Mid-Afternoon Market Update: VirnetX Falls as Markets Remain Down

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.24 percent to 14,543.27 while the NASDAQ dropped 1.06 percent to 3,232.48. The S&P also declined, falling 0.61 percent to 1,559.00.

Tesla Motors

said that it projects to report its first quarterly profit. The company said sales of its Model S cars exceeded its estimates.

Tesla Motors

shot up early in the day and settled later on, remaining up 13.58 percent to $43.04 after the company said sales of its Model S cars exceeded its estimates. Shares of American Greetings

got a boost, shooting up 12.30 percent to $18.08 after the company agreed to be taken private by Weiss family. Forrester Research

was also up, gaining 9.35 percent to $34.61 after the company intends to commence tender offer to repurchase up to $130 million of its common stock.

VirnetX Holding

took a hit today, falling 8.92 percent to $17.46 as the volatile stock lived up to its reputation for wild swings. Panasonic

was also down, falling 8.46 percent to $6.71 after the company announced delisting schedule from the NYSE. Shares of Republic Airways Holdings

were down 10.31 percent to $10.35 as the whole airline sector headed downwards.

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.14 percent to $97.50, while gold traded up 0.23 percent to $1,598.90. Silver traded down 0.83 percent Monday to $28.08, while copper fell 0.90 percent to $3.37.

European shares were closed Monday for the Easter Monday holiday.

The final reading of Markit's manufacturing PMI fell to 54.6 in March, versus the flash reading of 54.9 and versus the February reading of 54.3. Construction spending rose 1.20% in February, beating economists' estimates of 1.00% growth. The ISM manufacturing index dropped to 51.3% in March, versus 54.2% in February.