Mid-afternoon market update: Dow jumps over 500 points, Lydall shares spike higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.71% to 33,857.87 while the NASDAQ rose 0.63% to 14,119.16. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.28% to 4,219.92.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,541,990 cases with around 601,820 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 29,935,220 cases and 388,130 deaths, while Brazil reported over 17,927,920 COVID-19 cases with 501,820 deaths. In total, there were at least 178,513,810 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,866,730 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares surged by 4.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Torchlight Energy Resources, Inc. TRCH 57.97%, up 57%, and PEDEVCO Corp. PED 15.97%, up 15%.

In trading on Monday, communication services shares rose by just 0.7%.

Top Headline

CNH Industrial N.V. CNHI 1.33% announced plans to acquire Raven Industries, Inc. RAVN 49.22% for $58 per share in cash.

Equities Trading UP

Lydall, Inc. LDL 85.41% shares shot up 86% to $61.82 after the company agreed to be acquired by Unifrax for $61.10 per share.

Shares of Torchlight Energy Resources, Inc. TRCH 57.97% got a boost, shooting 57% to $9.85 after the company provided a business update on its proposed business combination timing and payment date for its preferred stock dividend.

Raven Industries, Inc. RAVN 49.22% shares were also up, gaining 50% to $57.76 after CNH Industrial announced it will acquire the company for $58 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

AiHuiShou International Co. Ltd. RERE 14.58% shares tumbled 14% to $14.80. AiHuiShou International, last week, priced its IPO at $14 per share.

Shares of Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. APVO 14.66% were down 15% to $23.34.

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TARS 16.89% was down, falling 16% to $29.21 after the company reported topline data from Phase 2b/3 Saturn-1 trial evaluating TP-03 (lotilaner ophthalmic solution, 0.25%) in patients with Demodex blepharitis.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.6% to $73.48, while gold traded up 0.9% to $1,784.70.

Silver traded up 0.4% Monday to $26.065 while copper rose 0.61% to $4.1825.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.70%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.23% and the German DAX 30 gained 1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.64%, French CAC 40 rose 0.51% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.71%.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.29 in May versus a revised reading of -0.09 in April.