Business News Roundup, July 13
The Dow Jones industrial average joined the S&P 500 index to close at a fresh record, with U.S. equities climbing a third day as crude rallied and Alcoa Inc.’s results bolstered optimism on corporate health amid the start of the earnings season.
Alcoa jumped to a two-month high after the aluminum producer posted a profit that beat analysts’ estimates, kicking off the quarterly reporting period.
Commodity producers and transportation stocks posted some of the biggest gains Tuesday, with American Airlines Inc. rallying 11 percent for its best day since at least December 2013.
Oil and gas companies climbed to the highest since November as crude had its steepest gain in three months.
The S&P 500 added 0.7 percent to close 2,152.14, extending its all-time high after surpassing on Monday the previous record reached in May 2015 on bets of a brighter economic outlook after Friday’s jobs report.
A drug to treat severe postpartum depression showed positive results in a mid-stage study, sending shares of developer Sage Therapeutics skyrocketing Tuesday.
There are no approved drugs that specifically treat a type of depression that, according to the American Psychological Association, afflicts up to one in seven women who give birth.
The company says that 60 hours after treatment, the women who took its drug had a significant reduction in their scores on a survey that is used to measure levels of depression.
Postpartum depression includes feelings of extreme sadness, anxiety and exhaustion that can make it hard for new mothers to care for themselves or others, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health.
The drug in its most recent study is called SAGE-547, and Sage is conducting late-stage tests of the same drug as a treatment for a rare seizure disorder.
The report from TurboPatent, a Seattle company that does patent analysis, found that a “higher than average portion may be invalid, unenforceable or have little market value,” according to the company’s news release.
The problems with the Excalibur patents included poor technical quality, a category that can include simple things such as proper citation of past ideas, and a high level of abstraction, the report said.