Stocks extend last week's rally; Express Scripts picks AbbVie drug; Sony attorney says 'The Interview' will get out
Wall Street is still full of holiday cheer this morning as investors continue their buying spree. Stocks are higher after a big three-day rally last week.
“Santa Claus is coming to town for the bulls,” at least for now says Yahoo Finance editor in chief Aaron Task.
“The hope for the week is that it is kind of quiet and we get a slow drift upwards, the thing about holiday- shortened weeks there is less volume and that could lead to more volatility,” according to Task.
Oil erased early morning gains and is now lower. Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi said OPEC would not cut output and was confident lower crude prices would help demand by giving a boost to the economy.
American Apparel (APP) continues to grab investors’ attention. The struggling retailer confirmed it‘s evaluating an offer of $1.30 to $1.40 a share from a potential suitor. This comes after it adopted a so-called poison pill late Friday. The one-year shareholder rights plan is designed to prevent investors from taking control of the company without board approval. Last week founder and former chief executive Dov Charney was fired for 'cause' and the company was approached by private equity firm Irving Place Capital for a possible takeover.
A win for AbbVie (ABBV). Shares of the drug company shot-up after the nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts (ESRX) said it will only cover AbbVie's newly approved hepatitis C treatment starting the new year rather than rival medicines from Gilead Sciences and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Shares of Gilead Sciences (GILD) were sharply lower on the news.
Related: Express Scripts shakes up big pharma
Elsewhere in the drug industry. The Food and Drug Administration approved BioCryst Pharmaceuticals’ (BCRX) intravenous flu treatment. The drug is for adults with acute uncomplicated influenza and who may be unable to swallow pills.
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Sony (SNE) shares rose in the pre-market. An attorney for Sony telling NBC's Meet the Press the entertainment company will distribute the film, "The Interview" although it's unclear how. Last week Sony pulled the picture after hackers believed to be tied to North Korea threatened to attack theaters that showed it. "The Interview" spoofs the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.
And federal regulators reportedly are looking into exchange traded funds, or ETF's. The Financial Times says the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is concerned about extreme swings in prices of some ETF’s and that they don't properly match the value of their underlying holdings.
