Unusual 11 Mid-Day Movers 9/2: SCRX, ISH, NWA, PACW Higher; NOVC, PDO, ACI, FPP Lower

September 2, 2008 12:09 PM EDT

Sciele Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCRX) 58.9% HIGHER; entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Shionogi & Co., Ltd. at a price of $31 per share, for a total equity purchase price of approximately $1.1 billion.

Novacea, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVC) 20% LOWER; Novacea and Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Novacea will merge with Transcept in an all-stock transaction. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Novacea will issue new shares of its common stock to Transcept stockholders based on an exchange ratio to be determined prior to the closing of the transaction. Under the exchange ratio formula defined in the merger agreement, the former Transcept stockholders are expected to own 60% of the combined company, and the former Novacea stockholders are expected to own 40% of the combined company, each on a fully-diluted basis.

International Shipholding Corporation (NYSE: ISH) 18.3% HIGHER; Liberty Shipping Group LLC today sent a letter to International Shipholding's Board of Directors proposing to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the company's common stock for $25.75 per share in cash.

Pyramid Oil (AMEX: PDO) 16.7% LOWER; today slide in oil is the major story of today's trading session. Speculative oil plays such as Pyramid are seeing substantial downside today as oil has broken through the $110 level.

Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) 16% HIGHER; Airlines are higher on today's $7 drop in crude after Hurricane Gustav was much less severe than expected.

PacWest Bancorp (Nasdaq: PACW) 16% HIGHER; today announced that the private equity firm CapGen Financial has agreed to acquire approximately $100 million of newly issued shares of PacWest Bancorp common stock at a price of $26 per share, representing a 21% premium to the last five trading-day average closing price of PacWest common stock. CapGen will invest in PacWest through an investment vehicle advised by CapGen Capital Advisers LLC.

Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL) 15.7% HIGHER; Airlines are higher on today's $7 drop in crude after Hurricane Gustav was much less severe than expected.

DineEquity (NYSE: DIN) 15% HIGHER; restaurant stocks are having an exceptional day on Wall Street amid sharply declining crude oil prices. Elsewhere in the sector: Einstein Noah Restaurant (Nasdaq: BAGL) up 10.4%, Benihana (Nasdaq: BNHNA) up 7.3%, Ruby Tuesday (NYSE: RT) up 7.2%, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) up 6.5% and McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) up 2.7%.

Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) 14.1% LOWER; much lower crude prices are affecting many sectors in today's trading session. As commodity prices saw upside while crude rose this year, they are seeing downside as it comes off record high levels. The phrase "escalator up, elevator down" comes to mind.

Fieldpoint Petroleum (AMEX: FPP) 13.2% LOWER; see Pyramid Oil

Walter Industries (NYSE: WLT) 12.6% LOWER; see Arch Coal

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