Stockwinners Market Radar for May 15, 2019 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

20:12 EDT SPDR Gold Shares holdings fall from 736.46MT to 733.23MT - This matches the lowest level of holdings since October 9th, 2018.

18:53 EDT Fly Intel: After Hours Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Limbatch Holding (LMB) up 9.4%... Turquoise Hill (TRQ) up 5.5%... Payment Data Systems (PYDS) up 4.0%... Flowers Foods (FLO) up 3.7%... Cisco (CSCO) up 2.5%... NetEase (NTES) up 1.9%... Jack in the Box (JACK) up 0.5%. ALSO HIGHER: Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA) up 20.1% after previewing TIL therapy clinical program for ASCO... Agios Pharma (AGIO) up 14.0% after disclosing its Phase 3 ClarIDHy trial meets primary endpoint... MacroGenics (MGNX) up 13.7% after disclosing Phase 3 SOPHIA study met primary endpoint... CUI Global (CUI) up 40.3% after entering deal to acquire four companies. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Virtusa (VRTU) down 24.6%... Dillard's (DDS) down 7.5%... Farfetch (FTCH) down 4.3%... ZTO Express (ZTO) down 4.3%. ALSO LOWER: Evolus (EOLS) down 8.0% after ALPHAEON Corp disclosed a sale of 4M shares of its common stock... Arbor Realty Trust (ABR) down 3.9% after equity offering. Movers as of 18:30ET.

18:27 EDT CAL FIRE determins Butte Camp Fire caused by PG&E-owned transmission lines - After a "very meticulous and thorough investigation" of the November Camp Fire in Butte County, CAL FIRE has determined that the Camp Fire was caused by electrical transmission lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electricity located in the Pulga area. The fire started in the early morning hours near the community of Pulga in Butte County. The tinder dry vegetation and Red Flag conditions consisting of strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures promoted this fire and caused extreme rates of spread, rapidly burning into Pulga to the east and west into Concow, Paradise, Magalia and the outskirts of east Chico. The investigation identified a second ignition sight near the intersection of Concow Rd. and Rim Rd. The cause of the second fire was determined to be vegetation into electrical distribution lines owned and operated by PG&E. This fire was consumed by the original fire which started earlier near Pulga. Reference Link

18:21 EDT Berkshire buys Amazon, exits Verizon in Q1 - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of March 31, 2019. Berkshire's one new buy during the first quarter was Amazon (AMZN). The firm exited its position in Verizon (VZ) during the quarter, its only exit in Q1. Berkshire increased its stake in four holdings, including by size of previous position JPMorgan (JPM), Delta (DAL), Red Hat (RHT), and PNC Financial (PNC). The firm decreased its stake in four holdings, including by size of previous position Phillips 66 (PSX), Charter Communications (CHTR), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Southwest Airlines (LUV). Berkshire's top holdings as of March 31 were Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola (KO), and American Express (AXP).

18:09 EDT Peltz's Trian Fund boosts Mondelez stake, cuts Sysco in Q1 - Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of March 31, 2019. During the first quarter, the fund increased its holding in three positions, including Mondelez (MDLZ). Trian reduced its stake in five holdings, including by size of previous position Sysco (SYY), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), PPG (PPG), Wendy's (WEN), and Procter & Gamble (PG). Trian's top holdings as of March 31, in order of size, were P&G, Sysco, Mondelez, PPG, and BNY Mellon.

18:04 EDT ZTO Express sees 2019 net income up 14.3%-23.8% y-o-y - ZTO Express expects parcel volume for 2019 to be in the range of 11.51 billion to 11.93 billion , representing a 35% to 40% increase year over year, and the company's adjusted net income is expected to be in the range of RMB4.8 billion to RMB5.2 billion, representing a 14.3% to 23.8% increase from the same period of 2018. The company will no longer provide quarterly estimates going forward.

17:59 EDT Microsoft CMO sells 5K shares of common stock - In a regulatory filing, Microsoft disclosed that its Chief Marketing Officer, Christopher Capossela, sold 5K shares of common stock on May 14th and May 15th. The total transaction size was over $630K.

17:44 EDT Corporacion America Airport reports April passenger traffic up 1.8% - Corporacion America Airports reported preliminary year-over-year passenger traffic growth of 1.8% in April 2019. Total passenger traffic in April 2019 slowed to 1.8% YoY from 2.6% YoY last month. Growth of 6.8% in Argentina and 2.1% in Italy, further supported by growth across most other countries of operations, was partially offset by declines in Brazil and Uruguay. The company faced easier comps in April as the Easter holidays this year fell in April, while in 2018 they fell in March. Cargo volume increased 3.5% in April 2019, mainly as a result a 63.1% increase in Brazil, offset by a decline of 12.7% in Argentina, related to the continued challenging macroeconomic conditions.

17:39 EDT Torchmark shareholder Paul Zucconi sold over $1.5M in company shares - Torchmark shareholder Paul Zucconi disclosed in a regulatory filing that he had sold 18,118 shares of company stock at an average price of $87.45 per share on May 14. The total transaction value of the sale was $1,584,426.

17:35 EDT Third Point takes position in United Technologies, increases Danaher stake - Third Point LLC disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of March 31, 2019. Third Point's twelve new buys during the quarter included, by size of position, United Technologies (UTX), Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Boston Scientific (BSX), Celgene (CELG), and Ross Stores (ROST). Third Point exited four positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Merck (MRK) and Cigna (CI). Third Point increased its stake in one holding, Danaher (DHR). Third Point reduced its stake in seven holdings, including by size of previous position, American Express (AXP), Constellation Brands (STZ), DowDuPont (DWDP), and PayPal (PYPL). Third Point's top holdings as of March 31, in order of size, were Baxter (BAX), United Technologies, Campbell Soup (CPB), Danaher, and PayPal.

17:33 EDT Iovance Biotherapeutics announces updates to TIL therapy clinical programs - Iovance Biotherapeutics announced updates from ongoing clinical trials including new interim data from studies of TIL therapy LN-145 in patients with advanced cervical cancer and with TIL therapy lifileucel in advanced melanoma. These data will be presented at ASCO taking place May 31 to June 4, 2019, in Chicago. In addition, the company announced that the first PD-1/PD-L1 naive patient has been dosed with TIL therapy and that it has entered into a collaboration with Genocea to evaluate the potential for an improved TIL product. Data from the innovaTIL-04 study in patients with recurrent, metastatic or persistent cervical cancer showed an ORR of 44% and a disease control rate of 89%. At 3.5-month median study follow-up, 11 out of 12 patients maintained a response.

17:19 EDT Appaloosa takes stake in Amazon, exits Atlantica Yield position - David Tepper's Appaloosa Management disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of March 31, 2019. Appaloosa's eight new buys during the quarter included, by size of position, Amazon (AMZN), Alibaba (BABA), Salesforce.com (CRM), Adobe (ADBE), and Clearway Energy (CWEN). Appaloosa exited eight positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Atlantica Yield (AY), Allstate (ALL), NRG Energy (NRG), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Kennametal (KMT). Appaloosa increased its stake in seven holdings, including by size of previous position, Allergan (AGN), Micron (MU), PG&E (PCG), Facebook (FB), and Caesars Entertainment (CZR). Appaloosa reduced its stake in five holdings, Mr Cooper (COOP), T-Mobile (TMUS), Vistra (VST), Energy Transfer (ET), and Alphabet (GOOG). Appaloosa's top holdings as of March 31, in order of size, were Micron, Allergan, PG&E, Facebook, and Amazon.

17:16 EDT Kadant authorizes share repurchase of up to $20M - Kadant has authorized the repurchase of up to $20M of its equity securities effective May 15, 2019 through May 15, 2020. The company has not repurchased any shares of its common stock under the existing $20M authorization that will expire on May 16, 2019.

17:11 EDT Eagle Bancorp initiates cash dividend of 22c per share - The cash dividend will be payable on June 14 to shareholders of record on May 31.

