Wall Street finished Monday with a mixed performance, although the S&P 500 had enough momentum to score its third consecutive day of gains and its fifth higher finish in the past six sessions. The Dow closed higher as well, rising by nearly 200 points, while the Nasdaq slipped.
Financial stocks helped fuel the advance. This included a double-digit percentage rally in First Republic Bank (FRC), with gains also coming from MFA Financial (MFA), KeyCorp (KEY), PacWest Bancorp (PACW) and Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL).
Among individual stocks, M&A headlines drove gains in a couple of names. Berkshire Grey (BGRY) climbed on a takeover deal. Meanwhile, a rejected bid sent Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) to a new 52-week high.
On the other side of the spectrum, weakness in the cryptocurrency market prompted a slide in Coinbase (COIN).
Sector In Focus
Financial stocks climbed on rising hope that the worst of the banking turmoil is now in the past. First Republic Bank (FRC) was among the standouts in the sector, jumping nearly 12%.
The stock was helped by reports over the weekend that U.S. regulators were weighing an expansion of their emergency lending facility, which could give further support to troubled institutions, like FRC, which has dropped about 89% in the past month.
Elsewhere in the financial sector, MFA Financial (MFA) rose 6%, KeyCorp (KEY) advanced 5%, PacWest Bancorp (PACW) climbed 3.5% and Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) pushed higher by 3%.
Standout Gainer
The signing of a takeover deal sparked a rally in Berkshire Grey (BGRY), with shares of the provider of materials handling systems soaring 20%.
Under the agreement, Softbank (OTCPK:SFTBY) will acquire BGRY for a purchase price of $1.40 per share, or a total value of about $375M. The transaction is projected to close in Q3.
BGRY closed Monday’s trading at $1.37, an advance of 23 cents on the session. This brought the stock back to levels it last saw in early March.
Standout Decliner
A slide in Bitcoin (BTC-USD) put pressure on stocks tied to the cryptocurrency space. This included a drop in Coinbase (COIN), which slumped almost 8%.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) retreated nearly 3% to fall below $27K. The decline took place amid signs of regulatory pressure, after cryptocurrency exchange Binance, along with its cofounder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, was sued by the CFTC. The suit alleges certain violations of trading and derivatives rules.
Dragged down by the general market slide, COIN dropped $5.29 to close at $62.54. The stock rose in the middle of the month, reaching its highest level since August. However, shares have been moderating lately, dropping almost 18% in the past week.
Notable New High
Blackbaud (BLKB) surged to a new 52-week high, jumping more than 10% after receiving a bid to be acquired by Clearlake Capital.
Clearlake, which already owns about 18% of the cloud computing provider to nonprofits and educational institutions, offered to buy BLKB for $71 per share. In response, the company announced that it rejected the proposal, saying it “fundamentally undervalues” the firm.
Following the offer, BLKB jumped to an intraday 52-week high of $66.75. Shares moderated a bit before the close but still finished the day at $63.93, a rise of $6.10 on the day.
For more of the day’s biggest winners and losers, head over to Seeking Alpha’s On The Move section.
