Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Continue The Rally As 3D Printing Names Show Strength

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.11 percent to 16,550.03 while the NASDAQ surged 0.72 percent to 4,160.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.34 percent to 1,894.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in the US market on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Perry Ellis International PERY, up 16.5 percent, and Kirkland's KIRK, up 12.7 percent. In trading on Thursday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.13 percent.

Top losers in the sector included SodaStream International SODA, down 6 percent, and Lorillard LO, off 4.5 percent.

Top Headline
Dollar Tree DLTR reported a 3.6% gain in its fiscal first-quarter profit. Dollar Tree's quarterly profit rose to $138.3 million, or $0.67 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $133.5 million, or $0.59 per share. Its sales climbed 7.2% to $2 billion. Dollar Tree had expected earnings of $0.63 to $0.68 per share on sales of $1.98 billion to $2.04 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.66 per share on revenue of $2.01 billion. Dollar Tree's same-store sales increased 2% in the period.

Equities Trading UP
Brady BRC shares shot up 13.97 percent to $26.72 after the company reported better-than-expected FQ3 results.

Shares of Sanchez Energy SN got a boost, shooting up 10.50 percent to $31.89 after the company announced its plans to buy oil and gas properties in the Eagle Ford trend of South Texas from Royal Dutch Shell Plc for around $639 million in cash.

3D Systems DDD was up as well, gaining 8.02 percent to $54.88, possibly linked a BB&T report that was highly bullish on Stratasys's SSYS MakerBot unit.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Weibo WB were 9.88 percent to $18.25 as the company's first-quarter bottom-line figure beat but guidance looked light.

ITT Educational Services ESI shares tumbled 23.29 percent to $19.94 after the company issued preliminary Q1 results. The company's new-student enrollment declined 3.8% to 16,746.

RetailMeNot SALE was down as well, falling 17.72 percent to $25.54 after the company reported a drop in traffic due to Google search changes.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.30 percent to $103.76, while gold traded up 0.44 percent to $1,293.80.

Silver traded up 0.46 percent Thursday to $19.50, while copper rose 0.54 percent to $3.14.

Eurozone
European shares were mixed today.

The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.20 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.06 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 1.09 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.32 percent and the French CAC 40 surged 0.21 percent while UK shares rose 0.07 percent.

Economics
US jobless claims rose 28,000 to 326,000 in the week ended May 17. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 310,000.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index declined to negative 0.32 in April, versus positive 0.34 in March.

The flash reading of Markit PMI manufacturing index rose to 56.20 in May, versus a prior reading of 55.40. However, economists were expecting a reading of 55.50.

The Conference Board's index of leading indicators increased 0.4% to 101.4 in April.

Sales of existing homes climbed 1.3% to an annual rate of 4.65 million in April, versus a rate of 4.59 million in March. However, economists were estimating a rate of 4.66 million.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index rose to 10.00 in May, versus a prior reading of 7.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 7.00.

Supplies of natural gas climbed 106 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 16, the US Energy Information Administration said. However, analysts were expecting a rise of 101 billion cubic feet to 105 billion cubic feet.

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