17:11 EDT MacroGenics says Phase 3 SOPHIA study met first primary endpoint - MacroGenics announced additional details of the results from the Phase 3 SOPHIA study of margetuximab in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who have previously been treated with anti-HER2-targeted therapies. Margetuximab is an investigational, immune-enhancing monoclonal antibody derived from the company's proprietary Fc Optimization technology platform. The study met its first sequential primary endpoint of progression-free survival. The median PFS of patients treated with margetuximab and chemotherapy was 5.8 months compared to 4.9 months in patients treated with trastuzumab and chemotherapy. Among the approximately 85% of patients carrying the CD16A 158F allele, a pre-specified exploratory subpopulation in the study, PFS was prolonged by 1.8 months in the margetuximab arm compared to the trastuzumab arm. The objective response rate, a secondary outcome measure in the SOPHIA study, was 22% in the margetuximab arm compared to 16% in the trastuzumab arm. The data cut-off date for the primary PFS analysis of the study was October 10, 2018. At the time of the primary PFS analysis, overall survival data based on 158 events were immature. The median OS at that time was prolonged by 1.7 months in patients treated with margetuximab and chemotherapy compared to patients treated with trastuzumab and chemotherapy. For the exploratory subpopulation of patients carrying the CD16A 158F allele, the median OS was prolonged by 6.8 months in the margetuximab arm compared to the trastuzumab arm. The company anticipates conducting a second pre-specified interim OS analysis based on 270 events in the second half of this year. The final pre-specified OS analysis is planned after 385 events have accrued, and is projected to be completed in 2020.

17:07 EDT Lone Pine takes stakes in Union Pacific, Alphabet, exits Activision Blizzard - Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of March 31, 2019. Lone Pine's seven new buys during the quarter included, by size of position, Union Pacific (UNP), Alphabet (GOOG), DR Horton (DHI), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Lone Pine exited three positions during the quarter, Activision Blizzard (ATVI), PayPal (PYPL), and NIO (NIO). Lone Pine increased its stake in four holdings, TransDigm (TDG), Salesforce.com (CRM), MercadoLibre (MELI), and Sea Ltd (SE). Lone Pine reduced its stake in 14 holdings, including by size of previous position, TransUnion (TRU), Facebook (FB), ServiceNow (NOW), Booking Holdings (BKNG), and CSX (CSX). Lone Pine's top holdings as of March 31, in order of size, were Adobe (ADBE), Amazon (AMZN), Iqvia (IQV), Microsoft (MSFT) and Alibaba (BABA).

17:06 EDT Mylan, Biocon to present Ogivri OS data at ASCO - Mylan and Biocon announced that final data from the HERITAGE study will be presented at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago. The HERITAGE study compared Ogivri to the reference product, Herceptin, in patients with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer in combination with taxanes for the first 24 weeks and then as a monotherapy until progression. Safety and overall survival, cumulative through 36 months of follow-up, will be presented as part of the Breast Cancer - Metastatic session.

17:04 EDT Forty Seven to present Phase 1B clinical trial data of 5F9 at ASCO - Forty Seven announced that "promising initial data" from its Phase 1b clinical trial evaluating 5F9 as a monotherapy and in combination with azacitidine for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome will be presented in a poster discussion session at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, May 31-June 4, 2019.

17:03 EDT ImmunoGen reports 'mature' data from FORWARD II expansion cohort - ImmunoGen announced mature data from the FORWARD II expansion cohort evaluating mirvetuximab soravtansine in combination with Avastin in patients with folate receptor alpha-positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. These findings will be presented at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, which is being held May 31 - June 4 in Chicago, IL. "We are pleased that the combination of mirvetuximab plus Avastin has generated significant anti-tumor activity in patients with platinum-resistant disease, with trends toward deeper, more durable responses seen in individuals with higher FRalpha expression and a favorable tolerability profile. The outcomes observed in patients with medium or high FRalpha expression are encouraging with respect to those reported in similar patient populations for Avastin plus chemotherapy," said Anna Berkenblit, M.D., Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of ImmunoGen. "Our goal remains to establish mirvetuximab as the combination agent of choice in ovarian cancer, supporting its use in earlier lines of therapy. These mature data support further exploration of this doublet, as well as the ongoing expansion study evaluating a triplet combination of mirvetuximab with Avastin and carboplatin in patients with platinum-sensitive disease."

17:01 EDT Genentech says entrectinib shrank tumors in Phase I/II study - Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced positive data from the Phase I/II STARTRK-NG study, evaluating the investigational medicine entrectinib in children and adolescents with recurrent or refractory solid tumors with and without neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase, ROS1 or anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene fusions. The study showed entrectinib shrank tumors in all children and adolescents who had NTRK, ROS1 or ALK fusion-positive solid tumors, including two patients achieving a complete response. Of the 11 patients, five patients with primary high-grade tumors in the central nervous system had an objective response, including one patient with a complete response. The safety profile of entrectinib was consistent with that seen in previous analyses. Data will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago on Sunday, June 2, 2019, from 8:00 - 8:12 a.m. CDT, and was part of today's official ASCO presscast. "We are encouraged by the results we have seen with entrectinib in children with pediatric and adolescent cancers, including those with tumors in the brain," said Sandra Horning, M.D., chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development. "The STARTRK-NG study underscores the importance of combining comprehensive genomic profiling with targeted therapies and supports our approach to providing people with personalized medicines developed specifically for their type of cancer."

16:40 EDT Greenlight takes new stake in Teekay LNG Partners, exits Shutterfly, Dillard's - David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of March 31, 2019. Greenlight's one new buy during the quarter was Teekay LNG Partners (TGP). Greenlight exited three positions during the quarter, Shutterfly (SFLY), Dillard's (DDS), and Chemours (CC). Greenlight increased its stake in three holdings, including AerCap Holdings (AER). Greenlight reduced its stake in five holdings, including by size of previous position, General Motors (GM), Tempur Sealy (TPX), Ensco Rowan (ESV), Exela Technologies (XELA), and Voya Financial (VOYA). Greenlight's top holdings as of March 31, in order of size, were General Motors, Green Brick Partners (GRBK), AerCap, Consol Coal (CCR), and Ensco Rowan.

16:37 EDT Entravision appoints Karl Alonso Meyer as Chief Revenue and Product Officer - Entravision appointed Karl Alonso Meyer as Chief Revenue and Product Officer, effective immediately. Based in Los Angeles, Meyer will be responsible for leading all of Entravision's sales and revenue strategy and initiatives. Meyer is a 30-year broadcast media veteran with extensive radio, television, digital and advertising agency experience. Meyer previously worked for Entravision, first joining the company in 2004, and during his ten years he held a number of positions, including Vice President, General Manager of Entravision's Los Angeles radio market and later as Entravision's Executive VP, Integrated Marketing Solutions, Western Region.

16:36 EDT Apple was Berkshire's top holding at end of Q1, valued at $47.4B

16:34 EDT Berkshire confirms Amazon stake, bought $861M worth of shares in Q1

16:34 EDT Pershing Square sold out of Element Solutions in Q1, reduced Starbucks position - Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management disclosed in a regulatory filing its holdings as of March 31, 2019. Starboard excited one position in the quarter, selling 40.5M shares of Element Solutions (ESI) valued at $419.7M. The fund increased its stake in two holdings, United Technologies (UTX) and Hilton Worldwide (HLT). Pershing decreased its stake in six holdings: Starbucks (SBUX), Howard Hughes (HHC), ADP (ADP), Lowe's (LOW), Restaurant Brands (QSR) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG). The fund's top holdings as of March 31, in order of size, were Chipotle, Restaurant Brands, Lowe's, Hilton and United Technologies .

