- TRC wanted as management agree to take the company private
- Blackberry's results not as bad as feared
- Akari Therapeutics soars on "fast track" designation for Coversin
A strong quarter for US markets ended on a weak note.
Even the Nasdaq Composite, which earlier in the day had been in the ascendancy, finished the day three points lower at 5,912, though it did enjoy its best quarterly performance since the end of 2013.
The Dow Jones fell 65 points to 20,663 on the day but ended the quarter 4.55 higher than it started it.
The benchmark S&P 500 fell five points to 2,363.
TRC Companies Inc (NYSE:TRR) received some TLC, rising 46% after it agreed to a buy-out backed by investment manager New Mountain Capital, which is stumping up US$17.55 a share.
Shares in the engineering firm closed at US$17.45.
On Nasdaq, CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ:CTSO) was friendless, tumbling 95 cents to US$4.50 after it announced it would be raising US$10mln by issuing shares at US$4.50 a pop.
13.00 ... Nasdaq defies the trend
The Nasdaq Composite was showing the other indexes a clean pair of heels in lunchtime trading.
The tech-heavy index was up nine points at 1.00pm at 5,923, thanks in no small part to a 49% rise for Akari Therapeutics PLC (BASDAQ:AKTX).
The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted “fast track” designation for Coversin, Akari's treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) in patients who have polymorphisms conferring eculizumab resistance.
While the Nasdaq was heading higher, the old war horse Dow Jones was down 31 points at 20,698 while the benchmark S&P 500 was off just under half a point at 2,368.
Not all Nasdaq-listed drugs companies were having a good time of it, however; Acorda Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ACOR) shed almost a quarter of its value as four of its patents relating to its Parkinson's disease treatment, Ampyra, were invalidated by the US District Court for Delaware.
10.31 ... Market disregards positive macro-economic data
Though unlikely to threaten the Dow Jones index's chances of a sixth successive quarter-on-quarter rise, Friday got off to a drab start.
The Dow was down 44 at 20,686 while the more broadly-based S&P 500 eased a couple of points to 2,366.
“There was plenty of US data for investors to deal with this afternoon; they just weren’t that interested,” suggested Connor Campbell at spread betting firm Spreadex.
“The core PCE price index slipped from 0.3% to 0.2% month-on-month, while personal spending and income fell to 0.1% and 0.4% respectively. The Chicago PMI then rose to a better than forecast 57.7, something that was countered by a worse than estimated drop in consumer sentiment to 96.9,” Campbell noted.
As expected, FMC Corporation was one of the big risers on the NYSE following its deal with DuPont.
The shares were up 15%, a rise that was topped by Chinese real estate internet portal operator Fang Holdings Limited (NYSE:SFUN), which was up 16.9% after full-year results.
The shares surged despite Fang posting an underlying net loss of US$8.9mln in the fourth quarter on the back of total revenues of US$174.7mln, down from US$300.7mln the year before.
Despite today's rise, shares have halved in the last year.
On Nasdaq, Jaguar Animal Health Inc (NASDAQ:JAGX) shifted into top gear, rising 19% to US$1.1307 as it entered into a merger agreement with Napo Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Existing Jaguar shareholders will end up with around 25% of the shares of the merged entity, while Napo shareholders will own around 21.5%. Creditors of Jaguar are being issued new shares in the merged company as part of the merger agreement.
Market preview
It's end-quarter, and although it has been a good three months for markets it looks like ending on a dull note.
Spread betting quotes point to the benchmark S&P 500 opening around three points lower at 2,365, giving up roughly half of yesterday's gains.
The Dow Jones was seen shedding around 26 points to open at 20,702.
There was no encouragement to be drawn from the morning sessions in European markets, where the trend was also gently weaker.
FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC) was set to be a bright spot after it agreed to acquire a chunk of the crop protection business of E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD).
The latter was up 0.6% at US$82.11 in pre-market trading, as it pocketed US$1.2bn in cash and took ownership of FMC Health and Nutrition in return for divesting crop protection assets.
The sale of the crop protection interests was a pre-requisite for the European Commission's approval of DuPont's merger with The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW).
FMC's shares were a hot property in pre-market trading ,rising 13% to US$69.50.
Fallen smartphone giant Blackberry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY, TSE:BB) advanced 6.3% in pre-market trading after it said to be profitable on an adjusted basis in 2018.
Canada's tech champion posted a quarterly loss of US$47mln, equivalent to 10 cents a share. That represented an improvement on a year earlier when it posted a loss of US$238mln, or 45 cents a share.
Stripping out one-off items, the company's earnings per share this time round were positive at four cents; analysts who follow the stock had expected earnings per share to be on or around zero.