Mid-Day Market Update: Sohu.com Surges Following Strong Q1 Results; Momo Shares Slide

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.11 percent to 26573.41 while the NASDAQ gained 0.24 percent to 8165.81. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.25 percent to 2,947.17.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the financial shares rose 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Qudian Inc. QD up 10 percent, and Global Indemnity Limited GBLI up 6 percent.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.7 percent.

Top Headline

Restaurant Brands International Inc QSR reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

Restaurant Brands said it earned $0.55 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $1.266 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.56 per share on sales of $1.15 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Roan Resources, Inc. ROAN shares got a boost, shooting up 42 percent to $5.94 after the company disclosed it has received unsolicited indications of interest and formed a transaction committee to evaluate a potential sale or merger.

Shares of Changyou.com Limited CYOU shot up 22 percent to $19.70 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales. The company also announced a special dividend of $9.40 per ADS.

Sohu.com Limited SOHU shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $18.33 following strong Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Veoneer, Inc. VNE shares dropped 16 percent to $22.47 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and revenue results.

Shares of Silicom Ltd. SILC were down 18 percent to $32.04 after the company reported Q1 results and issued weak Q2 sales forecast.

Momo Inc. MOMO was down, falling around 9 percent to $33.75 after the company's Tantan mobile app was suspended from several app stores.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2 percent to $63.18 while gold traded down 0.65 percent to $1,280.40.

Silver traded down 1.1 percent Monday to $14.92, while copper fell 0.2 percent to $2.889.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.08 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.12 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.23 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.06 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.11 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.17 percent.

Economics

U.S. consumer spending increased 0.9 percent in March, following a 0.1 percent rise in February. Personal income rose 0.1 percent in March.