Mid-afternoon market update: Dow tumbles over 100 points, Flexion Therapeutics shares spike higher

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.37% to 34,617.17 while the NASDAQ fell 0.05% to 34,617.14. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.26% to 4,379.88.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 45,204,370 cases with around 733,570 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,971,600 confirmed cases and 450,810 deaths, while Brazil reported over 21,575,820 COVID-19 cases with 601,040 deaths. In total, there were at least 238,714,960 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 4,868,700 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares surged 0.3% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Century Aluminum Company CENX +13.45% (Get Free Alerts for CENX), up 14%, and Resolute Forest Products Inc. RFP +7.95% (Get Free Alerts for RFP), up 9%.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares tumbled 1.5%.

Top Headline

Supernus Pharmaceuticals SUPN +7.77% agreed to acquire Adamas Pharmaceuticals ADMS +75.05% for $9.10 per share, or $450 million.
The deal consideration includes $8.10 per share in cash ($400 million) and two non-tradable contingent value rights (CVR) collectively worth up to $1.00 per share in cash.

Equities Trading UP

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. PTGX +93.86% shares shot up 98% to $36.06. The FDA removed the full clinical hold on Protagonist Therapeutics’ rusfertide clinical studies. Northland Capital Markets upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform.

Shares of Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ADMS +75.05% got a boost, shooting 75% to $8.07. Supernus Pharmaceuticals agreed to acquire Adamas Pharmaceuticals for $9.10 per share, or $450 million.

Flexion Therapeutics, Inc. FLXN +58.65% shares were also up, gaining 60% to $9.20. Pacira BioSciences agreed to acquire Flexion Therapeutics for $8.50 per share in cash, plus one contingent value right (CVR) worth up to $8.00 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Hyliion Holdings Corp. HYLN +9.46% shares tumbled 12% to $6.91 after UBS downgraded the stock from Neutral to Sell and lowered its price target from $14 to $5.

Shares of Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. VYGR +13.51% were down 13% to $4.8550 after jumping around 45% on Friday.

Cipher Mining Inc. CIFR +22.18% was down, falling 22% to $6.16.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $80.55, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,755.60.

Silver traded down 0.3% Monday to $22.63 while copper rose 2% to $4.3605.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.05%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.63%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.46%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 dropped 0.05%, French CAC 40 rose 0.16% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.72%.

Italy’s industrial production fell 0.2% from a month ago in August versus a revised 1% growth in the previous month.

Economics

There were no major US economic releases Monday.