Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Abercrombie & Fitch Drops After Terminating Talks For Possible Sale; Hawaiian Telcom Shares Climb

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.10 percent to 21,435.92 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.49 percent to 6,183.03. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20 percent to 2,429.98.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Technology shares rose by 1.9 percent in the US market on Monday. Top gainers in the sector included RigNet Inc RNET, and Mitek Systems, Inc. MITK.

In trading on Monday, healthcare shares fell 0.16 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included LeMaitre Vascular Inc LMAT, down 13 percent, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALNY, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

Helen of Troy Limited HELE reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Monday.

Helen of Troy posted Q1 earnings of $1.37 per share on revenue of $359.61 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.26 per share on sales of $358.40 million.

Helen of Troy expects FY 2018 earnings of $6.50 to $6.90 per share, on revenue of $1.56 billion to $1.60 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $6.67 per share on revenue of $1.58 billion.

Equities Trading UP

ClubCorp Holdings Inc MYCC shares shot up 30 percent to $17.08 after the company disclosed that it has entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of certain investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management LLC APO to acquire all of the outstanding shares of ClubCorp for $17.12 per share in cash.

Shares of Hawaiian Telcom HoldCo Inc HCOM got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $28.91 as the company agreed to be acquired by Cincinnati Bell Inc. CBB for $30.75 per share cash and stock.

Cesca Therapeutics Inc KOOL shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $3.54 following acquisition of SynGen's cell processing systems.

Equities Trading DOWN

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF shares dropped 20 percent to $9.76 on news that it had terminated talks for a potential sale. The board announced in a press release that the best conceived way to increase shareholder value is through pursuit of its enduring strategy.

Shares of LeMaitre Vascular Inc LMAT were down 13 percent to $27.93. Benchmark and Canaccord Genuity downgraded LeMaitre Vascular from Buy to Hold.

Cincinnati Bell Inc. CBB was down, falling around 8 percent to $17.80 as Hawaiian Telcom HoldCo Inc HCOM agreed to be acquired by Cincinnati Bell for $30.75 per share cash and stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.63 percent to $44.51 while gold traded up 0.15 percent to $1,211.50.

Silver traded up 0.91 percent Monday to $15.565, while copper rose 0.08 percent to $2.649.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.38 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.20 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.84 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.46 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.40 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.26 percent.

Economics

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index slipped to 133.32 for June, versus a prior reading of 133.70.

Data on consumer credit for May will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John C. Williams is set to speak in Sydney, New South Wales at 11:05 p.m. ET.