Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Shutterstock Falls On Weak Q4 Results; La Jolla Pharma Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.03 percent to 20,827.15 while the NASDAQ gained 0.09 percent to 5,850.48. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04 percent to 2,368.24.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic material shares climbed by 0.73 percent in trading on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Handy & Harman Ltd HNH, and AK Steel Holding Corporation AKS.

In trading on Monday, telecommunications services shares fell by 0.77 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included United States Cellular Corp USM, down 5 percent, and B Communications Ltd BCOM, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Sothebys BID reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday.

Sothebys posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.35 per share on revenue of $308.69 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.17 per share on revenue of $277.28 million.

Equities Trading UP

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company LJPC shares shot up 85 percent to $36.77 as the company disclosed that ATHOS-3 Phase 3 efficacy endpoint is statistically significant.

Shares of Gogo Inc GOGO got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $10.85 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss.

HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc HTGM shares were also up, gaining 136 percent to $2.95. HTG Molecular Diagnostics disclosed that its new direct-target sequencing chemistry will be launched in the first quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Grana y Montero SAA (ADR) GRAM shares dropped 28 percent to $2.40. Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP disclosed an investigation on behalf of Grana Y Montero investors.

Shares of AmTrust Financial Services Inc AFSI were down around 18 percent to $22.79 after the company posted downbeat Q4 earnings.

Shutterstock Inc SSTK was down, falling around 19 percent to $42.04 after the company reported downbeat Q4 results and issued a weak outlook.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.35 percent to $54.18 while gold traded up 0.01 percent to $1,258.40.

Silver traded down 0.03 percent Monday to $18.40, while copper rose 0.02 percent to $2.70.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.13 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.71 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.16 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.01 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.13 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable-goods orders gained 1.8 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.9 percent growth

The National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index dropped 2.8 percent to 106.4 in January. However, economists were expecting a 1.1 percent increase.