Stockwinners Market Radar for October 15, 2018 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

20:01 EDT Northwest Natural Water unit to buy Sunriver Water LLC, terms not stated - NW Natural Water Company, a subsidiary of Northwest Natural Holding has signed an agreement with Sunriver Resort LP to acquire Sunriver Water, LLC and Sunriver Environmental, LLC. Sunriver is located near Bend in Central Oregon and is one of the largest resort communities in the Pacific Northwest. The water and wastewater utilities serve a combined 9,400 connections and employ 21 people across both companies. The transaction is subject to certain conditions, including approval by the Oregon Public Utilities Commission for the water distribution acquisition, and is expected to close in the first half of 2019.

19:16 EDT Facebook confirms expanding policies on voter suppression - Facebook said in a blog post that it is broadening its policies against voter suppression - action that is designed to deter or prevent people from voting. These updates were designed to address new types of abuse that the company is seeing online. The company said it already prohibits offers to buy or sell votes as well as misrepresentations about the dates, locations, times and qualifications for casting a ballot. The comapny said it has been removing this type of content since 2016. "Last month, we extended this policy further and are now banning misrepresentations about how to vote, such as claims that you can vote by text message, and statements about whether a vote will be counted. (e.g. "If you voted in the primary, your vote in the general election won't count.") We've also recently introduced a new reporting option on Facebook so that people can let us know if they see voting information that may be incorrect, and have set up dedicated reporting channels for state election authorities so that they can do the same," Facebook said. Reference Link

18:43 EDT Sears receives court approval of 'first day' motions to support business ops - Sears Holdings Corporation announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York granted interim approval of all the company's first day motions related to its voluntary Chapter 11 restructuring. Collectively, the approvals by the Court immediately improve the company's liquidity position and allow Holdings to continue its business operations throughout the financial restructuring process. The Court entered an order granting the company authorization to access its $300M in senior priming debtor-in-possession financing from its senior secured asset-based revolving lenders. The company also received authorization to continue paying employee wages and benefits, and to honor member programs including warranties and promotions. As previously announced, on October 15, 2018, Holdings and certain of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

18:21 EDT Disney-backed Jaunt to focus efforts on AR, says some staff will be 'moving on' - Jaunt, a top-funded VR content startup backed by Disney (DIS) and Google Ventures (GOOGL), said in a blog post that it will be focusing efforts on further developing technologies that allow for the scaled creation of AR content. This decision is driven by the exciting initial customer response to its recent advancements in volumetric XR technology and the experience and capabilities of its team. "This focus means though that we have had to make some tough decisions on our lines of business," the company said. "We will be winding down a number of VR products and content services in the coming weeks. We will work with our current clients to deliver our existing commitments and manage this transition smoothly and professionally. In addition, this unfortunately means that some of our valued and highly talented colleagues will be moving on." Reference Link

18:15 EDT Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen dead at 65 - Vulcan Inc. released statements on behalf of the Allen Family, Vulcan Inc., and the Paul G. Allen network: "It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our founder Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and noted technologist, philanthropist, community builder, conservationist, musician and supporter of the arts. Mr. Allen died on Monday afternoon, October 15, 2018, from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Seattle. Mr. Allen was 65 years old."

18:07 EDT Saint Joe released additional information regarding Hurricane Michael - The St. Joe Company releases additional information and begins to post images regarding the status of its Northwest Florida assets after Hurricane Michael. The majority of St. Joe's resorts and leisure, residential, and commercial properties located in Walton County and Bay Counties incurred minimal or no damage from Hurricane Michael. We are currently evaluating the damage to our timber assets. The Pearl Hotel in Rosemary Beach, WaterSound Inn, WaterColor Inn & Resort, WaterSound Beach Club, and Camp Creek golf course are fully open. Shark's Tooth Golf Course is expected to resume operations this week upon completion of tree clean-up. Only Bay Point Marina in Bay County and Port St. Joe Marina in Gulf County suffered significant loss and will require long-term restoration.

18:01 EDT Celanese unveils Customer Options Mapping approach to customer engagement - Celanese announced its commitment to partner with customers to identify mutually high value opportunities and launch collaborative projects through its new Customer Options Mapping approach to customer engagement. Through its project-based model, Celanese partners teams of engineers and product specialists with customers to solve a full range of materials challenges. Project teams leverage an industry-leading portfolio of material solutions and technical capabilities including part processing, testing, design and prototyping to provide a full solution set to solve customer problems and reduce their complexity.

17:57 EDT OpGen selected to participate in AMR surveillance initiative during Q3 - OpGen continues to make commercial progress with the Acuitas AMR Gene Panel and the Acuitas Lighthouse Software Research Use Only products. During the third quarter we were selected to participate in a ground-breaking antimicrobial resistance surveillance initiative across New York State. As part of the collaboration, OpGen will receive a $1.5M contract for the 12-month demonstration portion of the project, with the potential for full implementation during the next four years, should certain milestones be achieved by all parties involved.The company has commenced performance testing for its Investigational Use Only Acuitas AMR Gene Panel u5.47 test to support a 510 submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Interactions with the FDA continue under the Agency's Q-Sub process to continue to clarify specific requirements for clinical validation and clinical trials for the Acuitas AMR Gene Panel Tests and the Acuitas Lighthouse Software. The company is targeting its first 510submission for the end of the fourth quarter of 2018 or in the first quarter of 2019. The overall performance testing schedules at OpGen and at third-party sites have been impacted by expanded FDA clinical validation testing requirements and delays in sourcing scale-up quantities of a key reagent for AMR Gene Panel test kits.

17:42 EDT SPDR Gold Trust rise to 748.76MT from 744.64MT - This is the 2nd consecutive increase in holdings and also the highest level of holdings since August 31st.

17:33 EDT Rio Tinto reports Q3 Pilbara iron ore output 82.5M tons, down 3% from last year - Pilbara iron ore shipments of 81.9M tonnes in the third quarter were 5% lower than the third quarter of 2017, due to planned maintenance cycles and safety pauses across all operations following the fatality. Bauxite production of 12.7M tonnes was 1% lower than the corresponding quarter of 2017, with strong production at Weipa offset by lower production at the non-managed Sangaredi and Porto Trombetas mines. Third party shipments increased by 2% to 8.4M tonnes, reflecting firm demand. Aluminium production of 0.9M tonnes was 1% lower than the third quarter of 2017 due primarily to ongoing labour disruptions at the non-managed Becancour smelter in Canada. Full year guidance has been revised to between 3.4 and 3.5M tonnes, previously 3.5 to 3.7M tonnes. Mined copper production of 159.7 thousand tonnes was 32 % higher than the corresponding quarter of 2017, primarily reflecting increased production from Rio Tinto Kennecott due to higher grades. Titanium dioxide slag production was nine % lower than the third quarter of 2017, but 28 per cent higher than the previous quarter as production at Rio Tinto Fer et Titane and RBM ramped up following disruptions in the second quarter. Production at Iron Ore Company of Canada was 9% lower than the third quarter of 2017, however significantly higher than the previous quarter as operations ramped up to normal production rates following a labour dispute in the previous quarter.

17:19 EDT EJF Capital reports 5.5% passive stake in SB One Bancorp

17:03 EDT Turquoise Hill provides underground development update - Turquoise Hill (TRQ) provided an update on underground development. Rio Tinto (RIO), in its role as manager of Oyu Tolgoi and underground construction contractor, has undertaken its second annual schedule and cost re-forecast for the project. According to this re-forecast, lateral development has progressed well, construction completion schedule remains on track for 2022 and the project is expected to be completed at the $5.3 billion budget estimate disclosed in the 2016 Oyu Tolgoi Feasibility Study and the 2016 Oyu Tolgoi Technical Report. Oyu Tolgoi has committed $2.1 billion to Mongolian vendors and contractors since the restart of project development. Additionally, several key facilities have been completed, including Shaft 5, various underground infrastructure and a new camp to house 5,500 workers. Despite significant progress in the development of the project, Rio Tinto has notified Turquoise Hill, based on preliminary results, of a delay to achievement of sustainable first production which is now expected to occur by the end of Q3'21 instead of Q1'21. This is a result of certain delays including, but not limited to, the completion of Shaft 2, which includes over four months of schedule contingency, and challenging ground conditions. First draw bell remains on track for mid-2020, partly due to a change in the draw bell sequencing strategy. Shaft 2 production capability is a key enabler of increased underground development as well as further construction of critical underground infrastructure, such as Primary Crusher One and the material handling systems, that support the start of production ramp-up. While the full effect of some critical path impacts, including the Shaft 2 delay, has been partly mitigated, the net effect is sustainable first production has been forecast by Rio Tinto to be delayed by up to nine months, and is now anticipated to occur in late Q3'21. Through the end of Q3'18, Oyu Tolgoi has maintained strong crew productivity and underground development. Until the completion of Shaft 2, Oyu Tolgoi is expected to experience similar, but not increased, development rates as seen in Q3'18. Turquoise Hill has commenced its own review, with the assistance of the Company's independent Qualified Person, of the cost and schedule re-forecast and its impact on the project's critical path as a result of the anticipated delay in sustainable first production. The Company will assess the impact of this delay including, among other things, to the Company's cash flows and liquidity during the affected period, any potential increase in funding requirements and the timing of such funding requirements, as well as investigate potential mitigation options relating to cash flow and longer-term project funding. Turquoise Hill will update the market at the conclusion of that process. Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill will also commence a definitive estimate review in Q4'18. The definitive estimate review is projected to conclude in early Q3'19 and will provide the next cost and schedule review of the project.

17:01 EDT Hanwha Q CELLS trading resumes

16:59 EDT Blucora names Tran Taylor chief HR officer - Blucora announced that Transient Taylor has joined the company as the Chief Human Resources Officer. Taylor will report to Blucora President and Chief Executive Officer, John Clendening. Taylor joins Blucora after nearly four years as the Chief Human Resources Officer with Mr.Cooper/Nationstar, six years as Chief People Officer at Travelocity, and three years as the Executive VP of Human Resources at Alliance Data.

