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 (NYSE: CIG), up 2 percent, and
Spark Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPKE), up 1.5
percent.
In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 2.5 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included
Overstock.com Inc (NASDAQ: OSTK), down 9 percent, and
Bitauto Hldg Ltd (ADR) (NYSE: BITA) down 10
percent.
Top Headline
KLA-Tencor Corp (NASDAQ: KLAC) announced plans to
buy Orbotech Ltd (NASDAQ: ORBK) 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. (NASDAQ: HRTX) 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 (NASDAQ: GERN) 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. (NYSE: KLDX) shares were also up,
gaining 54 percent to $2.22. Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) announced plans to acquire Klondex Mines for $462 million.
Equities Trading DOWN
Micro Focus International plc (NYSE: MFGP) 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. (NASDAQ: CDTX)
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 (NASDAQ: OLED) 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.
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