Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Continue Rally as Tesla Guidance Lifts Stock

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.63 percent to 16,361.14 while the NASDAQ surged 1.66 percent to 4,181.62. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.05 percent to 1,838.09.

Top Headline
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) reported a 7% drop in its fourth-quarter profit.

J.P. Morgan's quarterly profit declined to $5.3 billion, or $1.30 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $5.7 billion, or $1.39 per share. Its adjusted earnings came in at $1.40 per share.

Its revenue dropped 1% to $24.1 billion, versus $24.4 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.32 per share on revenue of $23.81billion. J.P. Morgan's mortgage originations tumbled 54% y/y to $23.3 billion, while investment banking net income slipped 57%.

Equities Trading UP
Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) were on the rise Tuesday afternoon, gaining 15.47 percent to $161.10 after the company issued some positive fourth quarter guidance at the Detroit Autoshow, leading to an upgrade from Baird.

VeriFone Systems (NYSE: PAY) shot up 5.00 percent to $28.77 after JP Morgan upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was also up, gaining 2.41 percent to $1,150.97 after the company announced its plans to acquire Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. Analysts at Wells Fargo upgraded Google from Market Perform to Outperform.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of GameStop (NYSE: GME) were down 20.62 percent to $36.17 after the company cut its profit outlook for the holiday quarter.

Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ICPT) was also down, falling 26.36 percent to $268.60 after a Wall Street Journal article Friday reported that the NIH had said patient's of the company's drug had more bad cholesterol than when they had started treatment.

Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) was down, falling 8.83 percent to $118.51 after the company issued downbeat FY14 earnings outlook.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.75 percent to $92.49, while gold traded down 0.70 percent to $1,242.40.

Silver traded down 1.05 percent Tuesday to $20.17, while copper fell 0.42 percent to $3.33.

Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.06 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.17 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.23 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.26 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.16 percent.

Economics
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose to 93.90 in December, versus a prior reading of 92.50. However, economists were expecting a reading of 93.10.

The ICSC-Goldman Sachs store sales index dropped 1% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week.

U.S. retail sales increased 0.2% in December, versus economists' estimates for a 0.1% gain.

The import price index came in unchanged in December, while the export index climbed 0.4% in the month.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.3% in the first week of January versus December.

U.S. business inventories rose 0.40% in November, versus economists' expectations for a 0.30% gain.

Posted-In: Earnings News Guidance Eurozone Commodities Forex Global Econ #s Economics Intraday Update Markets Movers Tech

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