Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Mixed as Traders Rush to the Exits in Momentum Names

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.10 percent to 15,992.26 while the NASDAQ fell 0.26 percent to 3,938.41. The S&P also fell, losing 0.07 percent to 1,790.53.

Top Headline
Home Depot HD reported a 43% gain in its fiscal third-quarter profit and lifted its forecast for the year.

Home Depot now expects full-year earnings of $3.72 per share on sales growth of 5.6%. The company had earlier expected earnings of $3.60 per share on sales growth of 4.5%.

Home Depot's quarterly profit surged to $1.35 billion, or $0.95 per share, from a year-ago profit of $947 million, or $0.63 per share. Its sales increased 7.4% to $19.47 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.90 per share on revenue of $19.18 billion. Home Depot's same-store sales climbed 7.4% in the quarter.

Equities Trading UP Tile Shop Holdings TTS was on the rise throughout Tuesday's session, gaining 6.53 percent to $17.39 despite a Citigroup report downgrading the company saying it will take time for shares to recover.

Shares of Brocade Communications Systems BRCD got a boost,shooting up 9.20 percent to $8.84 after the company reported a better-than-expected Q4 profit.

United Airlines UAL was up as well, gaining 4.43 percent to $37.99 after the company announced it would roll out a program to cut costs by $2 billion annually.

Equities Trading DOWN Shares of Oiltanking Partners LP OILT were down 9.60 percent to $58.25 after the company priced an offering of 2.6 million common units.

Best Buy Co BBY shares tumbled 9.94 percent to $39.23 after the company swung to a profit in the fiscal third-quarter profit.

Stratasys SSYS was down as well, falling 8.00 percent to $118.00 following a rally Monday, possibly linked to a market wide selloff of higher beta names as fear gripped the street.

Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.29 percent to $93.95, while gold traded up 0.17 percent to $1,274.90.

Silver traded down 0.11 percent Tuesday to $20.38, while copper rose 0.21 percent to $3.17.

Eurozone European shares were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.57 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index tumbled 1.77 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.35 percent and the French CAC 40 dropped 1.12 percent while U.K. shares declined 0.38 percent.

Economics US employment cost index rose 0.4% in the third quarter, versus a 0.5% growth in the second quarter. However, economists were expecting a 0.5% growth.

The ICSC-Goldman Sachs store sales index rose 0.1% in the week ending Saturday versus previous week.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.7% in the first two weeks of November versus October.