Mid-Day Market Update: Verint Shares Jump On Upbeat Results; Medicines Co. Falls

Related BZSUM Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Gain; Ford March Sales Rise 3% #PreMarket Primer: Tuesday, April 1: Yellen Calms Rising Rate Fears

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.25 percent to 16,498.20 while the NASDAQ surged 1 percent to 4,240.83. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.26 percent to 1,877.13.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology stocks gained Tuesday, with Ku6 Media Co (NASDAQ: KUTV) leading advancers. Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Rubicon Technology (NASDAQ: RBCN), Bitauto Holdings (NYSE: BITA) and Sify Technologies (NASDAQ: SIFY).

Utilities shares dropped by 0.37 percent in the US market today. Among the sector stocks, Consolidated Water Co (NASDAQ: CWCO) was down more than 2.3 percent, while Pepco Holdings (NYSE: POM) tumbled around 1.5 percent.

Top Headline
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) reported a 3% gain in its US vehicle sales in March. Ford's sales surged to 244,167 in March, versus 236,160 vehicles in the year-ago period.

Equities Trading UP
Balchem (NASDAQ: BCPC) shares shot up 15.27 percent to $60.08 after the company announced its plans to acquire SensoryEffects for $567 million.

Shares of Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) got a boost, shooting up 8.83 percent to $476.67 after the company announced the FDA clearance and U.S. introduction of the new da Vinci Xi Surgical System.

Verint Systems (NASDAQ: VRNT) was also up, gaining 4.33 percent to $48.96 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and issued a strong full-year forecast. Verint reported its adjusted earnings of $0.91 per share on revenue of $257.1 million.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) were down 14.64 percent to $24.26 after the company provided an update on Angiomax patent litigation.

Kandi Technolgies Group (NASDAQ: KNDI) shares tumbled 1.95 percent to $16.08 after gaining 1.61% on Monday.

McDermott International (NYSE: MDR) was down, falling 6.65 percent to $7.30 after the company announced a public offering of 10 million tangible equity units, each with a stated value of $25.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.47 percent to $100.09, while gold traded down 0.23 percent to $1,280.80.

Silver traded up 0.09 percent Tuesday to $19.77, while copper rose 0.12 percent to $3.03.

Eurozone
European shares were lower today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.19 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 1.03 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 0.50 percent and the French CAC 40 jumped 0.80 percent while U.K. shares gained 0.82 percent.

Economics
The ICSC-Goldman's same-store sales index gained 3.6% in the week ended Saturday versus the earlier week.

Home prices climbed 0.8% in February, according to data by CoreLogic.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index dropped 0.5% in the four weeks of March versus February.

The final Markit PMI came in unchanged at 55.5 in March, versus 57.1 in February.

US construction spending rose 0.10% in February, versus economists' expectations for a 0.00% gain.

The ISM manufacturing composite index gained to 53.70 in March, versus a prior reading of 53.20. However, economists were expecting a reading of 54.00.

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

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