Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Gain; Halliburton Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.07 percent to 26,091.19 while the NASDAQ gained 0.43 percent to 7,367.78. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.30 percent to 2,818.84.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the telecommunications services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Frontier Communications Corp FTR and B Communications Ltd BCOM.

In trading on Monday, industrial shares fell 0.40 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Key Technology, Inc. KTEC, down 4 percent, and New Oriental Education & Tech Grp (ADR) EDU down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Halliburton Company HAL posted stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Halliburton posted adjusted earnings of $0.53 per share in the quarter on revenue of $5.94 billion which exceeded Wall Street's expectations for $0.46 per share and $5.63 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Bioverativ Inc BIVV shares shot up 62 percent to $104.00. Sanofi SA (ADR) SNY announced plans to acquire Bioverativ for $11.6 billion, or $105 per share in cash.

Shares of Validus Holdings, Ltd. VR got a boost, shooting up 44 percent to $67.48 after American International Group Inc AIG announced plans to acquire Validus for $68 per share in cash.

Juno Therapeutics Inc JUNO shares were also up, gaining 27 percent to $86.05 as the company agreed to be acquired for $87 per share in cash by Celgene Corporation CELG.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sanmina Corp SANM shares dropped 24 percent to $26.92 after the company lowered its forecast for the first quarter and also issued a weak outlook for the second quarter.

Shares of Recon Technology, Ltd. RCON were down 25 percent to $1.95. Recon Technology priced its 3.96 million share registered direct offering at $1.66 per share.

Caesarstone Ltd CSTE was down, falling around 5 percent to $22.55. Credit Suisse downgraded Caesarstone from Neutral to Underperform and lowered the price target from $28.00 to $21.00.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.09 percent to $63.31 while gold traded down 0.11 percent to $1,331.60.

Silver traded down 0.06 percent Monday to $17.025, while copper rose 0.80 percent to $3.213.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.96 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.35 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.11 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.24 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.08 percent.

Economics

USA Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.27 for December, versus prior reading of 0.15. However, economists were expecting a reading of 0.44.

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