US stocks as a whole fell at midsession on Monday as oil prices slid again, but there were some notable bourse gainers too.
The S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 2,085, while the S&P Midcap 400 lost 0.6% to 1,490 and the S&P Smallcap 600 was down 0.8% to 707.
The US oil benchmark WTI was down 0.8% at $48.68 as last week’s $51-plus levels, the highest since July, looked more elusive.
But it wasn’t only oil that weighed on investors’ minds. This week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting to determine US interest rates as well as the prospect of Britain exiting the European Union also played their parts in a sombre session, just as the so-called “Brexit” affected the London Stock Exchange close earlier.
The biggest midcap decliner was Sotheby’s Holdings (NYSE:BID), down 7.6% at $29.45, while the small-caps equivalent was last week’s star gainer, the advertising agency Harte-Hanks (NYSE:HHS) on profit-taking.
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Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) blockbuster $26bn bid for recruitment-focused social network Linked Corp (NYSE:LNKD) dominated the early going on Wall Street.
The “A” class shares of LinkedIn soared 47% to $192.81 as the Seattle-based office software dinosaur won over the board with a cash offer of $196 per share. Social media network Twitter, Inc (NYSE:TWTR) rose 9% in sympathy to $1.27.
The big deal did not stop US blue-chips from opening lower, infected by fears from across the pond over the potential disruption should Great Britain vote to quit the European Union, but stocks have since picked up, with the Dow Jones 17 points to the good at 17,883 and the broader-based S&P 500 a smidgen higher at 2,096.
The Nasdaq Composite, however, remained in the red, weighed down by Microsoft’s 2.6% decline.
The mid-cap index, the S&P 400, was also in the red, shedding just over half a point at 1,498. The small caps measure, the Russell 2,000 index, was just under a point firmer at 1,165.
Rivalling LinkedIn for stock of the day was Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:EBIO), after it signed a licensing deal with multi-national drugs giant Roche.
The US biopharmaceutical company, which is focused on discovering and developing protein therapeutics to treat diseases of the eye, has agreed to grant an exclusive, worldwide licence to Roche to develop and commercialise EBI-031, for the treatment of diabetic macular edema, and uveitis.
Shares in Eleven rose 50% to $2.81.