Tag: stock market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading near session highs Thursday midday, buoyed by sharp gains in components Apple Inc., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Goldman’s shares alone, up $3.26, or 1.4%, were producing a more than 20-point tailwind for the price-weighted average, while Apple’s climb, up $1.48, or 1%, added another 10 points. A $1 move in any one of the benchmark’s components translates to to a swing of 6.89 points. A steady rise in yields of U.S. Treasury bonds, notably the 10-year Treasury , has supported the banking sector, which tends to benefit from a higher interest-rate regime. Apple’s stock looked set to rebound from a 0.7% decline in Wednesday trade after the iPhone maker’s rival Alphabet Inc. rolled out new product roster, including a new cellphone. Most recently, the Dow was up 55 points, or 0.3%, at 22,717, the S&P 500 index was 0.3% higher at 2,545, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was showing a gain of 0.4%. All three benchmarks were trading at or near intraday all-time highs.

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Omeros Corporation shares surged as much as 10% in morning trade Thursday, before paring some gains, after the company announced a settlement with Endo International PLC’s Par Pharmaceutical Inc. that prevents Par from launching a generic of Omeros’ Omidria until April 1, 2032. Under the agreement, Par, if it enters the market, will pay a 15% royalty on net sales of a generic Omidria until the last patents expire on October 23, 2033. Endo has also filed pending patent applications that would expire as late as November 30, 2035, according to the company’s late-April annual report. Omidria is Omeros’ only FDA-approved product and brought in net revenue of $41.4 million last year, according to the annual report. Par, which had filed a new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration for its generic Omidria, said that all Omidria patents are valid as part of the settlement, according to Omeros. Omidria, which was approved by the FDA in June 2014, is used during cataract surgery or intraocular lens replacement. Omeros shares have surged nearly 15% over the last three months, and Endo shares have dropped 25%, compared with a 4.6% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 42 billion cubic feet for the week ended Sept. 29. That was below the average forecast for a climb of 47 billion cubic feet by analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 3.508 trillion cubic feet, down 161 billion cubic feet from a year ago, and 8 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government said. November natural gas rose 3.8 cents, or 1.2%, from Wednesday’s settlement to $2.978 per million British thermal units-little changed from its level before the data.

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Factory orders rebounded 1.2% in August after a sharp decline in the prior month, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a gain of 1.1% for overall factory orders after a 3.3% drop in July. Orders for durable goods, about half of all orders, rose a revised 2% in August compared with the prior estimate of a 1.7% gain. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft jumped 1.1% in August after a 0.9% gain in July.

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Shares of Biogen Inc. ran up 3.4% in morning trade Thursday, enough to make it the third-biggest gainer within the S&P 500 , after the biotechnology company was upgraded at Morgan Stanley, which cited the belief that the base business was proving “more durable” than expected. Analyst Matthew Harrison raised his rating to overweight, after being at equal weight since March, and boosted his stock price target to $375 from $311. Harrison said the market share loss of Biogen’s hepatitis B treatment Ocrevus has been slower than expected, and he believes its spinal muscular atrophy treatment Spinraza has potential to become a $4 billion asset. He believes Alzheimer’s therapies are a “must-own” catalyst, and Biogen has several therapies in development. The stock has surged 17% over the past three months, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF has climbed 8.0% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.5%.

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Shares of Regal Entertainment Group were up more than 3% and Cinemark Holdings Inc. shares were up more than 2% after Morgan Stanley analyst Ben Swinburne upgraded both stocks to equal weight from underweight on Thursday, just ahead of the release of the much-anticipated “Blade Runner 2049.” Swinburne wrote in a note to investors that fears concerning the implications of a historically disappointing summer box office were overblown. The summer box office season — an important period for the industry — finished down more than 15% compared with the previous year. Swinburne also believes concerns that premium video on demand will significantly shrink theatrical windows are priced into the stocks. The box office performed better than expected in the third quarter thanks to the surprise performance of “It,” and Swinburne sees upside for the fourth quarter. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. shares also received a boost, gaining nearly 3%. Shares of Regal Entertainment have declined close to 16% in the year to date and Cinemark shares are down less than 1%, while the S&P 500 index is up nearly 14% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up nearly 15% during the same period.

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U.S. stock benchmarks opened modestly higher on Thursday, but enough to book fresh records, as investors bought technology stocks, as investors pored over speeches from several Federal Reserve officials and a key employment report on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded flat at 22,657, the S&P 500 index advanced 0.1% at 2,540. If the broad-market benchmark finishes with a record on Thursday it will market its longest string of all-time high closes, six consecutively, since 1997, according to WSJ Market Data Group.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said he is expecting on additional rate hike in December, during a speech in Austin. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index enjoyed the best opening bump, up 0.4% at 6,563. In corporate news, United Parcel Service Inc. fell 2.3%, while FedEx Corp. was down after Bloomberg reported that Amazon.com Inc. was testing a new delivery service. On Friday, the market will assess the Labor Department’s nonfarm-payrolls report.

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Sears Holdings Corp. is again borrowing from its owner and chief executive Eddie Lampert, according to a regulatory filing. The troubled department store chain is borrowing another $100 million from units of Lampert’s hedge fund ESL Investments Inc. at an annual interest rate of 11%, bringing the total in its loan agreement to $499.4 million. Under the amended terms of the loan, Sears can borrow another up to $100 million by pledging additional properties or assets as collateral, said the filing. The company will use the proceeds of the new borrowing for general corporate purposes. Sears most active bonds, the $1.9 billion of 6.625% notes due in October of 2018, were last trading at 91.55 cents on the dollar, according to MarketAxess. Shares were down 1% and have lost 23% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 13%.

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Shares of United Parcel Service Inc. dropped 2.3% and of FedEx Corp. shed 2.0% in premarket trade Thursday, after Bloomberg reported that Amazon.com Inc. was testing a new delivery service. The report, which cited people familiar with the plan, said Amazon is looking to make more products available for free two-day delivery and to relieve overcrowding in its warehouses. The service, a project Amazon is calling Seller Flex, has begun on a trial basis in the West Coast and is expected to have a broader rollout in 2018, the report said. As part of the service, Amazon will oversee pickup of packages from warehouses of third-party merchants and delivery to customers, the report said, which is currently handled by UPS and FedEx. While those couriers will still be used, Amazon will decide how a package is sent rather than leave that to the merchant, the report said. Amazon’s stock gained 0.5% in premarket trade. Year to date through Wednesday, shares of UPS has gained 3.8% and FedEx has run up 19%, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average has tacked on 9.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has advanced 14.7%.

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Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. shares rose 3% in premarket trade Thursday after the company said the Food and Drug Administration has approved a higher, 80 mg dose of its tardive dyskinesia drug. The 40 mg dose of Ingrezza was approved in April, making it the first approved for the neurological disorder. The higher dose capsule of Ingrezza is expected to be available within two weeks through a certain pharmacy network, Neurocrine said. Neurocrine said in April that it planned to price the $64,000-a-year drug “essentially the same” at different dose levels so patients could focus on their treatment. However, the lower dose became available first due to issues formulating the higher dose, meaning that patients on the higher dose would be charged twice the price, MarketWatch reported in May. Chief Executive Kevin Gorman told MarketWatch in May that the situation would be temporary, only lasting until the 80 mg dose was approved, and would have a “de minimis” revenue effect because a slow launch was expected. Neurocrine did not immediately provide a price for the 80 mg dose. Neurocrine shares have surged 30.4% over the last three months, compared with a 4.3% 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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