Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Turn Higher; Apple Shares Jump On Upbeat Results

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.18 percent to 16,531.00 while the NASDAQ surged 0.76 percent to 4,158.30. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.36 percent to 1,882.17.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology shares gained around 0.83 percent in trading on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included MicroStrategy MSTR, Lam Research LRCX, and VASCO Data Security International VDSI. In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.11 percent.

Top decliners in the sector included Portugal Telecom SGPS SA PT, off 3 percent, and Kongzhong KONG, down 2.7 percent.

Top Headline
General Motors Co GM reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings. GM's quarterly profit slipped to $100 million, or $0.06 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $900 million, or $0.58 per share. Its revenue climbed to $37.4 billion versus $36.9 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $37.44 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Zimmer Holdings ZMH shares shot up 12.41 percent to $102.80 after the company announced its plans to acquire Biomet in a cash and stock transaction valued at around $13.35 billion.

Shares of Apple AAPL got a boost, shooting up 7.89 percent to $566.15 after the company reported stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and announced a 7-for-1 stock split. The company also lifted its buyback plan to $90 billion from $60 billion. Apple's quarterly profit surged to $10.2 billion, or $11.62 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $9.5 billion, or $10.09 per share. Its revenue also climbed to $45.6 billion versus $43.6 billion.

Lam Research LRCX shares were also up, gaining 11.50 percent to $58.26 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Quidel QDEL were 9.62 percent to $21.62 after the company reported Q1 earnings of $0.08 per share on revenue of $46.70 million. Tsakos Energy Navigation TNP shares tumbled 11.56 percent to $7.39 after the company priced public offering of 11 million common shares at $7.30 per share. Xilinx XLNX was down, falling 8.96 percent to $47.72 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings. Credit Suisse downgraded Xilinx from Outperform to Neutral. Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.27 percent to $101.71, while gold traded up 0.39 percent to $1,289.60.

Silver traded up 0.99 percent Thursday to $19.66, while copper rose 1.04 percent to $3.07.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today.

The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.36 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 0.66 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 0.05 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 0.64 percent while U.K. shares climbed 0.42 percent.

Economics
US jobless claims rose 24,000 to 329,000 in the week ended April 19, versus a revised 305,000 in the earlier week. However, economists were projecting claims to reach 315,000 in the week.

Orders for durable goods surged 2.6% in March, versus economists' expectations for a 2% gain.

Supplies of natural gas increased 49 billion cubic feet for the week ended April 18, the US Energy Information Administration said. However, analysts were expecting a rise of 42 billion cubic feet to 46 billion cubic feet.

Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.