Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Winnebago Industries Posts Mixed Q4 Results

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.34 percent to 25,414.92 while the NASDAQ declined 0.72 percent to 7,587.82. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.4 percent to 2,789.44.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the utilities shares climbed 0.02 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included TransAlta Corporation TAC up 5 percent, and Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobras EBR up 3 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 1 percent.

Top Headline

Winnebago Industries, Inc. WGO reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views.

Winnebago reported quarterly earnings of $0.60 per share on sales of $432.69 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.59 per share on sales of $461.92 million.

Equities Trading UP

Avaya Holdings Corp. AVYA shares got a boost, shooting up 33 percent to $17.53 following media reports the company is considering a leveraged buyout offer around $20 per share.

Shares of TIER REIT, Inc. TIER shot up 9 percent to $27.66. Cousins Properties and TIER REIT agreed to merge in a 100 percent stock transaction.

The9 Limited NCTY shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $2.7166 after signing a joint venture agreement with Faraday&Future to manufacture, market, distribute, and sell electric cars in China.

Equities Trading DOWN

Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. PTI shares dropped 57 percent to $1.7650 after the company said a 14 day study of its Cystic Fibrosis treatment did not show improvement.

Shares of Recro Pharma, Inc. REPH were down 38 percent to $6.04 after the company's marketing application for IV Meloxicam was rejected by the FDA.

Gridsum Holding Inc. GSUM was down, falling around 17 percent to $2.58.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2 percent to $58.91 while gold traded up 0.5 percent to $1,318.60.

Silver traded up 0.9 percent Monday to $15.545, while copper rose 0.3 percent to $2.85.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.5 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.2 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.6 percent.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell to a reading of -0.29 in February, compared to -0.25 in January.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for March 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.