Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rally; BlackBerry Posts Q3 Loss

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.34 percent to 16,234.50 while the NASDAQ surged 0.46 percent to 4,076.68. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 1,815.97.

Top Headline
BlackBerry BBRY swung to a loss in the third quarter.

BlackBerry posted a quarterly loss of $4.4 billion, or $8.37 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $9 million, or $0.02 per share. Its adjusted loss came in at $0.67 per share.

Its revenue dropped to $1.2 billion from $2.7 billion. However, analysts were estimating a loss of $0.44 per share on revenue of $1.59 billion. BlackBerry also entered into a five-year strategic partnership with Foxconn to develop and manufacture phones.

Equities Trading UP
Red Hat RHT shot up 13.06 percent to $55.40 as the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter results.

Shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals Public Limited Company JAZZ got a boost, shooting up 8.18 percent to $124.10 after the company announced its plans to buy Gentium SpA GENT for around $1 billion.

The Jones Group JNY was also up, gaining 4.81 percent to $14.81 after the company agreed to be acquired by Sycamore Partners for $15.00 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of TIBCO Software TIBX were down 12.66 percent to $21.38 on Q4 results. Analysts at UBS downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral.

CarMax KMX shares tumbled 7.54 percent to $49.05 after the company reported a weaker-than-expected Q3 profit.

Fastenal Company FAST was down, falling 6.21 percent to $45.03 after the company lowered its Q4 forecast.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.32 percent to $98.72, while gold traded up 0.06 percent to $1,194.30.

Silver traded up 0.13 percent Friday to $19.21, while copper rose 0.29 percent to $3.31.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.16 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.61 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 0.61 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 0.16 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.39 percent.

Economics
The US economy expanded at an annual pace of 4.1% in the third quarter, versus a prior reading of a 3.6% growth. However, economists were expecting a growth of 3.6%.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for December will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.