Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 1%; Tower Semiconductor Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.67 percent to 24,426.07 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.94 percent to 7,277.39. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.55 percent to 2,677.89.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the energy shares rose 2.14 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. EGC, up 12 percent, and EP Energy Corporation EPE up 13 percent.

In trading on Monday, telecommunication services shares fell 0.79 percent.

Top Headline

Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN reported weaker-than-expected results for its fiscal second quarter.

Tyson posted quarterly earnings of $1.271 per share on sales of $9.773 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.32 per share on sales of $9.89 billion. Tyson expects FY18 earnings of $6.55 to $6.70 per share.

Equities Trading UP

athenahealth, Inc. ATHN shares shot up 16 percent to $145.72 after Elliott Management confirmed a $160 per share cash offer for athenahealth.

Shares of National CineMedia, Inc. NCMI got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $6.45 after the company posted upbeat quarterly profit.

Gramercy Property Trust GPT shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $27.52 after the company agreed to be acquired by Blackstone Group L.P. BX for $27.50 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. TSEM shares dropped 9 percent to $24.94 after reporting downbeat quarterly results.

Shares of Technical Communications Corporation TCCO were down 8 percent to $4.58. Technical Communications reported a net loss of $(0.17) per share for the three months ended March 31, 2018, versus net income of $0.07 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Del Frisco's Restaurant Group Inc DFRG was down, falling around 13 percent to $14.70 after the company reported downbeat quarterly earnings and announced plans to acquire Barteca Restaurant Group for $325 million in cash.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.22 percent to $70.57 while gold traded up 0.02 percent to $1,314.90.

Silver traded down 0.02 percent Monday to $16.515, while copper rose 0.24 to $3.093.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.65 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.38 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.86 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 1.06 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.28 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.86 percent.

Economics

Data on consumer credit for March will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans is set to speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.