Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Facebook Continues to Rally As Markets Are in the Green Across the Board

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.76 percent to 15,857.84 while the NASDAQ surged 1.95 percent to 4,130.07. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.22 percent to 1,795.42. Top Headline
Visa V reported a 9% rise in its first-quarter profit. Visa's quarterly profit surged to $1.41 billion, or $2.20 per share, from a year-ago profit of $1.29 billion, or $1.93 per share. Its revenue climbed to $3.16 billion from $2.85 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $2.17 per share on revenue of $3.14 billion. Equities Trading UP
Accelrys ACCL shot up 28.11 percent to $12.53 after the company agreed to be acquired by Dassault Systemes DASTY for $12.50 per share. Shares of Pitney Bowes PBI were up on Thursday's session, gaining 18.82 percent to $25.82 after the company beat on the bottom line while matching on the top in its fourth quarter report. Facebook FB was also up, gaining 14.06 percent to $61.05 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of ITT Educational Services ESI fell 19.61 percent to $30.00 on Thursday's session after the company reported a large miss on the bottom line in its fourth quarter report. The ADT ADT shares tumbled 17.59 percent to $31.16 after the company reported downbeat Q1 results. Oppenheimer downgraded the stock from Outperform to Perform. Citrix Systems CTXS was down, falling 7.57 percent to $53.24 after the company issued downbeat forecast. Baird downgraded the stock from Outperform to Neutral and cut the price target from $75.00 to $64.00. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.78 percent to $98.12, while gold traded down 1.50 percent to $1,243.30. Silver traded down 2.84 percent Thursday to $19.20, while copper fell 0.40 percent to $3.22. Euro zone
European shares were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.69 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.39 percent and the French CAC 40 surged 0.55 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.09 percent. Economics
US jobless claims climbed by 19,000 to 348,000 in the week ended January 25. However, economists were estimating claims to reach 330,000 in the week. The US economy expanded at an annual pace of 3.2% in the fourth quarter, versus economists' expectations for a 3.2% rise. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index declined to -31.80 for the week ended January 26. The NAR's pending home sales index declined 8.7% to 92.4 in December. However, economists were expecting a 0.3% drop in the index. Natural gas supplies fell by 230 billion cubic feet for the week ended January 24, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a drop of 228 billion cubic feet to 232 billion cubic feet. The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes. Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.