Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Bristol-Myers Squibb To Buy Celgene

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 2.4 percent to 22,786.38 while the NASDAQ declined 2.68 percent to 6,487.03. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.15 percent to 2,456.06.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the real estate shares climbed 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. CBL up 4 percent, and Investors Real Estate Trust REIT IRET up 3 percent.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell 3.9 percent.

Top Headline

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY on Thursday announced an agreement to buy Celgene Corporation CELG in a cash and stock deal, with an equity valuation of $74 billion.

Celgene shareholders will receive one Bristol-Myers Squibb share and $50 in cash for each share they hold in Celgene. Additionally, Celgene shareholders also stands to receive one tradable contingent value right, or CVR, for each Celgene share, entitling them to receive a payment for achievement of future regulatory milestones.

The terms value each of Celgene shares at $102.43 and one CVR. The cash and stock consideration alone represents a 54 percent premium to Celgene's closing price Jan. 2. The boards of both companies approved the transaction.

Equities Trading UP

OHR Pharmaceutical, Inc. OHRP shares got a boost, shooting up 68 percent to $0.1848 after announcing a merger with NeuBase. Ohr shareholders will own 20 percent of the combined company.

Shares of Kitov Pharma Ltd KTOV shot up 72 percent to $1.2890 after announcing a marketing and distribution agreement with Coeptis Pharma. Kitov will receive $3.5 million of milestone payments.

BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. BTAI shares were also up, gaining 35 percent to $4.83 after the company disclosed that it has met primary endpoint in Phase 1 study of IV dexmedetomidine for acute agitation in Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (SDAT) patients.

Equities Trading DOWN

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY shares dropped 14 percent to $44.79 after the company announced plans to buy Celgene at $50 per share in cash in a $74 billion deal.

Shares of Aevi Genomic Medicine, Inc. GNMX were down 74 percent to $0.20 after the company announced its top-line results from its placebo-controlled ASCEND trial of AEVI-001 in children with ADHD did not achieve statistical significance on primary endpoint.

Apple Inc. AAPL was down, falling around 9 percent to $143.56 after the company slashed its previously issued first-quarter sales guidance Wednesday from a range of $89 billion to $93 billion to $84 billion — $7.5 billion less than the Street's expectations of $91.5 billion in sales.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.85 percent to $47.40 while gold traded up 0.48 percent to $1,290.30.

Silver traded up 0.39 percent Thursday to $15.71, while copper fell 0.72 percent to $2.604.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.41 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.23 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.14 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.96 percent, and the French CAC 40 dipped 0.80 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.05 percent.

Economics

Data on motor vehicle sales for December will be released today.

Private-sector employers added 271,000 jobs in December, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported. However, economists projected a gain of 179,000 jobs.

Initial jobless claims rose 10,000 to 231,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 218,000 reading.

The ISM manufacturing index declined to 54.1 in December, versus prior reading of 59.3.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.