Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps 200 Points; Anavex Life Sciences Shares Slide After Subpoena Disclosure

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 1.14 percent to 17,728.85 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.39 percent to 5,111.12. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.08 percent to 2,078.67. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Tuesday, technology shares surged by 1.49 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Lattice Semiconductor LSCC, Applied Micro Circuits Corporation AMCC, and Cypress Semiconductor Corporation CY. In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares rose by just 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included American Midstream Partners LP AMID, down 7 percent, and TransAlta Corporation (USA) TAC, down 3 percent. Top Headline Icahn Enterprises LP IEP raised its offer to acquire Pep Boys-Manny Moe and Jack PBY to $18.50 per share in cash. Equities Trading UP Triumph Group Inc TGI shares shot up 16 percent to $40.06 after the company named Daniel J. Crowley as President and CEO, effective January 4. Cowen upgraded Triumph Group from Underperform to Market Perform. Shares of Pep Boys-Manny Moe and Jack PBY got a boost, shooting up 9 percent to $18.90 after Icahn Enterprises LP IEP lifted its offer to acquire Pep Boys to $18.50 per share in cash. Chimerix Inc CMRX shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $7.12 after dipping 81.39 percent on Monday. Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded Chimerix from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $65 to $15. Barclays maintained an Overweight rating on Chimerix, while lowering the price target from $65 to $12. Equities Trading DOWN Anavex Life Sciences Corp. AVXL shares dropped 6 percent to $6.62. Anavex Life Sciences disclosed earlier in the day an SEC subpoena and formal investigation in a 10-K filing, which may be related to unusual activity in the company's stock. The company also posted a net loss of $12.1 million, or $0.65 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $10.0 million, or $1.02 per share. Shares of Great Basin Scientific Inc GBSN were down 13 percent to $1.21 after the company reported that it has secured $20.5 million funding commitment in senior convertible notes. Calavo Growers, Inc. CVGW was down, falling around 6 percent to $47.41. Calavo Growers reported Q4 earnings of $0.28 per share on revenue of $208 million. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 2.61 percent to $37.77, while gold traded up 0.03 percent to $1,068.60. Silver traded up 0.48 percent Tuesday to $13.95, while copper rose 2.91 percent to $2.14. Eurozone European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 1.42 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.23 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index gained 1.37 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.94 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 1.81 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.96 percent. Economics The U.S. goods trade deficit came in at $60.5 billion in November, versus economists' estimates of $60.90 billion. Exports of goods declined to $121 billion, while imports slipped to $181.5 billion in the month. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index gained 0.1 percent in October. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index climbed to 96.50 in December, versus a prior reading of 90.40. However, economists were expecting a reading of 93.60.