Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Remain in the Green as Moneygram Falls Further

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.22 percent to 16,443.00 while the NASDAQ surged 0.45 percent to 4,114.33. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.27 percent to 1,869.24.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Monday morning, the healthcare sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT and STAAR Surgical Company STAA. In trading on Monday, basic materials shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.45 percent.

Top losers in the sector included Endeavour Silver EXK, off 4 percent, and Hecla Mining Co HL, down 3.5 percent.

Top Headline
Halliburton HAL posted a profit in the first quarter. Halliburton swung to a quarterly profit of $622 million, or $0.73 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $18 million, or $0.02 per share. Its income from continuing operations came in at $0.73 per share. Its total revenue climbed to $7.35 billion versus $6.97 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $7.26 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT shares shot up 42.87 percent to $34.85 on announcement that it will file NDA for Eteplirsen for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy by the year-end.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices AMD got a boost, shooting up 12.74 percent to $4.15 after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings and issued a strong Q2 revenue forecast.

Cbeyond CBEY shares gapped up Monday morning, gaining 38.56 percent to $9.81 after it was announced the company would be acquired for $323 million by Birch Communications.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Moneygram International MGI were 14.28 percent to $12.69. JMP Securities downgraded Moneygram from Market Outperform to Market Perform. Acacia Research ACTG shares tumbled 9.11 percent to $15.51 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q1 results. Organovo Holdings ONVO was also down, falling 5.57 percent to $6.64 despite seeming little news on the name on Monday's session.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.19 percent to $103.57, while gold traded down 0.36 percent to $1,289.00.

Silver traded down 1.23 percent Monday to $19.38, while copper fell 0.21 percent to $3.03.

Eurozone
Europe's markets were quiet with British, Italian, French and German markets all closed for Easter holidays.

Economics
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.20 in March, versus a prior reading of 0.14. However, economists were expecting a reading of 0.20.

The Conference Board's index of leading indicators rose 0.80% in March, versus economists' expectations for a 0.70% growth.