16:31 EDT Lincoln Electric to acquire Askaynak - Lincoln Electric Holdings announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase an additional 49.6% interest in Kaynak Teknii Sanayi ve Ticaret A.. to advance Lincoln Electric's regional growth strategy. The company has owned a 50% interest in Askaynak since 1998. Askaynak is located in Turkey and is a supplier and manufacturer of welding consumables, arc welding equipment, including plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment, and robotic welding systems. Askaynak generates approximately $70M in annual revenue. The closing of the transaction will be subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions and the receipt of regulatory approvals, including antitrust approval in Turkey.

16:24 EDT Moody's officer Robert Fauber sells over $250K in company shares - Moody's officer Robert Fauber disclosed in a filing that he had sold 1,380 shares of company stock at an average price of $184.12 per share between May 13 and May 15. The total transaction value of the sale was $254,080.

16:17 EDT Dillard's sees FY19 capex $140M vs. $137M last year

16:16 EDT Curtiss-Wright raises dividend 13%, announces new $200M share repurchase plan - Curtiss-Wright announced that its Board of Directors has authorized $200M for future share repurchases. The company expects that it will repurchase at least $50M in shares in 2019 via an existing 10b5-1 program that began in January and exhaust the remainder of its prior share repurchase authorization. The company's Board of Directors also declared a 13% increase in the quarterly dividend to 17c per share, payable July 5 to stockholders of record June 20.

16:13 EDT FTS International announces $100M stock buyback - FTS International announced that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $100M of its common stock. This authorization expires on May 14, 2020. The company may utilize various methods to effect the repurchases, and the timing and extent of the repurchases will depend upon several factors, including market and business conditions, regulatory requirements and other corporate considerations, including the trading price of FTSI's common stock. Repurchases under this program may be discontinued at any time.

16:10 EDT Jack in the Box to implement new capital structure in form of securitization - Jack in the Box Inc. announced that it intends to implement a new capital structure in the form of a securitization. The decision to pursue a securitization represents the conclusion of the company's previously announced exploration of a range of strategic and financing alternatives to maximize shareholder value. The company's Board of Directors and management team, with the support of legal and financial advisors, conducted a robust and wide-ranging process, which included contacting a broad range of potential strategic and financial buyers, both domestic and international. Simultaneously, the company explored various financing alternatives, and the Board and management team have concluded that implementing a new capital structure in the form of a securitization is the best alternative for driving shareholder value at this time. "With this evaluation behind us, we are dedicated to moving the Jack in the Box brand forward. The Board of Directors unanimously and wholeheartedly supports chairman and chief executive officer Lenny Comma and the entire management team as we collectively pursue a strategic plan focused on value creation as a standalone company," said David Goebel, lead director of the Board. The company intends to replace its existing senior credit facility, which includes a term loan and revolving credit facility, with a securitization. The net proceeds of the new facility would be used for repayment of the existing credit facility, transaction costs associated with the refinancing, and general corporate purposes, including the return of cash to shareholders. Following the completion of the securitization, the company intends to resume share repurchases through open market transactions, a potential accelerated share repurchase program, or a combination thereof, with a target leverage ratio of approximately 5.0 times EBITDA.

16:10 EDT Cisco CEO says 'our strong performance in the quarter was across the business' - "Our strong performance in the quarter was across the business, reflecting our customers' confidence in our strategy, business model and market-leading portfolio," said Chuck Robbins, chairman and CEO of Cisco. "Technology is at the heart of our customers' strategies and we are building the technology to help them achieve their business objectives." "We executed well in Q3, delivering revenue growth of 6%, non-GAAP EPS growth of 18%, as well as strong margins and cash flow," said Kelly Kramer, CFO of Cisco. "We continue to invest in our innovation pipeline to drive long-term profitable growth, while successfully evolving our business model through software offerings and subscriptions and delivering value for shareholders."

16:09 EDT Emergent BioSolutions prepares for initial shipments of AV7909 to SNS - Emergent BioSolutions announced that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, has informed the company that it will begin procuring AV7909 for delivery into the Strategic National Stockpile, or SNS. Subject to the fulfillment of certain contractual obligations, the company plans to deliver AV7909 in the second half of 2019 under the terms of its development and procurement contract with BARDA valued at up to $1.5B signed in September 2016. This milestone and the initiation of the Phase 3 trial of AV7909 in March build upon the application that was submitted in December 2018 to the FDA for the potential emergency use of AV7909 in the event of a public health emergency involving Bacillus anthracis. The pre-emergency use authorization submission package was completed under the company's 2016 contract with BARDA that includes a five-year base period of performance to develop AV7909 for post-exposure prophylaxis of anthrax disease and to deliver an initial three million doses to the SNS, as well as options for procurement of additional doses. The vaccine candidate AV7909 is being developed for post-exposure prophylaxis of disease resulting from suspected or confirmed Bacillus anthracis exposure, in conjunction with the recommended course of antimicrobial therapy.

16:07 EDT Cisco sees Q4 adjusted gross margin 64%-65%

16:07 EDT Starboard Value buys into eBay and Cerner during first quarter - Jeff Smith's Starboard Value disclosed in a regulatory filing its holdings as of March 31, 2019. Starboard made eight new buys during the quarter, including, in order of size, eBay (EBAY), Cerner (CERN), KAR Auction Services (KAR), Zayo Group (ZAYO) and GCP Applied Technologies (GCP). The fund exited four positions during the quarter, Mellanox (MLNX), Baxter (BAX), Bemis (BMS) and Travelport (TVPT). Starboard increased its stake in three holdings, Symantec (SYMC), IShares Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) and Magellan Health (MGLN). The fund reduced its stake in five holdings, including by size, Marvell Technology (MRVL), Dollar Tree (DLTR) and RPM International (RPM). Starboard Value's top holdings as of March 31, in order of size, were Symantec, Advance Auto Parts (AAP), Perrigo (PRGO), Marvell Technology and IShares Russell 2000 Value ETF. The fund also confirmed a $75.8M stake in MGM Resorts (MGM).

16:06 EDT Agios Pharmaceuticals announces Phase 3 ClarIDHy trial meets primary endpoint - Agios Pharmaceuticals announced that the global Phase 3 ClarIDHy trial of Tibsovo in previously treated cholangiocarcinoma patients with an isocitrate dehydrogenase 1, or IDH1, mutation met its primary endpoint. Treatment with Tibsovo demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival, or PFS, by independent radiology review compared with patients who received placebo. The safety profile observed in the study was consistent with previously published data. A full analysis of the ClarIDHy trial will be submitted for presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress. The company plans to submit a supplemental new drug application for Tibsovo in previously treated IDH1 mutant cholangiocarcinoma by the end of 2019. The ClarIDHy trial is a global, randomized Phase 3 trial in previously treated IDH1 mutant cholangiocarcinoma patients who have documented disease progression following one or two systemic therapies in the advanced setting. As of the January 31 data cutoff, 185 patients were randomized.Patients were randomized 2:1 to receive either single-agent Tibsovo 500 mg once daily or placebo with crossover to Tibsovo permitted at the time of documented radiographic progression per RECIST 1.1. The primary endpoint of the trial is PFS as evaluated by independent radiology review with secondary endpoints including investigator evaluated PFS, safety and tolerability, overall response rate, overall survival, duration of response, PK/PD and quality of life assessments. The study was designed with 96% power to detect a hazard ratio of 0.5 for PFS with a one-sided alpha of 0.025.

16:01 EDT Park City Group CFO Todd Mitchell to step down - Park City Group announced Todd Mitchell, who has served as the company's CFO since September 2015, accepted another opportunity that will allow him to spend more time closer to home in New York. Park City appointed John Merrill, its Senior Vice President of Finance since May 2018 and former CFO of Park City Group from August 2006 - July 2010, as Mitchell's successor. Mitchell will formally transfer the role of CFO to Merrill on May 16, 2019 and has agreed to continue to serve the company until May 31, 2019 to ensure an orderly transition.

