Stockwinners Market Radar for December 20, 2017 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:10 EDT Align Technology terminates Invisalign interoperability contract with 3Shape - Align Technology announced that due to 3Shape's infringing conduct and the resulting litigation against Shape A/S of Copenhagen, Denmark and 3Shape Inc. of Warren N.J., the company terminated its Invisalign interoperability contract with 3Shape and will no longer be able to accept digital scans for new Invisalign treatment and/or retention cases from TRIOS scanners in the United States, effective January 31, 2018. Doctors who need to submit additional TRIOS scans for an existing Invisalign case will still be able to do so. Because the current lawsuits involve only U.S. patents, this litigation does not affect non-U.S. Invisalign customers. As a result, we will continue to accept digital scans for new Invisalign treatment and/or retention cases from TRIOS scanners outside of the U.S.

18:35 EDT Alarm.com to replace Interactive Brokers in S&P 600 at open on 1/2

18:35 EDT Corcept Therapeutics to replace Gigamon in S&P 600 at open on 12/27

18:00 EDT Celanese announces acetyl intermediates price increases - Celanese Corporation will increase list and off-list selling prices for the following acetyl intermediates products. The price increases will be effective January 1, 2018, or as contracts otherwise allow, and are incremental to any previously announced increases.

17:58 EDT Washington Federal to accelerate strategic investments, increase tech staff 25% - Washington Federal announced with the signing of tax reform legislation, the Bank will accelerate strategic investments in its employees, client service capabilities and community development funding. Specifically, effective when the bill becomes law all Washington Federal employees in good standing and earning less than $100,000 per year will receive a 5% increase on top of their normal merit increase. In addition, a substantial investment will be made in the training and development of all employees, enabling them to upgrade their skills to more effectively compete in today's rapidly changing business environment. The training will focus on leadership, technology, and client service skills. Additionally, Washington Federal will accelerate its planned investment in technology infrastructure to improve the client experience and create efficiencies that will keep the overall cost of our products and services low. Important upgrades to the Bank's online consumer and commercial banking platforms will be undertaken and, consistent with the changing ways our clients transact business, new investments will also include the establishment of a second technology hub in Boise, Idaho and an increase in technology staff of 25%.

17:34 EDT On The Fly: After Hours Movers - HIGHER: Veritone (VERI), up 8.9% after it acquired the advanced data analytics software and related intellectual property assets of Atigeo Corporation... Accenture (ACN), up 0.8% after it announced a collaboration with Roche (RHHBY) to enhance digital healthcare for cancer patients. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), down 6.6%... Advaxis (ADXS), down 2.9%... Herman Miller (MLHR), down 0.7%. ALSO LOWER: PG&E (PCG), down 10.5% after it suspended its quarterly dividend, citing uncertainty related to the California wildfires.

17:30 EDT Aeterna Zentaris trading resumes

17:17 EDT Accenture, Roche, collaborate enhance digital healthcare for cancer patients - Accenture (ACN) announced a collaborative services agreement with Roche (RHHBY). Under the terms of this exclusive multi-year agreement, Accenture will provide digital data integration services to Roche's NAVIFY Tumor Board solution. A tumor board is a meeting in which multi-disciplinary healthcare teams review and discuss individual cancer patient cases and available treatment options. The NAVIFY Tumor Board solution streamlines and standardizes the tumor board workflow process by aggregating relevant patient data from disparate IT systems into a software solution that fosters efficient team collaboration, reduces errors, and gives the care team more time to evaluate individual patient cases. The data integration capabilities Accenture provides will allow Roche to integrate patient data between hospitals and the NAVIFY Tumor Board solution to support clinicians in arriving at the best possible treatment decisions for their patients. The NAVIFY Tumor Board solution is built on a secure cloud platform.

17:15 EDT Bed Bath & Beyond plans to relaunch price match promise in near-term - Says in the early stages of rolling out Decorist services to boost design. Says new design format plans for stores beginning in March 2018. Comments taken from Q3 earnings call.

17:10 EDT Oshkosh awarded $100.1M government contract modification - Oshkosh Defense was awarded a $100,132,959 modification to contract W56HZV-15-C-0095 for 258 joint light tactical vehicles and 1,727 kits. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2019. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 other procurement; procurement; and Office of Chief Army Reserve funds in the combined amount of $100,132,959 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

17:07 EDT Northrop Grumman awarded $110M government contract - Northrop Grumman has been awarded an $110,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the gray wolf science and technology demonstration effort. The contract provides for the design, development, manufacture, and testing of prototype affordable cruise missiles to advance networked collaborative operations technologies for defeat of enemy integrated air defense systems. Work will be performed in Redondo Beach, California, with an expected completion date of Dec. 17, 2024. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $3,014,590 are being obligated at the time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition, and seven offers received. Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.

17:03 EDT SCPSC denies SCE&G motion to dismiss, orders hearing over rate relief request - The Public Service Commission of South Carolina, or SCPSC, as part of its regularly scheduled business meeting, denied South Carolina Electric & Gas Company's, principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation, Motion to Dismiss and ordered that a hearing be set on the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff's request for rate relief which seeks to implement an immediate rate reduction of SCE&G's electric retail revenues by approximately $445M annually. In addition, the SCPSC ordered the ORS to perform a thorough inspection and audit, within 30 days, to determine the reasonableness of SCE&G's retail electric rates and to address SCE&G's statements regarding the potential effect that the removal of these revenues, as requested by the ORS, could have on SCE&G. The SCPSC also consolidated the Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club docket with the ORS's request.

16:59 EDT New York Times: Thrush to resume work, won't cover White House - The New York Times said that political reporter Glenn Thrush will remain suspended until late January and then be removed from the team covering the White House after he faced allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. The decision came a month after the website Vox published a report that contained allegations from four female journalists of inappropriate behavior by Thrush. After learning Vox planned to run its article, which was published on Nov. 20, The Times began an investigation into Thrush's conduct. Reference Link

16:47 EDT Intracoastal Capital reports 9.99% passive stake in VistaGen Therapeutics

16:37 EDT M&T Bank names Rene Jones as Chairman and CEO, Richard Gold as COO - M&T Bank announced today that Rene Jones has been appointed Chairman and CEO of M&T and its principal banking subsidiary, M&T Bank. He was also elected to the board of directors of both M&T and M&T Bank. Jones succeeds M&T's longtime Chairman and CEO Robert Wilmers, who died suddenly and unexpectedly at home on Saturday, December 16. Also, M&T named Richard Gold President and COO of M&T and M&T Bank. Gold was also elected to the board of both M&T and M&T Bank.

16:34 EDT B. Riley Financial exercises $36M option in shares of Select Interior Concepts - B. Riley Financial's wholly-owned subsidiary B. Riley FBR has exercised its 30-day option to purchase an additional 3 million shares in its previously announced private placement for Select Interior Concepts. B. Riley FBR priced a total of 21.75 million shares of common stock at $12 per share, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds of $261M. The $36M over-allotment option closed on December 20.

16:32 EDT N3B joint venture awarded Los Alamos legacy cleanup contract - Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced that the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded the Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract to Newport News Nuclear BWXT Los Alamos, LLC, a joint venture led by SN3, part of HII's Technical Solutions division, with partner BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT). The work will be conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration's Los Alamos National Laboratory, a 36-square mile site in Los Alamos county about 25 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The total value of the contract is $1.39B. The period of performance includes a 90-day Contract Transition Period, Base Period of five years, Option Period 1 for three years and Option Period 2 for two years, with a total period of performance of up to 10 years and three months. The contract primarily includes a cost-plus-award-fee line item with a cost-reimbursement line item for transition and an indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity line item.

16:27 EDT Bed Bath & Beyond down 3% in after hours trading following earnings

16:25 EDT Douglas Emmett announces acquisition of office property for $143.6M - Douglas Emmett announced the acquisition of 9401 Wilshire Boulevard, a 146,300 square foot Class "A" office property for $143.6M. This acquisition increases Douglas Emmett's ownership share of the Beverly Hills Class "A" office market to over 27%, the company stated.

16:21 EDT Diplomat Pharmacy announces completion of acquisition of LDI Integrated Pharmacy - Diplomat Pharmacy announced it has completed its acquisition of Leehar Distributors doing business as LDI Integrated Pharmacy Services, from Nautic Partners, LLC; Oak HC/FT Partners, L.P.; and LDI management. Diplomat has also entered into new $800M senior secured credit facilities. Joel Saban, president of Diplomat, said the acquisition better positions the company to meet growing demand-especially from small and midsize health insurers, third-party administrators, and self-insured organizations-as it evolves from a specialty pharmacy provider to a broader health care company.

16:18 EDT Verifone names Ronald Black, Larry Klane to board of directors - Verifone (PAY) announced the appointment of Dr. Ronald Black and Mr. Larry Klane to its board of directors. The two appointees will become directors of Verifone effective immediately. Additionally, the company announced that Eitan Raff has resigned effective yesterday, following a 10-year tenure as a member of Verifone's board. Ronald Black has led Rambus Inc. as its Chief Executive Officer, President and a member of the board of directors since June 2012. Larry A. Klane is a Co-Founding Principal at Pivot Investment Partners LLC.

16:16 EDT Independence Holding raises semi-annual cash dividend 67% to 10c per share - Independence Holding Company reported declaration of its semi-annual cash dividend of 10c per share of common stock, payable to stockholders of record on January 2, 2018, with a payment date of January 16, 2018. The dividend reflects a 67% increase from the last declared dividend. This increase in the dividend is larger than that announced in October.

16:12 EDT Scientific Games announces shareholder approval for acquisition of NYX Gaming - Scientific Games and NYX Gaming Group announced that the previously announced acquisition of NYX by Scientific Games by way of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement was approved by an overwhelming vote of NYX shareholders. With this shareholder approval, the acquisition remains scheduled to close in early January, the companies stated.

16:08 EDT Horizon Global receives full payment from Hopkins Manufacturer patent dispute - Horizon Global subsidiary Horizon Global Americas and Hopkins Manufacturing Corporation have agreed to resolve their four year old dispute over patent rights to their electronic brake controllers. Under the agreement, Hopkins will pay Horizon for a fully paid license on the patented brake controllers that were the subject of the lawsuit. The parties will execute mutual releases with the specific terms remaining confidential.

16:07 EDT CommScope names Morgan Kurk COO, replaces Randy Crenshaw - Morgan Kurk has been named executive VP and COO of CommScop. Kurk, currently CTO for the company, replaces Randy Crenshaw, who is retiring December 31 after 32 years with CommScope. In this operational role, effective January 1, Kurk will provide executive leadership for CommScope's Mobility Solutions and Connectivity Solutions segments, and global supply chain and office of technology organizations.

16:03 EDT PetroQuest entering Central Louisiana oil play - PetroQuest is entering into an oil focused play in central Louisiana targeting the Austin Chalk formation through the execution of agreements to acquire interests in approximately 24,600 gross acres. The leasehold acquisition costs were funded by $8.75M in proceeds from the sale of certain of the company's water disposal assets in East Texas, approximately $6M of cash on hand and the issuance of 2 million shares of the company's common stock. The company plans to drill its initial horizontal test well during 2Q18. The emerging Austin Chalk play is expected to complement the company's growing East Texas operations.

15:59 EDT Fifth Third offers pay increase or bonus to 75% of employees - Fifth Third Bancorp announced plans to raise its minimum hourly wage for all employees to $15 and distribute a one-time bonus of $1,000 for more than 13,500 employees. Approximately 75% of employees will receive a pay increase or bonus. Once tax legislation is signed into law, nearly 3,000 hourly employees will see their pay increase to $15 an hour. The one-time $1,000 bonus is expected to be distributed by the end of the year, assuming the president signs the bill before Christmas. Senior managers and executive leadership are excluded from this compensation.

15:29 EDT Bristol-Myers says FDA approves Opdivo - Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Opdivo injection for intravenous use for the adjuvant treatment of patients with melanoma with involvement of lymph nodes or metastatic disease who have undergone complete resection. The purpose of adjuvant therapy is to reduce the risk of recurrence following surgical removal of the tumor and lymph nodes that contain cancer. In the Phase 3 CheckMate -238 trial, Opdivo significantly improved recurrence-free survival versus an active comparator, Yervoy, in patients with stage IIIB/C or stage IV melanoma after surgery. This benefit was observed across important subgroups, including in both BRAF mutant and BRAF wild-type patients. Opdivo is the first and only agent approved for the adjuvant treatment of melanoma based on a head-to-head trial against an active comparator with a proven overall survival benefit. "Today's approval builds on our leadership in melanoma, offering physicians a new option with the potential to change the course of the disease through earlier intervention. Opdivo is the first PD-1 inhibitor approved as an adjuvant treatment for any cancer," said Johanna Mercier, head, U.S. Commercial, Bristol-Myers Squibb. "Our decision to study Opdivo versus Yervoy - an established standard of care with a proven survival benefit - represents our relentless pursuit to bring more effective treatments to patients."

15:20 EDT Spectrum poziotinib NSCLC trial 'not recruiting,' ClinicalTrials.gov shows - According to a post to the ClinicalTrials.gov site that was last updated on December 18, 2017, a clinical trial sponsored by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals to study poziotinib in EGFR Exon 20 mutant advanced non-small cell lung cancer is "active, not recruiting." Up to 80 participants will be enrolled in this study, and there are 55 actual participants enrolled, the posting shows. Reference Link

14:41 EDT Morningstar reports November U.S. mutual fund, ETF asset flows - Morningstar reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund asset flows for November 2017. In November, investors placed $16.6B into U.S. equity passive funds compared with October's $27.6B inflow. On the active front, investors pulled $17.9B out of U.S. equity funds, compared with $18.8B in the previous month. Morningstar estimates net flow for mutual funds by computing the change in assets not explained by the performance of the fund and net flow for ETFs by computing the change in shares outstanding.

14:23 EDT FDA posts approval of Merck diabetes treatment Steglujan - Reference Link

14:12 EDT AT&T cites tax reform in plans to increase U.S. capital spending $1B - Once tax reform is signed into law, AT&T plans to invest an additional $1B in the United States in 2018, the company announced. AT&T also said it will pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees - all union-represented, non-management and front-line managers. "If the President signs the bill before Christmas, employees will receive the bonus over the holidays," stated the company, with CEO Randall Stephenson adding, "This tax reform will drive economic growth and create good-paying jobs."

13:47 EDT Chipotle says 'no clinical validation' associated with new illness reports - Following a media report saying public health officials are investigating a potential illness outbreak tied to a Los Angeles restaurant, a spokesperson for Chipotle told The Fly: "We take any report of illness very seriously. We are aware of a few reports - two of which appear to be the same - on user generated reporting sites but there is no clinical validation associated with those reports, and we have not been contacted by customers directly to substantiate these claims. We have also not been made aware of any illness reports made to local health officials. As a precautionary measure, we have implemented heightened preventative procedures at this restaurant, which we do as a matter of policy if we ever receive reports of illness - even if they are not substantiated." In afternoon trading, shares of Chipotle have dropped about 3% to $304.11.

13:08 EDT Baidu, Xiongan New Area sign strategic agreement to develop smart city - Baidu and the Administrative Committee of Xiongan New Area in China's Hebei province have signed a strategic collaboration agreement to develop the new economic zone into a smart city powered by intelligent transport, the application of conversational AI, and cloud computing infrastructure. Xiongan New Area will be developed into an "AI City", which will become a new model for smart cities in the future. In addition, Baidu and the government of Hebei announced a plan to jointly establish a national AI lab to boost the development of AI research. In April 2017, China announced plans to establish Xiongan New Area, a new economic zone about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing aimed at driving growth of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Baidu will leverage its capabilities in AI, big data, autonomous driving and cloud computing to develop Xiongan into a model smart city with intelligent services in various areas including transportation, education, security, healthcare, environmental protection, robo-advisory services and the smart home. Baidu will also work with Xiongan to establish AI pilot projects for smart public transportation and autonomous driving.

13:05 EDT IntercontinentalExchange files to list and trade Bitcoin ETF with SEC - IntercontinentalExchange filed a proposed rule change under NYSE Arca Rule 8.200-E, Commentary .02 with the SEC to list and trade shares of ProShares Bitcoin exchange traded fund and the ProShares Short Bitcoin exchange traded fund. The Exchange proposes to list and trade the shares under NYSE Arca. Reference Link

13:00 EDT Boeing cites tax law passage for 'immediate' addition of $300M in investments - Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg praised the tax bill passed by Congress and about to be signed into law as a "critical driver of business, economic growth and innovation for the United States and for Boeing," adding that, "On behalf of all of our stakeholders, we applaud and thank Congress and the administration for their leadership in seizing this opportunity to unleash economic energy in the United States." While Boeing is still studying all of the provisions of the new legislation, Muilenburg announced immediate commitments for an additional $300M in investments that will move forward as a result of the new tax law, including $100M for corporate giving, $100M for workforce development and $100M for "workplace of the future" facilities and infrastructure enhancements.

12:28 EDT Chipotle slides after yet another health scare - Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) are sliding following a media report saying public health officials are investigating a potential illness outbreak tied to a Los Angeles restaurant. The investigation comes after customers complained of vomiting and diarrhea. POSSIBLE ILLNESS OUTBREAK: According to a report by Business Insider, public health officials are investigating a possible illness outbreak tied to yet another Chipotle restaurant. The Los Angeles Health Department's Acute Communicable Disease Control unit said it "is aware of reports of illness and is investigating," the publication noted. While Chipotle has also confirmed that it is aware of the reports tied to its Pico Boulevard location, the company said it had not heard from any customers directly, Business Insider added. "As a precautionary measure, we have implemented heightened sanitization measures at this restaurant, which we do as a matter of policy if ever we receive reports of illness - even if they are not substantiated," said Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman. WHAT'S NOTABLE: On November 29, Chipotle announced it had begun to search for a new chief executive officer. Once the search is compete, Chipotle founder Steve Ells said he will focus primarily on innovation. Chipotle has faced several foodborne illness outbreaks since 2015. PRICE ACTION: In afternoon trading, Chipotle has dropped almost 3% to about $305 per share.

12:01 EDT Overstock.com portfolio company Bitt launches blockchain mobile money app - Bitt recently launched its new mMoney digital payment product in Barbados. Overstock.com's blockchain investment vehicle Medici Ventures owns stock and options on 34.8% of Bitt. Under the mMoney brand, Bitt is bringing to market a blockchain-based mobile wallet that allows users to participate in digital transactions on their smartphones from a secure account. The accounts will be 100% backed by segregated funds in appropriate currencies in Bitt's custody.

11:42 EDT Planet Payment acquired by Fintrax Group in deal worth $257M - Fintrax Group announces it has acquired Planet Payment, a provider of international and multi-currency processing services, in a deal worth EUR219M, or $257M. Eurazeo, a global investment company listed in Paris, is contributing EUR109M to the financing of this acquisition as the majority shareholder in Fintrax since 2015. BofA Merrill Lynch served as financial advisor and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as legal counsel to Fintrax. FT Partners served as financial advisor and Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal counsel to Planet Payment.

11:31 EDT Baidu says DU Recorder has surpassed 35M users worldwide - Baidu announced that its smartphone screen recording app DU Recorder has surpassed 35 million users worldwide. In addition to reaching this milestone, DU Recorder has also launched an iOS version of the app. The DU Recorder team has shared the following facts and figures about the app's growth and usage: Every day, over 2 million videos are recorded on DU Recorder worldwide. Twenty-seven percent of videos shared by DU Recorder users are shared on YouTube, and 20 percent are shared on WhatsApp. The rest are shared across a variety of different platforms and services. 70,000 YouTube live streamers regularly use DU Recorder to stream games, broadcasting nearly 40,000 live streams every day. DU Recorder's top markets are India, Brazil, Indonesia and the U.S.

11:25 EDT Harleysville Financial says CEO Ronald Geib to retire, continue as chairman - The Board of Directors of Harleysville Financial Corporation announced that Ronald B. Geib, CEO, will retire from active management of the company and Bank as CEO on March 30, 2018. He will continue as a board member and as Chairman of both the corporation and the Bank. The company's Board of Directors unanimously approved Brendan J. McGill, current President and COO to succeed Geib as CEO effective March 31, 2018. McGill joined the Bank in September, 1999 as Senior Vice President, CFO and Treasurer.

11:11 EDT Coinbase investigating staff over Bitcoin Cash price surge - Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said, "Today we announced support for Bitcoin Cash. It appears the price of Bitcoin Cash on other exchanges increased in the hours before our announcement. While digital currency prices fluctuate quite a lot and we have no indication of any wrongdoing at this time, I wanted to share a few thoughts with our customers...We've had a trading policy in place for some time at Coinbase. The policy prohibits employees and contractors from trading on 'material non-public information' such as when a new asset will be added to our platform. In addition to trading restrictions, it prohibits communication of material non-public information outside the company...Our launch of Bitcoin Cash is no exception to this. All Coinbase employees and contractors were explicitly prohibited from trading Bitcoin Cash and from disclosing our launch plans over a month ago. This was communicated multiple times via multiple channels to employees. For instance, I made sure it was emphasized at our Friday Q&A sessions, and in emails sent to all employees. I view it as a key part of my job to set the tone from the top about how we all must act to ensure success. The trading restriction, which applies to all personal trading activity on any platform, remains in effect now. I take the confidentiality of material non-public information very seriously as CEO. Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter. If we find evidence of any employee or contractor violating our policies, directly or indirectly, I will not hesitate to terminate the employee immediately and take appropriate legal action." Reference Link

11:05 EDT UBS says Target stands to benefit from potential Toys"R"Us closures - Shares of retailers Target (TGT) and Wal-Mart (WMT) are in focus after a report that Toys"R"Us is mulling the closure of at least 100 stores, with an analyst saying that Target could be the biggest winner. TOYS"R"US WEIGHS CLOSURES: After filing for Chapter 11, bankruptcy in September, Toys"R"Us is considering shuttering at least 100 U.S. stores amid a roughly 15% decline in U.S. sales during the holiday shopping season for a year earlier, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The company, which operated 879 U.S. retail locations at the end of January, could potentially close as many as 200 stores. "Final decisions about our real estate portfolio will be done only after careful consideration about the best interests of our business," said spokeswoman Amy von Walter. "Any speculation on that figure is premature and likely to be inaccurate." The move deals a blow to Mattel (MAT) and Hasbro (HAS) which are major suppliers to the toy retailer, which was acquired by private equity firms KKR (KKR) and Bain as well as real estate firm Vornado (VNO) over a decade ago. CLOSURES POSITIVE FOR TARGET: In a research note on Tuesday, UBS analyst Arpine Kocharyan said he found that Toys"R"US has 183 stores withing a 15-minute drive of at least one other location and predicted that the company would close 2%-3%, or 17, of its stores in a best-case scenario and 63%, or 556, stores in a worst-case scenario. The analyst said Target stands to take share from the potential closures as 630 Toys"R"Us stores are within a 15-minute drive of the retailer's footprint. He added that Wal-Mart has similar positioning to Target with approximately 553 and 304 stores within 15-minute drives of Wal-Mart Supercenters and Wal-Mart's footprints, but the closures will likely impact Target more heavily than Walmart given its smaller relative size. TOY MAKER IMPACT: Jefferies analyst Stephanie Wissink noted in September that the top three retailers most exposed to Toys"R"Us are Mattel, Hasbro and JAKKS Pacific (JAKK). Toys"R"Us made up 11%, 9% and 15%, of Hasbro, Mattel and JAKKS revenue in 2016, respectively, Wissink told clients. In a December 11 regulatory filing, Mattel said its holiday sales were negatively impacted by key retail partners, saying, "Based on preliminary quarter-to-date data for the fourth quarter, Mattel currently anticipates its gross sales during Q4 will continue to be negatively impacted by key retail partners moving toward tighter inventory management and by challenges in the Toy Box and certain underperforming brands. Due to these factors, Mattel expects its full year 2017 gross sales will decline by a percentage in at least the mid-to-high single digits compared to 2016." When reporting third quarter earnings in October, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner said, "As a result of the Toys "R"Us bankruptcy filing in the U.S. and Canada, there was a negative impact on our quarterly revenues and operating profit... We continue to work closely with Toys"R"Us as we head into the holiday period. Given our new view to the holiday based on Toys"R"Us and the economic outlook in certain markets, our updated expectation is fourth quarter revenues will increase in a range of 4% to 7% versus the fourth quarter 2016." UBS' Kocharyan said yesterday that under a best case scenario in which Toys"R"Us closes 21% of U.S. stores, Mattel and Hasbro would see fiscal year 2018 sales impacts of negative 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively. Under a worst case scenario in which the company closes 63% of stores, the impact would be negative 4% for Mattel and negative 3%-4% for Hasbro. PRICE ACTION: Target rose 1.75% to $65.18 and Wal-Mart was up fractionally to $98.82 in morning trading, while Hasbro rose 0.4% to $92.00, Mattel was up 0.62% to $15.19 and JAKKS rose 4% to $2.60.

10:37 EDT CINFS appears to be fraudulent, dealing with 'sham' counterparties, Block says - Carson Block of Muddy Waters calls CINFS a "Classic China fraud" while speaking on Bloomberg TV about his newly announced short position in the stock.

10:33 EDT CINFS named as short by Muddy Waters - Carson Block of Muddy Waters is being interviewed on Bloomberg TV.

10:18 EDT ArcelorMittal to pay $1.5M penalty to settle Clean Air Act violations - The United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have settled a federal court case against ArcelorMittal Monessen LLC, involving alleged Clean Air Act violations at AMM's coke plant in Monessen, Pennsylvania. The proposed consent decree, filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, resolves a joint federal-state complaint against AMM, which is a subsidiary of ArcelorMittal. Under the settlement, AMM will pay a $1.5M penalty divided equally between the U.S. and Pennsylvania, and implement an estimated $2 million in air pollution controls to limit particulate and sulfur compound emissions. The complaint alleges Clean Air Act violations based on inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, as well as follow-up requests for information. The alleged violations include excessive emissions of particulate matter from industrial operations.

10:11 EDT BAE Systems receives $45M contract from U.S. Navy to modernize USS Anzio - BAE Systems has received a $45.3M contract from the U.S. Navy to modernize the guided missile cruiser USS Anzio.The Anzio will undergo six months of work at the company's shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, the ship's homeport. The contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $53.1M. BAE Systems will perform ship alterations and miscellaneous repairs aboard the 567-foot-long Anzio, including the replacement of critical aluminium structures. The work is expected to begin in February and be completed in August 2018. The company's Norfolk shipyard currently is performing the same long-term modernization work aboard the USS Vicksburg.

10:01 EDT Comtech unit receives $1.5M contract for satellite equipment spares - Comtech Telecommunications announced that during its second quarter of fiscal 2018, its Orlando, Florida-based subsidiary, Comtech Systems, Inc., which is part of Comtech's Government Solutions segment, has received an additional $1.5M contract from the Brazilian Military for satellite spares to support an existing system.

09:39 EDT UniFirst names Shane O'Connor SVP and CFO, effective January 5 - UniFirst Corporation announced that its Board of Directors has named Shane O'Connor as the company's next SVP and CFO, effective January 5, 2018. O'Connor worked at UniFirst from 2005 - 2016, most recently in the role of Corporate Controller which he was promoted to in 2009. In 2016, O'Connor left UniFirst to take the role of SVP and CFO at Unidine Corporation. O'Connor rejoins UniFirst to fill the role of CFO, previously held by UniFirst's President and Chief Executive Officer, Steven Sintros.

