Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Down 350 Points; MAM Software Shares Surge Following Acquisition News

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.33% to 26053.06 while the NASDAQ fell 1.31% to 7,858.22. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.94% to 2,898.88.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 1.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NextEra Energy, Inc. NEE, up 2%, and The York Water Company YORW, up 2%.

In trading on Tuesday, industrial shares fell 1.8%.

Top Headline

Conn's Inc CONN reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results.

Conn's reported second-quarter earnings of 62 cents per share on Friday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 51 cents. The retailer reported quarterly sales of $401.059 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $379.02 million.

Equities Trading UP

Ardelyx, Inc. ARDX shares shot up 65% to $5.61 after the company's pivotal phase 3 AMPLIFY study of tenapanor in combination with phosphate binders in patients with chronic kidney disease met primary and all key secondary endpoints.

Shares of Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. CDTX got a boost, shooting up 64% to $2.75 after the company announced it has formed a partnership with Mundipharma to develop and commercialize Rezafungin. Cidara will receive an upfront payment of $30 million and an equity investment of $9 million.

MAM Software Group, Inc. MAMS shares were also up, gaining 15% to $12.04 after the company announced it has agreed to be acquired by Kerridge Commercial Systems for $12.12 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Napco Security Technologies, Inc. NSSC shares tumbled 16% to $29.00 after the company reported Q4 results.

Shares of ShockWave Medical, Inc. SWAV were down 13% to $36.60. Shockwave received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for the Coronary IVL System.

ProPetro Holding Corp. PUMP was down, falling 7% to $9.89 after Piper Jaffray downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $32.5 to $17.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.2% to $53.87, while gold traded up 1.8% to $1,556.20.

Silver traded up 5% Tuesday to $19.25, while copper fell 0.9% to $2.5285.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.23%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.07%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.25%. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.36% and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.49% while UK shares fell 0.19%.

Economics

The IHS Markit final manufacturing PMI increased to 50.3 in August, compared to a flash reading of 49.9.

U.S. construction spending rose 0.1% for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3% increase.

The ISM manufacturing composite index fell to 49.1 in August, versus prior reading of 51.2. However, economists expected a reading of 51.1.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren is set to speak in Easton, Massachusetts at 5:00 p.m. ET.