Mid-Afternoon Market Update: CSS Industries Surges Following Acquisition News; Advaxis Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 0.48% to 29206.82 while the NASDAQ fell 0.20% to 9370.32. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.20% to 3,322.99.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 1% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Safehold Inc (NYSE: SAFE), up 5%, and American Realty Investors, Inc. (NYSE: ARL), up 5%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) reported better-than-expected Q4 results.

Halliburton reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.32 per share, beating the Street estimate of $0.29 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $5.191 billion, beating the Street estimate of $5.11 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Genprex Inc (NASDAQ: GNPX) shares shot up 219% to $1.15 after the company announced that it has received FDA fast track designation for its Oncoprex Immunogene Therapy that targets lung cancer.

Shares of CSS Industries Inc (NYSE: CSS) got a boost, shooting up 99% to $9.35 after the company announced it will be acquired by IG Design Group for $9.40 per share in cash.

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) shares were also up, gaining 61% to $9.26 on continued momentum after the company reported that the FDA has granted Fast Track designation for its NanoFlu in older adults. Shares are also higher in sympathy with other vaccine-related companies amid an outbreak of a deadly virus in China.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp (NASDAQ: TNXP) shares tumbled 9% to $1.41 after the company filed for an offering of 3.2 million shares of its common stock.

Shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARWR) were down 16% to $47.23. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals with an Underperform rating and a $32 price target.

Advaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADXS) was down, falling 13% to $1.0499. Advaxis priced its 10 million share registered direct offering at $1.05 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $58.25, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,558.10.

Silver traded down 1.5% Tuesday to $17.81, while copper fell 1.0% to $2.792.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.14%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.49%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.65% Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.05%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.54% while UK shares fell 0.53%.

Economics

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