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The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged five Florida residents with insider trading based on advance knowledge of the acquisition of Pharmasset Inc. by Gilead Sciences Inc. According to the SEC attorneys Robert L. Spallina and Donald R. Tescher and accountant Steven G. Rosen illegally traded on confidential information obtained while acting as advisors to a Pharmasset board member. The advisors purchased Pharmasset securities and then Spallina told Thomas J. Palermo, a financial adviser at a brokerage firm, and Brian H. Markowitz, then Spallina’s next-door neighbor, about the impending deal and they also bought shares based on the tips, says the SEC. Pharmasset stock rose by 84 percent on the deal news and the five defendants sold their shares for a profit of $234,000. The five defendants collectively agreed to pay approximately $489,000 for the settlement which is subject to court approval. “Lawyers and accountants occupy special positions of trust and confidence and are required to protect the information entrusted to them by their clients,” said Joseph G. Sansone, Co-Chief of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit.

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From:: Stock Market News

A brutal stretch for the biotech industry got worse Monday, with carnage spilling over into a second week. The session’s slide in biotech puts exchange-traded fund (ETF) the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF on track for its worst single-day loss in more than four years. The biotecch ETF, which posted its worst weekly loss in seven years, is facing a 6%% single-session decline, which would mark its worst tumble since August 2011, when the IBB dipped 6.2%. Last week the biotech sector suffered a more than 13% drop as presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton criticized drug prices in the sector and laid out a plan to curb costs. The biotech industry has been one of the highest-flying sectors during the stock market’s bull run, and as a result has been the target of bubble calls by industry watchers and analysts.

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From:: Stock Market News

Rep. Jeb Hensarling won’t run for a House leadership position and will back Rep. Tom Price for the post of majority leader, a spokeswoman said Monday. Hensarling, a conservative Texas Republican, is now chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Numerous House Republicans are mulling bids for leadership positions after the surprise resignation announcement of House Speaker John Boehner on Friday. Leadership elections are expected soon.

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From:: Stock Market News

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. has put carnitas back on the menu at 90% of its restaurants nationwide. Back in January, the dish was discontinued at more than one-third of its restaurants, 1,700 total, after an audit found that one of its pork suppliers was not raising its pigs to the company’s animal welfare standards. Restaurants in the Cleveland and Atlanta areas, along with those in North Carolina and South Carolina, still don’t have carnitas on the menu. Chipotle was able to source its pork through existing suppliers and by adding a new supplier, U.K.-based Karro Food. Chipotle stock is up 6% for the year-to-date. The S&P is down 7.5% for the same period.

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From:: Stock Market News

HSBC raised its long-term forecast for the euro Monday, arguing that the European Central Bank doesn’t have the firepower to continue weakening the currency. Currency strategists at the British bank revised the year-end forecast for the euro to $1.14 from $1.05. The bank also lifted its year-end 2016 forecast for the euro to $1.20 from $1.10. The strategists believe that once investors realize the ECB’s ability to expand quantitative easing is constrained, the euro will begin to weaken, according to a team of currency strategists led by David Bloom. HSBC has been one of the most bullish of the major banks on the euro. In April, the bank said the dollar’s rapid rise created a valuation bubble. The shared currency was at $1.12 in recent trade, flat with its late-Friday level.

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From:: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A gauge of pending home sales fell 1.4% in August to the lowest level in five months, suggesting buyers have been deterred by rising prices tied to a shortage of homes on the market. The index from the National Association of Realtors declined to seasonally adjusted 109.4 in August from 110.9 in the prior month. “Pending sales have leveled off since mid-summer, with buyers being bounded by rising prices and few available and affordable properties within their budget,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. Still, pending sales are 6.1% above year-ago levels, reflecting a step-up in purchases in 2015. An index reading of 100 equals the average contract activity level in 2001.

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From:: Stock Market News

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on Monday that it’s launched its mobile payments service Samsung Pay in the U.S. Samsung Pay operates using the same near-field communication technology that other payment systems use, such as Apple Pay, from Apple Inc. and Google Inc.’s Android Pay. Samsung’s system also uses magnetic stripe technology, which means it can be used at a wider variety of terminals. The service, which is secured by tokenization and fingerprint authentication, works on the Galaxy S6, S6 edge and S6 edge+, as well as the Galaxy Note5 through AT&T Inc. , T-Mobile U.S. Inc. , Sprint Corp. and U.S. Cellular Corp. networks. Shares of Samsung have dropped more than 16% in the year to date. The S&P is down nearly 7%.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Nasdaq Composite has produced a bearish “death cross” technical pattern on Monday, finally joining its fellow major market indexes. A death cross pattern appears when the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average, which many chart watchers believe marks the spot a shorter-term decline transitions into a longer-term downtrend. The Nasdaq’s 50-day MA has slipped to 4,913.44 in morning trade, while the 200-day MA has inched up to 4,917.62. Death crosses appeared in the charts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Aug. 11, for the S&P 500 on Aug. 28 and for the Russell 2000 on Sept. 2. Since their appearance, the Dow has lost 6.9%, the S&P 500 has declined 3.6% and the Russell 2000 has fallen 2.7%. The Nasdaq was down 0.8% in morning trade, and has lost 11% from its record close of 5,218.86 on July 20.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks opened lower Monday, unable to shake persistent worries over China’s economy and the outlook for global growth. The S&P 500 fell 13 points, or 0.7%, to 1,918, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 104 points, or 0.6%, to 16,207. The Nasdaq Composite fell 34 points, or 0.7%, to 4,651.

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From:: Stock Market News

Apple Inc.’s stock swung higher in premarket trade Monday, after saying it sold more than 13 million new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus smartphones in the first three days since they were launched, a new record for a weekend. The stock was up 0.2% ahead of the open, but had been down as much as 0.7% prior to the sales announcement. Apple said sales completed by Sept. 26 will be included in its fiscal fourth-quarter results, while sales completed on Sept. 27 will be part of fiscal first-quarter results. The company said it will make the new iPhones available in 40 additional countries, including Italy, Mexico, Russia and Spain, starting Oct. 9. The stock has gained 3.9% year to date through Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 8.5%.

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From:: Stock Market News