Stockwinners Market Radar for June 05, 2018 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

18:40 EDT On The Fly: After Hours Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Covenant Transportation (CVTI), up 14.6%. ALSO HIGHER: VBL Therapeutics (VBLT), up 41.9% after it presented "positive" data on its MOSPD2 program in oncology and inflammation... Acacia Communications (ACIA), up 3.8% after Reuters reported that ZTE Corp. (ZTCOY) has agreed in principle to a deal that will lift the U.S. supply ban. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Ambarella (AMBA), down 8.8%... Ollie's Bargain Outlet (OLLI), down 4.7%... Guidewire Software (GWRE), down 1.3%. ALSO LOWER: ImmunoGen (IMGN), down 5% after it filed to sell 12M shares of common stock.

18:22 EDT Eversource criticized disclosed amendments to merger agreement - Eversource Energy (ES) strongly criticized the recently disclosed amendments to the merger agreement between Connecticut Water Service (CTWS) and SJW Group (SJW). Eversource believes that the recent actions taken by Connecticut Water reinforce that its board and management team are not seriously considering the superior proposal by Eversource. Connecticut Water is continuing to attempt to solidify San Jose Water as the acquirer in a transaction that is not in the best interest of Connecticut Water shareholders. Importantly, Connecticut Water and San Jose Water have also refused to eliminate or reduce the $28.1M break-up fee while simultaneously extending the tail period applicable to the break-up fee from 12 to 15 months and providing San Jose Water with additional rights to match competing proposals. Eversource remains committed to delivering its compelling and superior proposal to Connecticut Water shareholders but will not participate in this severely limited go-shop process. Eversource will continue to urge Connecticut Water shareholders to vote "AGAINST" the inferior San Jose Water merger proposal by completing the BLUE proxy card once Eversource files definitive proxy materials with the SEC.

18:03 EDT YY sees Q2 revenue up 38%to 41.8% - Sees Q2 net revenues RMB3.6B-RMB3.7B. In addition, the Company expects to have a fair value loss on derivative liabilities, which is related to preferred shares of HUYA Inc. amounting to approximately RMB2.3B due to an increase in HUYA Inc.'s enterprise value as indicated by the price of its initial public offering, which will cause a negative net income attributable to YY in the Q2.

18:00 EDT HP Inc. sees up to 5,000 employees exiting by end of FY19 - In a regulatory filing, HP Inc. said it now expects roughly 4,500-5,000 employees to exit by the end of fiscal year 2019, subject to certain jurisdictional labor law requirements. HP estimates that it will now incur aggregate pre-tax charges of approximately $700M relating to labor and non-labor actions. HP estimates that approximately half of the expected cumulative pre-tax costs will relate to severance and the remaining costs will relate to infrastructure, non-labor actions and other charges. On October 10, 2016, HP's board of directors approved a restructuring plan, which it had expected would be implemented through fiscal year 2019. HP estimated that it would incur aggregate pre-tax charges of approximately $500M relating to labor and non-labor actions. HP expected around 4,000 employees to exit by the end of fiscal year 2019. On May 26, 2018, HP's board of directors approved amending the Fiscal 2017 Plan.

17:57 EDT Cboe Global Markets reports May Options ADV down 4.7% y/y - Reports May Futures ADV down 20.2% y/y.

17:16 EDT Northrop Grumman awarded $153.24M government contract modification - Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Military Aircraft Systems, Melbourne, Florida, is being awarded a $153,240,394 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive contract for the procurement of one Japan configuration E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Aircraft for the government of Japan. Work is expected to be completed in March 2020. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $153,240,394 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

17:14 EDT Amazon says Alexa, Echo now available in France - Amazon announced that Alexa and Echo are now available in France. Additionally, developers around the world have created skills and Alexa-enabled devices for French customers. "Tens of millions of customers around the world are already using Alexa, and today we're excited to introduce Alexa to our customers in France," said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Amazon Devices International. "We've built an entirely new experience from the ground up that honors the French language and culture, allowing customers to just ask to get music, weather, news, information, and more-just by asking. And there are already hundreds of skills for French customers from some of the most popular brands in France."

17:09 EDT Goldman Sachs reports 14.3% passive stake in OneSmart Education

16:54 EDT U.S. Steel to restart second Granite City Works blast furnace - United States Steel Corporation announced it will restart the second of two blast furnaces at its Granite City Works, an integrated steelmaking plant in Granite City, Ill. The restart of the "A" blast furnace will support increased demand for steel manufactured in the United States, while allowing the company to continue to support customers during planned asset revitalization efforts. The company will hire around 300 new employees for the restart of blast furnace "A" that will support increased shipments beginning in Q4.

16:37 EDT Therapix Biosciences announces first subject enrolled in Phase 2a trial for OSA - Therapix Biosciences announced that the first subject was enrolled for its Phase 2a, sponsor-initiated clinical trial using the company's cannabinoid-based technology THX-110 for obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, at Assuta Medical Center. The OSA Phase IIa proof-of-concept tria is conducted under the leadership of Yaron Dagan and Lilach Kemer. The clinical trial is a single-arm, open-label trial, in which 30 subjects receive one daily treatment of the drug via oral administration and is followed-up for one month with the primary efficacy endpoint evaluating a significant change in the AHI, which assesses the quality of sleep before and after treatment. The clinical trial is designed to prove the safety, tolerance and efficacy of the drug's treatment, and to assess its performance in adult patients suffering from symptoms of OSA. In order to improve patient compliance and adherence to therapy, Therapix and Maccabi Health Services, have entered into a two year agreement. The company's agreement with Maccabi Healthcare Services provides data-mining research as part of the co-formation of a center of excellence for sleep and pain.

16:33 EDT Exact Sciences, Mayo Clinic identify blood-based DNA biomarker panel - Researchers at Exact Sciences and Mayo Clinic announced significant progress toward developing a panel of novel, blood-based, DNA biomarkers that could accurately detect hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common cancer that originates in the liver. The researchers detailed their findings during a presentation today at Digestive Disease Week, the world's largest gathering of gastroenterologists and scientists in the field. The biomarker panel was shown to be 95% sensitive for detecting HCC across all stages. Sensitivity among patients with curable-stage disease was 91%. The panel has overall specificity of 93%, demonstrating its ability to discriminate between normal and diseased patients. Sensitivity and specificity are the most important statistical measures of a cancer detection test's performance.

16:31 EDT MannKind establishes market price stock purchase plan - MannKind Corporation has established a stock purchase plan that provides MannKind's directors and executive officers with a way to purchase shares of common stock directly from the company at the prevailing market price at the time of each purchase. The stock purchase plan is intended to qualify for the limited exemption from stockholder approval provided by Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635c2, as a plan that merely provides a convenient way to purchase shares from the company at market value.

16:20 EDT Horizon Technology established joint venture with Arena Investors - Horizon Technology Finance announced that the Company has established a joint venture with Arena Investors. The newly formed joint venture, Horizon Secured Loan Fund I, or HSLF, will be owned and controlled on an equal basis by Horizon and Arena. Each of Horizon and Arena has initially committed to provide up to $25M of equity to the joint venture, and collectively intend to contribute equity capital, in the aggregate, of up to $100M. In order to enhance HSLF's capacity to pursue attractive origination activities, a large U.S. based insurance company has provided an initial $100M senior secured debt commitment, which may be increased to $200M with the mutual agreement of HSLF and the Lender.

16:17 EDT International Paper confirms it will not make offer for Smurfit Kappa Group - International Paper confirmed that the company will not make an offer for Smurfit Kappa Group given the lack of engagement by Smurfit Kappa's Board of Directors and Management. In February 2018, International Paper provided representatives of Smurfit Kappa's Board of Directors with a proposal to acquire the company. Following discussions with shareholders of both companies, IP put forward a revised proposal on March 26, 2018. IP believes the revised proposal was highly attractive and formed a sound basis for engagement, which the company viewed as essential to determining the full value potential of the combination. "While we continue to believe in the strategic and financial potential of this combination, our commitment was to proceed in a disciplined manner that would create value for both sets of shareholders," said Mark Sutton, Chairman and CEO of International Paper. "Moving forward, we remain focused on executing our strategy and are excited about our outlook. We have many levers to create shareholder value and will be responsible stewards of our shareholders' capital," added Sutton. As a result of this announcement, International Paper is bound by the restrictions set out in Rule 2.8 of the Irish Takeover Rules. International Paper reserves the right within the next 12 months to set aside this announcement where so permitted under Rule 2.8.

16:16 EDT Scorpio Tankers announces sale and leaseback agreements for six tankers - Scorpio Tankers announced that it has agreed to sell and leaseback six MR product tankers to CMB Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. Upon completion, the company's liquidity is expected to increase by $52M in aggregate after the repayment of outstanding debt. These lease financing arrangements are part of the company's new financing initiatives that were announced on April 25. As part of the agreements, the company will bareboat charter-in the vessels for a period of eight years. In addition, the company has purchase options beginning at the start of the fourth year of each agreement. There is also a purchase obligation for each vessel upon the expiration of each agreement. These lease financing arrangements are subject to customary conditions precedent and the execution of definitive documentation.

