Mid-Day Market Update: Keurig Green Mountain Jumps On Upbeat Earnings; Tesla Shares Slide

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.55 percent to 16,609.45 while the NASDAQ surged 0.92 percent to 4,104.95. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.50 percent to 1,887.68.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.07 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cincinnati Bell CBB, up 18.7 percent, and CenturyLink CTL, up 6.1 percent. Utilities shares declined by 0.63 percent in Thursday's trading.

Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included The AES AES, down 2.9 percent, and Regency Energy Partners LP RGP, off 4.6 percent.

Top Headline
Wendy's Co WEN reported a rise in its first-quarter earnings. Wendy's posted its quarterly earnings of $46.3 million, or $0.12 per share, compared to $2.1 million, or a penny per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue shrank 13% to $523.2 million, while operating expenses declined 25%. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.05 per share on revenue of $498 million. Wendy's same-restaurant sales gained 1.3%.

Equities Trading UP
Chelsea Therapeutics International CHTP shares shot up 31.30 percent to $6.57 after Lundbeck announced its plans to acquire Chelsea Therapeutics for up to $658 million.

Shares of SolarCity SCTY got a boost, shooting up 17.10 percent to $55.87 after the company reported a narrower first-quarter loss and lifted its full-year outlook.

Keurig Green Mountain GMCR shares were also up, gaining 16.69 percent to $107.60 after the company reported a 22% rise in its fiscal second-quarter net income.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Gulfport Energy GPOR were 18.87 percent to $59.26 after the company reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter results.

NPS Pharmaceuticals NPSP shares tumbled 9.58 percent to $24.45 after the company reported a Q1 loss of $0.06 per share on revenue of $44.0 million.

Tesla Motors TSLA was down, falling 7.44 percent to $186.37 after the company posted a first-quarter loss of $0.40 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $0.10 per share. The company also reported downbeat quarterly revenue.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.65 percent to $100.12, while gold traded down 0.04 percent to $1,288.40.

Silver traded down 0.73 percent Thursday to $19.20, while copper rose 1.20 percent to $3.07.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today.

The eurozone's STOXX 600 climbed 1.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.70 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index jumped 2.30 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.90 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 1.37 percent while UK shares gained 0.53 percent.

Economics
US jobless claims declined 26,000 to 319,000 in the week ended May 3. However, economists were expecting claims to drop to 325,000 in the week.

Supplies of natural gas climbed 74 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 2, the US Energy Information Administration said. However, analysts were expecting a rise of 69 billion cubic feet to 73 billion cubic feet.

Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.