Stockwinners Market Radar for April 16, 2018 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

20:30 EDT Whirlpool raises quarterly dividend to $1.15 from $1.10 - The dividend is payable June 15, 2018, to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 18, 2018.

20:15 EDT Roku rises on ESPN+ platform offering, Steven Cohen passive stake - Shares of Roku (ROKU) traded higher in the extended session on Monday following its announcement offering ESPN+ on its platform. LIVE SPORTS AT A BARGAIN: Just two weeks after Disney (DIS) yielded to long-standing pressure to offer a live sports streaming service to viewers without a cable package, Roku has made the case for direct-to-consumer cable alternatives stronger. With today's announcement, Roku's devices will start to feature "hundreds of MLB, NHL and MLS games, Grand Slam tennis, Top Rank boxing, PGA Tour golf, college sports, international rugby, cricket" and other sporting events. Roku owners will also have the chance to sample the functionality of the services with a 7-day free trial before deciding to subscribe for just $4.99 per month. The caveat of the press release may be the disclosure that local blackouts will apply to the service, suggesting that local sports teams' action may not be among the options available for subscribers. POINT72 SHOOTS AND SCORES: Just after the Roku disclosure of ESPN+ offering, Steven Cohen of Point72 Asset Management filed a 13G disclosing a 5.1% asset stake in the company. Cohen's position adds to an increasingly more constructive array of sentiment among sell-side research analysts, with Oppenheimer and CitiGroup upgrading the stock within the past month following its surprisingly strong set of Q4 results in late February. PRICE ACTION: In late extended session trading, shares of Roku are up 5.7% at $34.90, which is a 3-week high for the stock. Disney, which had traded down two weeks ago on the announcement of ESPN+ streaming service, was also up 0.7%.

19:02 EDT Lionsgate announces multiyear TV deal with 'Two and a Half Men' producers - Lionsgate announced a multiyear television deal with producers Eric and Kim Tannenbaum of "Two and a Half Men" to create scripted programming for the studio through their Tannenbaum Company production banner.

19:00 EDT Adobe acquires voice activation platform Sayspring, terms not stated - Adobe announced in his blogpost the acquistion of Sayspring, stating: "Searching the web, shopping online and queueing up your music playlist is as easy as uttering a few commands thanks to the rise of voice technology. Fast becoming our go-to way of interacting with technology, it's estimated that 55% or 70 million U.S. households will have a smart device like Amazon Echo, Google Home or Sonos One by the year 2022. We have been actively experimenting with voice interfaces across our product offerings over the past few years, and we're excited to take the next step forward with the acquisition of Sayspring, Inc., which closes today. Founded in 2017, New-York based Sayspring has technology that makes it easy to design voice applications without coding. The full Sayspring team will join Adobe on Tuesday, April 17, and we'll begin to integrate the technology into our product portfolio. Details about our plans for Adobe voice solutions will be communicated at a later date, in the meantime Sayspring customers will continue to have access to the platform."

18:36 EDT Netflix says M&A could be a 'useful tool' in acquiring more IP

18:14 EDT Netflix says not looking to expand into news beyond documentaries - Says marketing of content is back-end weighted because of timing of new content releases. Says investing more in technology for content production. Says not looking to expand into news beyond documentaries.

18:08 EDT Netflix sees international content continuing growth in 2018 - Sees international content continuing to grow in 2018. Says people around the world "very excited" about the upcoming season of Brazilian show "3%." Says partnering strategy on an "evolving" trajectory. Says "very happy" with pricing in India, has no near-term pricing plans. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

17:50 EDT CNH Industrial estimates $500M-$550M in benefits modification - On February 20 CNH Industrial announced that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its favor in Reese vs. CNH Industrial N.V. and CNH Industrial America. The decision allows CNH Industrial to terminate or modify various retiree healthcare benefits previously provided to certain UAW Union represented Company retirees. CNH Industrial has determined to modify the Benefits provided to the applicable retirees to make them consistent with the Benefits provided to current eligible CNH Industrial retirees who had been represented by the UAW. The Benefits modifications are estimated to result in a reduction of the plan liability by approximately $500M-$550M, realizing a corresponding pre-tax income. The actual adjustment to the liability will be finalized using current market assumptions on the applicable measurement date, expected to be in the Q2 once the retirees have been formally advised. Under U.S. GAAP, this pre-tax income will be amortized from equity to the income statement over approximately 4.5 years. Under IFRS, this pre-tax income will be recorded in the second quarter of 2018 in its entirety.

17:37 EDT Luxor Capital reports 20.5% stake in Angi Homeservices

17:30 EDT BioTechnology Value Fund reports 6.8% passive stake in Galmed

17:22 EDT Titan International informs CFO Froisland it will not renew his employment pact - Titan International announced that it notified James M. Froisland, the company's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer, that the company will not renew his employment agreement upon the expiration of the initial term of the agreement on December 5, 2018. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, the agreement was scheduled to renew automatically unless Froisland or the company provided a notice of non-renewal at least six months prior to its expiration or otherwise terminated the agreement in accordance with its terms. A search for Froisland's replacement is in process and the company anticipates a replacement will be in place within the next several months.

17:18 EDT ProPetro Holding to replace Five Below in S&P 600 at open on 4/19

17:06 EDT Canadian Pacific 'continues to engage in good faith bargaining with TCRC, IBEW' - Canadian Pacific Railway and two of its unions - the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference - Train & Engine, TCRC and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - are currently working through the collective bargaining process.Despite CP's best efforts, a significant gap remains between the company and these two unions. In the event an agreement cannot be reached, a work stoppage could occur as early as 0001 on Saturday, April 21."We have been working hard with both unions for months, and continue to meet in order to negotiate an agreement that balances the needs of these two unions with the needs of our entire workforce, our customers and our shareholders," said Keith Creel, CP President and CEO. "I made labour outreach my top priority when I became CEO and I continue to focus my efforts on this key area."CP has reached long-term agreements with other Canadian unions, including three that were successfully negotiated in 2017, all with the objective of ensuring continuity of reliable and cost-effective rail service, while being fair and equitable to CP's employees. Specifically, CP adopted a "pattern" framework to address issues tabled at bargaining and have successfully reached agreement through to 2022 with: TCRC - Maintenance of Way; United Steel Workers; and CP Police Association. A work stoppage involving the TCRC and the IBEW will severely impact CP's ability to continue to provide safe and efficient freight and passenger/commuter service. All customers and commodities would be impacted at a time when demand is soaring."We have connected with our freight customers and with the CEOs of the passenger rail services that run on our line advising them of the potential impacts," Creel said. "We understand the impact this would have on commuters using the West Coast Express on the Lower Mainland, Reseau de transport metropolitain in Montreal and Metrolinx in the Toronto-area. In an attempt to avoid this inconvenience and the significant disruption to the travelling public, CP reached out to the IBEW today to request that they allow their members to continue to serve the railway lines on which passenger rail service are hosted - unfortunately, it was a request they denied."CP and the TCRC leadership successfully negotiated a one-year extension of the Collective Agreement in September 2017, unfortunately that agreement was not ratified by the membership. Despite CP's best efforts to achieve an agreement with the TCRC, the union still has essentially 108 outstanding demands to our five, equivalent to more than a quarter billion dollars over three years, or an average increase of 24% a year over the three years to the TCRC payroll cost. CP's five items relate to providing consistent customer service and achieving schedule predictability for the betterment of the Canadian economy and transportation supply chain reliability. There are approximately 3,000 conductors and engineers represented by the TCRC.

17:04 EDT Goodyear Tire and Bridgestone Americas form tire distribution joint venture - The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (GT) and Bridgestone (BRDCY) Americas announced they are forming one of the largest tire distribution joint ventures in the U.S. TireHub will provide U.S. tire dealers and retailers with a comprehensive range of passenger and light truck tires from two of the world's leading tire companies, with an emphasis on satisfying rapidly growing demand for larger rim diameter premium tires.

17:00 EDT UPS names George Willis president of U.S. operations - UPS appointed George Willis to the position of president of U.S. Operations, effective May 1. Willis will report to Jim Barber, UPS chief operating officer. Willis will join UPS's Management Committee, the most senior leadership group in the company. Willis succeeds Myron Gray who has chosen to retire after a distinguished 40-year career at the company. Willis assumes responsibility for all U.S. Operations where UPS delivers more than 16 million packages daily. He currently serves as the West Region president and has responsibility for all package delivery operations in 25 central and western states in the United States.

16:54 EDT Netlist receives Initial Determination in ITC investigation of SK hynix - Netlist announced that Administrative Law Judge Pender of the United States International Trade Commission issued an Initial Determination, or ID, in Investigation No. 337-TA-1089 of SK hynix RDIMM and LRDIMM enterprise memory products, Netlist's second action in the ITC against SK hynix related to these products. According to the ID, Pender granted SK hynix's motion for summary determination of non-infringement and terminated the 1089 Investigation. A public version of the ID will likely be available in the next two weeks, and the substance of the decision will remain confidential until then. Netlist will determine at that time whether further comment on the ID is appropriate. The ID is now subject to review by the ITC Commission. Netlist intends to file a petition by the end of this month requesting that the Commissioners review the findings in the ID. The ITC will issue a Final Determination, or FD, at the conclusion of its review, likely in the next two to four months, which may affirm, set aside, or modify the findings in the ID. Netlist will have the opportunity to appeal any adverse findings in the FD to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

16:51 EDT Facebook expands on information it gets from other websites and apps - According to a recent blog post by David Baser, Product Management Director at Facebook (FB): "Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of the US Congress. He answered more than 500 questions and promised that we would get back on the 40 or so questions he couldn't answer at the time. We're following up with Congress on these directly but we also wanted to take the opportunity to explain more about the information we get from other websites and apps, how we use the data they send to us, and the controls you have. I lead a team focused on privacy and data use, including GDPR compliance and the tools people can use to control and download their information." Baser continued, "Many websites and apps use Facebook services to make their content and ads more engaging and relevant." These services include: Social plugins, Facebook Login, Facebook Analytics, Facebook ads and measurement tools. "Many companies offer these types of services and, like Facebook, they also get information from the apps and sites that use them. Twitter (TWTR), Pinterest and LinkedIn (MSFT) all have similar Like and Share buttons to help people share things on their services. Google has a popular analytics service. And Amazon, Google (GOOG) and Twitter all offer login features. These companies - and many others - also offer advertising services. In fact, most websites and apps send the same information to multiple companies each time you visit them." Reference Link

16:46 EDT Chevron reports 6.2% passive stake in California Resources

16:37 EDT Marriott unveils unified loyalty programs - Marriott International announced it will introduce one set of unified benefits across Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest for its members in August 2018. This will create a hospitality loyalty program in which members will earn more points faster than under the prior programs -- on average 20% more points for every dollar spent. For the first time, members will have access to book stays and earn or redeem points among 29 participating global brands comprising 6,500 hotels in 127 countries and territories. Additionally, the Moments experiential platform is expanding, with more than 110,000 experiences in 1,000 destinations from must-see attraction tickets and tours for purchase with cash by all guests, to events only available to members using points. "We listened to the travel aspirations of our members and set our sights on unlocking the full potential of our loyalty programs," said David Flueck, Senior Vice President of Global Loyalty, Marriott International. "We are excited to announce that this August, our members can enjoy one set of benefits across our extraordinary portfolio of hotels from iconic full and select service, to extended stay, to unique boutiques and luxury brands. We hope to inspire our members whatever their travel passion, whether it is resorts featuring overwater bungalows, peaceful secluded island settings, ski-in / ski-out mountain resorts, towering hotels with picture-worthy views or even former palaces converted into hotels."

