Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges More Than 200 Points; Dillard's Shares Dip On Earnings Miss

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.16 percent to 17,445.33 while the NASDAQ jumped 0.96 percent to 4,975.15. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.22 percent to 2,047.70.Leading and Lagging SectorsIn trading on Monday, energy shares rose by 2.28 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Baytex Energy Corp (USA) (NYSE: BTE), up 15 percent, and Legacy Reserves LP (NASDAQ: LGCY), up 12 percent. Healthcare shares gained by just 0.4 percent in Monday's trading. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ: CLVS), down 70 percent, and Digirad Corporation (NASDAQ: DRAD), off 14 percent.Top Headline Marriott International Inc (NASDAQ: MAR) announced its plans to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (NYSE: HOT) for $12.2 billion.The combined company would have more than 5,500 hotels with around 1.1 million rooms worldwide.Equities Trading UP Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) shares shot up 7 percent to $35.35. Sunoco reported the dropdown to SUN of the remaining 68.42 percent interest in Sunoco and 100 percent interest in the Legacy Sunoco retail business for around $2.226 billion.Shares of Mylan NV (NASDAQ: MYL) got a boost, shooting up 3 percent to $50.27 after the company reported a $1 billion buyback plan. Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) shares were also up, gaining 2 percent to $37.99. Goldman Sachs added Oracle to its Conviction Buy list and raised the price target to $47.00.Equities Trading DOWN Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ: CLVS) shares tumbled 70 percent to $29.90 following report of the FDA request for additional information on lung cancer drug. Shares of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (NYSE: HOT) were down 5 percent to $71.49 after Marriott International Inc (NASDAQ: MAR) announced its plans to buy Starwood for $12.2 billion. Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE: DDS) was down, falling 8 percent to $71.34 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings.CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded up 2.55 percent to $41.78, while gold traded up 0.10 percent to $1,082.00. Silver traded up 0.18 percent Monday to $14.23, while copper fell 2.40 percent to $2.12.EurozoneEuropean shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.30 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.13 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.14 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.08 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.46 percent.EconomicsThe Empire State manufacturing index rose to negative 10.74 for November, compared to negative 11.36 in October. However, economists were expecting a reading of negative 6.