Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Up 1.7%; BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.46 percent to 26304.57 while the NASDAQ declined 0.11 percent to 7,930.24. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.19 percent to 2,887.17.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the energy shares rose 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Frontline Ltd. FRO up 12 percent, and Laredo Petroleum, Inc. LPI up 13 percent.

In trading on Monday, industrial shares fell 0.9 percent.

Top Headline

U.S. factory orders fell 0.5 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent drop.

Factory orders, ex-transportation, rose 0.3 percent for February.

Equities Trading UP

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc NAVB shares got a boost, shooting up 21 percent to $0.1697 after the company reported it received FDA feedback related to its Rheumatoid Arthritis trial for Phase 2B and the FDA said it would continue to work with the company for Phase 3 Trial.

Shares of Nordic American Offshore Ltd. NAO shot up 25 percent to $3.1645 following news lenders committed to a new $132.9 million term loan facility. The company also announced a deal to buy 13 vessels from Scorpio Offshore and a $20 million common stock purchase deal.

New Age Beverages Corporation NBEV shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $5.90 following news the company's Marley Mate drink will be available at Walmart stores.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. AGLE shares dropped 8 percent to $8.09 after announcing new positive Phase 1/2 Data for pegzilarginase in patients with Arginase 1 Deficiency at the SIMD 2019 Annual Meeting.

Shares of Art's-Way Manufacturing Co., Inc. ARTW were down 12 percent to $1.92 following Q1 results. Art's-Way Manufacturing posted Q1 loss of $0.14 per share on sales of $4.124 million.

BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT was down, falling around 15 percent to $23.20 after the company cut its dividend from $1 to $0.35 per share and announced actual average daily production for the quarter of 77,371 BBLS.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7 percent to $64.16 while gold traded up 0.5 percent to $1,302.20.

Silver traded up 0.9 percent Monday to $15.215, while copper rose 1.3 percent to $2.932.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.19 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.76 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.39 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.08 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.07 percent.

Economics

U.S. factory orders fell 0.5 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent drop.