Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Precipio Surges Following Strong Preliminary Q1 Results; aTyr Pharma Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.34 percent to 24,915.39 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.19 percent to 7,417.21. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11 percent to 2,730.74.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the energy shares rose 0.73 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Renewable Energy Group, Inc. REGI, up 11 percent, and Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. EGC up 7 percent.

In trading on Monday, real estate shares fell 1.03 percent.

Top Headline

Sears Holdings Corp SHLD announced Monday it was exploring a sale of its Kenmore brand and related assets, its Sears Home Improvement business and its Parts Direct business.

A special committee of the board consisting of independent directors is initiating a formal process to evaluate previously reported interest from ESL Investments, to solicit third-party interest and to explore strategic alternatives.

Equities Trading UP

Myomo, Inc. MYO shares shot up 16 percent to $3.63 after the company disclosed that its application for Medicare codes received favorable preliminary decision.

Shares of Galectin Therapeutics, Inc. GALT got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $4.29 after the company announced it would proceed with Phase 3 development of GR-MD-02 for NASH Cirrhosis following the FDA meeting.

Precipio, Inc. PRPO shares were also up, gaining 36 percent to $0.515 after the micro-cap specialty diagnostics company reported preliminary first-quarter results. The company said its first quarter revenue rose 286 percent from the same quarter a year ago to $712,000.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ominto, Inc. OMNT shares dropped 41 percent to $1.56 after the company reported voluntary delisting from the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Shares of Yuma Energy, Inc. YUMA were down 60 percent to $0.4520 after the company late Friday reported it was not in compliance with its debt to EBITDAX covenant and announced limited liquidity levels. The company also reported Q1 earnings down year-over-year and disclosed that it is exploring strategic alternatives.

aTyr Pharma, Inc. LIFE was down, falling around 24 percent to $1.75 after the company posted a wider-than-expected Q1 loss. The company also reported workforce restructuring including a 30 percent workforce reduction in order to focus on ATYR1923 advancement.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.42 percent to $71.00 while gold traded down 0.14 percent to $1,318.90.

Silver traded down 0.58 percent Monday to $16.655, while copper fell 0.69 to $3.09.
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Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.26 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.18 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.02 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.18 percent.

Economics

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