Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NovoCure Surges After Two-Year Survival Rate Increases For GBM Patients; Diffusion Pharma Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.27 percent to 20,607.74 while the NASDAQ fell 0.31 percent to 5,893.18. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.36 percent to 2,354.20.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the telecommunications services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (ADR) IIJI and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited (ADR) CHU.

In trading on Monday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell 0.64 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Shiloh Industries, Inc. SHLO, down 7 percent, and Gentherm Inc THRM, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

Tesla Inc TSLA delivered over 25,000 vehicles in Q1, of which about 13,450 were Model S and about 11,550 were Model X. This was a new quarterly record and represents a 69 percent increase over Q1 2016.

Q1 production totaled 25,418 vehicles, also a new quarterly record.

Equities Trading UP

Novocure Ltd NVCR shares shot up 44 percent to $11.68. On Sunday night, the company announced the two-year survival rate for GBM patients increased from 30 percent to 43 percent for patients treated with Optune + Temozolomide versus Temozolomide Alone at AACR 2017.

Shares of Steadymed Ltd STDY got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $7.74. Cardiome's partner SteadyMed received a favorable ruling in USPTO Inter Partes Review in validity of U.S. Patent No. 8,497,393.

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc CYCC shares were also up, gaining 67 percent to $6.13. Cyclacel announced the presentation demonstrating therapeutic potential of CYC065 in lung cancer at the AACR 2017.

Equities Trading DOWN

DryShips Inc. DRYS shares dropped 18 percent to $1.35 after the global shipping transportation company announced a new stock purchase agreement and acquisition announcement. DryShips said in a press release it reached an agreement with Kalani Investments Limited, an entity not affiliated with the company, in which DryShips could sell up to $226.4 million of its common stock to Kalani over a two-year period. DryShips also announced Monday it has agreed to acquire six vessels for a total cost of $268 million.

Shares of Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. EKSO were down around 19 percent to $3.34 after the company reported the pricing of its $11.7 million financing.

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc DFFN was down, falling around 10 percent to $3.60 as the company reported the closing of oversubscribed private placement.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.65 percent to $50.27 while gold traded up 0.34 percent to $1,255.40.

Silver traded down 0.14 percent Monday to $18.23, while copper fell 1.70 percent to $2.61.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.49 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.32 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.22 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.45 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.71 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.55 percent.

Economics

The Markit manufacturing PMI declined to 53.30 in March, from a prior reading of 53.40. Economists were expecting a reading of 53.50.

The ISM manufacturing index slipped to 57.20 in March, versus a prior reading of 57.70. Economists projected a reading of 57.00.

U.S. construction spending rose 0.80 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.00 percent growth.

Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker will speak in Lexington, Virginia at 5:00 p.m. ET.