Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Elanco Animal Health To Acquire Kindred Biosciences

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.15% to 34,247.35 while the NASDAQ rose 0.36% to 14,123.49. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01% to 4,246.07.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,486,910 cases with around 600,280 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 29,633,100 cases and 379,570 deaths, while Brazil reported over 17,533,220 COVID-19 cases with 490,690 deaths. In total, there were at least 176,682,210 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,823,780 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares climbed 0.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kindred Biosciences, Inc. KIN, up 45%, and Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. APRE, up 38%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated ELAN agreed to acquire Kindred Biosciences Inc KIN for $9.25 per share, or approximately $440 million.

The price represents a premium of 52% based on the 30-day average.

Equities Trading UP

Kindred Biosciences, Inc. KIN shares shot up 45% to $9.19 after Elanco announced an agreement to acquire the company for $9.25 per share.

Shares of Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. APRE got a boost, shooting 43% to $6.95 after the company announced that the Phase 1/2 trial evaluating eprenetapopt in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has met the pre-specified primary efficacy endpoint of complete remission (CR) rate.

GTT Communications, Inc. GTT shares were also up, gaining 37% to $2.8101.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Alzamend Neuro, Inc. ALZN shares tumbled 15% to $11.50. Alzamend Neuro shares jumped 170% on Tuesday after the company priced its IPO at $5 per share

Shares of Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. IKT were down 22% to $3.1350 after the company priced an underwritten public offering of 15 million shares at $3/share for gross proceeds of approximately $45 million.

Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. APRN was down, falling 19% to $4.4750 after the company priced public offering of 4.706 million shares of Class A common stock at $4.25 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $72.45, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,857.10.

Silver traded up 0.6% Wednesday to $27.87 while copper rose 0.1% to $4.3330.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1% and the German DAX 30 fell 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.1%.

UK’s producer prices rose 4.6% year-on-year in May, while consumer price inflation rate increased to 2.1% year-over-year.

Economics

Housing starts rose 3.6% to an annualized rate of 1.572 million in May, while building permits fell 3.0% to a 1.681 million rate.

US import prices increased 1.1% in May, while prices for exports climbed 2.2%.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here