Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps Over 500 Points; Cesca Therapeutics Shares Fall

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 2.24 percent to 24,061.26 while the NASDAQ climbed 2.4 percent to 7,160.38. The S&P also rose, gaining 2.04 percent to 2,641.02.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the financial shares gained 2.18 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MBIA Inc. MBI, up 5 percent, and Blue Capital Reinsurance Holdings Ltd. BCRH, up 5 percent.

In trading on Monday, real estate shares rose by just 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

Finish Line Inc FINL agreed to sell itself to Europe-based JD Sports Fashion in a deal which values the company at $558 million.

JD Sports will pay $13.50 per share in cash for Finish Line, representing a 28 percent premium over Finish Line’s closing price on Friday.

Finish Line expects Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.58 to $0.59 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Finish Line, Inc. FINL shares shot up 30 percent to $13.735 as the company agreed to sell itself to Europe-based JD Sports Fashion in a deal which values the company at $558 million.

Shares of USG Corporation USG got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $39.80 after the building-materials manufacturer received a takeover offer from Germany's Knauf KG for $42 per share.

Verona Pharma plc VRNA shares were also up, gaining 41 percent to $22.90 after the company disclosed positive top-line data from Phase 2b clinical trial of RPL554 for the maintenance treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Equities Trading DOWN

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. PTGX shares dropped 58 percent to $8.65 as the company disclosed that it has discontinued Phase 2b PROPEL trial of PTG-100 for the treatment of ulcerative colitis following interim analysis.

Shares of Cesca Therapeutics Inc. KOOL were down 18 percent to $2.19 after the company reported a registered direct offering to sell 610,000 shares at $2.27 per share.

Bonso Electronics International Inc. BNSO was down, falling around 26 percent to $2.88 following half year results. Bonso late Friday reported earnings of $0.14 per share for the six-month period ended September 30, 2017, down from $0.21 in the year-ago period.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.76 percent to $65.38 while gold traded up 0.35 percent to $1,360.50.

Silver traded up 0.89 percent Monday to $16.73, while copper fell 0.65 percent to $2.9735.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.72 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.24 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.83 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.57 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.48 percent.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index increased to 0.88 in February, versus 0.02 in January.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index fell to 21.4 for March, versus 37.2 in February.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester will speak in Princeton, NJ at 4:30 p.m. ET.