Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Diana Shipping Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 1.44 percent to 24,634.40 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.54 percent to 7,045.72. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.27 percent to 2,666.11.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the financial shares climbed 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Severn Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVBI) up 13 percent, and Luther Burbank Corp (NASDAQ: LBC) up 10 percent.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.02 percent.

Top Headline

Diana Shipping Inc (NYSE: DSX) reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Diana Shipping posted quarterly earnings of $0.13 per share on time charter revenues of $61.505 million. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.04 per share on revenue of $56.39 million.

Equities Trading UP

Transmontaigne Partners L.P. (NYSE: TLP) shares got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $41.09 after the company agreed to be acquired for $41 per share.

Shares of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) shot up 14 percent to $10.55 after the company reported upbeat Q3 results.

CooTek (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: CTK) shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $6.08 after reporting a $15 million buyback plan.

Equities Trading DOWN

Zafgen, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZFGN) shares dropped 45 percent to $5.00 after the FDA placed a clinical hold on its investigational new drug application for its first trial of diabetes drug ZGN-1061 due to safety concerns.

Shares of Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) were down 6 percent to $47.90. Reuters reported on Friday that Logitech International SA (NASDAQ: LOGI) is in talks to acquire Plantronics for over $2.2 billion. However, Plantronics confirmed that it is no longer in talks with Logitech following acquisition approach by Logitech.

Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) was down, falling around 17 percent to $17.41.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.43 percent to $51.14 while gold traded up 0.25 percent to $1,226.30.

Silver traded up 0.65 percent Monday to $14.46, while copper rose 0.16 percent to $2.79.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.98 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.67 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 2.8 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 0.96 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.73 percent.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.24 for October, versus a prior reading of 0.17.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for November will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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

The Treasury will auction 2-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.