Mid-Day Market Update: Hexindai Falls After Q2 Results; Global Blood Therapeutics Shares Surge

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.72 percent to 25,721.84 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.05 percent to 7,407.37. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.70 percent to 2,779.42.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the consumer discretionary shares climbed 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. GIII up 9 percent, and ZAGG Inc ZAGG up 9 percent.

In trading on Monday, consumer staples shares fell 0.8 percent.

Top Headline

Nexstar Media Group Inc NXST announced plans to acquire Tribune Media Company TRCO for $6.4 billion, including the assumption of outstanding debt.

Nexstar Media will pay $46.50 per share, representing a 15.5 percent premium over Tribune Media's closing price on Friday.

 

Equities Trading UP

American Electric Technologies, Inc AETI shares got a boost, shooting up 220 percent to $1.28 after the company disclosed that its joint venture, BOMAY, received a major order for drilling rig control systems.

Shares of Tesaro, Inc. TSRO shot up 59 percent to $73.55 after GlaxoSmithKline plc GSK and TESARO announced a definitive agreement under which the former will acquire the latter for $5.1 billion in cash, including the assumption of Tesaro's debt.

Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. GBT shares were also up, gaining 52 percent to $48.00. Global Blood announced Monday that the FDA has agreed to allow filing for its late-stage sickle cell disease, or SCD, candidate Voxelotor under an accelerated approval pathway. The company said it would submit a new drug application, or NDA, for the pipeline asset under the pathway.

Equities Trading DOWN

Hexindai Inc. HX shares dropped 25 percent to $3.310 following Q2 results. Hexindai posted a Q2 loss of $0.36 per share on sales of $3.62 million.

Shares of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. TNXP were down 26 percent to $3.84 after the company filed for a $34M stock and warrant offering.

Sienna Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. SNNA was down, falling around 33 percent to $6.73 after reporting top-line results from a Phase 2b study of SNA-120.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.45 percent to $52.18 while gold traded up 1.1 percent to $1,239.50.

Silver traded up 2.17 percent Monday to $14.525, while copper rose 1.08 percent to $2.8175.

 

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 1.03 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 2.26 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.85 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.18 percent.

Economics

The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI dropped to 55.3 in November, versus a prior reading of 55.7.

U.S. construction spending dropped 0.1 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent rise.

The ISM manufacturing index increased to 59.3 in November, versus previous reading of 57.7. Economists expected a reading of 57.5.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak in Laredo, Texas at 1:00 p.m. ET.