Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Turn Higher; COMSCORE Shares Drop

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.42 percent to 17,078.88 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.18 percent to 4,725.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20 percent to 2,003.98. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Monday, basic materials shares rose by 2.34 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Cliffs Natural Resources Inc CLF, Coeur Mining Inc CDE, and Olympic Steel, Inc. ZEUS. In trading on Monday, technology shares fell by 0.54 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Cree, Inc. CREE, down 9 percent, and Neonode, Inc NEON, down 6 percent. Top Headline Del Taco Restaurants Inc TACO reported fourth-quarter earnings on Monday morning, boosting investors' spirits despite an EPS short and barely beating sales estimates. However, same-store sales were up nearly 6 percent for the quarter. Del Taco earned $0.12 a share on $133.4 million in revenue against estimates of $0.16 on sales of $133.3 million. The company also announced a share repurchase program with a ceiling of $25 million. Equities Trading UP National Interstate Corporation NATL shares shot up 30 percent to $29.46 as American Financial Group Inc AFG reported a proposal to purchase public minority stake in National Interstate for $30 per share in cash. Shares of Pier 1 Imports Inc PIR got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $6.75 after the company reported preliminary Q4 results. Pier 1 Imports expects Q4 earnings of $0.18 to 0.22 per share. Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc PTI shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $6.25. Baird initiated coverage on Proteostasis Therapeutics with a Outperform rating and a $13.00 price target. RBC Capital initiated coverage on Proteostasis Therapeutics with a Outperform rating and a $20.00 price target. HC Wainwright initiated coverage of Proteostasis Therapeutics with a Buy rating and a price target of $15. Equities Trading DOWN Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. CLDX shares dropped 51 percent to $4.00 after the company reported that it will discontinue its Phase 3 study of RINTEGA for newly diagnosed glioblastoma. The independent Data Safety and Monitoring Board has said the company's RINTEGA is unlikely to meet primary overall survival endpoint. Shares of COMSCORE, Inc. SCOR were down 28 percent to $29.47 following announced delay to 10-K filing, cancelled buyback and delayed investor day. Roka Bioscience Inc ROKA was down, falling around 14 percent to $0.933. On Friday, Roka Bioscience reported a Q4 loss of $0.58 per share on revenue of $1.5 million. Leerink Swann downgraded Roka Bioscience from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered the price target to $1.00. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 3.54 percent to $37.19, while gold traded down 0.28 percent to $1,267.20. Silver traded down 0.31 percent Monday to $15.65, while copper fell 0.31 percent to $2.27. Eurozone European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.51 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.08 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 1.86 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.82 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.68 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.59 percent. Economics There were no major US economic releases Monday.