U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting.
Shares of Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SYRS, Financial), however, lost half their value in premarket trading after the company presented initial data from a Phase 2 trial of SY-1425 (tamibarotene), its first-in-class oral, selective retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) agonist used to treat patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplasticsyndrome. The data was presented at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia.
Joseph G. Jurcic, Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and Director of the Hematologic Malignancies Section of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, was pleased with the tolerability of the medicine.
“We saw improved blood counts and reduced blast counts in conjunction with differentiation of cancer cells in genomically defined patients," he said. "These data, along with the mechanistic and preclinical data supporting combinations with azacitidineand with daratumumab, suggest SY-1425 could be a meaningful combination agent with the potential to address a substantial unmet need for patients with AML and MDS.”
Gainers
- CenturyLink Inc. (CTL, Financial)
- Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN)
- Chesapeake Energy Corp.”‹ (CHK, Financial)
- Hologic Inc. (HOLX)
- Halliburton Co. (HAL, Financial)
- Celgene Corp. (CELG)
Losers
- SCANA Corp. (SCG, Financial)
- Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB)
- Under Armour Inc. (UA, Financial)
- Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL)”‹
- McCormick & Co. Inc. (MKC, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded mostly lower. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.80%, while Spain's IBEX 35 declined 0.14%, Germany's DAX fell 0.23% and France's CAC 40 retreated 0.23%.
In Asia, China's SSE Composite gained 0.98%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.14%, India’s BSE Sensex climbed 0.62% and Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.56%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