15:54 EDT Eversource VP Leon Olivier sells over $510K in company shares - Eversource VP Leon Olivier disclosed in a filing that he had sold 7,000 shares of company stock at an average price of $72.95 per share on May 14. The total transaction value of the sale was $510,661.

15:26 EDT CME Group reports open interest reaches record 138.19M contracts on May 14 - CME Group announced total open interest reached a record 138,185,824 contracts on May 14, 2019. The previous record was 138,041,727 contracts set on March 15, 2018. Open interest represents the number of active positions that market participants are holding open without taking delivery or offsetting, a measure that typically increases during times of market uncertainty. Since the end of 2018, overall CME Group OI has grown by 20%, with five of CME Group's six asset classes also seeing rising OI levels.

15:15 EDT At Home Group jumps after report of Kohl's takeover interest - Shares of At Home Group (HOME) jumped in afternoon trading and were halted for volatility after Reuters said that Kohl's (KSS) was exploring a possible deal to acquire the company. Kohl's recently started conversations with At Home Group to explore a deal, Reuters cited sources as saying. Following the report, At Home shares were up 8% to $22.21.

14:54 EDT North Carolina sues Juul for selling to youths, misrepresenting danger - North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein today filed a lawsuit against Juul for "designing, marketing, and selling its e-cigarettes to attract young people and for misrepresenting the potency and danger of nicotine in its products in violation of North Carolina's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act." North Carolina is the first state to take legal action against Juul, Stein pointed out in his statement. "JUUL, which has 75 percent of the overall e-cigarette market, has claimed that its products are intended only for adult smokers - but use of JUUL is now rampant and growing among middle and high school students," he said. Stein is requesting the court to require Juul to cease selling e-cigarettes to minors in North Carolina, limit the flavors sold in the state, stop advertising and marketing practices that are intended to or likely to appeal to minors, and delete all customer data for customers whom Juul cannot confirm are at least 18. Altria (MO) acquired a 35% stake in Juul for $12.8B in December of 2018. Reference Link

14:40 EDT Moody's raises Corporate Family Rating of FCA to 'Ba1' from 'Ba2' - Moody's Investors Service communicated that it raised from "Ba2" to "Ba1" the Corporate Family Rating of FCA N.V., and from "Ba3" to "Ba2" the rating on the bonds issued or guaranteed by FCA N.V., the company announced. The outlook is stable.

14:22 EDT AbbVie reports FDA's fourth approval for Venclexta - AbbVie announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Venclexta in combination with obinutuzumab for previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, CLL, or small lymphocytic lymphoma, SLL. The FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for this combination therapy, and early submission of the data was provided under the Real-Time Oncology Review pilot program, which led to approval in just over two months, following submission of the complete application, the company said. This approval marks the fourth approval for Venclexta to treat two different types of blood cancer and the fifth Breakthrough Therapy designation for Venclexta, the company noted. Michael Severino, vice chairman and president of AbbVie, said, "The approval is based on findings from the CLL14 trial in which patients received a 12-month treatment regimen. The majority of patients receiving VENCLEXTA in the trial remained progression-free at two years." Data from the CLL14 trial is expected to be presented at an upcoming medical meeting and published in a journal this year.

13:34 EDT Varex Imaging not altering guidance after List 3 tariff increase announcement - Varex Imaging said that it is not changing its guidance for fiscal year 2019 based on the List 3 tariff increase to 25% announced by the United States on May 9 or retaliatory tariffs announced by China on May 13. Specifically, there were no additional retaliatory tariffs imposed on the company's U.S. manufactured X-ray tubes or digital detectors imported into China as a result of these recent List 3 actions. Certain supply chain items that the company sources from China, such as printed circuit boards, would be subject to higher tariffs. Trade discussions between the U.S. and China remain fluid and could result in additional new tariffs or changes to enacted tariff rates in the future. On May 14, the U.S. proposed new List 4 tariffs on Chinese products. At this time, there is no associated implementation date nor a response from China. As previously disclosed, to help lessen the impact of tariffs, Varex is aggressively pursuing opportunities to mitigate tariffs through a number of different measures. "We continue to redirect our supply chain away from China to other countries and expect much of this shift will have been completed over the next couple of quarters. We also continue to scale-up additional manufacturing capabilities outside of the United States, including in China," said Sunny Sanyal, President and Chief Executive Officer of Varex Imaging.

13:16 EDT VMware acquires application company Bitnami, price not disclosed - VMware wrote in a blog post earlier, announcing its acquisition of package application company Bitnami: "Organizations today are on a multi-cloud journey, and VMware is committed to investing in solutions that address the core needs of our customers. In that spirit, VMware is announcing its intent to acquire Bitnami, a leader in application packaging solutions providing the largest catalog of click-to-deploy applications and development stacks for major cloud and Kubernetes environments.Upon close, Bitnami will enable our customers to easily deploy application packages on any cloud- public or hybrid and in the most optimal format virtual machine, containers and Kubernetes helm charts. Further, Bitnami will be able to augment our existing efforts to deliver a curated marketplace to VMware customers that offers a rich set of applications and development environments in addition to infrastructure software...Our goal is to accelerate the application "builder's journey" by delivering simplified ways to leverage open source software applications and frameworks; and free the "builders" to focus on building differentiated capabilities versus worrying about deployment and infrastructure. We plan to do this across all clouds and formats-VMs, containers and SaaS offerings. Our goal will be to provide equivalency not abstraction across the different cloud platforms." The companies didn't divulge the purchase price. https://cloud.vmware.com/community/2019/05/15/vmware-to-acquire-bitnami/

12:59 EDT Restaurant Brands announces plans to expand Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes - Earlier on Wednesday, Restaurant Brands Internationahosted its first investor day in New York City to outline growth plans for Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes, including plans to grow from approximately 26,000 restaurants to more than 40,000 restaurants globally over the next 8-10 years. "This will make Restaurant Brands International one of the largest restaurant companies in the world. RBI is well-positioned to take advantage of compelling long-term growth in the global quick service restaurant market, with the 5-year outlook for growth in the global burger market expected to be 5% annually and growth in the global coffee and chicken markets expected to be 6% annually. Over the past few years, RBI has built a master franchise network in global markets to drive significant growth in its restaurant brands, resulting in the expansion of its restaurant base from approximately 12,000 in 2010 to nearly 26,000 today, growing system-wide sales from ~$15 billion to over ~$32B in the same time period," said the company earlier. Jose Cil, CEO of Restaurant Brands International commented, "RBI is fundamentally a growth company, with three amazing, iconic brands that we believe have a very long runway for growth - both at home and around the world. We have a proven history of generating very strong returns for our shareholders and today we are excited to share more insight than we ever have before to support our belief that all three brands have substantial growth ahead." Shares of RBI are up 1% in afternoon trading to $67 per share.

12:10 EDT Comstock Mining trading resumes

12:04 EDT Appian to incorporate Twilio's communication platform into ICC solution - Appian (APPN) announced a partnership with Twilio (TWLO) to incorporate Twilio's communications platform into the Appian Intelligent Contact Center solution. Twilio's communications enhance Appian's ability to provide customers a true omni-channel experience in one unified solution.

12:01 EDT Flexsteel Industries to close Riverside, CA manufacturing facility immediately

12:01 EDT Agilent falls -12.1% - Agilent is down -12.1%, or -$9.22 to $66.79.

12:00 EDT Charah Solutions falls -17.1% - Charah Solutions is down -17.1%, or -$1.15 to $5.56.

12:00 EDT Arlo Technologies rises 7.4% - Arlo Technologies is up 7.4%, or 30c to $4.33.

11:58 EDT Southwest authorizes $2B share repurchase program - Southwest Airlines announced the Southwest Airlines board authorized a new $2.0B share repurchase program. The company's future share repurchases under today's $2.0B repurchase authorization will be made in accordance with applicable securities laws in open market, private, or accelerated repurchase transactions from time to time, depending on market conditions, but may be discontinued at any time.

11:55 EDT Court rules in favor of Comstock and Lyon County on remaining rights claim - Comstock Mining announced that the Third Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, at a hearing held yesterday, ruled in favor of the company and Lyon County on the one remaining Due Process rights claim associated with the Lyon County Board of Commissioners Master Plan amendment and zone change associated with certain mineralized properties within the Company's Dayton Resource Area, just south of the Company's Lucerne properties and near Silver City, Nevada.The District Court found that the Comstock Residents Association, having been afforded the full opportunity to conduct any and all discovery, failed to establish that the Lyon County Board of Commissioners had denied the organization its due process rights and reaffirmed prior favorable rulings. The District Court's ruling concludes that the Lyon County Board of Commissioners satisfied constitutional due process requirements and that the Commissioners were entitled to vote on the applications filed by the Company, properly voted to approve the Company's requested Master Plan and zoning changes, denying the CRA's claims and reaffirming the propriety of the land use changes.

11:37 EDT MedEquities stockholders approve proposed merger with Omega Healthcare - MedEquities Realty Trust (MRT) announced that, at the special meeting of MedEquities stockholders, stockholders voted to approve the proposed merger with Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI), pursuant to the merger agreement dated January 2, 2019, as amended. Approximately 99.9% of the votes cast at the special meeting voted in favor of the approval of the merger, which represented approximately 79.5% of the total outstanding shares of MedEquities common stock as of the March 4, 2019 record date for the special meeting. Subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the remaining conditions to closing, the merger is expected to close on Friday, May 17, 2019. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each outstanding share of MedEquities common stock will be converted automatically into the right to receive 0.235 of a share of Omega common stock and $2.00 in cash. Separately, pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, MedEquities will declare a special cash dividend of $0.21 per share of MedEquities common stock, payable to the holders of MedEquities common stock as of the closing date of the merger. The closing dividend will be payable together with the cash consideration from the merger. MedEquities also announced a payment date of today, May 15, 2019, for the Company's previously announced cash dividend of 21c per share, the payment of which was conditioned upon the approval of the merger by MedEquities stockholders.

11:34 EDT Navigant and InfraRed Capital Partners form JV to aid energy infrastructure - Navigant and InfraRed Capital Partners announced the launch of Compass Energy Platform, a joint venture that provides an innovative platform to help cities and utilities develop and finance local energy infrastructure solutions. Compass brings together in one platform the combined expertise of a diverse set of energy infrastructure project experts. Navigant's Energy segment contributes its deep industry insight and experience to Compass, while InfraRed brings its energy project structuring and development expertise as well as funding for Compass' future pipeline of projects. Compass leverages a public-private partnership financing model and provides access to the services of expert engineering and construction service providers, among others, to assist clients in the development of energy resources that can improve the delivery and efficiency of local energy services to communities and businesses. These resources include the use of distributed generation technologies, such as solar, wind, and batteries, combined with smart asset networks, such as microgrids and district heating and cooling. "As we build the energy system of the future, local governments and utilities are increasingly focused on promoting sustainable, distributed energy infrastructure projects that increase resiliency and the security of supply," says Jan Vrins, leader of Navigant's global Energy segment. "While these projects can be complex and carry risk, Compass simplifies this process by delivering end-to-end program management, project structuring and development, and access to financing resources."

10:34 EDT Canterbury Park names Randy Dehmer CFO - Canterbury Park (CHPC) announced the hiring of Randy Dehmer as CFO for the publicly held racetrack, card casino, and special events destination located in suburban Minneapolis. Dehmer returns to Canterbury Park where he was employed from 2007 to 2013, serving as controller from March 2012 to August 2013. Dehmer will be leaving a position as financial controller at Clearfield (CLFD) to join Canterbury on May 30, 2019. Dehmer will oversee Canterbury's finance department as well as cash operations and purchasing.

10:00 EDT Agilent falls -8.6% - Agilent is down -8.6%, or -$6.56 to $69.45.

10:00 EDT Roan Resources falls -11.0% - Roan Resources is down -11.0%, or -57c to $4.62.

10:00 EDT Coty rises 5.6% - Coty is up 5.6%, or 68c to $12.80.

09:54 EDT Macy's CEO says consumer 'still healthy'

09:47 EDT Myovant Sciences rises 3.7% - Myovant Sciences is up 3.7%, or 47c to $13.30.

09:47 EDT Container Store rises 10.9% - Container Store is up 10.9%, or 93c to $9.45.

09:40 EDT Macy's CEO says 'hopeful' trade talks between U.S., C hina will continue - Commenting on the U.S.-China trade situation on the Q1 earnings call, Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette says the two tranches of tariffs enacted in 2018 have no meaningful impact on business and were factored into 2019 guidance. The CEO says the third tranche does have some impact, particularly on furniture business, but believes the impact can be mitigated. However, he says the fourth tranche, if enacted, would impact Macy's private and national brands and wasn't contemplated in guidance. Gennette says he is hopeful that trade talks between the U.S. and China will continue productively and that trade actions between the two countries will deescalate.

09:37 EDT Cumberland signs exclusive licensing agreement for China distribution - Cumberland Pharmaceuticals has entered into an exclusive agreement with China's Winhealth Pharma Group for the licensing rights of Acetadote Injection, used to prevent or reduce liver damage resulting from acetaminophen overdose, and Caldolor Injection, which is used to treat pain and fever in the hospital setting. The agreement will provide Winhealth licensing rights to commercialize both FDA approved drugs in China, the second largest market for pharmaceuticals in the world after the U.S. There have been patents issued for both brands in China. Under the terms of the agreement with Cumberland, Winhealth is responsible for seeking regulatory approval for the two injectable brands in China and will handle ongoing regulatory reporting, product marketing, distribution and sales in China following approval. Cumberland maintains responsibility for intellectual property, product formulation, development, and other supporting activities. In exchange for the license to the product, Cumberland will receive upfront and milestone licensing payments, as well as royalties on future sales of both drugs. Following regulatory approval, Winhealth will use its existing sales force to promote these injectable products throughout China. Both offer unique benefits for hospitalized patients in China.

09:31 EDT Social Reality receives $1M investment to launch BIGtoken Asia - Social Reality plans to launch BIGtoken across Asia. In order to launch this new initiative, an investor familiar with the Asia markets is investing $1M into SRAX at $5 per common share in a private placement. The digital ad industry in Asia is projected to grow to more than $300B by 2022. Users in Asia will be able to control how their data is used and be compensated for sharing. SRAX will begin development of BIGtoken Asia immediately, with plans to officially launch by 2020.

09:17 EDT MasterCard, Lyft partner for Lyft Direct Debit co-branded debit card - Mastercard (MA) announced an expanded partnership with Lyft (LYFT) to bring Lyft drivers the tools they need to thrive. gig economy. Lyft Direct Debit, a new co-branded debit card and bank account issued by Stride Bank and powered by Payfare, strengthens drivers' economic security with hand-picked benefits, including immediate access to their earnings, secure, no-fee bank accounts and cashback on everyday purchases. The program will first launch in eight U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tampa, and Washington D.C.

09:14 EDT Illumina files patent infringement suit against BGI in Denmark - Illumina announced that it has filed another patent infringement suit against one of BGI Group's subsidiaries, BGI Europe A/S. Illumina filed suit in the Maritime & Commercial High Court of Denmark. "As we have previously stated, Illumina will continue to vigorously protect our patented technology and file patent suits where appropriate when our patents are infringed," said Charles Dadswell, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Illumina. The complaint alleges that BGI's sequencing products, including the BGISeq-500, MGISeq-2000, and related chemistry reagents, infringe EP 3 002 289 B1. This patent covers Illumina's proprietary sequencing-by-synthesis chemistry. The complaint also alleges that BGI's use of the MGISEQ mark infringes Illumina's registered EU Trademark No. 8972127 for the MISEQ name.

09:12 EDT Evolus announces first Jeuveau shipment to U.S. customers - Evolus announced the U.S. launch of Jeuveau. Jeuveau was approved by FDA in February for the temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe glabellar lines in adults and is the first neurotoxin in the U.S. developed with a specific focus in aesthetics. Evolus is planning to launch Jeuveau through approximately 3,000 accounts nationwide. This limited-time-program is available through the company's technology platform, Evolus Practice.

09:10 EDT Comtech receives $5.2M in funding for option period 2 of U.S. Army BFT-1 program - Comtech announced that during Q3, its Command & Control Technologies group, which is part of Comtech's Government Solutions segment, through its Maryland-based subsidiary, Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation, was awarded option period two of contract GS03Q17DSC0002 with an overall potential value of approximately $8.5M. To date funding in the overall amount of $5.2M has been applied to option period two via contract modifications. The overall funded value of the contract inclusive of the Base, Option Year 1 and Option Year 2 is approximately $19.2M. These contract modifications are part of the five-year BFT-1 sustainment support contract for the U.S. Army's Project Manager Mission Command Blue Force Tracking, or BFT-1, program. Comtech continues to perform engineering services, satellite network operations and program management through a Firm Fixed Price contract with Time & Materials and Cost Reimbursement elements. Option period two performance period began April 15, 2019 and ends April 14, 2020, and the contract provides for two additional twelve-month option periods, exercisable by GSA.

09:08 EDT ExOne appoints John Hartner as CEO - ExOne announced that its board has elected John Hartner as CEO. Hartner succeeds S. Kent Rockwell, who retains the role of chairman of the board. Hartner joined the company as COO in November 2018.

09:07 EDT Turning Point Therapeutics announces FDA clearance of TPZ-0022 IND - Turning Point Therapeutics announced clearance by the FDA of its investigational new drug, or IND, application for TPX-0022, a therapy targeting solid tumors by inhibiting the MET, CSF1R and SRC kinases. Under the IND, the company plans to initiate a Phase 1 first-in-human, open-label clinical study later this year at multiple U.S. sites. The study is designed to assess the safety, tolerability and preliminary clinical activity of TPX-0022 at escalating doses in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors harboring genetic alterations in MET. TPX-0022 has been designed to target MET-driven tumor cells, and also modulate the tumor microenvironment by inhibition of CSF1R.

09:05 EDT Inovio and Plumbline Life Sciences collaborate on African swine fever vaccine - Inovio and Plumbline Life Sciences announced a collaboration to co-develop a novel animal health vaccine for African swine fever virus. The vaccine will be developed using Inovio's SynCon technology and delivered using Cellectra efficacy-enabling devices. Plumbline, based in South Korea, will fund all development and commercialization of the ASF vaccine. Inovio and Plumbline already have a license partnership in animal health fields and Inovio currently holds an approximately 15% equity ownership in Plumbline. Plumbline will further test the vaccine in larger animal models and further develop to commercialize the vaccine. Financial arrangements were not disclosed. African swine fever is a highly contagious haemorrhagic viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, which is responsible for serious economic and production losses. There is no approved vaccine for ASF currently and the current outbreak in Asia is dramatically threatening the agricultural economies of many Asian countries including China, Vietnam and Korea. The disease is incurable in pigs but innocuous to humans.

09:01 EDT Fly Intel: Pre-market Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Alibaba (BABA), up 1%... Macy's (M), up 1%. ALSO HIGHER: Applied Materials (AMAT), up 2% after Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini upgraded the stock to Positive from Neutral, stating that his recent checks suggest that the company has won "major" memory design wins that should help it regain lost share... Zillow (ZG), up 2% after Guggenheim analyst Jake Fuller upgraded shares to Buy from Neutral, stating that its recent results prove that demand for Offers "is real" and he expects the company's Offers business to generate greater than $1B of revenue in its first full year. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Children's Place (PLCE), down 5%... The Stars Group (TSG), down 3%. ALSO LOWER: ImmunoGen (IMGN), down 32% after the FDA advised that, because FORWARD I did not meet its primary endpoint under the pre-specified statistical analysis plan, the data generated assessing the secondary endpoints from the study could not be used to support an application for accelerated approval. The FDA is recommending a new Phase 3 trial of mirvetuximab soravtansine... JinkoSolar (JKS), down 7% after its 4.063M share spot secondary offering of stock... Hostess Brands (TWNK), down 4% after its 8M share spot secondary priced at $13.40 per share.

08:55 EDT Global Eagle appoints Christian Mezger as CFO - Global Eagle (ENT) announced that Christian Mezger has been appointed Executive Vice President and CFO, effective May 16. He succeeds Paul Rainey, who will remain with the company through May 31 to facilitate the transition. Mezger was most recently at Ciber, Inc. and Hewlett Packard (HPQ), the company noted.

08:53 EDT American Express reports April net write-off rate 2.4% vs. 2.5% last month - Reports April 30 days past due loans 1.3% vs. 1.3% last month.

08:40 EDT Cellectar Biosciences achieves 50% overall response rate in Cohort 6 of CLR 131 - Cellectar Biosciences announced initial results from Cohort 6 in the company's ongoing Phase 1 clinical study with CLR 131 in Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma, or R/R MM. The 37.5mCi/m2 fractionated dose was determined to be safe and tolerable by the independent data monitoring committee. Following the determination, the company has initiated a Cohort 7 utilizing a 40mCi/m2 fractionated dose. Data from Cohort 6 showed improved efficacy and a clear dose response compared to prior cohorts, including a 50% partial response rate, a 50% minimal response rate and 100% disease control rate. The International Myeloma Working Group defines a partial response as a 50% to 89.9% reduction in the marker of disease and minimal response as 25% to 49.9% reduction in the marker of disease. One patient achieving a minimal response with a 48% reduction in their marker is still on study and continues to be evaluated.

08:37 EDT Dotdash acquires Brides from Conde Nast, terms not disclosed - Dotdash announced that it acquired Brides, a leading wedding and bridal brand from Conde Nast. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal closed May 15. Dotdash is an operating business of IAC.

08:36 EDT Argo Group says Glass Lewis recommends shareholders vote for nominees - Voce Capital Management announced that Glass, Lewis & Co. has recommended that shareholders vote FOR the election of Voce's independent director nominees, Charles Dangelo and Nicholas Walsh, to the Argo Board of Directors at the upcoming 2019 Annual Meeting. Glass Lewis has also recommended shareholders vote to remove and replace Argo's Chairman of the Board, Gary Woods. Voce said, "Notably, Glass Lewis has recommended that Argo shareholders cast their votes on Voce's BLUE proxy card, rather than the company's white ballot. In its report, Glass Lewis affirmed Voce's views on several of Argo's "inferior" corporate governance practices and the need for change at the Company, specifically regarding Argo's corporate expenses and Board oversight. Glass Lewis also endorsed many of the ideas to unlock shareholder value at Argo that Voce has presented." In reaching its conclusion that shareholders should back Voce's case for change at Argo, Glass Lewis determined:"We believe Voce has underscored several inferior corporate governance practices at Argo, including maintaining a staggered board, no plurality carveout voting standard for contested elections and allowing share pledging by executives and directors. These provisions run contrary to corporate governance best practices and generally diminish the rights of shareholders, in our view...Voce has presented a compelling roadmap to achieving cost savings across the organization and that several of its ideas warrant further consideration by management and the board, including potentially disposing the run-off portfolio." Voce issued the following statement in response to Glass Lewis' report: "We are pleased that Glass Lewis supports our multi-faceted call for change at Argo and recommends shareholders vote for the election of our highly-qualified nominees Charles H. Dangelo and Nicholas C. Walsh and the removal of its long-serving Chairman. In its report, Glass Lewis echoed many of the concerns we have articulated throughout our campaign, including Argo's egregious expenses, entrenched and over-tenured Board leadership and numerous corporate governance failings. In our view, it is particularly telling that Glass Lewis has called for the removal of Chairman Gary V. Woods, underscoring the extent of the leadership and oversight deficiencies at Argo. Just as importantly, Glass Lewis affirmed the core tenets of our roadmap to unlock significant value by tapping unrealized expense, capital and governance opportunities at the Company. However, we continue to believe that even more significant Board reform and revitalization is needed at Argo, and we're confident the five highly-qualified, fully-independent Director candidates we have nominated are best-positioned to restore accountability, independence and integrity to the Company. It's time to reverse the self-indulgent culture of entrenchment and entitlement that has flourished under the aegis of the current Board. Our slate of Nominees will do so."

