Here's where markets stand at mid-day:
-NYSE down 31.08 (-0.36%) to 8,618.53
-DJIA up 20.66 (+0.16%) to 12,828.02
-S&P 500 down 1.67 (-0.12%) to 1,359.55
-Nasdaq down 15.87 (-0.55%) to 2,848.11
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Nikkei closed.
Hang Seng down 0.4%.
Shanghai Composite up 0.7%.
FTSE-100 down 0.2%.
MID-DAY NYSE INDEX WATCH
NYSE Energy up 0.86% at 14,519.52
NYSE Financial up 0.96% at 5,253.54
NYSE Health Care up 0.74% at 7,331.65
NYSE Arca Tech 100 down 0.22% at 1,193.63
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) ABIO (+39.9%) gains as Novartis to buy global patent rights
to molecular
target; ARCA to Get $2 Mln Upfront.
(+) HERO (+8.0%) upgraded.
(+) SIRI (+7.1%) meets with EPS, misses with sales.
(+) LVLT (+1.2%) beats with Q1 estimates.
(+) AVP (+5.7%) tops year-ago period.
(+) DUK (+0.7%) says on track to hit FY guidance that's in line
to above
Street view.
(+) MA (+3.0%) reports jump in profit.
(+) AVL (+5.8%) initiated with Buy rating.
(+) REE (+5.0%) initiated with Buy rating.
(-) ACI (-1.0%) dips then gains; loses verdict in Allegheny
litigation.
(+) KLIC (+15.5%) beats with earnings and guides for sales above
Street.
(-) DSCO (-3.3%) reports positive study data.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) PFE (-2.6%) fails to get traction after mostly upbeat
earnings.
(-) BZH (-5.0%) misses Q2 estimates.
(-) ALXA (-6.1%) pricing shares.
(-) ANAD (-10.5%) beats with Q1 but warns for Q2.
(-) LPSN (-15.2%) downgraded.
(-) PRGO (-2.7%) beats with results, raises outlook.
(-) OC (-2.2%) stockholder selling shares.
(-) ADM (-4.4%) reports improved Q3.
MARKET DIRECTION
Stocks are mixed in mid-day trading even as new data showed a
greater-than-expected increase in factory orders last month. At the
same time, a mixed slate of earnings news, including results from
pharmaceutical heavyweight Pfizer (
PFE
), weighed investor sentiment.
In the latest economic news, March factory orders rose 3% to
$462.9 billion, the Commerce Department said. Economists polled by
MarketWatch had expected a 2.2% increase. Shipments increased for
the seventh straight month, rising 2.7% to $461.4 billion,
Marketwatch.com reports. Inventories, up fourteen of the last
fifteen months, increased 1.1%, and durable goods orders rose 2.9%,
up from the previously published 2.5%, the story said.
In company news:
Deutsche Bank (
DB
) is down after the WSJ reports that U.S. authorities plan to sue
DB and a mortgage subsidiary on Tuesday for allegedly "reckless"
lending practices. Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan,
and officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development are expected to announce the filing of a civil mortgage
fraud lawsuit against Deutsche Bank and its MortgageIT unit at a 1
p.m. EDT news conference Tuesday, according to a news advisory.
Shares of Apple (
AAPL
) are higher after the computer maker unveiled a new version of its
iMac computer line. The new iMac features quad-core Intel Core i5
processors with an option for customers to choose Core i7
processors up to 3.4 GHz, the company said in statement.
Microsoft (
MSFT
) shares are down after Bloomberg reported that the software maker
search engine Bing will be default search engine on Research in
Motion (
RIMM
) BlackBerry smarphones. The move comes as the software maker looks
to catch up with Google (GOOG) in Web search, the report said.
In earnings news:
--Shares of Pfizer (
PFE
) are lower after it said this morning that Q1 adjusted EPS is
$0.60, matching the year-ago quarter and just topping the Thomson
Reuters mean analyst estimate for $0.59. Q1 revenue of $16.5
billion is off the $16.57 billion recorded a year earlier. The
Street looked for $16.62 billion. The company backs it current FY
guidance for $2.16 to $2.26 a share on $65.2 billion to $67.2
billion in revs. The Street is at $2.24 on $66.8 billion.
--Marathon Oil (MRO) today reported its first quarter results,
posting net income of $1.18 billion, adjusted for special items, or
$1.65 per diluted share, compared with $315 million, or $0.44 per
diluted share, for the prior-year period. This is $0.21 better than
the Thomson Reuters consensus of $1.44.
--Mylan Laboratories (MYL) reports Q1 adjusted EPS of $0.44
compared to $0.36 a year earlier, in line with Street expectations.
Revenue was up 12% at $1.44 billion. The company said its board has
also authorized the repurchase of up to $350 million of stock,
which is expected to be completed by the end of June. MYL
reaffirmed its target for 2011 adjusted earnings of $1.90 to $2.10
a share. The Street is at $2.01.
Commodities are down. June gold contracts are down 0.66%, to
$1,547 an ounce while June crude oil contacts are down 0.68% to
$112.75 a barrel.
In energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund (USO) is down 0.38%
to $44.75 and the United States Natural Gas fund (UNG) is down
0.08%, to $12.10.
In precious metal ETFs, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is up 0.01% at
$150.82. Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX) is down 2.06% to $58.88.
iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is down 0.36% to $42.67.