Mid-Day Market Update: Gogo Surges After Strong Q4 Results; AmTrust Financial Shares Slide

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 20,807.71 while the NASDAQ declined 0.04 percent to 5,842.78. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.07 percent to 2,365.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic material shares climbed by 0.96 percent in trading on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Eldorado Gold Corp (USA) EGO, and Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) AUY.

In trading on Monday, telecommunications services shares fell by 0.63 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included United States Cellular Corp USM, down 4 percent, and B Communications Ltd BCOM, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Sothebys BID reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday.

Sothebys posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.35 per share on revenue of $308.69 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.17 per share on revenue of $277.28 million.

Equities Trading UP

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company LJPC shares shot up 77 percent to $35.23 as the company disclosed that ATHOS-3 Phase 3 efficacy endpoint is statistically significant.

Shares of Gogo Inc GOGO got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $10.78 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss.

Cellectar Biosciences Inc CLRB shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $2.32 after the company issued Phase I trial update of CLR 131 in multiple myeloma.

Equities Trading DOWN

Grana y Montero SAA (ADR) GRAM shares dropped 31 percent to $2.30. Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP disclosed an investigation on behalf of Grana Y Montero investors.

Shares of AmTrust Financial Services Inc AFSI were down around 15 percent to $23.45 after the company posted downbeat Q4 earnings.

Shutterstock Inc SSTK was down, falling around 19 percent to $41.90 after the company reported downbeat Q4 results and issued a weak outlook.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.33 percent to $54.17 while gold traded up 0.45 percent to $1,264.00.

Silver traded up 0.51 percent Monday to $18.50, while copper fell 0.09 percent to $2.69.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.12 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.15 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.63 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.10 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.13 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable-goods orders gained 1.8 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.9 percent growth

The National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index dropped 2.8 percent to 106.4 in January. However, economists were expecting a 1.1 percent increase.