Mid-Day Market Update: Nam Tai Rockets Upwards; Ebix Takes a Beating on SEC Probe

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.14 percent to 13,075.44 while the NASDAQ rose 0.07 percent to 2,984.35. The S&P also fell, decreasing 0.16 percent to 1,411.89. Top Headline In acquisition news Monday morning, Stifel Financial SF announced it would be acquiring Keefe Bruyette & Woods for $17.50 per share, sending shares of Stifel up a little under two percent following the market opening. Equities Trading UP Nam Tai Electronics NTE shot up 35.39 percent to $14.50 after the company posted an impressive earnings beat Monday morning. BioMarin Pharmaceuticals BMRN slowed its rise midway through trading, up 30.47 percent to $48.81 after the company announced its Phase 3 study of GALNS had met its primary endpoint Monday morning. Shares Strategic Hotels & Resorts BEE consolidated their gains, remaining up 13.29 percent to $6.31 following an upgrade at Piper Jaffray. Equities Trading DOWN Ebix EBIX fell 21.15 percent to $17.67 after Bloomberg reported that the company was being probed by the SEC late Monday morning. Radian Group RDN continued to drop midway through Monday, falling 13.57 percent to $4.65 despite an increase in price target at Compass Point. Shares of Pharmacyclics PCYC regained some of its losses, but remained down 13.84 percent to $49.43 despite a revenue beat Monday morning. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.19 percent to $85.05, while gold traded up 0.48 percent to $1,682.20. Silver traded down 1.24 percent Monday to $31.01. Euro Zone European markets continued to fall Monday after bad news came out of the Spanish banks and Greece prepares to once again vote on the austerity measures. In eurozone economic reports, the Spanish unemployment change was reported, coming in at 128.2 thousand, above the expected 90.5 thousand and the previous figure of 79.60 thousand. Economics In economic news, the ISM manufacturing index came in at 54.2, slightly below the expected 54.5 and the prior figure of 55.1.