16:47 EDT SendGrid spikes up over 15% after announcement of acquisition by Twilio

16:45 EDT Hanwah Q Cells to be acquired by Hanwha Solar for ~ $825M equity value - Hanwha Q CELLS announced that it has entered into a definitive plan of merger with Hanwha Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hanwha Chemical Corporation incorporated in the Republic of Korea, pursuant to which the Company will be acquired by Hanwha Solar in an all-cash transaction implying an equity value of the Company of approximately $825M. Pursuant to the terms of the Plan of Merger, at the effective time of the merger, each ordinary share of the Company issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger will be cancelled and cease to exist in exchange for the right to receive $0.20 in cash without interest, and each American depositary share of the Company, representing 50 Shares, will be cancelled in exchange for the right to receive $9.90 in cash without interest, except for Shares owned by Hanwha Solar. The merger consideration represents a premium of 50.0% to the closing price of the Company's ADSs on August 2, 2018, the last trading day prior to Hanwha Solar's announcement of its proposal to purchase the shares of the Company that it does not already own, and a premium of 52.0% to the average closing price of the Company's ADSs during the 3-month period prior to the disclosure of Hanwha Solar's proposal. Hanwha Solar intends to fund the merger with equity. The Company's board of directors established a committee of independent and disinterested directors to evaluate the potential transaction. The Special Committee considered the proposed merger and negotiated the terms of the Plan of Merger with the assistance of its financial and legal advisors, and unanimously recommended that the Board approve the Plan of Merger and the merger. The Plan of Merger and the merger were also approved by the Audit Committee of the Board. After considering various factors, including the Special Committee's unanimous recommendation, and the Audit Committee's approval, of the Plan of Merger and the merger, the Board approved the Plan of Merger and the merger. Because Hanwha Solar owns approximately 93.9% of the Company, shareholder approval of the Plan of Merger and the merger is not required under the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands. The merger is currently expected to close during the first quarter of 2019. If completed, the merger will result in the Company becoming a privately owned company, its ADSs will no longer be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and the ADS program will be subsequently terminated.

16:42 EDT WageWorks appoints Ismail Dawood as CFO - The board of WageWorks approved the appointment of Ismail Dawood as the CFO of the company, effective as of October 15. Dawood has served as the Interim CFO and principal financial officer of the company since April 9.

16:36 EDT Emergent BioSolutions completes Adapt Pharma acquisition - Emergent BioSolutions announced that it has completed its acquisition of Adapt Pharma and its flagship product NARCAN Nasal Spray, the first and only intranasal form of naloxone approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada, for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose. With the closing of this transaction, Emergent also acquires a development pipeline of new treatment and delivery candidates to address opioid overdose and brings on approximately 50 employees, located in the U.S., Canada, and Ireland, including those responsible for supply chain management, research and development, government affairs, and commercial operations. Total consideration for the transaction is up to $735M, which includes an upfront payment of $635M and up to $100M in cash for potential sales-based milestones through 2022. At the closing, the company paid $635M, consisting of $60M in Emergent common stock and $575M in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments, using a combination of cash-on-hand and borrowings under its new $1.05B syndicated senior secured credit facilities that the company entered into to fund the transaction. The company will be issuing financial results in early November for the three and nine months ended September 30, at which time it will provide an update on the impact of this transaction on full-year 2018 guidance.

16:33 EDT Rapid7 acquires tCell.io, terms not disclosed - Rapid7, Inc. announced it acquired tCell.io, Inc., a provider of web application threat defense and monitoring. Through this acquisition, Rapid7 plans to expand its application security capabilities and help its customers better assess, monitor, and protect against application-based attacks. The acquisition of tCell is not expected to have a material financial impact to Rapid7's Annualized Recurring Revenue growth, revenue, and non-GAAP earnings per share for calendar year 2018, as guided on August 6, 2018.

16:32 EDT Astronics announces FAA granted approval for its LED lights - Astronics Corporation announced that the FAA recently granted Parts Manufacturer Approval, or PMA, for the next generation of LED Landing and Taxi Lights, provided by its wholly owned subsidiary Astronics Luminescent Systems Inc . With this designation, these advanced LED lights are approved for use on commercial, business, and general aviation aircraft. The Astronics LED lights replace the traditional filament-based lighting systems used for landing and taxi lighting on aircraft, delivering a MTBUR in excess of 30,000 hours compared with some traditional incandescent configurations that are rated at only 100 hours, saving maintenance time and effort and plane down time.

16:32 EDT Williams appoints Debbie Cowan as Chief Human Resources Officer - The Williams Companies announced that Debbie Cowan has been appointed senior vice president and chief human resources officer, effective Oct. Cowan, who will lead all aspects of the Company's human resources function, will serve on the Williams executive leadership team and report to Alan Armstrong, president and CEO officer of Williams. Cowan is a proven human resources leader with energy industry experience. She is joining Williams from Koch Chemical Technology Group, a division of Koch Industries, where she served as global vice president of Human Resources, supporting seven various engineering and manufacturing companies with approximately 5,000 employees in 26 countries. In addition, she previously served as global director of Human Resources for John Zink Company, also a division of Koch Industries.

16:31 EDT Trans World announces passing of CFO John Anderson - Trans World Entertainment Corporation's Chief Financial Officer John Anderson died on October 10, 2018, the company said. He was 49 years old. Trans World CEO Mike Feurer stated, "The entire team at Trans World and I are deeply saddened and shocked by the passing of John Anderson. John was greatly admired, and respected by those fortunate enough to have worked closely with him. His life touched and had a very positive impact on everyone who knew him. On behalf of our Board of Directors, management team and all of our Associates, we celebrate the meaningful influence John had upon us all, mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to his wife, Denise, and the entire Anderson family."

16:29 EDT Scorpio Bulkers announces letter of intent to finance scrubbers in its vessels - Scorpio Bulkers announced that it has agreed letters of intent, which are subject to the execution of definitive documentation, with suppliers, engineering firms, and ship repair facilities to cover the purchase and installation of Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems on substantially all of its owned and finance leased Kamsarmax and Ultramax vessels between the Q2 of FY19 and the Q3 of FY20. The Scrubbers and their installation will cost between $1.5M-$2.2M per vessel, and the Company anticipates that between 60-70% of these costs will be financed.

16:25 EDT Hanwha Q CELLS trading halted, news pending

16:24 EDT Piedmont Office Realty reports Q3 leasing activity - Piedmont Office Realty announced that it completed over 613,000 square feet of leasing at its properties during Q3, the majority of which related to new leasing for currently vacant space in its portfolio. Activity for the quarter included a previously announced, approximately 17-year, full-building lease for the company's newly constructed, 300,000 square foot, Enclave Place building in Houston, TX, as well as over 87,000 square feet of leasing of vacant space in the Washington, D.C. market. In Washington, D.C., Reservoir International executed a 29,000 square foot new lease through 2023 and Rapid7. completed an approximately 17,000 square foot new lease through 2024, both at Arlington Gateway; Global Connections to Employment completed a 15,000 square foot new lease through 2028. Applied Predictive Technologies completed a 12,000 square foot expansion through 2028. In Atlanta, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Financing renewed their approximately 18,000 square foot lease through 2024 and R-T Specialty executed a renewal and expansion totaling over 17,000 square feet through 2026. In Dallas, Switch Commerce renewed their approximately 15,000 square foot lease. In Boston, TZ Insurance Solutions executed a new lease for 15,000 square feet through 2029. In Minneapolis, Health Catalyst completed an almost 13,000 square foot new lease through 2024. In Los Angeles, Children's Hospital Los Angeles expanded their lease by approximately 26,000 square feet through 2026. Additionally during Q3, Piedmont entered into a binding contract to sell 800 North Brand Boulevard to a third party for approximately $160M. The sale will complete Piedmont's exit from the West Coast.

16:18 EDT Range Resources announces Appalachian overriding royalty sale for $300M - Range Resources announced that it has signed and closed on an agreement to sell a proportionately reduced 1% overriding royalty in its Washington County, Pennsylvania leases for gross proceeds of $300M. Range's Washington County properties encompass approximately 300,000 net surface acres that produced 1.7 Bcfe net per day in the second quarter of 2018. The overriding royalty applies to existing and future Marcellus, Utica and Upper Devonian development on the subject leases, while excluding shallower and deeper formations. Post-close, Range maintains a net revenue interest of approximately 82% on the subject Washington County acreage. Cash flow associated with the 1% overriding royalty is expected to be approximately $25 million in 2019. The net proceeds will be used to reduce total debt by an expected 7%, which lowers annualized interest expense by about $15 million, resulting in a net reduction in estimated 2019 cash flow of approximately $10M. Jeff Ventura, Range's CEO and President, commented, "This transaction highlights the quality and value of Range's inventory and represents a realization of a portion of that embedded value. We have made steady progress this year on our strategic objective of pairing Range's world-class asset base with a strong balance sheet. This sale and corresponding debt reduction - coupled with Range's consistent operational execution and beneficial exposure to improved liquids pricing - brings our projected year-end leverage below 3.0x debt to EBITDAX without additional sales. Range will continue to pursue asset sales to bring forward inventory value, high-grade the portfolio and strengthen our financial position, with the focus of maximizing long-term shareholder returns."

16:15 EDT voxeljet board approves capital increase of up to EUR1.1M - The board of voxeljet approved, with the consent of the supervisory board, a capital increase against cash contributions under exclusion of the subscription rights of the existing shareholders in an amount of up to EUR1.1M. The company's capital is to be increased through the partial use of its authorised capital approved by the ordinary shareholders meeting on May 30, 2018, which currently amounts to EUR3,720,000 by up to EUR1,116,000 to up to EUR4,836,000. In conjunction with the capital increase, the company will issue new registered ordinary shares with attached dividend entitlements for the financial year 2018, which will be offered in the form of American Depositary Shares. Each ADS represents one-fifth of an ordinary share. The offering period for the ADSs will run from 15 to on or about 18 October 2018. The ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company intends to implement the capital increase in two tranches. As part of the main share tranche, up to 972,000 ordinary shares will be issued and offered in the US capital markets in the form of up to 4,860,000 ADSs to institutional investors. In addition, the transaction features an over-allotment option of up to an additional 144,000 ordinary shares to be offered in the form of up to 720,000 ADSs. The offer price is expected to be set and announced by the management board on October 19, 2018.

16:11 EDT Adobe rises 2.2% after backing Q4 guidance, providing FY19 outlook

16:09 EDT ADDvantage to sell Oklahoma property to CTO Dave Chymiak for $5M - ADDvantage announced that it has signed an agreement to sell its property in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to Dave Chymiak, board member and CTO of ADDvantage for $5M. The sale of the property is expected to close before the end of October. Proceeds from the sale of the property are intended to be used by the company to pay off its remaining indebtedness of $2.5M to Bank of Oklahoma, which matures on October 31. Excess proceeds will be used to fund working capital of the company and its subsidiaries. The facility in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, consists of the company's headquarters, additional offices, warehouse and a service center of approximately 162,500 square feet on ten acres. Upon closing of the sale, Tulsat,, one of the company's subsidiaries, will enter into a ten year lease for the facility with Chymiak, which will enable the company to continue to operate its headquarters and certain cable TV segment operations out of the facility.

16:09 EDT ImmunoCellular notified NYSE American its intention to withdraw from listing - ImmunoCellular Therapeutics notified the NYSE American of its intention to voluntarily withdraw its Common Stock and Listed Common Stock Warrants from listing on the NYSE American. ImmunoCellular intends to file a Form 25, Notification of Removal from Listing and/or Registration under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, with the SEC on or about October 25. The purpose of the Form 25 filing is to effect the voluntary delisting from NYSE American of the Company's outstanding Common Stock and Listed Common Stock Warrants and the deregistration of the Common Stock and Listed Common Stock Warrants.

16:08 EDT Aclaris to acquire worldwide rights to Rhofade from Allergan - Aclaris Therapeutics (ACRS) announced it has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with Allergan (AGN) Sales to acquire worldwide rights to RHOFADEcream, 1% and additional intellectual property. The acquisition includes an exclusive license to certain intellectual property for RHOFADE, which is approved for the topical treatment of persistent facial erythema associated with rosacea in adults. This transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including certain governmental regulatory clearances, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018. Allergan has agreed to provide support to Aclaris to allow for a smooth transition of RHOFADE. Under the terms of the agreement, the purchase price includes an upfront cash payment of $65M due at closing, a development milestone payment related to the potential development of an additional dermatology product, and tiered royalties on net sales. Allergan developed and brought RHOFADE to market in 2017 after acquiring the drug as part of its 2011 acquisition of Vicept Therapeutics, Inc., a company established by certain members of the current senior management team of Aclaris. "We are excited to acquire RHOFADE. Our team is very familiar with the asset and the market opportunity," said Dr. Neal Walker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aclaris. "It is a rare opportunity to acquire an asset which was on a good trajectory with this level of initial launch activities completed." Expected synergies by leveraging current infrastructure and sales force in the U.S. RHOFADE is expected to be accretive to Aclaris' EBITDA beginning in the fourth quarter of 2019. Aclaris also today announced entering into a loan and security agreement with Oxford Finance LLC. Under the terms of the loan agreement, $30M will be made available for borrowing until October 31, 2018, and the remaining $35M will be made available upon the closing of the RHOFADE acquisition until March 31, 2019.

16:03 EDT Ultralife awarded $8.3M Army contract - Ultralife Corporation has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $8.3M to supply its Vehicle Amplifier-Adaptors and Mounted VHF Amplifiers to Thales Defense & Security, for the U.S. Army's Leader Radio and other opportunities. Shipments are expected to commence in Q1 of 2019.

16:03 EDT Andersons to acquire Lansing equity for $305M - The Andersons announced that it has entered into a merger agreement with Lansing Trade Group, its long-time affiliate, to acquire the 67.5% of Lansing equity that it does not already own for cash and stock currently valued at a total of approximately $305M. In addition to paying approximately $175M in cash, the Company will issue unregistered shares to current Lansing equity holders presently valued at approximately $130M subject to certain closing adjustments and changes in the share price of Andersons stock, respectively. The transaction will also result in the consolidation of Thompsons Limited of Ontario, Canada and related entities as they have been jointly owned by Lansing and the Company. The Company will assume approximately $166M of long-term debt, consisting of up to $130M from Lansing and about $36M from Thompsons. The implied purchase price is less than 9 times EBITDA for the twelve months ended August 31. The Company expects the transaction to be accretive to EPS within the first full year after closing and to achieve annual run rate cost synergies of at least $10M by year-end 2020. The transaction is expected to close before January 31, 2019, subject to Lansing shareholder approval and customary government and regulatory approvals.

16:02 EDT Qiagen unveils European rollout of QIAstat-Dx - QIAGEN N.V. announced the European rollout of its next-generation QIAstat-Dx panel for one-step, fully integrated molecular analysis of gastrointestinal syndromes. The multiplex gastrointestinal panel, which QIAGEN has upgraded to now include comprehensive viral coverage, detects the 24 most common viral, bacterial and parasitic pathogens that cause GI infections. A respiratory panel for QIAstat-Dx analyzes 21 viral and bacterial pathogens including sub-types of influenza, coronaviruses, pneumonia and other targets, to differentiate the causes of acute respiratory tract infections. The QIAstat-Dx system, which already had received CE-IVD marking along with the gastrointestinal and respiratory panels, recently achieved registration in Australia and is being launched there. Plans for U.S. regulatory submission of QIAstat-Dx and both panels are on track for expected approval in 2019. QIAGEN also expects to introduce a QIAstat-Dx multiplex test for meningitis, with CE-IVD marking, in 2019. A deep menu of assays is under development for syndromic testing in oncology and other therapeutic areas.

15:01 EDT IBM announces launch of Multicloud Manager - IBM announced its launch of a new open technology it says is "designed to make it easier to manage, move and integrate apps across different cloud computing infrastructures," IBM's Multicloud Manager. The new technology provides an operations console for companies as they increasingly incorporate public and private cloud capabilities with existing on-premises business systems, IBM stated. IBM Multicloud Manager will be available in October 2018.

14:32 EDT Customers Bancorp says Q3 EPS hurt 41c by notable items - In presentation slides shared in a regulatory filing, Customers Bancorp disclosed a $14.2M after-tax loss on $495M of securities sold in the third quarter and a $0.9M after-tax net gain on discontinuing cash flow hedge and equity security impairments. These notable items reduced Q3 net income by approximately $13.3M and EPS by about 41c, the slides state. Q3 deposits grew by $1.2B and NIM "remained under pressure" in Q3, the slides add. The bank ended Q3 with $10.62B in assets and is below $10.2B today, Customers Bancorp said, adding, "We plan to stay under $10B in assets" in a slide titled "What will CUBI Look Like in 3 Years?"

14:25 EDT TORM PLC (Class A Stock) trading resumes

14:20 EDT Customers Bancorp trading resumes

14:09 EDT Citi reports September credit loss 2.42% vs. 2.56% last month - Reports September 30-plus day delinquency rate 1.48% vs. 1.49% last month.

13:55 EDT Customers Bancorp trading halted, news pending

13:26 EDT Coastal Community Bank appoints Daniel Lee as chief credit officer - Coastal Financial Corporation announces the appointment of Daniel Lee as EVP and chief credit and risk officer. Dan will oversee the management and strategic direction of credit and risk, audit and compliance, and BSA activities. Dan brings over three decades of experience in the financial services industry with expertise in mergers and acquisitions and middle market and large corporate lending. In his most recent role as EVP, chief credit officer for Bank of the Cascades, he managed all credit administration and loan operations and worked to increase credit performance, resolve regulatory issues, and acquire banks in the Pacific Northwest.

13:14 EDT Arthur J. Gallagher acquires Wellington Associates, terms not disclosed - Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced the acquisition of Flowood, Mississippi-based Wellington Associates. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Wellington Associates is a full service agency providing property/casualty and employee benefits coverages and services to businesses and individuals throughout the state of Mississippi, with expertise in serving a wide range of entities, including schools, churches and towing companies.

12:55 EDT Icahn says tariffs 'dangerous game' that have played role in market crashes - Carl Icahn is speaking on CNBC.

12:53 EDT Icahn says tariffs are 'extremely dangerous' - Carl Icahn is speaking on CNBC.

12:51 EDT Icahn 'willing to buy more' of Dell Technologies under 'right circumstances' - Carl Icahn is speaking on CNBC.

12:40 EDT Icahn says Dell used coercion, manipulation in tracking stock deal - Carl Icahn is speaking on CNBC.

12:35 EDT Fidelity launches Fidelity Digital Asset Services, will handle crypto custody - Fidelity Investments, one of the world's largest and most diversified financial services providers with more than $7.2T in client assets, today announced the launch of a new company, Fidelity Digital Asset Services, LLC. The company will offer enterprise-quality custody and trade execution services for digital assets, commonly referred to as cryptocurrencies, to sophisticated institutional investors such as hedge funds, family offices and market intermediaries. "Our goal is to make digitally-native assets, such as bitcoin, more accessible to investors," said Abigail P. Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Fidelity Investments. "We expect to continue investing and experimenting, over the long-term, with ways to make this emerging asset class easier for our clients to understand and use." "We started exploring blockchain and digital assets several years ago, and those efforts have been successful in helping us understand and advance our thinking around cryptocurrencies," said Tom Jessop, head of Fidelity Digital Assets. "The creation of Fidelity Digital Assets is the first step in a long-term vision to create a full-service enterprise-grade platform for digital assets."

12:30 EDT Icahn says Dell Technologies 'one of the best opportunities' he's ever seen - Carl Icahn is speaking on CNBC.

12:05 EDT Crescent Point Energy confirms Oct. dividend of C$0.03 per share - Crescent Point Energy confirms that the dividend to be paid on November 15, in respect of October production, for shareholders of record on October 31, 2018, will be C$0.03 per share.

12:00 EDT Hi-Crush Partners falls -6.0% - Hi-Crush Partners is down -6.0%, or -61c to $9.63.

12:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN falls -8.1% - VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN is down -8.1%, or -$1.26 to $14.24.

12:00 EDT L3 Technologies rises 8.9% - L3 Technologies is up 8.9%, or $17.38 to $213.16.

11:48 EDT Occidental confirms it will no longer pursue contract extension for ISND - Occidental Petroleum confirmed it will no longer pursue the extension of the Idd El-Sharghi North Dome, or ISND, offshore field in Qatar, which expires in October 2019. 2018 Free Cash Flow, or FCF, for ISND is estimated to be less than $300 million with production of 51,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, prior to adjustment for foreign tax barrels. Occidental intends to have the production and cash flow from the ISND contract replaced in 2020 from its ongoing development program and reallocation of 2019 capital from ISND. Due to the major infrastructure investments that would have been required under an extension, the company's estimate for FCF was approximately $70 million annually for the first five years.

11:27 EDT Linde, Praxair announce squeeze-out of remaining Linde shareholders - Linde (LNEGY) and Praxair (PX) agreed to implement, in the event of a successful completion of the business combination of Linde and Praxair under Linde plc, a merger of Linde AG into Linde Intermediate Holding AG. In this context, a squeeze-out of the remaining minority shareholders of Linde AG against adequate cash compensation pursuant to the German Transformation Act, the companies said earlier in a statement. In the event of a successful completion of the business combination, Linde Intermediate Holding AG, an indirect 100% subsidiary of Linde plc, will hold approximately 92% of the shares in Linde AG. The external valuation expert to Linde Intermediate Holding AG has informed Linde Intermediate Holding AG and Linde AG that the amount of the adequate cash compensation determined by such expert on the basis of a valuation of Linde AG was anticipated to be EUR 188.24 per Linde AG share. Such amount has been confirmed in the preliminary assessment of the court-appointed auditor. The Linde AG board has analyzed the plausibility of the evaluation and the adequacy of the proposed amount of the cash consideration and today decided that it would, subject to the consent of the Supervisory Board, enter into a merger agreement with Linde Intermediate Holding AG on such basis in the event of a successful completion of the business combination. The final determination of the cash compensation by Linde Intermediate Holding AG will occur after the finalization of the valuation and auditing activities. The implementation of the cash merger squeeze-out is subject to the completion of the business combination between Linde AG and Praxair and the execution of a merger agreement between Linde AG and Linde Intermediate Holding AG. The successful completion of the business combination is subject to the receipt of the required regulatory approval in the United States as well as the outstanding buyer approval by the European Commission until October 24, 2018, respectively. Shares of Praxair are up 2%, or $2.66, to $158.99 in morning trading.

