Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Drops Over 200 Points; Insmed Shares Jump After Positive Results From Lung Disease Study

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.02 percent to 21,764.27 while the NASDAQ declined 1.03 percent to 6,369.17. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.81 percent to 2,456.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the energy shares slipped by just 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Willbros Group Inc WG, up 7 percent, and Superior Energy Services, Inc. SPN, up 6 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, financial shares tumbled 1.74 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Federated National Holding Co FNHC, down 16 percent, and KB Financial Group, Inc. (ADR) KB down 10 percent.

Top Headline

United Technologies Corporation UTX will acquire Rockwell Collins, Inc. COL in a deal worth $30 billion , forging an aerospace behemoth producing virtually all types of avionics systems for commercial and defense aircraft.

The purchase price includes $23 billion and the acquisition of $7 billion in Rockwell Collins debt, the two companies said in a statement.

Word of the imminent merger had been circulating in recent days. UTC was down 2.18 percent at $117.92 in premarket trading and Rockwell Collins was up 1.37 percent at $130.61. UTC is paying $140.00 per share, in cash and UTC stock.

Equities Trading UP

Insmed Incorporated INSM shares shot up 113 percent to $26.15 following the announcement of positive top-line results from its Phase 3 Convert study of ALIS in adult patients with treatment-refractory nontuberculous Mycobacterial (NTM) lung disease..

Shares of XOMA Corporation XOMA got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $14.69. Wedbush upgraded XOMA from Neutral to Outperform.

Energous Corp WATT shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $11.89. Energous reported a new, high-power, Near Field WattUp charging solution for electronic devices.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cellectis SA (ADR) CLLS shares dropped 20 percent to $25.70 after announcing FDA clinical hold of UCART123 studies.

Shares of Opiant Pharmaceuticals Inc OPNT were down 10 percent to $35.20. Opiant Pharma named David O'Toole as CFO.

Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P CLMT was down, falling around 9 percent to $7.65. Janney Capital downgraded Calumet Specialty from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.90 percent to $48.66 while gold traded up 1.01 percent to $1,343.80.

Silver traded up 0.72 percent Tuesday to $17.945, while copper rose 0.24 percent to $3.1255.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.13 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.62 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.24 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.18 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.34 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.52 percent.

Economics

U.S. factory orders dropped 3.3 percent in July, versus economists’ expectations for a 3.4 percent fall.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Dallas at 7:00 p.m. ET.