Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises 250 Points; Menlo Therapeutics Shares Slide

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.06 percent to 24,186.09 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.51 percent to 7,019.36. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.08 percent to 2,632.51.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the information technology shares climbed 2.1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included The Meet Group, Inc. MEET, up 19 percent, and FRONTEO, Inc. FTEO, up 8 percent.

In trading on Monday, telecommunication services shares fell 0.60 percent.

Top Headline

Novartis AG NVS announced plans to buy AveXis Inc AVXS for $8.7 billion in cash.

The offer price of $218 per share represents an 88 percent premium over AveXis' closing price on Friday.

Equities Trading UP

Turtle Beach Corporation HEAR shares shot up 52 percent to $3.90 after the company raised its guidance for the first quarter.

Shares of AveXis, Inc. AVXS got a boost, shooting up 77 percent to $205.50 after the company agreed to be acquired by Novartis AG NVS for $8.7 billion.

Therapix Biosciences Ltd. TRPX shares were also up, gaining 32 percent to $6.5792. The Israel-based cannabinoid biopharmaceutical company announced encouraging phase 2a results at Yale University exploring its THX-110 among adults with Tourette syndrome. The company said its THX-100 therapy significantly improved symptoms over time in adult subjects.

Equities Trading DOWN

Menlo Therapeutics Inc. MNLO shares dropped 71 percent to $10.18. The late-stage biopharmaceutical company announced disappointing results from a phase 2 trial of its serlopitant therapy for the treatment of pruritus. The study failed to meet its primary and key secondary efficacy endpoints of showing statistically significant difference between patients who received serlopitant and those who received a placebo.

Shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. ACAD were down 23 percent to $16.68.

Schmitt Industries, Inc. SMIT was down, falling around 9 percent to $2.43. Schmitt reported Q3 earnings of $0.00 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.04 per share. Its total sales rose 1.2 percent to $3.23 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.16 percent to $63.40 while gold traded up 0.05 percent to $1,336.80.

Silver traded up 0.42 percent Monday to $16.43, while copper rose 0.25 percent to $3.066.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.03 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.73 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.53 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.09 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.02 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.02 percent.

Economics

On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.