Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Falls 40 Points; Aprea Therapeutics Shares Surge

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.12% to 34,259.48 while the NASDAQ rose 0.20% to 14,100.31. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.05% to 4,244.41.

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 0.4% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Kindred Biosciences, Inc. KIN, up 45%, and Opthea Limited OPT, up 45%.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell 0.7%.

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 39% to $6.76 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.

BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. BCTX shares were also up, gaining 16% to $7.01 after the company announced it is expanding its breast cancer platform into prostate, melanoma and lung cancers.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PRTK shares tumbled 14% to $8.80. Paratek Pharmaceuticals initiated Phase 2b trial evaluating Nuzyra (omadacycline) for Nontuberculous Mycobacterial (NTM) Pulmonary Disease caused by Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABc).

Shares of Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. IKT were down 24% to $3.08 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 0.4% to $72.44, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,860.

Silver traded up 0.8% Wednesday to $27.91 while copper rose 1.4% to $4.3915.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.19%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.28% and the German DAX 30 fell 0.13%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.14%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.05% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.05%.

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%.

US crude-oil inventories dropped 7.4 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

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