Monday brought one of those days where the market does its thing in one direction, but a handful of stocks couldn't care less about the memo. The Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 100 points, but if you were holding certain biotech names or a few other surprise performers, you were having a pretty good day.
The star of the show was Kyverna Therapeutics Inc (KYTX), which rocketed 31% to $11.49 after dropping some encouraging clinical trial news. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company released topline data from its KYSA-8 Phase 2 trial of mivocabtagene autoleucel (or miv-cel, if you prefer fewer syllables—formerly known as KYV-101) in patients with stiff person syndrome.
For those unfamiliar, miv-cel is a fully human, autologous CD19-targeting CAR T-cell therapy with CD28 co-stimulation. That's a mouthful, but what matters is that the market liked what it saw in those trial results enough to send shares flying.
Other Notable Gainers
Kyverna wasn't alone in defying the broader market malaise. Here's who else made moves on Monday:
Beneficient (BENF) climbed 29.3% to $6.21, making it the second-biggest gainer of the day without any obvious catalyst announced.
Immunome Inc (IMNM) surged 25.5% to $24.56, and this one had a clear reason: the company announced positive topline results from its Phase 3 RINGSIDE trial of Varegacestat in patients with desmoid tumors. When Phase 3 trials go well, investors tend to notice.
Falcon's Beyond Global Inc (FBYD) gained 14% to $12.83, continuing its recent momentum.
XBP Global Holdings Inc (XBP) jumped 11.5% to $6.39 on no specific news, joining the list of mystery movers.
Almonty Industries Inc (ALM) rose 9.1% to $7.38 after announcing it would voluntarily withdraw its base shelf prospectus and registration statement. Sometimes what you're not doing matters as much as what you are.
Ur-Energy Inc (URG) climbed 8.6% to $1.39, catching a bid in the uranium space.
NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Inc (NBY) shares advanced 7.1% to $3.00.
AXT Inc (AXTI) rose 7.1% to $15.88, matching NovaBay's percentage gain.
Olema Pharmaceuticals Inc (OLMA) jumped 6.8% to $35.30, adding to the biotech theme of the day.
Silvercorp Metals Inc (SVM) gained 6.4% to $8.65 as metals stocks found some support.
Standard Lithium Ltd (SLI) surged 6.3% to $4.91, benefiting from renewed interest in battery materials.
ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd (ZIM) rounded out the list with a 4.8% gain to $19.64, showing that even shipping stocks could catch a break on an otherwise down day.
The takeaway? Even when the broader market is having a rough Monday, there's always action somewhere if you know where to look. Today, that action was concentrated in biotech breakthroughs and a handful of companies making strategic moves.