Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Affimed Jumps On Collaboration With Roche's Genentech; Mitek Systems Shares Drop

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 26,087.23 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.20 percent to 8,034.07. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.08 percent to 2,898.90.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the real estate shares rose 0.57 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pebblebrook Hotel Trust PEB up 3 percent, and Trinity Place Holdings Inc. TPHS up 2 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, telecommunication services shares fell 0.46 percent.

Top Headline

Tiffany & Co. TIF reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY18 guidance.

Tiffany posted quarterly earnings of $1.17 per share on revenue of $1.1 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.01 per share on revenue of $1.04 billion. Tiffany now expects FY18 earnings of $4.65 to $4.80 per share, versus prior forecast of $4.50 to $4.70 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Affimed NV AFMD shares shot up 213 percent to $5.00 after the biopharma announced a collaboration agreement with Roche's Genentech unit. Affimed, which focuses on targeted immunotherapies that use the power of innate and adaptive immunity, namely the NK and T cells, said it has struck a strategic collaboration agreement with Genentech to develop and commercialize novel NK cell engager-based immunotherapeutics to treat multiple cancers. The deal has Genentech paying Affimed $96 million upfront with other near-term committed funding. Affimed would also receive potential regulatory and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties totaling up to $5 billion over time.

Shares of Brooks Automation, Inc. BRKS got a boost, shooting up 29 percent to $39.067 after the company agreed to sell its semiconductor cryogenics business to Atlas Copco for $675 million in cash.

DSW Inc. DSW shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $32.93 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results and raised its FY18 forecast.

Equities Trading DOWN

Akcea Therapeutics Inc AKCA shares dropped 27 percent to $24.30 after the biopharmaceutical company that focuses on treating serious and rare diseases said the FDA rejected its New Drug Application for volanesorsen.

Shares of Mitek Systems, Inc. MITK were down 16 percent to $7.16 after the company announced management changes and reaffirmed in-line 2018 sales guidance.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. IONS was down, falling around 14 percent to $46.05 after the FDA issued a CRL on Volanesorsen.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.54 percent to $68.50 while gold traded down 0.36 percent to $1,211.60.

Silver traded down 0.68 percent Tuesday to $14.87, while copper rose 0.64 to $2.7495.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.03 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.55 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.85 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.09 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.11 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.52 percent.

Economics

U.S. trade deficit in goods rose 6.3 percent to $72.2 billion in July, versus a revised $67.9 billion for June. Economists expected a deficit of $69.4 billion. Wholesale inventories rose 0.7 percent in July.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index increased 6.3 percent year-over-year for June, versus a 6.5 percent rise in May.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index increased to 133.4 in August, versus prior reading of 126.5.