Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Indexes Reverse Losses; Kors Beats Expectations Again

With the final hour of trading underway Monday, the Dow traded up 0.42 percent to 16,561.89 while the NASDAQ gained 0.71 percent to 4,383.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.68 percent to 1,938.36..

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Trex Co TREX and Sky-mobi MOBI.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 1.28 percent. Top decliners in the sector included American Electric Power Co AEP, down 2.06 percent, and Black Hills BKH, reversed what was a 3.5 percent loss into a flat day, currently up 0.04 percent.

Top Headline

Michael Kors Holdings KORS reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and raised its outlook for the year.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $187.7 million, or $0.91 per share, compared to $125 million, or $0.61 per share, in the year-ago period.

Its net revenue climbed 44% to $887 million, while total revenue jumped 43% to $919.2 million. nalysts were projecting earnings of $0.81 per share on sales of $852.45 million.

Equities Trading UP

Tower Semiconductor TSEM shares shot up 6.79 percent to $11.04 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter net profit.

Shares of Trex Co TREX got a boost, shooting up 15.49 percent to $33.08 after the company reported upbeat Q2 earnings and issued a strong Q3 sales forecast.

Mobileye NV MBLY shares were also up, gaining 0.92  percent to $37.34 after jumping 48% on Friday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Insmed INSM were down 25.18 percent to $12.91 after the company reported that it will file a Marketing Authorization Application in Europe for Arikayce by the end of 2014. The company also announced that it will start its Phase 3 study.

Alere ALR shares tumbled 13.17 percent to $34.69 after the company reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter results.

Impax Laboratories IPXL was down, falling 3.55 percent to $22.79 after the company reported that the FDA has performed inspection of its Hayward facility.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.44 percent to $98.31, while gold traded down 0.49 percent to $1,288.50.

Silver traded down 0.89 percent Monday to $20.19, while copper rose 1.03 percent to $3.25.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.23 percent, the Spanish IBEX Index dropped 0.17 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.09 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.61 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 0.34 percent while UK shares surged 0.06 percent.

Economics

The Treasury is set to auction 3-month and 6-month bills.