16:10 EDT RMG Networks concludes 'go-shop' process, gets alternative acquisition proposal - The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of RMG Networks announced that the "go-shop" period provided for in the existing merger agreement between the company and entities owned by Mr. Gregory Sachs, the company's executive chairman, has ended and has elicited an alternative acquisition proposal from a third party to engage in a recapitalization transaction with the company.Under the terms of the Acquisition Proposal, the company, or a successor to the company, would remain a public company. The company's existing stockholders would not receive any cash consideration and would continue to own their shares of the company's stock. Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, the company and its advisors were permitted to actively solicit and negotiate alternative acquisition proposals from third parties during a "go-shop" period. During the "go-shop" period, representatives of Carl Marks Securities, financial advisor to the Special Committee, undertook a broad solicitation effort, contacting 137 potential acquirers, including 35 strategic parties and 102 financial parties that the Special Committee and Carl Marks believed might be interested in a possible alternative transaction. As a result of these efforts, the company received the Acquisition Proposal. The Special Committee has designated the third party which submitted the Acquisition Proposal as an "Excluded Person" and intends to continue negotiations with it.

16:06 EDT Ironwood presents 'encouraging' data from Phase IIb trial evaluating IW-3718 - Ironwood Pharmaceuticals presented data from a double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging Phase IIb trial evaluating IW-3718 in persistent gastroesophageal reflux disease during a distinguished abstract plenary oral session at Digestive Disease Week 2018 in Washington, D.C. The data demonstrated that, compared to placebo, IW-3718 1500 mg plus a once a day proton pump inhibitor improved symptoms of heartburn severity in the overall population of GERD patients in the trial. Additionally, new data presented suggested a greater improvement in heartburn severity in the subset patient population of persistent GERD patients who also have erosive esophagitis, a severe inflammation and erosion of the esophagus. These findings build upon previously reported topline positive results from the trial, which demonstrated that IW-3718 1500 mg plus a PPI significantly reduced heartburn severity and showed reductions in frequency of regurgitation - two of the most bothersome and frequent symptoms of GERD - compared to a PPI alone. More than 50% of patients treated with IW-3718 1500 mg plus a PPI reported a clinically meaningful reduction in heartburn severity. Following these positive Phase IIb results, Ironwood expects to initiate Phase III trials during the third quarter of 2018. "These data are encouraging for physicians who continue to see their patients with GERD struggle with frequent and bothersome symptoms despite taking PPIs," said Michael Vaezi, M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Director of the Center for Swallowing and Esophageal Disorders at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and an investigator for the study - who presented the data at DDW. "In addition to holding promise for patients with persistent GERD, these results show that IW-3718 also has potential in patients who also have erosive esophagitis despite PPI therapy - a serious condition that can cause severe damage and injury to the esophagus."

16:01 EDT Ionis Pharmaceuticals closes expanded strategic collaboration with Biogen - Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) announced that it closed its expanded strategic collaboration with Biogen (BIIB) to discover and develop novel antisense drugs for a broad range of neurological diseases following receipt of clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. Biogen paid Ionis $1B in cash, which included $625 million for the purchase of 11,501,153 shares of Ionis common stock at a price of $54.34 per share and a $375M upfront payment.

16:00 EDT Covenant Transportation trading halted, news pending

15:23 EDT Amazon Web Services announces general availability of Amazon EKS - Amazon Web Services announced the general availability of Amazon Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes, or Amazon EKS, a fully managed service that makes it easy to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications using Kubernetes on AWS. "More customers run containers on AWS and Kubernetes on AWS than anywhere else," said Deepak Singh, Director of AWS Compute Services. "Prior to Amazon EKS, customers either had to do considerable work to architect a highly fault-tolerant way to run Kubernetes, or just accept a lack of resiliency. With the launch of Amazon EKS, customers no longer have to live with either of those trade-offs, and they get a highly available, fault-tolerant, managed Kubernetes service. It's no wonder so many of our customers are excited."

14:57 EDT Eli Lilly recommends shareholders reject TRC mini-tender offer - Eli Lilly announced that it has learned of an unsolicited mini-tender offer by TRC Capital Corp. for the purchase of up to 1.5M shares of Lilly common stock at $81.00 per share. "Lilly does not endorse TRC Capital's offer. The company recommends that shareholders reject the offer and not tender their shares in response because the offer is at a price below the current market price for Lilly shares and is subject to many conditions...Lilly is not associated with TRC Capital or its offer. TRC Capital has made similar mini-tender offers for shares of many other companies," Eli Lilly stated.

14:42 EDT News Corp. names Matt Murray editor-in-chief of WSJ, DJ Newswires - Matt Murray hasbeen named Editor-in-Chief of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, succeeding Gerard Baker, who is to take up a new position as the Journal's Editor-at-Large, which will include regular writing, hosting the paper's expanding network of conferences and events, and television presenting. Murray is currently Executive Editor of the Journal. Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp, said: "Gerry has been a very successful editor at a time when journalism has been digitally challenged. I have no doubt that Matt is a worthy successor as Editor-in-Chief and will be a leader of the highest commitment and integrity. His strong reporting and editing background and his passion for the Journal are obvious to all who have the privilege of working with him."

14:02 EDT Eisai, Biogen say elenbecestat generally safe, well tolerated in Phase II study - Eisai (ESALY) and Biogen (BIIB) announced that elenbecestat was generally safe and well tolerated in a Phase II clinical study of the oral BACE inhibitor elenbecestat conducted in the United States, and the results demonstrated a statistically significant difference in amyloid beta levels in the brain measured by amyloid-PET. A numerical slowing of decline in functional clinical scales of a potentially clinically important difference was also observed, although this effect was not statistically significant. This study, a Phase II study of 70 patients, is the first study of a BACE inhibitor to show a statistically significant difference in amyloid beta in the brain while also suggesting a delay of clinical symptom decline in exploratory endpoints.Study 202 is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo- controlled parallel-group 18-month Phase II clinical study in patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease, or mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer's disease with confirmed amyloid pathology by PET screening. Seventy patients were randomized to four treatment arms receiving elenbecestat or placebo daily. During the study period, more than half the patients in the elenbecestat 5 mg and 15 mg arms were switched to the 50 mg arm for three months or more. The 50 mg treatment arm plus the group switched to the 50 mg arm are hereafter referred to as "50 mg total arm" with a mean duration of approximately 11 months on 50 mg per day. Elenbecestat demonstrated acceptable safety and tolerability profile through 18 months of study drug administration. In the elenbecestat 50 mg total arm, the six most common adverse events observed were contact dermatitis, upper respiratory infection, headache, diarrhea, fall, and dermatitis. No serious adverse reactions suggestive of hepatic toxicity were observed in this study. In addition to the safety objectives, the study assessed Abeta in the brain at 18 months as measured by amyloid PET as well as efficacy in terms of clinical symptoms, which were exploratory objectives in this study. The elenbecestat 50 mg total arm demonstrated a statistically significant difference in Abeta levels in the brain as measured by amyloid PET compared with placebo This is the first time in which a significant effect in Abeta in the brain using a BACE inhibitor was confirmed in a clinical study of patients with mild cognitive impairment through moderate Alzheimer's dementia. CDR-SB was an exploratory endpoint to assess efficacy in terms of clinical symptoms. The study showed numerically less decline in CDR-SB for the elenbecestat 50 mg total arm as compared to placebo of a potentially clinically important difference, which was not statistically significant. Further, a similar magnitude and direction of differential in decline was observed in a post-hoc analysis of ADCOMS, Eisai's newly developed assessment scale in the elenbecestat 50 mg total arm as compared to placebo. The study was not powered to show statistical significance compared to placebo on clinical symptoms.

