(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)Stock prices have stabilized at their lower levels with energy and tech stocks prominent among the casualties. The S&P 500 was off 35 points at 1846 in the early part of the lunchtime session while the Dow Jones average was down by a nice round number – 300 points – at 15905. With the likes of computer memory maker Micron hard disks maker Western Digital and online payments king PayPal all registering losses of more than 6% it was no surprise that the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was the hardest hit of the three main benchmarks down 2.3% or 101 points at 4262. The oil price recovered a little at the end of the morning session but with the March futures contract for West Texas light sweet crude off 2.2% it would hardly justify as a rally. Gold on the other hand was enjoying a lot of popularity and rose $34 to $1192 an ounce in the morning session. Other bright spots include Destination Maternity (NASDAQ:DEST) the maternity clothing retailer which rose 4.4% as French children's apparel seller Orchestra-Premaman upped the cash element of its proposed takeover. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) lost two-thirds of its value as it revealed the results of a clinical trial of its OpuS-2 treatment for hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks. Treatment with 500 mg and 300 mg of the formulation three times daily failed to demonstrate a statistically significantly lower mean (average) attack rate versus placebo. CTI BioPharma (NASDAQ:CTIC) was another pharma stock in the wars down almost 60% after it provided an update on its investigational agent Pacritinib. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has placed a partial clinical hold on the clinical studies that had been in progress. The FDA has recommended that the company makes certain modifications of protocols and CTI said it intended to comply with these recommendations. Open Oil was back on the slide dragging US equity prices with it. The price of West Texas intermediate for March delivery was hovering around the $30 a mark in early trading down almost 3% on the session. Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) lost around two-fifths of its value as reported circulated on Friday that the plummeting oil price had prompted the company to look at restructuring its debt as it might struggle to keep up the payments if the price of cruise remains in the slough of despond. Debtwire reported that Chesapeake had hired restructuring lawyers Kirkland & Ellis. Sector peer Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) shed around a quarter of its value as unease increases over its planned merger with Energy Transfer Equity. With energy giants in the doghouse the S&P 500 fell 1.6% in the first 45 minutes of trading to 1849 while the more narrowly-based Dow Jones average also declined 1.6% to 15943. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was even harder hit giving back 2.3% at 4262. Apollo Education (NASDAQ:APOL) the company behind the University of Arizona provided some cheer as it agreed to be taken private in a $1.1bn deal. The shares climbed almost 26% to $8.75 50 cents shy of the $9.50 a share cash offer. Pre-open The Dow Jones average is set to dip below 16000 following European benchmarks lower. Spread betting quotes indicate the Dow Jones 30-share index will open at around 15995 versus Friday's close of 16205. The broader-based S&P 500 is staring at a 22 point to around 1858. At least there is no bad news from China to fret about as today is the Lunar New Year in the People's Republic and Chinese markets will be closed this week. There is also very little on the economic front to get investors juices flowing. On the commodities front gold continues to head higher as the haven of choice for risk averse investors but the oil price continues to slide on supply glut concerns. Trading updates are expected today from: Cognizant Technology Solutions; Diamond Offshore Drilling; Hasbro; Loews; Owens-Illinois; Twenty-First Century Fox.
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