Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Synergy Pharmaceuticals Jumps After Positive Plecanatide Trial Results; GNC Holdings Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.06 percent to 19,907.34 while the NASDAQ rose 0.08 percent to 5,451.61. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03 percent to 2,260.21.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares gained around 0.45 percent in trading on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP, and NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK.

In trading on Friday, energy shares slipped by 0.20 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Northern Oil & Gas, Inc. NOG, down 9 percent, and Tidewater Inc. TDW, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Cal-Maine Foods Inc CALM posted in-line loss for its second quarter, but sales missed expectations.

Cal-Maine Foods reported a Q2 loss of $0.48 per share on revenue of $253.5 million. Analysts were expecting a loss of $0.48 per share on revenue of $262.8 million.

Equities Trading UP

Dipexium Pharmaceuticals Inc DPRX shares shot up 28 percent to $2.05 after the company announced plans to merge with privately-held PLx Pharma Inc in an all-stock deal.

Shares of Neothetics Inc NEOT got a boost, shooting up 15 percent to $1.10 after the company reported the initiation of Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial for LIPO-202 for the reduction of submental subcutaneous fat.

Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $5.34 after the company announced that its drug plecanatide, a daily pill to fight irritable bowel syndrome, had achieved positive top-line results from the second of two pivotal phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of the drug.

Equities Trading DOWN

Bonanza Creek Energy Inc BCEI shares dropped 53 percent to $0.929 after the company reported that it has entered into a restructuring support agreement with bondholders holding more than $400 million in unsecured debt. The company also disclosed that it will commence its prepackaged bankruptcy case on or before January 5, 2017.

Shares of GNC Holdings Inc GNC were down around 12 percent to $10.69. Piper Jaffray maintained Underweight rating for GNC Holdings and lowered the price target from $11 to $7.

Strongbridge Biopharma plc SBBP was down, falling around 19 percent to $2.90. Strongbridge reported a Q2 loss of $0.36 per share and announced the acquisition of U.S. rights to KEVEYIS from Taro Pharmaceutical Industries. The company also announced a $35 million equity financing.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.23 percent to $52.83 while gold traded up 0.27 percent to $1,133.70.

Silver traded down 0.70 percent Friday to $15.76, while copper fell 0.78 percent to $2.48.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.37 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.17 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.10 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.06 percent.

Economics

New-home sales surged 5.2 percent to an annual rate of 592,000 in November. However, economists were expecting a 2.1 percent growth.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 98.20 in December, versus a prior reading of 98.00. Economists were expecting a reading of 98.00.

The number of active U.S. crude oil rigs increased by 13 to 523 rigs for the latest week, according to Baker Hughes report.