.25 percent to $98.56, while gold traded up 2.15 percent to $1,260.70. Silver traded up 3.19 percent Tuesday to $20.33, while copper rose 0.57 percent to $3.28.

Eurozone
European shares were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.53 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.47 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX tumbled 0.87 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.79 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.55 percent.

Economics

The ICSC-Goldman Sachs store sales index declined 1.6% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week. The NFIB small-business optimism index climbed 0.9 points to 92.5 in November.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index dropped 1.5% in the first week of December versus November.

US wholesale inventories rose 1.40% in October, versus economists' expectations for a 0.30% gain. US job openings rose 3.92 million in October, from 3.88 million in September, according to the JOLTS report. The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 52-week bills.

The Treasury will also auction 3-year notes.