The markets traded higher during the midday with the Dow rising 35 points to 24,364. Nasdaq gained 30 points to 6,871.
The second Monday of December was named Green Monday by eBay ten years ago to mark the biggest online shopping day of December. Over the past decade, shoppers flooded ecommerce sites on Green Monday to make their final holiday purchases for delivery before Christmas. Deals today include $20 off for every $100 spent on Target.com and Jet has slashed prices on items such as Google Home Mini from $49 to $29 and Samsung 50 inch 4K HDR Ultra HD LED Smart TV from $549 to $478.
Verizon Communications will pay approximately $2.25 billion for a five year deal to stream National Football League games beginning in January 2018. The agreement includes in-market and national games, including national pre-season, regular season, playoff games and the Super Bowl. The deal does not provide exclusive rights to air the games.
Monsanto has offered a cash incentive to farmers to use its controversial XtendiMax with Vapor Grip herbicide. The herbicide was specially formulated to work with the company's genetically modified soy beans but XtendiMax damaged other crops when the it drifted away from the targeted crop. Monsanto says that the product is safe when used properly.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 6 to 5 on the NYSE while decliners barely edged out advancers by a slim margin on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 rose 6 points to 2,657. Bitcoin rocketed $2,240 to $16,500.
