Market News: Dyax Corp, Pfizer Inc, HP Inc

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The stock market in the United States gained today amid corporate transactions in the healthcare sector. Shire PLC agreed to acquire Dyan Corp. On the other hand, Pfizer was reportedly making progress in its negotiation to buy Allergan.

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Meanwhile, today’s manufacturing data showed mixed signals regarding the strength of the global economy. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) index was slightly declined from 50.2 in September to 50.1last month—a sign that the U.S. manufacturing remained neutral.

Bradley Holcomb, Chairman of the ISM factory survey, said, “We’re obviously not in a robust growth mode here.” He added that companies are probably “taking a little bit of a break to sort of see in what direction things are going” before making decisions to expand.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Capital Management commented, “The global data today shows stable economic conditions, which is improving sentiment. M&A activity is always a good litmus test for the sentiment of companies and usually speaks well to market conditions, and we’ve seen some big deals lately.”

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On the other hand, Randy Warren, president and CIO of Warren Financial Service & Associates commented, “Some of the markets leaders like biotech and broader health-care didn’t come back as quickly, and today they’re starting to roar back again. The selloff that we saw was a normal, healthy pullback for the market that didn’t seem to scare too many people off and ultimately served as a buying opportunity.”

U.S. Markets

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) – 17, 828.76 (+0.94%)
  • S&P 500- 2,104.05 (+1.19%)
  • NASDAQ- 5,127.15 (+1.45%)
  • Russell 2000- 1,184.86 (+1.98%)

European Markets

  • EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,434.50 (+0.48%)
  • FTSE 100 Index- 6,361.80 (+0.01%)
  • Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 10,950.67 (+0.93%)

Asia-Pacific Markets

  • Nikkei 225- 18,683.24 (-2.10%)
  • Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 22,370.04 (-1.19%)
  • Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 3,475.96 (-1.64%)

Stocks in Focus

The stock price of Dyax Corp. surged more than 28% to $35.35 per share. The company signed an agreement to sell itself to Shire PLC for $5.9 billion or $37.30 per share in cash.

Pfizer gained more than 3% to $35.06 per share. The company was reportedly close to reaching agreement with Allergan. Pfizer is expected to take advantage of Ireland’s lower tax rates following the deal. Allergan is based in Ireland.

HP Inc climbed almost 12% to $13.83 per share during its first trading since Hewlett-Packard Company split its businesses. HP Inc retained the ticker symbol “HPQ.”

On the other hand, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which is trading under the ticker symbol “HPE,” declined more than 1% to $14.49 per share.

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