The markets opened lower with the Dow dropping 68 points to 20,937 despite a better than expected gain in January factory orders. Nasdaq fell 36 points to 5,833.
On the upside
Shares of Rennova Health (Nasdaq: RNVA) extended its gains.
TG Therapeutics (Nasdaq: TGTX) reported positive results from a Phase 3 GENUINE clinical trial of TG-1101 plus ibrutinib to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX) will pay $160 million in cash for the worldwide development and commercialization rights to Concert Pharmaceuticals' (Nasdaq: CNCE) investigational cystic fibrosis treatment CTP-656.
On the downside
Ionis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IONS) subsidiary Akcea Therapeutics announced positive results from a Phase 3 APPROACH study of volanesorsen but the stock price dropped.
The first case of the avian flu this year has been confirmed at a chicken farm in Tennessee that supplies chickens to Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN).
Investors locked in profits on Akorn (Nasdaq: AKRX).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index fell 9 points to 2,373. Bitcoin rose $5 to $1,269.
