The Dow is up over 350 points midday
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is up over 374 points midday, shaking off less-than-pleasant coronavirus data and instead focusing on the upbeat sentiment from Astrazeneca's (AZN) restart of COVID-19 vaccine trials. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are also in the black, with the latter bouncing off its worst week since March thanks to a resurgent tech sector. Meanwhile, investors are digesting a slew of corporate deals, including ByteDance choosing Oracle (ORCL) over Microsoft (MSFT) to be its U.S. partner, and Nvidia (NVDA) buying Arm Holdings from SoftBank.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- A bull note is pushing TMO toward record highs.
- An access-increasing acquisition boosts Verizon stock.
- Plus, put traders eye energy stock; IMMU rises on billion-dollar deal; and GRPN falls lower on the charts.
One stock seeing notable options activity is EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG). So far, 40,000 puts have crossed the tape -- a whopping 60 times what's typically seen at this point and volume already at a new annual high. Most popular is the weekly 10/23 39-strike put, where new positions are being opened. The energy stock was last seen up 1% at $39.42 at last check, after Wells Fargo upped its price target to $60 from $57 amid news that Moody's completed its periodic review of the company.
Soaring to the top of the Nasdaq today is Immunomedics Inc (NASDAQ:IMMU), up 102.1% at $85.40 at last check, after it was announced that Gilead Sciences (GILD) will buy the company for $21 billion at $88 per share, expanding Gilead's cancer treatment portfolio. Surging to new heights, IMMU is now up a whopping 299.3% year-to-date.
Meanwhile, Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) is down 10.6% at $28.95 at last check, though the reasoning is unclear. Although now down 40% in 2020, today's damage has been contained by GRPN's 30-day moving average.