11:06 EDT TRU Simulation + Training, FlightSafety International enter LOI to form JV - TRU Simulation + Training, a Textron company, and FlightSafety International have entered into a letter of intent to form a joint venture to provide the industry-leading training solution for Textron Aviation's broad product line of business and general aviation aircraft. TRU and FlightSafety will combine their assets and capabilities, including their simulators, courseware, and world-class teams, to support their global customers' training needs. TRU will serve as the exclusive supplier of new Textron Aviation simulators to the joint venture. TRU will also continue its other operations, including the design and manufacture of training simulators and provide training solutions for the global aviation industry and military customers. The transaction is expected to close in the next several months, subject to finalizing definitive documentation and regulatory approval.

10:58 EDT Viceroy: MiMedx's appointment of Alvarez, Marsal 'conflict of interest' - In an open letter to MiMedx, Viceroy Research said: "On July 2, MiMedx announced the resignation of MiMedx CEO and Founder, Parker H. Petit, and the appointment of David Coles, a Managing Director of Alvarez & Marsal, as the company's interim CEO.The appointment of Mr . Coles follows MiMedx's engagement of KPMG and King & Spalding , who we understand have been tasked , amongst other things,with conducting an independent internal investigation into MiMedx sales practices. Viceroy understands that a key element of these internal investigations concerns MiMedx's conduct with the United States Department of Veteran's Affairs; specifically,the allegations of channel stuffing and the subsequent indictment of DVA physician s utilizing MiMedx products. Given the depth of investigations occurring at MiMedx relating to the company's conduct with the DVA, Viceroy believe the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal represents anirremediable conflict of interest to MiMedx's ongoing internal investigations , and to the investigations we understand are ongoing within the DVA and other federal regulatory entities. We have addressed a separate letter to the Department of Justice and the DVA's ethics committee outlining what we believe is a serious conflict of interest and undue influence within the DVA of several parties. Further, we believe that it is irresponsible that this group, when exposed by journalists, was saved from a congressional hearing by longtime friend of former MiMedx CEO Petit, Senator Jonny Isakson, who has benefited greatly from donations from MiMedx and Petit."

10:35 EDT Enviva: Facilities incured 'limited' damage from Hurricane Michael - Enviva Partners reported that its facilities incurred only limited damage from Hurricane Michael. The Partnership undertook substantial preparation in advance of Hurricane Michael's landfall to keep employees safe and minimize disruption, including proactively idling operations at its wood pellet production plant in Jackson County, Florida and a third-party deep-water marine terminal in Panama City, Florida. Based on initial assessments, the Cottondale plant did not incur substantial wind or water damage. Although the Partnership does not own material infrastructure assets at the Panama City terminal, a small portion of the roof on its contracted storage warehouse will need to be replaced and an estimated 5,000 tons of wood pellet inventory stored at the terminal appear to have been damaged by wind and rain. The Partnership's production facilities and inventory are insured under a comprehensive insurance program. The Cottondale plant is prepared to return to operations once power is restored to the site, which is expected to occur within the next week. Although the Port of Panama City remains closed, the Partnership is making arrangements to transport wood pellets from the Cottondale plant to other terminals. As a result, the Partnership expects Hurricane Michael to temporarily delay portions of its shipping schedule. The Partnership will continue to assess any impact on ship timing and operations as the region recovers.

10:29 EDT Hoegh LNG trading resumes

09:48 EDT Airbus, Delta Air Lines confirm partnership on Skywise open-data platform - Delta Air Lines (DAL) has entered into a multi-year contract with Airbus (EADSY) to continue using the Skywise open-data platform and related predictive maintenance services. The airline will expand the use of the tool to its A320 and A330 fleets - comprising around 400 aircraft - to track and analyse their operations and performance data and assess failure probabilities in order to anticipate maintenance tasks. Delta was one of the airlines involved in the development of Skywise Predictive Maintenance by co-designing, testing and making improvement recommendations about some of its key features.

09:47 EDT L3 Technologies rises 8.0% - L3 Technologies is up 8.0%, or $15.65 to $211.43.

09:45 EDT Supreme Court declines to review lead paint ruling involving Sherwin, Conagra - The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a California appeals court ruling that upheld a liability finding against Sherwin-Williams (SHW) ConAgra (CAG) and NL Industries and an order that they pay into a $409M trust fund for lead abatement.

09:33 EDT Bank of America says believes expenses will continue to be in line with $53.5B

09:29 EDT Scynexis doses first patient in Phase 3 study of Ibrexafungerp - Scynexis announced the dosing of the first patient with a Candida auris infection, an emerging life-threatening and multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen, in a Phase 3 open-label study evaluating oral ibrexafungerp in patients with candidiasis caused by C. auris. Ibrexafungerp, the first representative of a novel oral and intravenous triterpenoid antifungal family, is in clinical development for the treatment of multiple serious fungal infections. The CARES study is a multi-center, open-label, single-arm study designed to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of oral ibrexafungerp in subjects with documented C. auris infections.

09:24 EDT Seritage says active projects will 'continue uninterrupted' after Sears filing - Seritage Growth Properties (SRG) provided a business update related to the recent announcement by Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) that Sears Holdings has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. "All of our capital investment, leasing and development activity over the last three years is unlocking substantial value, and has significantly diversified our income stream with approximately 70% of our signed leased income now coming from diversified, non-Sears tenants," said Benjamin Schall, President and CEO. "We have $1B of cash and committed capital under our Term Loan facility, which provides us the funds to complete all of our on-going redevelopment projects and cover reductions in cash flow that may result from the potential disruption in Sears income. The completion of our redevelopment projects brings our signed leased income on-line and will replace any potential lost income from Sears Holdings. Our go-forward strategy remains as it has been - to unlock substantial value through investment of capital and the intensive redevelopment of our well-located buildings and land. All of our active projects will continue uninterrupted, and we are excited to further build our pipeline of redevelopment activity by partnering with growing retailers and users, mixed-use developers and institutional capital allocators." The company said, "As of September 30, 2018, the Company had completed or commenced 94 redevelopment projects, representing over $1.4B of total investment, and will proceed uninterrupted with all active and underway projects. The Company's share of remaining spending at these projects is approximately $880M which is expected to be funded with cash on hand and committed borrowing facilities. This capital is being invested at targeted incremental returns of approximately 11% and is creating significant value for our shareholders...the Company has sufficient liquidity to complete all underway projects and, as such, the Company is positioned to fulfill all of its commitments to tenants under signed but not opened leases. As of September 30, 2018, the Company had 156 SNO leases representing $75M of annual base rent, including the Company's proportional share of its unconsolidated joint ventures, the majority of which is expected to steadily come on line throughout the next 24 months... completing all underway projects includes the lease-up of remaining unleased space at these projects. The Company projects an additional $80M of rental income, including the Company's proportional share of its unconsolidated joint ventures, can be generated as these projects are stabilized without allocating additional capital beyond the $880M...as of September 30, 2018, the Company had approximately $580M of cash on hand. This capital is available to fund on-going development activities, as well as adverse impacts to operating cash flow that may result from potential reductions of rental income under the Master Lease with Sears Holdings....the Company will continue to opportunistically pursue select asset monetization and new joint ventures that support the Company's value creation activities... as of September 30, 2018, including the effect of all previously exercised recapture and termination activity, Sears Holdings was a tenant in 82 properties under the Master Lease and 20 properties under the JV Master Leases representing an aggregate of 12.4 million square feet and $61.2M of annual base rent, or 31.4% of all base rent under signed leases...The Company is monitoring, and will continue to monitor, Sears Holdings' bankruptcy proceedings and the impact on its business. By their nature, bankruptcy proceedings and their outcomes are subject to uncertainty."

09:12 EDT Fly Intel: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: Cambium Learning (ABCD), up 19% announcing it will be acquired by Veritas Capital... Tandem Diabetics (TNDM), up 4% after after receiving Health Canada approval to market t:slim X2 insulin pump... AcelRx (ACRX), up 23% after an FDA advisory committee recommended approval of Dsuvia... Harris (HRS) and L3 Technologies (LLL), up 5% and 6%, respectively, after agreeing to combine in an all stock merger of equals. UP AFTER EARNINGS: Bank of America (BAC), up 1%. LOWER: Progenics (PGNX), down 3% after filing a $250M mixed securities shelf... Axon (AAXN), down 3% after Ladenburg Thalmann analyst Glenn Mattson downgraded the stock to Neutral... Nutrisystem (NTRI), down 4% after the stock was downgraded to Underperform at DA Davidson.

09:09 EDT Bank of America says investment banking can do better - Says has 1,200 renovations planned in the years ahead. Says Q3 net income was up 32% and EPS up 43% from last year. Says average deposits have grown $50B per year over the last three years. Says Merrill Lynch has grown advisers and households. Says investment banking can do better. Says underperformed in M&A and leveraged finance. Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call.

09:06 EDT SodaStream launches plastic waste collecting vessel off Honduras coast - SodaStream launched the "Holy Turtle", an ocean contraption designed to clean plastic waste from open waters. The device will be initially piloted in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Roatan, Honduras, as part of a ocean clean-up lead by CEO Daniel Birnbaum. This is the first-known attempt of a commercial company to undertake a physical clean-up of trash from open waters. SodaStream's clean-up delegation includes 150 SodaStream executives from 45 countries, international environmental specialists, NGO Plastic Soup Foundation and children from 7 different local schools with local Honduran government officials. The "Holy Turtle" is a 1,000 ft. long floating unit engineered to capture floating waste while its large vent holes act to protect wildlife. The device design was inspired by oil spill containment systems and was developed by ABBCO in Florida, USA.

09:04 EDT Coupa Software acquires Aquiire - Coupa Software announced that it has acquired Aquiire. With 13 patents pending or issued, Aquiire extends Coupa's capability to deliver a business-to-business shopping experience spanning real-time, cached, and localized catalog search. With Aquiire's patented technology part of the Coupa BSM Platform, employees can get the information they need across suppliers in real-time with one instant search. This instant search allows for real-time competitive shopping, which can lower price as well as improve overall employee productivity.

09:03 EDT Overstock.com says Customer Day has discounts on 1.5M products - Overstock.com says its one-day event Customer Day, on October 15, has the "biggest deals, promotions, and discounts of the year on 1.5 million products; more than it ever has in a single sale. There are products on sale that have never before been discounted, including new products and highest-rated customer favorites."

09:03 EDT Gogo Business Aviation surpasses 5,000 systems installed - Gogo Business Aviation has surpassed 5,000 systems activated across the AVANCE platform and its other air-to-ground systems. AVANCE L5, Gogo's solution to provide bandwidth-intensive activity such as streaming video, has been in the market for a little more than a year. AVANCE L3, which began shipping earlier this year, is expected to reach 100 installations by mid-November, less than one year after launch.

09:00 EDT Perrigo launches AB rated generic version of Androgel Topical Gel - Perrigo launched an AB-rated generic version of Androgel Topical Gel, 1.62%. At generic market formation, an unrelated third party has launched an authorized generic version. Androgel Topical Gel, 1.62% is indicated for replacement therapy in males for conditions associated with a deficiency or absence of endogenous testosterone. Annual market sales for Androgel Topical Gel, 1.62% for the 12 months ending August were approximately $1B.

08:40 EDT Harsco Rail awarded multiyear MTA contract valued at approx. $40M - Harsco Corporation's railway track maintenance division, Harsco Rail, announced that it has been awarded a multiyear contract by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York. The pact - valued at approximately $40M - calls for the construction and delivery of 65 flat cars by the end of 2021. Under the terms of the contract, construction of the first flat car is scheduled to begin immediately. The first delivery is expected in July 2019, after which two new flat cars will be delivered per month. The cars were purchased to support ongoing construction throughout the New York City subway system and will serve to improve both subway performance and passenger ride quality.

08:38 EDT Matinas BioPharma appoints Theresa Matkovits as CDO - Matinas BioPharma announced that it has appointed industry and drug development veteran Theresa Matkovits as CDO. The company also announced that it has strengthened its manufacturing, supply chain and clinical development teams with the appointments of Frank Calamusa and Jenel Cobb. Matkovits is a C-level executive with global drug development and commercialization experience. Her expertise ranges from large global multinational pharmaceutical companies to mid-size and small biotech settings and spans all phases of drug development including bringing to market a number of globally-approved and registered products and late-stage products including biologics, small molecules, and devices across multiple therapeutic areas.

08:37 EDT Albireo Pharma to present findings from multiple studies on PFIC - Albireo Pharma announced that findings from multiple studies on progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis and other cholestatic liver diseases will be presented at major upcoming North American liver meetings. Findings from two studies on cholestatic liver diseases will be presented during poster sessions at the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition 2018 Annual Meeting, being held Oct. 24-27, 2018, in Hollywood, Fla. In addition, data from the NAPPED Consortium study evaluating the natural history of PFIC will be presented by an international research team at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases The Liver Meeting, being held Nov. 9-13, 2018, in San Francisco. At NASPGHAN, the following posters will be presented on October 26: "Symptoms and daily impacts associated with progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis and other pediatric cholestatic liver diseases: a qualitative study with patients and caregivers," abstract number 352, and "Systematic literature review of the effect of partial external biliary diversion surgery on clinical and biochemical outcomes in progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis patients," abstract number 353. At AASLD, the following presentations on November 11 are particularly relevant for the development of A4250: "The Natural Course of F1C1 Deficiency: Results from the NAPPED Consortium," abstract number 1847, and "The Natural Course of BSEP Deficiency: Results from the Global NAPPED Consortium," abstract number 0185. NAPPED is supported by an unrestricted grant from Albireo. Additional data on the relevance of bile acids in cholestatic liver disease will be presented elsewhere at AASLD.

08:35 EDT Avadel data shows increase in duration of FUSP with Noctiva - Avadel Pharmaceuticals presented data from two abstracts from Phase 3 clinical trials of NOCTIVA at the American Urogynecologic Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Pelvic Floor Disorder Week 2018 in Chicago, Illinois from October 9-13. These data show that patients treated with NOCTIVA Nasal Spray - the lowest effective dose of desmopressin - experienced an increase in both duration of first uninterrupted sleep period and percentage of nights with one or no nocturic voids, and NOCTIVA's safety profile was well-tolerated. These results show that NOCTIVA is an effective therapy in patients with nocturia due to nocturnal polyuria. The efficacy of NOCTIVA on FUSP and safety, as secondary endpoints, were evaluated in patients age 50 years and older with nocturia due to nocturnal polyuria in two Phase 3 randomized, double-blind pivotal studies. FUSP is defined as elapsed time from bedtime to first NOV or awakening if no void occurred. Patients were randomized into three groups and received either 1.66 mcg or 0.83 mcg of NOCTIVA, or a placebo for 12 weeks. The baseline average FUSP for all groups was 2.4 hours. In the NOCTIVA 1.66 mcg group, FUSP increased by 1.8 hours to 4.2 hours, and in the NOCTIVA 0.83 mcg group, FUSP increased by 1.6 hours to 4.0 hours, which was statistically significant compared to placebo. Incidence and severity of adverse events were similar to placebo, and the incidence of hyponatremia, defined as serum sodium less than or equal to125 mmol/L regardless of symptoms or less than130 mmol/L with symptoms, was low for both doses. No patients treated with 0.83 mcg experienced serum sodium less than or equal to125 mmol/L. These results demonstrate that NOCTIVA is an effective therapy with a well-tolerated safety profile in patients with nocturia due to nocturnal polyuria and may provide longer periods of uninterrupted sleep.

08:33 EDT TD Ameritrade launches virtual reality experience on Oculus Go - TD Ameritrade (AMTD) is once again expanding its digital reach by teaming up with Oculus Go from Facebook (FB) to provide one of the first-of-its-kind immersive learning experience for investors. With TD Ameritrade's first experience on Oculus Go, investors get a real-life view of things normally inaccessible to the public - taking them inside the NYSE, the CBOE and Bitcoin mine - to give them an intimate look at the world of finance. Through its relationship, TD Ameritrade is one of the first to provide investor educational content on Oculus, allowing users to have an immersive way to learn about investing topics. Individuals can access the TD Ameritrade experience by visiting the Oculus Video app on the main menu. It is also accessible through the Oculus mobile app on a mobile device.

08:31 EDT Duluth Holdings announces Allen Dittrich as COO - Duluth Holdings announced that senior VP Allen Dittrich will assume the role of COO, a new position within Duluth. Dittrich, previously senior VP of omnichannel customer experience and operations, will continue to report to Stephanie Pugliese, CEO of Duluth. Effective immediately, Dittrich will assume responsibility for operations across the company.

08:30 EDT Harris, L3 Technologies: won't be many acquisitions in first 2 years - Harris (HRS) and L3 Technologies (LLL) management said they do not expect to see many acquisitions in the first two years.

08:28 EDT Zillow partners with Realty Executives to receive Canadian listings - Zillow announced that as part of an expanded marketing agreement, Realty Executives International will send listings from their Canadian franchises to Zillow's mobile app and website. Zillow receives more than 100M visits from non-U.S. audiences a year, with a large share from Canada, and Realty Executives International's listings will soon benefit from that global exposure. Listings from several leading Canadian brokerages will soon be live on Zillow. Each Canadian listing will include a description and photos of the property, and will prominently feature the listing agent - with contact information - as well as a link to the brokerage or franchise website.

08:24 EDT Tyme Technologies appoints Michele Korfin as CCO - Tyme Technologies announced the appointment of Michele Korfin as the company's CCO. Korfin has over 20 years of experience in oncology, focused on product launches, oncology marketing strategy, commercial sales, market access and government affairs. Most recently at Kite Pharma, Korfin oversaw the market access strategy, including payer relations and reimbursement, for Yescarta, the first approved CAR-T therapy in lymphoma.

08:18 EDT Gladstone Investment makes additional investment in portfolio company - Gladstone Investment Corporation has made an additional investment into its portfolio company J.R. Hobbs Co - Atlanta, LLC in order to affect the acquisition of Mai Mechanical. Based in Commerce City, CO, Mai Mechanical is a plumbing and mechanical contractor servicing the Denver market.

08:16 EDT Recon launches FGS cooperative promotion program with Alipay and PetroChina - Recon Technology's (RCON) joint venture Future Gas Station Beijing Technology ran a Cooperative Promotion Program that FGS launched with PetroChina Co. in Zhejiang Provence and Alipay, a third-party mobile and online payment platform established by Alibaba Group (BABA). The three parties launched the Program from the period of September 1 to September 28. During the Period, when Alipay users clicked any coupon or special offer posted on the Alipay mobile application for refueling at PetroChina gas stations in Zhejiang Province, they were directed to FGS' DT Refuel mobile application to complete the purchase and payment activities. During the Period and through the Program, DT Refuel gained about 550,000 new registered users, among whom 420,000 new DT Refuel users refueled between once and four times. The average Gross Merchandise Volume of DT Refuel increased from RMB 0.5 million to RMB 5 million from August 2018 to September 2018, and the total sales of DT Refuel reached RMB 165 million, approximately $31M, during the Period.

08:12 EDT Aimmune Therapeutics announces initiation of Phase 2 study of AR101 - Aimmune Therapeutics (AIMT) announced the initiation of a phase 2 study, with Regeneron (REGN) and Sanofi (SNY), of AR101 with adjunctive dupilumab in peanut-allergic patients. AR101 is Aimmune's investigational biologic oral immunotherapy for desensitization of patients with peanut allergy, and dupilumab is Regeneron and Sanofi's fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits signaling of IL-4 and IL-13 cytokines, which are believed to be major drivers of type 2 inflammation. Aimmune is providing clinical supply of AR101, as well as food challenge materials, for the Regeneron-sponsored study. The phase 2 clinical trial is designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dupilumab as adjunct to AR101 and is expected to enroll approximately 160 peanut-allergic patients ages 6-17 at 25 sites across the United States. All participants will receive AR101 and will be initially randomized 2:1 to receive dupilumab or placebo. Dosing with dupilumab or placebo will take place in combination with AR101 treatment through the AR101 up-dosing period. The primary objective of the trial is to assess whether dupilumab as adjunct to AR101 in a Characterized Oral Desensitization ImmunoTherapy regimen, compared to placebo with AR101 in a CODIT regimen, improves desensitization at the completion of up-dosing, defined as an increase in the proportion of participants who pass a double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge with a single-highest tolerated dose of 1,000 mg of peanut protein. There will be additional DBPCFCs after a 24-week maintenance period and at the end of a 12-week, treatment-free follow-up period.

08:10 EDT Imax names Megan Colligan President, IMAX Entertainment and Executive VP, IMAX - IMAX appointed Megan Colligan to President, IMAX Entertainment and Executive VP, IMAX Corporation. Colligan's appointment will be effective February 19, 2019, immediately following a consulting period. Greg Foster will exit from his role as CEO, IMAX Entertainment and Senior Executive VP, IMAX Corp., when his current contract concludes at the end of the year. From 2006-2017, Colligan served in executive roles at Paramount Pictures, most recently as Worldwide President of Marketing and Distribution from 2014-2017.

