Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Edwards Lifesciences To Buy Valtech Cardio

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 0.28 percent to 19,098.52 while the NASDAQ declined 0.20 percent to 5,387.90. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.23 percent to 2,208.35.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, utilities shares gained by 0.68 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NRG Energy Inc NRG, and Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ADR) ELP.

In trading on Monday, healthcare shares fell by 0.45 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Immunomedics, Inc. IMMU, down 8 percent, and BioTime, Inc. BTX, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Edwards Lifesciences Corp EW announced plans to buy Valtech Cardio for up to $690 million. Edwards Lifesciences will acquire the company for $340 million in cash and stock.

The company also announced a $1 billion buyback plan.

Equities Trading UP

PhaseRx Inc PZRX shares shot up 54 percent to $1.74 as the company reported that it has receives orphan drug designation from the FDA for PRX-OTC for the treatment of ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency.

Shares of Recro Pharma Inc REPH got a boost, shooting up 22 percent to $9.48 after the company reported positive top-line results from pivotal Phase III clinical trial of IV meloxicam.

Time Inc TIME shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $15.50. Time rejected an $18 per share bid from Edgar Bronfman Jr., the New York Post reported.

Equities Trading DOWN

Signal Genetics Inc SGNL shares dropped 12 percent to $8.37. Signal Genetics disclosed that it has regained compliance with the NASDAQ minimum bid price listing requirement.

Shares of Fang Holdings Ltd SFUN were down 5 percent to $3.27. Fang Holdings posted a Q3 loss of $0.01 per share on revenue of $250.1 million.

Advanced Accelerator Application SA(ADR) AAAP was down, falling around 11 percent to $30.03. Advanced Accelerator Applications reported a Q3 loss of $7 million on revenue of $30.0 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.93 percent to $46.95 while gold traded up 0.70 percent to $1,189.30.

Silver traded up 0.55 percent Monday to $16.65, while copper fell 0.13 percent to $2.68.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.48 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.27 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.90 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.77 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.58 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.42 percent.

Economics

The Dallas Fed general activity index for November will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.