Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Dips 5.5%; Anavex Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.19 percent to 16,315.94 while the NASDAQ dipped 0.81 percent to 4,605.97. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.55 percent to 1,911.56. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Monday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.25 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Weight Watchers International, Inc. WTW, up 6 percent, and Medifast Inc MED, up 5 percent. In trading on Monday, energy shares tumbled by 2.46 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Peabody Energy Corporation BTU, down 20 percent, and Bill Barrett Corporation BBG, down 17 percent. Top Headline Baxalta Inc BXLT agreed to be acquired by Shire PLC (ADR) SHPG for $32 billion. Equities Trading UP Acorn International, Inc. (ADR) ATV shares shot up 85 percent to $7.60 after the company reported a share repurchase program of $2 million. Shares of Affymetrix, Inc. AFFX got a boost, shooting up 50 percent to $13.83 as Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. TMO agreed to acquire Affymetrix for $1.3 billion in cash. Anavex Life Sciences Corp. AVXL shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $5.03 after the company reported positive dose-response data for ANAVEX 2-73 in Alzheimer's disease patients. Equities Trading DOWN Qiagen NV QGEN shares dropped 11 percent to $22.83 after the company reported weak preliminary fourth quarter and full-year 2015 results. Shares of McKesson Corporation MCK were down 11 percent to $162.63. McKesson revised its FY16 earnings forecast. The company's EPS range was lowered from $12.50-$13 to $12.60-$12.90, against the consensus analysts estimate of $12.83. EXACT Sciences Corporation EXAS was down, falling around 13 percent to $6.94 after the company issued a weak sales forecast. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 5.52 percent to $31.33, while gold traded down 0.24 percent to $1,095.30. Silver traded down 0.49 percent Monday to $13.85, while copper fell 2.50 percent to $1.97. Eurozone European shares closed lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.26 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.57 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.25 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.49 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.69 percent. Economics On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.