Mid-Day Market Update: Qlik Technologies Surges Amid Potential Sale; VirtualScopics Shares Decline

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.09 percent to 17,500.19 while the NASDAQ declined 0.20 percent to 4,763.90. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.13 percent to 2,033.35. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Monday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.40 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Mattress Firm Holding Corp MFRM, up 5 percent, and Finish Line Inc FINL, up 10 percent. In trading on Monday, energy shares dipped by 0.82 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Basic Energy Services, Inc BAS, down 9 percent, and Unit Corporation UNT, down 8 percent. Top Headline Cal-Maine Foods Inc CALM reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Monday. Cal-Maine reported Q3 earnings of $1.33 per share on revenue of $449.8 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.99 per share on revenue of 463.6 million. Equities Trading UP Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc ALDR shares shot up 57 percent to $26.92. Alder reported that it has met primary and secondary endpoints in Phase 2b ALD403 trial. Shares of Finish Line Inc FINL got a boost, shooting up 11 percent to $21.09. BB&T Capital upgraded Finish Line from Hold to Buy. Monness Crespi Hardt upgraded Finish Line from Neutral to Buy. Citigroup maintained Finish Line with a Buy rating and raised the price target from $20.00 to $23.00. Qlik Technologies Inc QLIK shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $28.75. Reuters on Friday reported Qlik Technologies is exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale of itself as the company has come under pressure from a major shareholder and activist investor, Elliott Management. Equities Trading DOWN Apricus Biosciences Inc APRI shares dropped 47 percent to $0.716 on discontinuation of fispemifene in secondary hypogonadism. Shares of VirtualScopics Inc VSCP were down 11 percent to $4.01 after the company agreed to be acquired by BioTelemetry, Inc. BEAT for a total purchase of around $15.5 million. Pandora Media Inc P was down, falling around 9 percent to $9.91 after the company announced a new lineup of senior executives. Pandora named Tim Westergren as CEO and appointed Mike Herring as President and CFO. Westergren will replace Pandora's outgoing CEO, Brian McAndrews following a more than two-year stint as CEO. Pandora reaffirmed its FY16 sales and adjusted EBITDA outlook. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 1.29 percent to $38.95, while gold traded down 0.15 percent to $1,221.70. Silver traded up 0.27 percent Monday to $15.24, while copper rose 0.07 percent to $2.23. Eurozone European markets were closed Monday for the Easter holiday. Economics U.S. consumer spending rose 0.10 percent for February, versus economists' expectations for a 0.10 percent growth. The pending home sales index gained 3.5 percent to 109.1 in February, versus a downwardly-revised 105.4 in January. However, economists were projecting a 1 percent growth. The Dallas Fed manufacturing business index rose to -13.60 for March, versus a prior reading of -31.80.