Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Clementia Pharmaceuticals Jumps Following Acquisition News; Windstream Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.47 percent to 26,153.68 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.62 percent to 7,574.48. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 2,802.54.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the financial shares rose 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PPDAI Group Inc - ADR PPDF up 13 percent, and X Financial XYF up 13 percent.

In trading on Monday, real estate shares fell 0.7 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 120 percent to $113.47 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 $26.00. IPSEN S A/S ADR IPSEY said it has negotiated a deal to buy Canadian biotech Clementia Pharmaceuticals for an upfront payment of $25 per share in cash or $1.04 billion in total, and a contingent value right of $6 per share related to multiple osteochondromas, or MO, for a total deal value of $1.31 billion..

Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. TTNP shares were also up, gaining 35 percent to $1.90 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 $2.57 after rising 82.32 percent on Friday.

Shares of Windstream Holdings, Inc. WIN were down 24 percent to $0.6458 after Bloomberg reported the company is preparing itself to file for bankruptcy.

Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP was down, falling around 14 percent to $0.25 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 3.39 percent to $55.32 while gold traded down 0.28 percent to $1,329.10.

Silver traded down 0.36 percent Monday to $15.955, while copper rose 0.02 percent to $2.9485.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.26 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.01 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.86 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.42 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.31 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.07 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.