Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Surges Over 200 Points; Dean Foods Shares Decline On Downbeat Sales

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.26 percent to 17,592.18 while the NASDAQ surged 0.95 percent to 5,091.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.12 percent to 2,100.84.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic materials shares rose by 2.2 percent in the US market on Monday. Leading the sector was strength from Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP RNF and Coeur Mining Inc CDE.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares rose by just 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Entergy Corporation ETR, down 1.2 percent, and Edison International EIX, off 1 percent.

Top Headline

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) agreed to acquire Precision Castparts Corp. PCP in a transaction valued at $37.2 billion, including debt.

Berkshire will pay $235 per share to buy Precision Castparts, representing a 21.2 percent premium over PCP’s closing price on Friday.

Equities Trading UP

Aquinox Pharmaceuticals Inc AQXP shares shot up 279 percent to $39.50 after jumping 482.12 percent on Friday. Aquinox Pharmaceuticals posted a quarterly loss of $0.44 per share. Cowen maintained Outperform rating on Aquinox Pharmaceuticals and raised the price target from $3 to $14.

Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP RNF shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $13.02 after the company announced its plans to merge with CVR Partners LP UAN.

Shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc INO got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $8.30 following the announcement of a licensing deal with AstraZeneca plc (ADR) AZN unit. Inovio Pharma reported a Q2 loss of $0.09 per share on revenue of $5.3 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc KPTI shares tumbled 18 percent to $18.18. Karyopharm reported a Q2 loss of $0.92 per share.

Shares of Dean Foods Co DF were down 6 percent to $16.62. Dean Foods reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter, but the company’s sales missed analysts’ estimates.

Kronos Worldwide, Inc. KRO was down, falling 5 percent to $9.31. Kronos Worldwide reported a Q2 GAAP loss of $1.38 per share on sales of $360.2 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.64 percent to $44.59, while gold traded up 1.09 percent to $1,106.00.

Silver traded up 2.49 percent Monday to $15.19, while copper rose 2.55 percent to $2.39.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.69 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index jumped 1.28 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.12 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 1.01 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.82 percent while UK shares rose 0.19 percent.

Economics

On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.