Mid-day market update: Immunomedics jumps following acquisition news; Mallinckrodt shares slide

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.38% to 28046.83 while the NASDAQ rose 2.41% to 11,114.71. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.73% to 3,398.74.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 6,520,600 cases with around 194,080 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 4,846,420 confirmed cases and 79,720 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,330,450 COVID-19 cases with 131,620 deaths. In total, there were at least 29,019,630 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 924,460 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 2.5% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. PRTH 14.48%, up 15%, and Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Limited KC 13.18%, up 15%.

In trading on Monday, energy shares rose by just 0.6%.

Top Headline

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA 6.22% announced plans to acquire British chipmaker Arm Ltd from SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund, in a deal valued at $40 billion.

Under the deal, the Santa Clara, California-based company will fund the purchase of all of Arm’s shares in $12 billion cash and $21.5 billion in stock. $2 billion in cash would be payable at signing of the agreement, Nvidia said in a statement.

Equities Trading UP

Immunomedics, Inc. IMMU 100.21% shares shot up 100% to $84.51. Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD 1.73% announced plans to acquire Immunomedics in a deal at $21 billion.

Shares of Cassava Sciences, Inc. SAVA 88.55% got a boost, shooting 88% to $6.25 after the company announced results for a Phase 2b clinical study of Sumifilam in patients with Alzheimer's disease showed statistically significant improvements in biomarkers compared to placebo.

Scientific Games Corporation SGMS 45.49% shares were also up, gaining 45% to $27.60 after the company announced new institutional investors would take a stake in the company at $28 per share. Shares are being purchased from current shareholders.

Equities Trading DOWN

Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. KALA 10.6% shares tumbled 12% to $7.74. Jefferies downgraded Kala Pharmaceuticals from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $21 to $10.

Shares of ClearOne, Inc. CLRO 7.02% were down 7% to $2.27 after the company reported a $5.3 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.

Mallinckrodt plc MNK 6.64% was down, falling 6% to $1.1250 after the FDA denied the company's new drug application to treat kidney failure.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $37.19, while gold traded up 1.1% to $1,969.90.

Silver traded up 2.2% Monday to $27.45, while copper rose 1.1% to $3.073.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.15%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.11%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.14%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 0.07%, French CAC 40 rose 0.35% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1%.

Eurozone reported that its industrial production climbed better-than-expected by 4.1% in July, versus analysts’ estimates of a 4% increase.

Economics

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