Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Drift Higher Amid A Flurry Of Weekend M&A Activity

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.10 percent to 16,507.49 while the NASDAQ surged 0.78 percent to 4,122.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.33 percent to 1,883.17.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Technology shares gained about 0.68 percent in today's trading. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Intermolecular IMI, up 38.3 percent, and Infinera INFN, up 9.4 percent. In trading on Monday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.68 percent.

Top decliners in the sector American Electric Power Co AEP, down 2.5 percent, and FirstEnergy FE, off 2.5 percent.

Top Headline
On Sunday, AT&T T announced its plans to buy DirecTV DTV for $48.5 billion, or $95 per share in a combination of stock and cash. The offer price of $95 per DirecTV share represents a 10 percent premium to closing price of $86.18 on Friday. The deal has a total value of $67.1 billion, including DirecTV's net debt.

Equities Trading UP
Ryanair Holdings plc RYAAY shares shot up 7.51 percent to $54.81 after the company reported full-year results. Ryanair's net profit for the year ended March 31 slipped to 522.8 million euros ($716 million), versus a year-ago profit of EUR569.3 million.

Shares of InterMune ITMN got a boost, shooting up 13.90 percent to $39.07 after the company presented Phase 3 ASCEND study of Pirfenidone in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Leerink upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform.

InterMune ITMN was also on the rise, gaining 13.61 percent to $38.98 after a Leerink upgrade appeared to get the street onto the bullish side.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of AstraZeneca PLC AZN were 11.70 percent to $70.89 after the company's board rejected the new $119 billion takeover offer from Pfizer PFE. 3-earnings-lowers-fy14-guidance"> reported a rise in its fiscal third-quarter earnings and cut its FY14 forecast.

LifeLock LOCK was also down, falling 15.33 percent to $10.99 after the company announced Friday that it had halted its mobile wallet service, shocking the street.

Provectus Biopharmaceuticals PVCT was also down, falling 3.02 percent to $3.01, letting out some air after the company's opening on the NYSE Friday.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.54 percent to $102.13, while gold traded down 0.04 percent to $1,292.80.

Silver traded up 0.16 percent Monday to $19.36, while copper rose 0.56 percent to $3.16.

Eurozone
European shares were mostly lower today.

The eurozone's STOXX 600 dropped 0.14 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.51 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index tumbled 1.60 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.31 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.30 percent while UK shares slipped 0.12 percent.

Economics

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