Mid-Afternoon Market Update: U.S. Stocks Edge Lower; Parsley Energy Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.08% to 26,794.57 while the NASDAQ fell 0.02% to 8,055.82. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10% to 2,967.40.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares climbed 0.1% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. VRTS, up 6%, and Palomar Holdings, Inc. PLMR, up 5%.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

Aecom ACM will sell its management services business to the affiliates of American Securities LLC and Lindsay Goldberg for $2.405 billion.

The company also has narrowed fiscal year 2019 EPS guidance from $2.60-2.90 to $2.75 versus the $2.77 analyst estimate. Aecom expects fiscal 2019 adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS to approximate the mid-point of the company's prior guidance range, which would reflect approximately $940 million and $2.75, respectively.


Equities Trading UP

Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. SES shares shot up 295% to $20.75 after surging 193.30% on Friday.

Shares of 21Vianet Group, Inc. VNET surged 16% to $8.36 after the company won a contract with Ali Baba in which the company will help deploy internet services.

NF Energy Saving Corporation BIMI was up, rising 397% to $7.26 on continued momentum after the company acquired Boqi Zhengji pharmacy chain.

Equities Trading DOWN

Parsley Energy, Inc. PE shares tumbled 10% to $15.27 after the company announced it would acquire Jagged peak for $2.27 billion in stock and assumption of debt.

Shares of REGENXBIO Inc. RGNX were down 12% to $34.95 after the company disclosed additional interim Phase I/IIa trial update for RGX-314 for the treatment of wet AMD.

IPG Photonics Corporation IPGP was down, falling 7% to $126.12. Needham downgraded IPG Photonics from Buy to Hold.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 2.5% to $53.32, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,495.90.

Silver traded up 0.8% Monday to $17.675, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.633.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.49%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.29%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.2%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.4% while UK shares fell 0.46%.

Economics

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