Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Nexstar to buy Tribune Media for $46.50/Share

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 1.20 percent to 25,844.56 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.44 percent to 7,436.20. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.02 percent to 2,788.26.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the energy shares climbed 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Canadian Natural Resources Ltd CNQ up 11 percent, and Cenovus Energy Inc CVE up 10 percent.

In trading on Monday, consumer staples shares fell 0.7 percent.

Top Headline

Nexstar Media Group Inc NXST announced plans to acquire Tribune Media Company TRCO for $6.4 billion, including the assumption of outstanding debt.

Nexstar Media will pay $46.50 per share, representing a 15.5 percent premium over Tribune Media's closing price on Friday.

Equities Trading UP

American Electric Technologies, Inc AETI shares got a boost, shooting up 192 percent to $1.17 after the company disclosed that its joint venture, BOMAY, received a major order for drilling rig control systems.

Shares of Tesaro, Inc. TSRO shot up 59 percent to $73.74 after GlaxoSmithKline plc GSK announced plans to acquire the company for $75 per share in cash.

Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. GBT shares were also up, gaining 29 percent to $40.79 after the company announced an accelerated approval pathway for Voxelotor.

Equities Trading DOWN

Hexindai Inc. HX shares dropped 18 percent to $3.61 following Q2 results. Hexindai posted a Q2 loss of $0.36 per share on sales of $3.62 million.

Shares of Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ADIL were down 12 percent to $3.38 after rising 37.14 percent on Friday.

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. OCUL was down, falling around 6 percent to $6.26. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated Overweight rating on Ocular Therapeutics following the FDA approval of DEXTENZA.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.32 percent to $53.13 while gold traded up 0.87 percent to $1,236.70.

Silver traded up 2.34 percent Monday to $14.55, while copper rose 2.04 percent to $2.8445.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 1.24 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.86 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 2.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.99 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.55 percent.

Economics

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI dropped to 55.3 in November, versus a prior reading of 55.7.

U.S. construction spending dropped 0.1 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent rise.

The ISM manufacturing index increased to 59.3 in November, versus previous reading of 57.7. Economists expected a reading of 57.5.

Federal Reserve Member of the Board of Governors Lael Brainard will speak in New York at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak in Laredo, Texas at 1:00 p.m. ET.