Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Climbs 0.55%; Terex Shares Slide After Weak Earnings

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.43 percent to 17,216.96 while the NASDAQ surged 0.55 percent to 4,574.30. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.82 percent to 1,998.61.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares jumped by 1.3 percent in today’s trading. Top gainers in the sector included Companhia Paranaense de Energia ELP, up 4.3 percent, and Huaneng Power International HNP, up 4.2 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.63 percent. Top losers in the sector included Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC NKA, down 25.5 percent, and CGG CGG, off 9.7 percent.

Top Headline

MasterCard MA reported upbeat earnings for the third quarter.

The Purchase, New York-based company reported a quarterly profit of $1.02 billion, or $0.87 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $879 million, or $0.73 per share.

Its revenue climbed 13% to $2.5 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $2.45 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Calix CALX shares shot up 23.42 percent to $10.91 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results.

Shares of ABIOMED ABMD got a boost, shooting up 17.55 percent to $29.80 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings and raised the lower end of its FY15 revenue forecast.

Visa V shares were also up, gaining 10.17 percent to $236.50 after the company reported upbeat fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and unveiled a new $5 billion share buyback.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of PAREXEL International PRXL were down 15.56 percent to $53.67 on Q1 results. Baird downgraded PAREXEL from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $72.00 to $63.00.

Terex TEX shares tumbled 11.38 percent to $27.10 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings.

Intrepid Potash IPI was down, falling 6.97 percent to $13.15 after the company reported a loss in the third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.74 percent to $81.59, while gold traded down 2.11 percent to $1,199.10.

Silver traded down 4.74 percent Thursday to $16.45, while copper fell 1.18 percent to $3.07.

Eurozone

European shares ended higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.59 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.16 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.19 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.35 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.74 percent while UK shares surged 0.15 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 3,000 to 287,000 in the week ended October 25. However, economists were estimating claims to reach 281,000 in the week.

The US economy rose at an annual pace of 3.5% in the third quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 3% growth.

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