Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise; Halliburton Posts Q1 Profit

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.28 percent to 16,454.65 while the NASDAQ surged 0.36 percent to 4,110.23. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.25 percent to 1,869.44.

Monday morning, the healthcare sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Sarepta Therapeutics

and Momenta Pharmaceuticals

. In trading on Monday, basic materials shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.28 percent. Top losers in the sector included POSCO

, off 2.7 percent, and Century Aluminum Co

, down 2.4 percent.

Halliburton

in the first quarter. Halliburton swung to a quarterly profit of $622 million, or $0.73 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $18 million, or $0.02 per share. Its income from continuing operations came in at $0.73 per share. Its total revenue climbed to $7.35 billion versus $6.97 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $7.26 billion.

Sarepta Therapeutics

shares shot up 52.70 percent to $37.26 on announcement that it

for Eteplirsen for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy by the year-end. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices

got a boost, shooting up 12.06 percent to $4.14 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings and issued a strong Q2 revenue forecast. AstraZeneca PLC

shares were also up, gaining 5.54 percent to $67.01 on report of potential acquisition by Pfizer

.

Shares of Moneygram International

were down 9.52 percent to $13.40. JMP Securities downgraded Moneygram from Market Outperform to Market Perform. Acacia Research

shares tumbled 6.21 percent to $16.00 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q1 results. athenahealth

was down, falling 4.46 percent to $139.08 after the company reported downbeat quarterly results. Morgan Stanley analyst Ricky R. Goldwasser removed the $133.00 price target on athenahealth.

In commodity news,

to $104.15, while gold traded down 0.46 percent to $1,288.00. Silver traded down 1 percent Monday to $19.40, while copper fell 0.02 percent to $3.03.

Europe's markets

with British, Italian, French and German markets all closed for Easter holidays.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.20 in March, versus a prior reading of 0.14. However, economists were expecting a reading of 0.20. The Conference Board's index of leading indicators rose 0.80% in March, versus economists' expectations for a 0.70% growth. The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills.