Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Slides Over 2.5%; Micro Focus Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded down 1.83 percent to 24,489.38 while the NASDAQ declined 2.59 percent to 7,288.23. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.94 percent to 2,698.71.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the utilities shares slipped by just 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais CIG 3.66%, up 2 percent, andSpark Energy, Inc. SPKE 1.67%, up 1.5 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 2.5 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Bitauto Hldg Ltd (ADR) BITA 1.39% down 10 percent. (Editor's note: This article originally said Overstock.com was trading down 9 percent. This was incorrect.)

Top Headline

KLA-Tencor Corp KLAC 3.85% announced plans to buy Orbotech Ltd ORBK 6.83% in a $3.4 billion deal.

The offer price of $69.02 per share, comprising $38.86 per share in cash and 0.25 of a share of KLA-Tencor common stock, represents around 15 percent premium over Orbotech's closing price on Friday.

Equities Trading UP

Heron Therapeutics, Inc. HRTX 26.98% shares shot up 25 percent to $26.9525 as the company disclosed that its Phase 3 trial of HTX-011 met all primary and key secondary endpoints.

Shares of Geron Corporation GERN 28.78% got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $4.26. Geron reported Q4 loss of $0.05 per share on sales of $191,000.

Klondex Mines Ltd. KLDX 52.78% shares were also up, gaining 54 percent to $2.22. Hecla Mining Company HL 13.51% announced plans to acquire Klondex Mines for $462 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Micro Focus International plc MFGP 46.55% shares dropped 45 percent to $14.295 after the company reported that Chris Hsu is stepping down as CEO of the company. The company also lowered its 2018 revenue forecast.

Shares of Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. CDTX 24.05% were down 24 percent to $5.995. Cidara Therapeutics disclosed 'positive' topline results from Phase 2 STRIVE trial of lead antifungal rezafungin.

Universal Display Corporation OLED 12.1% was down, falling around 16 percent to $104.50. For the first time ever, Apple Inc. may be looking to design and produce displays for its devices at a secret manufacturing facility in California, Bloomberg reports.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.43 percent to $62.07 while gold traded up 0.40 percent to $1,317.60.

Silver traded up 0.23 percent Monday to $16.31, while copper fell 0.82 percent to $3.082.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.07 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.99 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.98 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 1.39 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.13 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.69 percent.

Economics

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