Dow Surges 175 Points; Fabrinet Shares Slide

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.05 percent to 16,837.56 while the NASDAQ surged 0.89 percent to 4,504.60. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.84 percent to 1,971.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

In trading on Monday, industrials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.28 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Hutchinson Technology HTCH, up 11 percent, and Career Education CECO, up 7.4 percent.

Utilities shares gained by just 0.28 percent in today’s trading. Meanwhile, top decliners in the sector included Artesian Resources ARTNA, down 0.9 percent, and Regency Energy Partners LP RGP, off 0.75 percent.

Top Headline

Dollar General DG offered to buy Family Dollar Stores FDO for around $9.7 billion.

Dollar General will pay $78.50 per share in cash, 3% higher than Family Dollar’s closing price of $76.06 on Friday.

Equities Trading UP

Dollar General DG shares shot up 9.54 percent to $62.94 after the company offered to buy Family Dollar Stores FDO for around $9.7 billion.

Shares of Family Dollar Stores FDO got a boost, shooting up 4.98 percent to $79.85 after a $9.7 billion offer by Dollar General.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals ACHN shares were also up, gaining 2.05 percent to $9.44 after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $6 to $17.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Fabrinet FN were down 18.48 percent to $14.47 after the company announced audit committee probe into accounting matters. The company also reported that it has postponed Q4 earnings release and conference call.

Monster Beverage MNST shares tumbled 4.24 percent to $89.53 after jumping 30.48% on Friday.
Dollar Tree DLTR was down, falling 2.08 percent to $54.45 after Dollar General DG offered to buy Family Dollar Stores for around $9.7 billion.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.34 percent to $96.05, while gold traded down 0.50 percent to $1,299.70.

Silver traded up 0.56 percent Monday to $19.64, while copper rose 0.53 percent to $3.14.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 1.18 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index jumped 1.28 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.82 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.68 percent and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.35 percent while UK shares gained 0.78 percent.

Economics

The NAHB housing market index rose 2 points to 55 in August.