Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Drop; Vista Equity Partners to Acquire Solera For $3.74B

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.51 percent to 16,349.14 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.36 percent to 4,805.04. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.47 percent to 1,951.92.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

In trading on Monday, utilities shares slipped by just 0.1 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. CWCO, up 5 percent, and Exelon Corporation EXC, up 1.5 percent.

Basic materials shares tumbled by 1.57 percent in Monday’s trading. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Gold Fields Limited (ADR) GFI, down 7 percent, and Century Aluminum Co CENX, off 7 percent.

Top Headline

Solera Holdings Inc SLH agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Vista Equity Partners for around $3.74 billion in cash.

The offer price of $55.85 per share represents a 13 percent premium over Solera’s closing price of $49.45 on Friday.

Equities Trading UP

Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc COLL shares shot up 39 percent to $18.70 after the company reported that the FDA Advisory Committees have unanimous recommended the approval of Xtampza ER.

Shares of Solera Holdings Inc SLH got a boost, shooting up 9 percent to $53.91 after the company agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Vista Equity Partners for around $3.74 billion in cash.

Chico's FAS, Inc. CHS shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $16.37. Chico's FAS is considering a sale of the company, according to sources reported by Bloomberg late Friday. Sycamore Partners is said to be one of the bidders.

Equities Trading DOWN

Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. RPTP shares tumbled 33 percent to $8.06 following news that Phase 2b CyNCh trial did not meet primary endpoint.

Shares of Timkensteel Corp TMST were down 15 percent to $13.31 after the company issued an updated forecast for the third quarter. Cowen & Company downgraded Timkensteel from Outperform to Market Perform.

Mattress Firm Holding Corp MFRM was down, falling 4 percent to $44.62. Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Mattress Firm from Buy to Neutral and lowered the target price from $75 to $55.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.36 percent to $44.47, while gold traded up 0.05 percent to $1,103.80.

Silver traded down 0.93 percent Monday to $14.37, while copper fell 1.55 percent to $2.42.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.29 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 0.63 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.01 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.25 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.17 percent.

Economics

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