13:51 EDT Allergan in focus after Appaloosa renews call to split CEO, chairman roles - Shares of Allergan (AGN) are higher in afternoon trading after David Tepper's Appaloosa and Senator Investment Group issued a letter renewing their calls for the company to separate the chief executive officer and chairman roles. APPALOOSA VOICES DISAPPOINTMENT: On Tuesday morning, Appaloosa and Senator made public a letter sent to Allergan's Board of Directors, in which they stated: "We write concerning the conclusions drawn from Allergan's much-heralded strategic review, publicly outlined by chairman and CEO Brent Saunders on May 30th. Like the rest of the investment community, we were underwhelmed by the company's half-hearted attempt to restore strategic momentum... The token measures outlined in Mr. Saunders' presentation betray the Board and management's desire to cling to a status quo that has produced three years of steadily declining stock performance and a fire-sale market valuation. It is now clear that fresh thinking is absent from the current regime, thus explaining the market's complete loss of confidence in the stock. To that point, we reiterate our strong suggestion that at a minimum the company split the office of CEO and chairman; retain a new chairman or CEO from outside the company; replace at least two additional directors on the current Board; and upgrade management personnel in critical operating units....In our conversations, chairman and CEO Saunders has been fond of repeating a famous quotation that 'the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results'. Until Mr. Saunders and the Board heed this advice, adopt new governance and renew the company's operational focus, it appears that shareholders can expect Allergan's stock price to continue to languish." ALLERGAN RESPONSE: On Tuesday afternoon, Allergan issued a statement in response to the letter, saying input is welcome from all shareholders and the company is committed to driving shareholder returns. "The conclusion of our recently completed strategic review is to create a more focused Allergan that concentrates on four therapeutic areas where we have leadership positions and depth and breadth of our products and pipeline, and to pursue a disciplined capital allocation strategy to generate value for shareholders," the company said, adding that board refreshment continues to be a "top priority." WHAT'S NOTABLE: In April, Appaloosa and Senator issued a public letter saying they had "become deeply concerned with the substantial value destruction" at the company and questioned Allergan's interest in acquiring Shire (SHPG). The firms called on the company to concentrate on core therapeutic areas and separate the roles of chairman and CEO. Later in April, Allergan said it would not make an offer for Shire. Appaloosa and Senator then issued another letter in May urging the company to take the immediate steps of separating the roles, accelerating the board refreshment process, articulating a clear purpose for its strategic review and clarifying its position on "transformational M&A" transactions. Additionally in May, the Federal Trade Commission granted clearance for a transaction involving Tepper as "the acquiring party" and Allergan as the "acquired party", however additional details were not made available. ANALYST VIEW: In a research note on Tuesday, Wells Fargo analyst David Maris said the level of engagement from the two prominent activist funds can be a positive for Allergan and the shares, especially if it results in improved investor confidence in the credibility of the company's future. The analyst thinks Allergan will be responsive to the activism and agree to separate the roles of chairman and CEO. Allergan shares can outperform without a change of the CEO, but some other changes will need to be made such as those suggested in the activists letters, Maris contends. Further, he notes that the appearance of activists can bring strategic interest from other parties that see a company in transition. Maris cautions, however, that neither activist suggested that Allergan put itself up for sale. The analyst keeps an Outperform rating on Allergan. PRICE ACTION: Allergan is up 0.8%, or $1.14, to $152.34 in afternoon trading.

13:44 EDT Allergan says board refreshment continues to be 'top priority' - Allergan issued the following statement in response to a public shareholder letter: "Allergan's board of directors and management welcome input from all our shareholders, and take into account their views. Our board and management are committed to creating a world class biopharmaceutical and aesthetics business and driving shareholder returns. The conclusion of our recently completed strategic review is to create a more focused Allergan that concentrates on four therapeutic areas where we have leadership positions and depth and breadth of our products and pipeline, and to pursue a disciplined capital allocation strategy to generate value for shareholders. Our board has been active and aggressive in board refreshment with three new directors joining our board over the past 16 months, and board refreshment continues to be a top priority. The board also strongly believes in independent leadership as exemplified by the role of Chris Coughlin, our lead independent director, who was chosen as Director of the Year by the National Association of Corporate Directors in 2015. Mr. Coughlin brings over 30 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience to the Allergan board. Our number one priority continues to be executing on operational excellence and delivering strong results to drive long term shareholder value."

13:40 EDT Cotiviti Holdings jumps 6%, or $2.04, to $36.00

13:04 EDT ADP announces partnership with Slack - ADP announced a partnership with Slack to offer mutual customers a more seamless way to access their HR and payroll information, in a safe and private manner, on Slack, where clients are already embracing efficiency through collaboration. "ADP's integration with Slack is already putting HR and payroll information where employees are working, and is enabling our mutual clients to maximize productivity and workforce agility," said Don Weinstein, chief strategy officer at ADP. "This integration is available today, and we are excited to be the first global HCM provider to have a functioning integration with Slack and look forward to leveraging this platform and ADP Marketplace to bring additional features like team collaboration, employee search, and talent tools to market."

12:42 EDT Tapestry slips after designer Kate Spade found dead in NY - Shares of Tapestry (TPR), which owns the Kate Spade label, are under pressure following reports saying the designer Kate Spade was found dead in her Manhattan apartment following an apparent suicide. Tapestry acquired the brand in May of last year for $2.4B. KATE SPADE: Katherine Brosnahan was born in Kansas City in 1962. She went to Arizona State University where she met Andy Spade, who she eventually went into business with, forming the company Kate Spade. In 1999, Neiman Marcus paid $34M for a 56% stake of the company and a few years later acquired the other 44% stake in the company after the designer sold the remaining of her ownership stake and took time off to raise her daughter. In 2006, Neiman Marcus sold the Kate Spade label for $124M to Liz Claiborne, which was later renamed to Fifth & Pacific. In February 2014, the latter changed its name to Kate Spade & Company. Tapestry, at the time known as Coach, acquired the company last year for $2.4B. In 2016, designer Kate Spade and her partners had launched a new brand called Frances Valentine, a collection of luxury footwear and handbags. Police officials have confirmed to AP, the New York Times and other media outlets that Kate Spade was found dead today at her New York City apartment, where she had hanged herself. PRICE ACTION: In afternoon trading, shares of Tapestry have slipped 65c, or 1.4% to $44.50.

12:33 EDT Activision says 'Destiny 2' expansion launching worldwide on September 4 - Bungie, High Moon Studios, and Activision (ATVI) revealed that "Destiny 2: Forsaken," the first major expansion of the "Destiny 2" video game, will release worldwide on September 4, 2018. "Destiny 2: Forsaken" will be available for download on PlayStation 4 (SNE), the Xbox One (MSFT) family of devices including Xbox One X, and PC. The PC version of the expansion will be available exclusively on Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment's online-gaming platform. "Destiny 2: Forsaken" will be available at a suggested retail price of $39.99. The product line-up will also feature the "Destiny 2: Forsaken" + Annual Pass Bundle at $69.99 SRP, and the Destiny 2: Forsaken - Digital Deluxe Edition featuring premium digital content at $79.99 SRP on PlayStation 4 system, Xbox One and PC, exclusively on Battle.net. At launch, PlayStation gamers will get access to the following timed exclusive content: a strike, one gear set per class, a new ship and an exotic weapon. At the launch of "Destiny 2: Forsaken," the previously released Destiny 2 launch timed exclusives will be made available for all platforms.

12:24 EDT Game On: Piper says E3 should be 'most positive' for Electronic Arts - Welcome to "Game On," The Fly's weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks. PIPER E3 NOTE: Ahead of next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson mentioned in a research note to investors that the "big three" publisher group, namely Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Electronic Arts (EA) and Take-Two (TTWO), has outperformed the market following E3 over the past five years. The analyst said that, from a news flow perspective, the conference should be most positive for EA, as the company will show off "Battlefield V" with the potential for battle royale integration and may announce a new subscription service. Olson added that, according to a survey the firm conducted of over 300 gamers ahead of E3, Epic Games' "Fortnite" was the most popular, though Activision's "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4" and Take-Two's "Red Dead Redemption 2" were not far behind. The analyst maintained an Overweight rating on all three stocks. BMO DOWNGRADES TAKE-TWO: In a note to investors, BMO Capital analyst Gerrick Johnson downgraded Take-Two to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered his price target to $116 from $135. The analyst said he is concerned investor expectations for the "Red Dead Redemption 2" release could be overly optimistic and that he sees risk to earnings from a potential slowdown in "NBA 2K" and "Grand Theft Auto." Johnson noted that he still expects these games will perform well but thinks that solid performance is already factored into estimates while the risk that they disappoint may not be, thus negatively skewing the stock's risk/reward. NETEASE ACQUIRES BUNGIE STAKE: On Friday, NetEase (NTES) announced that it acquired a minority stake in Bungie, the video game studio that develops the "Destiny" franchise for Activision Blizzard. NetEase acquired the stake to support the incubation of new creative gameplay and "accelerate Bungie's vision of becoming a global, multi-franchise entertainment company." The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that Bungie had received a $100M investment from NetEase. 'FORTNITE' SUIT: Last week, Bloomberg reported that PUBG Corp., the company responsible for "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," is suing the Korean unit of "Fortnite" maker Epic Games, claiming that "Fortnite" copies many of the characteristics of "PUBG." pic Games is 40% owned by Tencent (TCEHY) and is part of Disney's (DIS) Accelerator Program. The mobile version of "PUBG" is published by Tencent while the Xbox One version if published by Microsoft Studios (MSFT).

12:12 EDT Tapestry shares fall after reports of Kate Spade's death - Shares of Tapestry are down following reports that Kate Spade has died at 55 years of age. Kate Spade sold her namesake brand in 2007, which is a now a part of Tapestry (TPR). Shares of Tapestry are down 1% to $44.84 in midday trading.

