After Market: New Records Again for Dow, S&P 500
Stocks edged further into record territory Monday, but Apple stole some of the spotlight while going in the other direction. The The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) rose 25 points, adding to Friday's record high. Same story for the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC). It gained 1 point, but the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) lost 5.
Apple (AAPL) fell less than 1 percent as its top executives took the stage at a major developers conference in San Francisco. The company offered some software upgrades to the iOS operating system, as well as some other interesting news, but nothing that will blow your socks off. The stock has been on a tear recently, up about 19 percent in three months.
Some of the other big stocks that drive the Nasdaq were also lower. Amazon (AMZN) and Facebook (FB) lost about 1 percent each.
The other big story of the day involved drug and biotech companies that presented updates at a major oncology conference. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer (PFE) and AstraZeneca (AZN) all moved higher. Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) gained 7 percent and Pharmacyclics (PCYC) rose 2½ percent.
But Puma Biotech (PBYI) tumbled 25 percent after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) reported disappointing test results on a breast cancer drug that's similar to one Puma is developing. Clovis Oncology (CLVS) lost 7 percent.
Another drug stock, NPS Pharmaceuticals (NPSP), rose 5 percent during a second straight day of rumors that it's a likely takeover target. It's up 24 percent in the past week.
Allergan (AGN), which is definitely a target, rose another 2 percent on expectations that Valeant (VRX) will raise its buyout offer yet again, and take it to shareholders as a hostile bid.
Also on the takeover front, Protective Life (PLP) gained 12 percent on word that it's in advanced talks to be acquired by a Japanese firm.
Elsewhere, several coal producers were burned by proposed EPA rules to reduce carbon emissions. Walter Energy (WLT) fell 6 percent, Arch Coal (ACI) fell 3 percent and Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) lost 4 percent.
The furniture and appliance retailer Conn's (CONN) rose 7 percent as earnings beat expectations.
And finally, Broadcom (BRCM) jumped 9 percent after saying it will exit the cellular baseboard business.
What to Watch Tuesday:
Automakers report vehicle sales for May.
The Commerce Department releases factory orders for April at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
These major companies are scheduled to release quarterly financial statements:
-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.
