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Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Halliburton Profit Tops Views

OPTT, XOMA, BDX, DB, FE, HAL, BBVA, NEE, AKTX

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 1.10 percent to 20,774.34 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.23 percent to 5,983.09. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.11 percent to 2,374.77.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the financial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE: DB) and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (ADR) (NYSE: BBVA).

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell by 0.16 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), down 1.5 percent, and NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE), down 1 percent.

Top Headline

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Monday.

Halliburton posted adjusted earnings of $0.04 per share in the quarter on revenue of $4.28 billion; Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.03 per share on revenue of $4.26 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: OPTT) shares shot up 54 percent to $2.82. On Friday, Ocean Power Technologies reported the deployment of its PB3 PowerBuoy in Japan.

Shares of Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGSE) got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $1.35 after the company issues a business update. RGS Energy expects Q1 sales of $1.96 million, up from $670,000 in the fourth quarter.

C R Bard Inc (NYSE: BCR) shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $304.79 after Becton Dickinson and Co (NYSE: BDX) announced plans to acquire the company for $24 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

CSI Compressco LP (NYSE: CCLP) shares dropped 17 percent to $7.74. CSI Compressco lowered its quarterly cash distribution to $0.1875 per outstanding common unit. CSI Compressco is expected to release its Q1 earnings results on Tuesday, May 9, 2017.

Shares of Akari Therapeutics PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ: AKTX) were down around 11 percent to $18.34. Akari Therapeutics disclosed that it demonstrated positive response with Coversin in its Phase 2 PNH trial.

XOMA Corporation (NASDAQ: XOMA) was down, falling around 10 percent to $6.95 after the company reported results from its Phase 2 proof-of-concept study of prolactin inhibition.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.38 percent to $49.81 while gold traded down 1.31 percent to $1,272.20.

Silver traded down 0.32 percent Monday to $17.88, while copper rose 0.27 percent to $2.558.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 2.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 3.34 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 4.03 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 3.13 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 4.50 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.88 percent.

Economics

The Dallas Fed general activity index for April will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in Los Angeles, California at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Claremont, California at 3:15 p.m. ET.