11:40 EDT PPG announces plans for new distribution center in Flower Mound, Texas - PPG (PPG) announced plans for a new distribution center in Flower Mound, Texas. The nearly 450,000-square-foot facility, which will be constructed and leased through Duke Realty (DRE), will be the largest distribution center for architectural paints and coatings in PPG's U.S. and Canada network. The new facility will strengthen the company's distribution model and allow for improved, efficient service to PPG's national accounts, company stores and independent retailers across the U.S. The project is expected to be completed in May 2019.

11:26 EDT Hemispherx says data shows Ampligen's 'positive' role in tumor microenvironment - Hemispherx Biopharma announced that its TLR3 agonist Ampligen outperformed two other TLR3 agonists, poly IC and natural double stranded RNA, in creating an enhanced tumor microenvironment for checkpoint blockage therapy. Hemispherx is an advanced specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the treatment of serious and debilitating disorders. In a head-to-head study in explant culture models, Ampligen activated the TLR3 pathway and promoted an accumulation of killer T cells but, unlike the other two TLR3 agonists, it did so without causing regulatory T cell attraction. These findings are considered important because they show that Ampligen selectively reprograms the tumor microenvironment by inducing the beneficial aspects of tumor inflammation, without amplifying immune suppressive elements such as regulator T cells. The study, conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, as a part of the NIH-funded P01 CA132714 and Ovarian Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence, was published online in the journal Cancer Research.

11:09 EDT DARPA selects Box's cloud content management platform for digital initiatives - Box announced that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security, has selected Box's cloud content management platform to deliver secure collaboration agency-wide and with external research partners. With Box, DARPA is continuing to innovate how the agency powers its research and development mission, while meeting strict security requirements and compliance standards. As part of its digital workplace initiatives to deliver collaboration between innovators inside and outside the government, DARPA selected Box to: create a trusted collaboration platform for DARPA's ecosystem of partners; make it easy for employees and external parties to access, share and work on research projects and analyze findings together; further the DoD's cloud strategy while enabling secure, mobile access to business critical resources; and provide IT with the security, controls and administrative insights needed to manage, govern and protect sensitive information.

11:03 EDT Cruise line stocks slip as Morgan Stanley voices oversupply concerns - Shares of Carnival (CCL), Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) and Royal Caribbean (RCL) are under pressure after Morgan Stanley analyst Jamie Rollo told investors he remains cautious on the cruise space due to oversupply risk and as some top retailers reported worries about a general slowdown hitting fourth quarter demand. SURVEY SHOWS WEAKENING PICTURE: In a research note to investors, Morgan Stanley's Rollo lowered his price targets for Carnival to $63 from $70, Norwegian to $58 from $64 and Royal Caribbean to $110 from $130, saying his survey of U.S. travel agents showed a weakening picture. While booking volumes remain positive and May was described as "unusually strong" by some agents, he noted that overall pricing is described as flat, which is sequentially weaker. The impact of the Kilauea volcano has affected Hawaii bookings, with many agents citing third and fourth quarter Caribbean as being a concern, the analyst contended. Further, he highlighted that some top retailers reported worries about a general slowdown hitting the fourth quarter of 2018 that will impact 2019 departures. Rollo believes Caribbean remains the main market to watch out for, and according to his channel checks, Royal Caribbean seems to be in a better position compared to Carnival. Additionally, the analyst pointed out that the recent strength in the oil price and U.S. dollar are a double negative for cruise stocks, as these two historically move in opposite directions to create a natural hedge. Overall, Rollo remains cautious on the cruise space due to oversupply risk. QUANTITATIVE WEB RESEARCH: Additionally, Morgan Stanley's Rollo told investors that quantitative web search showed mixed results for the cruise lines. The analyst highlighted that year over year pricing has improved for four out of Carnival's five main brands, while for Royal Caribbean, pricing improved for Celebrity but weakened for RCI. Pricing weakened for Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian brand as well, he added. Nonetheless, Rollo cautioned against reading too much into web research given calendar/channel/deployment shifts, but pointed out that his data has a "good historical correlation" with actual achieved ticket prices. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean have dropped almost 4% to $60.95, $51.06 and $102.40, respectively.

10:35 EDT Appaloosa voices disappointment with Allergan's 'half-hearted' strategic review - David Tepper's Appaloosa and Senator Investment Group made public a letter sent to Allergan's Board of Directors, in which they state in part: "We write concerning the conclusions drawn from Allergan's much-heralded strategic review, publicly outlined by Chairman and CEO Brent Saunders on May 30th. Like the rest of the investment community, we were underwhelmed by the Company's half-hearted attempt to restore strategic momentum. The result of this process is all the more disappointing given our previous discussions and correspondence. In view of this outcome, we are compelled to express our views publicly. The token measures outlined in Mr. Saunders' presentation betray the Board and management's desire to cling to a status quo that has produced three years of steadily declining stock performance and a fire-sale market valuation. It is now clear that fresh thinking is absent from the current regime, thus explaining the market's complete loss of confidence in the stock...In our conversations, Chairman and CEO Saunders has been fond of repeating a famous quotation that 'the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results'. Until Mr. Saunders and the Board heed this advice, adopt new governance and renew the Company's operational focus, it appears that shareholders can expect Allergan's stock price to continue to languish."

10:25 EDT Baidu announces hitting 150M daily active users of Baidu app - Baidu announced that the daily active users of the Baidu app, which offers both search and personalized news feed, has reached 150M. "This is an important milestone for the Baidu app, which reinforces our strategy to improve the user experience with powerful AI and deep user insight to deliver personalized feeds with a wide array of topics of interest. We are delighted that the Baidu app has grown in parallel with the launch of ads-free Jiandan Search," said Dou Shen, Baidu VP and general manager of Baidu app.

09:58 EDT Medtronic sees launching surgical robotics platform in FY20 - Medtronic (MDT) is discussing its pipeline plans at its Institutional Investor & Analyst Day. Shares of Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) are up 2% in early trading as Medtronic's event is ongoing.

09:55 EDT Liberty Expedia Holdings (Series B) trading resumes

09:48 EDT Synergy Pharmaceuticals to present new risk/benefit analysis of TRULANCE - Synergy Pharmaceuticals announced that the company will present a new risk/benefit analysis from pooled Phase 3 study data evaluating TRULANCE and linaclotide for the treatment of adults with chronic idiopathic constipation. These findings will be presented as a poster today at DDW 2018 in Washington D.C. To provide further clinical perspective on the two medications, a retrospective analysis of pooled data from five Phase 3 clinical trials of similar patient populations and identical treatment durations calculated the number needed to harm and number needed to treat values. The analysis also assessed the relative therapeutic risk/benefit profile, or the likelihood of one treatment to be helpful or harmful, calculated as the NNH/NNT ratio. Lower NNT values indicate that fewer patients need to be treated before seeing a clinical benefit, and higher NNH values indicate a larger number of patients need to be treated before seeing a detrimental effect. In the analysis, TRULANCE 3 mg and linaclotide 72 and 45 mcg doses demonstrated similar NNT values. The NNH value for TRULANCE was approximately three-fold higher than the NNT value, indicating that TRULANCE patients are three times more likely to experience a beneficial effect before experiencing a harmful effect. The NNH values for linaclotide 72 mcg and 145 mcg were each lower than the respective NNT values, indicating that, for both doses of linaclotide, patients are more likely to experience a harmful effect before experiencing a beneficial effect. LHH values greater than 1 indicate relative therapeutic benefit, while LHH values less than 1 indicate relative risk. The LHH values for TRULANCE, linaclotide 72 mcg and linaclotide 145 mcg were 2.7, 0.6 and 0.7, respectively. Findings from this LHH assessment indicated a favorable risk/benefit profile for TRULANCE. TRULANCE is the only prescription medication for adults with CIC and IBS-C that can be taken once-daily, with or without food, at any time of the day.

09:33 EDT Synergy presents new data linking uroguanylin deficiency to CIC, IBS-C - Synergy Pharmaceuticals announced new data presented at Digestive Disease Week 2018 showing chronic idiopathic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation are associated with depressed levels of uroguanylin, a naturally occurring and endogenous human GI peptide. The objective of the study was to evaluate and compare pre- and postprandial circulating pro-uroguanylin levels in healthy subjects versus patients with CIC or IBS-C. The study included 60 healthy subjects and 107 patients with CIC or IBS-C who participated in an overnight fast, followed by a standardized meal of 750 calories. Pro-uroguanylin and uroguanylin levels were measured at fasting and then at 30, 60 and 90 minutes following the meal. Results showed that pro-uroguanylin concentrations were lower in patients at fasting and at each time point following the meal compared to healthy subjects. Mean pro-uroguanylin plasma concentrations were consistently greater than30% lower in patients than in healthy subjects. Similarly, patients also had lower circulating uroguanylin levels at preprandial and all postprandial time points. These results suggest a novel pathophysiological hypothesis in which chronic constipation may reflect a paracrine hormone insufficiency of pro-uroguanylin in the small intestine. The correlative therapeutic hypothesis suggests that this pathophysiology can be reversed by oral supplementation with a uroguanylin analog such as plecanatide.

