Mid-Day Market Update: St. Jude Rises On Acquisition News; Ocwen Financial Shares Slide

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.20 percent to 18,006.21 while the NASDAQ gained 0.38 percent to 4,881.48. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 2,095.07. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Thursday, the basic materials sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Cliffs Natural Resources Inc CLF and AEP Industries AEPI. In trading on Thursday, financial shares fell by 0.42 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Ocwen Financial Corp OCN, down 23 percent, and Nomura Holdings, Inc. (ADR) NMR, down 9 percent. Top Headline Ford Motor Company F reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter on Thursday. Ford said it earned $0.68 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $37.7 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.48 per share on revenue of $35.7 billion. North America recorded a best quarter ever pre-tax profit of $3.1 billion, up $1.5 billion from a year ago with a record operating margin of 12.9 percent. Equities Trading UP Dreamworks Animation Skg Inc DWA shares shot up 24 percent to $40.01. Comcast Corporation CMCSA confirmed on Thursday morning that its NBCUniversal segment has acquired Dreamworks Animation for $41 per share. Shares of Textura Corp TXTR got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $25.99 as the company agreed to be acquired by Oracle Corporation ORCL for $26 per share. Textura reported Q1 earnings of $0.09 per share on revenue of $24.7 million. St. Jude Medical, Inc. STJ shares were also up, gaining 28 percent to $79.20 after Abbott Laboratories ABT announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire St. Jude for a total consideration of $25 billion. Equities Trading DOWN GNC Holdings Inc GNC shares dropped 27 percent to $25.94 as the company reported weaker-than-expected Q1 earnings. Shares of Ocwen Financial Corp OCN were down 23 percent to $2.18. Ocwen Financial reported a quarterly loss of $0.90 per share on revenue of $330.8 million Silicon Graphics International Corp SGI was down, falling around 36 percent to $4.47. Silicon Graphics reported FQ3 adjusted earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $132.1 million. The company also lowered its FY16 forecast. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.35 percent to $45.49 while gold traded up 0.57 percent to $1,257.50. Silver traded up 0.29 percent Thursday to $17.39, while copper fell 0.04 percent to $2.22. Eurozone European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dropped 0.24 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.16 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.81 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.58 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.28 percent. Economics The U.S. economy expanded 0.5 percent in the first quarter. U.S. jobless claims increased 9,000 to 257,000 in the latest week. Supplies of natural gas increased 73 billion cubic feet for the week ended April 22, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 70 billion cubic feet.