Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Avis Climbs Following Deal With Waymo; Neothetics Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.19 percent to 21,434.44 while the NASDAQ declined 0.21 percent to 6,251.93. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11 percent to 2,441.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose by 0.85 percent in the US market on Monday. Top gainers in the sector included American Midstream Partners LP AMID, RGC Resources Inc. RGCO, and FirstEnergy Corp. FE.

In trading on Monday, technology shares fell by 0.25 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Numerex Corp. NMRX, down 8 percent, and RealNetworks Inc RNWK, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

U.S. durable goods orders declined 1.1 percent for May. However, economists were expecting a 0.6 percent drop for May.

Durable goods orders, ex-transportation, rose 0.10percent, while core capital-goods orders slipped 0.2 percent in May.

Equities Trading UP

Avis Budget Group Inc. CAR shares shot up 11 percent to $26.82 after the company disclosed that it has formed a partnership with Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL’s autonomous car business, Waymo. Under a multi-year agreement, Avis will service and store 600 of Waymo’s self-driving cars. The fleet is part of Waymo’s test program in Phoenix, Arizona. The arrangement solves a key problem faced by companies working to incorporate autonomous cars into ride-hailing services.

Shares of Sparton Corporation SPA got a boost, shooting up 21 percent to $22.13 as Ultra Electronics confirmed that it is in advanced discussions to acquire the company.

VOXX International Corp VOXX shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $8.90 as the company agreed to sell Hirschmann Car Communication to TE Connectivity for $166 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Matinas BioPharma Holdings Inc MTNB shares dropped 21 percent to $2.20. Matinas BioPharma reported that Phase 2 clinical study of orally-administered MAT2203 for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis did not meet expectations.

Shares of Neothetics Inc NEOT were down 70 percent to $0.710. Neothetics disclosed that LIPO-202 did not show any improvement on efficacy measurements.

Stratasys, Ltd. SSYS was down, falling around 12 percent to $24.43. Goldman Sachs downgraded Stratasys from Neutral to Sell.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.70 percent to $43.31 while gold traded down 0.80 percent to $1,246.30.

Silver traded down 0.37 percent Monday to $16.645, while copper rose 0.11 percent to $2.6375.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.37 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.62 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.81 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.29 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 0.56 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.31 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders declined 1.1 percent for May. However, economists were expecting a 0.6 percent drop for May. Core capital-goods orders slipped 0.2 percent in May.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index dropped to a reading of -0.26 in May, compared to a reading of +0.57 in April.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing business index slipped to 15.00 in June, versus a prior reading of 17.20. Economists were expecting a reading of 16.00.