Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Pfizer To Acquire Array BioPharma For $48/Share

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.11% to 26118.01 while the NASDAQ rose 0.76% to 7,856.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22% to 2,893.26.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose 0.8% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Eventbrite, Inc. EB, up 7%, and Luokung Technology Corp. LKCO, up 8%.

In trading on Monday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.5%.

Top Headline

Array BioPharma ARRY announced it will be acquired by Pfizer PFE for $48 per share in cash for a total value of around $11.4 billion.

Array’s portfolio of medicines includes cancer treatment for metastatic melanoma. In the U.S., colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer in men and women and an estimated 140,250 patients were diagnosed with cancer of the colon or rectum in 2018.

Equities Trading UP

Sotheby's BID shares shot up 57% to $55.66 after the company announced it will be acquired by BidFair for $57 per share in cash.

Shares of Array BioPharma Inc. ARRY got a boost, shooting up 58% to $46.71 after Pfizer Inc. PFE announced plans to acquire Array BioPharma for $48 per share in cash.

ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CTRV shares were also up, gaining 55% to $13.74 after the company reported findings from its first study with human precision cut liver slice cultures.

Equities Trading DOWN

VBI Vaccines Inc. VBIV shares tumbled 54% to $0.8692 after the company reported results from its Phase 3 Study Of Sci-b-vac. The trial met both co-primary endpoints but did not meet its secondary objective of non-inferiority.

Shares of Flex Pharma, Inc. FLKS were down 27% to $0.4701 after the company announced more shareholder votes are required to complete its merger with Salarius Pharma despite “overwhelming support.”

Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AMPE was down, falling 32% to $0.4778 after the company priced a 25.32 million share common stock offering at $0.40 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $52.11, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,343.00.

Silver traded up 0.4% Monday to $14.86, while copper fell 0.2% to $2.6255.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.2%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.2% while UK shares fell 0.1%.

Economics

The Empire State manufacturing index declined 26.4 points to a reading of -8.6 in June. However, economists were projecting a reading of 11.

The NAHB housing market index fell to 64 for June, versus prior reading of 66. However, economists projected a reading of 67.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury International Capital report for April is schedule for release at 4:00 p.m. ET.