Stockwinners Market Radar for May 17, 2017 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

20:08 EDT Astellas, Pfizer to discontinue 'ENDEAR' trial, cancel follow-on Phase 3 trials - Astellas (ALPMY) announced a joint decision with Pfizer (PFE) to discontinue the planned ENDEAR trial comparing enzalutamide in combination with paclitaxel chemotherapy or as monotherapy versus placebo with paclitaxel in triple-negative breast cancer. No patients were ever enrolled in the trial. The companies have also decided that based on the enzalutamide data from the Phase 2 HER2+ and ER/PR+ breast cancer studies, there will not be follow-on Phase 3 studies at this time.

19:23 EDT Google announces 'Google for Jobs' - At its I/O developer conference today, Google (GOOG) announced "Google for Jobs." The company explained, "As we started working on this, we realized the first step for many people when they start looking for a job is searching on Google... So we built a new feature in Search with the goal that no matter who you are or what kind of job you're looking for, you can find the job postings that are right for you. As part of this effort, we worked hard to include jobs across experience and wage levels." Other companies in the space include Facebook (FB) and Microsoft's (MSFT) LinkedIn. Reference Link

18:49 EDT DFHV launches taxi payment platform powered by Square - The Department of For-Hire Vehicles announced new digital meter solutions within taxis with payments powered by Square. "Square's technology will support the shift to an all-digital platform on a smartphone or tablet, eliminating outdated traditional meters, streamlining the taxi experience and ensuring equitable rates for consumers and drivers. Washington, DC will be the first major U.S. city to transition to a digital platform, setting an example for how the industry can transform in the evolving digital economy. The new digital meters will allow dynamic pricing for passengers hailing taxis from the street, as well as a number of other customer-friendly features such as estimated fare calculations, GPS route tracking and electronic receipts," the agency said. Reference Link

18:03 EDT ON Semiconductor names Alan Campbell chairman of the board - ON Semiconductor announced that its board of directors has elected Alan Campbell to succeed J. Daniel McCranie as chairman of the board. In late 2016, ON Semiconductor announced McCranie's decision not to stand for re-election to the board of directors at the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders. Campbell is also currently a member of the board and chairman of the audit committee for Dialog Semiconductor, a manufacturer of integrated circuits that power mobile devices and the Internet of Things.

17:52 EDT KeyCorp increases dividend 12% to 9.5c per share - KeyCorp declared a Q2 cash dividend of 9.5c per share on the corporation's outstanding common shares, a 12% increase compared to the 8.5c per common share paid last quarter. The dividend is payable on June 15 to holders of record of such common shares as of the close of business on May 30.

17:44 EDT Grana y Montero delays filing of Annual Report - Grana y Montero was not able to timely file its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016. As a result, the company is currently not in compliance with SEC reporting requirements and the continued listing requirements of the NYSE. The company is currently in the process of evaluating its financial presentation to be included in the 20-F, which is the reason for the delay. Grana y Montero is continuing its ongoing internal investigation of its association with affiliates of Odebrecht in some projects in Peru. The company is also reviewing the financial presentation of the consortia related to Gasoducto Sur Peruano gas pipeline concession, which was terminated by the Peruvian government on January 24, due to the failure to obtain the required project financing by the stipulated deadline. The company is also assessing potential material weaknesses with respect to its internal control over financial reporting. The company will have six months to file the 20-F with the SEC. The company intends to file the Form 20-F as soon as practicable.

17:42 EDT Celgene to present 'broad range' of clinical data on therapies at ASCO - Celgene Corporation announced that data from a broad range of company-sponsored and investigator-initiated studies evaluating Celgene investigational agents and investigational uses of marketed products will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting between June 2-6 in Chicago, Ill. "We are part of an extremely exciting time in cancer research, where accelerating deep insights into the biology of disease and tumor microenvironment are leading to approaches that have the potential to make a major impact on patients' lives," said Michael Pehl, President, Hematology and Oncology for Celgene. "The studies being shared at ASCO this year reinforce our commitment to developing and delivering innovative treatment options to patients with cancer around the world." In multiple myeloma, abstracts will continue to support the role of Celgene's IMiD therapies as the foundation of multiple myeloma research, including in the maintenance setting. Additionally, data will be presented from the study evaluating the investigational R2 regimen, in previously-treated follicular lymphoma. Updated data from two studies in the ABOUND program evaluating ABRAXANE in non-small cell lung cancer will also be presented. Finally, results from multiple studies highlighting key Celgene research collaborations of investigational compounds will be presented, including updated data from a phase I dose escalation and expansion study of IDHIFA in patients with mutant-IDH2 relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia, updated data from the first clinical study of anti-BCMA CAR-T therapy bb2121 in multiple myeloma, and results from a study of CAR-T therapy JCAR017 in previously-treated aggressive b-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

17:39 EDT Halozyme: HALO-202 study met primary, key secondary endpoints - Results from a Phase 2 randomized, multi-center clinical trial in pancreas cancer patients conducted by Halozyme Therapeutics of its targeted investigational therapy, PEGPH20, will be presented in an oral presentation on June 4 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual conference. Principal Investigator Sunil R. Hingorani, M.D., Ph.D., a pancreas cancer expert at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and professor at University of Washington School of Medicine will present the HALO-202 results, which include the study meeting its primary and key secondary endpoints. "The HALO-202 data confirm for the first time in a randomized Phase 2 trial using the current standard of care that a biopsy-based biomarker for hyaluronan content can potentially identify patients who will have a meaningfully greater response when PEGPH20 is added to their treatment," said Dr. Hingorani. "The analysis suggests statistically significant and clinically important progress in this very difficult to treat cancer. The median PFS is a notable increase over the current standard of care and supports ongoing exploration in the current Phase 3 study. "The study demonstrated that PEGPH20 plus standard chemotherapy of ABRAXANE and gemcitabine improved median progression-free survival by 77% over chemotherapy alone in stage IV pancreas cancer patients with high levels of hyaluronan. Halozyme is currently enrolling HA-High patients in a global Phase 3 clinical trial. In a subanalysis of patients who received uninterrupted therapy with PEGPH20 plus chemotherapy, a 91% improvement in mPFS and a 4-month benefit in overall survival were observed. Dr. Helen Torley, president and chief executive officer of Halozyme said, "The results in the HA-High patient cohort are particularly encouraging given that we are using this biomarker and recruiting this specific patient population in our ongoing global Phase 3 study, HALO-301. We believe that HALO-301 is the first targeted or biomarker driven Phase 3 study to date in this highly lethal cancer type." Pancreas cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer related death in the United States, and more than 65,000 people in the U.S. and top five European countries are diagnosed annually with advanced cases of the disease.

17:33 EDT Senomyx says dissident group attemoted to subvert elections - Senomyx announced the results of its 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on May 11, 2017. The company said: "Pursuant to the report of the independent inspector of elections, we believe Senomyx's director candidates were reelected at the Annual Meeting by a substantial margin.The company believes that the dissident group, financed by Charles Gillman, who was sanctioned earlier this year by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading shareholders in multiple proxy contests, attempted to subvert the elections. The Company has obtained evidence indicating that the dissident group, when it became clear that they lost the election, intentionally withheld votes from the independent inspector of elections in order to break quorum and obtain additional time in an attempt to change the election outcome at an adjourned Annual Meeting. Senomyx intends to pursue legal action in the Delaware Court of Chancery to affirm the results of the election. No action is required by Senomyx shareholders at this time. The Company intends to provide all shareholders a further update as soon as the circumstances of the situation allow. Senomyx remains focused on executing a clear strategy to drive value creation for all shareholders."

17:31 EDT RTW Investments reports 5% passive stake in Arbutus Biopharma

17:29 EDT NewLink Genetics says data from two studies to be presented at ASCO - NewLink Genetics Corporation announced that abstracts from two clinical studies of its IDO pathway inhibitors, indoximod and navoximod, used in combination with other agents, are now available on the website of the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, Annual Meeting. Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-institutional Phase 2 investigator initiated study with indoximod in combination with the therapeutic cancer vaccine, Provenge, for patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer will be presented as a poster by Gautam Gopalji Jha, M.D., at ASCO in Chicago on Monday, June 5. Initial data from a Phase 1b dose-escalation study of navoximod in combination with Tecentriq for patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors conducted by the company's partner, Genentech/Roche, will be presented in an oral presentation by Howard A. "Skip" Burris, III, M.D., at ASCO in Chicago on Sunday, June 4.

17:28 EDT BP awarded $244.6M government contract - BP Products North America, Chicago, Illinois, has been awarded a minimum $244,625,032 firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for jet fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with 11 responses received. This is a one-year contract with a 30-day carry-over period. Locations of performance are Illinois, Turkey, and a defense fuel support point serving the Central European Pipeline System with a June 30, 2018, performance completion date. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2017 through 2018 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

17:25 EDT CytRx to show aldoxorubicin data at ASCO, says findings support drug's potential - CytRx announced the presentation of two abstracts at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. The first is an oral presentation featuring updated and more detailed results from the Company's global Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating aldoxorubicin versus investigator's choice in patients with relapsed and refractory soft tissue sarcomas. The other is a poster presentation describing updated data from an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial combining aldoxorubicin with ifosfamide/mesna in first- and second-line STS. "In addition to the significantly prolonged progression-free survival achieved by both North American and L-sarcoma patients, the data presented at ASCO this year demonstrate that, unlike any other drugs in this class, aldoxorubicin can be dosed continuously with minimal to no cardiotoxicity," commented Sant Chawla, Principal Investigator for the Phase 3 trial. "Another distinct advantage is its ability to be administered to patients who have already been treated with doxorubicin. Taken together, these findings support aldoxorubicin's potential as a superior anthracycline treatment for patients suffering with these highly complex and difficult to treat types of cancer." Daniel Levitt, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer of CytRx, commented, "The data from both of these important clinical trials evaluating aldoxorubicin in sarcomas, along with our several other completed clinical and preclinical studies, will form the basis of our planned New Drug Application submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."

