Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Carl Icahn Discloses Stake In Manitowoc

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.02 percent to 18,057.31 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.06 percent to 4,809.86. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.18 percent to 2,092.58.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Monday morning, the utilities sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Atlantic Power Corporation AT and Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais S.A. CIG.
In trading on Monday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.47 percent. Meanwhile, top decliners in the sector included Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN, down 1.8 percent, and Weight Watchers International, Inc. WTW, off 1.2 percent.

Top Headline
Activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a 7.7 percent stake in Manitowoc Company Inc MTW on Monday, according to a 13D filing.
Based on the 13D filing, Icahn intends to hold discussions with the company's management and Board of Directors relating to the separating of the company's Crane and Food service segments into two separate companies.
Equities Trading UP
The Manitowoc Company, Inc. MTW shares shot up 9.32 percent to $22.87 on report of Icahn stake
Shares of Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. RVLT got a boost, shooting up 6.24 percent to $1.36 after the company announced a strategic distribution partnership with Fastenal.

Juno Therapeutics Inc. JUNO shares were also up, gaining 11.41 percent to $54.29 amid the company’s 8-K filing, which stated that it acquired Opus Bio for $20 million in cash and issued to Opus Bio 1.6 million shares of common stock.

Equities Trading DOWN

China Xiniya Fashion Limited XNY shares tumbled 3.73 percent to $2.32 after the company reported a Q3 loss per ADS of $0.59, versus earnings per ADS of $0.02 in the year-ago quarter.
Shares of Ambarella, Inc. AMBA were down 3.88 percent to $53.77 after Needham downgraded the stock from Hold to Underperform.
TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. TQNT was down, falling 3.04 percent to $27.10. Needham downgraded Triquint Semiconductor from Buy to Hold.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.69 percent to $55.11, while gold traded down 0.75 percent to $1,186.60.
Silver traded down 1.41 percent Monday to $15.92, while copper rose 0.14 percent to $2.82.

Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.28 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index tumbled 1.60 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index tumbled 1.58 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.45 percent and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.19 percent while UK shares gained 0.06 percent.

Economics
The Dallas Fed manufacturing business index for December will be released today.
The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills.