Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Recover Slightly As Healthcare Stocks Continue to Show Weakness

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.16 percent to 16,282.03 while the NASDAQ dropped 1.18 percent to 4,226.18. The S&P also fell, declining 0.46 percent to 1,857.40.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy sector surged 0.20 percent, saw Miller Energy Resources MILL as the top gainer.Meanwhile, gainers in energy sector included Petrobras Argentina SA PZE, with shares up 2.5 percent, and PetroChina Co PTR, with shares up 3.2 percent.

Healthcare sector was the leading decliner in the US market today. Among the sector stocks, Idera Pharmaceuticals IDRA was down more than 21 percent, while Celldex Therapeutics CLDX tumbled around 10 percent.

Top Headline
ReneSola SOL posted a profit in the fourth quarter. ReneSola posted its quarterly net profit of $800,000, or $0.01 per American depositary share (ADS), versus a year-ago loss of $88.9 million, or $1.03 per ADS. Its revenue climbed around 43% to $438.8 million. ReneSola expects 2014 module shipments of 2.3 to 2.5 gigawatts (GW).

Equities Trading UP
Nu Skin Enterprises NUS shares shot up 16.30 percent to $87.26 on disclosure of fines by the Administration of Industry and Commerce in Shanghai.

Shares of Herbalife HLF got a boost, shooting up 6.70 percent to $52.86 on nomination of three Carl Icahn designees to its board.

Exact Sciences EXAS was also on the rise, gaining 4.87 percent to $14.22 after the shares caught a relief rally from Friday's down session.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of The KEYW Holding KEYW were down 4.69 percent to $18.86 after Sterne Agee downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral and cut the price target from $21.00 to $19.00.

Ctrip.com International CTRP shares tumbled 3.81 percent to $47.68 after the company responded to temporary potential internet security risk involving customer credit card information.

Idera Pharmaceuticals IDRA was also down, falling 19.24 percent to $4.91 as the healthcare sector as a whole turned to the downside on Monday's session.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.12 percent to $99.58, while gold traded down 1.92 percent to $1,310.80.

Silver traded down 1.77 percent Monday to $19.97, while copper fell 0.22 percent to $2.94.

Eurozone
European shares were lower today.

The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.43 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 1.19 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX tumbled 1.27 percent and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.18 percent while U.K. shares declined 0.48 percent.

Economics
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index surged to 0.14 in February, versus -0.45 in January. However, economists were expecting a reading of 0.08 in the month.

The flash reading of the Markit PMI manufacturing index fell to 55.50 in March, versus a prior reading of 57.10. However, economists were expecting a reading of 56.50.