17:21 EDT Bristol-Myers outlines ASCO presentations - Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that more than 80 presentations, including 16 oral presentations and seven poster discussions, highlighting data from Company-sponsored studies, collaborations and investigator-sponsored research evaluating its oncology compounds across 20 types of cancer, will be featured at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. Results to be presented represent the breadth of the Company's Oncology research portfolio, including monotherapy and combination studies of Opdivo and Yervoy, as well as studies of Empliciti and Sprycel. The Company will also present updates from its investigational pipeline, including proof-of-concept efficacy data for its anti-lymphocyte activation gene-3 monoclonal antibody in combination with Opdivo and pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and safety data on its investigational glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor-related gene agonist alone and for the first time, in combination with Opdivo in advanced solid tumors. Several presentations will report data from clinical collaborations supportive of the Company's efforts to advance understanding of the potential role for Opdivo in combination with novel mechanisms of action for several tumor types, including the first presentation of data evaluating the safety and efficacy of Opdivo in combination with epacadostat, Incyte's selective IDO1 enzyme inhibitor.

17:19 EDT Merck KGaA to present new pipeline data at ASCO - Merck, KGaA, announced that new research from its growing broad oncology portfolio, from immuno-oncology to DNA damage response approaches, will be presented across a broad range of hard-to-treat cancers at this year's American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. Over 40 abstracts showcase the impact of Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany's commitment to shaping cancer care today and tomorrow, including data for avelumab*, which is being developed in collaboration with Pfizer, Erbitux, and pipeline updates on the anti-PD-L1/TGF-ss trap M7824, the DNA-PK inhibitor M3814, the BTK inhibitor M7583, and the c-Met inhibitor tepotinib**. In the U.S. and Canada, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, operates its biopharmaceutical business as EMD Serono. "We are focused on delivering innovation that matters to patients, as shown in our ASCO data that spans across IO and DDR approaches to tackle some of the hardest-to-treat cancers," said Luciano Rossetti, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Research & Development at the biopharma business of Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. "Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, was among the first to leverage the potential of the PD1/PDL1 pathway for patients, and we continue to build on that progress with our ASCO presence and the two recent FDA accelerated approvals for avelumab." Multiple avelumab presentations at ASCO include data in first-line metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma and previously treated metastatic urothelial carcinoma, as well as results from the Phase Ib trial from the avelumab combination trial with axitinib in renal cell carcinoma. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval*** for avelumab for the treatment of mMCC and pretreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC. Avelumab is currently being evaluated as both monotherapy and combination therapy in an extensive clinical development program. Beyond mMCC, locally advanced or metastatic UC and RCC, further avelumab abstracts in non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma will be showcased. In addition to avelumab data, Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, will also feature new research at ASCO on its investigational bifunctional immunotherapy anti-PD-L1/TGF-ss trap, which is thought to simultaneously block both PD-L1 and TGF-ss. An oral presentation will showcase dose escalation Phase I clinical data exploring the potential of M7824 in advanced solid tumors. Pipeline updates at ASCO also include early clinical results for both Tepotinib, an investigational small-molecule inhibitor of the c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase, M7583, an oral, highly selective, covalent inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase, and the first clinical data for M3814, an investigational DNA-dependent protein kinase inhibitor. Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is investing significant resources in the promising area of DDR to be a leader in this field. Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has recently in-licensed two promising clinical-stage programs from Vertex.

17:19 EDT ESSA Pharma to present data from Phase 1 trial of EPI-506 at ASCO - ESSA Pharma announced that early data from the Phase 1 portion of the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its product candidate, EPI-506, will be presented in a poster presentation at the upcoming 2017 American Society for Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, Annual Meeting held June 2-6. ESSA intends to announce updated results at the time of the poster presentation at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

17:17 EDT Affimed NV to present data for preclinical AFM24 and AFM26 programs at ASCO - Affimed N.V. announced that data for Affimed's preclinical AFM24 and AFM26 programs will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, 2017 Annual Meeting being held June 2 - 6 and at the EACR-AACR-SIC Special Conference 2017 being held June 24 - 27.

17:12 EDT Juno Therapeutics to present JCAR017, JCAR014 data at ASCO - Juno Therapeutics announced that it will present key clinical updates in partnership with its collaborators on its investigational products JCAR017 and JCAR014 at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. JCAR017 and JCAR014 are CAR-T cell product candidates that target CD19, a protein expressed on the surface of almost all B cell malignancies, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. New data from the ongoing Phase I TRANSCEND NHL 001 trial will be presented, with increased patient numbers and longer duration of follow-up reported at two dose levels as compared to previous presentations. Updated safety data will also be presented from the ongoing Phase I trial evaluating JCAR014 in adult patients with relapsed or refractory ALL, NHL, or CLL. The JCAR014 presentation will also include data on clinical and laboratory biomarkers that may allow early identification of cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity.

17:08 EDT Incyte shares up 5.9% after epacadostat combo data

17:06 EDT bluebird bio to present updated interim data on bb2121 at ASCO - bluebird bio (BLUE) announced that updated interim data from its study of bb2121, the company's anti-BCMA CAR T cell therapy will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. "This past November we presented the initial clinical data from the first three dosing cohorts in this ongoing Phase 1 study of bb2121 in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. At ASCO in June, we look forward to presenting data on those same patients with longer follow-up, as well as safety and efficacy data on an additional 9 patients treated subsequently. These data will advance our understanding of the bb2121 risk-benefit profile and inform planning with our partners at Celgene (CELG) for the dose expansion cohort of this study, and the design of a potential pivotal study," the company noted.

17:04 EDT Just Energy sees achieving net customer additions in FY18 - "In fiscal 2018, we believe we will achieve net customer additions and deliver base EBITDA in the range of C$210M-C$220M. While the base EBITDA guidance reflects a decline over 2017 results, it demonstrates solid performance in our base business combined with significant investment in the form of up-front commissions related to customer growth, investments to seed our new international operations, and further investments in product and geographic growth initiatives. Looking to fiscal 2019 and beyond, we believe the business will return to growth," said Just Energy.

17:04 EDT SPAR Group CEO Scott Popaditch resigns - SPAR Group CEO Scott Popaditch has resigned effective May 15. SPAR Group's board has begun the search for a replacement. Current COO Kori G. Belzer will serve as interim-CEO. Belzer has served as COO since 2004, and has served in multiple operating and client service leadership roles at SPAR Group for 25 years.

17:00 EDT ZTO Express names Hongqun Hu COO - ZTO Express announced the appointment of Hongqun Hu as the chief operating officer of the company, effective May 12, 2017. Hongqun Hu has served as the chairman of Zhejiang Tonglu Rural Commercial Bank, and the governor and chairman of Zhejiang Tonglu Rural Cooperation Bank.

16:49 EDT Duke Energy director acquires 3,500 common shares - In a regulatory filing, Duke Energy director Theodore F. Craver, Jr. disclosed the purchase of 3,500 common shares at a price of $83.7283 per share. The transaction brings the director's total direct common stock ownership to 5,705.534 shares.

16:46 EDT Endologix to seek U.S. Nellix EVAS approval by conducting confirmatory study - Endologix announced that the company met with the Food and Drug Administration regarding its Nellix Endovascular Aneurysm Sealing System. Based upon that meeting and further internal analysis, the company has determined that it will seek U.S. approval of the Nellix EVAS System by conducting a confirmatory clinical study with the previously updated Instructions for Use and the Gen2 device design, which is currently sold in Europe and other international markets. The company will collaborate with the FDA over the coming months on the confirmatory clinical study protocol and anticipates beginning patient enrollment in the fourth quarter of this year with PMA approval estimated to occur in 2020. John McDermott, Chief Executive Officer of Endologix, Inc., commented, "While the timeline has shifted from our projections, we appreciate the FDA's collaboration as Nellix EVAS proceeds in the regulatory process. We have evidence that our previously updated Nellix IFU provides excellent patient outcomes and look forward to starting the confirmatory clinical study with our Gen2 device. We appreciate the support of our physicians worldwide and their continued collaboration in developing new technologies and conducting clinical studies to provide the best outcomes for patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms."

16:41 EDT Michael R. Cote reports 7.3% stake in SecureWorks

16:38 EDT Immune Design reports data from CMB305, G100 monotherapy studies - Immune Design reported new clinical and biomarker data today from CMB305 and G100 monotherapy studies. The American Society of Clinical Oncology is publishing three abstracts today relating to these new data. A broader set of data will be presented at the ASCO 2017 Annual Meeting. Specifically, on CMB305 monotherapy in patients with soft tissue sarcoma, the company said: Most recent patient survival data meaningfully exceed published survival outcomes for standard of care therapy in comparable soft tissue sarcoma patients with recurrent metastatic disease. With a median follow up exceeding 18 and 11 months for LV305 and CMB305, respectively, median overall survival has not yet been reached in recurrent metastatic STS patients. Durable disease control was observed in more than half of STS patients, including durable tumor growth arrest in patients who had evidence of disease progression prior to CMB305 therapy. CMB305's safety profile consisted mostly of mild to moderate adverse events, with therapy being well tolerated by patients. Anti-NY-ESO-1 immune biomarkers identify cancer patients who may be more likely to have prolonged survival following therapy with CMB305; Anti-NY-ESO-1 immune responses were observed in more than half of the patients who received CMB305 therapy; Induction of anti-NY-ESO-1 immunity in patients treated with CMB305 or LV305 was associated with better clinical outcomes, including survival. Additionally, on G100 intratumoral monotherapy with radiation in patients with low-grade follicular NHL, the company said: More than 40% of the FL patients experienced objective responses based on WHO criteria -- at least a 50% tumor reduction -- including substantial tumor shrinkage in untreated, unirradiated distal lesions. Safety profile remains favorable at higher doses than those previously reported in Merkel cell carcinoma patients. G100 resulted in favorable tumor microenvironment changes. An increased intratumoral expression of inflammatory cytokines/chemokines, T cell infiltration, and an increased frequency of clonal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, were observed. "During the second half of the year, we hope to have the opportunity to build on these positive clinical and biomarker data for CMB305 and G100 monotherapy with the results from ongoing trials evaluating each agent in combination with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors," the company noted.

16:37 EDT Four Corners announces disposition of Darden-leased property for $5.2M - Four Corners Property Trust (FCPT) announced the disposition of an Olive Garden restaurant property leased to Darden Restaurants (DRI) for $5.2M. The property is located in Lakeland, Florida, and is occupied under a triple-net lease with approximately 15 years of term remaining. The sale is the result of an unsolicited offer at a cash cap rate of 5.1%, exclusive of transaction costs. FCPT anticipates redeploying the proceeds from this transaction through an Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 like-kind exchange. As a result, net cash proceeds from the sale will be held in an escrow account until one or more properties are purchased through the 1031-Exchange.

16:35 EDT Immune Design sees cash on hand sufficient into 2H18

16:31 EDT Nortech Systems appoints Mahmood as COO - Nortech Systems announced that its board of directors has appointed Matthew Mahmood as chief operating officer. He joins Nortech from Marabek, an advisory, acquisitions and holding company with a global reach; he was managing director.

16:24 EDT Cisco sees $150M-$200M of pre-tax charges in Q4 - In May 2017, Cisco extended the restructuring plan to include an additional 1,100 employees with $150M of estimated additional pretax charges. During the first nine months of fiscal 2017 Cisco has recognized pretax charges of $614M to its GAAP financial results in relation to this restructuring plan.Cisco expect to recognize approximately $150M to $200M of pretax charges under this plan in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. Cisco expects this plan to be substantially completed by the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2018.

16:23 EDT TAT Technologies declares cash dividend of 34c per share - TAT Technologies approved a distribution of cash dividend in the total amount of $3M, or 33.98c per share, for all of the shareholders of TAT Technologies. The dividend will be paid to shareholders of record on June 7 on June 21.

16:17 EDT RenaissanceRe boosts share repurchase program to $500M - RenaissanceRe said its board of directors approved an increase in RenaissanceRe's share repurchase program, bringing the total current authorization to $500M. This authorization includes the remaining amounts available under prior authorizations. Under this program, RenaissanceRe may repurchase shares of its common stock in the open market based on, among other things, its ongoing capital requirements and expected cash flows, and the market price of its common shares. The repurchase program does not have an established expiration date.

16:16 EDT New Media approves $100M buyback plan, says stock significantly discounted - New Media Investment Group announced that the Company's Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $100M of the Company's common stock over the next 12 months. "We believe our current stock price is at a significant discount to the intrinsic value of our company. We continue to firmly believe in our cash flows that support the dividend, our growth prospects, including our acquisition pipeline, and our long term strategy," New Media Chief Executive Officer Michael Reed said.

16:15 EDT Halliburton names Jeff Miller CEO

16:13 EDT Vertex sees NDA, MAA submission in early Q3 - Vertex said it plans to submit the March 28 tezacaftor/ivacaftor data -- in people who have one mutation that results in residual CFTR function and one F508del mutation -- as part of an NDA and MAA "early in the third quarter of 2017."

16:11 EDT GlycoMimetics' GMI-1271 receives FDA breakthrough therapy designation for AML - GlycoMimetics announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for treatment of adult relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia to the company's drug candidate GMI-1271, an E-selectin antagonist currently being evaluated in the Phase 2 portion of a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in patients with AML. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had previously granted Orphan Drug designation and Fast Track Status for GMI-1271 in AML. In the ongoing clinical trial, GMI-1271 is being administered, along with chemotherapy, to patients with relapsed or refractory AML as well as those 60 years of age and older with newly diagnosed disease. Data from this trial were presented in 2016 at meetings of the European Hematology Association and the American Society of Hematology. In the trial, patients treated with GMI-1271 achieved higher than expected remission rates and lower than expected 30- and 60-day mortality rates in early evaluations of patients with relapsed/refractory AML as well as in newly diagnosed patients. In March 2017, the company announced that the first of two patient cohorts in the Phase 2 portion of the trial of GMI-1271 had completed enrollment. In April 2017, the company announced plans to present further data updates on both patient populations in the ongoing AML trial at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in June. "The FDA's granting to GMI-1271 of Breakthrough Therapy designation will further help GlycoMimetics to accelerate the development of GMI-1271 as a treatment for this very difficult-to-treat patient population," said Helen Thackray, MD, Chief Medical Officer of GlycoMimetics. "We believe GMI-1271 when combined with chemotherapy has the potential to address an unmet therapeutic need for individuals living with AML. We are encouraged by our clinical results to date, and look forward to working closely with the FDA to bring this novel therapy to patients as quickly as possible."

16:09 EDT Tactile Systems launches Flexitouch system in U.S. - Tactile Systems Technology announced its Flexitouch system will be available throughout the United States to treat lymphedema of the head and neck, a common consequence of head and neck cancer and related treatment, making it the first and only pneumatic compression therapy approved for this condition. Following its FDA clearance in September 2016, Tactile Medical completed a limited market release including more than 80 patients with lymphedema of the head and neck. Of the patients who tried the device, 88% saw a reduction in head and neck swelling after an initial 32-minute at-home treatment with the Flexitouch system, and 89% of patients reported improvement in other symptoms including increased ability to swallow, improved range of motion, a reduction in fibrotic tissue and less discomfort.

16:09 EDT Vertex says FDA approves Kalydeco for cystic fibrosis subset

16:07 EDT Tallgrass Energy Partners to acquire DCP Midstream gas gathering system - Tallgrass Energy Partners (TEP) announced that through its subsidiary Tallgrass Midstream it has entered into an agreement to acquire DCP Midstream's (DCP) Douglas natural gas gathering system in the Powder River Basin for approximately $128M. The Douglas gathering system encompasses approximately 1,500 miles of gathering lines across four counties in Wyoming and is the primary gathering system for TMID's Douglas processing plant. The transaction is expected to close on or before the end of the second quarter. "We view this recombination as strategically important for our processing activities in the Powder River Basin," remarked Tallgrass. Tallgrass Energy Partners noted that it recently acquired a water disposal facility in the Powder River Basin, through its BNN Water Solutions subsidiary. TEP also announced that Ron Happach has joined the company as General Manager of Tallgrass Midstream. Before joining Tallgrass, Happach was the Chief Operating Officer of Millennium Pipeline.

16:07 EDT ConocoPhillips revises Q2 production guidance to 1.365M-1.405M Boe/d

16:03 EDT Aurinia Pharmaceuticals doses first patient in Phase 3 voclosporin trial - Aurinia Pharmaceuticals announced that the first patient has been dosed in AURORA, the Company's Phase 3 confirmatory clinical trial evaluating voclosporin for the treatment of lupus nephritis, an autoimmune disease caused by lupus that involves extreme inflammation and failure of the kidneys. AURORA is a 52-week global double-blind placebo controlled study, designed to demonstrate that voclosporin added to the current standard of care of mycophenolate mofetil can increase overall renal response rates in the presence of extremely low steroids. The primary endpoint is complete renal response at 52 weeks. This trial will recruit roughly 320 patients and is intended to support full marketing approval of voclosporin for patients with LN across multiple regulatory jurisdictions.

15:46 EDT Publicis says resolved dispute with IT firm, accounting validated by auditor - Publicis issued the following statement: "Publicis Groupe would like to provide some clarifications regarding claims made by Gouvernance en Action publicized on 17 May. On 31 March, the Group replied to a letter sent by [a] Director of Gouvernance en Action, and provided him all required clarifications. Publicis Groupe had a dispute with a software and IT services supplier. This dispute was arbitrated and resulted in a settled resolution, covered by a confidentiality agreement, whereby Publicis would be compensated for the costs of the delays and difficulties it sustained. The compensation received by Publicis was allocated in Publicis Groupe's accounts in part to the reduction of the book value of the balance sheet assets corresponding to the project, in part to the neutralization in the 2014 income statement of the extra costs incurred as a result of the delays, and in part to cover forecasted extra costs in the coming years as a result of the delays known by the Group. This accounting treatment has been validated by Group's auditors, who confirmed that it was not necessary to mention this information in the notes to the financial statements relating to 2014 accounts nor in the annual report."

15:16 EDT Coupa Software acquires Riskopy, declines to update guidance - Coupa Software announced it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Riskopy. "The acquisition helps Coupa aggregate Coupa platform and 3rd party supplier risk data into a profile score... Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Riskopy's analytics engine combines conventional and alternative data sources in a proprietary algorithm," the company noted. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Coupa is not updating its guidance for its fiscal year ending January 31, 2018. The acquisition is not expected to have a material impact on Coupa's results of operations or financial condition for its fiscal year ending January 31, 2018.

15:05 EDT C&F Financial reauthorizes $5M share repurchase program - The board of directors of C&F Financial has declared a regular cash dividend of 33c per common share, which is payable July 1 to shareholders of record on June 15. In addition, the board of directors has reauthorized the corporation's share repurchase program to purchase up to $5M of the corporation's common stock. Repurchases under the program may be made through privately negotiated transactions or open market transactions, including pursuant to a trading plan in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 and/or Rule 10b-18 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and shares repurchased will be returned to the status of authorized and unissued shares of common stock. The timing, number and purchase price of shares repurchased under the program, if any, will be determined by management in its discretion and will depend on a number of factors, including the market price of the shares, general market and economic conditions, applicable legal requirements and other conditions, and there is no assurance that the Corporation will purchase any shares under the program. The current share repurchase program is authorized through May 31, 2018.

15:02 EDT Ashland sees Pharmachem Laboratories acquisition accretive to EPS in first year - Ashland Global Holdings announced that its subsidiary has completed the previously announced acquisition of privately owned Pharmachem Laboratories. Under terms of the stock purchase agreement, Ashland paid $660M in an all-cash transaction, funded from a combination of cash on hand and proceeds of a borrowing under its existing securitization facility, a new 3-year senior secured term loan A facility, a new 5-year senior secured term loan facility and a new 5-year senior secured revolving credit facility. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Ashland's earnings per share in the first year following the close of the transaction.

14:48 EDT Lennox raises quarterly dividend 19% to 51c per share - The board of directors of Lennox International voted to increase the quarterly cash dividend 19% to 51c per share of common stock. The dividend is payable on July 17, 2017, to stockholders of record as of June 30, 2017.

14:48 EDT Google says standalone VR headsets to launch later this year - Google (GOOG) said it is working with hardware partners Lenovo (LNVGY) and HTC on the VR devices.

14:34 EDT National CineMedia agrees to acquire Fantasy Movie League - National CineMedia announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Fantasy Movie League, the box office predictions game co-created by ESPN's Matthew Berry. Berry will remain actively involved in Fantasy Movie League, which will be featured in NCM's new Noovie cinema pre-show and digital channels, the company said. Fantasy Movie League co-founders Eric LaVanchy and Larry Tobin will join NCM as part of the agreement.

14:13 EDT Plug Power CEO says 'misinformation' circulated today, affirms guidance

14:00 EDT Google launches physical photo book service - At its I/O developer conference Wednesday, Google announced "Photo Books," an AI-powered service allowing users to create physical photo books. Shares of Shutterfly (SFLY), which provides a range of personalized photo publishing and printing services, are down 1.8% in afternoon trading. Google offers the service at $9.99 for softcover printing and $19.99 for a hardcover book, beginning today.

13:51 EDT Glass Lewis recommends Citi Trends investors vote for Macellum nominees - Macellum SPV III, LP, Macellum Advisors GP, LLC, and certain of their affiliates, a large stockholder of Citi Trends that has nominated two highly qualified candidates for election at the Company's upcoming annual meeting of stockholders, announced today that Glass Lewis & Co. and Egan-Jones, two independent proxy voting advisory firms, have recommended that stockholders vote on Macellum's WHITE proxy card FOR the election of BOTH Macellum nominees, Jonathan Duskin and Paul Metcalf, at the upcoming annual meeting of stockholders. its May 16th report, Glass Lewis concluded: "We believe the board could benefit from additional fresh perspective and oversight, particularly as it prepares to select the next CEO to lead to the company." Glass Lewis agreed with Macellum that Chairman Anderson likely bears responsibility for the Company's poor historical performance: "Management Nominees Anderson and Hyatt have served on the board for 16 years and 11 years, respectively, and we expect shareholders may wish to hold these two long-serving directors responsible for the Company's poor TSR performance and operating challenges under their leadership. Management Nominee Anderson has intermittently served as executive chairman, non-executive chairman and CEO of the Company over the last 16 years and likely bears considerable responsibility for the company's poor performance under his tenure, in our view."

13:36 EDT Google says Assistant now supports transactions - "Starting today, Actions on Google will be supporting transactions. It's a complete end-to-end solution for developers, including payments, identity, notifications, receipts -- even account creation. The platform handles all the complexity," Google executives said at the company's I/O event.

13:31 EDT Whirlpool collaborates with Google on Google Assistant capabilities - Whirlpool (WHR) announced a collaboration with Google (GOOG), which will bring voice-control capabilities through the Google Assistant on Google Home to new smart home appliances launching across Whirlpool Corporation's portfolio of brands. The collaboration makes Whirlpool Corporation among the first in the home appliance category to give consumers the ability to connect their appliances to Google Home. Google Home compatibility will be introduced in more than 20 Jenn-Air and Whirlpool brand models in 2017, starting with Jenn-Air connected wall ovens.

13:22 EDT Google unveils next-generation 'Cloud TPU' chip - At its I/O developer conference today, Google (GOOG) unveiled its next generation tensor processing chip, "Cloud TPU." The company explained, "We're excited to announce that our second-generation Tensor Processing Units are coming to Google Cloud to accelerate a wide range of machine learning workloads, including both training and inference. We call them Cloud TPUs, and they will initially be available via Google Compute Engine... Each of these new TPU devices delivers up to 180 teraflops of floating-point performance. As powerful as these TPUs are on their own, though, we designed them to work even better together. Each TPU includes a custom high-speed network that allows us to build machine learning supercomputers we call 'TPU pods.' A TPU pod contains 64 second-generation TPUs and provides up to 11.5 petaflops." Other publicly traded companies in processors include Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD) and Intel (INTC). Shares of Nvidia are down 4.06% in afternoon trading. Reference Link

13:12 EDT Google CEO says Photos tops 500M active users

13:08 EDT Southwest raises quarterly dividend 25% to 12.5c per share - Southwest Airlines announced that the Southwest board, at its meeting held today, increased the company's quarterly dividend by 25% and authorized a new $2B share repurchase program. The quarterly dividend will increase to 12.5c per share from 10c per share, beginning with the dividend declared today to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 7. The dividend will be paid on June 28. "Based on our strong results, cash flow outlook, and investment grade balance sheet, I'm pleased to announce the board's decision today," said CEO Gary Kelly.

13:06 EDT Twitter says has 'expanded how we use and store data from other websites'

13:05 EDT Facebook announces new updates to reduce 'clickbait' headlines - Facebook says, "Last year we made an update to News Feed to reduce stories from sources that consistently post clickbait headlines that withhold and exaggerate information. Today, we are making three updates that build on this work so that people will see even fewer clickbait stories in their feeds, and more of the stories they find authentic. First, we are now taking into account clickbait at the individual post level in addition to the domain and Page level, in order to more precisely reduce clickbait headlines. Second, in order to make this more effective, we are dividing our efforts into two separate signals - so we will now look at whether a headline withholds information or if it exaggerates information separately. Third, we are starting to test this work in additional languages... Posts with clickbait headlines will appear lower in News Feed. We will continue to learn over time, and we hope to continue expanding this work to reduce clickbait in even more languages. We anticipate that most Pages won't see any significant changes to their distribution in News Feed as a result of this update.Publishers that rely on clickbait headlines should expect their distribution to decrease. Pages should avoid headlines that withhold information required to understand the content of the article and headlines that exaggerate the article to create misleading expectations. If a Page stops posting clickbait and sensational headlines, their posts will stop being impacted by this change." Reference Link

13:03 EDT Alaska Air to begin scheduled commercial service from Paine Field in 2018 - Alaska Airlines announces that it plans to introduce commercial service from Paine Field, Snohomish County Airport, subject to government approvals, starting by fall of 2018. Alaska Airlines plans to operate nine daily departures from Paine Field using a fleet of Boeing 737 and Embraer 175 aircraft. Alaska plans to announce routes, flight schedules and begin selling tickets early next year.

13:02 EDT Vistra Energy acquires solar development project, bolsters business model - Vistra Energy, the parent company for TXU Energy and Luminant, announced the purchase of the Upton County Solar 2 development project in West Texas. The purchase delivers on the company's strategic plan to further strengthen and expand its integrated businesses through enhanced retail solar offerings and diversity across its generation fleet. Simultaneous with the acquisition of the project, Upton 2 entered into a turnkey, fixed-price, engineering, procurement, and construction contract to deliver the 180-megawatt solar plant in the summer of 2018. The Upton 2 facility will provide a company-owned asset as a platform for offering significant, long-term, and economically viable renewable options to a variety of customers throughout Texas, including commercial, industrial, and residential customers."This purchase is an additional proof point of Vistra Energy's ability to uniquely couple our retail business with our commercial operations in a meaningful and beneficial way," said Curt Morgan, the company's president and chief executive officer. "It also shows our commitment to expand this model while providing significant advantages compared to a standalone retailer or generator."

12:55 EDT Retailer bebe falls amid continuing mall traffic decline - Shares of Bebe Stores (BEBE) are tanking after the women's apparel and accessories retailer reported its quarterly earnings in a regulatory filing last night. WHAT'S NEW: Bebe, which announced in late April that it will close all its stores by the end of May, reported a loss of $6.41 per share on revenue of $65.7M for the three months ended April 1. For the same quarter last year, bebe reported a loss of $3.74 per share on revenue of $79.9M. According to the filing, the retailer has hired a liquidation firm to assist with the sale of the inventory and store fixtures. The company will terminate the employment of its store personnel upon closure. Additionally, bebe has hired a real estate consultant to negotiate with its landlords to terminate existing leases and the company will have to make payments in order to close all of its retail stores. Bebe anticipates the payments will be in the range of approximately $60M-$65M. REDUCED STORE TRAFFIC: The decrease in net sales was primarily due to the effects of negative comparable store sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2017 compared with the same period in the prior year coupled with a reduction in total number of stores. Comparable store sales decreased 13.2% compared with a 10.7% decrease in the same period in the prior year. According to bebe, the decrease in comparable store sales was primarily the result of reduced store traffic. MALL-DEPENDENCY: Bebe, like many other mall-dependent retailers, has been impacted by the slowdown in general mall traffic of late. "Many of our stores are located in shopping malls and other retail centers that benefit from the ability of "anchor" retail tenants, generally large department stores, and other attractions, to generate sufficient levels of consumer traffic in the vicinity of our stores. Anchor stores in malls like Macy's (M), J.C. Penney (JCP) and Sears Holdings (SHLD) have struugled over the last few years as consumer trends like e-commerce, notably "the Amazon (AMZN) Effect," have curtailed their brick and mortar sales. Nearly every major department store, including the aforementioned "anchor stores," have collectively closed many stores over the last year. The issues facing mall-based retailers were reiterated by Urban Outfitters (URBN) CEO Richard Hayne, after the company reported a weak first quarter on Tuesday. Urban said total Retail segment comps sales registered a "disappointing" 3% decline, well below plan, which drove increased promotional activity and "more margin pressure than we had anticipated." As in previous quarters, the company said it saw extreme variability in results by channel. Hayne added that "The sales shortfall in Q1 was wholly attributable to weaker-than-expected store channel performance in North America where all three of its brands encountered sluggish customer traffic and sales. This issue is impacting virtually all U.S. brick-and-mortar retailers. There are simply too many stores and too many malls in North America. We expect to see more closures and brands disappear until a healthier balance is reached." PRICE ACTION: Shares of Bebe are down 26.3% to $3.86 in afternoon trading. OTHER MALL BASED RETAILERS: Other smaller retailers that have a significant mall presence are also outpacing the broader market sell-off today including American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), The Gap (GPS) Urban Outfitters, Zumiez (ZUMZ), The Children's Place (PLCE) and The Buckle (BKE).

12:51 EDT Bruker discloses purchase of 1,920 common shares - In a regulatory filing, Bruker president and CEO Frank H. Laukien disclosed the acquisition of 1,920 common shares at a price of $25.8785 per share. The transaction brings Laukien's total direct common stock ownership in the company to 37,712,851 shares.

12:27 EDT Ex-FDA chief confirms hire by Alphabet's Verily - Ex-FDA commissioner Robert Califf confirmed his hire by Alphabet life science subsidiary Verily, stating in a company blog post: "After concluding what has been an amazing experience as FDA Commissioner, I'm excited to turn to a new career with Verily and Duke University... As part of the Verily team, I'm hoping to offer insights that will allow the company to better tailor its technologies to meet the needs of doctors, other providers, health systems and the patients they serve, and to drive evidence-based approaches." Reference Link

12:15 EDT Lidl says to open first U.S. stores on June 15 - Lidl announced that it will open its first stores in the United States on Thursday, June 15. Lidl also unveiled the location of 20 stores that will open during the summer of 2017 in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. By next summer, Lidl plans to open up to 100 stores across the East Coast, creating a total of 5,000 U.S. jobs. When entering a store this summer, shoppers can expect to get top quality goods and groceries at up to 50% less than other supermarkets in the United States, Lidl said. The Wall Street Journal said this week that Lidl's plans are increasing pressure on Wal-Mart executives who have been "laying the groundwork to compete, working to hone store-brand product selection, lower some prices and get the basics right."

12:02 EDT AbbVie, Neurocrine to present data from Phase 3 elagolix studies - AbbVie (ABBV), in cooperation with Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX), announced that data from two replicate Phase 3 studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of elagolix, an investigational gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist, in premenopausal women with endometriosis, will be presented at the 13th World Congress on Endometriosis. New data highlighting the effects of two different elagolix doses and dosing regimens on ovarian sex hormones and ovulation will also be presented, the company stated.

11:33 EDT Battleground: Analysts split on whether Etsy still has room to run - Shares of Etsy (ETSY) jumped sharply yesterday after activist investors TPG Group and Dragoneer Investment Group disclosed a combined 8% stake in the company and the company announced plans to engage in a strategic review. As the stock gives up some of those gains this morning, Maxim analyst Tom Forte contends the shares are able to trade higher citing "further upside" he sees from the efforts of new management or a potential sale, while Loop Capital analyst Blake Harper downgraded the stock to a Hold from a Buy, saying a review makes an "imminent sale" unlikely. Meanwhile, Wedbush analyst Aaron Turner maintained a Neutral rating, citing decelerating growth and management turnover. MAXIM SEES FURTHER UPSIDE: Maxim's Forte raised his price target on Etsy to $17 from $13 and maintained a Buy rating, noting the 21% pop in Etsy shares after the company announced it would review its strategy and consider all options. Forte said the review could allow new management to leverage the company's high-potential business model or may result in the board opting to sell the company. He estimates that a sale could result in a share price of at least $16 if the board opts to go that route, pointing to prior comparable transactions. LOOP MOVES TO SIDELINES: Loop Capital analyst Harper maintained his $13 price target, saying he does not expect an impending sale of the company now that a review is being conducted under the new management team. Harper wrote that he believes a potential acquisition has been priced in and does not see a "meaningful catalyst" for the shares until Etsy reports its Q2 results. Wedbush's Turner maintained a Neutral rating and his $9 price target on Etsy, saying the company's options include "buyout, acquisition, and status quo." He said he believes a buyout to be the most likely of the two corporate action scenarios and the company has the capacity to take on the additional debt load required under a buyout scenario. He added a strategic acquisition of Etsy is possible, but unlikely, as potential buyers Amazon (AMZN) and ebay (EBAY) already have all of Etsy's buyers and most of their sellers and growth reacceleration given overall market growth rates and addressable market limitations. PRICE ACTION: Etsy fell 4.5% to $13.11 in morning trading, leaving the stock with a greater than 16% advance over the last two sessions at time of writing.

11:13 EDT UnitedHealth dip after U.S. joins lawsuit seen as buying opportunity - After the Justice Department joined a lawsuit seeking over $1B from health insurer UnitedHealth (UNH) yesterday and the company's stock fell in the wake of the news, two research firms recommended buying the stock on the pullback. BACKGROUND: The whistle blower lawsuit joined by the Department of Justice yesterday alleges that UnitedHealth knowingly overcharged the Medicare Advantage program. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that, from 2011-2014, UnitedHealth did not take action when it discovered that health care providers were submitting false diagnoses to Medicare Advantage and consequently overcharging the program. ANALYST REACTION: Leerink analyst Ana Gupte said the decline yesterday in UnitedHealth's stock in reaction to this news was overdone, noting that UnitedHealth disputes the charge and plans to mount "a vigorous defense." Moreover, it may be ten years before UnitedHealth will have to make any payments to the government stemming from the case, and the payments are too small to affect the company's balance sheet, the analyst stated. Gupte added that the company's margins will not be impacted by any changes to its Medicare Advantage revenue going forward because it had already become more conservative about its Medicare billing practices. The analyst reiterated a $210 price target and an Outperform rating on the shares. Similarly, Piper Jaffray analyst Sarah James recommends buying UnitedHealth on weakness. The stock's declines creates a "rare opportunity to buy a high-quality insurer...at a discounted price," she stated. The legal process could take a while to complete and should not affect the company's positive outlook, added James, who kept an Overweight rating on the shares. OTHERS TO WATCH: James noted that other insurers - including Aetna (AET), Centene (CNC), Cigna (CI) and Humana (HUM) - remain under investigation as well and that CMS has looked into MA coding before, but hasn't chosen to make changes previously. Even If CMS decides to change methodologies, she does not think such changes will slow MA growth, she told investors. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, UnitedHealth rose 1% to $169.91.

11:01 EDT American Airlines says Chief Integration Officer Bev Goulet to retire in June - American Airlines announced that Bev Goulet, EVP and Chief Integration Officer, will retire in June after 24 years with the company. Remaining integration projects will now be managed directly by the business units driving them. Kenji Hashimoto has been named SVP of Finance & Corporate Development and will assume Goulet's other corporate strategy responsibilities. Additionally, in this new and expanded role, Hashimoto will have oversight of the Treasury and Risk Management teams and will report to American's CFO, Derek Kerr.

10:36 EDT AT&T CFO says has multiple options for 5G network path

10:27 EDT Battleground: Analysts differ on AMD after analyst day - Research firms have been divided this morning on the outlook for chip maker AMD (AMD) following its analyst day yesterday. Jefferies and Canaccord were upbeat on the stock, while Loop Capital and Deutsche Bank were cautious. BULLISH TAKE: AMD increased its long-term gross margin guidance by four percentage points to 40%-44%, noted Jefferies analyst Mark Lipacis. Moreover, the company's new products are strong and target higher end markets, where it currently has almost no market share, the analyst stated. Given this situation, the company can achieve its gross margin target of 40% "in 2020 if not earlier," contended Lipacis, who kept a $16 price target and a Buy rating on the shares. Also upbeat was Canaccord Genuity analyst Matthew Ramsay. The chip maker's upcoming products look "much improved," wrote Ramsay, who said he was "impressed" by them. The company will return to "solid profitability" if it can execute well, said the analyst, who is more confident in the company's upcoming new products and new management following the event. Ramsay kept a $17 price target and a Buy rating on the stock. BEARISH TAKE: Loop Capital analyst Betsy Van Hees downgraded AMD to Hold from Buy. The company's long-term guidance for EPS exceeding 75c justifies a downgrade, the analyst stated. A great deal of positive catalysts, including the launch of its new products, are already priced into the shares, she contended. Van Hees kept a $13 price target on the name. AMD's top competitors, Intel (INTC) and Nvidia (NVDA), can always respond to AMD's moves, wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Seymore. As a result, it will be difficult for AMD to increase its EPS, warned the analyst, who kept a Hold rating on the stock. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, AMD sank 6.2% to slip below $12 per share. The stock hit a 52-week high of $15.55 in February.

10:23 EDT AT&T: 'We've had great customer counts' since adding Unlimited Choice, Plus

10:21 EDT Archer Daniels CEO says 'on track' for $1B in monetizations - Says targeting an additional $225M in run-rate savings in 2017. Says on track for $1B in monetizations. Comments made by Chairman & CEO Juan Luciano at the BMO Capital Markets 12th Annual Farm to Market Conference.

10:01 EDT Pharmacy operators down after report of Amazon plans to enter market - Shares of large pharmacy chain operators including CVS (CVS), Walgreens (WBA) and Rite Aid (RAD) are down in early trading after a report that Amazon (AMZN) is getting more serious about breaking into their market. The e-commerce giant, which has been responsible for disrupting a number of traditional retail models, has hired Mark Lyons from Premera Blue Cross to build an internal pharmacy benefits manager for its employees, according to CNBC. Amazon, which also recently started selling medical supplies and equipment in the U.S., is hiring for its "professional health care program" to ensure that the company is meeting regulatory requirements and has held at least one annual meeting at its Seattle headquarters to discuss whether it should enter the pharmacy business, the report added. In early morning trading, CVS fell 3.6% to $76.27, Walgreens Boot Alliance dropped 2.6% to $82.28 and Rite Aid declined 3% to $3.66 per share.

09:47 EDT Meridian lower after FDA issues warning on its lead tests - The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this morning warned Americans that "certain lead tests manufactured by Magellan Diagnostics may provide inaccurate results for some children and adults in the United States." The CDC recommends that parents of children younger than six years of age, and currently pregnant women and nursing mothers who have been tested for lead exposure consult a health care professional about whether they should be retested. It added, "The FDA's warning is based on currently available data that indicate Magellan lead tests, when performed on blood drawn from a vein, may provide results that are lower than the actual level of lead in the blood." Shares of Meridian Bioscience, which acquired Magellan Biosciences in 2016, is trading down 7% to $13.65 in early trading. Reference Link

09:35 EDT Omega Protein received subpoena from SEC over Title XI loans - Omega Protein previously disclosed that in October 2016 it received a Civil Investigative Demand from the U.S. Department of Justice requesting information in connection with a False Claims Act investigation concerning a company May 2010 certification to the U.S. Department of Commerce that its Reedville, Virginia facility was in compliance with federal environmental laws in order to obtain a loan guarantee under the Department of Commerce's Title XI loan program. The company has also previously disclosed that the Title XI loan was repaid in full in November 2015 and that the company and its subsidiaries currently have no Title XI indebtedness outstanding. On May 12, Omega Protein received a subpoena from the SEC seeking documents relating to its Title XI loans, including documents relating to the company's public disclosures that it was in compliance with all of the covenants in the loan agreements for such Title XI loans, it disclosed earlier today in a regulatory filing. The same SEC subpoena also calls for the production of documents concerning Omega Protein's calculation of its cost of sales for fiscal years 2014 through 2016. The subpoena also seeks documents reflecting Omega's accounting policies and procedures for inventories and cost of sales for fiscal years 2014 through 2016, including its methodologies for calculating and allocating direct and indirect costs, it added. Omega said it intends to comply with the SEC's subpoena. It added, "The Company cannot predict the outcome of the investigation or the effect of the findings of the investigation on the Company, but it is possible that the foregoing matter could result in a material adverse effect on the Company's business, reputation, results of operation and financial condition."

09:20 EDT YRC Worldwide appoints Stephanie Fisher as CFO - YRC Worldwide announces the appointment of Stephanie Fisher as CFO of YRCW, effective immediately. Before being named CFO of YRC Worldwide, Fisher served as Acting CFO and Vice President and Controller of YRCW since January 2017, and immediately before that as Vice President and Controller of YRCW since May 2012.

09:19 EDT Aduro Biotech announces clinical collaboration with Merck - Aduro Biotech (ADRO) announced the expansion of its clinical collaboration with Merck (MRK) to include an additional Phase 2 clinical trial. The companies will investigate the combination of CRS-207, Aduro's LADD based immunotherapy, with KEYTRUDA, Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, for the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma whose disease progressed following prior treatment. Earlier this year, Aduro announced a Phase 2 clinical collaboration with Merck, through a subsidiary, to evaluate the combination of CRS-207 with pembrolizumab for the treatment of gastric cancer.

09:16 EDT First Midwest raises quarterly cash dividend by 11% to 10c per share - First Midwest Bancorp, the holding company for First Midwest Bank, announced that its board approved an 11% increase in the quarterly cash dividend on First Midwest's common stock to 10c per share. This quarterly cash dividend will be payable on July 11, to common stockholders of record on June 30.

09:07 EDT Teva to present asthma research at ATS conference - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced that eight company-sponsored abstracts will be presented at the 2017 American Thoracic Society International Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 19 to May 24. Data to be presented include three abstracts on CINQAIR Injection, an interleukin-5 antagonist monoclonal antibody approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for add-on maintenance treatment of patients with severe asthma aged 18 years and older, and with an eosinophilic phenotype. One abstract, to be presented via oral presentation, is based on a post-hoc pooled analysis of two phase 3, 52-week placebo-controlled trials from the BREATH program looking at the efficacy of CINQAIR in two populations: adult patients with severe asthma and adult patients with severe asthma and greater than or equal to 2 exacerbations in the previous year to study start. Two additional abstracts, both accepted for poster presentation, will explore the efficacy of CINQAIR in patients eligible for treatment with omalizumab and the time between first dose and reduction in blood eosinophil levels, respectively. Three abstracts from the company's Health Economics and Outcomes Research group will also be presented, two of which focus primarily on the impact of severe uncontrolled asthma. The real world data presented in these abstracts highlight the unmet clinical, economic and quality of life burdens that persist with standard of care treatment. The third and final HEOR abstract will explore whether patients with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder experienced lower healthcare resource utilization when using ProAir HFA with a dose counter compared to the same product without. Teva will also present an abstract on ProAir HFA Inhalation Aerosol which examines the proportion of asthma-related Emergency Department visits made by adults who ran out of their short-acting beta-agonist inhaler before the ED visit. Finally, Teva will present one abstract comparing in-clinic vs at-home handheld spirometry testing as observed in one of the clinical trials for the investigational beclomethasone dipropionate breath-actuated inhaler.

09:05 EDT Delta Air Lines, Lyft partner on SkyMiles agreement - Delta Air Lines and rideshare company Lyft are partnering to offer SkyMiles members more opportunities to earn miles doing something they can do every day - requesting a ride. Starting today, SkyMiles members can earn miles for every Lyft ride, and for a limited time, earn bonus miles during their travel for rides to and from the airport, everywhere Lyft operates. Lyft is the exclusive rideshare partner for Delta, making SkyMiles the only major U.S. airline loyalty program to let members earn miles through any Lyft ride.

09:02 EDT Amazon introduces all new Fire 7 Kids Edition, Fire HD 8 Kids Edition - Amazon announced two new additions to its best-selling Fire tablet lineup-the all-new Fire 7 Kids Edition and all-new Fire HD 8 Kids Edition. Fire 7 Kids Edition is $99.99 and is available for pre-order today. Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is $129.99 and is available for pre-order today.

08:51 EDT Target: 'We look at M&A opportunities all the time' - Says would seek M&A to complement, strengthen core strategy vs. "out of the box." Will continue to look strategically at M&A opportunities over time.

08:38 EDT Johnson & Johnson still expects Actelion acquisition to close in Q2 - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) said that its Pharmaceutical Business Review today will include discussion of Actelion (ALIOF), though the acquisition has not yet closed. J&J reiterated that it is working with EU regulators regarding the deal and still expects the acquisition of Actelion to close in Q2.

08:36 EDT Target says not updating FY17 adjusted EPS view $3.80-$4.20, consensus $3.82 - Target (TGT) says new small format stores generating more than double the per foot sales productivity of larger format stores. Says seeing double digit comp increases on average for 10 mature small format stores so far this year. Says has experienced "very choppy trends" since end of holiday season, began seeing signs of improvement in late February. Says electronics benefited from "healthy" growth in Apple (AAPL) Watch, iPhone, says electronics delivered MSD comp sales increase, the strongest increase in three years. Says "appropriate" to continue taking "cautious" approach for rest of year. Sees FY CapEx $2B-$2.5B. Says staying "relatively cautious" on pace of share repurchases in near-term. Sees Q2 EBIT down just over $200M vs. last year. Says not updating prior guidance for FY17, notes "chance" company will finish year at high end of FY range.

08:33 EDT Xactly announces first EU data center - Xactly announced its first EU data center. The expansion is the result of Xactly's customer growth and demand in the region for its game changing sales performance management solutions. Located in Germany, the Xactly EU data center is expected to come online in December. "The opening of our first EU data center underscores our commitment to serving the needs of our global customer base," said Evan Ellis, president and coo. "The new data center will provide our customers the in-region security, availability and reliability they require, while enabling them to optimize how they motivate and drive sales performance." The data center will extend Xactly's international footprint, enabling its customers with global presence to continue to transform their sales and finance operations, while further addressing EU strict regulatory, data sovereignty and data residency requirements in the region.

08:32 EDT VOXX subsidiary partners with STANLEY Security for biometric access control - VOXX's majority owned subsidiary EyeLock has entered into a partnership with STANLEY Security to deliver EyeLock's full suite of hardware and software access control solutions to its customer base in North America.

08:30 EDT Procter & Gamble announces resignation of Patrice Louvet - In a regulatory filing, Procter & Gamble (PG) said that on May 15, Patrice Louvet, currently Group President-Global Beauty, notified the company that he is resigning from the company effective June 30, 2017. Ralph Lauren (RL) this morning announced that Louvet will become its president and CEO, effective July 17.

08:17 EDT Target: Liquidations, closings likely to divert consumer spending in near-term - Says saw "very soft" trends in late January and into February, followed by better than expected sales in March and April. Says on track for 100 remodels, addition of 30 small format stores in 2017. Says that while consumer spending growth remains strong, seeing a continued shift towards experiences, which is absorbing a meaningful portion of that growth. Sees continued pressure from competitive closings, liquidations, which Cornell says will likely divert consumer spending in near-term, though he says it represents a long-term opportunity. Says teams moving quickly to test and iterate, increase speed and offer new services like same-day delivery test at Tribeca store. Says in "early stages" of implementing merchandising and marketing efforts to improve Target's value perception. Says future of retail is "digital and physical." Target is up 7% in premarket trading.

08:09 EDT Global Payments introduces cloud-based restaurant management platform - Global Payments announced the release of Xenial. Launched by Heartland Commerce, a subsidiary of Global Payments, Xenial is "revolutionizing the restaurant industry by bringing to market a first of its kind cloud-based, operating system-agnostic global platform. Leveraging Software as a Service, Xenial delivers powerful and easy-to-use technology to restaurant operators of any size."

08:08 EDT ServiceNow acquires Qlue, invests in BuildOnMe - ServiceNow announced new investments that will apply intelligent automation to improve user experiences and process automation using virtual agent technologies across IT, HR, Customer Service and Security workflows. ServiceNow has agreed to acquire Qlue. ServiceNow plans to further increase productivity for its customers and enhance their experiences by applying artificial intelligence to routine service desk conversations with Qlue's virtual agent messaging capabilities. With this acquisition, ServiceNow expands its offerings to make everyday work more intelligent in its Intelligent Automation Engine on the Now Platform. This is an all-cash transaction expected to close this month. Financial terms were not disclosed. ServiceNow Ventures announced its investment in BuildOnMe, an early-stage company delivering artificial intelligence-enabled applications on the Now Platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

08:06 EDT NV5 Global announces $10.5M in infrastructure contracts - NV5 Global announced that it has won $10.5M in contracts for the provision of infrastructure engineering services to public agencies in New York and New Jersey. The amount includes several New York projects with delayed start dates that are now underway, including $2.25M in fees for resident engineering services and pedestrian safety studies from the New York State Department of Transportation, $2.6M from the New York City Department of Design and Construction for bridge design services, and $3M from the New York City Economic Development Corporation for on-call engineering services. NV5 also won a new $1.3M contract with the New Jersey Department of Treasury to provide design and construction administration services for facilities that support the Lincoln Tunnel, and a new $1.35M contract to provide federally funded infrastructure improvement services for the Montauk Highway in Suffolk County, New York.

08:04 EDT American Eagle sees FY17 CapEx $160M-$170M - Sees FY17 CapEx $160M-$170M, with roughly half of the spend related to store remodeling projects and new openings, and the balance to support the e-commerce business, omni-channel tools and general corporate maintenance. In fiscal 2017, the company plans to open a total of 35 American Eagle Outfitters and Aerie stores throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Management plans to close between 25 and 40 store locations in 2017. Internationally, the company plans to open 45 licensed stores and close 2 licensed locations.

08:04 EDT Blue Hills Bancorp announces 20c per share special dividend - The board of Blue Hills Bancorp declared a special dividend of 20c and a regular quarterly cash dividend of 5c per common share, payable on June 14, 2017 to stockholders of record as of May 31, 2017.

08:02 EDT Honeywell launches new investment fund focusing on early-state companies - Honeywell announced the launch of a new investment fund that will invest in early-stage, high-growth technology companies that are strategically aligned to the company's portfolio and software capabilities. The initial fund size is expected to be approximately $100M and investments will be made through Honeywell Venture Capital LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell. Honeywell Ventures will be led by Murray Grainger, who assumes the newly created role of Managing Director. Grainger joined Honeywell in 2004 and has most recently led the integration of Intelligrated, a $1.5B acquisition of a leading supply chain automation technology provider, which was completed by Honeywell in 2016.

08:01 EDT Concert Pharmaceuticals trading resumes

07:47 EDT Jacobs Engineering awarded U.S. Army contract - Jacobs Engineering Group has received the contract to support the United States Army Electronic Proving Ground Scientific and Engineering Support Services, providing test and evaluation for the Army and other Department of Defense agencies. Work will primarily be performed at Fort Huachuca with additional work at Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, Aberdeen Proving Ground and White Sands Missile Range. The contract is valued in excess of $130M over five years if all options are exercised. Under this contract, Jacobs will provide a wide variety of distributed network systems testing, cybersecurity, enterprise system testing, electromagnetic environmental effects, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, information assurance, logistics, safety and security. The contract also includes supporting developmental and operational intelligence, electronic warfare, software, cyber and biometric testing.

07:41 EDT Ituran declares cash dividend of 24c per share - Ituran Location and Control announced that the Board of Directors approved the distribution of a cash dividend in the amount of 24c per share, totaling approximately $5M. The dividend will be paid to shareholders of record as of June 27. The company will pay the dividend out on July 11 net of taxes at the rate of 25%.

07:37 EDT Qualcomm says license agreements with Apple's manufacturers 'valid, enforceable' - "It is unfortunate that we must take this action against these long-time licensees to enforce our agreements, but we cannot allow these manufacturers and Apple (AAPL) to use our valuable intellectual property without paying the fair and reasonable royalties to which they have agreed," said Don Rosenberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Qualcomm (QCOM). "As Apple continues to collect billions of dollars from consumer sales of its Qualcomm-enabled products, it is using its market power as the wealthiest company in the world to try to coerce unfair and unreasonable license terms from Qualcomm in its global attack on the company. Our license agreements with Apple's manufacturers remain valid and enforceable. The manufacturers must continue to live up to their obligations under these agreements and Apple should immediately cease its tortious interference."

07:32 EDT Qualcomm files breach of contract complaint against Apple's manufacturers - Qualcomm (QCOM) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California against FIH Mobile Ltd. and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., (HNHPF), Pegatron Corporation, Wistron Corporation, and Compal Electronics, the four manufacturers of all Apple (AAPL) iPhones and iPads sold worldwide, for breaching their license agreements and other commitments with Qualcomm and refusing to pay for use of Qualcomm's licensed technologies. Qualcomm seeks an order that would require the defendants to comply with their long-standing contractual obligations to Qualcomm, as well as declaratory relief and damages. Despite a long history of consistently paying royalties under their license agreements with Qualcomm, the manufacturers now are refusing to pay royalties on the Apple products they produce. While not disputing their contractual obligations to pay for the use of Qualcomm's inventions, the manufacturers say they must follow Apple's instructions not to pay. The license agreements with the manufacturers in many cases were entered into before Apple sold its first iPhone and Apple is not a party to the agreements. Further, the defendants are continuing to pay Qualcomm royalties for use of Qualcomm's technology in non-Apple products, under the very same agreements that apply to the Apple products. Qualcomm has already filed a separate claim against Apple for its unlawful interference with the license agreements between Qualcomm and these manufacturers.

07:28 EDT J&J CEO says competition from Amazon 'could be a good thing' for drug industry - Asked during an interview on CNBC about reports that Amazon (AMZN) could be looking to move into the sale of pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Alex Gorsky said "more competition could be a good thing" for the drug industry and prices for consumers. Gorsky was being interviewed ahead of the company's Pharmaceutical Business Review Day, which is being conducted later today.