09:27 EDT SAP introduces new suite of CRM applications - SAP said it has "fulfilled its ambition to disrupt the marketplace for customer relationship management," or CRM, with the formal introduction of a new suite of applications, SAP C/4HANA, to help businesses serve and retain customers. SAP also announced the SAP HANA Data Management Suite, which it called "the industry's first comprehensive data management solution that enables companies to turn data sprawl into business value." The announcement was made by SAP CEO Bill McDermott at the company's annual SAPPHIRE NOW conference.

09:17 EDT Fox 'confident' will reach final decision clearing Sky transaction - 21st Century Fox (FOXA) said it "welcomes" today's announcement by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport that he has cleared 21CF's proposed acquisition of the remaining shares in Sky on broadcasting standards, as recommended by the Competition and Markets Authority. "Regarding the effects on media plurality we note that the CMA recommended to the Secretary of State that divestiture is "the most effective and proportionate remedy". 21CF has already submitted proposed undertakings to achieve the divestiture of Sky News to Disney. We note that the Secretary of State agrees with this solution and has instructed officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to agree final undertakings that he would be prepared to accept and consult on within the two-week timeframe. We now look forward to engaging with DCMS and we are confident that we will reach a final decision clearing our transaction," stated Fox.

09:14 EDT On The Fly: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: Twitter (TWTR), up 4% after S&P selected the stock to replace Monsanto (MON) in the S&P 500... Mylan (MYL), up 4% after the FDA approved Fulphila, Mylan's biosimilar to Amgen's (AMGN) Neulasta. UP AFTER EARNINGS: G-III Apparel (GII), up 13.6%... HD Supply (HDS), up 3%... Navistar (NAV), up 2%. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Francesca's (FRAN), down 13%... Tarena (TEDU), down 7.5%... Ascena Retail (ASNA), down 7%. LOWER: PolarityTE (COOL), down 7% after filing to sell $55M of shares of its common stock... Amgen (AMGN), down 1.9% after a Neulasta biosimilar was approved by the FDA.

09:10 EDT ReneSola CEO says China distributed generation 'only one driver' of growth - ReneSola commented on the "2018 Solar PV Power Generation Notice" issued by the Chinese government ministries last Friday, with CEO Xianshou Li stating, "Our existing projects will continue to receive the subsidies to which they are entitled. Our future projects will also benefit from a likely significant decline in prices for equipment and construction in the second half of 2018. Furthermore, commercial/industrial electricity prices are higher in the eastern provinces in which our DG projects are mainly deployed. We believe the lower equipment cost and stable electrical rates will enable us to find unsubsidized net-metered and self-consumption projects at grid parity with reasonable rates of return. We believe net metering and self-consumption projects could experience tremendous growth in the second half of 2018. Distributed generation in China will continue to be an important growth driver for us over the long-term. Importantly, China DG is only one driver of our growth. Our China business complements our extensive pipeline of high quality projects around the world. We anticipate significant declines in module prices that will benefit our overseas projects by increasing returns and thus project values. ReneSola has steadily built business momentum since the divestiture of the manufacturing business, and we are confident growth can continue."

09:06 EDT G. Willi-Food announces cessation relationship with Brightman - G. Willi-Food International announced that it has been notified by its independent public accountant, Brightman Almagor Zohar & Co. Certified Public Accountants, Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, that the client-auditor relationship between the Company and Brightman has ceased. This notice was due to Brightman's inability to satisfy auditor "independence" requirements. Brightman also ceased its client-auditor relationship with Willifood Investments, the parent of the Company, and of BSD Crown the controlling shareholder of the Parent, or BSD.

09:05 EDT Apollo Endosurgery announces results from Orbera study at Digestive Disease Week - Apollo Endosurgery announced the presentation of results from Mayo Clinic's prospective open-label study of the Orbera Intragastric Balloon in patients with Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis, or NASH, at Digestive Disease Week 2018. The FDA-approved study demonstrated the significant benefits of weight loss with the Orbera Intragastric Balloon in patients with NASH and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Liver scarring is a feared complication that constitutes the driving force behind the development of the cirrhosis syndrome, which can only be adequately treated by liver transplantation when the organ decompensates. These benefits were also coupled with significant weight loss and improvements in other key risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. On average, patients achieved total body weight loss of 12% in the 6 months with their Orbera balloon. Eighty percent of patients were able to achieve the minimum recommended weight loss of 7% total body weight loss. Additionally, there were notable and statistically significant improvements in key metabolic factors such as diabetes related HbA1c and waist circumference.

09:04 EDT comScore announces partnership with PushSpring - comScore announced a partnership with PushSpring, the largest independent provider of deterministic, mobile-originated data, to make it easier for advertisers to plan and activate mobile audiences. Through this new integration, comScore clients can use its core mobile measurement solution to analyze and define mobile audiences, and send these audience definitions to PushSpring for same-day campaign execution via the marketer's DMP or DSP of choice.

09:02 EDT SWK Technologies acquires ISM, terms not disclosed - SWK Technologies recently announced that it has acquired Information Systems Management, an award-winning, West Coast-based reseller of ERP, CRM, and other solutions. Founded in 2001, ISM provides software-related services along with implementation, including customization, process analysis and training courses. It currently has offices in Portland, San Diego, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. SWK's parent company is SilverSun Technologies.

08:57 EDT Buffalo selects Aquantia to deliver 10GbE for new TeraStation WS5020 line - Aquantia announced that Buffalo has selected the Aquantia AQtion AQC107 Multi-Gig Ethernet controller to provide Multi-Gig network connectivity for all 23 devices in the new TeraStation WS5020 line. Buffalo TeraStation WS5020 devices are built to provide future-proof storage solutions for tomorrow's business demands. The TeraStation WS5020 line includes a range of both desktop and rackmount Network Attached Storage devices that are available in the United States, Europe and Japan. The selection of the AQtion AQC107 for its unmatched 10GbE connectivity was the obvious choice for this enterprise grade line.

08:46 EDT Guaranty Bancshares completes Westbound Bank acquisition - Guaranty Bancshares announced the completion of its acquisition of Westbound Bank. Effective June 1, Westbound merged with and into Guaranty Bank & Trust, with Guaranty Bank & Trust surviving the merger. As Guaranty expands its Texas banking franchise into the Houston metropolitan region, it will continue to operate Westbound's four locations. Under the terms of the agreement, Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. issued 900,000 shares of its common stock and paid cash in the aggregate amount of $4.67M to the shareholders and option holders of Westbound. In addition, $1.75M of cash merger consideration is being held in escrow by Guaranty Bancshares and may be distributed to the former holders of capital stock of Westbound at certain specified dates during the three-year period following closing in accordance with the terms and conditions of the merger agreement. Westbound was also permitted to pay a pre-closing cash distribution to its shareholders and option holders in an amount equal to their tangible equity in excess of $16.5M, which was $5.55M.As of March 31, Westbound reported total assets of $229.7M, total loans of $163.8M and total deposits of $191M. With the closing of this transaction, Guaranty's total assets are over $2.2B, with 32 locations operating in 24 Texas markets.

08:45 EDT iBio announces joint product development in Brazil - iBio announced a joint product development, manufacturing and revenue sharing agreement with ONEWAY Diagnostica of Brazil for novel point of care diagnostic products initially focused on Zika and Chikungunya virus infections. iBio will provide antigen and antibody manufacturing for product prototype development, regulatory approval, commercial launch and ongoing commercial exploitation. ONEWAY Diagnostica will manage marketing, distribution and sales in Brazil. The agreement provides iBio will receive fees for services and will participate in sales revenues. The initial phase of collaboration for product optimization, already under way, is being performed by iBio scientists at iBio CDMO in Texas and ONEWAY Diagnostica medical and scientific advisors in Brazil. The first two products under development are for reliable diagnosis of Zika virus and early stage Chikugunya virus infections.

08:37 EDT AgaMatrix announces prevailing outcome in lawsuit brought by Dexcom - AgaMatrix announced a prevailing outcome in a retaliatory patent infringement lawsuit brought by Dexcom. In a decision ruled earlier this year by the US District Court for the Central District of California, the honorable Judge S. James Otero granted summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of AgaMatrix, citing that AgaMatrix did not infringe upon Dexcom's U.S. Patent No 7,081,195. Following previous Court warnings to Dexcom that continued pursuit of the patent case with weak evidence for the infringement assertions could result in the granting of attorneys' fees, Judge Otero issued an order in May finding that the case was "exceptional" and ordered Dexcom to pay AgaMatrix its costs, attorneys' fees, and expenses defending against the case since August 1, 2017. The fees AgaMatrix is requesting are approximately $1.4M.

