Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Turn Higher; Target Shares Slide

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.17 percent to 17,559.80 while the NASDAQ gained 0.67 percent to 4,747.29. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.23 percent to 2,051.94. Leading and Lagging Sectors Financial shares gained by 1.2 percent in trading on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC RBS, Barclays PLC (ADR) BCS, and MGIC Investment Corp. MTG. In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares tumbled by 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ADR) ELP, down 3 percent, and American States Water Co AWR, down 3 percent. Top Headline Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and issued a strong earnings outlook. Lowe's Companies reported earnings per share of $0.98, versus $0.70 in the first quarter of the last year. The results included an unrealized gain $160 million and earnings per share by $0.11 due to hedging on a foreign currency in respect of the pending RONA acquisition. Street analysts estimated $0.85 a share. The company's sales increased 7.8 percent to $15.2 billion from $14.1 billion in the first quarter of 2015 driven by comparable sales growth of 7.3 percent. This was also higher than $14.87 billion predicted by the analysts. Going forward, Lowe's expects earnings to be $4.11 a share on revenue growth of about 6 percent for the full year. Street expects the company to deliver earnings of $4.00 a share and revenue growth of 6.3 percent. Equities Trading UP Incontact Inc SAAS shares shot up 54 percent to $13.87 after the company agreed to be acquired by Nice-Systems Ltd (ADR) NICE for $14.00 per share in cash. Shares of Andersons Inc ANDE got a boost, shooting up 35 percent to $34.93. Philip Falcone's HC2 Holdings Inc HCHC announced Tuesday, that it has sent a letter to Andersons Chairman Michael J. Anderson, with an offer to acquire Andersons for $37 per share in cash. However, Andersons rejected the unsolicited bid from HC2. Mazor Robotics Ltd - ADR MZOR shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $12.91. Medtronic PLC MDT agreed to acquire up to 15 percent stake in Mazor Robotics. Equities Trading DOWN Vipshop Holdings Ltd - ADR VIPS shares dropped 11 percent to $10.97 after the company reported results for its first quarter. Shares of Target Corporation TGT were down 9 percent to $66.63. Target reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, but comparable sales missed expectations. Target also provided a downbeat guidance for the second quarter. Acxiom Corporation ACXM was down, falling around 8 percent to $20.54. Acxiom reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued a weak outlook for FY17. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.58 percent to $48.59 while gold traded down 0.38 percent to $1,272.10. Silver traded down 0.93 percent Wednesday to $17.09, while copper fell 0.72 percent to $2.07. Eurozone European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.68 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.89 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 1.11 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.45 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.56 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.06 percent. Economics Crude oil supplies rose 1.3 million barrels for the week ended May 13, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a decline of 3 million barrels. Gasoline supplies dropped 2.5 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 3.2 million barrels last week. The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.