Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 1%; Syros Pharmaceuticals Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.01 percent to 24,331.33 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.13 percent to 6,849.16. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.06 percent to 2,653.04.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Eclipse Resources Corp ECR and Amyris Inc AMRS.

In trading on Monday, consumer staples shares fell 0.40 percent.

Top Headline

3M Co MMM agreed to sell substantially all of its communication markets division to Corning Incorporated GLW for $900 million.

Corning expects the deal adding $0.07 to $0.09 per share in FY19 earnings.

Equities Trading UP

ARGENX SE/S ADR ARGX shares shot up 53 percent to $46.55 after the company reported positive topline results from Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial of ARGX-113 in generalized myasthenia gravis.

Shares of Yield10 Bioscience Inc YTEN got a boost, shooting up 241 percent to $6.76 after the company reported granting of research license to Monsanto for evaluation of 2 novel yield traits in soybean.

Shineco Inc TYHT shares were also up, gaining 28 percent to $3.36 after the company disclosed a Share Exchange and Acquisition deal with Western Xinjiang Tiansheng Agricultural Development Co.

Equities Trading DOWN

Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc SYRS shares dropped 36 percent to $7.93 following presentation at the ASH 2017 on Phase 2 trial of SY-1425 in genomically defined AML and MDS patients.

Shares of Spark Therapeutics Inc ONCE were down 40 percent to $43.82 on volatile factor VIII activity data in hemophilia A gene therapy.

Anavex Life Sciences Corp AVXL was down, falling around 12 percent to $3.24. Anavex Life Sciences reported FY17 loss of $0.33 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.42 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.06 percent to $57.97 while gold traded up 0.09 percent to $1,249.50.

Silver traded down 0.15 percent Monday to $15.80, while copper rose 0.97 percent to $3.0075.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.07 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.08 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.29 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.18 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.20 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.77 percent.

Economics

The number of job openings dropped to around 6 million in October, compared to 6.18 million in the previous month, the Labor Department reported.

The Treasury will auction 3-month bills and 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.