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Moody’s Investors Service said Wednesday the news that an Eli Lilly and Co. trial of a treatment for dementia in Alzheimer’s disease has failed is a credit negative, but does not affect the company’s A2 rating or stable outlook. Eli Lilly’s most active bonds, its 2.750% notes due June of 2020, last traded at 99.458 cents on the dollar, according to data from MarketAxess. Shares were down about 13% at last check, a roughly two-year low. The shares have lost 21% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 7.5%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Shares of Caterpillar Inc. surged 2.3% to a 23-month high, after fellow agriculture and construction equipment maker Deere & Co.’s blowout quarterly results. Caterpillar’s stock was the biggest price and percentage gainer among the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s components. The stock’s price gain of $2.18 was accounting for about 15 points of the Dow’s 19-point gain. Deere’s stock rocketed 10% to a record high, after the company beat fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations by wide margins. Caterpillar’s stock has now run up 41% year to date, while the Dow has climbed 9.3%.

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From:: Stock Market News

Oil futures climbed Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies in the week ended Nov. 18 fell by 1.3 million barrels. That matched the decline reported by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday, according to sources. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected supplies to be unchanged, while a survey from The Wall Street Journal forecast an increase of 800,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies climbed 2.3 million barrels and distillate stockpiles also rose by 300,000 barrels, according to the EIA. January crude rose 34 cents, or 0.7%, to $48.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at $48.02 before the data.

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From:: Stock Market News

Bluebird Bio Inc.’s stock slumped 2.5% and Kite Pharma Inc. shares shed 4.2% in morning trade Wednesday, in the wake of peer Juno Therapeutics Inc.’s halted drug trial. Analyst Debjit Chattopadhyay at Janney Montgomery Scott said the selloff in Bluebird’s stock is “unwarranted” because even though the company and Juno have a similar class of treatment for cancer, there are significant differences in “preconditioning regimens” and doses. RBC Capital analyst Michael Yee said he expects Kite shares to recover, because despite a similar class of treatment, Yee said he believes Kite has treated more patients across its programs with no issues. Chattopadhyay reiterated the buy rating on Bluebird and Yee maintained the outperform rating on Kite. Meanwhile, Juno’s stock plunged 31% to a record low. It has plunged 53% year to date, while Bluebird’s stock has lost 6.6%, Kite shares have dropped 18% and the S&P 500 has gained 7.5%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite opened lower on Wednesday while Dow industrials inched higher into record territory ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Investors digested some better-than-expected economic releases ahead of the bell with more on tap later. Durable-goods orders jumped in October by more than expected, while jobless claims leapt to 251,000 and in line with expectations. The S&P 500 opened 6 points, or 0.3%, lower at 2,197. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7 points, or less than 0.1%, at 19,030. The Nasdaq Composite began the session down 27 points, or 0.5%, at 5,360, as biotech stocks sold off.

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From:: Stock Market News

Juno Therapeutics Inc. shares plummeted 30.4% in pre-market trade Wednesday after the company said two patients in its cancer trial had died. Both patients experienced brain trauma earlier in the week during a phase 2 trial for a leukemia treatment, the company said. Two patients also died in early July in the same clinical trial, but the company was allowed to resume the trial without the chemotherapy drug fludarabine, which Juno believed caused the deaths in combination with the company’s JCAR015 drug. This week, Juno put the trial on clinical hold, and said it is working with the Food and Drug Administration and the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent expert advisory group, to “determine next steps.” The company said its other product candidates targeting the B Cell Specific Antigen CD19 won’t be affected. Juno shares have dropped 32.0% year-to-date, compared with a 7.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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From:: Stock Market News