08:35 EDT IntercontinentalExchange reports May ADV up 19% y/y - Intercontinental Exchange reported May 2018 trading volume and related revenue statistics, which can be viewed on the company's investor relations website.May Highlights Include: Record Total Futures and Options volume of 11.3M contracts on May 29, Record Total Interest Rate volume of 7.8M contracts on May 29, Record Oil ADV of 2M contracts, Record Gilt ADV of 339 thousand contracts, Emissions ADV up 96% y/y, European Natural Gas ADV up 27% y/y, Total Ags & Metals ADV up 18% y/y, Euribor ADV up 79% y/y, Sterling ADV up 56% y/y, MSCI ADV up 36% y/y; FTSE ADV up 15% y/y and Equity options ADV up 42% y/y.

08:33 EDT Celsius Holdings announces national expansion into Target stores - Celsius Holdings (CELH) announced gains in new distribution including placement on the energy drink shelves in Target (TGT) stores. The move to include the brand in the latest energy drink set creates availability across the nation at Target.

08:24 EDT Aegean Marine sees need to write off about $200M of accounts receivable owed - Aegean Marine Petroleum Network last night provided an update on its ongoing internal review by the audit committee of the company's Board of Directors. Based on the preliminary findings of the review, the Audit Committee believes that approximately $200M of accounts receivable owed to the company at December 31, 2017 will need to be written off. These amounts are currently due from four counterparties that were reflected in the company's financial statements as of December 31, 2017. There was approximately $172M as of December 31, 2016 and $85M as of December 31, 2015 due from these four counterparties. The transactions that gave rise to the accounts receivable may have been, in full or in part, without economic substance and improperly accounted for in contravention of the company's normal policies and procedures. "At this time, the company cannot determine the full impact on the financial statements or how this adjustment will be recorded. In addition, there could be other adjustments that result from the Audit Committee's review that could impact the financial statements," Aegean Marine stated.

08:16 EDT Scientific Games and Pennsylvania Lottery launch iLottery - Scientific Games announced that the Company and the Pennsylvania Lottery have launched iLottery online/mobile games to players in the state for the first time. This represents the first launch combining Scientific Games' leading lottery digital products with those from the Company's recent acquisition of NYX Gaming Group, a leader in digital platforms, games, and services. Scientific Games and the Pennsylvania Lottery launched the new iLottery games as part of a series of legislative initiatives that also included Keno and Virtual Sports.

08:15 EDT Wells Fargo to sell 52 retail bank branches to Flagstar Bancorp - Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) announced it has entered into an agreement to sell 52 retail bank branches to Flagstar Bank, FSB, a subsidiary of Flagstar Bancorp (FBC). The sale comprises all Wells Fargo branches in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio and four Wisconsin branches, and involves approximately 490 team members, all of whom will receive offers of employment from Flagstar. Wells Fargo has previously shared its plan to reduce retail bank branches to approximately 5,000 branches by the end of 2020, through consolidations and divestitures. The transaction comprises approximately $2.3B in deposits and is expected to close in 4Q18, subject to customary regulatory approvals. There is no action required for customers of these branches at this time, and Wells Fargo and Flagstar will communicate in advance of any changes as we work together to care for customers and team members.

08:12 EDT Princeton Property Management selects RealPage solutions for 190 properties - RealPage announces that Portland, Oregon based fee manager Princeton Property Management has chosen multiple RealPage solutions for implementation at the 190 properties including approximately 11,000 units under its management across the Pacific Northwest. Princeton has been using RealPage's property websites since late 2016. More recently, the company retained the services of the RealPage Contact Center for missed and after-hours calls, and RealPage Accounting for its home office and all sites.

08:08 EDT G-III Apparel up nearly 19% after Q1 results top estimates, FY19 guidance raised - In pre-market trading, shares are up 18.7% to $50.90.

08:08 EDT IntercontinentalExchange names Betty Liu executive vice chairman - Intercontinental Exchange announced that Betty Liu is joining the New York Stock Exchange as executive vice chairman. Her appointment takes effect July 9. Liu will also join the NYSE Group Board. Liu is the founder and CEO of Radiate and a 10-year veteran of Bloomberg Television, where she most recently co-anchored Bloomberg's "Daybreak Asia" and "Daybreak Australia." In her new role at NYSE Group, Liu will bring her global experience working with thought leaders, newsmakers and C-level executives to the Exchange. Working with NYSE president Stacey Cunningham and NYSE COO John Tuttle, along with the senior leadership teams of the NYSE and Intercontinental Exchange, Liu's mission will focus on strengthening and building the NYSE leadership network, cultivating connections through live events and creating valuable opportunities for organizations to connect across the NYSE's unmatched listed community of 2,400 leading global companies. Liu will be joining the NYSE alongside its acquisition of Radiate, the company Liu founded in 2016 to empower emerging leaders with expert advice. ICE's acquisition of Radiate is subject to customary approvals. When the deal is complete, Radiate's team and content will become assets of the New York Stock Exchange and will be scaled across NYSE platforms. Radiate offers a library of more than 2,000 short-length video lessons taught by over 100 global CEOs and thought leaders. The Radiate platform, when it becomes a part of the NYSE, will add to the Exchange's broad array of content and events. The transaction is expected to close in June and will not impact ICE's 2018 results or capital return plans.

08:07 EDT Starbucks' Schultz says 'lots of things I can do' besides run for president - Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, who has announced he will be leaving this role, said his departure has been planned for over a year. Schultz said there are "lot of things" he can do in terms of public service besides running to be president of the United States. Schultz said he "can't be nailed down today" on what public office he might or might not run for. Schultz is being interviewed on CNBC.

08:06 EDT Caladrius sells rights to CFC system to HCATS - Caladrius Biosciences announced that the company has sold for $2.5M its ownership interest in a development-stage, fully enclosed, automated, programmable counter-flow centrifugation, or CFC, system for use in cell therapy manufacturing to Hitachi Chemical Advanced Therapeutics Solutions, or HCATS, previously known as PCT Cell Therapy Services.

08:05 EDT UroGen Pharma appoints COO Stephen Mullennix as Interim CFO - UroGen Pharma announced that Stephen Mullennix, UroGen's COO, will become Interim CFO, replacing Gary Titus. Titus will remain as a consultant during the transition.

08:03 EDT Flagstar Bank to acquire 52 Wells Fargo Bank branches - Flagstar Bancorp (FBC) announced that Flagstar Bank, FSB, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 52 Wells Fargo (WFC) Bank branches in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, with approximately $2.3B in deposits and $130M in loans, along with certain related assets. Flagstar will pay an effective deposit premium of approximately 7% based on balances as of December 31, 2017. Management expects the transaction will be moderately accretive to 2019 earnings per share. At closing, Flagstar expects to have 151 branches in the Midwest and eight in California. The transaction brings liquidity that the Company can use to repay short-term Federal Home Loan Bank advances. Longer term, a larger branch network will expand access to core deposits and other business opportunities. The branches to be acquired will operate as Wells Fargo branches until closing, and will be re-branded as Flagstar branches immediately upon closing of the transaction. Flagstar intends to keep all branches and retain all employees at closing. This transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018. Flagstar was advised by the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

08:03 EDT Concord Medical subsidiary to sell 16% equity interest in Beijing Allcure - Concord Medical Services Holdings announced that Beijing Concord Medical Technology a subsidiary of Concord Medical, entered into an equity interest transfer agreement with Tibet Allcure Information Technology Ltd on June 5. Beijing Concord Medical Technology will sell a 16% equity interest in Beijing Allcure Medical Information Technology to Tibet Allcure Information Technology Ltd.

