Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2.5%; Titan Pharmaceuticals Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.76 percent to 26,230.74 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.94 percent to 7,598.29. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.7 percent to 2,812.34.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the financial shares rose 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PPDAI Group Inc - ADR PPDF up 15 percent, and Qudian Inc - ADR QD up 12 percent.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.3 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 represents a 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 120 percent to $113.51 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 $25.96 after French company Ipsen announced plans to acquire the company in a transaction worth up to $1.31 billion.

Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TTNP shares were also up, gaining 39 percent to $1.96 after the company reported a partnership with AllianceRx Walgreens to expand patient access to Probuphine.

Equities Trading DOWN

Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. ACHV shares dropped 22 percent to $2.58 after rising 82.32 percent on Friday.

Shares of McDermott International, Inc. MDR were down 7 percent to $7.18 after reporting downbeat Q4 results.

Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP was down, falling around 16 percent to $0.24 following late-Friday Dow Jones report that the company won court permission to draw down remainder of a $155 million bankruptcy financing package.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.5 percent to $55.84 while gold traded down 0.1 percent to $1,331.80.

Silver traded down 0.2 percent Monday to $15.98, while copper rose 0.2 percent to $2.9535.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.3 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.5 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.2 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 increased to 13.1 in February, compared to 1 in January.

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