16:34 EDT Preferred Apartment announces sudden passing of CEO John Williams - Preferred Apartment announced that the company's co-founder, chairman and CEO, John Williams unexpectedly passed away earlier. The company's board has appointed vice-chairman and CIO Daniel DuPree to succeed Williams as chairman of the board and CEO. Leonard Silverstein, a co-founder of the company along with Williams, has been appointed vice-chairman of the board and will continue as president and COO.

16:33 EDT Lululemon names Patrick Guido as CFO, effective April 30 - Lululemon (LULU) announced the appointment of Patrick Guido as CFO, effective April 30. Guido will report to lululemon's COO, Stuart Haselden. Guido has more than 15 years of experience leading the finance functions of Fortune 500 retail organizations, including VF Corporation (VFC), a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories. Most recently, during his seven-year tenure at VF Corporation, he served as Treasurer and Vice President of Corporate Development, managing capital allocation strategies, mitigating global financial risk, and executing on multiple strategic initiatives for the company. Previously, Guido served in roles of increasing responsibilities at The Home Depot (HD) and Saks.

16:31 EDT Mallinckrodt announces $300M debt repayment - Mallinckrodt plc announced the $300M repayment of unsecured, fixed-rate notes maturing April 15, 2018 with cash on hand. The debt was issued by Mallinckrodt International Finance SA in 2013 in preparation for the company's spin-off from its former parent

16:25 EDT Aimco buys six Philadelphia area apartment communities for $445M - Apartment Investment and Management Company, or Aimco, entered into a transaction to acquire six apartment communities in the Philadelphia MSA for a purchase price of $445M. The portfolio includes 1,006 existing apartment homes, 110 apartment homes under construction, and 185,000 square feet of office and retail space. This "A" quality portfolio is located primarily in the Center City and University City submarkets of Philadelphia. The acquisition will be initially funded with $290M of existing property debt, $65M borrowed on the Aimco bank line, and $90M in operating partnership units issued at Aimco Net Asset Value of $53 per share. Consistent with its paired trade discipline, Aimco plans to sell lower-rated apartment communities to reduce debt making the acquisition leverage neutral. One of the communities expected to be sold is Chestnut Hill Village, a 704-home community built in 1963 and located in northeast Philadelphia. The transaction is expected to be neutral to property level free cash flow and to increase expected future returns by about 150 bps considering the properties to be sold and the OP units to be issued. In addition, Aimco expects that certain of the properties have the potential for accretive expansion opportunities which could further enhance investment returns.

16:21 EDT Netflix up over 6% afterhours following Q1 earnings and Q2 guidance

16:21 EDT Southern Company raises annual dividend to $2.40 per share - Southern Company announced it is increasing its dividend by 8c per share on an annualized basis to a rate of $2.40 per share. This marks the 17th consecutive year that Southern Company has raised the dividend on its common stock. Southern Company also announced a regular quarterly dividend - including the increase of 2c per share over the prior quarter - of 60c per share, payable June 6 to shareholders of record as of May 21. This marks 282 consecutive quarters - dating back to 1948 - that Southern Company will have paid a dividend to its shareholders that is equal to or greater than the previous quarter.

16:20 EDT HTG Molecular names John Lubniewski to president and COO - HTG Molecular announced the promotion of John Lubniewski to president and COO. Lubniewski has served as HTG's CBO for the past seven years, bringing over three decades of experience in the life science industry. He joined HTG from Ventana. During his time at Ventana, Lubniewski served in several senior leadership roles and was responsible for marketing and global accountability for all clinical assay products.

16:18 EDT Netflix backs FY forecast for free cash flow of ($3B)-($4B) - Netflix said in its quarterly letter to investors: "Free cash flow in Q1 was -$287 million, less negative than we expected due to content payment timing differences, compared with -$524 million in Q4'17. We continue to forecast free cash flow of -$3 to -$4 billion in 2018, and to be free cash flow negative for several more years as our original content spend rapidly grows. We have about $2.6 billion in cash and we will continue to raise debt as needed to fund our increase in original content. Our debt levels are quite modest as a percentage of our enterprise value, and we believe the debt is lower cost of capital compared to equity.

16:17 EDT Bristol-Myers, Janssen announce collaboration to develop BMS-986177 - Bristol-Myers (BMY) announced a worldwide collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals (JNJ) on a Factor XIa inhibitor program that includes the development and commercialization of Bristol-Myers Squibb's Factor XIa inhibitor, BMS-986177, an investigational anticoagulant compound being studied for prevention and treatment of major thrombotic conditions. The companies are expected to advance BMS-986177 into Phase 2 clinical trials in the second half of 2018 for the study of secondary stroke prevention. Thrombotic disorders include cardiovascular conditions such as coronary artery disease, stroke and peripheral artery disease. BMS-986177 is an inhibitor of Factor XIa, and is being explored for its potential to improve upon the standard of care by reducing the risk of vascular events - without increasing the risk of bleeding - in patients with thrombotic disorders. Janssen will pay Bristol-Myers Squibb an upfront sum along with potential development and regulatory milestone payments. The companies will share development costs and commercial profits and losses. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

16:17 EDT Netflix now targeting FY operating margin of 10%-11% - Netflix said in its quarterly letter to investors: "Q2 operating margin is expected to be 12%. We are now targeting a full year operating margin of 10%-11%. We continue to anticipate content and marketing spend to be weighted towards the second half of 2018. We'll have $7.5-$8 billion of content expense - on a P&L basis - in 2018 across a wide variety of formats to serve the diverse tastes of our growing global membership base."

16:15 EDT Netflix sees Q2 streaming net additions of 6.2M members - Sees Q2 U.S. streaming net additions of 1.2M and international streaming net additions of 5.0M.

16:14 EDT Darsana Capital reports 5.23% passive stake in Spirit AeroSystems

16:08 EDT Point72 Asset Management reports 5.1% passive stake in Roku

16:07 EDT Resolute Forest reaches tentative agreement with Unifor - Resolute Forest Products announced that a tentative four-year agreement has been reached with Unifor, subject to ratification by their members. Unifor represents the majority of hourly employees working across the company's Canadian pulp and paper operations. The master agreement covers eight of Resolute's Canadian pulp and paper mills. The collective agreement covers approximately 1,100 employees represented by Unifor. Details will not be discussed publicly until the union leadership has had an opportunity to present the agreement to its members.

16:06 EDT Crispr Therapeutics announces 'positive' data presentation of CAR-T program - Crispr Therapeutics announced the presentation of new data from the company's allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell, or CAR-T, program at the American Association for Cancer Research, or AACR annual meeting 2018. The data presented demonstrate the generation of CAR-T cells targeted to BCMA and CD70 through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing that have high editing rates, consistent expression, and selective and potent cell killing. These data confirm and expand on the work already completed on CTX101, Crispr's lead allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy in development for CD19+ malignancies.In Poster 1540, allogeneic CAR-T cells targeting B cell maturation antigen, or BCMA were evaluated as a potential approach for the treatment of multiple myeloma, or MM. Using the CRISPR/Cas9 system, allogeneic CAR-T cells targeting the BCMA receptor were generated by disrupting the beta-2-microglobulin and TCR alpha constant region, or TRAC genes and inserting an anti-BCMA CAR into the TRAC locus. Over 60% of the cells contained all three of the targeted edits. The study found that the CAR-T cells selectively and potently killed BCMA+ cells in vitro and eradicated MM cells in in vitro and in vivo models. To address the need for effective and durable therapies for both hematologic and solid tumors, allogeneic CAR-T cells targeting the CD70 antigen were generated by CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. CD70 is expressed in both hematologic malignancies as well as in solid tumors such as renal cell carcinoma, while its expression in normal tissues is restricted. In Poster 2551, the B2M and TRAC genes from healthy donor cells were disrupted and the CAR was introduced into the TRAC locus, similar to other allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies in CRISPR's portfolio. Data showed that over 60% of the cells contained all three of the targeted edits. The study found that the CD70 CAR-T cells displayed potent cell killing function in vitro against CD70 expressing lymphoid and renal cancer derived cell lines across a broad range of antigen expression levels. These cells also secreted IFNg, released granzyme B and proliferated in a CD70 specific manner, all indications of potent anti-tumor activity. The CD70 targeting CAR-T cells eradicated RCC cells in an in vivo murine model.

16:05 EDT Bristol-Myers says Opdivo demonstrated OS advantage in CheckMate trial - Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced two-year overall survival data from CheckMate -141, a Phase 3 open-label, randomized trial evaluating Opdivo compared with investigator's choice chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck after failure on platinum-based therapy. Patients treated with Opdivo experienced a 32% reduction in the risk of death after a minimum two years of follow-up, with a median OS of 7.7 months compared with 5.1 months for standard chemotherapy. The two-year survival rate for Opdivo was 16.9% versus 6.0% for standard chemotherapy. The safety profile for Opdivo at two-year follow-up was consistent with previous analyses from the study. "The introduction of Immuno-Oncology has the potential to change the treatment landscape of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, compared with the standard of care," said Robert L. Ferris, M.D., Ph.D., a cancer immunotherapist and Director, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA. "The sustained overall survival benefit demonstrated by nivolumab in this study is encouraging in SCCHN, which historically has a median survival of less than six months."

16:03 EDT Capital Southwest increases credit facility to $200M - Capital Southwest announced an expansion to its Senior Secured Credit Facility from $180M to $200M. The $20M increase in total commitments was the result of the addition of a new lender, bringing the total lender group to nine participants. The increase was executed under the accordion feature of the Credit Facility, which allows for an increase in total commitments under the facility from new and existing lenders on the same terms and conditions as the existing commitments in an amount up to $250M.

16:02 EDT U.S. Auto Parts launches Progressive Web App - U.S. Auto Parts Network recently launched a Progressive Web App as its new mobile website for carparts.com. Through the PWA, U.S. Auto Parts is making its more than one million vehicle parts and accessories more easily accessible to do-it-yourself customers with a fast and convenient app-like mobile web experience. The PWA was built on the Mobify platform and delivered through Mobify implementation partner 64labs.

16:02 EDT Roku announces availability of ESPN+ on streaming devices - Roku announced the availability of ESPN+ through the new ESPN channel on the Roku platform, allowing Roku player and Roku TV users to access thousands of additional live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. ESPN+ is the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer premium subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer and International group, in partnership with ESPN. Available within the newly updated ESPN channel, ESPN+ brings hundreds of MLB, NHL and MLS games, Grand Slam tennis, Top Rank boxing, PGA Tour golf, college sports, international rugby, cricket, the full library of ESPN Films and more to Roku devices in the U.S. It is available for a 7-day free trial, followed by a subscription fee of $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year.

15:20 EDT Acacia says it is aware of U.S. order banning sales to China's ZTE - Acacia Communications (ACIA) announced that it is aware of the recent announcement that the U.S. Department of Commerce by order, effective immediately, is banning American companies from selling, exporting or re-exporting components, software and technology to Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corporation (ZTCOY) as a result of ZTE's actions in connection with a previous settlement regarding sanctions violations. Acacia is taking steps to suspend affected transactions and is assessing the impact of these developments on Acacia.

14:15 EDT Dynavax reports interim data for study of SD-101 in combination Merck's Keytruda - Dynavax (DVAX) announced data from its ongoing Phase 1b/2 study investigating SD-101, Dynavax's intratumoral TLR9 agonist, in combination with Keytruda, an anti-PD-1 therapy developed by Merck (MRK). These data were presented in a poster session at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting. "The results from this dose escalation study showed encouraging response rates in patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, the combination was well tolerated," Dynavax stated. Eddie Gray, CEO of Dynavax added: "This is another tumor type in which SD-101, based on early data, has demonstrated encouraging activity while being well tolerated. As understanding of combination therapy matures we believe an effective immune stimulating agonist with an attractive tolerability profile will play a significant role in a wide range of tumors. On Tuesday, April 17, 2018 we are also presenting updated data from our Phase1b/2 study at AACR from a cohort of melanoma patients, where a durable response was observed in patients naive to anti-PD-1/L1 therapy as well as patients with prior treatment. We are excited about the overall results to date and believe this underscores the potential breadth of our immuno-oncology platform."

14:04 EDT Adaptimmune presents MAGE-A4 and MAGE-A10 pre-clinical data - Adaptimmune Therapeutics announced that the company presented two posters summarizing preclinical research with its MAGE-A4 and MAGE-A10 SPEAR T-cells at the annual AACR meeting. "Our proprietary preclinical development and validation program for our SPEAR T-cells, developed over more than 10 years, enables us to generate TCRs that have the right level of specificity, affinity, and overall avidity for cancer cells expressing specific targets, while minimizing the risk of off-target toxicity. MAGE-A4 and MAGE-A10 are in clinical trials in a variety of solid tumors, and we expect to deliver data on the benefit:risk profile of these products throughout the second half of 2018," said Rafael Amado, Adaptimmune's Chief Medical Officer.

13:34 EDT Tesla says Reveal article 'paints a completely false picture' - Tesla stated in a post to its corporate blog: "We welcome constructive criticism, but those who care about journalistic integrity should strive for the truth above all. Unfortunately, the writers at Reveal have published an article that paints a completely false picture of Tesla and what it is actually like to work here. In our view, what they portray as investigative journalism is in fact an ideologically motivated attack by an extremist organization working directly with union supporters to create a calculated disinformation campaign against Tesla. The piece even includes an interview with Worksafe - the same organization that the UAW enlisted to publish a negative report against Tesla last year, and whose board includes labor union officials and advocates...The report suggests Tesla doesn't accurately track injuries or that we mislabeled or undercounted injuries to make our record look better than it actually is. We believe in transparency and would never intentionally misrepresent our safety record to our employees or the public...Reveal's reporters have spent several months searching for old, misrepresentative and outright inaccurate information about safety at Tesla's Fremont factory...This is not to say that there aren't real issues that need to be dealt with at Tesla or that we've made no mistakes with any of the 37,000 people who work at our company. However, there should be absolutely no question that we care deeply about the well-being of our employees and that we try our absolute hardest to do the right thing and to fail less often." Reference Link

13:17 EDT Pharma distributors jump after Amazon reportedly shelves drug selling plans - Shares of pharmaceutical distributors rose after CNBC reported that Amazon (AMZN) has shelved its plan to sell and distribute pharmaceutical products after weighing doing so last year. CVS Health (CVS) rose 5%, AmerisourceBergen (ABC) gained 2.7%, McKesson (MCK) is up 4.9%, and Cardinal Health (CAH) jumped 4.6% after the news.

12:58 EDT Takeda reports 7.2% passive stake in Ovid Therapeutics

12:30 EDT BeiGene presents preliminary data from study of PARP inhibitor pamiparib - Earlier today, BeiGene announced that preliminary clinical data from an ongoing Phase 1 trial of its investigational PARP inhibitor pamiparib in Chinese patients with locally advanced or metastatic high-grade non-mucinous ovarian cancer, including fallopian cancer, or triple-negative breast cancer, who had disease progression following at least one line of chemotherapy were presented at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, being held in Chicago. Data presented from the dose-escalation phase of the ongoing Phase 1 trial confirmed the recommended Phase 2 dose of 60mg twice dailyin Chinese patients and demonstrated that pamiparib showed antitumor activity and was generally well tolerated in these patients. "In these heavily pre-treated patients with ovarian and breast cancers, the preliminary results support the recommended pamiparib dosing regimen and demonstrated antitumor activity, including partial responses in platinum-resistant or refractory patients with ovarian cancer. We saw no dose-limiting toxicities and found pamiparib to be generally well tolerated among these patients," said Binghe Xu, M.D., Director of the Department of Medical Oncology, at the Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, China, and the lead author of the poster presentation.

12:06 EDT American Express reports March write-off rate 2.2% vs. 2.2% last month - Reports March 30 days past due loans 1.4% vs. 1.4% last month.

12:02 EDT Activision Blizzard partners with Nielsen to measure, value esports investments - Activision Blizzard (ATVI) announced it is partnering with Nielsen (NLSN) to measure and value esports brand investments across the company's multiple leagues and titles. As part of the deal, Nielsen will measure brand exposure in esports events representing a variety of Activision Blizzard titles, event formats and geographic locations based on the same methodology that Nielsen uses to quantify value and benchmark performance for traditional sports rights holders and brands. "As esports continues to mature and reach its potential as a stand-alone business, we're determined to lead the way and develop best practices for brands and advertisers. We're excited to partner with the most experienced and respected measurement service in Nielsen and continue building on our foundation of the best esports leagues in the world," said Pete Vlastelica, CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues.

11:35 EDT Tupperware Brands director buys 3,000 shares - Tupperware Brands director David Parker disclosed his purchase on April 12 of 3,000 shares of company stock in a regulatory filing.

11:06 EDT Blueprint sinks, Loxo rises after trial data on potential solid tumor treatment - Shares of Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) are sliding after the company reported data over the weekend regarding its early-stage candidate in RET-altered tumors. This morning, both Wedbush and JMP Securities raised their price targets on the stock, while Morgan Stanley analyst Matthew Harrison upgraded competitor Loxo Oncology (LOXO) to a buy-equivalent rating as he believes the initial Blueprint data was at the lower-end of Loxo investors' expectations. PHASE 1 ARROW DATA: Over the weekend, Blueprint Medicines announced proof-of-concept data from the ongoing Phase 1 ARROW clinical trial of BLU-667 in patients with RET-altered solid tumors. The data from the dose escalation portion of the ARROW trial showed "broad and robust" clinical activity for once-daily dosing of BLU-667 across multiple tumor types and RET genotypes, including in patients whose disease had progressed on prior multi-kinase inhibitor therapy, the company said. As of the data cutoff date of April 6, 2018, the data showed radiographic tumor reductions in 84% of patients with RET-altered solid tumors with measurable target lesions. In patients evaluable for response, preliminary overall response rates were 50% in patients with NSCLC and 40% in patients with MTC. As of the data cutoff date, one a day dosing of BLU-667 was well-tolerated, and most adverse events reported by investigators were Grade 1 or 2. BLUEPRINT TARGET RAISED: Following the announcement, Wedbush analyst David Nierengarten raised his price target for Blueprint Medicines to $106 from $98, citing the "encouraging" dose escalation data from the study. The analyst reiterated an Outperform rating on the shares. Meanwhile, JMP Securities analyst Konstantinos Aprilakis also raised his price target on Blueprint Medicines to $109 from $97, highlighting that among all 53 enrolled patients, an "impressive" 41 patients remained on BLU-667 as of the data cutoff date. He reiterated an Outperform rating on Blueprint shares. BUY LOXO ONCOLOGY: In a research note this morning, Morgan Stanley's Harrison upgraded Loxo Oncology, which is also developing a new targeted agent against cancers with RET alterations that include both lung and thyroid cancer, to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised his price target on the stock to $170 from $130. While acknowledging that competitor Blueprint's data was good, the analyst argued that it was at the lower end of Loxo investors' expectations, offering the opportunity for Loxo to differentiate its own RET inhibitor with data expected in June. Harrison sees the potential for LOXO-292 differentiation on both safety and efficacy. Given the news, the analyst increased his LOXO-292 market share projection to 60% from 50% and increased his probably of success to 70% from 50%. Also commenting on what Blueprint's data may mean for Loxo, Stifel analyst Stephen Willey told investors he believes that while BLU-667 looks like "a sufficiently viable asset for RET-altered tumors," the data has left the competitive window "wide-open" for Loxo ahead of preliminary LOXO-292 data expected at the ASCO meeting. Loxo's data now potentially could shift sentiment on what consensus has been presuming to be an over $1B opportunity equally-shared between the two companies, Willey added. The analyst reiterates a Buy rating on Loxo's shares. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Loxo Oncology have gained about 3% to $126.84, while Blueprint's stock has dropped nearly 14% to $85.31.

