Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Alcoa To Consolidate Sales, Procurement And Commercial Operations

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 26,861.71 while the NASDAQ fell 0.05% to 8,098.77. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.15% to 2,983.05.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Callon Petroleum Company CPE, up 9%, and Range Resources Corporation RRC, up 9%.

In trading on Monday, health care shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

Alcoa Corporation AA announced it will cut staff and eliminate its business unit structure and consolidate sales, procurement and other commercial capabilities at an enterprise level effective Nov. 1.

Under the new operating model, the Alcoa executive team will be streamlined from 12 to seven people directly reporting to the CEO. The new structure will reduce overhead and “increase connectivity’ between the company's plants and leadership.

Equities Trading UP

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. ACAD shares shot up 58% to $37.56 after the company announced its Harmony Phase 3 Trial met its primary endpoint.

Shares of Changyou.com Limited CYOU got a boost, shooting up 51% to $8.91 after the company announced it received a preliminary non-binding proposal to acquire the company from Sohu for $10 per ADS.

Cesca Therapeutics Inc. KOOL shares were also up, gaining 28% to $4.51 after the company announced it entered into a global distribution agreement with ThermoGenesis to distribute its X-Series products. Also the company's 8K showed a supply agreement with Corning.

Equities Trading DOWN

Neurotrope, Inc. NTRP shares tumbled 80% to $0.895 after the company announced that its Phase 2 study of Bryostatin-1 in moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease did not achieve statistical significance in its primary endpoint.

Shares of PaySign, Inc. PAYS were down 19% to $9.76 after the company cut its preliminary FY19 sales guidance from $38-$40 million to $35-$37 million. The company cited delays in onboarding of the new plasma industry programs planned for Q1 and Q2.

Repligen Corporation RGEN was down, falling 12% to $81.64. Repligen will move to the S&P MidCap 400, effective Monday, September 23.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $56.82, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,520.00.

Silver traded up 1% Monday to $18.315, while copper fell 0.6% to $2.6185.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.3% and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.1% while UK shares fell 0.6%.

Economics

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index for August is schedule for release at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for July will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.