Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; SAIC To Acquire Engility

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.23 percent to 25,974.83 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.05 percent to 7,906.06. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.31 percent to 2,880.43.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the consumer staples shares rose 0.79 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pingtan Marine Enterprise Ltd. PME up 5 percent, and The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. CHEF up 5 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 0.07 percent.

Top Headline

Science Applications International Corp SAIC announced plans to acquire Engility Holdings Inc EGL for $2.5 billion in an all-stock transaction.

SAIC also reported upbeat results for its second quarter. The company posted quarterly earnings of $1.13 per share on revenue of $ $1.115 billion. However, analysts were expecting loss of $0.99 per share on revenue of $1.11 billion.

Equities Trading UP

NMI Holdings, Inc. NMIH shares shot up 10 percent to $23.25. Barclays initiated coverage on NMI Holdings with an Overweight rating and a $28 price target.

Shares of Tilray, Inc. TLRY got a boost, shooting up 8 percent to $84.0017. The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. signed a supply agreement to provide dried cannabis to Tilray Canada Ltd.

Fred's, Inc. FRED shares were also up, gaining 57 percent to $2.5619 after Walgreens announced it will buy the pharmacy patient prescription files and related pharmacy inventory of 185 Fred's stores for $165 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

FTD Companies, Inc. FTD shares dropped 11 percent to $3.25. KLX Energy Services Holdings will replace FTD Companies in the S&P SmallCap 600 on September 18, 2018.

Shares of iKang Healthcare Group, Inc. KANG were down 13 percent to $16.0182 after the company on Friday announced it will re-evaluate a proposed merger between IK Healthcare Investment Limited and IK Healthcare Merger Limited.

Science Applications International Corporation SAIC was down, falling around 8 percent to $82.68 after the company announced plans to acquire Engility Holdings for $2.5 billion in an all-stock transaction.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.38 percent to $68.01 while gold traded down 0.27 percent to $1,197.10.

Silver traded up 0.28 percent Monday to $14.21, while copper fell 0.25 to $2.616.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.64 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.32 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 2.34 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.63 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.68 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.27 percent.

Economics

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Albany, Georgia at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index for August is schedule for release at 12:30 p.m. ET.

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