The markets closed mixed with the Dow soaring 115 points to 24,873 while Nasdaq lost 15 points to 7481 as U.S. sanctions are imposed on Russia for election meddling and special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed the Trump Organization for business documents related to Russia.
On the upside
Akcea Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AKCA) secured an exclusive, worldwide license from Ionix (Nasdaq: IONS) to commercialize inotersen and AKCEA-TTR-L.
Adaptimmune Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ADAP) reported promising initial responses in patients dosed with NY-ESO SPEAR T-cells in a second tumor.
Shares of Arcus Biosciences (NYSE: RCUS) climbed on its first trading day.
On the downside
The Food and Drug Administration placed a clinical hold on Solid Biosciences' (Nasdaq: SLDB) Phase I/II clinical trial for SGT-001 microdystrophin gene transfer in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
J.Jill (NYSE: JILL) reported higher fourth quarter earnings and revenue but forecast a drop in same store sales for the current quarter.
Sprint (NYSE: S) sued WideOpenWest (NYSE: WOW) over the infringement of patents related to voice over packet.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more 5 to 3 on both the NYSE and by nearly 4 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 slipped 2 points to 2,747. Bitcoin climbed $235 to $8,270.