Mid-Day Market Update: Starwood Drops Following Announcement of Acquisition Deal With Marriott; Sunoco Shares Gain

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.36 percent to 17,307.50 while the NASDAQ declined 0.12 percent to 4,922.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.34 percent to 2,029.87. Leading and Lagging Sectors In trading on Monday, utilities shares rose by 0.90 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. CWCO, up 6 percent, and Oneok Partners LP OKS, up 5 percent. Basic materials shares dipped around 0.25 percent in Monday's trading. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Cemex SAB de CV (ADR) CX, down 7 percent, and L.B. Foster Co FSTR, off 5 percent. Top Headline Marriott International Inc MAR announced its plans to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc HOT for $12.2 billion. The combined company would have more than 5,500 hotels with around 1.1 million rooms worldwide. Equities Trading UP Sunoco LP SUN shares shot up 8 percent to $35.67. Sunoco reported the dropdown to SUN of the remaining 68.42% interest in Sunoco and 100% interest in the Legacy Sunoco retail business for around $2.226 billion. Shares of Nexvet Biopharma plc NVET got a boost, shooting up 8 percent to $5.25 after the company reported positive results from NV-01 pivotal study in dogs with osteoarthritis. Micronet Enertec Technologies Inc MICT shares were also up, gaining 3 percent to $2.09 after the company reported that its subsidiary, Enertec Systems, has received an initial $1.85 million order for the development and manufacture of a Mobile Command & Control Center. Equities Trading DOWN Clovis Oncology Inc CLVS shares tumbled 69 percent to $30.59 following report of the FDA request for additional information on lung cancer drug. Shares of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc HOT were down 6 percent to $70.34 after Marriott International Inc MAR announced its plans to buy Starwood for $12.2 billion. Dillard's, Inc. DDS was down, falling 8 percent to $71.56 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 0.52 percent to $40.53, while gold traded up 0.35 percent to $1,084.70. Silver traded down 0.03 percent Monday to $14.20, while copper fell 2.61 percent to $2.11. Eurozone European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.30 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.13 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.14 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.08 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.46 percent. Economics The Empire State manufacturing index rose to negative 10.74 for November, compared to negative 11.36 in October. However, economists were expecting a reading of negative 6.