Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; PPG To Acquire Comex For $2.3 Billion

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.02 percent to 16,854.35 while the NASDAQ surged 0.17 percent to 4,405.27. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.09 percent to 1,962.79.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

In trading on Monday, technology shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.22 percent. Top gainers in the sector included ChinaCache International Holdings CCIH, up 5.7 percent, and ServiceSource International SREV, up 6.7 percent.

Basic materials sector was the top decliner in today’s trading. Top losers in the sector included Rayonier RYN, down 27.3 percent, and Endeavour Silver EXK, off 3 percent.

Top Headline

PPG Industries PPG announced its plans to buy Consorcio Comex SA de CV for $2.3 billion.

Mexico-based Comex had sales of around $1 billion in 2013.

Equities Trading UP

MannKind MNKD shares shot up 10.56 percent to $11.06 following the Friday's conditional FDA approval for Afrezzaa.

Shares of ServiceSource International SREV got a boost, shooting up 6.57 percent to $6.00 after Altai Capital reported a 9.9% stake in ServiceSource.

GW Pharmaceuticals plc GWPH shares were also up, gaining 4.25 percent to $100.23 as Piper Jaffray raised the price target on the stock from $97 to $147.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of MBIA MBI were down 5.13 percent to $10.90 as BTIG Research downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral.

United States Steel X shares tumbled 1.54 percent to $25.62. Martin Marietta Materials MLM will replace U.S. Steel in the S&P 500 index after the close of trading on July 1.

Rayonier RYN was down, falling 27.74 percent to $35.07. Rayonier completed the spin-off of Rayonier Advanced Materials RYAM. Analysts at RBC Capital downgraded Rayonier from Outperform to Sector Perform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.46 percent to $105.25, while gold traded down 0.36 percent to $1,315.20.

Silver traded down 0.80 percent Monday to $20.97, while copper rose 0.17 percent to $3.17.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today.

The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.30 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.22 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.29 percent and the French CAC 40 tumbled 0.22 percent while UK shares declined 0.11 percent.

Economics

The Chicago PMI dropped to 62.6 in June, versus 65.5 in May. However, economists were expecting a reading of 64.3.

The pending home sales index rose 6.1% to reach 103.9 in May, up from 97.9 in April.

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

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Posted In: EarningsNewsEmerging MarketsEurozoneFuturesFDAEconomicsIntraday UpdateMarkets
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