Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Up 0.5%; bluebird bio Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.15 percent to 24,365.68 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.50 percent to 6,873.96. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22 percent to 2,657.27.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Eclipse Resources Corp ECR and Amyris Inc AMRS.

In trading on Monday, financial shares fell 0.30 percent.

Top Headline

3M Co MMM agreed to sell substantially all of its communication markets division to Corning Incorporated GLW for $900 million.

Corning expects the deal adding $0.07 to $0.09 per share in FY19 earnings.

Equities Trading UP

ARGENX SE/S ADR ARGX shares shot up 59 percent to $48.40 after the company reported positive topline results from Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial of ARGX-113 in generalized myasthenia gravis.

Shares of Yield10 Bioscience Inc YTEN got a boost, shooting up 254 percent to $6.90 after the company reported granting of research license to Monsanto for evaluation of 2 novel yield traits in soybean.

bluebird bio Inc BLUE shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $209.00 after the company announced updated clinical results from ongoing Phase 1 multicenter study of LentiGlobin gene therapy in severe sickle cell disease at the ASH 2017.

Equities Trading DOWN

Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc SYRS shares dropped 33 percent to $8.25 following presentation at the ASH 2017 on Phase 2 trial of SY-1425 in genomically defined AML and MDS patients.

Shares of Spark Therapeutics Inc ONCE were down 36 percent to $47.08 on preliminary SPK-8011 trial data.

Athenex Inc ATNX was down, falling around 13 percent to $13.95. Almirall and Athenex reported a strategic partnership to develop and commercialize KX2-391 in the U.S. and Europe.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.01 percent to $57.94 while gold traded down 0.02 percent to $1,248.10.

Silver traded down 0.18 percent Monday to $15.795, while copper rose 1.29 percent to $3.017.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.11 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.14 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.36 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.23 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.80 percent.

Economics

The number of job openings dropped to around 6 million in October, compared to 6.18 million in the previous month, the Labor Department reported.

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