U.S. indices were on the rise during midday trading Monday, with all of them up about 1%. This comes ahead of this week's Brexit vote, in which the U.K. will decide whether to remain a part of the European Union. All of the other global markets closed in the green Monday. Crude Oil jumped by more than 2% in midday trading as oil stocks soared.
Marathon Oil (MRO) shares surged in trading Monday after the company agreed to acquire PayRock Energy. Under the deal, Marathon will pay $888 million for the energy company, which is a portfolio company of the private equity firm EnCap Investments. According to a company statement, Pay Rock has approximately 61,000 net surface acres and current production of 9,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in Oklahoma. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, funded with cash on hand.
Shares of Walmart (WMT) were up slightly during midday trading on news that it will sell its controlling stake of the Chinese e-commerce business, Yihaodian, to China's JD.com (JD), according to the Wall Street Journal. JD.com is the second-largest online retailer in China after Alibaba Group (BABA). Reuters reported that under the deal, JD.com will issue about 145 million new class A shares to Walmart, representing 5% of its total shares.
CVS Health (CVS) shares were slumping about 1% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the health care and retail company. Analysts said the company is facing increased competition in the pharmacy-benefit management market. They downgraded CVS to Equal Weight from Overweight with a $104 price target.
Victory for "King James" has NIKE (NKE) shares on the rise the day after the NBA finals. The stock was up nearly 2% in midday trading. Nike is celebrating by re-releasing the shoes LeBron James wore in the final four games of this year's championship, the Nike Zoom LeBron Soldier 10 iD.
-- Written by Anders Keitz
