Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Gain; Ford March Sales Rise 3%

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.56 percent to 16,549.27 while the NASDAQ surged 1.20 percent to 4,249.42. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.57 percent to 1,883.05.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co KUTV leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology RBCN, Bitauto Holdings BITA and Sify Technologies SIFY. Utilities shares dropped by 0.11 percent in the US market today.

Among the sector stocks, Consolidated Water Co CWCO was down more than 1.9 percent, while Pepco Holdings POM tumbled around 0.9 percent.

Top Headline
Ford Motor Company F reported a 3% gain in its US vehicle sales in March. Ford's sales surged to 244,167 in March, versus 236,160 vehicles in the year-ago period.

Equities Trading UP
Balchem BCPC shares shot up 14.18 percent to $59.51 after the company announced its plans to acquire SensoryEffects for $567 million.

Shares of Intuitive Surgical ISRG got a boost, shooting up 14.16 percent to $500.02 after the company announced the FDA clearance and U.S. introduction of the new da Vinci Xi Surgical System.

Melco Crown Entertainment MPEL was also up, gaining 4.32 percent to $40.32 following announcement that Macau gaming revenue has surged 13.1% for the month of March.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of The Medicines Company MDCO were down 15.34 percent to $24.06 after the company provided an update on Angiomax patent litigation.

Kandi Technolgies Group KNDI shares tumbled 4.08 percent to $15.73 after gaining 1.61% on Monday.

McDermott International MDR was down, falling 6.28 percent to $7.33 after the company announced a public offering of 10 million tangible equity units, each with a stated value of $25.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.66 percent to $100.91, while gold traded up 0.08 percent to $1,284.80.

Silver traded up 0.37 percent Tuesday to $19.83, while copper rose 0.25 percent to $3.03.

Eurozone
European shares were lower today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.31 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 1.93 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 0.74 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 0.99 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.89 percent.

Economics
The ICSC-Goldman's same-store sales index gained 3.6% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week.

Home prices climbed 0.8% in February, according to data by CoreLogic.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index dropped 0.5% in the four weeks of March versus February.

The final Markit PMI came in unchanged at 55.5 in March, versus 57.1 in February.

US construction spending rose 0.10% in February, versus economists' expectations for a 0.00% gain.

The ISM manufacturing composite index gained to 53.70 in March, versus a prior reading of 53.20. However, economists were expecting a reading of 54.00.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 52-week bills.