Shares of guns makers Sturm Ruger & Company Inc (NYSE:RGR) and American Outdoor Brands Corp (NASDAQ:AOBC) rose in pre-market trading in tragic circumstances.
At least 50 people were killed and more than 200 people were injured after a man with a gun opened fire at a country & western music festival in Las Vegas.
There have been many instances over the last few decades of gun owners going on a killing spree, but the latest instance is believed to be the one that has caused the most deaths.
Far from dampening investors’ enthusiasm for companies that make firearms, the reverse seems to have been the case, with Sturm Ruger up 3.3% in pre-market trading and American Outdoors – perhaps better known as Smith & Wesson – up 4.6%.
WATCH: Witness video shows 22,000-person concert as gunman opens fire from 32nd floor of Las Vegas hotel. https://t.co/OMMlwif54N pic.twitter.com/PhKnK8fMdM
— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) October 2, 2017
Market makers clearly feel the horrific events in Las Vegas are more likely to lead to an increase in demand for firearms so people can protect themselves – assuming they are still alive after the first shots have been fired – than they are to lead to a crack-down on ownership of guns.
Moving on to the life-saving end of the market, Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RIGL) surged 14% to US$2.54 after it revealed the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is not planning to hold an Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the new drug application from Rigel regarding fostamatinib, a treatment for patients with chronic or persistent immune thrombocytopenia.
Sector peer Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ:ABUS) climbed 40 cents to US$6.20 in screen-based trading on the back of a US$116.4mln cash injection from Roivant Sciences.
Roivant bought a pile of convertible preferred shares in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapeutic solutions developer.
“This financing meaningfully extends Arbutus’s operating runway to enable the generation of important clinical data for multiple pipeline programs,” said Dr Mark Murray, president and chief executive officer of Arbutus.
Software and services company Synchronoss Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SNCR) saw its market capitalisation rise by more than fifth on bid hopes.
The company gave short shrift to a request from Siris Capital Partners to negotiate exclusively with Siris about a buy-out, seeing as it has plenty of other irons in the fire.
“The company remains in active discussions with multiple parties and has received what the board believes to be attractive proposals compared to the most recent proposal from Siris,” the company said on Friday.