Mid-Day Market Update: ON Semiconductor Surges On $1 Billion Buyback Plan; POZEN Shares Slip

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.37 percent to 17,763.17 while the NASDAQ declined 1.34 percent to 4,727.43. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.83 percent to 2,050.35.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the healthcare shares slipped by just 0.03 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Antares Pharma (NASDAQ: ATRS), Cardiome Pharma (NASDAQ: CRME), and Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED).

In trading on Monday, telecommunications services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 1.63 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Allot Communications (NASDAQ: ALLT), down 7 percent, and TIM Participacoes S.A. (NYSE: TSU), off 7 percent.

Top Headline

Weatherford International plc (NYSE: WFT) announced its plans to sell engineered chemistry and drilling fluid operations to Berkshire's Lubrizol for $825 million in cash plus earnout potential.

The transaction is likely to close before year end 2014.

Equities Trading UP

21Vianet Group (NASDAQ: VNET) shares shot up 5.05 percent to $19.77 after the company reported a $296 million investment from Kingsoft, Xiaomi and Temasek.

Shares of ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ONNN) got a boost, shooting up 5.04 percent to $9.49 after the company announced a $1 billion buyback plan.

Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) shares were also up, gaining 2.44 percent to $88.73 after analysts at three firms upgraded shares of Deere.

View more earnings on BZSUM

Equities Trading DOWN

POZEN (NASDAQ: POZN) shares tumbled 16.20 percent to $7.45 after the company and Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) US mutually agreed to terminate US partnership for PA8140/PA32540.

Shares of Qihoo 360 Technology Co (NYSE: QIHU) were down 5.45 percent to $70.28 after JP Morgan downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $145.00 to $78.00.

Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL) was down, falling 12.35 percent to $1.46 after the company announced top-line results from the final analysis of COMET-2.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.06 percent to $67.51, while gold traded up 1.91 percent to $1,198.00.

Silver traded up 4.98 percent Monday to $16.33, while copper rose 1.34 percent to $2.88.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.62 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 1.02 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.73 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.43 percent and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.49 percent while UK shares fell 1.16 percent.

Economics

The final reading of Markit manufacturing PMI gained to 54.80 in November, versus a prior reading of 54.70. However, economists were expecting a reading of 55.00.

The ISM manufacturing composite index slipped to 58.70 in November, versus a prior reading of 59.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 58.00.

See more from Benzinga

• Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Weatherford To Sell Engineered Chemistry, Drilling Fluid Operations to Berkshire's Lubrizol

• Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Brown Shoe Shares Rise On Earnings Beat; Casey's Tumbles

• Mid-Day Market Update: Dycom Jumps On Upbeat Results; Amira Nature Foods Shares Slip

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