08:34 EDT Progressive announces 25M share repurchase authorization - The board of Progressive renewed the Company's authorization to repurchase up to 25M of its common shares. This authorization, which does not have an expiration date, replaced the prior authorization, which was terminated.

08:32 EDT Lightbridge joint venture announces MOU to explore new nuclear fuel technology - NuScale Power and Enfission a joint venture of Lightbridge and Framatome, announced a memorandum of understanding to explore the use of next generation nuclear fuel technology in NuScale's small modular reactors. NuScale and Enfission will collaborate on the development of research and testing programs to explore the application of Enfission's nuclear fuel rod technology, which is suited for NuScale's natural circulation design. The company's fuel rod design is expected to increase core performance, extend core life, reduce refueling outages and offer reduced levelized cost of electricity.

08:30 EDT Advaxis trading resumes

08:23 EDT Adaptimmune announces license agreement with Alpine Immune Sciences - Adaptimmune (ADAP) and Alpine Immune Sciences (ALPN) announced a collaboration and license agreement to develop next-generation SPEAR T-cell products which incorporate Alpine's secreted and transmembrane immunomodulatory protein and TIP technology. This collaboration will further enhance Adaptimmune's efforts to design and develop SPEAR T-cell therapies. Alpine and Adaptimmune will collaborate on a specified number of programs to develop SIP and TIP candidates with tailored affinities and modulatory activities that may enhance the anti-tumor responses seen with Adaptimmune's SPEAR T-cells. For each program, Adaptimmune has an option to take a worldwide exclusive license for development and commercialization of SPEAR T-cell products incorporating the developed SIP or TIP candidate for the treatment of cancer. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Adaptimmune will provide an upfront payment and research funding for ongoing programs. In addition, Alpine may be eligible for downstream development and commercialization milestones up to $288M, if all pre-specified milestones for each program are achieved. Alpine will receive low-single digit royalties on worldwide net sales of the applicable products.

08:14 EDT ShockWave Medical announces Keith Dawkins as CMO - Shockwave Medical (SWAV) announced that the company has appointed Keith Dawkins as CMO. Prior to Shockwave, Dawkins served as global CMO and executive VP to Boston Scientific (BSX), as well as a member of that company's executive committee from 2012 to 2017.

08:12 EDT Tech Data enters partnership with Deep Instinct - Tech Data announced it has partnered with Deep Instinct. "The deep learning cybersecurity platform provides enhanced protection by accurately predicting harmful known and unknown cyberattacks, terminating execution and preventing any possible damage." Through this partnership, Tech Data will offer Deep Instinct's product line to customers in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

08:09 EDT NuScale Power, Enfission sign MOU to explore use of nuclear fuel technology - NuScale Power and Enfission, a joint venture of Lightbridge Corporation and Framatome, announced a memorandum of understanding to explore the use of next generation nuclear fuel technology in NuScale's small modular reactors. NuScale and Enfission will collaborate on the development of research and testing programs to explore the application of Enfission's nuclear fuel rod technology, which is well suited for NuScale's natural circulation design. The company's advanced fuel rod design is expected to increase core performance, extend core life, reduce refueling outages and offer reduced levelized cost of electricity. On December 1, 2015, Framatome signed an agreement with NuScale to manufacture fuel assemblies for its SMR based on conventional ceramic uranium dioxide fuel and provide testing and analyses needed for its Nuclear Regulatory Commission design certification application.

08:06 EDT Advaxis says FDA lifts partial clinical hold on Phase 3 AIM2CERV study - Advaxis announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has lifted the partial clinical hold on AIM2CERV, the company's Phase 3 clinical trial of axalimogene filolisbac for the treatment of patients with high-risk locally advanced cervical cancer. In its letter, the FDA acknowledged that the company satisfactorily addressed all hold questions. As announced on January 23, 2019, the FDA placed a partial clinical hold on this study relating to the Agency's requests for additional information pertaining to certain AXAL chemistry, manufacturing and controls matters. The Agency did not cite any safety issues related to the trial and all enrolled patients continued to receive treatment, per the trial protocol. However, no new patients were permitted to enroll in AIM2CERV during this partial hold.

08:03 EDT ADP names Francine Katsoudas to Board of Directors - ADP (ADP) announced that Francine Katsoudas has been appointed to the Board of Directors, effective May 15. Katsoudas is an experienced thought leader in HR, talent, organizational strategy and leadership development, cultivated over two decades at Cisco Systems (CSCO) where she currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer.

07:55 EDT Regenxbio launching new manufacturing facility for gene therapies in Maryland - Regenxbio plans to construct a current good manufacturing practice production facility, to be located in Rockville, Maryland. The new cGMP production facility will be integrated into Regenxbio's previously announced new 132,000 square foot headquarters, for which construction is currently underway, and will allow for production of NAV Technology-based vectors at scales up to 2,000 liters using Regenxbio 's platform suspension cell culture process. The facility is expected to be operational in 2021. The cGMP production facility will complement the company's current external manufacturing capabilities and its construction is not expected to have any effect on Regenxbio's previously issued financial guidance.

07:54 EDT CLPS announces strategic investment in EMIT - CLPS announced a strategic investment in Economic Modeling Information Technology Co., a financial big data company. Upon closing of the transaction, CLPS will hold a 30% ownership stake in EMIT.

07:51 EDT Alibaba CEO: Aliexpress, Lazada have 120M annual active customers

07:48 EDT Pareteum reaches $70M in April new sales agreements - Pareteum closed more than 20 new sales transactions in April 2019, with a combined contract value of $70M. New contract wins achieved in the month include: a multinational Mobile Virtual Network Operator in the EMEA region, a Hong Kong Mobile Virtual Network Operator, a UK innovative global voice-calling solution, a US Mobile Virtual Network Operator and device manufacturer, a consumer-engagement and rewards services provider operating across North and South America, a pan-European pharmaceutical manufacturer, an airline, and a Japanese communications and IoT services provider.

07:47 EDT Alibaba CEO says doesn't plan to expand recommendation feed monetization

07:44 EDT Alibaba CEO says 'on track' to achieve RMB1T GMV in FY20

07:33 EDT Lithium Americas CEO Tom Hodgson retires, Jonathan Evans succeeds - Lithium Americas announced that Tom Hodgson has retired as CEO and director. The board has appointed Jonathan Evans, currently president and COO, to the role of president and CEO and to replace Hodgson on the board. Hodgson has agreed to stay on as a consultant to assist with the transition and will continue to support the company as needed. Evans joined the company as president and COO in September 2018. Evans has over twenty years of executive operations experience, including serving as VP and GM of the lithium division at FMC Corp. from 2008 to 2013.

07:27 EDT Charah Solutions CEO says 'confident' in 2020 outlook - CEO Scott Sewell continued, "Our new business prospects are strong, though most of the benefit to revenue now is expected to occur in 2020. While a shift in the timing of awards has impacted our 2019 revenue outlook, we still expect to have significant free cash flow this year as a result of the expected cash payment related to the early completion of the Brickhaven contract, which we will allocate to meaningful debt repayment and the growth of our business. We remain confident in our 2020 outlook and continue to anticipate strong growth in revenue and EBITDA."

