Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Rise; Lennar Tops Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.17 percent to 19,877.98 while the NASDAQ rose 0.41 percent to 5,459.33. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22 percent to 2,263.01.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Technology shares gained around 0.57 percent in trading on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Mitel Networks Corp MITL, and Imperva Inc IMPV.

In trading on Monday, basic materials shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.44 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) AUY, down 3 percent, and Ternium SA (ADR) TX, down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Lennar Corp LEN posted stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday.

Lennar's net income increased to $313.5 million, or $1.34 per share, compared to $281.6 million, or $1.21 per share, in the year-ago period.

Its revenue gained 14.6 percent to $3.38 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.29 per share on revenue of $3.30 billion.

Equities Trading UP

xG Technology Inc XGTI shares shot up 91 percent to $4.40 after the company announced plans to acquire Vislink Communication Systems.

Shares of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. TNXP got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $0.618 after the company disclosed that its PTSD Phase 3-ready drug candidate TNX-102 SL has been given Breakthrough Therapy designation by the FDA.

Loxo Oncology Inc LOXO shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $32.75 as the company announced plans for accelerated path to the FDA approval for larotrectinib. The company expects to submit NDA by late 2017 or early 2018.

Equities Trading DOWN

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. JAKK shares dropped 27 percent to $5.15. Piper Jaffray downgraded Jakks Pacific from Overweight to Neutral, while BMO Capital downgraded Jakks Pacific to Market Perform.

Shares of Ambac Financial Group, Inc. AMBC were down 13 percent to $22.62. MKM Partners downgraded Ambac Financial from Neutral to Sell.

Voltari Corp VLTC was down, falling around 24 percent to $2.05.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.42 percent to $52.73 while gold traded up 0.33 percent to $1,141.20.

Silver traded down 0.49 percent Monday to $16.14, while copper fell 1.91 percent to $2.52.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.19 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.63 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.26 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.02 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.27 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.05 percent.

Economics

The Markit services PMI slipped to 53.40 for December, versus a prior reading of 54.60. Economists were expecting a reading of 55.20.

The Treaaury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak in Batimore, Maryland at 1:30 p.m. ET.