Offices of Illumina, in San Diego, California.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.
First Republic — Shares of First Republic cratered more than 64% before the bell, building on last week’s losses. Shares led a decline in bank stocks despite plans from the government to backstop depositors of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Seagen — Shares soared more than 18% in early market trading on news it will be acquired by Pfizer in a deal worth roughly $43 billion, which will boost Pfizer’s cancer treatment portfolio as it endures a decline in Covid-19 product sales. Pfizer offered $229 in cash per share of Seagen, a 32.7% upside to Friday’s closing price.
Illumina — Shares of the biotech company rose 8.2% after The Wall Street Journal reported that billionaire activist Carl Icahn is preparing a proxy fight at Illumina. Icahn is arguing the company cost its shareholders about $50 billion after pushing through a risky acquisition despite facing opposition from regulators, the Journal said.
PacWest Bancorp, Western Alliance Bancorp — Regional lenders PacWest Bancorp’s shares fell by more than 40% while Western Alliance’s stock fell by more than 51%, with both banks stinging from the closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. In an attempt to calm investors, both banks said on Friday that their liquidity and deposits remained strong.
Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citigroup — Shares of major banks saw significant losses in early market trading, after the closure of two major banks has spread fear among investors and pushed regulators to further clamp down on risks associated with the bank closures. Bank of America lost 4.2%, JP Morgan shed about 1.4%, and Citi was down 2.25%.
Charles Schwab — Shares declined by more than 6.6% before the bell. Citi upgraded the stock to buy from neutral, however, saying the company’s 23% decline over the last two trading days gives it a “compelling” risk-reward ratio. Citi…
Read the full article here
