Here's where markets stand at mid-day:
-NYSE down 1.65 (-0.02%) to 7,780.65
-DJIA down 14.04 (-0.06%) to 11,392.80
-S&P 500 down 0.92 (-0.08%) to 1,222.27
-Nasdaq up 0.47 (+0.02%) to 2,580.45
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Hang Seng down 1.02%
Nikkei down 0.39%
FTSE up 0.43%
MID-DAY NYSE INDEX WATCH
NYSE Energy up 0.44% at 11,902.83
NYSE Financial down 22.42% at 4,924.18
NYSE Health Care down 0.24% at 6,475.78
NYSE Arca Tech 100 down 0.13% at 1,047.85
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) ATLS (+33.7%) sold to Chevron (
CVX
) for $43.34 a share.
(+) YHOO (+5.4%) sees continued bid on M&A speculation.
(+) SLW (+2.2%) beats with Q3 EPS though sales miss.
(+) CGV (+7.5%) gains even as sales below year ago.
(+) SYMC (+0.7%) upgraded.
(+) BCS (+2.4%) gaining after issuing results.
(+) LDK (+7.0%) beats with earnings, guidance.
(+) JASO (+0.11%) beats revenue estimates, lifts guidance.
(+) PCLN (+8.5%) continues evening gain that followed earnings
beat.
(+) FOSL (+6.6%) easily beats with Q3 results.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) GE (-0.12%) to invest over $2 bln in China.
(-) NURO (-1.9%) narrows loss.
(-) ARNA (-0.7%) says study shows weight loss drug works in
diabetics, narrows loss.
(-) PIR (-0.3%) expects same-store sales up 8%-10%.
(-) AKAM (-4.7%) seeing continued selling pressure on
speculation over Netflix business.
(-) SHO (-6.0%) selling shares.
(-) BLK (-1.7%) selling shares.
(-) RIMM (-1.8%) downgraded.
(-) ENOC (-12.9%) expects wider Q4 loss than Street expects.
MARKET DIRECTION
Stocks have turned lower at mid-day after a morning of choppy
trade around even, as investors weigh mixed corporate earnings, new
M&A deals, copious analysis on the effects of the Federal
Reserve's quantitative easing policy and the skyrocketing price of
gold futures.
Topping deal news, Chevron Corp (
CVX
) is off session lows but still in the red following news the oil
major plans to buy Atlas Energy Inc (
ATLS
) for $4.3 billion. Chevron will pay $43.34 a share for Atlas,
which marks a 37% premium over the company's closing price Monday.
The deal will bolster Chevron's stake in the Marcellus shale
fields.
Elsewhere in M&A action, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (
LGF
) is down in the first half of trading amid speculation that the
studio will merge with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Executives from the two
companies are expected to meet within the next few days to discuss
plans on how to join forces once MGM emerges from bankruptcy. MGM
filed for Chapter 11 last week as it seeks to restructure $4
billion in debt.
In other corporate news, Pfizer (
PFE
) unit Wyeth won a challenge from a generic drug rival regarding
the patent on the extended release version of its antidepressant
Effexor in Australia, according to a Bloomberg report. A federal
court judge in that country dismissed a challenge by Sigma
Pharmaceuticals, Alphapharm and Generic Health, saying that Wyeth's
patent is valid, the report said.
Bank of America (
BAC
) and JPMorgan Chase (
JPM
) managed to make money every day during the last quarter after
doing the same thin in the first quarter of this year, reports
Bloomberg, citing a regulatory filing.
Merck & Co. (
MRK
) is looking to get 25% of its annual sales from emerging markets
by 2013 as booming economic growth spurs disease diagnoses and
demand for treatments, reports Bloomberg. Merck already gets 18% of
its sales from emerging markets. Merck is aiming to become No. 1 or
No.2 in seven countries within the next five to seven years, the
report said, noting that the countries of interest are China,
India, South Korea, Russia Brazil, Mexico and Turkey.
FalconStore Software (
FALC
) inked a services and reseller pact with Hewlett-Packard (
HPQ
), which has sent shares in the software company up by
double-digits in mid-day trading. The terms of the deal are not
available. Under the agreement, FalconStore, which makes
network-storage management software, will provide disaster-recovery
and business-continuity products to HP.
Vodafone Group plc (
VOD
) is down after the British mobile group sold its remaining
interest in Japan's Softbank Corp (
SFTBF
) for about $5 billion. Vodafone also raised its full-year earnings
outlook. Vodafone expects full year operating profit to reach
between 11.8 billion pounds and 12.2 billion pounds, up from its
earlier projection of 11.2 billion pounds to 12.0 billion
pounds.
AT&T (
T
) has cut the price of the BlackBerry Torch--the new smartphone
from Research in Motion (
RIMM
)--less than three months after it began selling RIM's answer to
the ever-growing mobile telephone space, Bloomberg reported.
AT&T is offering the phone for $99.99 with a tow-year contract,
the report said. The move is another sign of the uphill battle
facing Research in Motion, which led the smartphone market in its
nascent stages.
In the latest earnings news:
--Dean Foods (
DF
) shares are down sharply after the company reported Q3 EPS of
$0.13, below Street estimates of $0.21 per share. Sales were $3.1
billion, ahead of the analyst consensus of $3.03 billion on Thomson
Reuters. Separately, the company announced that Jack Callahan, 52,
will resign his role as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to accept a
similar position as CFO of another publicly traded company.
--Genomic Health Inc (
GHDX
) has increased its market value by more than a fifth after it
reported a strong third quarter performance that topped the
Street.
--Delta Petroleum (
DPTR
) shares are higher after the company said Q3 sales were $35.4
million and EPS were a nickel per share. That compares to $21.4
million in sales a year ago and a loss of $0.35 per share.
--EnerNOC (
ENOC
) said late Monday Q3 adjusted EPS were $1.81, above the Thomson
Reuters mean estimate for $1.55. Sales were $162.8 million, above
forecasts for $160.8 million. It sees Q4 adjusted EPS between loss
of $0.62-$0.73 on sales of $20-$24 million. Bloomberg's mean
estimate is for a loss of $0.56 per share.
Commodities are higher as December gold contracts are up $17, or
1.23%, to $1,420 an ounce while December crude contacts are up
0.10%, or $0.10, at $87.16 a barrel.
In energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund (
USO
) is up 0.32% to $37.65 and the United States Natural Gas fund (
UNG
) is up 0.47% to $5.92.
In precious metal ETFs, the SPDR Gold Trust (
GLD
) is up 0.81% to $138.90. Market Vectors Gold Miners (
GDX
) is up 1.75% to $62.85. iShares Silver Trust (
SLV
) is up 3.35% to $28.06.