Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Constellation Pharmaceuticals Surges Following Acquisition News; Protalix BioTherapeutics Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.05% to 34,594.18 while the NASDAQ fell 0.16% to 13,715.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.02% to 4,202.76.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,287,570 cases with around 595,210 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 28,307,830 cases and 335,100 deaths, while Brazil reported over 16,624,480 COVID-19 cases with 465,190 deaths. In total, there were at least 171,196,260 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,565,440 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 2.1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. SLCA, up 19%, and U.S. Well Services, Inc. USWS, up 18%.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell 0.9%.

Top Headline

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. AAP reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and raised its earnings outlook.

Advance Auto Parts reported quarterly earnings of $3.34 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $3.08 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $3.33 billion, versus expectations of $3.28 billion.

Advance Auto Parts raised its FY21 sales guidance from $10.2 billion-$10.4 billion to $10.4 billion-$10.6 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. BCTX shares shot up 103% to $6.46 after the company provided an update on the overall survival (OS) data on its previously disclosed heavily pretreated advanced breast cancer patients.

Shares of Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CNST got a boost, shooting 67% to $33.76. MorphoSys AG MOR agreed to acquire Constellation Pharmaceuticals for $34 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of $1.7 billion.

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC shares were also up, gaining 113% to $68.27 amid renewed interest from retail investors. AMC Entertainment shares jumped around 23% on Tuesday after the company announced it raised $230.5 million of new equity from Mudrick Capital.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. PLX shares tumbled 14% to $2.5750 after the company, and Chiesi Global Rare Diseases, provided an update regarding clinical development of PRX-102 for the treatment of Fabry disease.

Shares of iRhythm Technologies, Inc. IRTC were down 16% to $64.00 after the company announced that Mike Coyle has decided to resign from his position as president and chief executive officer and a member of the board, effective June 1, due to personal matters. The company also reaffirmed guidance. Citigroup downgraded iRhythm Technologies from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $105 to $78.

ENGlobal Corporation ENG was down, falling 21% to $2.8474 after the company announced a 7,142,859 share registered direct offering priced at $2.80 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.8% to $68.92, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,909.50.

Silver traded up 0.4% Wednesday to $28.225 while copper fell 1.3% to $4.5940.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.28%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.10% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.23%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.39%, French CAC 40 rose 0.49% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.23%.

Producer prices in the Eurozone increased 1% in April following a 1.1% rise in the previous month. Consumer credit in the UK fell by GBP 0.377 billion in April.

French government budget deficit narrowed to EUR 91.37 billion during the first four months of the year, compared to EUR 92.12 billion a year ago. Retail sales in Germany fell 5.5% in April, versus a 7.7% surge in March.

Economics

US mortgage applications dropped 4% in the week ending May 28.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index surged 13.1% year-over-year during the first four weeks of May.

The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index increased 3.7% to 56.4 in June.

The Federal Open Market Committee released its Beige Book report.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here