Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Sears Tumbles After Bruce Berkowitz Resigns From Board; Exelixis Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.25 percent to 22,929.55 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.14 percent to 6,615.28. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11 percent to 2,555.89.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the energy shares surged 0.54 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Frontline Ltd. FRO, up 5 percent, and Approach Resources Inc. AREX, up 7 percent.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.49 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included PG&E Corporation PCG, down 10 percent, and South Jersey Industries Inc SJI down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Charles Schwab Corp SCHW posted better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Charles Schwab posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.42 per share on revenue of $2.17 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $0.41 per share on revenue of $2.18 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Leading Brands, Inc (USA) LBIX shares shot up 31 percent to $2.98 after climbing 68.15 percent on Friday. Leading Brands reported a Q2 loss of $0.25 per share on revenue of $509,000.

Shares of Exelixis, Inc. EXEL got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $31.07 after the company announced an encouraging update for its CABOMETYX (cabozantinib) therapy for the treatment of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Transenterix Inc TRXC shares were also up, gaining 75 percent to $2.55 following FDA 510(k) clearance for its Senhance™ Surgical Robotic System.

Equities Trading DOWN

Natural Health Trends Corp. NHTC shares dropped 19 percent to $20.14. Natural Health Trends reported Q3 preliminary sales of $40.1 million, versus $70.7 million in prior year quarter.

Shares of TG Therapeutics Inc TGTX were down 14 percent to $9.46. The FDA stated that GENUINE 3 results will cause an issue for getting an accelerated approval.

Sears Holdings Corp SHLD was down, falling around 13 percent to $5.89 after the company revealed in an early 8-K filing that Bruce Berkowitz will be resigning from the company's board of directors.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.76 percent to $51.84 while gold traded up 0.10 percent to $1,305.90.

Silver traded down 0.01 percent Monday to $17.41, while copper rose 3.02 percent to $3.228.

Eurozone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.01 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.75 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.07 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.09 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.21 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.11 percent.

Economics

The Empire State manufacturing index rose to 30.20 in October, versus September reading of 24.40. Economists expected a reading of 20.70.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in Minneapolis at 9:00 p.m. ET.