Monday’s Mid-Day Movers: 3 Stories Driving Markets

The markets headed to a mixed close in Europe. Germany’s DAX was off 0.32 percent, London’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.16 percent, and the STOXX 50 was effectively flat with 0.01 percent gains.

The markets were also mixed at mid-day in the United States, with the S&P off slightly but still trading above 1,500.

At 12:40 p.m.: DJIA: -0.13%, S&P 500: -0.06%, NASDAQ: +0.29%.

Here are three stories moving markets on Monday:

1) New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 4.6 percent in December to $230.07 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This makes seven increases in the last eight months, spearheaded by an unexpectedly large increase in transportation equipment, up 11.9 percent. Excluding transportation, which is relatively volatile, new orders increased 1.3 percent. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were looking for 2 percent growth in new durable goods orders.