Stocks slid to kick off the week as caution prevailed ahead of a number of potentially market-moving events, including an FOMC meeting, an ECB meeting and the U.K. election. Also looming is the December 15 deadline for additional U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, which means the market's current uneasy tone could last all week if a deal is not announced prior to Friday's close.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., no economic data of note was reported.
In trade news, the New York Times reported that Democratic lawmakers are close to a deal to bring the revised North American free trade pact to a vote after securing more labor, enforcement, and other provisions and gaining the support of top labor leaders. The Times noted that a deal between congressional Democrats and the White House on the final terms of the updated trade agreement would lift the last remaining hurdle blocking the path of enacting President Trump's USMCA trade agreement.
COMPANY NEWS: Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos says the company will support the U.S. Department of Defense as technology companies vie for more defense contracts and the Pentagon seeks to modernize itself. He is quoted by Reuters as having said: "My view is that if big tech is turning their back on the Department of Defense, this country is in big trouble." In a separate report from The Wall Street Journal's John McKinnon, citing a complaint filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, it was noted that the e-commerce giant said President Trump exerted "improper pressure" on the Pentagon in order to "harm" Bezos by awarding a cloud-computing contract to Microsoft (MSFT). The complaint said the president "launched repeated public and behind-the-scenes attacks" to direct the contract away from Amazon with the aim "to harm his perceived political enemy-Jeffrey Bezos," McKinnon added.
In healthcare M&A news, ArQule (ARQL) shares jumped 103.9% after Merck (MRK) announced a deal to acquire the company for $20 per share in cash for an approximate total equity value of $2.7B. Meanwhile, Synthorx (THOR) shares gained 170.5% after announcing Sanofi (SNY) will acquire all of the outstanding shares of the company for $68 per share in cash, which represents an aggregate equity value of approximately $2.5B, on a fully diluted basis. Meanwhile, Diplomat Pharmacy (DPLO) fell 32.7% after OptumRx, the pharmacy care services business of UnitedHealth Group's (UNH) Optum, agreed to a "takeunder" that will see it buy all of Diplomat's outstanding common stock for $4.00 per share.
In other news, Morgan Stanley (MS) was in focus after CNBC reported that the bank is cutting roughly 2% of its workforce due to an uncertain global economic outlook.
Meanwhile, ViacomCBS (VIAC) shares were 2.7% lower after CEO Bob Bakish said in an interview with CNBC that the company will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of its real estate holdings, including the exploration of the sale of the Black Rock headquarters building in Manhattan. Bakish also said that ViacomCBS will restart share buybacks under the repurchase authorization that was previously put in place at CBS.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Forty Seven (FTSV), which surged 110.7% after it announced preclinical proof-of-concept data for FSI-174. Also higher was Fate Therapeutics (FATE), which gained 41.3% after it announced new in vivo preclinical data for FT596 at this weekend's American Society of Hematology, or ASH, Meeting.
Among the notable losers was Take-Two (TTWO), which slid 3% after the company said that is newly-formed Cloud Chamber studio will be developing a new game in the "BioShock" franchise over "the next several years." Also lower was Thor Industries (THO), which fell 5.1% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 105.46, or 0.38%, to 27,909.60, the Nasdaq lost 34.70, or 0.40%, to 8,621.83, and the S&P 500 declined 9.95, or 0.32%, to 3,135.96.
Amazon.com
-1.18 (-0.07%)
Microsoft
-0.42 (-0.28%)
ArQule
+10.035 (+103.77%)
Synthorx
+42.74 (+171.10%)
Sanofi
-0.755 (-1.64%)
Diplomat Pharmacy
-1.91 (-32.82%)
UnitedHealth
-2.62 (-0.94%)
Morgan Stanley
-0.2 (-0.40%)
Use PARA
-1.05 (-2.64%)
Use PARA
-1.64 (-3.78%)
Forty Seven
+16.04 (+111.39%)
Fate Therapeutics
+5.68 (+41.64%)
Take-Two
-3.69 (-2.98%)
Thor Industries
-3.485 (-5.14%)