On The Fly: Top stock stories for Monday

The major averages started the day with a quiet opening, previewing the type of session it would be as they spent the rest of the trading day in a narrow range drifting near the unchanged line. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Chicago National Activity index rose to 0.34 in February after dipping to -0.02 in January. In Europe, the U.K. said it will formally trigger its exit from the EU on March 29. Triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal procedure for leaving the bloc, will open a two-year timetable for negotiations, with Britain able to leave the EU by 2019. COMPANY NEWS: Walt Disney's (DIS) "Beauty and the Beast," the latest in a string of live-action remakes of animated classics from the company, topped box offices with a $170M launch in the U.S. alongside $180M from international markets. Shares of Disney gained 0.85% to $112.71 after the film's record-breaking debut... Shares of Sprout Farmers Market (SFM), which jumped about 25% last week, ended the day down about 0.9% at $21.83 after Bloomberg reported that Cerberus Capital-backed Albertsons has held preliminary merger talks with the company. Shares of its larger competitor Whole Foods Market (WFM) gained about 1% following the news... Snap Inc. (SNAP) landed its first Buy rating since coming public, as Monness Crespi analyst James Cakmak initiated the stock and said he is prepared to "give the benefit of the doubt" to the parent of Snapchat. The shares advanced 2% after Cakmak offered the opinion that "Snap could conceivably replace the camera app" on people's phones. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), which advanced over 42% after the company said that a late-stage trial of NKTR-181, which was previously granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of moderate to severe chronic pain, met the primary and secondary endpoints. Also higher was CytomX Therapeutics (CTMX), which gained 24% after announcing an expansion of the company's strategic collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY). Additionally, Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) jumped 74% after the biotech company announced that the Food and Drug Administration gave feedback on its cholesterol-lowering drug, saying the bempedoic acid Phase 3 program is adequate to support approval of an LDL-C lowering indication prior to outcomes data. Among the noteworthy losers was Array Biopharma (ARRY), which fell nearly 5% after the company withdrew its FDA application for binimetinib in a rare subset of skin cancer. Also lower was Sonic (SONC), which slipped 3% Canaccord analyst Lynne Collier downgraded the stock to Hold, citing challenging industry sales, the potential for Street estimates to be too high in the midst of soft sales, a lack of upcoming catalysts, and increasing competition from non-traditional venues such as convenience stores. INDEXES: The Dow slipped 8.76, or 0.04%, to 20,905.86, the Nasdaq gained 0.53, or 0.01%, to 5,901.53, and the S&P 500 declined 4.78, or 0.2%, to 2,373.47.