| | On The Fly: Closing Wrap | Stocks on Wall Street were higher following a volatile session that saw the Nasdaq fall as much as 1.5% during afternoon trade before rallying into the close. Internet and biotech stocks weighed on the Nasdaq during mid-afternoon trade, following a recent trading trend in the tech index, but a late session rally brought the Nasdaq almost all the way back to unchanged for the day. ECONOMIC EVENTS: The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index rose 3.4% to 97.4 in March, topping expectations for a more modest 1.0% advance from the prior month. Also, the U.S. and Europe imposed additional sanctions against Russia, over its alleged intervention in Ukraine, with the U.S. freezing the assets of 17 Russian companies.
COMPANY NEWS: Bank of America (BAC) suspended its previously announced capital actions, which had included plans to bump its dividend up to 5c per share and a $4B share repurchase authorization. The bank put its plans on hold due to accounting errors made in its capital plan submitted to the Federal Reserve. The bank said certain miscalculations in the plan it submitted to the Fed lead to the overstatement of its capital levels, prompting the central bank to request a resubmission. Shares of Bank of America fell $1.00, or 6.27%, to $14.95 following the news...
M&A news in the pharmaceutical space was again in focus, headlined by news that Pfizer (PFE) offered about $100B in cash and stock for its U.K.-based rival AstraZeneca (AZN). Shares of both companies rallied following the offer, which AstraZeneca's board said "significantly undervalued" the company's prospects. AstraZeneca shares trading in New York gained $8.35, or 12.16%, to $77.01 after the news, while Pfizer added $1.29, or 4.2%, to $32.04. In other pharma-related deal talk, Allergan (AGN), which last week received a hostile takeover bid from Valeant (VRX) and activist investor Bill Ackman, is preparing an approach to buy Shire (SHPG), according to a report from Reuters. In a note to investors earlier today, analysts at Piper Jaffray said an offer for Shire by Allergan may be the Botox maker's best bet to fend off Valeant's bid. Following the report, U.S.-listed shares of Shire gained $9.88, or 6.08%, to $172.33.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Charter Communications (CHTR), up $10.04, or 7.72%, to $140.05 after reaching a deal to acquire 1.4M existing Time Warner Cable (TWC) customers as part of that company's pending merger with Comcast (CMCSA). Charter will also form a new holding company that will own 100% of Charter and acquire an approximate 33% stake in a new publicly-traded cable provider to be spun-off by Comcast serving approximately 2.5M customers. Also higher after agreeing to be bought out were Susser Holdings (SUSS), which rose $20.69, or 36.28%, to $77.72 after reaching a deal to be acquired by Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), and Furiex Pharmaceuticals (FURX), which gained $22.90, or 28.57%, to $103.05 after agreeing to be purchased by Forest Labs (FRX). Among the noteworthy losers was Och-Ziff Capital (OZM), down $1.28, or 9.9%, to $11.65 after a Wall Street Journal article over the weekend said the firm, one of the few publicly traded hedge funds, is facing scrutiny from U.S. authorities on certain mining deals in central Africa. Also lower was Newmont Mining (NEM), down $1.78, or 6.73%, to $24.67 after terminating merger discussions with Barrick Gold (ABX). Barrick shares also fell 56c, or 3.13%, to $17.33 following the news. INDEXES: The Dow was up 87.28, or 0.53%, to 16,448.74, the Nasdaq was down 1.16, or 0.03%, to 4,074.40, and the S&P 500 was up 6.03, or 0.32%, to 1,869.43 |
|
