Stocks are mildly weaker as caution prevails ahead of a week full 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 could mean next Monday could look a lot better, or worse, for the averages depending on what happens at the negotiating table between now and then.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., no economic data of note was reported.
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 being 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 have jumped 104% 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 are up 170% near noon 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. Not all of this morning's deals are sending shares higher, though, as Diplomat Pharmacy (DPLO) has fallen 32% 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.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Forty Seven (FTSV), which surged 79% after it announced preclinical proof-of-concept data for FSI-174. Also higher was Fate Therapeutics (FATE), which gained 41% 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 2% 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 higher was Thor Industries (THO), which fell 3% after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 61.12, or 0.22%, to 27,953.94, the Nasdaq was down 3.89, or 0.04%, to 8,652.64, and the S&P 500 was down 2.15, or 0.07%, to 3,143.76.
