Benzinga | Sep 8, 2020 10:22AM EDT

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Grifols To Buy Geriatric Pharma Startup Alkahest

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded down 1.75% to 27640.85 while the NASDAQ fell 2.02% to 11084.53. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.73% to 3,367.79.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 6,301,450 cases with around 189,220 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 4,280,420 confirmed cases and 72,770 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,147,790 COVID-19 cases with 126,960 deaths. In total, there were at least 27,356,700 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 893,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares slipped by just 1.2% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE:CLI), up 2%, and eXp World Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPI), up 4%.

In trading on Tuesday, energy shares fell by 4.2%.

Top Headline

Blood plasma and diagnostics company Grifols SA (NASDAQ:GRFS) announced plans to completely acquire Alkahest Inc, a biopharmaceutical startup focussed on neurodegenerative and age-related diseases, for $146 million on a debt-free basis.

Grifols will buy the remaining equity in Alkahest without having to resort to additional borrowing, the company said in a statement.

Equities Trading UP

Albireo Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALBO) shares shot up 52% to $41.72 after the company announced its phase 3 trial of Odevixibat met both primary endpoints.

Shares of Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ:NKLA) got a boost, shooting 39% to $49.34 after the company announced a strategic partnership with General Motors. Nikola's Badger will be engineered and manufactured by GM.

MICT, Inc. (NASDAQ:MICT) shares were also up, gaining 23% to $5.65. MICT, on Friday, filed for mixed shelf offering of up to $250 million.



Equities Trading DOWN

Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRBP) shares tumbled 78% to $2.005 after the company announced topline results from its RESOLVE-1 Phase 3 study of Lenabasum which showed no significant differences in the primary and secondary endpoints.

Shares of ACM Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACMR) were down 23% to $62.98 after Needham downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold.

PolyMet Mining Corp. (NYSE:PLM) was down, falling 18% to $3.63. PolyMet Mining shares jumped 64% on Friday after a Ramsey County District Court judge found that PolyMet's water permit was issued with proper procedures.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 5.3% to $37.65, while gold traded down 0.6% to $1,923.70.

Silver traded up 0.3% Tuesday to $26.80, while copper fell 0.5% to $3.048.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 1.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.3%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.8%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 dropped 1%, French CAC 40 fell 1.3% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.3%.

German exports continued to rebound for the third straight month, increasing 4.7% in July from June. The Eurozone economy contracted by 11.8% on quarter during the three months ended June, lesser than initial estimates for a 12.1% decline.

Economics

The NFIB small business optimism index rose to 100.2 in August versus a reading of 98.8 in July.

The Treasury will auction 52-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The TD Ameritrade Investor Movement Index for August is scheduled for release at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for July will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.