09:30 EDT Tronox to continue engagement with EU regarding planned purchase of Cristal TiO2 - Tronox Limited confirmed that the European Commission has initiated a Phase II review of the company's planned acquisition of the titanium dioxide business of Cristal, a privately held global chemical and mining company headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The commission would have up to 90 working days, a period that may be extended or shortened, to make a final decision on whether the proposed transaction would significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area. Tronox CEO Jeffry N. Quinn said: "We remain actively engaged with representatives of the European Commission as they continue their analysis of our planned acquisition of Cristal's TiO2 business. We believe this highly synergistic acquisition will enhance competition in the global TiO2 industry and benefit our customers around the world. We look forward to our ongoing engagement with the Commission to secure approval for this transaction in a timely manner."The transaction has been unconditionally cleared in Australia, China, New Zealand, Turkey, South Korea and Colombia. Reviews in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are ongoing.

09:27 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: BlackBerry (BB), up 7.4%... General Mills (GIS), up 1.2%... FedEx (FDX), up 2.7%... Winnebago (WGO), up fractionally. ALSO HIGHER: Arrowhead (ARWR), up 3.7% after filing for regulatory clearance to start ARO-AAT study. LOWER: Actuant (ATU), down 5.7% after reporting quarterly results... Catalyst Biosciences (CBIO), down 4.4% after it announced a common stock offering.. Red Hat (RHT), down 2.2% after reporting quarterly results.

09:16 EDT FinTech to acquire Intermex for $260M in cash and stock - Intermex Holdings and FinTech Acquisition announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement with Intermex's owner, Stella Point Capital, whereby FinTech will acquire Intermex and will be renamed Intermex Wire Transfer. The merged company is expected to continue to be listed on the Nasdaq. Post transaction, Robert Lisy, President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and the rest of the existing Intermex management team will continue to lead the company. FinTech will acquire Intermex for aggregate consideration of approximately $260M comprised of approximately $99M in cash and approximately $161M in FNTE common stock. FinTech will also repay approximately $20M in debt outstanding under Intermex's existing credit facility in connection with the merger. The merger is expected to close in Q2 of 2018.

09:15 EDT Seven Stars Cloud Group announces 27% purchase of DBOT - Seven Stars Cloud Group announced a 27% purchase of The Delaware Board of Trade Holdings, a blockchain based Alternative Trading System fully licensed by the SEC, for 1,627,869 shares of SSC common stock. The transaction will make SSC the largest shareholder of DBOT and as part of the purchase deal, SSC President and Chief Revenue Officer, Robert G. Benya, will become a DBOT Board Director.

09:08 EDT L3 Technologies awarded $150M contract for night and thermal imaging tech - L3 Technologies announced that it has been awarded an approximately $150M contract from an international country to provide night vision equipment with next-generation accuracy, including L3's Binocular Night Vision Goggles, Holographic Weapon Sights, Light Weapon Thermal Sights and Advanced Target Pointer Illuminator Aiming Lasers. Under this contract L3 will deliver solutions that enable dismounted soldiers to better locate and target operational threats at night and in adverse weather conditions. The breadth of products delivered under this contract includes aiming and illumination devices, image-intensified systems and thermal imaging systems. Work on this contract will be performed by L3's Warrior Sensor Systems sector, which is part of the company's Sensor Systems business segment.

09:04 EDT Intersect Power wins 150 MW PPA from Austin Energy - Intersect Power announced the award of a power purchase agreement from Austin Energy for a 150 MWac photovoltaic solar project expected to reach commercial operation in 2020. Intersect Power, through its IPREH joint venture with Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation, is developing this 150 MWac project with the capacity to upsize to 180 MWac. Located in West Texas, Intersect Power has an approximate 1700 acre land lease and ERCOT interconnection for this project.

09:03 EDT Lockheed Martin receives U.S. Air Force contract with $961M ceiling - The U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to provide sustainment and upgrades for its fleet of 683 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods. Valued at up to $961M, the five-year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract allows the Air Force to place orders for logistics, spares, software and sensor enhancements, among other activities.

09:01 EDT Emerson reports November trailing three-month orders up 16% - In a regulatory filing earlier, Emerson reported that its November trailing three-month orders increased 16%. Underlying orders increased 11% excluding favorable currency translation of 5%. Automation Solutions orders increased 20%, with underlying orders up 13% excluding favorable currency translation of 7%. Commercial & Residential Solutions underlying orders were up high-single digits, the company said.

09:01 EDT Cision acquires Cedrom-Sni; terms not disclosed - Cision, Ltd. announced that it has acquired CEDROM-SNi Inc., a Montreal-based firm specializing in digital media monitoring solutions. The acquisition allows CEDROM customers to benefit immediately from Cision's complementary product offerings, including the Cision Communications Cloud and the CNW news distribution network.

08:47 EDT Abeona Therapeutics enrolls first patient in Phase 1/2 clinical trial for ABO-1 - Abeona Therapeutics has dosed the first patient in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for ABO-101, a single treatment gene therapy for patients with Sanfilippo syndrome type B - MPS IIIB -, in Columbus, Ohio. ABO-101 has been granted Orphan Product Designation by the FDA and received Rare Pediatric Disease Designation as a pre-requisite component of the FDA's Priority Review Voucher process.

08:46 EDT Myers Industries completes divestiture of Brazilian operations - Myers Industries announced that it has completed the sale of its Brazilian operating subsidiaries, consisting of Myers do Brasil and Novel Plasticos, to Novel Holdings - Eireli in consideration for one U.S. dollar and the assumption of all liabilities and obligations of the subsidiaries, whether arising prior to or after the closing of the transaction. This transaction occurs after investing a considerable amount of effort evaluating strategic alternatives for the Brazil business. In connection with the transaction, Myers Industries expects to record a pre-tax loss of approximately $35M during Q4 primarily related to the write-down of assets and other transaction-related costs. The company also expects to realize a cash tax benefit of approximately $15M as a result of the write-off of the company's investment in Brazil. No assets or liabilities associated with the Brazilian entities will be retained by Myers Industries, and the result of the divestiture is not expected to have a material impact on the Company's future operating income performance.

08:44 EDT General Mills expects cost savings to accelerate in 2H18 - Says growing aggressively in key emerging channels, like e-commerce. Says concrete plans in place to deliver strong profit growth in 2H18 while maintaining top-line. Expects adjusted operating profit margin of 18% in 2H18 through delivery of positive price/mix in 2H, an increase cost savings and moderating inflation. Expects full-year adjusted tax rate to be in line with last year. Expects to drive strong seasonal merchandising in Q3. Expects to drive favorable price/mix across all segments. Expects cost savings to accelerate in 2H, with highest in Q4. Comments taken from Q2 earnings conference call.