10:59 EDT Tronc trading resumes

10:48 EDT ILG rises following report of advanced merger talks with Marriott Vacations - Shares of timeshare operator ILG (ILG) jumped on Monday morning after a report said the company is in advanced talks for a merger with Marriott Vacations (VAC). MARRIOTT IN LEAD FOR ILG MERGER: Marriott Vacations is in advanced talks for a merger with ILG, Reuters reported Monday. The combined company would have more scale to compete other hotel-branded rivals, including Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV) and Bluegreen Vacations (BXG), according to the report, which added that ILG views Marriott Vacations' offer as "the best it has received so far." The companies are engaged in talks to try to secure a deal by the end of the month and talks could still end without an agreement. Negotiations between ILG and Apollo Global Management's (APO) Diamond Resorts have ended, the report said. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Last month, Reuters reported that ILG had been exploring a merger with Apollo's Diamond Resorts as an alternative to a sale and that the company had formed a strategic review committee to discuss a potential transaction with multiple parties. In addition, Reuters reported last year that Marriott Vacations and Hilton Grand Vacations had held talks about acquiring the timeshare operator. At the time, ILG held early-stage discussions with the companies amid pressure from activist investor FrontFour Capital Group to seek a combination with Marriott. The talks with Diamond Resorts were said to be aimed at giving ILG leverage in case its negotiations with Marriott Vacations were not successful. FrontFour said last month that it was "encouraged" by ILG's formation of a strategic review committee, but still has concerns, including ILG's motives for notifying Broadridge of three record dates for the upcoming annual meeting. FrontFour said at the time that it believes that fresh stockholder representation on the board is "imperative at this key strategic juncture" and that it continues to believe that a business combination with Marriott Vacations Worldwide will maximize value for ILG stockholders. PRICE ACTION: Shares of ILG are up about 4.9% to $32.58, while Marriott Vacations is up 5% to $135.36.

10:24 EDT Bank of America reports March default rate 2.81% vs. 2.78% last month - Reports 30-plus day delinquency rate 1.69% vs. 1.72% last month.

10:01 EDT Comtech awarded $59M contract from U.S. Navy - Comtech announced that during its third quarter of fiscal 2018, its Tempe, Arizona-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data Corp., which is part of Comtech's Commercial Solutions segment, received a $59M indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract from the U.S. Naval Warfare Systems Command. The first delivery order for $7.9M was received and related production has commenced immediately. The contract includes five one-year ordering periods. The contract specified Comtech EF Data's SLM-5650B Satellite Modem, SLM-5650B upgrade kits, firmware upgrades and technical support services.

09:51 EDT Merck rises, Bristol-Myers slides following cancer meeting - Shares of Merck (MRK) are rising this morning, while peer Bristol-Myers (BMY) is sliding, after both companies presented new data on their respective cancer immunotherapy treatments at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting that began over this weekend. MERCK'S KEYTRUDA: In conjunction with the AACR meeting, Merck announced results from KEYNOTE-189, a pivotal Phase 3 trial evaluating Keytruda, Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination with pemetrexed, or ALIMTA, and cisplatin or carboplatin for the first-line treatment of metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer. The addition of Keytruda to pemetrexed plus platinum chemotherapy achieved a significant improvement in progression-free survival, or PFS, with a reduction in the risk of progression or death of nearly half for patients in the KEYTRUDA combination arm, compared with chemotherapy alone, Merck stated. BRISTOL'S OPDIVO: Meanwhile, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced initial results from the pivotal Phase 3 study, CheckMate -227, evaluating the Opdivo 3 mg/kg plus low-dose Yervoy combination in first-line advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients with high tumor mutational burden greater than or equal to10 mutations/megabase. In the Phase 3 CheckMate -227 trial, Opdivo plus low-dose Yervoy reduced the risk of progression or death by 42% versus chemotherapy in first-line lung cancer patients with high tumor mutational burden. The one-year progression-free survival rate was more than triple with the combination versus chemotherapy, or 43% vs. 13%, in first-line non-small cell lung cancer patients with high TMB greater than or equal to10 mut/Mb, the company stated. PRICE ACTION: In early trading, Merck shares have gained $1.79, or 3%, to $58.97 while Bristol-Myers shares have fallen over 5% to $55.50.

09:33 EDT Bank of America says 'optimistic' about loan growth

09:31 EDT Fate Therapeutics says new preclinical data on FT819 to be presented at AACR - Fate Therapeutics announced today that the company is presenting new preclinical data on FT819, its off-the-shelf CAR T-cell product candidate, at the American Association for Cancer Research, or AACR, Annual Meeting being held from April 14-18. The presentation of FT819 was accepted by AACR as a late-breaking abstract, and was subsequently selected by AACR to be featured at the AACR Annual Meeting press program being held today.

09:30 EDT Apellis provides update on Phase 1b open label study of APL-2 - Apellis Pharmaceuticals announced interim data from its Phase 1b PADDOCK trial for patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. The ongoing trial is evaluating the treatment with APL-2, a novel inhibitor of complement factor C3, in patients not previously treated with eculizumab. The company previously reported that APL-2 reduced lactate dehydrogenase and increased hemoglobin levels in three patients not previously treated with eculizumab after daily subcutaneous administration of 270 mg of APL-2 for 28 days in the trial. Based on the safety and activity observed in these patients, the administration period was extended from 28 days to one year and the number of patients to be enrolled in the PADDOCK trial was increased. As of April 13, 2018, the data cut-off date for this interim analysis, six more patients have been treated with APL-2 at the 270 mg/day dose for a minimum of 28 days. The data being announced today excludes results from one of the original three patients, who had underlying metastatic ovarian cancer with a chronic low gastrointestinal bleed, unknown at the time of screening, which resulted in artificially low Hgb and high LDH levels that were determined to be unrelated to PNH, and also excludes results from the initial cohort of two patients treated with APL-2 at a dose of 180 mg/day. The eight eculizumab naive patients reported here and treated with a 270 mg/day dose of APL-2 had a mean LDH of 11.6x the upper limit of normal, which is 250 U/L, at baseline that was reduced to 0.9x ULN by day 28. Seven of the eight patients had LDH levels below the upper limit of normal at day 28. The same eight patients had an average increase in hemoglobin of 4.3 g/dL, from a baseline average of 7.9 g/dL to an average last measurement of 12.2 g/dL within the first 12 weeks of the treatment period Except for two patients each of whom received a single transfusion within the first two weeks of treatment, no other transfusions have been reported in this study for any patients during the treatment period with APL-2. Substantial improvements in other biomarkers of anemia were observed. The same eight patients had an average reduction in absolute reticulocyte count of 50% from 195 10^9/L to 97 10^9/L over 28 days. Bilirubin in these patients was reduced from an average baseline of 42 umol/L to an average of 11 umol/L at day 28, an average decrease of 74%. To date, APL-2 has generally been well-tolerated in these patients. APL-2 has been administered systemically in the company's PNH clinical trials with more than 3,800 subcutaneous doses of 270 mg/day or more, representing cumulative systemic exposure of over 525 patient weeks of treatment on APL-2. No significant infections or thromboembolic events have been observed.

09:24 EDT Bank of America CEO sees 'constructive' economy for balance of year

09:24 EDT Land & Buildings announces presentation in response to QTS Realty Trust - Land & Buildings announced that it has issued a presentation in response to the one filed by QTS Realty Trust. Land & Buildings, an approximately 3% shareholder of QTS, intends to withhold its votes for QTS chairman and CEO chad Williams and chair of the Compensation Committee William Grabe. Land & Buildings believes that a clear message needs to be sent that the "persistent and consistent failures" in corporate governance and compensation practices, and "substantial underperformance" for QTS shareholders, simply cannot continue. Jonathan Litt, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Land & Buildings, stated: "We believe that the presentation issued late last Friday by QTS is highly troubling. The misleading claims the Company made - and, just as importantly, the facts they did not address - are quite telling. QTS' response is the latest in a pattern of actions by the Company and its Board of Directors to divert shareholders' attention away from the manner in which Mr. Williams and the Board have created a culture of self-enrichment with absolutely zero accountability - all at the expense of the true owners of the Company. Shareholders need to send a clear message that this behavior is unacceptable by withholding their votes for Chairman and CEO Mr. Williams and Chair of the Compensation Committee Mr. Grabe."

09:17 EDT CVS Health expands safe drug disposal program at 19 locations in West Virginia - CVS Health announced that the company has expanded its safe medication disposal program to locations inside 19 CVS Pharmacy locations in West Virginia to help facilitate proper and timely disposal of opioids and other medications that could otherwise be diverted or misused. The CVS Health Foundation will also provide a $20,000 grant to Westbrook Health Services in Parkersburg to support opioid addiction recovery. The 19 new medication disposal units that have been installed inside CVS Pharmacy locations in West Virginia will supplement the five additional units CVS Health has previously donated to police departments in Parkersburg, Star City, Charleston, Marlinton and Morgantown. Nationwide, the company has donated more than 850 units to police departments, collecting more than 140 metric tons, or 300,000 pounds of unwanted medication.

09:11 EDT Aptevo says APVO436 shows robust t-cell activation with minimal cytokine release - Aptevo Therapeutics announced the presentation of new data for APVO436, a bispecific antibody candidate targeting CD123 and CD3, at the American Association for Cancer Research 2018 Annual Meeting. The preclinical data demonstrate potent T-cell cytotoxicity of tumors expressing CD123 with limited cytokine release and suggest that APVO436 has the potential for increased clinical benefit and a favorable safety profile. Cytokine release syndrome is a significant concern with T-cell activating therapies and has been associated with severe complications in clinical trials. Aptevo has previously published data on its first generation candidate, APVO414, showing reduced cytokine release upon T-cell engagement compared to another bispecific format. New preclinical data presented at this year's AACR Annual Meeting compare Aptevo's second generation bispecific, APVO436, with an Aptevo-generated version of Macrogenics' CD123 x CD3 dual-affinity re-targeting molecule, MGD006, evaluating T-cell activation, proliferation, cytotoxicity and cytokine secretion. The data show that APVO436 and the Aptevo-generated version of MDG006 are both effective at stimulating a tumor-directed immune response by inducing comparable T-cell activation, proliferation and cytotoxicity. However, in these preclinical studies, APVO436 induced lower levels of several T-cell cytokines, including IFNgamma, IL-2, IL-6, TNFalpha and several additional cytokines, suggesting a potential safety advantage with APVO436. In a poster session on Monday, April 16, 2018, Aptevo scientists presented comprehensive data from a series of preclinical studies of APVO436 showing it is a potent inducer of redirected T-cell killing of AML tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo through the dual targeting of CD123. The data presented show that APVO436: Binds human CD123 and CD3-expressing cells with EC50 values in the low nM range and demonstrates potent target specific activity against CD123 expressing tumor cell lines at low effector to target ratios, Potently induces endogenous T-cell activation and proliferation accompanied by depletion of CD123 expressing cells in experiments with primary AML subject samples and normal donor samples, Demonstrates potent cytotoxic activity from antigen-expanded T cells from both normal and AML subject samples in the presence of CD123+ tumor cells upon re-exposure to APVO436, Results in rapid and significant reduction in skeletal tumor burden indicating migration and engagement of T cells at the tumor site, in mice with established disseminated Molm-13 tumors and IV-implanted human T cells in therapeutic preclinical animal studies and Induces lower levels of multiple cytokines compared to a different CD123 x CD3 format, when T cells were stimulated in the presence of CD123+ tumor cells.

