Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Eldorado To Buy Caesars For $17.3B

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.27% to 26,791.18 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 8,035.65. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.09% to 2,953.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares gained 0.3% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Qudian Inc. QD, up 10%, and PPDAI Group Inc. PPDF, up 7%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

Eldorado Resorts Inc ERI will acquire Caesars Entertainment Corporation CZR in a cash-and-stock transaction of $17.3 billion. Caesars is one of the world's largest gambling companies and has had a number of offers, including Golden Nugget, Tilman Fertitta's casino company and Boyd Gaming Corp.

Carl Icahn, who owns a 9.8% stake in Caesars , has commented he is "pleased" Eldorado will merge with Caesars. Back in January, Icahn pushed for Caesars to consider strategic alternatives.

Separately, VICI Properties Inc VICI announced it will acquire the land of three casino properties from Eldorado Resorts for $3.2 billion..

Equities Trading UP

Minerva Neurosciences Inc NERV shares shot up 59% to $6.73 after the company announced that its Phase 2B trial for the clinical trial of Seltorexant achieved its primary and key secondary objectives.

Shares of PCM Inc PCMI got a boost, shooting up 42% to $34.67 after Insight announced plans to acquire PCM for $35 per share.

Krystal Biotech Inc KRYS shares were also up, gaining 28% to $37.21, after the company announced positive results from its Phase 2 clinical trial of KB103 and received regenerative medicine advanced therapy designation from FDA.

Equities Trading DOWN

The Peck Company, Inc. PECK shares tumbled 24% to $8.48 after falling 34.9% on Friday.

Shares of 360 Finance, Inc. QFIN were down 15% to $11.76 after the company announced a proposed follow-on public offering of 7.5 million American depositary shares.

Pier 1 Imports, Inc. PIR was down, falling 20% to $9.11 after dropping 23.5% on Friday. Pier 1 Imports announced a 1-for-20 reverse stock split Wednesday to regain compliance with New York Stock Exchangelisting standards. The company’s board of directors formally authorized a 1-for-20 reverse stock split of Pier 1’s common stock effective Thursday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $57.94, while gold traded up 0.7% to $1,410.40.

Silver traded up 0.3% Monday to $15.34, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.6975.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.6%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.1% while UK shares rose 0.2%.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index increased to a reading of -0.05 in May, versus a revised reading of -0.48 in the prior month.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for June 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.