Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Roche To Acquire Spark Therapeutics For $114.50/Share

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.65 percent to 26,202.31 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.9 percent to 7,595.47. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.6 percent to 2,809.27.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the financial shares rose 1.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PPDAI Group Inc - ADR PPDF up 16 percent, and Yirendai Ltd - ADR YRD up 12 percent.

In trading on Monday, real estate shares fell 0.6 percent.

Top Headline

Swiss pharma giant Roche Holdings AG Basel ADR RHHBY announced early Monday a deal to buy U.S.-based gene therapy company Spark Therapeutics Inc ONCE for $114.50 per share in cash, or a total equity value of $4.8 billion, including about $500 million of net cash expected at close.

The per share value representsa 122.07-percent premium over Spark's Friday closing price of $51.56.

Equities Trading UP

Spark Therapeutics Inc ONCE shares got a boost, shooting up 121 percent to $113.69 after Roche Holdings AG RHHBY announced plans to acquire the company for $114.50 per share in cash.

Shares of Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc CMTA shot up 74 percent to $25.97 after French company Ipsen announced plans to acquire the company in a transaction worth up to $1.31 billion.

Uniqure NV QURE shares were also up, gaining 32 percent to $55.00. Cantor Fitzgerald maintained uniQure with an Overweight and raised the price target from $68 to $81. Shares of gene therapy companies are trading higher after Roche announced it would acquire Spark Therapeutics for $114.50 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. ACHV shares dropped 19 percent to $2.66 after rising 82.32 percent on Friday.

Shares of McDermott International, Inc. MDR were down 8 percent to $7.11 after reporting downbeat Q4 results.

Cronos Group Inc CRON was down, falling around 7 percent to $20.44. Analysts at Jefferies initiated coverage on Cronos with an Underperform rating.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.7 percent to $56.28 while gold traded up 0.1 percent to $1,333.80.

Silver traded up 0.1 percent Monday to $16.02, while copper rose 0.4 percent to $2.9585.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.4 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.1 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.7 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.1 percent.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index declined to to a reading of -0.43 in January, compared to a reading of +0.05 in December.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 1.1 percent for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for February is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 6-month bills and 2-year notes at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 3-month bills and 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.