Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Men's Wearhouse Lifts Offer For Jos. A. Bank

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.73 percent to 16,220.60 while the NASDAQ surged 0.70 percent to 4,293.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.65 percent to 1,848.25.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Telecommunications services sector surged 2.33%, saw Vodafone Group Public Limited Company VOD as the top gainer. Gainers in the sector included NQ Mobile NQ, with shares up 3.6 percent, and Allot Communications ALLT, with shares up 3.5 percent.

In trading on Monday, basic materials shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.16 percent.

Among the sector stocks, Cliffs Natural Resources CLF was down more than 3.5 percent, while United States Steel X tumbled around 3 percent.

Top Headline
Men's Wearhouse MW raised its cash tender offer for Jos. A. Bank Clothiers JOSB to $63.50 per share from $57.50 per share.

Equities Trading UP
RF Micro Devices RFMD shot up 16.18 percent to $6.75 after the company announced its plans to merge with TriQuint Semiconductor TQNT.

Shares of GT Advanced Technologies GTAT got a boost, shooting up 8.34 percent to $13.12 after the company reported upbeat Q4 earnings.

TriQuint Semiconductor TQNT was also up, gaining 21.18 percent to $11.19 after the company and RFMD announced their plans to combine in an all-stock deal. Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Cogent Communications Group CCOI were down 11.33 percent to $35.67 after FBR Capital downgraded the stock from Market Perform to Underperform.

Armstrong World Industries AWI shares tumbled 5.70 percent to $55.89 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings.

Dillard's DDS was down, falling 3.73 percent to $86.00 on weaker-than-expected Q4 results.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.28 percent to $102.49, while gold traded up 0.44 percent to $1,329.40.

Silver traded up 0.71 percent Monday to $21.97, while copper fell 1.47 percent to $3.21.

Eurozone
European shares were mixed today.

The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.44 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 0.26 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.12 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.14 percent while U.K. shares dropped 0.20 percent.

Economics
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index came in at -0.39 in January, versus economists' expectations for a reading of -0.20.

The Markit Services PMI fell to 52.7 in February, versus a prior reading of 56.7. However, economists were expecting a reading of 56.9.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills.