Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Cal-Maine Foods Misses Q1 Expectations

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.36% to 26917.37 while the NASDAQ rose 0.51% to 7980.04. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.45% to 2975.14.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares climbed 0.9% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Dova Pharmaceuticals, Inc. DOVA, up 38%, and Stealth BioTherapeutics Corp MITO, up 17%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 0.4%.

Top Headline

Cal-Maine Foods Inc CALM reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Cal-Maine Foods posted a first-quarter loss of 94 cents per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of an 89-cent loss. The company reported quarterly sales of $241.2 million, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $254.52 million.


Equities Trading UP

Dova Pharmaceuticals Inc DOVA shares shot up 39% to $27.98 in reaction to a buyout deal. Dova said Monday it has entered into an agreement to be bought by Swedish Orphan Biovitrum, or SOBI, for $27.50 per share in cash, along with one non-tradeable contingent value right, or CVR, that entitles Dova shareholders to receive an additional $1.50 per share in cash upon regulatory approval of Doptelet.

Shares of Thor Industries, Inc. THO got a boost, shooting up 18% to $57.57 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 EPS results.

Seattle Genetics, Inc. SGEN shares were also up, gaining 12% to $85.15 after Piper Jaffray maintained an Overweight rating on the stock and raised the price target from $75 to $95. Piper Jaffray raised the price target after Seattle Genetics presented compelling initial data from the EV-103 study, which compares favorably to the current standard of care. It also sees the potential for further upside from additional UBS opportunities.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ocugen Inc OCGN shares tumbled 67% to $3.17. Ocugen announced the completion of its merger with Histogenics Corporation. Ocugen and CanSinoBIO reported a strategic partnership for gene therapy co-development and manufacturing.

Shares of G1 Therapeutics, Inc. GTHX were down 21% to $26.91. G1 Therapeutics presented updated data at ESMO 2019 from randomized Phase 2 trial of trilaciclib in combination with chemotherapy in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer demonstrating significant improvement in overall survival at ESMO 2019.

Globus Maritime Limited GLBS was down, falling 17% to $1.92. Globus Maritime reported a Q2 loss of $0.74 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.29 per share. Its sales slipped to $3.4 million from $4.194 million.
 

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $55.10, while gold traded down 1.1% to $1,490.80.

Silver traded down 2.2% Monday to $17.27, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.603.

Euro zone

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

Economics

The Chicago PMI fell to 47.1 in September, versus prior reading of 50.4. However, economists were expecting a reading of 50.2.

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for September will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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