Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 2%; RLJ Entertainment Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.24 percent to 25,391.13 while the NASDAQ declined 1.10 percent to 7,651.99. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.33 percent to 2,809.41.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the telecommunication services shares climbed 2.15 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included pdvWireless, Inc. PDVW up 7 percent, and Vodafone Group Plc VOD up 5 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 1.78 percent.

Top Headline

Caterpillar Inc. CAT reported better-than-expected results for its fiscal second quarter and raised its full-year profit outlook.

The company said it earned $2.97 per share in the quarter on revenue of $14.011 billion versus expectations of $2.73 per share and $13.88 billion. Management also lifted its full year 2018 EPS from $10.25-$11.25 to a new range of $11.00-$12.00 versus the Street's estimate of $10.87 per share.

Equities Trading UP

MYnd Analytics, Inc. MYND shares shot up 55 percent to $2.16 following announcement that the company’s wholly owned subsidiary Arcadian Telepsychiatry Services, LLC has launched a program offering telepsychiatry, teletherapy, and other behavioral health solutions for skilled nursing and assisted living.

Shares of RLJ Entertainment, Inc. RLJE got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $6.1789 after AMC Networks Inc. AMCX announced plans to acquire the company in a $274 million deal.

The Habit Restaurants, Inc. HABT shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $12.725. Wedbush upgraded Habit Restaurants from Neutral to Outperform. Habit Restaurants is expected to release Q2 results on August 1.

Equities Trading DOWN

Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. HMNY shares dropped 53 percent to $0.9401 after declining 70.72 percent on Friday.

Shares of Sohu.com Limited SOHU were down 12 percent to $26.98 following mixed Q2 results and downbeat Q3 guidance. Sohu.com reported Q2 loss of $1.27 per share on sales of $486.014 million.

Care.com, Inc. CRCM was down, falling around 16 percent to $17.44 following Q2 results. Care.com posted Q2 earnings of $0.14 per share on sales of $45.966 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.14 percent to $70.16 while gold traded down 0.06 percent to $1,232.00.

Silver traded up 0.27 percent Monday to $15.535, while copper fell 0.29 to $2.794.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.30 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.14 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.48 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.37 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.01 percent.

Economics

U.S. pending home sales increased 0.9 percent to a reading of 106.9 in June. However, economists projected a 0.4 percent rise for June.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing business index slipped to 32.30 for July, versus prior reading of 36.50. Economists were expecting a reading of 31.00.