Mid-Day Market Update: La-Z-Boy Surges On Upbeat Results; Smucker Shares Drop

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.05 percent to 15,975.63 while the NASDAQ surged 0.33 percent to 3,944.46. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.17 percent to 1,790.97.

Top Headline Lowe's Companies LOW reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings and raised its outlook for fiscal 2013.

Lowe's quarterly earnings surged to $499 million, or $0.47 per share, from $396 million, or $0.35 per share, in the year-earlier period.

Its revenue climbed 7% to $12.96 billion from $12.07 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.48 per share on revenue of $12.73 billion. Its sales at stores open at least a year increased 6.2%.

Equities Trading UP J. C. Penney Company JCP shot up 8 percent to $9.41 after the company reported a wider Q3 loss. J. C. Penney also projects gross margin and comparable sales to improve versus the year-ago period.

Shares of NQ Mobile NQ got a boost, shooting up 5.61 percent to $14.12 after the company expected record revenue for its fiscal year 2014.

La-Z-Boy LZB was also up, gaining 10.11 percent to $26.89 after the company reported upbeat fiscal second-quarter results and lifted its dividend.

Equities Trading DOWN Shares of Seaspan SSW were down 9.82 percent to $21.13 after the company priced 3,500,000 equity offering at $22.00 per share.

The J. M. Smucker Company SJM shares tumbled 6.36 percent to $101.68 after the company reported a 3.1% rise in its fiscal second-quarter earnings and cut its sales forecast for the year.

Lowe's Companies LOW was down, falling 4.77 percent to $48.04 after the company reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.50 percent to $93.81, while gold traded down 0.97 percent to $1,261.10.

Silver traded down 0.59 percent Wednesday to $20.22, while copper rose 0.30 percent to $3.18.

Eurozone European shares were mostly lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.83 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index tumbled 0.21 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.07 percent and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.09 percent while U.K. shares declined 0.22 percent.

Economics The MBA reported that its index of mortgage application activity fell 2.30% in the week ending November 15.

US retail sales rose 0.4% in October, versus economists' expectations for a 0.1% gain.

The consumer price index fell 0.1% in October, while the core CPI gained 0.1%. However, economists were projecting the overall index to increase 0.1% and the core rate to climb 0.1%.

Sales of existing homes dropped 3.2% to an annual rate of 5.12 million in October.

Business inventories rose 0.6% in September, versus economists' expectations for a 0.3% gain.

Crude supplies climbed 400,000 barrels for the week ending November 15, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a fall of 500,000 barrels.