Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX), Amgen, Inc. (AMGN), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Stocks to Watch Closely Today

Since the first day of the week can predict the flow of the whole week, it is particularly crucial to focus on Monday news and events. The same thing applies to stock markets as well, that’s why it is important to watch the stocks that are the most discussed on Monday, because usually they will be the most popular during the whole week, which means that their liquidity might be higher than in the case of other companies. This Monday started with some big news from the healthcare sector, while two main indices that reflect the state of the U.S economy, S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) starting the day without any big moves, remaining barely flat.  As follows, among the trending stocks on Monday we can mention are Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX), Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX) and Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) will definitely be some of the most covered stocks this week. On Monday, the biggest news from the healthcare sector became the announced acquisition of Onyx by Amgen. Under the deal between Boards of Directors of two companies, Agen will purchase all the shares of Onyx under a price worth $125 per share in cash. The whole value of the acquisition amounts to about $9.7 billion net of Onyx cash. Through the transaction, Amgen will get access to the whole portfolio of drugs of Onyx, one of the most important being Kyprolis, a new myeloma drug, for which Onyx has worldwide, excluding Japan, rights. Aside from Kyprolis, Onyx also shares rights for another drug, Nexavar, together with Bayer, as well as a bunch of other drugs. Amgen will contract $8.1 billion in loans in order to complete the acquisition. Onyx reported a net loss of $53.2 million for the second quarter of the year. The shares of Onyx gained almost 6% to $123.7 on Monday morning, while Amgen appreciated also by about 5.5% to $111.8 per share.

Another company that created a lot of noise at the end of the previous week that will echo for some time is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). On Friday, Steve Balmer, the CEO of Microsoft announced about his intentions to retire in the next year. In this way, the company is going to need a new Chief Executive Officer, and the Board of Directors already selected a committee responsible for this task. The committee is led by John Thompson, and consists of Chairmen: Bill Gates, Chuck Noski and Steve Luczo. Amid the news about Balmer’s retirement, shares of Microsoft surged on Friday.