Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Marriott To Acquire Starwood Hotels For $12.2B

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 17,269.62 while the NASDAQ gained 0.05 percent to 4,930.24. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.18 percent to 2,026.60. Leading and Lagging Sectors In trading on Monday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose by 0.64 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Craft Brew Alliance Inc BREW, up 3.4 percent, and Boston Beer Co Inc SAM, up 3 percent. Financial shares dipped around 0.18 percent in Monday's trading. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included MFC Industrial Ltd MIL, down 7 percent, and Farmers Capital Bank Corp FFKT, off 3 percent. Top Headline Marriott International Inc MAR announced its plans to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc HOT for $12.2 billion. The combined company would have more than 5,500 hotels with around 1.1 million rooms worldwide. Equities Trading UP Sunoco LP SUN shares shot up 11 percent to $36.75. Sunoco reported the dropdown to SUN of the remaining 68.42% interest in Sunoco and 100% interest in the Legacy Sunoco retail business for around $2.226 billion. Shares of Nexvet Biopharma plc NVET got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $5.65 after the company reported positive results from NV-01 pivotal study in dogs with osteoarthritis. Oracle Corporation ORCL shares were also up, gaining 2 percent to $38.07. Goldman Sachs added Oracle to its Conviction Buy list and raised the price target to $47.00. Equities Trading DOWN Clovis Oncology Inc CLVS shares tumbled 68 percent to $32.06 following report of the FDA request for additional information on lung cancer drug. Shares of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc HOT were down 6 percent to $70.70 after Marriott International Inc MAR announced its plans to buy Starwood for $12.2 billion. Dillard's, Inc. DDS was down, falling 7 percent to $72.38 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.10 percent to $40.78, while gold traded up 0.57 percent to $1,087.10. Silver traded up 0.36 percent Monday to $14.26, while copper fell 1.18 percent to $2.14. Eurozone European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.32 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.07 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.44 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.28 percent. Economics The Empire State manufacturing index rose to negative 10.74 for November, compared to negative 11.36 in October. However, economists were expecting a reading of negative 6.