Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Near Flat; J.C. Penney Falling Further

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Towards the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.05 percent to 12,821.30 while the NASDAQ fell 0.01 percent to 2,904.54. The S&P also rose, increasing 0.04 percent to 1,380.41.Top Headline

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Jefferies Group announced this morning that it had agreed to sell itself to Leucadia for $2.76 billion in stock or roughly $17.66 per share. The deal was described by the Jefferies executive team as one that would allow the company greater freedom and capital access, adding that the company would now be able to ‘go on the offensive'. The announcement lead to a Jefferies shares up over 21 percent in the pre-market.Equities Trading UPTitanium Metals Corporation (NYSE: TIE) remained up 42.44 percent to $16.48 following the market opening after the company announced it would be acquired by Precision Castparts for $2.9 billion.Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT) steadily gained after the market opening, getting a 10.29 percent boost to $25.09 after an analyst stated that a delay in a competing drug will help the company in the near future.Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) was up as well, remaining up 11.74 percent to $72.64 after the company announced positive data in its Hepatitis C trials.Equities Trading DOWN

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Clovis Oncology (NASDAQ: CLVS) slowed its fall, remaining down 39.37 percent at $13.03 after the company released negative results from its pancreatic cancer study Sunday evening.Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACHN) also fell, dropping 12.32 percent to $7.90, possibly linked to Gilead's rally, although Wells Fargo came out with a statement that the drop may be a ‘misinterpretation'.Shares of JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) continued their fall Monday, tumbling 12.79 percent to $18.00 following a poor earnings release last week and a cut at S&P.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded down 0.37 percent to $85.70, while gold traded down 0.19 percent to $1,727.60.Silver traded up 0.15 percent Monday to $32.39.EurozoneEuropean markets rose mostly Monday morning following Greece's austerity vote last week, aside from the Spanish Ibex which fell slightly.In news around Europe, Italian prime minister Mario Monti released a statement indicating that the country had no plans of taking a bailout.Spain's Luis De Guindos also came out with a statement, issuing a more optimistic forecast for the nation than the EU and IMF had shown in the past few weeks. He went on to say that Spain's forecasting was conservative, but not set in stone.EconomicsThere were no major US economic releases Monday.