Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.61 percent to 23,202.99 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.12 percent to 6,592.16.
The S&P also rose, gaining 0.25 percent to 2,491.86.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
On Monday, the health care shares rose by 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Inflarx NV
(NASDAQ: IFRX) up 11 percent, and AgeX
Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE: AGE) up 10 percent.
In trading on Monday, real estate shares fell 0.5 percent.
Top Headline
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and
Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) over the weekend
announced a "broad-based distribution agreement" that puts an end to a programming fee dispute.
Verizon and Disney reached an agreement that puts an end to months of talks to keep Disney's properties and channels on the Fios
platform. Verizon told customers in an e-mail prior to Sunday's agreement that Disney is asking for "hundreds of millions of
dollars more for its programming" despite many of its channels experiencing "declining viewership," CNN reported. Verizon also said
in the e-mail it was "standing up to networks like Disney, refusing to accept these huge increases."
Equities Trading UP
vTv Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VTVT)
shares got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $2.98 after closing up 120 percent last Friday after the company exercised its right
to have MacAndrews & Forbes Group purchase 815k shares at $1.84 per share.
Shares of Safe-T Group Ltd (NASDAQ: SFET) shot up 13 percent to $3.0998 after the company received an order from the
largest Israeli beverage company for its SDA and SDE solutions.
Arcimoto, Inc. (NASDAQ: FUV) shares were
also up, gaining 21 percent to $2.90. Arcimoto shares gained Friday after the company secured $4.5 million in financing to initiate
production of its electric vehicle model.
Equities Trading DOWN
American Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: AMID) shares dropped 29 percent to $3.0600 after an 8-K showed an amendment to
credit deal, where the company will no longer be permitted to declare, pay any cash distribution until its consolidated total
leverage ratio is reduced to less than 5:1.
Shares of Pulmatrix, Inc. (NASDAQ: PULM) were down 18 percent to $0.2500 after the company announced a $25 million
common unit offering.
Bridgeline Digital, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLIN)
was down, falling around 13 percent to $0.2457. Bridgeline Digital reported a Q4 loss of $0.13 per share, versus a year-ago loss of
$0.02 per share. Its sales declined to $2.8 million from $4.1 million.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.17 percent to $44.86 while gold traded down 0.15 percent to $1,281.10.
Silver traded up 0.03 percent Monday to $15.44, while copper fell 1.17 percent to $2.65.
Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.5 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.54
percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.44 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.71 percent, and the French CAC 40
climbed 1.11 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.09 percent.
Economics
The Dallas Fed manufacturing index declined 23 points to a reading of -5.1 for December. However, economists were expecting a
reading of 17.6.
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