07:08 EDT Avista reaches settlement in Oregon natural gas rate request - Avista and all other parties involved in the company's natural gas general rate filing have reached a settlement agreement that, if approved by the Public Utility Commission of Oregon, would conclude the proceedings for the general rate request filed on Nov. 30, 2016. If the settlement agreement is approved, new rates would take effect on Oct. 1. The settlement proposes that, effective Oct. 1, Avista would receive an increase in rates designed to increase its annual billed revenues by 3.7% or $3.5M. The proposed settlement agreement reflects a 9.4% return on equity and a 50% equity layer. The rate of return is 7.35%. Avista serves approximately 99,000 customers in Oregon.

07:06 EDT Valeant, Actavis to extend stay regarding Actavis' ANDA for Xifaxan generic - Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and parent Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) and Actavis Laboratories (AGN), at Actavis' request, have agreed to stay outstanding litigation and extend the 30-month stay regarding Actavis' Abbreviated New Drug application for a generic version of Xifaxan 550 mg tablets. Valeant initiated the litigation against Actavis on March 23, 2016. Additionally, Valeant filed a Citizen Petition with the U.S. FDA on Oct. 17, 2016, requesting changes to previously recommended standards for approval of generic versions of Xifaxan. On March 16, 2017, the FDA answered the Citizen Petition and issued its revised draft guidance regarding the recommended standards for approval of ANDAs for generic versions of Xifaxan. Legal action is stayed through April 30, 2018 and cannot be lifted prior to Oct. 31, 2017. All currently scheduled litigation activities, including the January 2018 trial date, have been indefinitely removed from the Court docket. The parties agree and the Court ordered that Actavis' 30-month regulatory stay shall be extended from Aug. 12, 2018 until no earlier than Feb. 12, 2019 and could be longer if the litigation stay lasts for more than 6 months.Valeant remains confident in the strength of the Xifaxan patents and will defend its intellectual property vigorously.

07:05 EDT Target repurchased 4.9M shares of common stock in Q1 - In first quarter 2017, primarily under a pre-existing trading plan implemented in 2016, the company repurchased 4.9M shares of common stock at an average price of $61.68, for a total investment of $305M. The company also paid dividends of $332M, compared with $336M in first quarter 2016.

07:02 EDT S.Y. Bancorp raises quarterly dividend 5% to 20c per share - Stock Yards Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has increased the company's quarterly cash dividend 1c or 5% to 20c per common share. The new rate will go into effect with the next payment on July 3, 2017, to stockholders of record as of June 12, 2017. Commenting on the announcement, David Heintzman, Chairman and CEO said, "We believe our stockholders place a high value on regular, reliable and growing cash dividends. With today's announcement, Stock Yards Bancorp has raised its quarterly dividend rate a total of 10 times since the beginning of 2012, including two increases in each of the past three years, resulting in a cumulative increase of 58%. We are pleased the company's strong financial performance continues to provide a solid foundation for this growth, and we welcome the opportunity to allow our stockholders to participate in our progress in a direct and tangible way."

06:50 EDT Johnson & Johnson will announce plans to launch 10 new products in 2017-2021 - At a meeting today with industry analysts, senior leaders of Johnson & Johnson and its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies will announce plans to launch or file for regulatory approval more than 10 new products with blockbuster potential between 2017 and 2021, as well as 50-plus line extensions of existing and new medicines that will bring the company's transformational medicines to an even broader patient population. The company will also share its plans to continue driving sustainable growth by leveraging its strong portfolio of core blockbuster products, the industry-leading productivity of its innovation model, and the pending acquisition of Swiss-based biotech company Actelion.

06:36 EDT Target reports Q1 gross margin 30.5% vs. 30.9% a year ago - Reflecting increased digital channel fulfillment costs. First quarter SG&A expense rate was 19.6% in 2017, compared with 19.4% in 2016, reflecting the impact of higher compensation and marketing expenses, partially offset by continued expense discipline across the organization.

06:34 EDT Target CEO says Q1 performance 'better than our expectations' - "Target's first quarter financial performance was better than our expectations, reflecting strong execution by our team as they delivered for our guests in a very choppy environment. After starting the quarter with very soft trends, we saw improvement later in the quarter, particularly in March," said Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target. "We are in the early stage of a multi-year effort to position Target for profitable, consistent long-term growth, and while we are confident in our plans, we are facing multiple headwinds in the current landscape. As a result, we will continue to plan our business prudently while preparing our team to chase business when we have an opportunity."

06:31 EDT Target reports Q1 SSS down 1.3% - Driven by small declines in both traffic and basket size.

06:07 EDT Nasdaq announces launch of Nasdaq Analytics Hub - Nasdaq yesterday announced the launch of the "Nasdaq Analytics Hub," a new platform that provides the buy side with investment signals that are derived from structured and unstructured data, and unique to Nasdaq. The platform analyzes social media sentiment, central bank communications, retail sentiment, technical factors, and event based signals. "The Nasdaq Analytics Hub reflects our partner-based approach of collaborating with key start-ups - like Lucena Research - to apply machine intelligence on proprietary and third party data sets to create new signals that investors may not have been able to access on their own," said Terry Wade, SVP and Head of Business Development and Product of Global Information Services, Nasdaq. "We've implemented a rigorous process whereby we use machine intelligence to normalize, validate and back-test the data to ensure the resulting outputs translate into multiple real-life investment use cases."

05:53 EDT Canadian Natural announces NCIB - Canadian Natural Resources announced that Toronto Stock Exchange has accepted notice filed by Canadian Natural of its intention to make a Normal Course Issuer Bid through the facilities of Toronto Stock Exchange or other alternative Canadian trading systems. Purchases may also be made through the facilities of the New York Stock Exchange. The notice provides that Canadian Natural may, during the 12 month period commencing May 23, 2017 and ending May 22, 2018, purchase for cancellation up to 27,931,135 shares, being 2.5% of the 1,117,245,428 outstanding common shares as at May 12, 2017. Canadian Natural will not acquire more than 25% of the average daily trading volume of its common shares during a trading day, being 591,186 common shares subject to certain prescribed exceptions. The price which Canadian Natural will pay for any such shares will be the market price at the time of acquisition. The actual number of common shares that may be purchased and the timing of any such purchases will be determined by Canadian Natural.

05:47 EDT ResMed plans to renew patent infringement case against Fisher & Paykel - ResMed today issued the following statement from David Pendarvis, the company's global general counsel and Chief Administrative Officer: "ResMed filed a motion to dismiss the current International Trade Commission (ITC) complaint so that we can refile and incorporate additional evidence generated since the original complaint was filed. We believe this will make our strong case even stronger, and we remain confident in our position in the ITC. ResMed's innovations have transformed the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing. We're committed to protecting our innovation, which is why we've engaged in global legal proceedings with Fisher & Paykel."

05:40 EDT Cognizant, Dexia in exclusive talks for future collaboration - European banking group Dexia and Cognizant announced that they have signed a Letter of Intent relating to exclusive discussions regarding a long-term agreement for Cognizant to become Dexia's strategic provider of information technology and business process services for capital markets and credit operations in France and Belgium. Under the proposed agreement, Cognizant will enable Dexia to digitally transform its operations at enterprise scale by simplifying, modernising, optimising and further securing Dexia's technology infrastructure, including implementing a managed services platform for credit operations. Cognizant will leverage its deep financial services expertise and broad capabilities in areas such as process automation and data analytics to improve Dexia's operational efficiency and cost savings, while enabling its operations to remain compliant with existing and future regulations. Cognizant will also create a foundation for efficient adoption of emerging technologies in Dexia's broader portfolio. Additionally, drawing on the expertise of both companies, Cognizant and Dexia will build a new platform to run the bank's credit operations, spanning functions such as transaction settlements, clearances and records maintenance. The human resources dimension of the agreement is an essential element of the future collaboration.

05:35 EDT Integra LifeSciences announces European launch of IDRT Single Layer 'Thin' - Integra LifeSciences announced that it has launched in Europe Integra Dermal Regeneration Template, or IDRT, Single Layer "Thin" for dermal repair defects reconstruction in "one-step" procedure. Integra Dermal Regeneration Template Single Layer "Thin" will be marketed by Integra's European Tissue Technologies sales organization in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and by Integra's Canada and Latin America Sales organization later this year.

05:30 EDT Ballard Power enters partnership with Kenworth - Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) today announced that the company's FCveloCity-HD 85-kilowatt fuel cell engine will power a hybrid class 8 drayage truck built by Kenworth Truck Company, a PACCAR (PCAR) company. The drayage truck is planned to haul shipping containers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to area warehouses and intermodal facilities during a two-year demonstration program. The fuel cell engine in the Kenworth truck will be used to recharge onboard lithium-ion batteries, which power a dual-rotor electric motor to drive the rear tandem axle through a 4-speed automated transmission. The truck will have an electric-only range of approximately 30 miles, and onboard hydrogen fuel will provide sufficient range for a full day in regional haul applications.

05:21 EDT Bombardier signs new six-year agreement with IBM - Bombardier (BDRBF) announced that it reached a long-term partnership agreement with IBM (IBM) to support the global integration of Information Technology services across Bombardier Transportation and the company's aerospace segments. The new six-year deal valued at approximately $700M spans 47 countries and is expected to generate recurring savings, providing a solid foundation to drive efficiency within Bombardier's global IT organization.