Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; United Bankshares To Buy Carolina Financial

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.04% to 27,994.09 while the NASDAQ fell 0.35% to 8,510.93. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.21% to 3,114.00. Leading and Lagging Sectors Utilities shares climbed 0.7% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ellomay Capital Ltd. ELLO, up 4%, and Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. CWCO, up 2%. In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 1.1%. Top Headline United Bankshares Inc UBSI announced plans to buy Carolina Financial Corp CARO in a deal valued at $1.1 billion. Carolina Shareholders will receive 1.13 United Shares for each Carolina share owned. The transaction represents a premium of around 16% over Friday's closing price. Equities Trading UP Karuna Therapeutics, Inc. KRTX shares shot up 245% to $61.00 after the company announced its phase 2 trial of KarXT in patients with schizophrenia met its primary endpoint. Shares of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. DRNA got a boost, shooting up 17% to $22.65. Dicerna and Novo Nordisk entered into an agreement to discover and develop RNAi Therapies for liver-related cardio-metabolic diseases. NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NBY shares were also up, gaining 42% to $0.7250 after the company announced its NovaSight daily vitamin will launch onAmazon.com. Equities Trading DOWN SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. SLS shares tumbled 19% to $4.18. Shares of Qudian Inc. QD were down 14% to $6.45 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 EPS results and lowered its sales guidance. The company also issued FY19 sales guidance of RMB4 billion below analyst estimate RMB9 Billion. Wanda Sports Group Company Limited WSG was down, falling 13% to $2.81 after reporting Q3 results. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $57.58, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,460.00. Silver traded down 1% Monday to $16.78, while copper fell 0.1% to $2.6365. Euro zone European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.1% while UK shares rose 0.3%. Economics The NAHB housing market index dropped to 70 in November, compared to a reading of 71 in the prior month. The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET. Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester is set to speak in College Park, Maryland at 12:00 p.m. ET. The Treasury International Capital report for September will be released at 4:00 p.m. ET.