Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Gains 90 Points; Micronet Enertec Technologies Shares Drop

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.39 percent to 23,449.06 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.12 percent to 6,790.66. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.17 percent to 2,583.31.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market.

In trading on Monday, healthcare shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.51 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. LGND, down 8 percent, and ImmunoGen, Inc. IMGN down 7 percent.

Top Headline

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MRVL agreed to acquire Cavium Inc CAVM in a deal valued at around $6 billion.

Under the deal, Marvell will buy Cavium for $40 per share in cash and 2.1757 shares of its stock for each Cavium share.

Equities Trading UP

Northern Technologies International Corp NTIC shares shot up 16 percent to $20.50. Northern Technologies reported Q4 earnings of $0.30 per share on revenue of $10.90 million. The company also initiated a $0.10 per share dividend.

Shares of Cavium Inc CAVM got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $83.43 after Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MRVL agreed to acquire Cavium for $40 per share in cash and 2.1757 shares of Marvell stock for each Cavium share.

Tactile Systems Technology Inc TCMD shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $29.42. Tactile Systems will replace Lumos Networks Corp LMOS in the S&P SmallCap 600 on Wednesday, November 22.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. LGND shares dropped 8 percent to $129.67. Deutsche Bank downgraded Ligand Pharmaceuticals from Hold to Sell.

Shares of Sunshine Heart Inc CHFS were down 13 percent to $8.69 after dropping 21.58 percent on Friday.

Micronet Enertec Technologies Inc MICT was down, falling around 17 percent to $1.02. Micronet reported Q3 adjusted loss of $0.16 per share on sales of $6.93 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.97 percent to $56.00 while gold traded down 1.45 percent to $1,277.70.

Silver traded down 2.78 percent Monday to $16.89, while copper rose 0.52 percent to $3.107.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 0.67 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.15 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.44 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.50 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.40 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.12 percent.

Economics

The index of leading economic indicators rose 1.2 percent for October.