Mid-Day Market Update: AMEC Foster Wheeler Surges Following Wood Group Bid; Aralez Pharmaceuticals Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.18 percent to 20,865.19 while the NASDAQ gained 0.13 percent to 5,869.17. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08 percent to 2,370.81.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic materials shares rose 0.98 percent in trading on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Valhi, Inc. VHI, and Kronos Worldwide, Inc. KRO.

In trading on Monday, healthcare shares fell 0.27 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. OSIR, down 12 percent, and Zogenix, Inc. ZGNX, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Intel Corporation INTC has set its foot firmly in the fast-growing market for fully autonomous vehicles by agreeing to buy Israel-based Mobileye NV MBLY for about $15.3 billion.

Intel will pay $63.54 for each share of Mobileye, representing a premium of 34.4 percent over March 10 closing price. The deal has an enterprise value of $14.7 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Heat Biologics Inc HTBX shares shot up 16 percent to $1.04 after the company disclosed that it has achieved the efficacy endpoint in its Phase 1b trial.

Shares of Mobileye NV MBLY got a boost, shooting up 30 percent to $61.29 after Intel Corporation INTC agreed to buy the company for about $15.3 billion.

AMEC Foster Wheeler plc AMFW shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $6.69 after Wood Group announced plans to acquire Amec in a $2.73 billion deal.

Equities Trading DOWN

Nobilis Health Corp (USA) HLTH shares dropped 18 percent to $1.61 after the company reported downbeat results for its fourth quarter.

Shares of Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc ARLZ were down around 30 percent to $2.46 after the company posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.

ParkerVision, Inc. PRKR was down, falling around 16 percent to $2.22. ParkerVision disclosed that it is filing a motion to terminate its ITC investigation after ruling to disallow key evidence for '528 patent.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.06 percent to $49.06 while gold traded up 0.23 percent to $1,204.20.

Silver traded up 0.57 percent Monday to $17.02, while copper rose 1.25 percent to $2.63.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.03 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.14 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.30 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.29 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.38 percent.

Economics

On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.