Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.28% to 27,259.71 while the NASDAQ fell 0.02% to 8,193.06. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.17% to 3,014.70.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Materials shares climbed 0.6% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Taseko Mines Limited TGB, up 7%, and Ferroglobe PLC GSM, up 4%.
In trading on Friday, information technology shares fell 0.7%.
Top Headline
Castle Creek Pharmaceutical Holdings announced it will acquire Fibrocell Science, Inc. FCSC, a cell and gene therapy company in a $3 per share cash.
Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals is a privately held company developing therapies for patients with rare, serious or debilitating dermatologic conditions. Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals already has a licensing and development collaboration with Fibrocell, which began in April.
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Equities Trading UP
MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. MTSL shares shot up 60% to $1.92 after reporting half-year results. Mer Telemanagement reported H1'19 EPS of $(0.04) on sales of $2.6 million.
Shares of Fibrocell Science Inc FCSC got a boost, shooting up 60% to $2.94 after the company agreed to be acquired by Castle Creek Pharmaceutical for an all-cash consideration of $3 per share.
Vince Holding Corp. VNCE shares were also up, gaining 20% to $13.82 after the company reported Q2 results.
Equities Trading DOWN
Ardelyx, Inc. ARDX shares tumbled 14% to $5.40. Ardelyx announced the FDA has approved its tenapanor, brand name Ibsrela, a 50mg twice-daily oral pill for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation in adults. The drug acts locally in the gastrointestinal tract by inhibiting the sodium-hydrogen exchanger, leading to increased bowel movements and decreased abdominal pain.
Shares of Park City Group, Inc. PCYG were down 16% to $6.45 after reporting Q4 results.
Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RTTR was down, falling 70% to $0.3283 following a clinical readout. Ritter said the Phase 3 trial of RP-G28 that's being evaluated for lactose intolerance failed to show statistical significance in its pre-specified primary endpoint..
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $55.30, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,514.70.
Silver traded up 0.2% Friday to $18.21, while copper rose 1.5% to $2.679.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.5%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.6%. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.5% and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.3% while UK shares rose 0.1%.
Economics
The import price index dropped 0.5% for August, while export prices declined 0.6% last month.
U.S. retail sales increased 0.4% for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2% rise.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 92 in September, versus 89.8 in previous month.
U.S. business inventories rose 0.4% for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3% gain.
The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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