Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Falls Over 300 Points; Klondex Mines Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 1.21 percent to 24,643.92 while the NASDAQ declined 2.27 percent to 7,312.41. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.47 percent to 2,711.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the utilities shares slipped by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais CIG, up 4 percent, and Ormat Technologies, Inc. ORA, up 2 percent.

In trading on Monday, information technology shares fell 1.62 percent.

Top Headline

KLA-Tencor Corp KLAC announced plans to buy Orbotech Ltd ORBK in a $3.4 billion deal.

The offer price of $69.02 per share, comprising $38.86 per share in cash and 0.25 of a share of KLA-Tencor common stock, represents around 15 percent premium over Orbotech's closing price on Friday.

Equities Trading UP

Heron Therapeutics, Inc. HRTX shares shot up 27 percent to $27.30 as the company disclosed that its Phase 3 trial of HTX-011 met all primary and key secondary endpoints.

Shares of Geron Corporation GERN got a boost, shooting up 20 percent to $4.045. Geron reported Q4 loss of $0.05 per share on sales of $191,000.

Klondex Mines Ltd. KLDX shares were also up, gaining 57 percent to $2.26. Hecla Mining Company HL announced plans to acquire Klondex Mines for $462 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Micro Focus International plc MFGP shares dropped 46 percent to $14.20 after the company reported that Chris Hsu is stepping down as CEO of the company. The company also lowered its 2018 revenue forecast.

Shares of Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. CDTX were down 20 percent to $6.325. Cidara Therapeutics disclosed 'positive' topline results from Phase 2 STRIVE trial of lead antifungal rezafungin.

Universal Display Corporation OLED was down, falling around 13 percent to $108.25. For the first time ever, Apple Inc. may be looking to design and produce displays for its devices at a secret manufacturing facility in California, Bloomberg reports.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.26 percent to $62.18 while gold traded up 0.04 percent to $1,312.80.

Silver traded down 0.07 percent Monday to $16.26, while copper fell 0.66 percent to $3.087.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.53 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.52 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.35 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.93 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.59 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.51 percent.

Economics

On the economics calendar Monday, there is no important data due out.