08:09 EDT Textron Aviation, NetJets announce agreements for option to expand fleet - Textron Aviation, a Textron (TXT) company, and NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) company, announced fleet agreements for the option to purchase up to 175 super-midsize Cessna Citation Longitude aircraft and up to 150 Cessna Citation Hemisphere aircraft. NetJets has operated a fleet of nearly 500 Cessna Citations since 1984, and this agreement could increase the fleet to more than 800 aircraft over the next 10 to 15 years. The option to purchase the Hemisphere distinguishes NetJets as the launch customer for Textron Aviation's revolutionary, clean sheet large-cabin aircraft. With an enduring relationship of more than 30 years, Textron Aviation and NetJets equip discerning customers with class-leading, safe and reliable aviation travel experiences worldwide. Beginning with the industry-defining Citation SII, NetJets has owned and operated nearly 500 Citation aircraft, including the Citation Latitude, Sovereign, Excel/XLS and X. NetJets has the option to take first deliveries of the Citation Longitude in the second half of 2019, with additional options on Longitude aircraft exercised over the following 10 to 15 years. Textron Aviation and NetJets are designing a version of the clean sheet Citation Hemisphere to meet the discerning standards of NetJets Owners. This side-by-side collaboration enables NetJets and Textron to join together to create a world-class aviation experience for NetJets Owners. They are also working with Safran to achieve performance characteristics that enable Hemisphere to reach far off destinations with greater speed and reliability. To date, NetJets operates a fleet of 75 Citation Latitudes and expects to have 100 in service by mid-2019.

08:07 EDT Cronos Group partners with Technion R&D Foundation for skin-care treatments - Cronos Group has entered into a sponsored research agreement with the Technion Research and Development Foundation of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology to explore the use of cannabinoids and their role in regulating skin health and skin disorders. The preclinical studies will be conducted by Technion over a three-year period and will focus on three skin conditions: acne, psoriasis and skin repair. Development and implementation of the research will be conducted at Technion's Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabis Research and the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center of Life Sciences and Engineering in Haifa, Israel. Cronos Group expects to be able to adapt the individual and combinations of cannabinoids to develop products for each of these applications and expects to receive an exclusive, worldwide license to market and manufacture such products.

08:06 EDT Aevi Genomics Medicine completes enrollment in part B of Phase 2 ASCEND trial - Aevi Genomic Medicine announced that it has reached full enrollment of Part B of its Phase 2 ASCEND clinical trial. The ASCEND trial is a genomically-guided study in pediatric and adolescent patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder assessing the safety and efficacy of AEVI-001, a novel, non-stimulant therapy.

08:05 EDT Enbridge utilities Enbridge Gas Distribution and Union Gas to amalgamate - Enbridge will move forward with the amalgamation of its Ontario based utilities, Enbridge Gas Distribution and Union Gas, with an expected effective date of January 1, 2019. This decision follows a review of the parameters of the regulatory approval received from the Ontario Energy Board on August 30, and the approvals of the board of directors of each of Enbridge, Enbridge Gas Distribution and Union Gas.

07:53 EDT Pressure mounts on U.S. firms as JPMorgan, Ford bow out of Saudi event - Top executives from BlackRock (BLK) and Blackstone (BX) will no longer attend a Saudi investor conference, joining JPMorgan's (JPM) CEO and Ford's (F) chairman in pulling out of the event following the disappearance of a Saudi journalist. The cancellations could put pressure on other U.S. companies still slated to appear at the summit. JPMORGAN, OTHERS WITHDRAW FROM SAUDI CONFERENCE: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon backed out of plans to attend the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, which draws business leaders from around the world, following accusations that the Saudi government ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment on why Dimon pulled out of the event and whether another executive would go in his place. Dimon had been scheduled to speak at the event on a panel with the managing director of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Christine Lagarde, the president of the International Monetary Fund, and other financial services CEOs. Following Dimon's withdrawal, Ford Chairman Bill Ford canceled plans to appear at the Saudi conference. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman will also no longer appear at the conference, CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin reported on Monday. Additionally, major news organizations, including CNN (T), The Financial Times, CNBC (CMCSA), The New York Times (NYT) and Bloomberg have pulled out of the conference, Reuters reported, adding that Fox Business Network (FOXA) is "reviewing that decision." Reuters also said that Viacom (VIAB) CEO Bob Bakish and Uber (UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi are also no longer attending the summit. BACKGROUND: Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post reporter critical of Saudi Arabia's government, crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, and the country's king, Salman of Saudi Arabia, was last seen going inside the main entrance of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2. According to numerous anonymous police sources, the Turkish police believe that Khashoggi was tortured and killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia has denied that. WHAT'S NOTABLE: The cancellations could put pressure on other U.S. firms planning to attend the summit, including Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America (BAC), Mastercard (MA), Citi (C) and Credit Suisse (CS).

07:50 EDT Hexindai completes submission of P2P Compliance Self-Inspection Report - Hexindai has completed the submission of its P2P Compliance Self-Inspection Report to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Work, one of three key steps for compliance with industry reforms from the National P2P Rectification Office. Now, Hexindai will focus on the next two steps in the process, including an inspection conducted by Beijing Internet Finance Industry Association. This will be followed by verification of inspection results by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Financial Work with field inspection and possible final check by higher level government organizations.

07:34 EDT OncoSec initiates Phase 2 cllinical trial of Tavo with Merck's Keytruda - OncoSec (ONCS) has initiated Keynote-890, a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of late-stage triple negative breast cancer with Tavo in combination with Merck's (MRK) Keytruda. The initiation of Keynote-890 marks the second Phase 2 trial for OncoSec involving a combination of Tavo and Keytruda. The first, Pisces/Keynote-695, is a global, multicenter Phase 2b trial of Tavo in combination with Keytruda for metastatic melanoma. Keynote-890 is a multicenter Phase 2 open-label trial of Tavo in combination with Keytruda in patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of inoperable locally advanced or metastatic TNBC and at least one prior line of approved systemic chemotherapy or immunotherapy. TNBC remains a poor-prognosis breast cancer subtype,2 with limited treatment options for patients with advanced, recurrent disease.

07:32 EDT Kimco anticipates 'significant value' creation opportunities from Sears filing - Kimco Realty (KIM) announced that it expects to benefit from considerable mark-to-market and long-term redevelopment opportunities in the wake of the recently announced Sears Holdings (SHLD) bankruptcy filing. Overall, Kimco's exposure is limited to 14 leases, representing just 0.6% of annualized base rent and 1.9% of the company's total gross leasable area. "Today's announcement may afford us the long-awaited opportunity to recapture boxes with significant mark-to-market potential in our core markets, and sparks several new redevelopment opportunities within our portfolio," said Conor Flynn, Kimco's CEO. "Given the highly favorable demographics of these locations, along with the continued demand for well-located, high-quality real estate, we expect to build on our past success in creating value by re-tenanting and redeveloping these below-market anchor spaces and activating underutilized parking fields." Sears/Kmart pays among the lowest rents of any tenant in Kimco's portfolio. The 14 Sears/Kmart leases have an average base rent of $5.25 per square foot, which is significantly below the company's portfolio average of $15.95. Demographics across the 14 locations are desirable, with a population of 129,000 within a three-mile radius with an average household income of $88,000.

07:20 EDT Cellect Biotechnology reports safety data from Phase I/II trial of ApoGraft - Cellect Biotechnology announced further data from a Phase I/II study of its ApoGraft technology. With half of the patients planned for the study having finished first month follow up, all such patients have shown 100% engraftment with no procedure related adverse events reported. The first three patients of the trial - cohort I - have completed the study period with full safety and tolerability. Cellect's ApoGraft technology aims to turn stem cell transplantations into a safe procedure by proper selection of the needed cells and elimination of the toxicity causing cells thereby reducing the associated severe side effects and consequently the outcome of the patients. The primary endpoint of the study is overall incidence, frequency and severity of adverse events potentially related to ApoGraft at 180 days from transplantation. Cellect is proceeding with enrolling and dosing the third cohort of the study.

07:16 EDT First Majestic announces Q3 total production of 6.7M silver equivalent ounces - First Majestic announced total production in Q3 reached a new company record of 6.7M silver equivalent ounces. Total production consisted of 3.5M ounces of silver, 35,260 ounces of gold, 4.4M pounds of lead and 1.2M pounds of zinc. Silver production for the first three quarters of 2018 totaled 8.4M ounces, or 15.8M silver equivalent ounces, remaining in-line with the 2018 production guidance. Total ore processed during the quarter at the company's silver mines amounted to 864,056 tonnes, representing a 1% increase compared to the previous quarter. The increase in tonnes compared to the prior quarter was primarily due to a 106% increase in tonnes processed at San Dimas, offset by an 18% decrease in throughput processed at La Encantada and a 58% decrease at La Guitarra. The decrease at La Guitarra was due to the operation being placed in care and maintenance on August 3. Quarterly consolidated silver and gold recoveries averaged 83% and 95%, representing a 5% and 1% increase, respectively, compared to the previous quarter. The company continues to expect further improvements in recoveries associated with higher grades and with the installation of the microbubble flotation columns at La Parrilla and Del Toro. The column cells at La Parrilla are expected to be delivered and installed in Q1 2019 followed by Del Toro in Q2 of 2019. In addition, installation of the High Intensity Grinding mills at Santa Elena and San Dimas have been postponed until Q2 and Q3 of 2019, respectively, due to additional detailed engineering and process planning. The benefits of this new technology, most notably higher recoveries and lower operating costs, are expected to be realized after completing ramp up to commercial production in the second half of 2019.

07:15 EDT Synchrony reports September net charge offs 4.50% vs. 4.81% last month - Reports September 30-plus day delinquencies 2.88% vs. 2.74% last month.

07:11 EDT Athenex announces preliminary results from TAEST pilot studies - Athenex announced that preliminary results of pilot studies in China in which patients received T-cell receptor affinity enhancing specific T-cell therapy, or TAEST, showed "encouraging positive" clinical signals in terms of efficacy and safety. The pilot studies are being conducted in China by Xiangxue Life Sciences, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiangxue Pharmaceutical. In July, XLifeSc and Athenex entered into an agreement to establish a new joint venture named Axis Therapeutics, which owns the global rights to the TAEST technology, excluding China and in this territory Axis Therapeutics is leading the research, development and commercialization efforts of T-cell receptor-engineered T cells, a form of cancer immunotherapy. The pilot studies are focused on the testing of TAEST technology generated T-cells, with enhanced binding affinity, against the antigen NY-ESO-1 and is HLA-A restricted. Preliminary results of TAEST technology generated T-cell therapy studied in nine end-stage cancer patients who failed all standard treatments showed the following: In the first three patients, dose escalation in one patient and full dose in two patients were tested. All three patients showed an acceptable safety profile. Two of the patients showed stable disease with survival of six and 10 months, respectively. One patient with lung cancer showed a small tumor reduction, and a reduction in pain and softening of the subcutaneous metastasis following treatment. Lymphodepletion was added to the protocol in patients four through nine. Treatment was well tolerated with fever, chills, weakness and mild skin rash observed. Two patients had more than 40% reduction in tumor size, as measured by CT scans. The patient with breast cancer also had healing of two skin metastatic ulcers. Two other patients showed stable disease. Both of these patients showed significant tumor necrosis shortly after the treatment, resulting in the formation of cavitation in the middle of the tumors. Clinically, there was also symptomatic relief of local pain reported during the period of radiologic evidence of increased tumor necrosis. The remaining two patients with lung cancer had stable disease for more than 60 days after treatment. This study also observed the expected cytokine response, detection of TCR-expression on T-cells, and persistence of the introduced TCR-gene in all patients during therapy.

