Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 2%; Therapix Biosciences Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.59 percent to 24,313.96 while the NASDAQ climbed 2.05 percent to 7,056.84. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.70 percent to 2,648.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the information technology shares climbed 2.56 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included The Meet Group, Inc. MEET, up 19 percent, and Baozun Inc. BZUN, up 9 percent.

In trading on Monday, telecommunication services shares fell 0.20 percent.

Top Headline

Novartis AG NVS announced plans to buy AveXis Inc AVXS for $8.7 billion in cash.

The offer price of $218 per share represents an 88 percent premium over AveXis' closing price on Friday.

Equities Trading UP

Turtle Beach Corporation HEAR shares shot up 33 percent to $3.40 after the company raised its guidance for the first quarter.

Shares of AveXis, Inc. AVXS got a boost, shooting up 79 percent to $207.70 after the company agreed to be acquired by Novartis AG NVS for $8.7 billion.

Therapix Biosciences Ltd. TRPX shares were also up, gaining 30 percent to $6.485. The Israel-based cannabinoid biopharmaceutical company announced encouraging phase 2a results at Yale University exploring its THX-110 among adults with Tourette syndrome. The company said its THX-100 therapy significantly improved symptoms over time in adult subjects.

Equities Trading DOWN

Menlo Therapeutics Inc. MNLO shares dropped 72 percent to $9.96. The late-stage biopharmaceutical company announced disappointing results from a phase 2 trial of its serlopitant therapy for the treatment of pruritus. The study failed to meet its primary and key secondary efficacy endpoints of showing statistically significant difference between patients who received serlopitant and those who received a placebo.

Shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. ACAD were down 24 percent to $16.31.

NMI Holdings, Inc. NMIH was down, falling around 22 percent to $13.875.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.16 percent to $63.40 while gold traded up 0.06 percent to $1,336.70.

Silver traded up 0.42 percent Monday to $16.43, while copper rose 0.49 percent to $3.0735.

Eurozone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.13 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.62 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.53 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.17 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.10 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.15 percent.

Economics

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