Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Loxo Oncology Surges After Positive Results From Larotrectinib Trial; Microbot Medical Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.03 percent to 21,200.33 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.07 percent to 6,301.27. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.04 percent to 2,438.03.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy sector was the top gainer in the US market on Monday. Top gainers in the sector included Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc HLX, SM Energy Co SM, and Ecopetrol SA (ADR) EC.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.48 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Genie Energy Ltd GNE, down 3 percent, and Southwest Gas Holdings Inc SWX, down 2.5 percent.

Top Headline

Herbalife Ltd. HLF cut its sales forecast for the current quarter.

Herbalife expects Q2 revenue to decline by 6 percent to 2 percent, versus earlier forecast of 0.5 percent to 4.5 percent decline. It projects adjusted earnings of $0.95 to $1.15 per share, up from previous forecast of $0.88 to $1.08 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Forestar Group Inc. FOR shares shot up 13 percent to $16.00 after D.R. Horton, Inc. DHI proposed to buy 75 percent of Forestar Group for $16.25 per share in cash.

Shares of Loxo Oncology Inc LOXO got a boost, shooting up 46 percent to $71.54 following the announcement of a 76 percent-confirmed objective response rate for the trial of Larotrectinib for the treatment for multiple forms of cancer. Citigroup upgraded Loxo Oncology from Neutral to Buy.

Dynavax Technologies Corporation DVAX shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $6.88 after the company on Friday presented updated data for SD-101 in combination with KEYTRUDA.

Equities Trading DOWN

Microbot Medical Inc MBOT shares dropped 34 percent to $2.50. Microbot Medical reported a $10 million registered direct offering

Shares of NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK were down 12 percent to $11.13 after the company reported that indoximod + PROVENGE resulted in statistically significant improvement in rPFS for patients with mCRPC in Phase 2 trial.

Herbalife Ltd. HLF was down, falling around 8 percent to $67.98 after the company cut its sales forecast for the current quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.65 percent to $47.35 while gold traded up 0.09 percent to $1,281.40.

Silver traded up 0.14 percent Monday to $17.55, while copper fell 0.49 percent to $2.562.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.13 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.19 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.99 percent. Meanwhile the French CAC 40 declined 0.66 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.29 percent.

Economics

U.S. nonfarm productivity was unchanged for the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.20 percent decline. Unit labor costs rose 2.20 percent for the quarter, versus estimates for a 2.50 percent growth.

US Services PMI declined to 53.60 in May, versus a prior reading of 54.00. Economists expected a reading of 54.10.

U.S. factory orders declined 0.2 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.20 percent drop.

The ISM non-manufacturing index slipped to 56.90 for May, versus previous reading of 57.50. Economists were expecting a reading of 57.00.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index rose to 133.70 in May, versus a prior revised reading of 132.77.