Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; McDonald's Beats Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.42 percent to 16,026.02 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.38 percent to 4,573.87. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.50 percent to 1,897.41. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Monday, healthcare shares fell by just 0.05 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cardiovascular Systems Inc CSII, up 7 percent, and MediciNova, Inc. MNOV, up 7 percent. In trading on Monday, energy shares tumbled by 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Ultra Petroleum Corp. UPL, down 7 percent, and BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT, down 6 percent. Top Headline McDonald's Corp. MCD reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday. McDonald's posted quarterly net income of $1.21 billion, or $1.31 per share, compared to $1.1 billion, or $1.13 per share, in the year-ago period. Its sales rose to $6.34 billion from $6.57 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.23 per share on revenue of $6.22 billion. Equities Trading UP Jinpan International Limited JST shares shot up 26 percent to $5.30 after the company reported a merger deal at $6 per share. Shares of Tyco International plc (Ireland) Ordinary Share TYC got a boost, shooting up 7 percent to $32.83. Johnson Controls Inc JCI entered into a definitive merger agreement with Tyco International. Sunedison Inc SUNE shares were also up, gaining 7 percent to $2.83. According to the Wall Street Journal's report, David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital will be given a seat a Sunedison's board of directors. Equities Trading DOWN Oncomed Pharmaceuticals Inc OMED shares dropped 43 percent to $9.94 after the company provided an update on its Phase 2 ALPINE clinical trial following a pre-planned January 23 interim efficacy assessment of the clinical trial by an independent data safety monitoring board. Shares of KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. KS were down 15 percent to $14.92. Macquarie downgraded KapStone Paper and Packaging from Neutral to Underperform. Zafgen Inc ZFGN was down, falling around 11 percent to $7.85. Kerrisdale Capital released a negative report on Zafgen. Kerrisdale believed Zafgen stock is worth only $3 per share. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 3.26 percent to $31.14, while gold traded up 0.89 percent to $1,106.10. Silver traded up 1.16 percent Monday to $14.22, while copper fell 0.42 percent to $1.99. Eurozone European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.63 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 1.36 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.57 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.31 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.50 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.38 percent. Economics The Dallas Fed general activity index for January will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.