Category: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks closed mostly higher on Friday, as energy shares staged a modest rebound after a recent selloff, while technology stocks extended their advance. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed other indexes, rising 28.56 points, or 0.5%, to 6,265.25 on Friday and booking a 1.9% gain over the week, the largest in a month. The gains on the tech-heavy index were driven by a jump in biotechnology shares earlier in the week. The S&P 500 rose 3.81 points, or 0.2%, to 2,438.31, and was up 0.2% over the week, as steep losses in the energy, telecoms, utilities and financials sectors trimmed what would have been solid weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended virtually unchanged at 21,396.33. The blue-chip index ended the week roughly where it started after paring gains from earlier in the week. Among biggest decliners this week, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc fell 16%.

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Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican of Nevada, announced Friday he is opposed to the Senate Republican Obamacare repeal bill in its current form, according to The Hill. Heller, a centrist, said he was concerned about the bill’s phaseout of the Medicaid expansion. Heller joins four more conservative Republican senators in opposing the current bill. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can lose no more than two GOP votes on the bill to pass the measure.

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Oil prices rose Friday, buoyed by ongoing high compliance among major oil producers with an output-cut agreement. But prices still fell for a fifth-straight week–the longest streak of weekly declines since 2015, as traders continued to fret over rising output from the U.S. August West Texas Intermediate crude added 27 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $43.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost about 4.4% for the week.

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Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares skyrocketed 46% in extremely heavy Friday afternoon trade after the Food and Drug Administration approved its anticoagulant drug intended for high-risk patients. The drug, Bevyxxa, is the first and only intended for hospital and extended duration prevention of blood clots that form in veins in adult patients at risk for complications. Bevyxxa “is the first therapy to demonstrate a reduction in the incidence of [blood clots that form in veins] in these high-risk patients without a significant increase in major bleeding,” said Dr. C. Michael Gibson, an executive committee member for Bevyxxa’s late-stage trial. “With this approval, we are finally able to help protect these patients from this often fatal, yet preventable condition.” Portola shares have surged 47.1% over the last three months to $56.17, compared with a 4.0% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Gold climbed Friday, with a decline in the U.S. dollar helping prices post a gain for a third session in a row. Prices for the yellow metal settled a dime below their finish a week ago. “Gold is consolidating from the recent drawback, but is still in a correction mode,” said Nico Pantelis, head of research at Secular Investor. “We should be nearing the bottom of the current correction in the next week or two, from where a bigger climb should start.” August gold rose $7, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,256.40 an ounce. It finished last Friday at $1,256.50.

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Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil climbed by 11 to 758 rigs this week. That marked a 23nd weekly rise in a row. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, rose by eight to 941, according to Baker Hughes. Oil prices pared earlier gains following the data, with August West Texas Intermediate crude up 9 cents, or 0.2%, at $42.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the session. It was trading at $43.07 before the data.

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A “flash” reading of manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to a nine-month low in June. The IHS Markit manufacturing index fell to a reading of 52.1 in June from 52.7 in May, a reading that still shows improving conditions as it’s above the 50 mark. The flash services PMI slowed to a 3-month low of 53 from 53.6 in May. The flash readings are based on 85% to 90% of responses.

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Shares of Top Ships Inc. plummeted 60% in morning trade Friday, to below the $1 mark, even after the company enacted a 1-for-15 reverse stock split. After the tanker ship operator’s stock closed Thursday at a pre-split price of 16 cents after company announced that it was enacting a reverse 1-for-15 split effective Friday, which increases the price to $2.40. The reverse split comes just six weeks after the company enacted a 1-for-20 reverse split, meaning the company has engineered an increase in its stock price by a factor of 300 in less than two months. The stock has plunged 99.9% year to date. The company had enacted a 1-for-10 reverse split in February 2016, a 1-for-7 reverse split in April 2014 and a 1-for-10 reverse split in June 2011. On Thursday, fellow tanker operator DryShips Inc. enacted a 1-for-5 reverse split.

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AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares surged as much as 48% in extremely heavy morning trade Friday after the company’s cancer drug was recommended for approval in Europe. The decision was made by a scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency and will be considered by the European Commission, with a decision expected in about 67 days, the company said. The drug, tivozanib, is being licensed in Europe by EUSA Pharma Inc. Tivozanib is intended for advanced renal cell carcinoma, which is the most common type of kidney cancer and is expected to be one of the fastest growing cancers in the next decade. AVEO failed to receive Food and Drug Administration approval for tivozanib back in 2013. The company has an ongoing phase 3 trial in third-line renal cell carcinoma, which is expected to read out in the first quarter of 2018. European approval of tivozanib would “add significant resources to our balance sheet as we work toward the anticipated readout,” AVEO Chief Executive Michael Bailey said, including a $4 million research and development reimbursement payment and up to $12 million in additional milestone payments from EUSA Pharma. AVEO shares have surged 51.1% over the last three months to $1.08 per share, compared with a 3.7% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Stocks opened flat Friday as investors awaited economic data and remarks by Federal Reserve speakers while keeping an eye on oil. The S&P 500 rose less than 0.1% to 2,434.70, while the Dow industrials declined 25 points, or 0.1%, to 21,372. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up less than 0.1% at 6,238. Data on activity in the manufacturing and services sector, along with figures on new home sales are due later this morning. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and Fed Gov. Jerome Powell are each set to speak at different events later in the day.

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