Mid-Day Market Update: Ignyta Surges Following Merger Deal With Roche; Agile Therapeutics Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.18 percent to 24,737.80 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.23 percent to 6,949.10. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.17 percent to 2,680.02.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market.

In trading on Friday, healthcare shares fell 0.46 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP, down 6 percent, and The Medicines Company MDCO down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Nike Inc NKE posted stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Thursday.

The Beaverton-based company reported second quarter earnings of 46 cents per share, beating estimates by 6 cents. Revenues came in at $8.6 billion, topping estimates by $200 million.

Equities Trading UP

Ignyta Inc RXDX shares shot up 72 percent to $26.80 after Roche agreed to acquire Ignyta for $27.00 per share in cash.

Shares of TDH Holdings, Inc. AEZS got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $7.55 after the company reported financial results for the first half of 2017.

SMART Global Holdings, Inc. SGH shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $34.03 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and also issued strong second-quarter guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Agile Therapeutics Inc AGRX shares dropped 52 percent to $2.27 after the company reported the receipt of a CRL from the FDA for Twirla NDA. The FDA said it cannot approve the NDA 'in its present form.'

Shares of ChinaCache International Holdings Ltd CCIH were down 20 percent to $1.72 amid weakness in Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency market. ChinaCache reported six-month loss of $0.64 per share on sales of $60.4 million.

Net Element International Inc NETE was down, falling around 21 percent to $14.73.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.26 percent to $58.21 while gold traded up 0.58 percent to $1,278.00.

Silver traded up 1.33 percent Friday to $16.455, while copper rose 0.54 percent to $3.237.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.10 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.19 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.14 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.28 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.39 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.15 percent.

Economics

Durable-goods orders gained 1.3 percent for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 2 percent growth.

U.S. consumer spending gained 0.6 percent in November, while personal income rose 0.3 percent.

New home sales rose 17.5 percent to an annual rate of 733,000 in November.

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index slipped to 95.9 in December, from November’s reading of 98.5. Economists expected a reading of 97.1.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index declined to 14.00 for November, versus prior reading of 16.00.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.