Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises Over 100 Points; Sears Holdings Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.47 percent to 25,459.04 while the NASDAQ gained 0.02 percent to 7,498.32. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.24 percent to 2,773.64.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the real estate shares climbed 1.45 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Realogy Holdings Corp. RLGY 6.7% up 7 percent, and New Senior Investment Group Inc. SNR 3.87% up 4 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 0.68 percent.

Top Headline

Bank of America Corp BAC 0.33% reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Bank of America posted quarterly earnings of $0.66 per share on revenue of $22.8 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.63 per share on sales of $22.89 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Krystal Biotech, Inc. KRYS 30.1% shares shot up 30 percent to $20.31 after the company's Phase 1/2 trial of KB103 for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa met all primary efficacy and safety endpoints.

Shares of Cambium Learning Group, Inc. ABCD 19.22% got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $14.39 after the company agreed to be acquired for $14.50 per share by Veritas Capital.

L3 Technologies, Inc. LLL 12.85% shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $221.29. Harris and L3 Technologies confirmed merger of equals in an all-stock deal.

Equities Trading DOWN

CPI Aerostructures, Inc. CVU 17.43% shares dropped 17 percent to $7.06 after the company reported a $12 million common stock offering.

Shares of China Internet Nationwide Financial Services Inc. CIFS 20.39% were down 20 percent to $2.85 after climbing 18.54 percent on Friday.

Sears Holdings Corp SHLD 19.26% was down, falling around 19 percent to $0.33. On Monday, management declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced an immediate CEO change for the 126-year-old company. CEO Edward Lampert will remain chairman of the board, but executive leadership will be granted to a new Office of CEO occupied by CFO Robert Riecker, Chief Digital Officer Leena Munjal, and President of Apparel and Footwear Gregory Ladley.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.55 percent to $71.73 while gold traded up 0.56 percent to $1,228.80.

Silver traded up 0.55 percent Monday to $14.715, while copper fell 0.39 to $2.7895.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.10 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.24 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.16 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.78 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.02 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.48 percent.

Economics

U.S. retail sales rose 0.5 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent increase.

The Empire State manufacturing index rose to 21.10 for October, versus prior reading of 19.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 20.40.

U.S. business inventories rose 0.5 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent gain.