Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Falls 350 Points; Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 1.43 percent to 24,230.06 while the NASDAQ declined 2.16 percent to 7,526.94. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.47 percent to 2,714.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the utilities shares surged 1.05 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Spark Energy, Inc. SPKE up 4 percent, and Alliant Energy Corporation LNT up 3 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 2.5 percent.

Top Headline

Carnival Corporation CCL reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal second quarter, but lowered its outlook for the full year.

The company said it earned 68 cents per share in the quarter on revenue of $4.4 billion versus expectations of 60 cents and $4.33 billion.

For 2018, Carnival now expects adjusted earnings of $4.15 to $4.25 per share, compared to earlier forecast of $4.20 to $4.40 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Xerium Technologies, Inc. XRM shares shot up 100.1 percent to $13.23 after Austria’s Andritz announced plans to buy the company for $833 million in a cash deal.

Shares of Valeritas Holdings, Inc. VLRX got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $1.90 after the company disclosed that ENABLE study data presented at the Annual ADA meeting reported that patients with Type 2 diabetes who switched to V-go had significant improvement in blood glucose and used less insulin.

Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. XBIO shares were also up, gaining 104 percent to $5.7501.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sophiris Bio, Inc. SPHS shares dropped 43 percent to $2.1241 after the company disclosed that it would cease secondary dosing of topsalysin following patient death on same day as 2nd administration.

Shares of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MACK were down 39 percent to $5.61 after management discontinued the development of MM-141. The drug’s Phase 2 trial for MM-141 in front-line metastatic pancreatic cancer did not meet primary or secondary endpoints.

ERYTECH Pharma S.A. ERYP was down, falling around 28 percent to $12.91 after the company announced plans to focus on development of eryaspase in solid tumors and cease development in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.55 percent to $68.20 while gold traded down 0.14 percent to $1,268.90.

Silver traded down 0.81 percent Monday to $16.325, while copper fell 0.52 to $3.033.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.93 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.59 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 2.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 2.19 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.68 percent while U.K. shares fell 2.26 percent.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index declined to a reading of negative 0.15 for May, versus revised reading of positive 0.42 in April.

U.S. new home sales rose 6.7 percent to an annual rate of 689,000 in May.