Target Rises On Positive Guidance Released During Analyst Call

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.45 percent to 15,609.50 while the NASDAQ declined 0.66 percent to 3,926.73. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.53 percent to 1,762.78.

Top Headline
General Motors (GM) reported better-than-expected third-quarter net income.

GM's quarterly earnings declined to $698 million, or $0.45 per share, from $1.48 billion, or $0.89 per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $0.96 per share.

Its revenue climbed 4 percent to $39 million. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.94 per share on revenue of $39.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Electronic Arts (EA) shot up 7.75 percent to $26.00 after the company reported upbeat profit for the fiscal second quarter. Shares of Target (TGT) was also on the rise, gaining 2.18 percent to $65.72 after the company issued some positive guidance on its analyst call this afternoon. DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA) was also up, gaining 17.43 percent to $32.67 on upbeat Q3 results.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of The Western Union Company (WU) were down 12.73 percent to $16.79 on Q3 results. Raymond James downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals (QCOR) was down as well, plummeting 15.47 percent to $58.94 after the company reported after the company did not provide much insight into the ongoing investigation being conducted by the SEC and the Southern District Court of New York.

Cirrus Logic (CRUS) was down, falling 14.09 percent to $20.97 after the company reported Q2 results. Barclays downgraded the stock from Equal-Weight to Underweight.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.48 percent to $96.75, while gold traded down 0.17 percent to $1,353.60.

Silver traded up 0.16 percent Wednesday to $22.57, while copper rose 0.99 percent to $3.31.

Eurozone
European shares were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.99 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 0.69 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.19 percent and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.10 percent while U.K. shares declined 0.08 percent.

Economics
Private-sector employers added 130,000 jobs in October, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc. However, economists were expecting an increase of 150,000 jobs.

US consumer prices increased 0.2 percent in September, while the core CPI climbed 0.1 percent. However, economists were expecting a 0.2 percent rise.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its index of mortgage application activity rose 6.40 percent in the week ended October 25.

Crude supplies climbed 4.1 million barrels for the week ended October 25, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a rise of 3.5 million barrels.

The FOMC is scheduled to announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

BY Jake L'Ecuyer