07:09 EDT Connecticut Water issues letter to shareholders on SJW Corp. transaction - Connecticut Water (CTWS) sent a letter to shareholders in connection with the previously announced transaction with SJW Group (SJW). The special meeting of Connecticut Water shareholders to vote on the transaction will be held on November 16. The Connecticut Water board recommends that shareholders vote "for" the proposal to approve the SJW Group merger agreement as well as all other proposals related to the SJW Group transaction. Not voting has the same effect as a vote against the transaction. Highlights from the letter include: "by voting "FOR" the SJW Group transaction on the GREEN proxy card, shareholders are voting to receive significant, certain, premium value of $70 per share in cash (...) The value that Connecticut Water shareholders will receive represents a 33% premium to Connecticut Water's unaffected closing stock price on March 14 (...) Prior to announcing the original agreement with SJW Group in March 2018, Connecticut Water's stock had never closed above $63.55 per share (...) the SJW Group transaction provides significant benefits for the Company's employees, customers and communities that Connecticut Water believes are fundamental to being a successful utility company. (...)"

07:07 EDT Bank of America CEO: Highest quarterly pre-tax earnings in company history - Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO said, "Responsible growth, backed by a solid U.S. economy and a healthy U.S. consumer, combined to deliver the highest quarterly pre-tax earnings in our company's history. This marks the 15th consecutive quarter of positive operating leverage, driven by continued growth in deposits, client balances in wealth management, solid loan growth and disciplined expense management. Our strong balance sheet has allowed us to return $19 billion to shareholders so far this year in dividends and share buybacks. Our high-tech, high-touch approach continues to drive both client satisfaction and efficiencies. More than 3 million users have accessed Erica, the industry's only AI virtual assistant, since its April rollout, and nearly a quarter of deposit transactions this quarter were performed via mobile device. We also have opened 53 financial centers and renovated more than 400 others in the last 12 months. We continue to expand into new markets, recently opening our first financial center in Pittsburgh, and we plan to open in Salt Lake City in the coming months, with additional markets to follow. In Global Banking, deposit growth reflects GTS investments, and Global Markets profitability improved. Bank of America is helping our clients address the straightforward question of what they would like the power to do, and delivering capabilities and solutions to help them reach their goals."

07:04 EDT Anixa Biosciences files pre-submission for Ccheck AI cancer detection technology - Anixa Biosciences has filed an IVD pre-submission with the FDA for use of its Cchek artificial intelligence based cancer detection technology, as a prostate cancer test. The FDA's Pre-Submission Program allows medical device and in vitro diagnostic manufacturers to discuss specific aspects of the regulatory process and requirements with FDA. In the submission, Anixa requested a face-to-face meeting with the FDA to discuss the agency's feedback on the proposed preclinical and clinical performance testing plan required to support a pre-market application, and to determine the appropriate regulatory path.

07:03 EDT Bank of America reports Q3 average deposit balances in business segments up 3% - Average loan and lease balances in business segments rose $29B, or 3%, to $871B - Consumer up 5% and commercial up 2%. Average deposit balances rose $45B, or 4%, to $1.3T.

07:02 EDT Nine Energy Services to acquire Magnum Oil Tools for $493M in cash, stock - Nine Energy Service announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Magnum Oil Tools International, LTD. Magnum has a broad offering of proprietary downhole completions products, including dissolvable and composite frac plugs, as well as a number of other patented consumables. The Magnum partnership solidifies Nine as one of the premier providers of completion focused technology combined with excellence in both service execution and conveyance capability. Magnum provides Nine with a strong, first-mover advantage in the dissolvable frac plug market due to its extensive track record of successful market penetration and positions Nine as a leading provider of differentiated isolation tools with the ability to service the entire addressable frac plug market. Magnum brings a proven ability to design, engineer and commercialize applicable and reliable downhole technologies, as well as stay ahead of industry trends. Nine expects the addition of Magnum's portfolio of completion tools to be well suited to help operators reduce risk and cycle times as completions continue to become more complex with longer laterals, more stages and mega-well pads. Total upfront transaction consideration of $493 million consists of a combination of approximately $334 million of cash, as well as 5 million shares of Nine common stock. The terms of the purchase agreement also include the potential for additional future contingent payments. Magnum does not have any debt. The Company intends to fund the cash purchase price with the net proceeds of a notes offering announced concurrently with the announcement of this acquisition, borrowings under a new credit facility and cash on hand.

07:02 EDT Bank of America reports Q3 provision for credit losses down $118M to $716M - Reports net charge-off ratio remained low at 0.40%.

06:57 EDT Bank of America reports Q3 NII up 6% to $11.9B - Q3 et interest income increased $709M, or 6%, to $11.9 billion, reflecting benefits from higher interest rates, as well as loan and deposit growth; net interest yield of 2.42%, up 6 bps.

06:50 EDT Eli Lilly to present COAST-V, COAST-W data at ACR/ARHP - Eli Lilly announced that it will present new data for Taltz and Olumiant at the American College of Rheumatology, or ACR/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals, or ARHP, annual meeting. Lilly will present 21 abstracts featuring new data for Taltz, including a late-breaking abstract and four oral presentations. Highlights include complete results from two Phase 3 studies, COAST-V and COAST-W, in adult patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis, or AS, also known as radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, or axSpA. Based on the positive results from the COAST-V and COAST-W studies, the company plans to submit for U.S. regulatory approval in AS/axSpA later this year. In addition, Lilly will highlight new data for Olumiant in 20 abstracts, including seven oral presentations on rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, and systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE. Notable presentations include an updated integrated safety analysis of Olumiant in the treatment of adults with moderately-to-severely active RA. The FDA approved the 2-mg dose of Olumiant for the treatment of adults with moderately-to-severely active RA who have had an inadequate response to one or more tumor necrosis factor inhibitor therapies in June.

06:50 EDT Loxo Oncology receives Breakthrough Therapy Designation from FDA for LOXO-292 - Loxo Oncology announced that the U.S. FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to LOXO-292, a selective RET inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with advanced RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer who require systemic therapy, have progressed following prior treatment and have no acceptable alternative treatment options. This designation supplements the two LOXO-292 Breakthrough Therapy Designations granted in September 2018. The Breakthrough Therapy Designation announced today was also based on data from the ongoing global Phase 1/2 LIBRETTO-001 clinical trial.

06:38 EDT Kraton reports Panama City facility sustains damage - Kraton provided an update on impact of Hurricane Michael. Hurricane Michael has had a significant impact on the Florida Panhandle. The safety and well-being of its employees was its top priority. Kraton owns and operates a facility in Panama City and a facility in Pensacola, Florida. The company began preparations to shut down its Panama City and Pensacola sites on Monday October 8, with a full stop on Tuesday October 9. The Pensacola location was largely unaffected by Hurricane Michael and is currently back on line and producing product. The Panama City site sustained considerable damage. Kraton is currently in the process of assessing the full extent of this damage and does not know when the Panama City site will be fully operational. The company is actively working to minimize the impact on its customers, including evaluating its ability to satisfy the needs of its customers through inventories on hand, and where possible, production from other plant sites.

06:32 EDT Air Lease announces delivery of Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft with S7 Airlines - Air Lease (AL) announced the delivery of one new Boeing (BA) 737-8 MAX aircraft on lease to S7 Airlines, operated by Globus Airlines. Powered by LEAP-1B27 engines, this Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft is the first of nine B737-8 MAX aircraft set to deliver to Globus from ALC's order book with Boeing.

06:18 EDT Fortis provides new five-year outlook - Fortis announced its five-year capital investment plan of $17.3 billion for the period 2019 to 2023, up $2.8 billion from the prior year's plan. Consolidated rate base is projected to increase from $26.1 billion in 2018 to approximately $32.0 billion in 2021 and $35.5 billion in 2023, translating into a three and five-year compound annual growth rate of 7.1% and 6.3%, respectively. The Corporation's Board of Directors also announced a 2.5c or 5.9% increase in the fourth quarter 2018 common share dividend. Fortis President and CEO Barry Perry said: "Our five-year capital investment plan has increased nearly 20% over the plan announced at this time last year." "Key industry trends including grid modernization, the delivery of cleaner energy and electrification, will result in incremental investments in the U.S. Midwest ($900 million), Arizona ($600 million) and Ontario ($600 million)," said Perry. "Projects that address system capacity and improve safety and reliability for our customers are also driving additional investment at our natural gas operations in British Columbia ($600 million)." The Corporation's capital investment plan is virtually all occurring at its regulated utility businesses and consists mostly of a diversified mix of highly executable, low-risk projects. It is expected that the capital investment plan will be funded with cash from operations, debt raised at the utilities and common equity from the Corporation's dividend reinvestment plan. The remaining funds required to finance the increased growth in regulated North American assets are expected to be generated from asset sales, with approximately $1 billion to $2 billion of proceeds expected over the five-year planning period. The Corporation's at-the-market common equity program will also be available to provide further financing flexibility. "We are committed to maintaining our investment grade credit ratings as we continue to grow our regulated utility businesses across North America and deliver on our 6% average annual dividend growth target," said Perry. "Our portfolio of high quality regulated electric transmission, electric distribution and natural gas distribution utilities, coupled with our expected growth rate, presents a compelling low-risk value proposition for our shareholders." Beyond the base capital investment plan, Fortis continues to pursue additional sustainable organic growth and near and long-term development projects. Key development projects not yet included in the capital investment plan include a small-scale LNG export terminal at the Tilbury facility in British Columbia; the fully permitted, cross-border, Lake Erie Connector electric transmission project in Ontario; and the Big Chino Valley Pumped Storage project in Arizona.

06:15 EDT Amdocs' Vindicia selected by Turner Internacional Argentina for subscriptions - Amdocs company Vindicia's CashBox has been chosen by Turner Internacional Argentina, a division of Turner International, to power the entire subscription lifecycle for its gaming streaming service, Gloud. The Gloud service aims to offer an accessible gaming experience, allowing consumers to play console-quality video games via streaming and on-demand without the need to purchase expensive consoles or download large files to a computer. Vindicia CashBox is a SaaS-based digital subscription platform for digital goods.

