Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Gains Over 50 Points; Globalstar Shares Surge Following FCC News

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.26 percent to 19,895.29 while the NASDAQ rose 0.64 percent to 5,472.23. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.32 percent to 2,265.21.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Technology shares gained around 0.86 percent in trading on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Unisys Corporation UIS, and Kopin Corporation KOPN.

In trading on Monday, basic materials shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.70 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Intrepid Potash, Inc. IPI, down 9 percent, and Mosaic Co MOS, down 6 percent.

Top Headline

Lennar Corp LEN posted stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday.

Lennar's net income increased to $313.5 million, or $1.34 per share, compared to $281.6 million, or $1.21 per share, in the year-ago period.

Its revenue gained 14.6 percent to $3.38 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.29 per share on revenue of $3.30 billion.

Equities Trading UP

xG Technology Inc XGTI shares shot up 56 percent to $3.58 after the company announced plans to acquire Vislink Communication Systems.

Shares of Globalstar, Inc. GSAT got a boost, shooting up 35 percent to $1.42 after the company received some positive news from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Earlier this year, the FCC rejected Globalstar’s proposal to use satellite signal frequencies to distribute its mobile broadband services. The FCC rejected the original plan on the grounds that Globalstar would gain a special competitive advantage. Globalstar rivals also argued that the approach could interfere with other mobile devices. Globalstar filed a revised proposal on November 9, and the new proposal seems to have addressed the FCC’s primary concerns. “Globalstar’s Revised Proposal provides significant protections to adjacent operations, expands the nation’s broadband spectrum supply and will improve wireless broadband service for consumers in the United States,” the company said in a press release on December 16.

Clovis Oncology Inc CLVS shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $41.96 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted an accelerated approval for the company's PARP inhibitor rucaparib for the treatment of women with advanced ovarian cancer which will now be branded under the name Rubraca.

Equities Trading DOWN

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. JAKK shares dropped 32 percent to $4.78. Piper Jaffray downgraded Jakks Pacific from Overweight to Neutral, while BMO Capital downgraded Jakks Pacific to Market Perform.

Shares of Ambac Financial Group, Inc. AMBC were down 15 percent to $22.04. MKM Partners downgraded Ambac Financial from Neutral to Sell.

Medgenics Inc GNMX was down, falling around 17 percent to $5.70 after climbing 22.98 percent on Friday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.04 percent to $52.97 while gold traded up 0.25 percent to $1,140.30.

Silver traded down 1.08 percent Monday to $16.04, while copper fell 2.63 percent to $2.50.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.12 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.81 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.24 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.20 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.22 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.08 percent.

Economics

The Markit services PMI slipped to 53.40 for December, versus a prior reading of 54.60. Economists were expecting a reading of 55.20.