08:35 EDT Ford issues two safety recalls in North America - Ford Motor Company is issuing one safety recall and one safety compliance recall in North America. Ford is issuing a safety recall in North America for approximately 10,610 2018 Ford Escape vehicles for side air curtain diffuser that may become detached during deployment. In the affected vehicles, the top hat diffuser on the side air curtain inflator may detach from the inflator during deployment and create a tear that could cause the side air curtain to not fully inflate and the diffuser to potentially become a projectile in the passenger compartment, increasing the risk of injury in a crash. Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries associated with this issue. Affected vehicles include 2018 Ford Escape vehicles built at Louisville Assembly Plant, Nov. 13, 2017 to Nov. 29, 2017. The recall involves approximately 10,610 vehicles in North America with 10,157 in the U.S. and federalized territories and 453 in Canada. Ford is issuing a safety compliance recall in North America for approximately 2,167 2018 Ford Mustang vehicles with an automatic transmission premium instrument cluster for an illumination issue. In the affected vehicles, if an operator turns off the vehicle with the transmission in a position other than park, the instrument cluster may not illuminate the PRNDL display and the operator may not receive the key-in-the-ignition warning chime when the driver's door is opened, increasing the likelihood of a vehicle rollaway. Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries associated with this issue. Affected vehicles include 2018 Ford Mustang vehicles built at Flat Rock Assembly Plant, March 14, 2017 to Nov. 26, 2017. The recall involves approximately 2,167 vehicles in North America with 2,100 in the U.S. and federalized territories and 67 in Canada.

08:34 EDT BlackBerry says 'quite interested' in M&A in addition to organic growth

08:32 EDT SPX FLOW awarded $60M contract to establish dairy ingredients plant in Spain - SPX FLOW announced that it has been awarded a contract worth approximately $60M to establish a dairy ingredients plant in Galicia, Spain. The contract calls for SPX FLOW to design and provide a completely integrated solution that maximizes return on skimmed milk by manufacturing high-value dry dairy components. The greenfield project will have the capacity to process milk using membrane solutions for milk fractionation and drying technology to produce milk protein powders for infant formula, sports and clinical nutritional products. The completed facility will feature an array of SPX FLOW fluid handling components and process technologies including valves, pumps, heat exchangers, homogenizers, separators and mixers.

08:27 EDT Ooma acquires video security platform Butterfleye - Ooma announced that it has acquired Butterfleye, an AI-powered video camera and security platform. Butterfleye's smart video camera with AI for facial and audio recognition will be integrated into the Ooma Home security solution, and will also continue to function as a powerful stand-alone security system sold under the Butterfleye brand.

08:21 EDT BlackBerry CEO sees revenue in mid to higher end of range for FY18 - BlackBerry, on its Q3 earnings conference call, raised its FY18 gross margin view to 74% from its previous view of approximately 70%. The company expects Q4 OpEx to be modestly up from Q3. The company sees Q4 handset device revenue of $0-$3M and expects SAF to be approximately $15M-$17M next quarter. Expects cash flow to be positive for FY18, positive adjusted EBITDA. CEO John Chen said he expects FY18 revenue to be in the mid to higher end of the $920M-$950M range.

08:14 EDT Nova Measuring launches two optical metrology solutions - Nova launched two new optical metrology solutions as part of its advanced dimensional metrology portfolio. The new platforms, which include Nova i550 integrated metrology and Nova T600MMSR stand-alone metrology, are targeted to enhance Nova's OCD capabilities in the Memory and Logic production lines.

08:11 EDT Talend partners with Cloudera, Qlik, Keyrus for customer personalization - Talend (TLND) unveiled a new joint offering with its partners at Cloudera (CLDR), Qlik, and Keyrus, called Customer Experience Excellence, a unified, 360-degree-customer-view solution that enables real-time personalization of each customer encounter. C2X combines historical, real-time and back-end data with advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence to help organizations respond to customer actions in real-time and with the right personalization strategy. C2X combines Keyrus's data intelligence consulting expertise, Cloudera's machine learning and analytics capabilities, and Qlik's advanced data discovery and visualization technology, with Talend's comprehensive data integration platform, Talend Data Fabric. The end-to-end solution enables companies to build customer-oriented data workflows easily that harness information from all known and future omnichannel customer contact points, including retail stores, call centers, Web sites, emails, mobile apps, and social media. C2X helps companies effortlessly integrate all customer data into a single data lake. It then applies advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence engines to help business users predict customer behaviors and recommend the right actions 'just-in-time', to improve the overall customer experience and increase the likelihood of a completed transaction. With C2X, sales employees can be confident and proactive in every customer interaction.

08:08 EDT TiVo, Altice USA sign multi-year agreement - TiVo Corporation (TIVO) announced that Altice USA (ATUS) has selected TiVo services to support its service offerings under an expanded six year agreement. Altice USA has broadened its license to the TiVo patent portfolios used to build customizable, next-generation services. As part of the agreement, Altice USA has also deployed TiVo's Personalized Content Discovery platform to enable personalization and recommendation features on its newest, cloud-based connectivity platform, Altice One. The Personalized Content Discovery feature combines TiVo's personalized search and recommendations with its renowned conversational voice search. Altice USA will also continue to use i-Guide and TiVo's Gateway DVR solution that will provide personalized recommendations and deep integration with over-the-top content.

08:06 EDT Aduro Biotech issued new patent in STING field - Aduro Biotech (ADRO) has been issued a new patent by the USPTO related to the activation of the STING - Stimulator of Interferon Genes - pathway. The U.S. patent, licensed from Memorial Sloan Kettering, The Rockefeller University, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and University of Bonn, covers pioneering composition of matter claims to a broad class of cyclic dinucleotide structures that induce STING-dependent immune responses. The STING pathway plays a central role in the activation of an immune response and in the regulation of inflammation, and therefore, has been implicated in numerous diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders. For applications in oncology, Aduro entered into a worldwide co-development and co-commercialization collaboration with Novartis (NVS) to develop STING activators based on preclinical data demonstrating potent anti-tumor activity in preclinical models treated with ADU-S100. Aduro is eligible for additional $465M in potential development and regulatory milestones if all stated objectives of the collaboration are achieved. Aduro will lead commercialization activities and will book sales in the U.S., with Novartis leading commercialization in all other regions. Novartis will pay Aduro a mid-teens royalty for sales in the rest of the world. Aduro retains worldwide rights to STING Pathway product candidates for potential applications in infectious and autoimmune diseases.

08:04 EDT S&W Seed extends rights offering expiration date to December 20 - S&W Seed Company announced that it has extended the expiration date of its rights offering from Tuesday, December 19, 2017 to Wednesday, December 20, 2017. The subscription rights issued by S&W Seed may now be exercised at any time before 5:00 p.m. New York City time on Wednesday, December 20, 2017. The closing of the rights offering remains unchanged, and will be completed on Friday, December 22, 2017.

