Stocks slumped Monday as investors sought safe-haven assets ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting and the looming Brexit vote where voters will decide on Great Britain’s status as a member of the European Union.
The S&P 500 lost 0.81% while the Dow Jones Industrial gave up 0.74%. The Nasdaq Composite was the worst of the trio with a Monday loss of 0.94%.
It was a rough start to the week for stocks, but LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (NASDAQ:SWHC) and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) notched impressive Monday gains.
LinkedIn Corp (LNKD)
Shares of LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals, soared 46.6% on volume that was nearly 10 times more than the daily average after Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) agreed to acquire the company for $26.2 billion.
MSFT will pay $196 per share for LNKD, an almost 50% premium to where LNKD shares closed last Friday. When measured against LNKD’s earnings, the deal is one of the most expensive acquisitions this year, according to Bloomberg.
The acquisition of LNKD is the largest to date for MSFT.
Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (SWHC)
Shares of gunmaker Smith & Wesson climbed 6.9% on more than six times the usual volume a day after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. At least 50 people died at an Orlando, Florida nightclub. Omar Mateen is the suspected shooter.
Gunmaker stocks, such as SWHC, often surge in the wake of such tragedies on speculation that politicians will move to strengthen gun control laws or in response to individuals looking for added self defense. However, those stock gains often ebb as gun demand does the same following the immediate response to these tragedies.
Monday’s gain was the biggest one-day move for SWHC shares in five months, according to Bloomberg.
Twitter Inc (TWTR)
Social media operator Twitter rose nearly 4% on volume that was close to double the daily average following news of MSFT’s acquisition of LNKD, which stocked speculation that TWTR could be the next social media firm to be acquired.
In a note out last week, prior to news of MSFT’s deal for LNKD becoming public, Goldman Sachs highlighted TWTR as a potential takeover target.
Shares of TWTR are still down more than 35% year-to-date.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
