Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Procter & Gamble Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 0.75 percent to 16,075.65 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.98 percent to 4,177.55. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.84 percent to 1,813.09.

Top Headline
Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE: PG) reported a better-than-expected second-quarter net profit.

Procter & Gamble's quarterly profit declined to $3.43 billion, or $1.18 per share, from a year-ago profit of $4.06 billion, or $1.39 per share. Its core earnings fell to $1.21 per share.

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Its sales came in at $22.28 billion versus $22.18 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.20 per share on sales of $22.36 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) shot up 6.85 percent to $27.79 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Barclays upgraded the stock from Equalweight to Overweight and lifted the price target from $29.00 to $34.00.

Shares of Open Text (NASDAQ: OTEX) got a boost, shooting up 12.23percent to $101.70 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results and announced a 2-for-1 stock split.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) was also up, gaining 3.70 percent to $37.39 after the company reported stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results. Credit Suisse raised the price target on the stock from $40.00 to $42.50.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) were down 15.66 percent to $98.91 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings.

International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) shares tumbled 11.44 percent to $15.63 after the company reported weaker-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. Sterne Agee downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral and cut the price target from $21.50 to $18.00.

First Niagara Financial Group (NASDAQ: FNFG) was down, falling 11.17 percent to $9.19 on Q4 results. The company issued weak FY14 earnings outlook.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.03 percent to $97.30, while gold traded up 0.42 percent to $1,267.60.

Silver traded up 0.67 percent Friday to $20.15, while copper fell 0.02 percent to $3.29.

Eurozone
European shares were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index declined 2.36 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index tumbled 1.04 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 1.24 percent and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.54 percent while U.K. shares declined 0.99 percent.

Economics
On the economics calendar Friday, there is no important data due out.

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

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