Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; United Bankshares To Buy Carolina Financial

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.04% to 27,994.09 while the NASDAQ fell 0.35% to 8,510.93. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21% to 3,114.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 0.7% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ellomay Capital Ltd. (NYSE: ELLO), up 4%, and Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: CWCO), up 2%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 1.1%.

Top Headline

United Bankshares Inc (NASDAQ: UBSI) announced plans to buy Carolina Financial Corp (NASDAQ: CARO) in a deal valued at $1.1 billion.

Carolina Shareholders will receive 1.13 United Shares for each Carolina share owned. The transaction represents a premium of around 16% over Friday's closing price.

Equities Trading UP

Karuna Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRTX) shares shot up 245% to $61.00 after the company announced its phase 2 trial of KarXT in patients with schizophrenia met its primary endpoint.

Shares of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRNA) got a boost, shooting up 17% to $22.65. Dicerna and Novo Nordisk entered into an agreement to discover and develop RNAi Therapies for liver-related cardio-metabolic diseases.

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: NBY) shares were also up, gaining 42% to $0.7250 after the company announced its NovaSight daily vitamin will launch onAmazon.com.

Equities Trading DOWN

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLS) shares tumbled 19% to $4.18.

Shares of Qudian Inc. (NYSE: QD) were down 14% to $6.45 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 EPS results and lowered its sales guidance. The company also issued FY19 sales guidance of RMB4 billion below analyst estimate RMB9 Billion.

Wanda Sports Group Company Limited (NASDAQ: WSG) was down, falling 13% to $2.81 after reporting Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $57.58, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,460.00.

Silver traded down 1% Monday to $16.78, while copper fell 0.1% to $2.6365.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.1% while UK shares rose 0.3%.

Economics

The NAHB housing market index dropped to 70 in November, compared to a reading of 71 in the prior month.

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

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester is set to speak in College Park, Maryland at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury International Capital report for September will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.