09:08 EDT Bristol-Myers: Opdivo plus Yervoy showed benefit for coprimary endpoint in study - Bristol-Myers Squibb announced initial results from the pivotal Phase 3 study, CheckMate -227, evaluating the Opdivo 3 mg/kg plus low-dose Yervoy combination in first-line advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients with high tumor mutational burden greater than or equal to10 mutations/megabase. In the study, the combination demonstrated a superior benefit for the co-primary endpoint of progression-free survival versus chemotherapy. The PFS benefit was observed regardless of PD-L1 expression levels and in both squamous and non-squamous tumor histology. Additionally, based on an early descriptive analysis, encouraging overall survival was observed with the combination versus chemotherapy in patients with high TMB greater than or equal to10 mut/Mb. "CheckMate -227 is the first Phase 3 study to demonstrate the important clinical benefit of combining two immunotherapy agents to treat first-line NSCLC patients with high TMB," said Matthew D. Hellmann, M.D., study investigator and medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. "Results demonstrated that first-line nivolumab plus ipilimumab can provide frequent, deep and durable responses compared with chemotherapy in patients with NSCLC who have TMB greater than or equal to10 mut/Mb. The trial also supports the rationale for molecular testing to determine potential biomarkers in patients with lung cancer."

09:06 EDT Synopsys and Arm extend collaboration and sign agreement - Arm and Synopsys have extended their collaboration and signed a multi-year subscription agreement expanding Synopsys' access to a broad range of Arm intellectual property, or IP, to enable optimization of Synopsys tools and methodologies for Arm-based system-on-chips, or SoCs. The companies will share the results of their collaboration for design and verification enabled by this and previous IP subscription agreements at worldwide workshops beginning on April 25, in Tokyo, Japan. Through this agreement, Synopsys has early access to Arm Cortex CPUs, Mali GPUs, CoreLink system IP, Artisan physical IP, and POP IP. Building on more than 25 years of collaboration, this new agreement allows Synopsys to further optimize its tools and design flows for Arm-based SoCs, enabling designers to meet their power, performance and area (PPA) goals, while reducing cost and time-to-market.

09:06 EDT Fitbit announces global availability of Versa, new features - Fitbit (FIT) announced the availability of Fitbit Versa at major retailers worldwide for $199.95. Versa features a modern design, advanced health and fitness features, 4+ days battery life, smart features and cross platform compatibility. Beginning in May, these new Fitbit features will be available: Android mobile device users can respond to messages on the go using Fitbit Versa and Fitbit Ionic smartwatches. Create and send up to five custom pre-populated quick replies of 60 characters or less to text messages and messenger apps like WhatsApp and Facebook (FB) Messenger. Available to all adult users who identify as female in the Fitbit app to track their menstrual cycle and symptoms. Makes it easier to manage your cycle with a more complete picture of health and fitness data all in one place. Versa and Ionic users will also be able to view female health tracking information on-device.

09:03 EDT Bank of America CFO says brokerage flows rose for first time in years in Q1

09:03 EDT American Express ending Plenti rewards program on July 10 - Plenti said in a tweet that the Plenti program will end on July 10. "On that date, any unredeemed Plenti points will expire. You should use your Plenti points by July 10, 2018. In addition, on July 10, 2018 the @PlentiRewards account will close." Plenti was launched in mid-2015 by American Express as a frequent-shopper program that would involve multiple companies and brands, similar to other programs found in Europe. Reference Link

09:02 EDT Tocagen reports preliminary data from Toca 6 Phase 1 trial - Tocagen reported preliminary data from the Toca 6 Phase 1 trial of Toca 511 & Toca FC in advanced solid tumors at the American Association for Cancer Research, or aACR, Annual Meeting 2018 in Chicago. The poster was presented by Jaime Merchan, director, Phase 1 clinical trials program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of UHealth, the University of Miami Health System; associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. As of the data cutoff date of March 27 7 patients with advanced solid tumors received Toca 511 & Toca FC intravenously. Among these patients, 4 also received Toca 511 via intratumoral administration.

09:01 EDT Ocean Rig UDW announces authorization for $150M share repurchase plan - Ocean Rig UDW announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan, under which the company may repurchase up to $150M of its outstanding common shares for a period of 12 months from a date to be determined by the board. Due to applicable securities laws, the company's repurchase of shares will not begin until after the release of the company's financial statements for the first quarter ending March 31, 2018, which is expected to be within May of 2018.

08:57 EDT Bank of America CFO says now has over 35M digital users

08:39 EDT BofA CEO says 'made money every day' in global markets business in Q1 - CEO Brian Moynihan says bank "made money every day" in Q1 in global markets business despite trading volatility. Comments taken from the Q1 earnings conference call.

08:38 EDT Intelsat awarded new task order to operate satellite payload by FAA - Intelsat General, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intelsat (I) announced that it is part of a team of companies awarded a new task order by the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA to develop and operate a satellite payload to aid aircraft navigation, particularly precision approaches to airports without dependence on ground-based infrastructure. The payload will be part of the FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System, or WAAS that corrects and enhances information provided by global positioning system, or GPS, satellites to give commercial and civilian pilots more precise approach and departure guidance. WAAS provides safety improvements in the National Air Space and has been operational since 2003. This hosted payload, known as Geostationary Earth Satellite 7, is the seventh payload delivering a continuous and robust signal in space across the contiguous United States and Alaska. This payload is part of an ongoing WAAS constellation replenishment/sustainment effort by the FAA. Intelsat General will design, develop and host the WAAS GEO 7 payload and then integrate it into a new Intelsat Galaxy 30 satellite being built by Orbital ATK (OA). The Galaxy 30 satellite is set for launch in the first half of 2020. During the 10-year operational phase, Intelsat General will provide ground uplink services to the payload through Intelsat's teleport in Napa, California, as well as operations and maintenance services.

08:33 EDT ConocoPhillips drills six wells during Alaska appraisal program - ConocoPhillips announced it has concluded its 2018 winter exploration and appraisal program in Alaska. The company's original plan was to drill five wells on the Western North Slope comprising two appraisal wells of the Willow Discovery announced in January 2017, plus three exploration wells. Due to improved drilling efficiencies, the company was able to drill a total of six wells, including an additional Willow appraisal well. All six wells plus a sidetrack encountered oil and verified the potential of the play. The three Willow appraisal wells support the previously announced estimate of a recoverable resource potential of at least 300M barrels of oil. The three exploration wells represent new discoveries for the company and further extend the play concept across the Western North Slope. As part of the exploration program, a total of five production flow tests were conducted. Results from all five tests were encouraging. The company will assess the extensive information and results from this winter's activities in anticipation of another active exploration and appraisal season in 2019.

08:32 EDT Vonage, MyEyeDr renew partnership - MyEyeDr has renewed its partnership with Vonage to continue to provide a full suite of cloud communications solutions to its 6,000 employees across more than 370 locations, expanding to 600 locations over the next three years.

08:31 EDT Oaktree Capital announces certain changes to non-GAAP measures for Q1 - Oaktree Capital Group, LLC announced certain changes to its non-GAAP measures. Beginning with the quarter ended March 31, 2018, reported management fees and incentive income will reflect the portion of the net earnings from management fees and performance fees, respectively, attributable to Oaktree's 20% ownership interest in DoubleLine Capital LP and its affiliates. Such net earnings were previously reported as investment income. Additionally, assets under management, management fee-generating AUM, incentive-creating AUM and incentives created will reflect Oaktree's pro-rata portion of DoubleLine's total AUM, management fee-generating AUM, incentive-creating AUM and performance fees, respectively. The new presentation does not impact adjusted net income. However, fee-related earnings will now include Oaktree's pro-rata portion of DoubleLine's net earnings from management fees, and distributable earnings will reflect its pro-rata share of DoubleLine's income instead of cash receipts. Additionally, the impact of the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which resulted in the remeasurement of Oaktree's deferred tax assets and tax receivable liability in the fourth quarter of 2017, will no longer be included in its non-GAAP measures. Oaktree believes that excluding the impact of the Tax Act is meaningful as it increases comparability between periods. Dan Levin, CFO, said, "Since DoubleLine is an investment management company substantially like Oaktree, we believe the income we receive from it is comparable to our own income. Thus the new, more transparent presentation better reflects the underlying nature of our economics and increases comparability with certain other public alternative asset managers."

08:17 EDT Atossa Genetics urges shareholders to vote on two open proposals - Atossa Genetics urges shareholders to vote on two of our most recent proposals that still remain open from our April 12, 2018 annual stockholder meeting. They are: Proposal No. 4 - Approval of an amendment to Atossa's certificate of incorporation to effect a reverse stock split within a range of 1:3 to 1:15 and Proposal No. 5 - Approval of an amendment to Atossa's certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock by 100,000,000 shares. Each of these proposals must be approved by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote on the Record Date which was March 12. These proposals were presented at the annual shareholder meeting on April 12 and, because these proposals have not yet garnered sufficient votes, the polls have remained open to allow additional time for shareholders to exercise their right to vote. Shareholders will reconvene at a meeting now scheduled for April 19 at 107 Spring Street, Seattle, Washington at 1:00 PM Pacific time. Note that votes must be cast by that time. Shareholders who have not voted or wish to change their vote are encouraged to vote by internet or telephone by following the proxy voting instructions received by mail.

08:11 EDT Cellectar says data shows ability of its PDCs to selectively target tumor cells - Cellectar Biosciences announces the presentation of a late breaker poster entitled "Phospholipid drug conjugates show specificity for a broad range of tumor cells and provides a novel approach for targeted or precision therapy" at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting underway in Chicago. Jarrod Longcor, chief business officer at Cellectar Biosciences will present this poster. The poster articulates how phospholipid ether platform provides tumor targeting for PDC molecules, irrespective of payload/warhead and their behavior once inside cells. These data provide valuable insight for the successful design of molecules for targeted delivery of cytotoxic payloads. In one of the studies presented, the result shows that Cellectar's PDCs can effectively deliver cytotoxic payloads to the tumor cells without killing normal cells and that there is a 20-fold difference in the delivery of PDCs to the tumor versus normal cells.

