Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; General Electric CEO To Step Down

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.30 percent to 21,208.38 while the NASDAQ declined 1.36 percent to 6,123.55. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.38 percent to 2,422.42.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy sector was the top gainer in the US market on Monday. Top gainers in the sector included Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc HLX, Golar LNG Partners LP GMLP, and TETRA Technologies, Inc. TTI.

In trading on Monday, technology shares fell 1.93 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included CEVA, Inc. CEVA, down 8 percent, and MaxLinear, Inc. MXL, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

General Electric Company GE announced the retirement of its CEO Jeff Immelt.

After 30 years with General Electric Company, GE Healthcare Limited CEO and President John Flannery is about to inherit all of corporate leadership.

Effective Aug. 1, Flannery, 55, will succeed retiring CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who will retain his role as chairman through the end of the year before relinquishing it to Flannery.

Equities Trading UP

GTx, Inc. GTXI shares shot up 46 percent to $4.50 after the company disclosed positive preliminary results from ongoing Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial in women with stress urinary incontinence.

Shares of XBiotech Inc XBIT got a boost, shooting up 38 percent to $4.41 after falling 66.03 percent on Friday.

TrovaGene Inc TROV shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $0.975 after the company reported a deal with AstraZeneca for utilization of Trovera ctDNA test and services in prospective biomarker study.

Equities Trading DOWN

Coherus Biosciences Inc CHRS shares dropped 31 percent to $14.32 after the company disclosed that it has received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA for CHS-1701. The company said it will work with the FDA to provide necessary information.

Shares of STMicroelectronics NV (ADR) STM were down 7 percent to $15.44 after dropping 4.61 percent on Friday.

Adobe Systems Incorporated ADBE was down, falling around 4 percent to $132.96. Pivotal Research downgraded Adobe from Hold to Sell.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.55 percent to $46.54 while gold traded down 0.24 percent to $1,268.40.

Silver traded down 1.03 percent Monday to $17.045, while copper fell 0.62 percent to $2.633.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.78 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.85 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.51 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.85 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.85 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.05 percent.

Economics

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

The Treasury will also auction 3-month bills and 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for May is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.