Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Standard Pacific Rises On Ryland Merger Deal; Micron Shares Slip

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.64 percent to 17,785.23 while the NASDAQ declined 0.47 percent to 5,027.45. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.48 percent to 2,084.08.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Telecommunications services shares slipped by just 0.2 percent in the US market on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NQ Mobile Inc (ADR) NQ, up 3 percent, and BT Group plc (ADR) BT, up 0.5 percent.
In trading on Monday, healthcare shares fell by 0.96 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included DURECT Corporation DRRX, down 6 percent, and GenMark Diagnostics, Inc GNMK, off 5 percent.

Top Headline
CVS Health Corp CVS announced its plans to acquire Target Corp's TGT pharmacy and clinics businesses for around $1.9 billion.
The deal will lower 2016 adjusted EPS by around $0.06 per share, CVS reported.
Equities Trading UP
DealerTrack Technologies Inc TRAK shares shot up 57 percent to $62.73 after the company agreed to be acquired at $4 billion, or $63.25 per share in an all-cash transaction valued.
Shares of Standard Pacific Corp. SPF got a boost, shooting up 7 percent to $8.91. Standard Pacific and Ryland Group Inc RYL agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction.
Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc IDRA shares were also up, gaining 3 percent to $3.69. JP Morgan initiated coverage on Idera Pharmaceuticals with a Overweight rating.

Equities Trading DOWN
AirMedia Group Inc (ADR) AMCN shares tumbled 20 percent to $5.83 after the company reported that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell 75 percent of its advertising business for RMB 2.1 billion.
Shares of iDreamSky Technology Ltd (ADR) DSKY were down 11 percent to $13.00 after the company reported the receipt of preliminary non-binding bid at $3.50 per share.
Micron Technology, Inc. MU was down, falling 5 percent to $23.97. Morgan Stanley downgraded Micron Technology from Equal-weight to Underweight and lowered the price target from $30.00 to $21.00.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.83 percent to $59.46, while gold traded up 0.62 percent to $1,186.50.
Silver traded up 1.74 percent Monday to $16.10, while copper fell 1.23 percent to $2.65.

Euro zone
European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 1.63 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 1.71 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 2.40 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.89 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.75 percent while UK shares fell 1.10 percent.

Economics
The Empire State manufacturing declined to negative 1.98 in June, versus 3.09 in May. However, economists were expecting a reading of 6.00.
The NAHB housing market index gained 5 points to 59 in June. Economists were projecting a reading of 56.