08:09 EDT Organovo achieves milestones for liver disease, intestinal tissue models - Organovo Holdings announced that along with its collaborators, it has achieved several breakthrough capabilities for its 3D bioprinted tissues. At last week's International Liver Congress, two posters were presented illustrating the company's ability to create functional human liver tissue, produce a spectrum of NASH disease conditions, and then treat that disease successfully with a client's development stage non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, drug. These posters highlighted the performance of Organovo's human liver model in the generation of a robust non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and NASH phenotype, including the presence of 'gold standard' histopathologic features.

08:07 EDT Syros: SY-1365 demonstrated potent anti-tumor activity in ovarian cancer - Syros Pharmaceuticals announced new preclinical data showing that SY-1365, its first-in-class selective cyclin-dependent kinase 7 inhibitor currently in a Phase 1 trial in patients with advanced solid tumors, demonstrated potent anti-tumor activity in multiple models of heavily pretreated ovarian cancer. These data were presented by Syros and its collaborators from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Chicago. Researchers from Syros and DCFI evaluated the anti-tumor activity of SY-1365 in a broad panel of ovarian cancer cell lines, as well as in patient-derived xenograft mouse models developed from patients treated with multiple prior therapies, including standard-of-care platinum-based therapies and a new class of targeted therapies known as PARP inhibitors. The data, which were presented in a poster discussion session and a poster session, show that SY-1365: Induced cell death in numerous ovarian cancer cell lines. Inhibited tumor growth in 10 of the 17 treatment-relapsed ovarian PDX models studied, including inducing complete regressions. Notably, these responses were observed irrespective of BRCA status or sensitivity to a PARP inhibitor. Lowered expression of MCL1, a gene in the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway that is known to inhibit apoptosis, or programmed cell death. The data also showed that sensitivity to SY-1365 was associated with low expression of BCLXL, a known apoptosis inhibitor, and RB1, a known tumor suppressor, pointing to potential biomarkers that may be predictive of response to SY-1365.

08:06 EDT SG Digital begins product review sessions with Gaming Enforcement - Scientific Games announced that SG Digital has commenced sportsbook product review sessions with New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement. OpenBet, SG Digital's market-leading sports betting solution, is getting ahead of the game and is fully prepared to ensure its ambitious partners are ready to launch their sportsbook offering should the U.S. Supreme Court decide to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Betting Association Act, allowing legalized sports betting in the state of New Jersey.

08:05 EDT Galectin says additional data reinforces positive effects of GR-MD-02 - Galectin Therapeutics provided highlights from a late-breaker oral presentation at The International Liver Congress(TM) 2018, European Association for the Study of the Liver in Paris, France on Saturday, April 14, 2018. Naga P. Chalasani, M.D., Associate Dean for Clinical Research; Director, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Indiana University School of Medicine, and co-lead principal investigator on Galectin Therapeutics' recent Phase 2b NASH-CX trial, delivered a late-breaker presentation entitled "A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, PLB-controlled trial of Galectin-3 inhibitor in patients with NASH cirrhosis and portal hypertension". The session focused on the company's recent Phase 2b NASH-CX trial results and the innovative work the company is doing for patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Dr. Chalasani's late-breaker presentation highlighted and extended the study's primary findings in patients without esophageal varices and those with mild portal hypertension. Most importantly, in patients with NASH cirrhosis without esophageal varices, Galectin Therapeutics' lead compound, GR-MD-02, demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in portal pressure, an improvement in liver cell death on biopsy for the total population, and a reduction in the development of new esophageal varices at the end of the one-year study. This subgroup is large and commercially relevant as it comprises about half of all patients with NASH cirrhosis. Since reporting these initial findings in December 2017, continued analysis of the data has led to two additional findings that reinforce the positive effects of GR-MD-02. First, a statistically significant correlation was identified between the decrease in portal pressure and the improvement in hepatocyte ballooning upon treatment with GR-MD-02 at 2 mg/Kg. This suggests an important pathophysiological link between the improvement in liver biopsy and reductions in HVPG. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a correlation has been demonstrated in a human clinical trial in patients with NASH cirrhosis. Secondly, an evaluation of GR-MD-02 blood levels provided an explanation for the reduced efficacy response observed in the higher GR8 dose group. In the GR2 dose group, the blood levels were tightly grouped. In contrast, there was a broad distribution of higher drug exposures in the GR8 group. Approximately half of the patients who received GR8 had GR-MD-02 blood concentration levels that had risen to a range where a reduced efficacy effect in the liver had been noted at very high doses in the NASH animal models. When the GR8 group was divided, based on pharmacokinetic analysis of drug levels, into separate low and high drug exposure ranges, a statistically significant effect of GR8 on both HVPG and hepatocyte ballooning was observed in those patients with drug levels in the lower drug exposure range. There was no corresponding statistically significant effect in the higher drug exposure range group of patients receiving GR8 in analogy to what was observed in the NASH animal studies. Therefore, the GR8 dose, in cirrhotic patients, seems to be at the upper range of efficacy. Importantly, this not only provides an explanation of the dose ranging results but also more clearly defines the upper range of human drug dosing for GR-MD-02 in patients with NASH cirrhosis. Further, these results suggest it might be useful to explore intermediate doses between 2mg/kg and 8mg/Kg in future clinical studies.

08:04 EDT China Information receives follow-on $1.6M cloud-based ad terminal order - China Information Technology announced that it has entered into a contract for the sale of 5,000 CNIT cloud-based elevator ad terminals to be installed in office buildings and residential communities throughout Anhui province, located across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River. Signed with Anhui Taoping Culture and Media Limited, the contract is expected to generate sales and service revenue to CNIT of about $1.6M. Each sale is expected to generate recurring service and commission revenue from customers' use of the company's Yunfa advertising distribution system and Taoping Net/ App ad screen sharing platform.

08:04 EDT Enterprise Products begins full service on Midland-to-Sealy pipeline - Enterprise Products Partners L.P. announced that its 416-mile Midland-to-Sealy pipeline is now in full service with an expanded capacity of 540,000 barrels per day and capable of transporting batched grades of crude oil and condensate. With the completion of incremental tankage, as well as infrastructure and operating enhancements, the pipeline has an expected capacity of 575,000 BPD which is expected to come online in May and is fully subscribed under long-term contracts. At its terminus in Sealy, Texas, the pipeline connects directly to Enterprise's 36-inch diameter Rancho II crude oil pipeline, which extends to the company's 7.4 million barrel ECHO crude oil terminal in southeast Houston. The completion of the Midland-to-ECHO pipeline system provides a fully integrated solution allowing Permian Basin producers to deliver multiple grades of crude oil all the way to the Gulf Coast, including West Texas Intermediate, Light West Texas Intermediate, West Texas Sour and Condensate. Supporting Enterprise's Permian Basin solution is a strategic aggregation program that includes construction of a 143-mile pipeline system, which is expected to deliver more than 300,000 BPD of crude oil and condensate from the Delaware Basin into Enterprise's Midland Terminal. The project is on schedule for completion in July 2018 and is supported by long-term commitments with shippers.

08:03 EDT CVS Health announces new collaboration with Job Corps - In its continuing commitment to expand work-based learning and externship opportunities for students studying to become pharmacy technicians, CVS Health announced a new collaboration with Job Corps, the largest free residential education and job training program for young adults. The participating Job Corps campuses, which are operated by Odle Management Group, include Long Beach Job Corps Center (Long Beach, CA), Old Dominion Job Corps Center (Monroe, VA), Pinellas County Job Corps Center (St. Petersburg, FL) and Tulsa Job Corps Center (Tulsa, OK), as well as a pilot program launching this summer at Pittsburgh Job Corps Center. Through the new partnership, Job Corps will place students at local CVS Pharmacy locations to learn directly from CVS pharmacists and operations leaders. Students who successfully complete the training will be eligible to apply for a job at CVS Pharmacy.

08:03 EDT Eli Lilly, Boehringer and Oxford University collaborate in Jardiance research - Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company announced an academic collaboration with the University of Oxford to investigate the effects of Jardiance on the progression of kidney disease and the occurrence of cardiovascular death, in adults with established chronic kidney disease with and without diabetes. EMPA-KIDNEY will be independently conducted, analyzed and reported by the Medical Research Council Population Health Research Unit at the University of Oxford which is based in the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, in partnership with the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly will provide the funding for the study.

08:01 EDT FireEye, Oracle collaborate on cloud transformation - FireEye (FEYE) announced a relationship with Oracle (ORCL) to offer additional security services for customers migrating to the cloud. FireEye Email Security has achieved Powered by Oracle Cloud status and is now available on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace. Additionally, customers can now evaluate FireEye Email Security running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure via the Oracle Cloud Jump Start demo lab.

07:57 EDT Unisys appoints Mathew Newfield as Chief Information Security Officer - Unisys (UIS) announced that Mathew Newfield has joined the company as its corporate Chief Information Security Officer, or CISO. In the CISO role, Newfield leads the Unisys corporate information security team. The team is responsible for the design, development and implementation of the company's corporate information security and risk program across all regions and functions so that both client and Unisys information assets are protected. He reports to Eric Hutto, senior vice president and president, Enterprise Solutions, Unisys. Prior to joining Unisys, Newfield served as director of global managed security services for IBM (IBM) as well as the business information security officer within IBM's security organization. In that role, he was responsible for the delivery of services in 133 countries and managing a staff of 1,500 security professionals. Newfield also has previously held security leadership roles with Cybertrust, RSA and DDC Advocacy.

07:34 EDT LaSalle Hotel to review revised unsolicited proposal from Pebblebrook Hotel - LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO) confirmed that it received a revised unsolicited proposal from Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB) on April 13, 2018 to acquire LaSalle in a transaction with consideration of 0.8944 common shares of Pebblebrook per common share of LaSalle, with the option for LaSalle shareholders to elect to receive cash up to a maximum of 15% in aggregate of the consideration, subject to pro ration. Consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, the LaSalle Board of Trustees will carefully review Pebblebrook's revised proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company's shareholders. The LaSalle Board of Trustees expects to respond to Pebblebrook's proposal in due course. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC are acting as financial advisors to LaSalle and Goodwin Procter LLP and DLA Piper LLP are acting as legal counsel.

07:33 EDT Cancer Genetics receives FDA clearance for Tissue of Origin test - Cancer Genetics announced that it has received special 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its Tissue of Origin test, or TOO, following modifications made to test reagents and software. Compared to the early version, the current TOO assay uses new labeling reagents and has a higher accuracy rate and a shorter workflow with similar precision and reproducibility. The low RNA input requirement of the early version is maintained. The combined result of these new features offers a further optimized clinical assay to help clinicians make diagnostic decisions and subsequent treatment selections.