07:56 EDT Atlassian reports 'spike' in GitHub user migrations after Microsoft deal - Atlassian's (TEAM) Bitbucket posted a blog yesterday entitled "10 reasons why teams are switching from GitHub to Bitbucket after Microsoft acquisition." In the post, the company stated: "After the announcement of Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub, Bitbucket started to see a spike in the number of GitHub users migrating their repositories to Bitbucket. Why? Many users understand they can get everything they had on GitHub in Bitbucket plus more, and at a lower cost. Tens of thousands of customers - including 60 of Fortune 100 - turn to Bitbucket as their code collaboration solution." Reference Link

07:34 EDT BioCryst urges stockholders to vote for Idera Pharmaceuticals merger - BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) issued an open letter to stockholders in connection with the Company's Special Meeting of Stockholders to be held on July 10, 2018. The letter read, in part, "BioCryst's Special Meeting of Stockholders is scheduled for July 10, 2018. We urge you to vote today "FOR" the merger transaction with Idera Pharmaceuticals (IDRA), using the enclosed proxy card. The BioCryst Board of Directors believes this transaction represents a significant opportunity to enhance the value of your investment in BioCryst and unanimously recommends that stockholders vote "FOR" the transaction, which will create a new company to be called Valenscion Incorporated. We scheduled our Special Meeting for July 10, 2018 to allow sufficient time prior to the meeting date for our stockholders to consider additional data for IMO-2125, which was presented by Idera on June 4, 2018 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. The additional data reinforces the clinical attractiveness of this treatment option and supports IMO-2125 as a Phase 3 asset that will have real utility in the array of potential immuno-oncology treatments for cancer patients with very few options. We recognize that some investors have questioned the value of the BioCryst merger with Idera; however, we believe the concerns expressed by these investors are fundamentally misguided. We would like to set the record straight on the merits of the proposed merger, which we believe is even more compelling today than it was just weeks ago, and again highlight the benefits of this transaction for our patients, employees and stockholders....Both BioCryst and Idera have promising late-stage drug candidates. We strongly believe that the combination of the two companies, creating a company with a rare disease pipeline, presents a compelling opportunity for significant potential financial returns for our stockholders. Idera's IMO-2125 results presented earlier this month at ASCO create a treatment profile even more attractive than we considered in our market research and ultimately used to forecast the value as part of our Board's comprehensive strategic review process. When BioCryst was conducting due diligence as part of our Board's comprehensive strategic review process, we assumed a response rate of 30.0% for IMO-2125 when determining the appropriate valuation for Idera. The response rate reported at ASCO of 38.1% demonstrates substantial clinical benefit and notably, is approximately triple that of response rate of 13% for Ipilimumab alone. Additionally, IMO-2125 demonstrated a disease control rate of 71.4% of patients, including patients who are Stable Disease, some of whom are now more than one year into the trial. We believe this durable data further supports the value creation potential of the merger...The combined company will have a highly engaged, seasoned Board and management with a proven track record of getting drugs approved and successfully launched. The Board will comprise nine members - four from each of the current BioCryst Board and the current Idera Board, and one person to be mutually agreed by the BioCryst Board and the Idera Board who is not a director, officer or affiliate of either BioCryst or Idera. The mutually agreed director also will not be a representative of the combined company's largest stockholder, ensuring no one stockholder carries undue influence over the company, just as BioCryst operates today. As we write the next chapter of BioCryst's growth, the combined company is attractively positioned to unlock the compelling value of the merger while also executing on its strategic plan to drive long-term growth and attractive returns for stockholders going forward."

07:32 EDT JLL Spark creates JLL Spark Global Venture Fund - JLL Spark, a division of JLL, announced the creation of JLL Spark Global Venture Fund, which plans to invest up to $100M in companies focused on leveraging technology to improve everything from real estate development and management to leasing and investing, while enhancing the experience of those who occupy it. The fund will also help entrepreneurs and their companies by connecting them with JLL's business lines and clients for insightful feedback and distribution of their products. The new fund will focus on seed and Series A investments, as well as select later stage rounds.

07:14 EDT Old Dominion reports May LTL tons per day up 15.3% vs. last year - Old Dominion Freight Line reported certain less-than-truckload operating metrics for May 2018. LTL tons per day increased 15.3% as compared to May 2017 due to an 11% increase in LTL shipments per day and a 3.9% increase in LTL weight per shipment. For the quarter-to-date period, LTL revenue per hundredweight increased 6.7% as compared to the same period last year. Greg Gantt, president and CEO, saud "Our May and quarter-to-date operating metrics remained strong, reflecting continued strength in the economy and a positive yield environment. The substantial growth in our LTL tons per day reflects ongoing gains in market share, which we believe is driven by our ability to deliver superior service at a fair price. In addition, we have invested in long-term capacity to accommodate increasing demand for our services. The three new service centers that we have opened this year and our 2018 planned capital expenditures of $555M demonstrate our continued commitment to invest in future growth opportunities. Based on the long-term success of our business model, we are confident that continued execution will produce further long-term gains in market share and shareholder value."

07:13 EDT Stemline announces 'positive' presentations of SL-801, SL-701 at ASCO - Stemline Therapeutics announced that positive data from the SL-701 and SL-801 clinical trials were presented at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, annual meeting in Chicago, IL. The Phase 2 trial of SL-701 in previously treated GBM patients met its primary endpoint of 12-month overall survival (OS-12). Long-term survivors: 50% OS-12 with SL-701 + bevacizumab. Long-term survivors were comprised largely of patients with target-specific CD8+ T-cell responses. Given the major unmet medical need in GBM and promising safety and efficacy data generated to date with SL-701 + bevacizumab, Stemline is considering next steps including leveraging potential immune-related biomarker in registration-directed trial designs. For SL-801, manageable safety and tolerability profile, largely grade 1-2 adverse events, or AEs, to date. Multiple cases of stable disease in a heavily pretreated solid tumor patient population. Pharmacokinetic analyses suggest dose-dependent increases in exposure. Ideal therapeutic dose not yet determined as dose escalation continues.

07:10 EDT Asterias announces independent DMC completes review of AST-OPC1 trial - Asterias Biotherapeutics announced that the independent Data Monitoring Committee, or DMC, for the company's SCiStar Phase 1/2a study of AST-OPC1 in acute spinal cord injury has completed a regularly scheduled review of the safety data from all subjects in the five study cohorts and has recommended that the SCiStar study continue according to protocol to its final data readout. The DMC, comprised of an independent group of medical and scientific experts, has reviewed study data at regular intervals, with the primary responsibilities of reviewing and evaluating patient safety and efficacy data for the purpose of ensuring the safety of all patients enrolled in the study, the quality of the data collected, and the continued scientific validity of the study design.

07:08 EDT NanoVibronix announces distribution agreement for PainShield, WoundShield - NanoVibronix announced it has entered into an exclusive agreement with M.D.S. Pharm Ltd. to market and distribute NanoVibronix's PainShield and WoundShield in Israel. M.D.S. Pharm Ltd. is a leading distributor of medical equipment for home-care and self-diagnostics. An integral element of the company's mission is to provide customers with alternatives to medication and/or pain relief drugs. M.D.S. has an established distribution network in Israel that includes health insurance providers, private pharmacies, health stores, beautician centers, private clinics, and leading health websites.

07:06 EDT Sierra Metals reports drilling results from Yauricocha Mine - Sierra Metals announced drilling results demonstrating the potential to increase mineral resources between Esperanza Zone and Cuye Zone, located within the Central Mine at Yauricocha. Two holes executed from the 1070 level of the Yauricocha Mine between the Esperanza and Cuye zones intercepted polymetallic, sulphide mineralization containing silver, zinc, copper, and lead. These results demonstrate the potential for further mineralization within the reported area, and more importantly, indicate the continued existence of mineralization at depth.

07:04 EDT Ballard Power subsidiary awarded orders from U.S. Navy - Ballard Power Systems announced that the Company's subsidiary, Protonex, has received purchase orders from the U.S. Navy for a total of 13 fuel cell propulsion systems for unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, or drone platforms. Deliveries of the fuel cell propulsion systems are expected to occur in 2018. Protonex has supplied proton exchange membrane fuel cell propulsion systems for the successful Ion Tiger fuel cell powered UAV program, and is now providing a variant of its 600 watt PEM fuel cell propulsion system for the subsequent Hybrid Tiger UAV program. This continues a productive relationship with the U.S. Navy that began in 2006.

07:02 EDT Protalix announces additional 'positive' results from OPRX-106 Phase II trial - Protalix BioTherapeutics announced that additional positive results from the company's phase II clinical trial of OPRX-106 for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, or UC, were presented at the Digestive Disease Week 2018 Annual Meeting. OPRX-106 is a plant cell-expressed recombinant human tumor necrosis factor receptor II fused to an IgG1 Fc domain, or TNFRII-Fc, in development for oral administration. When administered orally and passing through the digestive tract, the plant cells function as a natural delivery vehicle. The unique attribute of a cellulose plant cell wall provides resistance to degradation as opposed to proteins produced via mammalian cell expression. The Digestive Disease Week 2018 Annual Meeting is taking place in Washington, D.C., June 2-5, 2018. The phase II clinical trial is a randomized, open label, 2-arm study of OPRX-106 for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. A total of 24 patients were enrolled in the study, 18 patients completed the study with 6 patients who did not complete the study. The dropout rate is consistent with other trials in similar patient populations, and none of the patients dropped out due to a side effect or serious adverse event. Patients were randomized to receive 2 mg or 8 mg of OPRX-106, administered orally, once daily, for 8 weeks. The average baseline Mayo score was 7.1 and the average baseline mucosal endoscopy sub score was 2.1. For the 18 patients who completed the study, 89% had a baseline Mayo score between 6 and 9, which meets the criteria of moderate disease activity, and 84% had a baseline mucosal endoscopy sub score of 2 and above indicating moderate to severe disease based on mucosal appearance.

07:01 EDT Halyard Health to acquire CoolSystems for $65M in cash - Halyard Health announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CoolSystems, marketed as Game Ready, a market-leading provider of cold therapy and compression therapy systems for a total consideration of $65M in cash. Game Ready's revenues in 2017 were approximately $35 million. The transaction is expected to be immaterial to Halyard's fiscal year 2018 adjusted dilutive net earnings per share, and slightly accretive to earnings in 2019. Halyard is reaffirming its 2018 adjusted dilutive net earnings per share guidance of $1.65 to $1.85, which includes earnings from both continuing and discontinued operations. Halyard intends to fund the acquisition from current cash and the transaction is expected to close early in the third quarter.

06:53 EDT Eli Lilly announces Alimta label expanded by FDA - Eli Lilly (LLY) announced that the FDA has granted approval for a new indication for Alimta in combination with carboplatin and Keytruda for the initial treatment of patients with metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC, irrespective of PD-L1 expression status. Under the FDA's accelerated approval regulations, this indication is approved based on tumor response rate and progression-free survival, or PFS. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials. Merck (MRK) received accelerated approval for the combination of pembrolizumab with Alimta and carboplatin in May 2017. This is the first and only combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy to earn FDA approval for the first-line treatment of metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC. This indication, now included in the Alimta prescribing information, is based on data from Merck's KEYNOTE-021 study, Cohort G1. The KEYNOTE-021, Part 2, Cohort G1, study included 123 previously untreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC with no epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, or anaplastic lymphoma kinase, or ALK, genomic tumor aberrations and irrespective of PD-L1 expression status. The triplet combination of Alimta and carboplatin with pembrolizumab demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in objective response rate, or ORR, versus Alimta plus carboplatin alone and PFS. Median PFS was 13 months for triplet and 8.9 months for Alimtaplus carboplatin.

06:50 EDT Medtronic sees long-range organic revenue growth of 4%+ - Medtronic is presenting its strategic roadmap and outlining its long-range plan for creating shareholder value at the 2018 Medtronic Institutional Investor and Analyst Day in New York City. The company is unveiling its pipeline across multiple businesses, asserting its commitment to be the industry leader in technology - innovating, inventing and disrupting to create new growth drivers and develop new markets in healthcare. "We are highly focused on creating shareholder value, and that starts with technology. We are leaders in many of the fastest growth markets in our industry, and we continue to invest in the technology of tomorrow that will fuel our long-term growth," said Omar Ishrak, Medtronic chairman and CEO. "We are committed to continuous innovation to stay ahead of our competition, inventing new therapies and markets, and disrupting existing markets. We will be showing technology examples across all of our business groups at today's Investor Day." Medtronic is investing in higher growth markets, which is expected to result in a higher weighted average market growth rate for the company. The company is outlining that when it leads in technology, its other initiatives - globalization and economic value - further enhance its growth profile and increase its competitiveness. Medtronic expects continued growth from its emerging market businesses, and it is an industry leader in the development of new business models to realize the economic value of its technology. In addition to its focus on technology, the company is also outlining its long- range financial targets, with its primary focus on driving operating leverage and improving its free cash flow conversion. Specifically, to drive sustainable growth and return, the company is providing the following long-range targets: Organic revenue growth of 4%+; Underlying operating margin expansion of 40-50 basis points per year over the planning period; Adjusted earnings per share growth of 8% over the planning period, assuming modest currency volatility; 80% free cash flow conversion within the next 2 to 3 years; and A minimum of 50% of its free cash flow returned to shareholders. "We have increased our focus on our core growth drivers, on allocating capital efficiently across our businesses, and on optimizing our portfolio," said Karen Parkhill, Medtronic CFO. "And, as we execute and deliver on growth, leverage, and cash flow conversion, we expect that to result in sustainable returns and durable value for our shareholders."

06:32 EDT Emerge Energy announces expansion in Kingfisher County mine - Emerge Energy Services announced an expansion of its in-basin sand presence by commencing the development of a new mining and processing operation located in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma. Emerge Energy's subsidiary, Superior Silica Sands, signed a 25-year lease agreement that encompasses mining rights on 600 acres of land located approximately 60 miles northwest of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Superior has also agreed to purchase 40 acres of adjoining land on which the new wet and dry processing plants will be constructed. Closing of the land purchase is subject to customary due diligence. The Oklahoma plant will have a nameplate capacity of 1.5M tons per year; production is projected to start by year end 2018. The 600-acre mine site has an estimated 20 million tons of reserves, according to internal analysis; a third-party engineering group will conduct an independent reserves analysis.

06:09 EDT HD Supply sees Q2 adjusted EBITDA $235M-$245M

06:05 EDT Magna to produce the new BMW Z4 in Austria - Magna adds to its contract vehicle manufacturing line-up in Graz, Austria, with the addition of the new BMW Z4. Production is scheduled to begin at the end of 2018.

06:04 EDT Ensign Group acquires the operations of Sun West Choice Healthcare - The Ensign Group, the parent company of the Ensign group, announced that it acquired the operations of Sun West Choice Healthcare and Rehabilitation, a 140-bed skilled nursing facility in Sun City West, Arizona, subject to a long-term lease. The acquisition was effective June 1.

06:03 EDT HD Supply reports preliminary May net sales approximately $488M - Which represents year-over-year average daily sales growth of approximately 18.7 percent (10.6 percent on an organic basis). Preliminary May year-over-year average daily sales growth by business segment was approximately 6.3 percent for Facilities Maintenance and approximately 34.5 percent (16.0 percent on an organic basis) for Construction & Industrial. There were 20 selling days in both May 2018 and May 2017.

05:59 EDT TSMC names Mark Liu as chairman, CC WEi as CEO and vice chairman - TSMC held its 2018 Annual Shareholders' Meeting, which passed the following major resolutions: 1. Acknowledged the 2017 Business Report and Financial Statements.Consolidated revenue totaled NT$977.45 billion and net income was NT$343.11 billion, with diluted earnings per share of NT$13.23. 2. Approved the distribution of a NT$8 cash dividend per common share. 3. Approved amendments to TSMC's Articles of Incorporation. 4. Elected TSMC's 14th Board of Directors. The nine Directors are: Mark Liu, Mei-ling Chen, C.C. Wei, F.C. Tseng, Sir Peter L. Bonfield, Stan Shih, Kok-Choo Chen, Michael R. Splinter, and Thomas J. Engibous. Five of those elected, Sir Peter L. Bonfield, Stan Shih, Kok-Choo Chen, Michael R. Splinter, and Thomas J. Engibous, are independent directors. The board also elected Dr. Mark Liu as Chairman and Dr. C.C. Wei as CEO and Vice Chairman.

05:55 EDT Twitter to replace Monsanto in the S&P 500 - S&P Dow Jones Indices will make the following changes to the S&P 100, S&P 500 and S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the open of trading on Thursday, June 7: Netflix (NFLX) will replace Monsanto Company (MON) in the S&P 100, and Twitter (TWTR) will replace Monsanto in the S&P 500. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYRY) is acquiring Monsanto in a deal expected to be completed soon pending final conditions. REGENXBIO (RGNX) will replace General Cable Corp. (BGC) in the S&P SmallCap 600. Prysmian Group is acquiring General Cable in a deal expected to be completed soon pending final conditions

05:48 EDT Genentech announces FDA acceptance of sBLA, Priority Review for Hemlibra - Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced tody that the FDA has accepted the company's supplemental Biologics License Application, or sBLA, and granted Priority Review for Hemlibra for adults and children with hemophilia A without factor VIII inhibitors. The sBLA is based on data from the Phase III HAVEN 3 study. The FDA is expected to make a decision on approval by October 4.

05:42 EDT ACCC charges ANZ, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank with criminal cartel charges - Citigroup Global Markets Australia Pty Limited (C), Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (DB) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZBY) have been charged with criminal cartel offenses following an investigation by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. Criminal charges have also been laid against several senior executives: John McLean, Itay Tuchman and Stephen Roberts of Citigroup; Michael Ormaechea and Michael Richardson formerly of Deutsche Bank; and Rick Moscati of ANZ. The charges involve alleged cartel arrangements relating to trading in ANZ shares held by Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. ANZ and each of the individuals are alleged to have been knowingly concerned in some or all of the alleged conduct. The cartel conduct is alleged to have taken place following an ANZ institutional share placement in August 2015.

05:38 EDT Discovery investing $2B for PGA Tour rights outside the U.S. for 2019-2030 - Discovery is investing $2B for the global PGA Tour rights across all platforms, outside the United States, for the years 2019 through 2030.Similar to the successful Olympics model, Discovery intends to monetize the rights through a combination of sublicensing, advertising, affiliate and digital subscription revenues. The amount of the rights payments will increase over time, as additional rights in new countries become available. The estimated rights costs are approximately $50M per year in 2019 and 2020, $100M in 2021 and then ramping up through 2030. Discovery is planning for additional marketing, operational and other expenses of around $20M-$30M per year in the first 3 years as the company builds out the product and platform.Consequently, Discovery expects minimal start-up losses in the early years, as the company builds and scales the global product, and then positive cash flows over the total life of the deal.