Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; Washington Companies Proposes To Acquire Dominion Diamond

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.03 percent to 20,919.92 while the NASDAQ declined 0.02 percent to 5,900.02. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12 percent to 2,375.28.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the telecommunications services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from China Mobile Ltd. (ADR) CHL and Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd IGLD.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 0.46 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included PrimeEnergy Corporation PNRG, down 9 percent, and Scorpio Tankers Inc. STNG, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

The Washington Companies proposed to acquire Dominion Diamond Corp DDC for US$13.50 per share in cash.

Equities Trading UP

Esperion Therapeutics Inc ESPR shares shot up 53 percent to $36.25 after the company reported the FDA confirmation regarding regulatory pathway to approval for an LDL-C lowering indication for bempedoic acid.

Shares of Nektar Therapeutics NKTR got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $19.51 after the company reported that it has achieved primary and secondary endpoints in Phase 3 SUMMIT-07 study.

Dominion Diamond Corp DDC shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $12.04 after Washington Companies proposed to acquire the company for US$13.50 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cerulean Pharma Inc CERU shares dropped 63 percent to $1.23. Cerulean Pharma and Daré Bioscience reported that they have entered into a stock purchase agreement. Cerulean also announced plans to reduce workforce by 11 people. The company reported that it has sold CRLX101 and CRLX301 to BlueLink Pharmaceuticals for $1.5 million and also agreed to sell Dynamic Tumor Targeting Platform to Novartis for $6 million.

Shares of Medgenics Inc GNMX were down around 57 percent to $2.36 after the company disclosed that that SAGA trial of AEVI-001 did not meet primary endpoint.

DryShips Inc. DRYS was down, falling around 14 percent to $1.43. On Friday, DryShips reported the successful completion of the $200.0 million common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.66 percent to $48.49 while gold traded up 0.16 percent to $1,232.20.

Silver traded up 0.13 percent Monday to $17.44, while copper fell 0.48 percent to $2.68.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.23 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.45 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.37 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.34 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.38 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.13 percent.

Economics

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

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in New York at 1:10 p.m. ET.