08:03 EDT Amag Pharmaceuticals issued new patent for Makena birth treatment - AMAG Pharmaceuticals (AMAG) announced the issuance of a U.S. patent entitled "Methods of Reducing Risk of Preterm Birth." This newly issued patent is directed to subcutaneous administration and dosing of Makena and is expected to expire on May 2, 2036. Makena is a treatment to reduce the risk of preterm birth in women who are pregnant with one baby and who spontaneously delivered one preterm baby in the past. The FDA established a Prescription Drug User Fee Act target action date of February 14, 2018 for the Makena subcutaneous auto-injector, a drug-device combination product. If approved, the auto-injector will join the Makena portfolio, which also includes the FDA-approved intramuscular injection. AMAG developed the Makena auto-injector with its device partner Antares Pharma (ATRS), which holds issued patents on the auto-injector device and drug device combination. If approved, AMAG will request FDA Orange Book listing of this new patent, as well as the eligible Antares patents.

08:01 EDT Noble Corp. receives commitments for new credit facility maturing in 2023 - Noble Corporation announced that certain of its wholly owned subsidiaries have received commitments from lenders to enter into a new credit facility. Noble expects to close on the new credit facility by the end of 2017. The new credit facility is expected to provide borrowing capacity of $1.5B with an expected maturity of January 2023. Additionally, the company would retain an incremental $300M in capacity under its current credit facility, or total borrowing capacity of $1.8B until January 2020.

07:33 EDT Arrowhead files for regulatory clearance to start ARO-AAT study - Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals announced that it filed a regulatory submission to begin a first-in-human study of ARO-AAT, a second-generation investigational medicine for the treatment of alpha-1 liver disease that leverages Arrowhead's subcutaneously administered Targeted RNAi Molecule technology. Pending approval, Arrowhead intends to proceed with AROAAT1001, a Phase 1 single and multiple ascending dose study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and effect of ARO-AAT on serum alpha-1 antitrypsin levels in healthy adult volunteers. The application for approval of the clinical trial was submitted to the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority for review by the Standing Committee on Therapeutic Trials as well as the local Ethics Committee.

07:33 EDT Engility selected by DoD for position on $8B multi-award IDIQ vehicle - Engility Holdings said it has secured a position on the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense Joint Enterprise Research Development Acquisition and Procurement Omnibus contract. The $8B multi-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity vehicle allows the DOD to obtain research, design, and development services related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosives defense systems and equipment. The JPEO-CBD leads, manages and directs CBRNE defense systems from development through deployment and sustainment. With a 10-year base and a 5-year option, this new award will include some recompete work as well as new opportunities.

07:32 EDT Nxt-ID's Fit Pay to develop platform for connecting crypocurrencies to payments - Fit Pay, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NXT-ID, Inc and Cascade Financial Technology Corp announced an agreement for the joint development of a platform that gives cryptocurrency holders the ability to use the value of their currency to make purchases at millions of retail locations worldwide. The new platform will enable devices with stored value exchanged from cryptocurrency to be used for traditional payment transactions."As cryptocurrencies increase in value and distribution, the need to create new methods to monetize their value and enabling models for acceptance is the critical last mile," said Michael Orlando, COO of NXT-ID and President of Fit Pay, Inc. "Our development effort with Cascade seeks to connect cryptocurrencies to the payment ecosystem as a natural extension of FitPay's platform. It will give cryptocurrency holders the opportunity to effortlessly use their value to make purchases every day, just as they would use a credit or debit card, and transform the way people pay." Under the agreement, which is an extension of a current relationship between FitPay and Cascade, the two companies will collaborate to create a platform that seamlessly transfers cryptocurrency value into widely accepted forms of payment and stores that value on devices capable of making contactless payments. This will give cryptocurrency holders the ability to make transactions with value derived from cryptocurrency at any near field communication-enabled point of sale terminals. FitPay and Cascade FinTech previously entered into an agreement to provide prepaid capabilities on wearable devices and Internet of Things devices connected to the FitPay Payment Platform.

07:14 EDT Digital Ally's patent litigation against Axon granted scheduling order - Digital Ally (DGLY) announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas has set a schedule for the company's litigation against Axon (AAXN). The Court set March 7, 2018, as the date at which the Court will conduct the claim construction hearing. Once a claim construction order issues, the parties will proceed to mediation and then finalize remaining deadlines as the case proceeds towards trial. Additionally, the Court in the company's litigation against Enforcement Video has requested an update by January 5, 2018, on the status of the inter partes review for the '950 Patent asserted against WatchGuard; the lawsuit also involves the same two patents asserted against Axon. The Patent Office recently rejected WatchGuard's IPR petition, which now clears the way for Digital to lift the stay that has been in place and restart the litigation against WatchGuard and proceed towards trial.

07:11 EDT Winnebago CEO "optimistic" about RV marketplace in 2018 - Winnebago CEO Michael Happe stated, "The Motorized business continues to strive to build a profitable foundation with improved products, stronger dealer relationships and a more efficient operations base. (...) We remain optimistic about the strength of the RV marketplace as a whole, with overall U.S. shipments expected to exceed 500,000 units in 2017, and a ninth consecutive year of growth projected in 2018. Winnebago Industries launched several strong new products this fall, all of which have received very positive industry response. (...) On the Towable side, we introduced a new Winnebago branded fifth-wheel and Grand Design RV's new Transcend line, a differentiated product marking the brand's introduction to the Stick-and-Tin segment, which should benefit the back half of Fiscal 2018. Our previously-announced Towable capacity expansion projects continue moving forward as we position our business to ensure supply keeps pace with future expected demand."

07:08 EDT MabVax reports initial patient dosing in expanded cohort of MVT-5873 trial - MabVax Therapeutics Holdings announced the completion of enrollment and initial patient dosing in an expanded cohort of the company's Phase 1 trial evaluating MVT-5873 in combination with standard of care chemotherapy in newly diagnosed patients with pancreatic and other CA19-9 positive malignancies. In October, the company provided an update at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference highlighting encouraging preliminary tumor response data when MVT-5873 was given in combination with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in newly diagnosed patients with CA19-9 positive pancreatic cancer. At this meeting the company reported that this dose was generally well tolerated in all subjects and that two of three subjects receiving 0.125 mg/kg MVT-5873 in combination with gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel had a partial response. The company expanded this cohort to further explore safety and potential response and is now reporting that it has completed enrollment in the 0.125 mg/kg expansion cohort. This portion of the company's Phase 1 clinical trial is an open-label, multi-center nonrandomized dose escalation study evaluating the safety and maximum tolerated dose and recommended Phase 2 dose of MVT-5873 in combination with a standard of care chemotherapy in subjects with pancreatic and other CA19-9 positive malignancies. Secondary objectives include evaluating tumor response rate by RECIST 1.1, duration of response, and to determine pharmacokinetics. Dr. Eileen O'Reilly, Associate Director of the David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, attending physician, member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, is the lead investigator in the MVT-5873 Phase 1 clinical trial.

