Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up 1.3%; Qudian Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.21 percent to 25,014.57 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.56 percent to 7,395.56. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.78 percent to 2,734.05.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the industrial shares surged 1.55 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kelly Services, Inc. KELYA, up 7 percent, and ADT Inc. ADT up 6 percent.

In trading on Monday, materials shares rose by just 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Overstock.com Inc OSTK, down 9 percent, and Bitauto Hldg Ltd (ADR) BITA down 10 percent.

Top Headline

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp WABGE to create Transportation Systems Holdings, a rail equipment, services and software supplier, according to a Monday announcement.

GE will receive $2.9 billion in cash, own 50.1 percent of Wabtec, and grow adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) an estimated 20 percent over the next year. The parties expect the $11.1 billion transaction to generate annual run-rate synergies of $250 million with free cash flow supporting rapid debt reduction and maintenance of Wabtec’s regular dividend.

Equities Trading UP

SenesTech, Inc. SNES shares shot up 255 percent to $1.1201 after the California Department of Pesticide Regulation proposed to register the company's ContraPest for sale and use in California.

Shares of AgEagle Aerial Systems, Inc. UAVS got a boost, shooting up 37 percent to $3.3549.

Xtant Medical Holdings, Inc. XTNT shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $7.0292 after the company disclosed that it has received the FDA clearance for InTice™-C Porous Titanium Cervical Interbody System.

Equities Trading DOWN

Qudian Inc. QD shares dropped 15 percent to $9.725 after reporting Q1 results.

Shares of Nabriva Therapeutics plc NBRV were down 14 percent to $4.6666 despite positive topline results from Phase 3 Lefamulin trial.

Carver Bancorp, Inc. CARV was down, falling around 21 percent to $6.59 after surging 201.37 percent on Thursday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3 percent to $72.21 while gold traded up 0.02 percent to $1,291.50.

Silver traded up 0.49 percent Monday to $16.535, while copper rose 1.14 to $3.0985.

Eurozone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.30 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.45 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.52 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.28 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.41 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.03 percent.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to a reading of +0.34 in April, versus +0.32 in March.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkariis set to speak at 5:30 p.m. ET.