06:11 EDT Moody's, Reis announce completion of cash tender offer for shares of Reis - Moody's (MCO) and Reis (REIS) announce that Moody's wholly-owned subsidiary, Moody's Analytics Maryland Corp., successfully completed the previously announced tender offer to purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Reis at a purchase price of $23.00 per share, net to the seller in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes. The tender offer expired at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on October 12, 2018. The depositary for the tender offer has advised that as of the expiration of the tender offer, a total of 9,800,276 shares of common stock of Reis were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn in the tender offer (excluding shares with respect to which notices of guaranteed delivery were delivered) representing approximately 84.7% of Reis's outstanding shares of common stock. All of such shares have been accepted for payment in accordance with the terms of the tender offer. As a result of the tender offer, Moody's now indirectly owns a sufficient number of shares in Reis to complete a "short-form" merger under applicable Maryland law without stockholder approval. Upon completion of the merger, all outstanding shares of common stock of Reis other than shares held by Moody's, Moody's Analytics Maryland Corp., Reis, or any of their respective wholly-owned subsidiaries will be canceled and converted into the right to receive $23 per share in cash without interest thereon and less any applicable withholding taxes. Moody's expects to complete the merger later today. In addition, in connection with the merger, the common stock of Reis will cease to be traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market.

06:07 EDT Wells Fargo poised to launch eNote program - Wells Fargo Home Lending has entered into an agreement with eOriginal, a leading digital solution provider for the mortgage industry, to enable the purchase of eNotes through Wells Fargo's correspondent channel, Wells Fargo Funding. The launch of eNote capabilities by Wells Fargo, the nation's leading residential mortgage aggregator, represents a major step forward in the continuing digitization of the mortgage industry. An eNote is an electronic version of what traditionally was a paper document. As the evidence of the obligation to repay the mortgage loan, the eNote needs to be stored digitally in a way that ensures it has the same legal enforceability as paper. eOriginal provides this storage capability through its eVault service. Wells Fargo will begin purchasing eNotes from a select group of lenders, to be followed by a broader market offering throughout 2019. This is the second significant digital initiative launched by Wells Fargo Home Lending in 2018. Earlier in the year, Wells Fargo introduced an online mortgage application for its retail origination consumers, which pre-populates existing customer data and helps reduce the time it takes to open and close a mortgage loan application. This online application accounted for 28% of retail applications in September.

06:06 EDT Innovus Pharmaceuticals gets approval from Amazon.com to expand stores to Japan - Innovus Pharmaceuticals (INNV) announced the approval from Amazon (AMZN) for the expansion of its Amazon stores to Japan. The additional store will increase the company's worldwide Amazon store presence to its first country in Asia and is in addition to the company's Amazon stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and its new stores opening in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy which it expects to launch in Q1 2019 or before. Innovus Pharma expects to launch its Japanese store in the first quarter of 2019.

06:04 EDT Cambium Learning to be acquired by Veritas Capital - Cambium Learning has entered into a definitive merger agreement with certain affiliates of Veritas Capital, a private equity investment firm, for the acquisition of the company. Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, the holders of common stock of the Company currently outstanding are entitled to receive $14.50 in cash per share at the closing. The transaction was unanimously approved by the board of directors of the company. Following the execution of the merger agreement, the stockholder representing a majority of the issued and outstanding common stock delivered a written consent approving and adopting the merger agreement and the transaction. The company's outstanding credit facility will be repaid at closing. The company expects the transaction to close in 4Q18 or 1Q19. Immediately prior to the closing, the company will close its previously announced acquisition of VKIDZ Holdings, a Florida-based edtech company dedicated to helping deliver the best education to students using digital solutions. The holders of outstanding shares of VKidz are entitled to receive $11.50 in cash for each share of company common stock to be issued to such holders in connection with the company's acquisition of VKidz.

06:01 EDT Dr. Reddy's sells API manufacturing unit to Therapiva - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of its API manufacturing business unit located in Jeedimetla, Hyderabad, to Therapiva Private Ltd., an emerging generics pharmaceutical company. This divestiture is being done by way of slump sale and includes all related fixed assets, current assets, current liabilities, and its employees. "The divestiture of our API manufacturing business unit is a step towards streamlining our manufacturing operations and optimizing our cost structures," said Sanjay Sharma, Executive Vice President & Head, Global Manufacturing Operations. "We are confident that we have found in Therapiva, a buyer-partner who fully understands and appreciates the business unit and its people as a powerful strategic asset." Therapiva Private Limited is a joint venture between Omnicare Drugs India Private Limited and Laxai Life Sciences Private Ltd.

05:49 EDT Arcadia Biosciences receives U.S. patent for extended shelf life wheat - Arcadia Biosciences announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company a patent for extended shelf life wheat, the newest trait in Arcadia's non-genetically modified GoodWheat portfolio. US Patent No. 10,087,455, entitled "Wheat With Reduced Lipoxygenase Activity," covers this new technology which extends the storage life of whole wheat flour by minimizing oxidation. This new trait was designed to promote whole wheat consumption by improving the shelf life and taste of whole grain wheat products.

05:45 EDT Whirlpool: Sears bankruptcy filing will have 'very limited impact' on results - Whirlpool (WHR) confirms the recently announced Sears Holdings (SHLD) bankruptcy will have a very limited impact on Whirlpool's results of operations. As of September 30, 2018, approximately $30M or 1% of Whirlpool's aggregate accounts receivable exposure was related to Sears, and Whirlpool had an immaterial amount of Sears-related inventory. In addition, net sales to Sears represented less than 2% of Whirlpool's global net sales. In the past, when faced with a potential volume reduction from any one particular segment of the trade distribution network, Whirlpool has been able to offset such declines with increased sales through a broad distribution network. Whirlpool does not anticipate this bankruptcy will have any impact on our full-year 2018 EPS guidance or financial results over the long term. Further updates will be provided on Whirlpool's conference call to discuss third-quarter financial results.

05:41 EDT Roche announces launch of 3 new NGS AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits - Roche announced the global commercial launch of three new next-generation sequencing, or NGS, AVENIO Tumor Tissue Analysis Kits - the AVENIO Tumor Tissue Targeted Kit, Expanded Kit and Surveillance Kit. The kits, which detect all four mutation classes in solid tumours, complement Roche's NGS ctDNA kits for oncology research. The AVENIO research-use-only, or RUO, portfolio of ready-to-use kits provides reagents and software needed for labs to determine the genomic characteristics of solid tumours through a single DNA workflow.

05:32 EDT Gol Linhas announces corporate reorganization of group - GOL Linhas announces it has communicated to Smiles Fidelidade its intention to not renew the operating and backoffice services agreements executed among GOL, Gol Linhas Aereas S.A. and SMILES, beyond its current expiration date in 2032; it is initiating proceedings aiming at a corporate reorganization of the Group, as detailed below; and it has requested that an extraordinary general shareholders' meeting of SMILES be called to include a provision for the creation of an independent special committee, in accordance with the procedures of CVM's Opinion No. 35, dated September 1st, 2008, in SMILES' bylaws, to negotiate the terms of the Reorganization. The contemplated Reorganization includes, the creation, by GLA, of preferred shares, with increased economic rights in relation to the common shares of GLA; the sale of common shares issued by GLA to GOL's controlling shareholder, Fundo de Investimento em Participacoes Volluto; the merger of SMILES into GOL, with the issuance by GOL, to the shareholders of SMILES, of GOL preferred shares of the class currently existing, and of a new class of redeemable preferred shares of GOL; the redemption of the GOL Redeemable Preferred Shares, with payment in cash over a period of time to be determined; the capital increase of GLA, against contribution, by GOL, of assets and liabilities related to activities of SMILES; and as a second step, GOL's migration to the Novo Mercado. The terms of the Reorganization will be negotiated with SMILES' Independent Committee and, where applicable, submitted for approval by GOL's and SMILES' shareholders. GOL estimates that the Companies' general shareholders' meetings, which will deliberate the Reorganization, shall be called approximately 100 days after this date, depending on several factors, including the term that the Independent Committee understands is needed for the negotiation of the terms of the Reorganization.

05:28 EDT Duke Energy says 14,800 Florida customers without power after hurricane - About 4,000 repair workers today continued to restore power to Duke Energy customers on the Florida Panhandle following Hurricane Michael. About 14,800 customers remained without power as of 4:30 p.m on Sunday. The company has repaired more than 62,000 outages. About 77,700 Duke Energy customers lost power during the storm. The hurricane damaged a significant portion of the region's electric system, including transmission towers, substations, utility poles, power lines and other major infrastructure components - all of which will need to be repaired or replaced before power can be restored to many of Duke Energy's customers.

05:25 EDT Sears, Kmart stores will remain open during holiday season - Sears Chairman Edward Lampert said, "As we look toward the holiday season, Sears and Kmart stores remain open for business and our dedicated associates look forward to serving our members and customers. We thank our vendors for their continuing support through the upcoming season and beyond."

05:22 EDT Sears appoints Mohsin Meghji as Chief Restructuring Officer - Mohsin Meghji, Managing Partner of M-III Partners, has been appointed Chief Restructuring Officer. Meghji is a nationally recognized U.S. turnaround professional with a track record of revitalizing companies experiencing financial, operational or strategic transitions to maximize value for stakeholders. He has joined the company's senior management team and will help lead the company's restructuring efforts, reporting to the Restructuring Committee. The board has formed a special committee that will oversee the restructuring process and have decision making authority with respect to transactions involving affiliated parties. The Restructuring Committee consists solely of independent directors and includes Alan Carr, Paul DePodesta, Ann Reese, and William Transier.

05:18 EDT Sears files voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - Sears Holdings announced a series of actions to position the company to establish a sustainable capital structure, continue streamlining its operating model and grow profitably for the long term. To facilitate these actions, the Company and certain of its subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The company expects to move through the restructuring process as expeditiously as possible and is committed to pursuing a plan of reorganization in the very near term as it continues negotiations with major stakeholders started prior to the announcement. Holdings has received commitments for $300 million in senior priming debtor-in-possession, or DIP, financing from its senior secured asset-based revolving lenders and is negotiating a $300 million subordinated DIP financing with ESL Investments. ESL is the company's largest stockholder and creditor, and Edward Lampert is ESL's Chairman and CEO. Subject to Court approval, the DIP financing is expected to improve the company's financial position immediately and support its operations during the financial restructuring process. Holdings has filed a number of customary motions with the Court seeking authorization to support its operations during the restructuring process and ensure a smooth transition into Chapter 11. The company intends to continue payment of employee wages and benefits, honor member programs, and pay vendors and suppliers in the ordinary course for all goods and services provided on or after the filing date. The company's Sears and Kmart stores, and its online and mobile platforms, are open and continue to offer a full range of products and services to members and customers. Holdings' services and brand businesses will also continue to operate as usual. Customers should expect Holdings' loyalty programs, including the Shop Your Way membership program, and the Sears and private label credit card rewards programs, to continue as normal. The company is committed to working with its vendors and other partners to help maintain inventory levels and ensure timely product delivery.

05:14 EDT Sears files voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy