Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Turns Negative; United Community Bancorp Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.37 percent to 25,241.85 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.25 percent to 7,579.76. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10 percent to 2,783.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the technology shares gained 0.50 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Micron Technology, Inc. MU, up 8 percent, and Kopin Corporation KOPN, up 6 percent.

In trading on Monday, industrial shares fell 0.44 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Navistar International Corp NAV, down 5 percent, and China Distance Education Hldgs Ltd (ADR) DL down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Lumentum Holdings Inc LITE, a provider of optical and photonic products, offered to buy Oclaro Inc OCLR in a deal which values its stock at approximately $9.99 per share, or $1.8 billion in equity value.

Equities Trading UP

BlueLinx Holdings Inc. BXC shares shot up 71 percent to $26.99 after the company reported a $413 million merger with Cedar Creek.

Shares of Oclaro Inc OCLR got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $9.94. Lumentum Holdings Inc LITE announced plans to acquire Oclaro for $9.99 per share in cash and stock.

United Community Bancorp Inc UCBA shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $24.95. Civista Bancshares Inc CIVB announced plans to acquire United Community Bancorp for implied deal value of $26.22 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc ANTH shares dropped 80 percent to $0.515 following announcement that the company would terminate development of Sollpura after Phase 3 study did not achieve primary endpoint.

Shares of Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. OREX were down 75 percent to $0.351 after the company reported that it would file voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of Bankruptcy Code and plans for near-term sale.

Voyager Therapeutics Inc VYGR was down, falling around 14 percent to $23.10. Wedbush downgraded Voyager Therapeutics from Outperform to Neutral, while Evercore ISI Group downgraded the stock from Outperform to In-Line.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.35 percent to $61.20 while gold traded down 0.46 percent to $1,317.90.

Silver traded down 0.65 percent Monday to $16.50, while copper fell 0.21 percent to $3.1295.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.29 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.36 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.30 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.53 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.16 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.19 percent.

Economics

The Treasury will auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S Treasury budget report for February is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.