Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Up 125 Points; Axsome Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.53 percent to 23,557.97 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.25 percent to 6,822.86. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.83 percent to 2,552.89.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the consumer discretionary shares climbed 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Roku Inc ROKU up 23 percent, and OneSmart International Edun Gr Ltd - ADR ONE up 16 percent.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.8 percent.

Top Headline

Commercial Metals Company CMC reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter on Monday.

Commercial Metals posted Q1 earnings of $0.35 per share on sales of $1.277 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.36 per share on sales of $1.33 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. AXSM shares got a boost, shooting up 179 percent to $7.35 after the company disclosed that it has achieved its primary endpoint in its Phase 2 trial for major depressive disorder.

Shares of Luxoft Holding, Inc. LXFT shot up 82 percent to $57.60 after the company announced it is being acquired by DXC for $2 billion.

Loxo Oncology, Inc. LOXO shares were also up, gaining 66 percent to $232.77 after Eli Lilly LLY agreed to acquire Loxo Oncology for $235 per share in cash, or about $8 billion in total. The deal values Loxo at a hefty premium of 68 percent to its closing price Friday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Maxar Technologies Ltd. MAXR shares dropped 30 percent to $8.19 after the company reported failure of its WorldView-4 Satellite.

Shares of PG&E Corporation PCG were down 23 percent to $18.90 after CNBC reported the company could face a minimum of $30 billion in liabilities related to California wildfires in 2017 and 2018, citing unnamed sources. The report comes after a Reuters story over the weekend suggested the utility is considering a bankruptcy filing and will potentially be taking a major financial charge in Q4.

AxoGen, Inc. AXGN was down, falling around 24 percent to $16.14. AxoGen expects Q4 sales of at least $23.4 million and FY18 sales of at least $83.9 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.46 percent to $48.66 while gold traded up 0.29 percent to $1,289.50.

Silver traded down 0.51 percent Monday to $15.705, while copper fell 0.4 percent to $2.637.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.15 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.44 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.65 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.18 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.38 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.39 percent.

Economics

The ISM non-manufacturing index declined to to 57.6 in December versus prior reading of 60.7.

U.S. factory orders rose 0.3 percent for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.