Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Continue to Rally; NII Holdings Shares Get a Boost

Related BZSUM Market Wrap For February 4: Investors And Traders Go Bargain Hunting Mid-Day Market Update: Michael Kors Gains On Upbeat Earnings; Take-Two Shares Slip

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.55 percent to 15,457 while the NASDAQ surged 1.04 percent to 4,038.57. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.87 percent to 1,757.

Top Headline
Yesterday, Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. Yum Brands posted its quarterly profit of $321 million, or $0.70 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $337 million, or $0.72 per share. Excluding one-time items, Yum earned $0.86 per share. Its total revenue climbed 1% to $4.18 billion versus $4.15 billion.

However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.79 per share on revenue of $4.26 billion. The company expected earnings per-share growth of at least 20% for 2014.

Equities Trading UP
ATMI (NASDAQ: ATMI) shot up 25.51 percent to $33.80 after the company reported upbeat Q4 earnings. Entegris (NASDAQ: ENTG) announced its plans to acquire ATMI.

Shares of NII Holdings (NASDAQ: NIHD) was up as well, gaining 11.48 percent to $3.35 after its advanced push to talk app was launched for the iPhone.

Michael Kors Holdings (NYSE: KORS) was also up, gaining 18.34 percent to $90.74 after the company reported upbeat Q3 earnings and issued strong FY14 outlook.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) were down 6.92 percent to $42.64 after the company posted a loss in the fourth quarter.

Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO) shares tumbled 8.31 percent to $17.33 on weak Q4 forecast. Benchmark downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold.

Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB) was down, falling 9.16 percent to $96.71 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.80 percent to $97.20, while gold traded down 0.41 percent to $1,254.50.

Silver traded up 0.08 percent Tuesday to $19.43, while copper rose 0.36 percent to $3.20.

Eurozone
European shares were mixed today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.30 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 0.60 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX tumbled 0.64 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 0.24 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.25 percent.

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

U.S. factory orders fell 1.50% in December, versus economists' expectations for a 1.80% decline.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index declined 0.2% in the first four weeks of January versus December.

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.

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