Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Onex To Buy WestJet For CAD $31/Share

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded down 2.2 percent to 25,370.37 while the NASDAQ declined 2.92 percent to 7,685.90. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.28 percent to 2,815.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday morning, the utilities shares rose by 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pattern Energy Group Inc. PEGI up 3 percent, and American Water Works Company, Inc. AWK up 1 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 3 percent.

Top Headline

Canada’s WestJet Airlines Ltd agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Onex Corp in a deal valued at about C$5 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, WestJet shareholders will receive C$31 per share, representing a 67 percent premium to Friday’s closing price.

Equities Trading UP

Amber Road, Inc. AMBR shares got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $12.97 after the company announced it would be acquired by E2open for $13.05 per share in cash.

Shares of Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. OPTT shot up 14 percent to $2.54 after the company disclosed that its PB3 PowerBuoy deployed in the Adriatic Sea has produced more than 1MWh of cumulative energy to date.

Niu Technologies NIU shares were also up, gaining 4 percent to $8.94 after the company reported Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

INSYS Therapeutics, Inc. INSY shares dropped 74 percent to $0.9350 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results and the company warned it is at risk of bankruptcy.

Shares of Lonestar Resources US Inc. LONE were down 16 percent to $3.12 after the company reported downbeat Q1 EPS.

Jumia Technologies AG JMIA was down, falling around 13 percent to $21.23 after the company reported its first quarterly financial results as a public company.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.8 percent to $62.77 while gold traded down 0.1 percent to $1,287.30.

Silver traded down 1.1 percent Monday to $14.635, while copper fell 1.7 percent to $2.728.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.9 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.4 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.5 percent.

Economics

On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.