Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Down 1.1%; Tower Semiconductor Shares Drop After Q3 Results

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 1.1 percent to 24,415.78 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.86 percent to 7,034.29. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.79 percent to 2,637.78.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the financial shares rose 2.4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Genworth Financial Inc GNW up 18 percent, and Codorus Mercury General Corporation MCY up 12 percent.

In trading on Monday, energy shares rose by just 0.6 percent.

Top Headline

IBM Common Stock IBM announced it will purchase Red Hat Inc RHT's issued and outstanding common shares for $190 per share in cash.

The $34 billion deal — the culmination of a 20-year partnership — prompted a 51-percent pop in Red Hat, a 2.7-percent decline in IBM.

Equities Trading UP

Red Hat Inc RHT shares shot up 46 percent to $169.94. IBM announced plans to acquire Red Hat in a $34 billion deal, including debt.

Shares of Stoneridge, Inc. SRI got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $26.23 following upbeat quarterly earnings.

Electrameccanica Vehicles Corp SOLO shares were also up, gaining 99 percent to $4.33. The company earlier issued press release highlighting pre-orders for its vehicles exceeded 64,000 units.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. TSEM shares dropped 17 percent to $14.75 after the company missed Q3 EPS and sales estimates.

Shares of Denbury Resources Inc. DNR were down 16 percent to $3.675 after the company announced plans to acquire Penn Virginia for $79.80 per share.

Avinger Inc AVGR was down, falling around 23 percent to $0.60 after the company reported a filing for a 2.7 million unit offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.34 percent to $67.36 while gold traded down 0.28 percent to $1,232.30.

Silver traded down 0.34 percent Monday to $14.65, while copper rose 0.53 to $2.7555.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.39 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.52 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 2.44 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.79 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 0.92 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.62 percent.

Economics

U.S. consumer spending rose 0.4 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent gain. Personal income increased 0.20 percent in September.