The markets soared during the midday with the Dow surging 108 points to 16,533 as the nation’s trade deficit narrowed more than expected in November. Nasdaq leaped 35 points to 4149.
On the upside
Epizyme (Nasdaq: EPZM) earned a $25 million proof of concept milestone payment from Celgene for its EPZ-5676 DOT1L inhibitor. Epizyme also received a $4 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline for its EPZ-6438 EZH2 inhibitor.
Verso Paper (NYSE: VRS) will pay approximately $900 million in cash and bonds to acquire NewPage Holdings.
An Independent Data Monitoring Committee recommended that Pharmacyclics’ (Nasdaq: PCYC) Phase III study of IMBRUVICA end early due to significant improvement in survival rates.
On the downside
Cyan (NYSE: CYNI) warned that fourth quarter revenue would fall short of previous guidance.
A Seeking Alpha contributor recommended shorting Radio Shack (NYSE: RSH).
Morgan Stanley downgraded Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) from an Equal Weight rating to an Underweight rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 gained 10 points to 1837. Bitcoin dropped $57.06 or 5.95% to $958.94.