07:30 EDT Apricus Biosciences trading resumes

07:18 EDT CBRE Group makes investment in energy services firm Redaptive - CBRE Group announced that it has made a strategic investment in energy services firm Redaptive, Inc. Headquartered in San Francisco, Redaptive is a provider of integrated energy efficiency solutions and energy financing for building owners and occupiers.

07:16 EDT Cyclacel says CYCO65 data shows durable Mcl-1 suppression of at least 24 hours - Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals announced results from a Phase 1 safety, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic study of CYC065, the company's novel cyclin dependent kinase, or CDK2/9 inhibitor, in patients with advanced cancers. Data were reported at an oral presentation on Sunday, April 15, at 3:35 PM CT at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL. The objective of part 1 of the Phase 1 dose escalating, monotherapy, first-in-human study was to evaluate safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and identify RP2D. Certain features of the trial are as follows: 26 heavily treated patients with various advanced solid tumors were enrolled; The trial advanced through seven DL cohorts with a range of 8 to 288 mg/m2/day, administered as a 4-hour intravenous infusion once every 3 weeks; Dose limiting toxicity at DL7 was reversible neutropenia, febrile neutropenia and diarrhea; Thirteen patients were treated at DL6; PK parameters have demonstrated increases in CYC065 exposure with increasing dosing levels; A biologically effective dose was established from analysis of surrogate tissue, supporting a RP2D of 192 mg/m2/day; Consistent Mcl-1 suppression over 24 hours after a single dose was observed in 11 out of 13 patients at DL6; clinical response was reported in patients with Mcl-1, MYC and cyclin E amplified tumors; and Stable disease was best response, longest response approximately one year. Having successfully achieved the objectives of part 1 of the study, part 2 has been initiated to evaluate CYC065 in a more intensive schedule for 2 days per week for 2 weeks of a three week cycle. Part 2 will enroll patients with advanced cancers to evaluate efficacy in Mcl-1, MYC and cyclin E amplified cancers. The Company also plans to initiate a clinical study in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in combination with venetoclax, a Bcl-2 inhibitor, where durable suppression of Mcl-1 may be beneficial.

07:13 EDT Celldex Phase 2b METRIC Study did not meet primary endpoint - Celldex Therapeutics reported that the company's randomized, Phase 2b METRIC Study of glembatumumab vedotin compared to Xeloda in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancers that overexpress gpNMB failed to meet its primary endpoint, progression-free survival, or PFS, as assessed by an independent, central reading of patient scans. There was no significant advantage for glembatumumab vedotin in key secondary endpoints, including overall response rate, duration of response and overall survival. The glembatumumab vedotin safety profile was consistent with prior experience. Anthony Marucci, co-founder, president and CEO of Celldex Therapeutics said, "Based on these results, we have also made the decision to discontinue the glembatumumab vedotin program across all indications and are currently prioritizing our pipeline, which includes five candidates in ongoing clinical studies. In line with this, we are evaluating our operational and workforce needs to extend our financial resources and direct them to continued pipeline advancement. Once we solidify these plans, we intend to update investors." Celldex believes its pipeline prioritization and organizational restructuring efforts will extend financial resources beyond the guidance issued in the company's year-end 2017 earnings press release and associated filings. The company plans to provide revised guidance in its first quarter 2018 financial results in early May.

07:10 EDT Group 1 Automotive expands presence in Brazil - Group 1 Automotive announced the acquisition of a new Toyota market area in western Sao Paulo, Brazil as well as a major expansion to an existing Honda dealership located in the Sao Paulo suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo.The acquisition of the new Toyota sales territory was triggered by the purchase of selected assets of Toyota Alpha Trevo Automoveis Ltda, an existing Toyota dealership in the western Sao Paulo suburb of Alphaville. Under Group 1, the business will operate as T-Drive Toyota Alphaville and is expected to generate $45M in annualized revenues. In conjunction with this acquisition, Group 1 has been awarded several additional new Toyota points of representation within the Sao Paulo metropolitan market.

07:08 EDT IHS Markit acquires DeriveXperts - IHS Markit announced it acquired DeriveXperts, a provider of valuation services for OTC derivatives and other complex financial securities. The acquisition complements and enhances the existing derivatives data and valuations businesses at IHS Markit. DeriveXperts specializes in daily and monthly computations of hard-to-value assets, such as equity derivatives, FX derivatives, interest rate derivatives and structured notes. DeriveXperts is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 2003. IHS Markit has more than 100 employees in Paris and this acquisition adds to that team.

07:04 EDT FDA rescinds Refusal to File letter for Alkermes depression drug - Alkermes announced this morning that the FDA accepted for review the New Drug Application for ALKS 5461, an oral investigational medicine for the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder in patients with an inadequate response to standard antidepressant therapies. FDA's target action date for the ALKS 5461 NDA is Jan. 31, 2019. "FDA's acceptance of the ALKS 5461 NDA and rescission of the Refusal to File letter issued March 30, 2018 follows productive interactions with the Agency in which Alkermes clarified certain aspects of the NDA submission. No additional data or analyses were submitted by Alkermes to FDA," the company said in a statement. Shares of Alkermes fell 22% on April 2 on news that the company received a Refusal to File letter from the FDA for ALKS 5461. The stock closed Friday down 43c to $42.53.

07:03 EDT Apricus Biosciences seeks partner to develop Vitaros in the U.S. - Apricus Biosciences announced the outcome of its end-of-review meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the New Drug Application for Vitaros, a topical cream for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. The preliminary end-of-review meeting minutes support a plan to address issues cited by the FDA in its February 15, 2018 Complete Response Letter for the Vitaros NDA. Specifically, the FDA confirmed during the meeting that the company should develop a new Vitaros formulation that reduces the concentration of DDAIP.HCl from 2.5% to 0.5% in order to address the tumor promotion and partner transference safety concerns noted in the CRL. The FDA also confirmed that two new Phase 3 clinical efficacy trials with the reformulated product should be conducted prior to resubmitting the NDA and that the trials should include an assessment of the potential risk of enhanced sexually transmitted infections with the new formulation. In addition, the FDA requested certain pharmacokinetic assessments that we expect can be completed as part of the requested Phase 3 program and any additional clinical or commercial safety data generated prior to a resubmission. Lastly, the FDA stated that the Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control section in the resubmission will need to be updated with data generated during development of the new formulation. The FDA previously issued a CRL for the Vitaros NDA, indicating that it could not approve the NDA for Vitaros in its present form, identifying deficiencies related to CMC and whether the modest treatment effect of Vitaros outweighed certain safety concerns specific to the 2.5% concentration of DDAIP.HCl contained in the current formulation. "While we are pleased that the FDA has outlined a clear regulatory pathway for Vitaros, which we believe provides a path to approval in the U.S., the cost and timeline associated with a reformulation effort and completing additional phase 3 clinical trials exceeds our current resources and our ability to raise additional capital. Therefore, we have initiated discussions with interested parties for the U.S. Vitaros rights to enable its continued development and potential approval in exchange for financial terms commensurate with a development stage asset. In parallel, the Board of Directors has determined that Apricus should evaluate strategic alternatives or other business combinations, with the goal of maximizing shareholder value," said Richard Pascoe, CEO.

07:02 EDT Ball collaborates with Honeywell to develop Optical Communication DataLinks - Ball Aerospace (BLL) is collaborating with Honeywell (HON) to develop and produce high-performance, high-reliability Optical Communication DataLinks that enable satellite operators to deliver affordable, high-capacity, high-data rate connectivity to users around the world. Free-space optical communication systems provide an innovative complement to traditional radio frequency solutions, bringing the Internet speeds of terrestrial fiber optics to space.

07:02 EDT Exemplar Genetics' rare neurological disease model cleared by FDA - Exemplar Genetics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intrexon, announced the U.S. FDA has exercised enforcement discretion in regard to the ExeGen ATM MiniSwine model clearing it for commercial use as a research model. The ExeGen ATM MiniSwine is genetically engineered to model ataxia telangiectasia, a rare, inherited, predominantly neurological human disease. Exemplar has previously received approval for its ExeGen LDLR MiniSwine model for use in cardiovascular disease research.

06:58 EDT Bank of America CEO says 'record quarterly earnings' in Q1 - CEO Moynihan said, "Our responsible growth model continues to deliver consistent results. Strong client activity, coupled with a growing global economy and solid U.S. consumer activity, led to record quarterly earnings. We grew loans in our business segments by $45 billion and increased deposits by $41 billion. We continue to invest in new capabilities in our mobile banking app, the expansion and renovation of our financial centers, and the hiring of additional client relationship professionals. We believe these investments, and our focus on operational excellence, will drive sustainable growth over time."

06:57 EDT Alkermes announces FDA acceptance for ALKS 5461 NDA - Alkermes announced that the FDA has accepted for review the new drug application, or NDA, for ALKS 5461, once-daily, oral investigational medicine for the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder, or MDD, in patients with an inadequate response to standard antidepressant therapies. FDA's target action date for the ALKS 5461 NDA is Jan. 31, 2019. FDA's acceptance of the ALKS 5461 NDA and rescission of the refusal to file letter issued March 30, follows productive interactions with the Agency in which Alkermes clarified certain aspects of the NDA submission. No additional data or analyses were submitted by Alkermes to FDA. The NDA filing for ALKS 5461 is based on results from a clinical efficacy and safety package with data from more than 30 clinical trials and more than 1,500 patients with MDD. Throughout the clinical development program, ALKS 5461 demonstrated a consistent profile of antidepressant activity, safety and tolerability in the adjunctive treatment of MDD.

06:52 EDT Bank of America reports Q1 NII up $550M, or 5% to $11.6B - Reflecting benefits from higher interest rates and loan and deposit growth.

06:49 EDT Bank of America reports Q1 provision for credit losses stable at $834M

06:46 EDT Zayo Group to open new data center in the UK - Zayo Group Holdings will expand its European data center presence with a new location in Feltham, UK. The zColo facility, the company's first data center in the London metro area, will add 30,000 total square feet and 3.6 megawatts, or MW, of critical power. The new data center is driven by a commitment from a major anchor tenant and strong demand in the UK. The carrier-neutral facility, which is located at the confluence of the UK's major telecom networks, provides extensive interconnectivity as well as access to Zayo's global fiber backbone.

