Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Mixed; FedEx Posts Rise In Profit

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.11 percent to 15,512.41 while the NASDAQ surged 0.16 percent to 3,751.53. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04 percent to 1,705.41.

Top Headline
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) reported a rise in its fiscal first-quarter profit.

FedEx's quarterly profit surged to $489 million, or $1.53 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $459 million, or $1.45 per share.

Its revenue gained 2% to $11 billion from $10.8 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $1.50 per share on revenue of $11 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) shot up 6.79 percent to $51.41 after the company reported that its subscription revenue climbed 73% to $299.4 million and its Creative Cloud service added 331,000 paying subscribers in the same quarter.

Shares of New Residential Investment (NYSE: NRZ) got a boost, shooting up 6.10 percent to $6.78 after the company declared a third quarter dividend of $0.175 per share.

FedEx (NYSE: FDX) was also up, gaining 2.02 percent to $112.92 after the company reported a rise in its fiscal first-quarter profit.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Tower Group International (NASDAQ: TWGP) were down 24.53 percent to $10.46. Tower Group announced its plans to release its Q2 results during the week of October 7, 2013. FBR Capital downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (NASDAQ: CBRL) shares tumbled 2.50 percent to $104.32 after the company reported a 1.1% drop in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and issued a downbeat Q1 forecast.

Five Below (NASDAQ: FIVE) down, falling 4.02 percent to $46.55 after the company announced the secondary offering of 7.1 million shares by selling shareholders.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.46 percent to $105.90, while gold traded down 0.63 percent to $1,301.20.

Silver traded down 1.19 percent Wednesday to $21.53, while copper fell 1.32 percent to $3.27.

Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.53 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 0.29 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.28 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.37 percent while U.K. shares dipped 0.03 percent.

Economics
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its index of mortgage application activity rose 11.20% in the week ended September 13 versus the prior week.

US housing starts rose 0.9% to an annual rate of 891,000 in August. However, economists were expecting housing starts to reach an annual rate of 921,000.

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision and economic projections at 2:00 p.m. ET.