Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Foamix Acne Drug Trial Meets Endpoints

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.17 percent to 26,014.06 while the NASDAQ declined 0.57 percent to 7,926.67. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.07 percent to 2,885.98.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the telecommunication services shares rose 1.56 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included VEON Ltd (ADR) VEON up 3 percent, and NII Holdings Inc NIHD up 3 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 0.74 percent.

Top Headline

Foamix Pharmaceuticals Ltd FOMX announced positive top-line results for its third Phase 3 clinical trial that evaluated its FMX101 for treating moderate-to-severe acne.

The company said the pipeline candidate met both co-primary endpoints of absolute change from baseline in inflammatory lesion count at Week 12 and Investigator Global Assessment treatment success at Week 12.

FMX101's safety profile was consistent with that determined from the previous two Phase 3 studies.

Equities Trading UP

Nemaura Medical Inc NMRD shares shot up 38 percent to $3.03 after reporting 'positive' interim data from clinic portion of sugarBEAT FDA clinical trial.

Shares of Galapagos NV GLPG got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $119.90. Gilead and Galapagos disclosed that the Phase 3 FINCH 2 study that evaluated their investigational selective JAK1 inhibitor filgotinib for treating adults with moderate-to-severe active rheumatoid arthritis met its primary endpoint in the proportion of patients achieving an American College of Rheumatology 20-percent response, or ACR20, at Week 12.

Regional Health Properties Inc RHE shares were also up, gaining 158 percent to $0.35 after the announcement that the company will forbear from exercising its right to accelerate outstanding loans.

Equities Trading DOWN

Vital Therapies Inc VTL shares dropped 90 percent to $0.65 after the company reported that topline results of VTL-308 failed to achieve primary and secondary endpoints of improvement in survival.

Shares of Netlist, Inc. NLST were down 44 percent to $0.36 after the company priced a $10 million registered offering at $0.45 per share.

MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. MTSI was down, falling around 13 percent to $19.05. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded MACOM Technology from Hold to Sell and lowered the price target from $22 to $20..

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.01 percent to $69.95 while gold traded down 0.32 percent to $1,198.40.

Silver traded down 0.09 percent Wednesday to $14.14, while copper rose 0.67 to $2.639.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.29 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.12 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.03 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.22 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.58 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.20 percent.

Economics

The Producer Price Index fell 0.1 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent gain.

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

Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lael Brainard is set to speak in Detroit, MI at 12:45 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.