Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASADQ Down 0.5%; ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.05% to 26810.56 while the NASDAQ fell 0.52% to 8060.73. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.17% to 2,973.57.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 1.7% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Gulfport Energy Corporation GPOR, up 19%, and Southwestern Energy Company SWN, up 16%.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 1.1%.

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 67% to $39.84 following a clinical trial readout from the company. Acadia, an actively traded mid-cap biotech, said Monday that it will stop the Phase 3 HARMONY study early based on the recommendation of the independent data monitoring committee that reviewed data from the planned interim analysis. The HARMONY study is evaluating pimavanserin for the treatment of dementia-related psychosis. Interim analysis of data showed the study met its primary endpoint by demonstrating a highly statistically significant longer time to the relapse of psychosis with pimavanserin compared to placebo.

Shares of Changyou.com Limited CYOU got a boost, shooting up 50% to $8.86 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 23% to $4.31 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 79% to $0.9239 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 21% to $9.50 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.

Fred's, Inc. FRED was down, falling 50% to $0.1188 after the company voluntary filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company sought court approval to enter into a $35 million proposed debtor-in-possession financing agreement.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.4% to $57.88, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,509.70.

Silver traded up 0.1% Monday to $18.12, while copper fell 0.4% to $2.6245.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.28%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.23%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.19%. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.28% and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.27% while UK shares fell 0.64%.

Economics

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