Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1.9%; Karuna Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.05% to 28,018.50 while the NASDAQ fell 0.06% to 8,535.54. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.01% to 3,120.60.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares climbed 1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Standard Diversified Inc. (NYSE: SDI), up 16%, and Medifast, Inc. (NYSE: MED), up 9%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 1.4%.

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 257% to $63.11 on a positive clinical trial readout. Boston, Massachusetts-based Karuna said the Phase 2 clinical trial that evaluated its lead candidate KarXT for the treatment of acute psychosis in patients with schizophrenia met the primary endpoint.

Shares of Standard Diversified Inc. (NYSE: SDI) got a boost, shooting up 16% to $12.63 after the company announced plans to pursue a corporate reorganization with its subsidiary Turning Point Brands.

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: NBY) shares were also up, gaining 23% to $0.6285 after the company announced its NovaSight daily vitamin will launch on Amazon.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 17% to $6.19 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.

Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: PHIO) was down, falling 31% to $0.1303 after the company priced $1 million stock offering at $0.10 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.9% to $56.62, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,472.60.

Silver traded up 0.3% Monday to $16.995, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.6315.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.19%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.33%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.87%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.51%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.48% while UK shares rose 0.02%.

Economics

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

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