Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.04 percent to 25,860.01 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.49 percent to
7,726.29. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.36 percent to 2,832.62.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Monday morning, the energy shares climbed 1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included American Midstream
Partners, LP (NYSE: AMID) up 28 percent, and
Smart Sand, Inc. (NASDAQ: SND) up 9
percent.
In trading on Monday, communication services shares fell 0.5 percent.
Top Headline
Fidelity National Information Servcs Inc (NYSE: FIS) reached an agreement to buy Worldpay, Inc. (NYSE: WP), an e-commerce and payments company for around $34 billion.
The combination of FIS and Worldpay will create a new entity that will offer a best-in-class enterprise banking, payments,
capital markets and global e-commerce capabilities, the companies said in a press release. The companies combined for $12.3 billion
in pro forma annual revenue in 2018.
Equities Trading UP
Daré Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: DARE)
shares got a boost, shooting up 142 percent to $2.17 after the company published positive clinical findings for Tamoxifen for the
treatment of vulvar and vaginal atrophy in a medical journal.
Shares of Dermira, Inc. (NASDAQ: DERM)
shot up 102 percent to $13.80 after the company announced that its Phase 2 study of Lebrikizumab met its primary endpoint.
PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PHAS) shares were also up, gaining 73 percent to $6.44 after the New England
Journal of Medicine published the positive Phase 1 results for the company's PB2452.
Equities Trading DOWN
Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARPO) shares dropped 68 percent to $1.36 after the company announced that its
Phase 2 TIME-2b study of AKB-9778 did not meet its primary endpoint.
Shares of NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) were down 26 percent to $2.37. NII Holdings posted Q4 earnings of $0.02 per
share on sales of $141.7 million. The company also announced the sale of Nextel Brazil to America Movil.
Synaptics Incorporated (NASDAQ: SYNA)
was down, falling around 20 percent to $34.76 after the company lowered Q3 guidance, citing "demand softness in China."; The
company's CEO Richard Bergman also resigned.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2 percent to $58.63 while gold traded up 0.2 percent to $1,305.20.
Silver traded up 0.3 percent Monday to $15.37, while copper rose 0.5 percent to $2.9215.
Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.7 percent,
while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.9 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.3 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.1
percent while U.K. shares rose 0.6 percent.
Economics
The National Association of Home Builders’ housing market index was unchanged at a reading of 62 for March. However, economists
were expecting a reading of 63.
The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
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