Benzinga | Mar 22, 2021 02:34PM EDT

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Jumps Over 200 Points; Dyadic International Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.37% to 32,747.07 while the NASDAQ rose 1.68% to 13,436.88. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.91% to 3,948.67.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 29,819,100 cases with around 542,350 deaths. Brazil reported over 11,998,230 COVID-19 cases with 294,040 deaths, while India confirmed a total of at least 11,646,080 cases and 159,960 deaths. In total, there were at least 123,287,410 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 2,716,690 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 2.3% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Digital Turbine, Inc. (NASDAQ:APPS), up 10%, and Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIMX), up 12%.

In trading on Monday, financial shares fell 1.2%.

Top Headline

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE:CP) announced plans to buy Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) in a $25 billion cash-and-stock deal.

The deal has a total enterprise value of almost $29 billion when including the assumption of $3.8 billion of outstanding KCS debt.



Equities Trading UP

Support.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRT) shares shot up 216% to $6.77 after the company announced a merger agreement with Bitcoin Miner Greenidge Generation Holdings.

Shares of Dyadic International, Inc. (NASDAQ:DYAI) got a boost, shooting 26% to $6.69 after the company said it would work with Medytox to develop COVID-19 vaccines.

Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) shares were also up, gaining 12% to $251.79 after Canadian Pacific Railway announced plans to buy the company in a $25 billion cash-and-stock deal.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Odonate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODT) shares tumbled 79% to $3.9999 after the company said it would discontinue development of its Tesetaxel.

Shares of RLX Technology Inc. (NYSE:RLX) were down 46% to $10.52 as Reuters reported that China is mulling bring e-cigarette regulation in line with traditional tobacco products.

Farmmi, Inc. (NASDAQ:FAMI) was down, falling 17% to $1.1599 after the company reported a proposed underwritten public offering of ordinary shares.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $61.63, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,739.80.

Silver traded down 1.9% Monday to $25.835 while copper rose 0.7% to $4.1425.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.19%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.76% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.25%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 fell 0.49%, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.26% and Italy's FTSE MIB gained 0.26%.

The Eurozone's current account posted a surplus of EUR 5.8 billion in January versus a EUR 8.2 billion deficit in the year-ago month. Italy recorded a current account surplus of EUR 710 million in January versus a EUR 988 million deficit in the year-ago month.



Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index declined to -1.09 in February from a revised reading of 0.75 in January.

US existing home sales fell 6.6% from the prior month to 6.22 million units in February.

Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman is set to speak at 7:15 p.m. ET.