06:39 EDT Pebblebrook Hotel raises offer price for LaSalle Hotel to $31.75 per share - Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB) released a letter dated April 13, 2018 to the Board of Trustees of LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO) in which Pebblebrook provided a revised merger proposal. The revised non-binding proposal for 100% of LaSalle's outstanding common shares addresses both price and consideration mix, and implies a merger price of $31.75 per LaSalle common share, representing a premium of 30.2% above LaSalle's unaffected closing price on March 27, 20182, which was the day before Pebblebrook's initial offer was publicly announced. The implied price of $31.75 per share is based on an increased fixed exchange ratio of 0.8944 Pebblebrook common share for each LaSalle common share. The implied price of this increased offer is $1.75 per share, or 5.8%, above the implied price of Pebblebrook's original offer. Pebblebrook's revised proposal also provides LaSalle's common shareholders with the option to elect to receive cash up to a maximum of 15% in the aggregate. "Pebblebrook is disappointed that LaSalle has not responded to our revised proposal and continues to refuse to negotiate an agreement to combine the two companies which would benefit the shareholders of both companies," said Jon E. Bortz, Chairman, President and CEO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust. "This revised offer demonstrates our strong commitment to bringing these two similar companies together. Investor reaction has been overwhelmingly in favor of a combination, and we are ready to move forward swiftly to reach an agreement. Our revised offer provides LaSalle shareholders with a materially larger premium, the flexibility to determine their mix of consideration, and a governance structure that includes board representation drawn from both companies. It also gives LaSalle a 30-day window to solicit alternative proposals. We strongly encourage LaSalle's Board of Trustees to engage exclusively with us to complete this transaction and create the company that shareholders so clearly desire."

06:37 EDT Eldorado Resorts to acquire Tropicana Entertainment in $1.85B transaction - Eldorado Resorts (ERI) announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Tropicana Entertainment (TPCA) in a cash transaction that is valued at $1.85B. The definitive agreement provides that Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLPI) will pay $1.21B, excluding taxes and expenses, for substantially all of Tropicana's real estate and enter into a master lease with Eldorado for the acquired real estate and that Eldorado will fund the remaining $640M of cash consideration payable in the acquisition. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Eldorado's free cash flow and diluted earnings per share, inclusive of identified expected cost synergies of approximately $40M in the first year following its completion and when giving effect to the lease transaction described below. Pursuant to the transaction, GLPI is expected to acquire the real estate associated with the Tropicana property portfolio, except the MontBleu Casino Resort & Spa in South Lake Tahoe and the Tropicana Aruba Resort and Casino. Following the acquisition of the real estate portfolio by GLPI, Eldorado will enter into a triple net master lease for the acquired properties with an initial term of 15 years, with renewals of up to 20 years at the Eldorado's option. The initial annual rent under the terms of the lease is expected to be approximately $110M. Tropicana intends to dispose of Tropicana Aruba Resort and Casino prior to closing. Eldorado's net purchase price after the application of Tropicana's expected net cash on hand and cash flow generated from operations through closing represents an estimated trailing twelve months EBITDA multiple of approximately 6.6x at closing. Including the $40M of identified cost synergies, the purchase price multiple is expected to be below 5.0x. The board of directors of each of Eldorado, GLPI and Tropicana approved the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of 2018, subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. Eldorado intends to fund the transaction consideration of approximately $640M payable by Eldorado and repay debt outstanding under Tropicana's credit facility with cash generated from its current operations, proceeds from pending asset sales, Tropicana's cash on hand, cash flow generated from Tropicana operations through closing and $600M of committed debt financing from J.P. Morgan.

06:34 EDT Boston Scientific acquires nVision Medical Corporation for $150M upfront - Boston Scientific announced that it has acquired nVision Medical Corporation, a privately-held company focused on women's health. nVision developed the first and only device cleared by the FDA to collect cells from the fallopian tubes, offering a potential platform for earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Recent studies have confirmed that several major types of ovarian cancer appear to originate from the fallopian tubes. Initial clinical research has demonstrated that the nVision device effectively collects cells which, when tested, correlate with a post-surgery definitive diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Boston Scientific plans to conduct additional clinical research with the nVision device to further establish how the cells it collects from the fallopian tubes can be used to render a diagnosis prior to surgery and help in the decision-making process for women at increased risk for ovarian cancer. The transaction consists of an upfront cash payment of $150M, and up to an additional $125M in potential clinical and commercial milestones over four years. The acquisition is expected to be immaterial on an adjusted basis in 2018 and 2019, and accretive thereafter.

06:33 EDT Pebblebrook Hotel raises offer price for LaSalle Hotel to $31.75 per share

06:31 EDT Eldorado Resorts to acquire Grand Victoria Casino for $327.5M in cash - Eldorado Resorts announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Illinois for $327.5M in cash. Total consideration for the transaction represents a purchase multiple of approximately 9.0x trailing twelve months Adjusted EBITDA which Eldorado expects to reduce to approximately 6.0x or less within 18 months of the transaction's closing based on expected operating synergies and cost savings. The Company intends to fund the proposed transaction using cash from previously announced asset sales, cash from ongoing operations and borrowings under its revolving credit facility. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions and is subject to a customary working capital adjustment.

06:17 EDT Synchrony reports March net charge offs 4.81% vs. 4.90% last month - Reports March 30-plus day delinquency rate 3.03% vs. 3.12% last month.

06:07 EDT Shire announces sale of oncology business to Servier for $2.4B - Shire plc (SHPG) announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Servier S.A.S. to sell its Oncology business for $2.4B. Shire's Oncology business includes in-market products ONCASPAR, a component of multi-agent treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and ex-U.S. rights to ONIVYDE, a component of multi-agent treatment for metastatic pancreatic cancer post gemcitabine-based therapy. The portfolio also includes Calaspargase Pegol, which is under FDA review for the treatment of ALL and early stage immuno-oncology pipeline collaborations. Flemming Ornskov, M.D., M.P.H., Shire CEO, said: "This transaction is a key milestone for Shire, demonstrating the clear value embedded in our portfolio. While the Oncology business has delivered high growth and profitability, we have concluded that it is not core to Shire's longer-term strategy. We will continue to evaluate our portfolio for opportunities to unlock further value and sharpen our focus on rare disease leadership with selective disposals of non-strategic assets. We are confident that Servier will continue to invest in this business and our colleagues who are expected to transfer as part of the transaction in order to meet the needs of cancer patients globally. The proceeds from the transaction increase optionality and Shire's Board will consider returning the proceeds of the sale to shareholders through a shareholder-approved share buyback after the current offer period regarding Takeda's (TKPYY) possible offer for Shire concludes."

06:03 EDT G1 Therapeutics begins Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for G1T38 - G1 Therapeutics (GTHX) announced that it has initiated a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial assessing G1T38, its oral CDK4/6 inhibitor, in combination with Tagrisso, or osimertinib, in people with EGFR-mutant, or EGFRm, non-small cell lung cancer. AstraZeneca (AZN) is providing Tagrisso for this trial under a non-exclusive clinical trial collaboration agreement. The open-label trial is expected to enroll approximately 145 participants in two parts: a safety, pharmacokinetic and dose-finding portion; and a subsequent randomized portion. Primary outcome measures include safety and tolerability, identifying a recommended Phase 2 dose and progression-free survival. Secondary outcome measures include assessment of pharmacokinetics, tumor response and overall survival.

05:54 EDT Silvercorp Metals reports spillage incident at Ying Mining District - Silvercorp Metals reported that at approximately 9:30 pm on April 12th leakage occurred near the bottom of the barrier wall plates for the fifth overflow well inside the No. 2 tailing storage facility at the Ying Mining District operated by the company's subsidiary, Henan Found. Fortunately only a small amount of tailings was leaked downstream to Chong-Yang Creek. As the facility is monitored closely Henan Found was able to take immediate action and the leakage was fully controlled and stopped as of 12:00 pm of April 13. The government authorities from provincial, city and county levels were present immediately to guide and implement all environment and safety emergency measures. Fortunately no personal injury was incurred and results of ongoing water tests from Chong -Yang Creek are within acceptable national water quality standards. Henan Found is working with the government authorities to clean up the leaked tailings in Chong-Yang Creek and restore the fifth overflow well. Due to the incident, milling operations are temporarily suspended. Milling operations are expected to resume using the No. 1 tailing storage facility pending restoration of the fifth overflow well. As the milling capacity of Henan Found is approximately 25% over the mining capacity the temporary suspension of milling operations is expected to have minimal impact on overall production. The company will provide updates when further information is available.

05:41 EDT Novartis announces new analysis showing Entresto helped preserve kidney function - Novartis announced a new post hoc analysis of the pivotal Phase III heart failure study, PARADIGM-HF, demonstrating that treatment with Entresto helped to preserve kidney function, as assessed by estimated glomerular filtration rate, or eGFR, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, or HFrEF. HFrEF patients treated with Entresto had a slower rate of decline in eGFR than those treated with ACE inhibitor enalapril.[1] In a sub group of patients who had both HFrEF and diabetes, the magnitude of benefit was twice as high. The findings of the analysis are published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Non-diabetic HFrEF patients in the PARADIGM-HF study were shown to lose kidney function twice as fast as the general population. This was further accelerated in HFrEF patients with diabetes, who experienced a decline in kidney function that was twice as fast as the non-diabetic patients. When compared with enalapril, treatment with Entresto significantly slowed this decline in all HFrEF patients. In HFrEF patients who also had diabetes, the benefit of treatment with Entresto was doubled vs. those without diabetes.

05:26 EDT TechnipFMC awarded contract for Tortue/Ahmeyim development FPSO - TechnipFMC has been awarded a front-end engineering design, or FEED, contract by BP for the floating production storage and offloading, or FPSO, unit for the Tortue/Ahmeyim Field Development, a major LNG project located offshore on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal. The agreement between the two companies provides a mechanism to allow a transition of the contract to an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation, or EPCI, contract at a later stage. TechnipFMC will work on defining the technology and equipment scope and brings expertise to deliver major projects, leveraging extensive experience with Chinese fabrication.

05:21 EDT Nektar to present new preclinical data on NKTR-214 at AACR - Nektar Therapeutics announced yesterday that it is presenting new preclinical data for its immuno-oncology programs at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018. Nektar researchers and collaborators will present new preclinical data on NKTR-214, a CD122-biased agonist, as well as on NKTR-262, a novel toll-like receptor agonist, the company said in a statement. "The preclinical studies being presented at AACR by both Nektar scientists and our collaborators highlight the potential of NKTR-214 as a backbone therapy in immuno-oncology," said Jonathan Zalevsky, Ph.D., Nektar's Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. "NKTR-214 is designed to stimulate the number and functional activity of cancer-fighting T cells which are often limited in patients with cancer and necessary for immunotherapy to be fully effective. These data show that NKTR-214 synergizes with multiple modalities including TLRs, HDAC and ACT. With regard to TLR biology, the combination of NKTR-214 and NKTR-262 engages both the innate and adaptive immune system to initiate antigen release, expand T cells and drive them into the tumor. This novel immuno-oncology combination is now being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 study."