Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Mixed As Twitter Turns Red

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.01 percent to 16,482.38 while the NASDAQ declined 0.30 percent to 4,154.96. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03 percent to 1,841.37.

Yesterday, Textron

agreed to buy acquire Beechcraft for around $1.4 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2014. In 2013, Beechcraft has around $1.8 billion in expected revenue.

Shares of Sprint

were up on Friday's session, gaining 8.28 percent to $10.78 following some strong options activity to the bullish side. Molycorp

was up as well, gaining 13.93 percent to $5.48 as traders dove into more volatile names on Friday's session. Organovo Holdings

was also up, gaining 2.54 percent to $9.28. The rise in the shares may be attributed to Thursday's Computerworld Article on 3D printed liver coming in 2014.

Shares of Twitter

were down 11.59 percent to $64.92 after Macquarie downgraded the stock from Neutral to Underperform. Textura

tumbled 5.24 percent to $29.66. Textura shares tumbled 17.06 percent yesterday after Citron Research issued a scathing report on the company midway through the morning Thursday. American Airlines

was also down, falling 4.40 percent to $24.98 as traders looked exit the airline following its recent rally.

In commodity news,

to $100.22, while gold traded up 0.15 percent to $1,214.90. Silver traded up 1.54 percent Friday to $20.03, while copper fell 0.47 percent to $3.38.

European shares

today. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.82 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.39 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 1.06 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 1.40 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.85 percent.

US crude oil inventories fell by 4.7 million barrels for the week ending December 20, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were projecting a drop of 2.3 million barrels. Gasoline inventories dropped by 600,000 barrels, versus analysts' expectations for a 1.2 million barrels gain.