Midday Market Check: Dow Jones Industrial Average Gains Ground on Consumer Confidence Data

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:DJI) is cautiously higher this afternoon, up 56 points after the Conference Board's consumer confidence index vaulted to a seven-year high of 94.5 in October -- easily besting economists' expectations for a modest monthly decline. That upbeat report is overshadowing sluggish housing data, as the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index logged its slowest pace of annual growth since November 2012. However, the positive post-earnings momentum for Dow component Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) was short-lived, with the blue-chip drug stock down 0.2% at last look.

Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• Find out which major moving average Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) breached after earnings.
• The volatile stock that's back on the upswing after a bullish analyst note.
• Plus ... Checking in on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), and other noteworthy stats at midday.

Across the 12 major options exchanges, calls are more active than puts today. One stock with notable put volume is Receptos Inc (NASDAQ:RCPT), even as the stock soars 43% to trade at $97.24. At last check, more than 7,100 RCPT puts have traded, representing 17 times the stock's average single-day volume. Earlier in today's trading, RCPT hit a new record high of $102.64.

For more midday statistics and stocks on the move, head to page 2.

One of the major gainers on the Nasdaq is GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GRPO), with the volatile stock back in rally mode after a bullish note from Wedbush. GPRO is up 7.6% at $69.87 to test its mettle near the $70 level, which has acted as both support and resistance in the recent past.

Meanwhile, over on the Big Board, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) has tanked about 10% to trade at $43.75 -- breaching its 80-day moving average in the process -- as Wall Street reacts to the microblogging specialist's latest earnings report. While a number of analysts this morning rushed to downgrade the stock and cut their price targets, Pivotal Research seems to find TWTR's post-earnings plunge appealing. The firm raised its rating to "hold" from "sell," and upped its price target to $42 from $38.

As stocks edge higher, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is extending Monday's modest loss. At last check, the VIX is down 0.4 point, or 2.4%, at 15.66.

Today's put/call volume ratio on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) stands at 1.63, with puts easily outnumbering calls. SPY is up 0.5% at $197.17.