Mid-Day Market Update: Allied World Climbs On Acquisition News; JAKKS Pacific Shares Slide

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.08 percent to 19,859.48 while the NASDAQ rose 0.46 percent to 5,462.35. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11 percent to 2,260.59.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Technology shares gained around 0.75 percent in trading on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Unisys Corporation UIS, and Kopin Corporation KOPN.

In trading on Monday, basic materials shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.50 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Intrepid Potash, Inc. IPI, down 6 percent, and Mosaic Co MOS, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Lennar Corp LEN posted stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday.

Lennar's net income increased to $313.5 million, or $1.34 per share, compared to $281.6 million, or $1.21 per share, in the year-ago period.

Its revenue gained 14.6 percent to $3.38 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.29 per share on revenue of $3.30 billion.

Equities Trading UP

xG Technology Inc XGTI shares shot up 66 percent to $3.81 after the company announced plans to acquire Vislink Communication Systems.

Shares of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. TNXP got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $0.585 after the company disclosed that its PTSD Phase 3-ready drug candidate TNX-102 SL has been given Breakthrough Therapy designation by the FDA.

Allied World Assurance Co Holdings, AG. AWH shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $51.24 after Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd FRFHF agreed to buy the company for $4.9 billion in cash and stock.

Equities Trading DOWN

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. JAKK shares dropped 31 percent to $4.90. Piper Jaffray downgraded Jakks Pacific from Overweight to Neutral, while BMO Capital downgraded Jakks Pacific to Market Perform.

Shares of Ambac Financial Group, Inc. AMBC were down 15 percent to $22.05. MKM Partners downgraded Ambac Financial from Neutral to Sell.

Voltari Corp VLTC was down, falling around 19 percent to $2.20.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.09 percent to $52.90 while gold traded up 0.45 percent to $1,142.50.

Silver traded down 1.02 percent Monday to $16.05, while copper fell 2.89 percent to $2.49.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.07 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.65 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.37 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.14 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.18 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.08 percent.

Economics

The Markit services PMI slipped to 53.40 for December, versus a prior reading of 54.60. Economists were expecting a reading of 55.20.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak in Batimore, Maryland at 1:30 p.m. ET.