Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Facebook Beats Q3 Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.18 percent to 17,899.85 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.05 percent to 5,145.12. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.13 percent to 2,104.95. Leading and Lagging Sectors In trading on Thursday, technology shares jumped by 0.31 percent. Top gainers in the sector included HomeAway, Inc. AWAY, up 23 percent, and Coherent, Inc. COHR, up 18 percent. Basic materials shares declined around 1.14 percent in Thursday's trading. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Royal Gold, Inc USA) RGLD, down 11 percent, and Calgon Carbon Corporation CCC, off 9 percent. Top Headline Facebook Inc FB reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter on Wednesday. The Menlo Park, California-based company reported quarterly net income of $896 million, or $0.31 per share, compared to $806 million, or $0.30 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.57 per share. Its revenue climbed to $4.50 billion from $3.20 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.52 per share on revenue of $4.37 billion. Equities Trading UP HomeAway, Inc. AWAY shares shot up 23 percent to $39.46 after Expedia Inc EXPE announced its plans to acquire HomeAway for around $3.9 billion in cash and stock. Shares of Coherent, Inc. COHR got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $66.15 after the company reported upbeat Q4 earnings. Solaredge Technologies Inc SEDG shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $21.33 after the company reported upbeat quarterly results. Equities Trading DOWN Castlight Health Inc CSLT shares tumbled 29 percent to $3.76. Castlight Health reported a Q3 loss of $0.17 per share on revenue of $19.5 million. Shares of Intersect ENT Inc XENT were down 24 percent to $16.56 after the company reported a wider-than-expected Q3 loss. FireEye Inc FEYE was down, falling 22 percent to $22.83. FireEye reported a Q3 loss of $0.37 per share on revenue of $165.6 million. FBR Capital downgraded FireEye from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered the price target from $53.00 to $28.00. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 0.89 percent to $45.91, while gold traded up 0.14 percent to $1,107.70. Silver traded down 0.42 percent Thursday to $15.00, while copper fell 2.30 percent to $2.27. Eurozone European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 0.10 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.41 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.14 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.66 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.95 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.17 percent. Economics US jobless claims rose 16,000 to 276,000 in the week ended October 31, 2015. However, economists were projecting claims to reach 262,000 in the week. U.S. nonfarm productivity increased at an annual pace of 1.6 percent in the third quarter, versus economists' expectations for a 0.2 percent decline.