07:16 EDT Alibaba reports annual active consumers up 18M to 654M - Annual active consumers on Alibaba's China retail marketplaces reached 654M, an increase of 18M from the 12-month period ended December 31, 2018. Mobile MAUs on Alibaba's China retail marketplaces reached 721M in March, an increase of 22M over December 2018.

07:13 EDT Front Yard Residential urges shareholders to vote for seven director nominees - Front Yard Residential Corporation is mailing a letter to stockholders in connection with the Company's upcoming 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on May 23, 2019. Front Yard urges stockholders to protect their investment by voting the WHITE proxy card "FOR ALL" seven of its director nominees: Rochelle R. Dobbs, George G. Ellison, Michael A. Eruzione, Leslie B. Fox, Wade J. Henderson, George "Whit" McDowell, and David B. Reiner. The letter read in part,"Your Board and management team have transformed Front Yard into a single-family rental equity REIT that is just beginning to achieve the benefits of scale in order to win in this environment and capture the significant upside potential in the U.S. housing market over the near- and longer-terms. This transformation is already delivering results and positioning Front Yard to create even more value in the future. We are confident in our prospects, and our latest quarterly results coupled with the renegotiation of our asset management agreement demonstrate that our Board has put Front Yard on the right path and is acting in the best interests of all stockholders. Stockholders should also recognize that a vote on the Blue proxy card is a vote to replace three highly qualified, experienced directors with three unqualified, unknown and unvetted nominees who would not bring any new or relevant skills to the Board. Front Yard believes that the addition of the nominees put forth by Snow Park Capital Partners and certain of its affiliates to the Front Yard Board could result in significant disruption to the Company's ongoing successful transformation. Furthermore...stockholders are encouraged to consider Snow Park's significant conflicts of interest given its substantial short position in Front Yard and significant ownership stake in the Company's external asset manager, Altisource Asset Management Corporation...With Front Yard on the path to long-term success and stockholder value creation, the election of a slate of nominees that lack the requisite management and operational experience in Front Yard's core business at this important inflection point in our growth would disrupt the substantial progress our Company has made to date and put your investment at risk. Whether or not you plan to attend the Annual Meeting, you have an opportunity to protect your investment in Front Yard by voting the WHITE proxy card "FOR ALL" of Front Yard's seven experienced director nominees. We urge you to vote today by telephone, by Internet, or by signing and dating the enclosed WHITE proxy card and returning it in the postage-paid envelope provided. Please do NOT return or otherwise vote any proxy card sent to you by Snow Park."

06:51 EDT Synchrony reports April net charge-off rate 5.11% vs. 5.24% last month - Reports April 30-plus day delinquencies 2.62% vs. 2.92% last month.

06:49 EDT TransUnion to acquire TruSignal, terms not disclosed - TransUnion announced an agreement to acquire TruSignal, a leader in people-based marketing technology. TruSignal uses its custom audience-building platform to deliver predictive scoring powered by artificial intelligence, making big data available and actionable in almost real time for one-to-one addressable marketing. The transaction is expected to close upon the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

06:34 EDT Twitter launches search tool to stop spread of vaccine misinformation - Del Harvey, VP of trust and safety at Twitter, wrote in a Friday blog post, "We're committed to protecting the health of the public conversation on Twitter - ensuring individuals can find information from authoritative sources is a key part of that mission. We recently launched a new tool so when someone searches for certain keywords associated with vaccines, a prompt will direct individuals to a credible public health resource. In the United States, we partnered with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and point people to vaccines.gov. The new search prompt is available on iOS, Android, and mobile.twitter.com in the United States, Canada, UK, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, and in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. If you search on twitter.com, there's a pinned Tweet with information from trusted partners. We already do this when individuals search for terms associated with suicide or self-harm as part of our #ThereIsHelp initiative and hope to expand it to other important public health issues in the coming months. Additionally, we will not auto-suggest queries that are likely to direct individuals to non-credible commentary and information about vaccines...At Twitter, we understand the importance of vaccines in preventing illness and disease and recognize the role that Twitter plays in disseminating important public health information. We think it's important to help people find reliable information that enhances their health and well-being." Reference Link

06:30 EDT JPMorgan reports April net credit losses 2.51% vs. 2.55% last month - Reports April 30-plus day delinquencies 1.18% vs. 1.23% last month.

06:15 EDT Facebook to restrict people who misuse livestreaming feature - Facebook will ban people who misuse its livestreaming feature for a period of time, the company said in a statement. It said: "Following the horrific terrorist attacks in New Zealand, we've been reviewing what more we can do to limit our services from being used to cause harm or spread hate. As a direct result, starting today, people who have broken certain rules on Facebook - including our Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy - will be restricted from using Facebook Live. Tackling these threats also requires technical innovation to stay ahead of the type of adversarial media manipulation we saw after Christchurch when some people modified the video to avoid detection in order to repost it after it had been taken down. This will require research driven across industry and academia. To that end, we're also investing $7.5 million in new research partnerships with leading academics from three universities, designed to improve image and video analysis technology... We will now apply a 'one strike' policy to Live in connection with a broader range of offenses. From now on, anyone who violates our most serious policies will be restricted from using Live for set periods of time - for example 30 days - starting on their first offense. For instance, someone who shares a link to a statement from a terrorist group with no context will now be immediately blocked from using Live for a set period of time. We plan on extending these restrictions to other areas over the coming weeks, beginning with preventing those same people from creating ads on Facebook." Reference Link

06:08 EDT Caesars announces sale of interest in Emerald Resort for $49M - Caesars Entertainment announced that it has agreed to sell its South African property Emerald Resort & Casino to Peermont Hotels, Casinos and Resorts, a Johannesburg based hospitality and entertainment company for total proceeds of $49M, which implies a 7.9x multiple on 2018 EBITDA of $6.2M. Caesars owns 70% of this property while the remaining 30% is owned by local minority partners. Total cash proceeds to Caesars for its 70% ownership and other adjustments total $39M. Caesars Entertainment will continue to operate the property until the transaction closes, which is expected to be in Q3, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

06:07 EDT ATN International subsidiary partners with Orion Labs for Push to Talk abilities - ATN International subsidiary Geoverse announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Orion Labs, provider of the Voice Platform for teams, to collaborate on efforts to accelerate adoption and deployments of private LTE networks and 5G capabilities by providing a full suite of solutions including the Orion messaging platform for real-time communications. As part of this agreement, Orion's voice platform will provide Push to Talk capabilities within the Geoverse Private LTE deployments.

06:02 EDT PatientFi announces study partnership with Allergan - PatientFi is pleased to announce its partnership with Allergan on a year-long market research study to examine the impact of financing plans on patients' accessibility to aesthetic procedures. PatientFi has designed a new patient financing program that aligns practice staff to help more patients finance procedures such as breast augmentation, mommy makeovers, and surgical facial rejuvenation. As such, PatientFi is uniquely situated to study patient decision-making factors, including perceived value and affordability. Allergan commissioned this patient study through PatientFi's platform because of its innovative approach to increasing access and affordability for patients across the broadest offering of aesthetic procedures. Allergan and PatientFi plan to present their findings in Spring 2020.

05:54 EDT KBR awarded FEED contracts for Oman LNG debottlenecking project - KBR announced it has been awarded a Front End Engineering Design, or FEED, contract by Oman LNG L.L.C for the debottlenecking of their facility at Sur in the Sultanate of Oman. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide FEED services for the debottlenecking project to increase production at its world-class plant in Sur. This FEED stipulates KBR performing full FEED services including licenser and vendor management and associated services.

05:38 EDT Salesforce enters partnership with OpenClassrooms - Salesforce and OpenClassrooms announced a partnership "to prepare individuals around the world for high-demand jobs in the technology sector." The companies are launching the first fully digital, online diploma course recognised by the French government and certified by Salesforce.