Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Lowe's Tops Q3 Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.64 percent to 17,601.77 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.61 percent to 5,016.16. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.64 percent to 2,063.51. Leading and Lagging Sectors In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares rose by 1.15 percent. Top gainers in the sector included HORSEHEAD HOLDING CORP. ZINC, up 8 percent, and ArcelorMittal SA (ADR) MT, up 6 percent. Telecommunications services shares dipped by 0.24 percent in Wednesday's trading. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included China Telecom Corporation Limited (ADR) CHA, down 2 percent, and Philippine Long Distance Telephone (ADR) PHI, off 2 percent. Top Headline Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW reported stronger-than-expected results for the third quarter. The Mooresville, North Carolina-based company posted quarterly net income of $736 million, or $0.80 per share, compared to $585 million, or $0.59 per share, in the year-ago period. Its net sales climbed 5 percent to $14.36 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $14.34 billion. Equities Trading UP Vipshop Holdings Ltd - ADR VIPS shares shot up 12 percent to $14.00 after the company reported an adjusted third-quarter earnings of $0.08/ADS on revenue of $1.36 billion. Shares of bluebird bio Inc BLUE got a boost, shooting up 6 percent to $84.48. Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on bluebird bio with a Buy rating and a $165.00 price target. Fairchild Semiconductor Intl Inc FCS shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $19.53 following announcement of ON Semiconductor Corp ON $20.00 per share offer. Equities Trading DOWN Star Bulk Carriers Corp. SBLK shares tumbled 21 percent to $0.960. Star Bulk Carriers reported a Q3 adjusted loss of $0.11 per share on revenue of $68.81 million. Deutsche Bank downgraded Star Bulk Carriers from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $3.00 to $1.00. Shares of GoPro Inc GPRO were down 7 percent to $19.35. Piper Jaffray lowered price target on GoPro from $20 to $15. Citrix Systems, Inc. CTXS was down, falling 8 percent to $72.51 after the company announced its plans to spin off its GoTo Family of Products and cut around 1,000 jobs. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.96 percent to $41.06, while gold traded down 0.07 percent to $1,067.90. Silver traded down 0.82 percent Wednesday to $14.06, while copper fell 1.11 percent to $2.09. Eurozone European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 slipped 0.34 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dipped 0.98 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.94 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.31 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.71 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.09 percent. Economics US housing starts shrank 11 percent to an annual rate of 1.06 million in October. However, economists were estimating starts to drop to 1.17 million. The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.