Mid-Day Market Update: Foundation Medicine Shares Jump Following Deal With Roche; Crude Oil Slides Over 4%

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.46 percent to 17,655.29 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.71 percent to 4,670.55. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.70 percent to 2,030.59.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

In trading on Monday, healthcare shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.12 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MWI Veterinary Supply, Inc. MWIV, up 8.1 percent, and NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NPSP, up 8.2 percent.

Energy sector was the top decliner in the US market on Monday. Top losers in the sector included Rex Energy Corporation REXX, down 19.1 percent, Basic Energy Services, Inc. BAS, off 13.2 percent.

Top Headline

Shire PLC SHPG has agreed to acquire NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NPSP for $5.2 billion or $46 per share.

This represents a 38% premium to the average price of NPS stock over the last 45 days and around a 10% premium to Friday's close.

Equities Trading UP

Foundation Medicine, Inc. FMI shares shot up 102.88 percent to $48.55 after Roche Holding AG RHHBY announced its plans to acquire up to 56.3% stake in Foundation Medicine for $1.03 billion. Roche will commence tender offer at $50.00 per share.

Shares of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp TKMR got a boost, shooting up 42.61 percent to $22.39 on merger deal with OnCore Biopharma Inc.

MWI Veterinary Supply, Inc. MWIV shares were also up, gaining 8.17 percent to $190.00 after AmerisourceBergen Corporation ABC reported the purchase of MWI Veterinary Supply for $190 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Arrowhead Research Corp. ARWR shares tumbled 24.01 percent to $6.89 after the company announced the FDA clinical hold on its Hepatitis B study.

Shares of SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) were down 13.59 percent to $83.85 after the company lowered its Q4 sales outlook.

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. SRPT was down, falling 15.98 percent to $11.72 after releasing results of its Phase IIb open-label extension study of eteplirsen in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.26 percent to $46.30, while gold traded up 0.87 percent to $1,226.70.

Silver traded up 0.37 percent Monday to $16.48, while copper fell 1.27 percent to $2.72.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 jumped 0.57 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index surged 0.81 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.95 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 1.38 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.18 percent while UK shares gained 0.01 percent.

Economics

The Treasury is set to auction 3-year notes.