Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Zebra Technologies To Acquire Xplore For $6/Share

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.62 percent to 24,323.98 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.55 percent to 7,544.14. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.52 percent to 2,727.41.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the information technology shares climbed 0.91 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included LINE Corporation LN up 6 percent, and Akoustis Technologies, Inc. AKTS up 9 percent.

In trading on Thursday, telecommunication services shares fell 0.13 percent.

Top Headline

Zebra Technologies ZBRA announced plans to acquire Xplore Technologies Corp. XPLR for $6 per share in cash.

Equities Trading UP

Differential Brands Group Inc. DFBG shares shot up 73 percent to $5.34 in reaction to an M&A announcement. The portfolio of global consumer brands said in an 8-k filing it has agreed to acquire a large portion of Global Brands Group's North American business for $1.38 billion.

Shares of Xplore Technologies Corp. XPLR got a boost, shooting up 44 percent to $5.95 after Zebra Technologies ZBRA announced plans to acquire the company for $6 per share in cash.

New Concept Energy, Inc. GBR shares were also up, gaining 28 percent to $5.2631 after dropping 53.82 percent on Tuesday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ZYNE shares dropped 14 percent to $8.31 after the company ended a clinical study for a tetrahydrocannabinol patch. The Phase 1 study for the ZYN001 patch did not achieve targeted top-line results, Zynerba said in a statement.

Shares of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. CLNE were down 15 percent to $3.17. Raymond James downgraded Clean Energy Fuels from Market Perform to Underperform.

American Superconductor Corporation AMSC was down, falling around 15 percent to $5.9739. On Tuesday, American Superconductor reported settlement with Sinovel Wind Group.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.07 percent to $74.19 while gold traded up 0.26 percent to $1,256.70.

Silver traded up 0.26 percent Thursday to $16.085, while copper fell 2.19 to $2.853.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.71 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.38 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.35 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.36 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.14 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.49 percent.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 177,000 jobs in June, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported. Economists were expecting a gain of 190,000 jobs.

Initial jobless claims increased 3,000 to 231,000 in the latest week. Economists were projecting claims to reach 231,000.

The Markit services PMI came in at 56.50 for June, versus economists’ expectations for a reading of 56.50.

The ISM non-manufacturing index rose to 59.10 in June, versus prior reading of 58.60. However, economists were projecting a reading of 58.30.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the latest week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.