Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Fidelity National To Buy Worldpay

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.04 percent to 25,860.01 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.49 percent to 7,726.29. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.36 percent to 2,832.62.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the energy shares climbed 1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included American Midstream Partners, LP AMID up 28 percent, and Smart Sand, Inc. SND up 9 percent.

In trading on Monday, communication services shares fell 0.5 percent.

Top Headline

Fidelity National Information Servcs Inc FIS reached an agreement to buy Worldpay, Inc. WP, an e-commerce and payments company for around $34 billion.

The combination of FIS and Worldpay will create a new entity that will offer a best-in-class enterprise banking, payments, capital markets and global e-commerce capabilities, the companies said in a press release. The companies combined for $12.3 billion in pro forma annual revenue in 2018.

Equities Trading UP

Daré Bioscience, Inc. DARE shares got a boost, shooting up 142 percent to $2.17 after the company published positive clinical findings for Tamoxifen for the treatment of vulvar and vaginal atrophy in a medical journal.

Shares of Dermira, Inc. DERM shot up 102 percent to $13.80 after the company announced that its Phase 2 study of Lebrikizumab met its primary endpoint.

PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PHAS shares were also up, gaining 73 percent to $6.44 after the New England Journal of Medicine published the positive Phase 1 results for the company's PB2452.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARPO shares dropped 68 percent to $1.36 after the company announced that its Phase 2 TIME-2b study of AKB-9778 did not meet its primary endpoint.

Shares of NII Holdings, Inc. NIHD were down 26 percent to $2.37. NII Holdings posted Q4 earnings of $0.02 per share on sales of $141.7 million. The company also announced the sale of Nextel Brazil to America Movil.

Synaptics Incorporated SYNA was down, falling around 20 percent to $34.76 after the company lowered Q3 guidance, citing "demand softness in China."; The company's CEO Richard Bergman also resigned.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2 percent to $58.63 while gold traded up 0.2 percent to $1,305.20.

Silver traded up 0.3 percent Monday to $15.37, while copper rose 0.5 percent to $2.9215.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.7 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.9 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.3 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.1 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.6 percent.

Economics

The National Association of Home Builders’ housing market index was unchanged at a reading of 62 for March. However, economists were expecting a reading of 63.

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