Market News: Arena Pharmaceuticals, Dupont, Illumina

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The stock markets in the United States declined today except the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), up by 0.08 as energy shares rally due to the increase in crude oil prices.

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The S&P 500 failed to maintain momentum to its longest rally this year amid a retreat in the equities of companies in the biotechnology sector. The index dropped 0.36%. The NASDAQ and the Russell 2000 fell 0.69% and 0.59%, respectively.

The West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil (WTI) prices climbed 5.25% to $48.69 per barrel while the Brent Crude rose 5.54% to $51.98 per barrel. The U.S. Energy Department’s Short-Term Energy Outlook showed that the country’s crude production declined 120,000 barrels per day in September.

Meanwhile, the emerging-market equities trade higher to its highest level since August. The increase was driven by the weakening of the dollar.

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Commenting on the market trends, Michael Mullaney, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Co. told Bloomberg, “We’ve had five really good days in a row. It’s not surprising that we’re getting a little bit of a pullback. Probably a little bit of short-term bias fatigue.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced its global economic growth outlook to 3.1% this year and 3.6% in 2016. Last year, the global real GDP growth was 3.4%.

In a statement, Maurice Obstfeld, the IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department said, “Six years after the world economy emerged from its broadest and deepest postwar recession, the holy grail of robust and synchronized global expansion remains elusive.”

The international creditor projected that economic growth of advanced economies would be modest at 2% this year and 2.2% next year. On the other hand, the growth prospects of emerging markets and developing economies are expected to decline as a group from 4.6% last yeat to 4% this year.

U.S. Markets

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) – 16, 789.72 (+0.08%)
  • S&P 500- 1,979.91 (-0.36%)
  • NASDAQ- 4,748.36 (-0.69%)
  • Russell 2000- 1134.89 (-0.59%)

European Markets

  • EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,220.09 (+0.93%)
  • FTSE 100 Index- 6,236.16 (+0.43%)
  • Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 9,902.83 (+0.90%)

Asia-Pacific Markets

  • Nikkei 225- 18,186.10 (+1.00%)
  • Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 21,831.62 (-0.10%)
  • Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 3,202.95 (+0.76%)

Stocks in Focus

Arena Pharmaceuticals declined more than 4% to $2.09 per share. The company’s CEO and President Jack Lief will retire at the request of its board. Its director, Dr. Harry F. Hixson has been appointed to serve as interim CEO and interim principal financial officer.

The stock price of Dupont climbed more than 7% to $55.23 per share after announcing the retirement of its Chairman and CEO Ellen Kullman on October 16. The company also reduced its full-year operating earnings outlook.

Illumina plummeted more than 10% to $145.81 per share. The company released its preliminary revenue for the third quarter of approximately $550 million, up by 14% from its $481 million revenue in the same period a year ago. However, its projected fourth-quarter revenue of approximately $570 million was below the expectations of analysts.

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