On The Fly: Closing Wrap
Stocks on Wall Street opened sharply higher and never looked back. The market’s move was its best since mid-February and just enough to get the Dow narrowly back into the green for the first quarter of the year with one day to go. Month-end often sees portfolio managers do a bit of "window dressing," but the Dow will need to rise even more tomorrow than it did today in order for the month of March to be a winner for the blue chip index. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., personal income grew 0.4% in February, versus expectations for a 0.3% gain, while consumer spending rose 0.1% in the month, versus expectations for a 0.2% increase. The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index rose by 3.1% to 106.9 in February, beating expectations for a narrower 0.3% increase. The Dallas Fed's manufacturing index dropped to -17.4 in March, marking its third straight monthly decline. In Asia, the head of the People's Bank of China reportedly said growth had slowed a bit too much and reassured that the bank has the ability and tools to respond if needed. Afterward, reports indicated the country will lower down payment requirements on second home purchases and will waive sales tax for homes held more than two years. COMPANY NEWS: The drug industry generated a number of headline making deals, led by Dow member UnitedHealth Group (UNH) buying pharmacy benefit manager Catamaran (CTRX) in a deal valued at nearly $13B, or $61.50 per share in cash. Catamaran jumped $11.51, or 23.82%, to $59.83 after the deal was announced, while UnitedHealth rose $2.99, or 2.53%, to $121.00. Also, Teva (TEVA) agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Auspex Pharmaceuticals (ASPX) for $101 per share in cash, representing total consideration of approximately $3.2B in enterprise value and approximately $3.5B in equity value. The maker of central nervous system drugs gained $29.45, or 41.53%, to $100.36, while Teva also advanced 54c, or 0.87%, to $62.52. Additionally, Horizon Pharma (HZNP) announced a deal to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Hyperion Therapeutics (HPTX) for $46 per share in cash, or approximately $1.1B. Both gained after the merger announcement, with Hyperion adding $3.24, or 7.58%, to $45.98 and Horizon shares rising $3.97, or 18.2%, to $25.78. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Cellular Dynamics (ICEL), which surged $8.48, or 106.8%, to $16.42 after Fujifilm (FUJIY) agreed to acquire the company for $16.50 per share, or approximately $307M. Also higher was Tesla (TSLA), which gained $5.57, or 3.01%, to $190.57 after CEO Elon Musk teased via his Twitter account that the electric carmaker would launch a new product that is not a car on April 30. SolarCity (SCTY), which has an existing partnership with Tesla (TSLA) and also counts Musk as its chairman, rose 40c, or 0.8%, to $50.57 after the tweet. Among the noteworthy losers was Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP), which plunged $1.56, or 28.94%, to $3.83 after the company said it has received a complete response letter from the FDA, which means the FDA has completed its review of a file and questions remain that preclude the approval of the company's New Drug Application, or NDA, in its current form. Also lower were shares of WWE (WWE), which fell $2.43, or 14.71%, to $14.09 after the sports entertainment company announced the grosses from its WrestleMania 31 event and reported subscriber data for its WWE Network. INDEXES: The Dow jumped 263.65, or 1.49%, to 17,976.31, the Nasdaq gained 56.22, or 1.15%, to 4,947.44, and the S&P 500 rose 25.22, or 1.22%, to 2,086.24
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