Mid-Afternoon Market Update: CytomX Therapeutics Climbs Following Bristol-Myers Squibb Partnership; Medgenics Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 20,912.59 while the NASDAQ declined 0.04 percent to 5,898.64. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.19 percent to 2,373.85.

Monday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.66 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included

, down 5 percent, and

, down 5 percent.

The Washington Companies proposed to acquire

for US$13.50 per share in cash.

shares shot up 64 percent to $38.82 after the company reported the FDA confirmation regarding regulatory pathway to approval for an LDL-C lowering indication for bempedoic acid. Shares of

got a boost, shooting up 38 percent to $21.33 after the company reported that it has met its primary and secondary endpoints in Phase 3 Summit-07 study for chronic pain.

shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $18.89.

and CytomX Therapeutics disclosed that they have extended worldwide partnership to discover Probody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

shares dropped 62 percent to $1.27. Cerulean Pharma and Daré Bioscience reported that they have entered into a stock purchase agreement. Cerulean also announced plans to reduce workforce by 11 people. The company reported that it has sold CRLX101 and CRLX301 to BlueLink Pharmaceuticals for $1.5 million and also agreed to sell Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform to Novartis for $6 million. Shares of

were down around 56 percent to $2.40 after the company disclosed that that SAGA trial of AEVI-001 did not meet primary endpoint.

was down, falling around 10 percent to $2.10. QuickLogic reported a $15 million share offering.

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.53 percent to $49.05 while gold traded up 0.29 percent to $1,233.80. Silver traded up 0.10 percent Monday to $17.43, while copper fell 0.98 percent to $2.67.

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dropped 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.31 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.53 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.35 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.34 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.07 percent.

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