Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Intuitive Surgical Falls On Downbeat Earnings; KEYW Holding Shares Jump

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.2 percent to 26,506.31 while the NASDAQ gained 0.07 percent to 8,003.98. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 2,904.88.


Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the energy shares rose 1.9 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Denbury Resources Inc. DNR up 14 percent, and Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc CRZO up 15 percent.

In trading on Monday, real estate shares fell 1.8 percent.


Top Headline

Halliburton Company HAL reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Halliburton said it earned $0.23 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $5.737 billion versus expectations of $0.22 per share and $5.52 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

KEYW Holding Corp. KEYW shares got a boost, shooting up 42 percent to $11.19 after Jacobs Engineering Group Inc JEC announced plans to acquire KEYW for $11.25 per share in cash.

Shares of Moleculin Biotech, Inc. MBRX shot up 151 percent to $2.7850 after the company announced a conference call to review a 'significant discovery for lung cancer and FDA activity.'

Regional Health Properties, Inc. RHE shares were also up, gaining 122 percent to $2.4204 after the company announced it has entered an agreement to sell four skilled nursing facilities for $28.5 million.

 


Equities Trading DOWN


Intuitive Surgical, Inc. ISRG shares dropped 7 percent to $491.60 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.

Shares of Novus Therapeutics, Inc. NVUS were down 27 percent to $3.00. Novus Therapeutics said its OP0201 Phase 1 clinical trials 'demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile.'

GrafTech International Ltd. EAF was down, falling around 11 percent to $12.44 after Citigroup downgraded the company's stock from Buy to Sell.


Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.6 percent to $65.66 while gold traded up 0.1 percent to $1,277.10.


Silver traded up 0.1 percent Monday to $14.975, while copper fell 0.6 percent to $2.9035.

 

Eurozone

European markets were closed Monday for Easter holiday.


Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for March rose to -0.15 in March, compared to a reading of -0.31 in February.

U.S. existing home sales declined 4.9 percent at an annual rate of 5.21 million for March.

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