07:06 EDT BlackBerry up 8.3% after reporting Q3 results, maintaining FY18 guidance

07:06 EDT Northern Oil Chairman Rich Weber resigns to focus on other responsibilities - Rich Weber, Northern's Chairman, announced his resignation to allow him to focus his time on his responsibilities as Chairman and CEO of PennEnergy Resources. The Board appointed current director Bahram Akradi as Lead Independent Director and a member of the Board's Executive Committee. Akradi and the Executive Committee will provide leadership to help guide the Company on an ongoing basis.

07:05 EDT Northern Oil and Gas sees 2018 annual production up 10%-14% vs. 2017 - The Board has approved a preliminary 2018 capital budget of up to $176 million, which contemplates 20 to 22 net wells added to production during 2018. Based on this preliminary budget, 2018 annual production is expected to increase by 10% to 14% when compared to 2017. The Board is also targeting a 10% to 15% reduction in general and administrative expenses when compared to 2017 levels.

07:01 EDT Bristol-Myers and Taris Biomedical colaborate in bladder cancer clinical trial - Bristol-Myers and Taris Biomedical have entered into a clinical trial collaboration to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of Taris' investigational product, TAR-200, in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb's programmed death-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, Opdivo. The Phase 1b trial will evaluate the combination in patients with Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer who are scheduled for radical cystectomy. In conjunction with this collaboration, Bristol-Myers Squibb also made an equity investment in Taris. The Taris System is designed to continuously release drugs in the bladder over weeks to months. TAR-200 is Taris' lead investigational program in bladder cancer, and is designed to release the chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine continuously in the bladder over seven days.

06:47 EDT GP Strategies to acquire Hula Partners - GP Strategies announced that it has signed a definitive agreement, subject to closing conditions, to acquire certain assets and the business of Hula Partners, a provider of SAP SuccessFactors Human Capital Management implementation services. This acquisition will strengthen GP Strategies' ability to deliver comprehensive HCM services across its diverse global customer base. The transaction is expected to close on January 2, 2018 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including obtaining certain consents and agreements.

06:32 EDT Wabco makes $10M strategic investment in Nikola Motor - Wabco has made a $10M strategic investment in Nikola Motor Company, a designer and manufacturer of hydrogen-electric vehicles, vehicle components, energy storage systems, and electric vehicle drivetrains headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to the strategic investment, Wabco and Nikola signed an agreement to accelerate the development of safety technologies specifically designed for electric commercial vehicles, including electronic braking systems, as well as traction and stability control technologies. Nikola plans to begin testing its zero emission trucks with commercial vehicle fleets in late 2018 and launch full production in 2021.

06:07 EDT Achillion begins Phase 1 study of small-molecule factor D inhibitor ACH-5228 - Achillion Pharmaceuticals has begun dosing subjects in a first-in-human phase 1 trial of ACH-5228, a next-generation, oral small-molecule factor D inhibitor. Approximately 28 subjects are expected to be enrolled. The primary endpoint for the trial is evaluation of safety and tolerability. Secondary endpoints include assessments of PK, PD, and evaluation of alternative pathway inhibition in ex vivo laboratory assessments of blood samples from subjects in order to establish a PK/PD relationship for ACH-5228. The company expects to report interim clinical data from this study during the second half of 2018.

06:04 EDT Mesoblast completes enrollment in Phase 3 trial for aGVHD candidate - Mesoblast announced that the Phase 3 trial of its proprietary allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell product candidate MSC-100-IV in children with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease, or aGVHD, has completed enrollment. Top-line results are expected in Q1 2018. In November 2016, the Phase 3 trial was successful in a pre-specified interim futility analysis of the primary endpoint. There are currently no therapeutic products approved in the U.S. to treat this life-threatening complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplants. Mesoblast intends to use the results of this single, open label trial to support a Biologics License Application filing for accelerated product approval. Mesoblast has received Fast Track designation for MSC-100-IV for treatment of steroid-refractory acute GVHD in children.

05:59 EDT KKR says Sun European Partners affiliate to acquire majority stake in Afriflora - An affiliate of Sun European Partners announces that it has entered into an agreement with KKR to acquire a majority stake in Afriflora, the world's largest grower of roses, alongside the Barnhoorn family. The proposed transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Afriflora is the leading supplier of quality roses at fair trade standards to Europe. Established in 2005 by the Barnhoorn family, Afriflora has over 11,000 employees. The company is headquartered in Aalsmeer, Holland and operates three farms in Ethiopia covering 500 hectares. It cultivates, produces and sells over 1.1 billion stem roses annually with the majority of these to the European market.

05:53 EDT Metropolitan Bank discloses relationship with cryptocurrency exchange - Metropolitan Bank said in its quarterly regulatory filing yesterday morning, "In response to the recent articles published in certain investor websites regarding the impact of cryptocurrencies on our financial statements, we are providing further details regarding our involvement in this area. Metropolitan Commercial Bank maintains a diversified approach to generating deposits through a number of verticals including borrowing relationships, retail relationships and debit card issuing relationships. As a part of this strategy, we also have a relationship with a cryptocurrency exchange. This customer maintains two different types of accounts with us. One account is for its general corporate purposes and the other account is for settlement activities for the benefit of its customers. The funds deposited by this customer consist of U.S. dollars, not cryptocurrency. During the three months ended September 30, 2017, this customer maintained an average balance of $108 million in its corporate non-interest bearing account with us. We use these funds in the normal course of business and realize a net interest margin on them. During the three months ended September 30, 2017, the customer maintained an average balance of approximately $137 million in its non-interest bearing settlement account with us. We do not use funds in the settlement account for our general funding purposes. These balances are transactional in nature and are kept in the overnight funds with the Federal Reserve Bank. Income realization on these funds is limited to the overnight Fed Funds rate. As of September 30, 2017, Metropolitan Commercial Bank had total deposits of $1.5 billion. Deposit balances related to the cryptocurrency corporate account represents roughly 7% of our total deposit base while that of the settlement account represents 9% of our total deposit base. Since the settlement account is not used for funding purposes, it does not constitute a material source of income or, we believe, liquidity risk for Metropolitan Commercial Bank. In addition, in the normal course of its business, we provide cash management solutions to our customers including wire transfers, ACH and foreign exchange conversion which are also offered to the cryptocurrency exchange customer. These solutions are provided at the normal fee that is charged to all other customers. An increase in transactions results in an increase in our non-interest income."

05:14 EDT Elbit Systems U.S. subsidiary awarded contract by DynCorp - Elbit Systems announced that its subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America, through its wholly-owned subsidiary M7 Aerospace LP, was awarded a contract from DynCorp International Inc. to provide Life Cycle Contractor Support, or LCCS, for the U.S. Army's C-26 and UC-35 aircraft fleet. The award is for a one-year base period of up to $25M and additional five single year option periods. If all options are exercised, the total contract value will be up to $176M. Services will be managed in San Antonio, Texas.