Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Cott To Acquire Primo Water

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.07% to 28,844.56 while the NASDAQ rose 0.38% to 9,213.47. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.26% to 3,273.88.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.8% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Innovative Industrial Properties Inc IIPR, up 2%, and Summit Hotel Properties Inc INN, up 3%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 0.4%.

Top Headline

Primo Water Corporation PRMW announced it will be acquired by Cott Corp COT for $14 per share in cash and stock.


Equities Trading UP

Dare Bioscience Inc DARE shares shot up 124% to $1.87 after the company announced an exclusive licensing agreement with Bayer for US commercial rights to Ovaprene. Dare will receive an upfront payment of $20 million and up to $310 million in milestones.

Shares of CounterPath, Corp. CPAH got a boost, shooting up 34% to $5.25 after climbing 304.12% on Friday.

MEREO BIOPHARMA/ADR MREO shares were also up, gaining 26% to $2.64 after the company announced it has entered into a global licensing agreement with Oncologie for Navicixizumab. Mereo will receive an upfront payment of $4 million with an additional $2 million payment conditional on CMC milestone and up to $300 million in future milestones


Equities Trading DOWN

Acasti Pharma Inc ACST shares tumbled 73% to $0.59 after the company announced its TRILOGY 1 Phase 3 trial of CaPre did not reach statistical significance.

Shares of Stage Stores Inc SSI were down 52% to $3.52 after the company reported a 1.4% year-over-year rise in its holiday same-store sales. The company announced it expects full-year 2019 earnings to be $25 million to $30 million below the low end of the previously announced guidance range.

Aquestive Therapeutics Inc AQST was down, falling 33% to $4.45. Aquestive Therapeutics received FDA response denying Aquestive's Citizen's petition received by the FDA on November 1, 2019.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $59.05, while gold traded down 0.4% to $1,553.70.

Silver traded down 0.5% Monday to $18.01, while copper rose 0.1% to $2.814.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.3%, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.1% while UK shares rose 0.3%.

Economics

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 12:40 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for December is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalPre-Market OutlookMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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