Mid-Day Market Update: Auxilium Drops On Weak Sales, Conceptus Surges

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.49 percent to 14,784.76 while the NASDAQ gained 0.84 percent to 3,306.75. The S&P also rose, surging 0.58 percent to 1,591.39.

Top Headline
Loews L reported a 34% drop in its first-quarter earnings.

Loews’ quarterly profit declined to $242 million, or $0.62 per share, from $367 million, or $0.92 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, its adjusted net income came in at $334 million.

Its revenue fell 0.3% to $3.73 billion, while revenue from insurance premiums gained 7%.

Equities Trading UP
Conceptus CPTS shot up 19.42 percent to $30.93 after Bayer AG agreed to acquire the company for about $1.1 billion.

Shares of SINA SINA got a boost, shooting up 13.62 percent to $57.15 after Alibaba acquired an 18% stake in Sina's Weibo for $586 million.

Century Aluminum Co CENX was also up, gaining 10.39 percent to $7.44 after the company announced agreement to buy Sebree smelter.

Equities Trading DOWN
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals AUXL was down, falling 12.35 percent to $14.05 on disappointing Q1 sales.

Shares of National Bank of Greece SA NBG were down 7.01 percent to $1.06 after the bank’s shareholders approved a 9.75 billion euro ($12.7 billion) share offering.

Expedia EXPE shares tumbled 4.34 percent to $56.02 after TheStreet Ratings downgraded the stock from “buy” to “hold.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.19 percent to $94.11, while gold traded up 1.26 percent to $1,471.90.

Silver traded up 2.28 percent Monday to $24.33, while copper rose 1.38 percent to $3.23.

Euro zone

European shares were higher on stimulus hopes, sentiment from Italy over the formation of the new government, and news out of Greece that parliament passed a set of legislation enabling the country to receive the next bailout payment.

Eurozone consumer confidence improved slightly in April as the index rose to -22.0 from -23.5 in March, in line with estimates. Business confidence was slightly weaker than expected in April at 88.6 vs. 89.3 forecast.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.79 percent while the Italian FTSE MIB Index gained 2.18 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.69 percent and the French CAC surged 1.54 percent and U.K. shares climbed 0.34 percent.

Economics
Consumer spending climbed 0.2% in March, versus 0.7% in February. Personal income gained 0.2% last month. However, economists were expecting a 0.1% rise in spending and a 0.4% rise in income.

Pending sales of homes surged 1.5% in March. The pending-home-sales index rose to 105.7 in the month, versus 104.1 in February.

The Dallas Fed general business activity index declined to -15.60 in April, versus a prior reading of 7.40.

The Treasury will hold its weekly 3- and 6-month bill auction.