Benzinga | Oct 5, 2020 10:30AM EDT

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Bristol-Myers Squibb To Acquire MyoKardia For $13B

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 1.11% to 27,987.67 while the NASDAQ rose 1.54% to 11,245.11. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.14% to 3,386.58.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 7,418,730 cases with around 209,730 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 6,623,810 confirmed cases and 102,680 deaths, while Brazil reported over 4,915,280 COVID-19 cases with 146,350 deaths. In total, there were at least 35,220,160 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,037,600 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped 2.5% on Monday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC), up 12%, and Livent Corporation (NYSE:LTHM), up 12%.

In trading on Monday, real estate shares fell by 1.1%.

Top Headline

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) announced plans to acquire MyoKardia for $13.1 billion in cash to expand its heart-drugs offering.



Equities Trading UP

MyoKardia, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYOK) shares shot up 58% to $221.01 after Bristol-Myers Squibb announced a multi-billion dollar deal to buy cardio-focused biopharma Myokardia.

Shares of Eidos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:EIDX) got a boost, shooting 39% to $72.00 after the company announced it would be acquired by BridgeBio for $73.26 per share.

Westwater Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWR) shares were also up, gaining 35% to $5.98 after surging 49% on Friday. The company holds minerals rights for lithium and uranium deposits and strength appears related to momentum in lithium names amid EV battery interest.



Equities Trading DOWN

Nam Tai Property Inc. (NYSE:NTP) shares tumbled 23% to $7.18 as the company raised $170 million through private placement transaction.

Shares of Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CNK) were down 13% to $8.77 after a competing movie theater operator, Regal Entertainment, closed all of its US locations due to a lack of big-ticket movies.

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC) was down, falling 11% to $4.15 after a competing movie theater operator, Regal Entertainment, closed all of its US locations due to a lack of big-ticket movies.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.3% to $38.63, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,904.90.

Silver traded up 0.3% Monday to $24.10 while copper fell 0.3% to $2.9680.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today on hopes of stimulus before the US elections and an improvement in President Trump's health. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 0.6%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 gained 0.7%, French CAC 40 rose 0.7% and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.7%.

French services PMI tumbled to 47.5 in September versus a reading of 51.5 in the earlier month.



Economics

The IHS Markit services PMI slipped to 54.6 in September versus previous month's reading of 55.0.

The ISM non-manufacturing PMI climbed to 57.8 in September versus a reading of 56.9 in August.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Investor Movement Index for September will be released at 12:30 p.m. ET.