Mid-Day Market Update: Synthorx Jumps Following Acquisition News; Biocept Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.11% to 27984.55 while the NASDAQ rose 0.13% to 8667.46. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05% to 3,147.43.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 0.4% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Livexlive Media Inc LIVX, up 14%, and COMSCORE, Inc. SCOR, up 13%.

In trading on Monday, health care shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

Merck & Co., Inc. MRK will acquire ArQule, Inc. ARQL for $20 per share in cash for an approximate total equity value of $2.7 billion.

ArQule is a biopharmaceutical company focused on kinase inhibitor discovery and development for the treatment of patients with cancer and other diseases.


Equities Trading UP

Synthorx, Inc. THOR shares shot up 169% to $67.40 after the company announced it would be acquired by Sanofi for $68 per share in cash.

Shares of ArQule, Inc. ARQL got a boost, shooting up 104% to $19.67 after the company announced it would be acquired by Merck for $20 per share in cash.

XBiotech Inc. XBIT shares were also up, gaining 83% to $20.35 after the company announced it would license its anti-inflammatory antibody to Janssen for $750 million in cash and up to $600 million in milestone payments.


Equities Trading DOWN

Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc. DPLO shares tumbled 32% to $3.9550 after the company received a $4 per share acquisition offer from United Health's OptumRx.

Shares of Precision BioSciences, Inc. DTIL were down 49% to $10.11 after the company reported updated interim clinical data from the ongoing Phase 1 trial of its lead investigational off-the-shelf (allogeneic) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy candidate, PBCAR019.

Biocept, Inc. BIOC was down, falling 49% to $0.2768 after the company priced 24.6 million unit offering at $0.405 per unit.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $59.06, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,466.40.

Silver traded up 0.3% Monday to $16.645, while copper rose 1% to $2.753.

Euro zone


European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.11%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.11%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.02%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.22%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.4% while UK shares rose 0.05%.

Economics

The TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index for November is schedule for release at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Posted In: M&ANewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Day Market Update
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