Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Continue to Rally as InfoBlox Takes a Big Haircut

Related BZSUM Market Wrap For February 11: Yellen Re-assures Markets & Wakes Up The Sleeping Bulls #PreMarket Primer: Tuesday, February 11: All Eyes On Janet Yellen

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.41 percent to 16,024.00 while the NASDAQ surged 1.17 percent to 4,196.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.26 percent to 1,822.31.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
On Tuesday, the basic materials sector proved to be a source of strength for the US market after Yellen statement. Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) shares surged 2.62 percent after reporting strong quarterly earnings, while China Gerui Advanced Materials Group (NASDAQ: CHOP) gained around 2.5 percent.

Consumer goods stocks were underperformers in Tuesday's trading, up on the day by just 0.5% compared to S&P's 1.03 percent gain. Among the consumer goods stocks, shares of Star Scientific (NASDAQ: STSI) were down by more than 1 percent.

Top Headline
Sprint (NYSE: S) reported a narrower fourth-quarter net loss. Sprint posted a quarterly loss of $1.04 billion, or $0.26 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $1.32 billion, or $0.44 per share. It posted an operating loss of $576 million, compared to a year--earlier loss of $738 million. Its net operating revenue surged to $9.14 billion versus $9.01 billion. However, analysts were estimating a loss of $0.35 per share on revenue of $8.98 billion. Sprint added 58,000 postpaid subscribers and 322,000 prepaid subscribers.

Equities Trading UP
Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CADX) shot up 26.42 percent to $14.02 after Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK) announced its plans to acquire Cadence Pharma for $14.00 per share in cash.

Shares of iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) was up as well, gaining 13.63 percent to $42.76 after as the stock's new alltime high was breached, leading to bullish sentiment on Wall Street.

Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK) was also up, gaining 12.72 percent to $66.95 after the company announced its plans to buy Cadence Pharma for $1.3 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Infoblox (NYSE: BLOX) were down 47.01 percent to $17.59 after the company lowered its FY14 revenue forecast. Wedbush downgraded the stock from Outperform to Neutral and cut the price target from $36.00 to $25.00.

Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) was down as well, falling 5.25 percent to $29.50 percent after the company guided its fiscal year 2014 revenue and EPS below street estimates.

Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX) was down, falling 17.02 percent to $33.40 after the company reported a drop in its fourth-quarter net income and announced the retirement of its Chief Executive Lanham Napier.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.10 percent to $99.96, while gold traded up 1.33 percent to $1,291.50.

Silver traded up 0.17 percent Tuesday to $20.25, while copper rose 0.23 percent to $3.23.

Eurozone
European shares were higher today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.09 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.04 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 2.03 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 1.09 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.23 percent.

Economics
The ICSC-Goldman same-store sales index fell 0.3% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week.

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose to 94.10 in January, versus a prior reading of 93.90. However, economists were expecting a reading of 93.60.

The Redbook Chain Store Sales came in with a gain of 2.8 percent y/y, compared to a gain of 2.7 percent last week.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.30% in December, versus economists' expectations for a 0.50% gain.

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

(c) 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  Most Popular Earnings Expectations For The Week Of February 10: AIG, Cisco, Deere, PepsiCo And More 5 Companies Google Should Acquire Next Steve Wozniak Wants Apple To Release An Android Phone Barron's Recap: Best Mutual Fund Families CVS vs. Altria - Which Would You Rather Invest In? Mid-Day Market Update: AutoNavi Surges On Alibaba Offer; Boardwalk Pipeline Shares Fall Related Articles (BLOX + BZSUM) Market Wrap For February 11: Yellen Re-assures Markets & Wakes Up The Sleeping Bulls Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Continue to Rally as InfoBlox Takes a Big Haircut Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises Over 1%; Cadence Pharma Shares Gain On Acquisition News Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise; Sprint Reports Narrower Loss Stocks Hitting 52-Week Lows #PreMarket Primer: Tuesday, February 11: All Eyes On Janet Yellen Around the Web, We're Loving... Lightspeed Trading Presents: Thunder and Tubleweeds: Trading Techniques for the New Market Enviroment Pope Francis Rips 'Trickle-Down' Economics Come See How the Pro's Trade in this Exclusive Webinar Wynn, MGM, Other Casino Giants Vying For U.S. Turf