Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

As investors focus their attention on other countries, the major U.S. indexes are mixed this afternoon. Fears that the U.K. may soon begin tightening its monetary policy and that the Chinese economy may continue to slow have raised concerns about potential impacts on U.S. stocks.

The major indexes were all lower this morning but have recovered nicely. Just before 1 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.56%) was flat, while the S&P 500 was up 0.29% and the NASDAQ had gained 0.56%.

A few winners and losers
After just more than a month on the public market, sandwich chain Potbelly (PBPB 1.46%) reported earnings after the closing bell yesterday. Investors were clearly pleased with what they saw: Shares are currently higher by 13% and had risen as high as 20% earlier this morning. The company reported earnings per share of $0.15, or net income of $3.2 million, which was better than the $0.09 per share analysts had anticipated. Furthermore, revenue jumped 11.7% to $78 million, again beating analysts' expectations. Across the board, the numbers look good, and growth continues to keep its high pace, so shareholders are happy and new investors are falling over themselves to buy shares.

Another winner today is Starbucks (SBUX 0.53%), which is up by 0.5%. While this is not a massive move higher, it's shocking for a company that will have to pay almost $2.8 billion in legal fees to Mondelez International (MDLZ 1.40%) for improperly terminating a supply deal back in 2011. While the company has enough cash on hand to pay this penalty, it will nearly deplete the whole bank account. Starbucks will take an operating loss during the fourth quarter of the year, but this is a one-time problem, and investors believe in the long-term prospects of the business. 

Lastly, shares of lululemon (LULU 1.43%) are up by 3.7% after JPMorgan Chase rated the stock "overweight." A JPMorgan analyst believes the top and bottom lines will not only grow, but accelerate in the coming quarters as the company moves past recent product and execution errors. Anyone jumping in now should understand that this is a volatile stock with a 52-week trading range of $59.60-$82.50; it's not for the faint of heart. Buyer beware.