Mid-Day Market Update: Campbell Soup Slides After Weak Forecast; InterMune Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.15 percent to 16,515.49 while the NASDAQ surged 0.83 percent to 4,124.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.34 percent to 1,884.17.

Technology shares gained about 0.68 percent in today's trading. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Intermolecular

, up 38.3 percent, and Infinera

, up 9.4 percent. In trading on Monday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.68 percent. Top decliners in the sector American Electric Power Co

, down 2.5 percent, and FirstEnergy

, off 2.5 percent.

On Sunday, AT&T

announced its plans to buy DirecTV

for $48.5 billion, or $95 per share in a combination of stock and cash. The offer price of $95 per DirecTV share represents a 10 percent premium to closing price of $86.18 on Friday. The deal has a total value of $67.1 billion, including DirecTV's net debt.

Ryanair Holdings plc

shares shot up 6.55 percent to $54.32 after the company

results. Ryanair's net profit for the year ended March 31 slipped to 522.8 million euros ($716 million), versus a year-ago profit of EUR569.3 million. Shares of InterMune

got a boost, shooting up 14.31 percent to $39.22 after the company presented Phase 3 ASCEND study of Pirfenidone in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Leerink upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform. Gogo

shares were also up, gaining 9.06 percent to $14.92. UBS upgraded Gogo from Neutral to Buy.

Shares of AstraZeneca PLC

were 10.50 percent to $71.85 after the company's board rejected the new $119 billion takeover offer from Pfizer

. Campbell Soup Company

shares tumbled 3.44 percent to $43.57 after the company

in its fiscal third-quarter earnings and cut its FY14 forecast. AT&T

was down, falling 1.33 percent to $36.25 after the company announced its

DirecTV

for $48.5 billion, or $95 per share.

In commodity news,

to $102.76, while gold traded up 0.26 percent to $1,296.80. Silver traded up 0.24 percent Monday to $19.38, while copper rose 0.62 percent to $3.17.

European shares

today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dropped 0.14 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.51 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index tumbled 1.60 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.31 percent and the French CAC 40 rose 0.30 percent while UK shares slipped 0.12 percent.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills.