Stockwinners Market Radar for September 17, 2019 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:01 EDT House panel invites Boeing CEO to testify on 737 MAX - Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio has formally invited Boeing Chairman Dennis Muilenburg and Chief Engineer of Boeing's Commercial Airplanes division John Hamilton to appear before the Full Committee for a hearing on October 30, 2019. Muilenburg has been invited to testify on the 737 MAX aircraft, which is currently grounded. Reference Link

18:54 EDT Fly Intel: After Hours Movers - HIGHER: NewLink (NLNK) up 17.8% after FDA accepted its partnered BLA for ebola vaccine... CDW Corp (CDW) up 5.6% after entering S&P500 index... Tellurian (TELL) up 2.0% after being initiated with Outperform at Evercore... NextDecade (NEXT) up 1.9% after being initiated with Outperform at Evercore. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: FedEx (FDX) down 9.6%, XPO Logistics (XPO) down 3.4% in symbathy... Chewy (CHWY) down 2.8%... Adobe (ADBE) down 2.6%. ALSO LOWER: Adesto Technologies (IOTS) down 8.5% after convertible debt offering... PTC Therapeutics (PTCT) down 7.7% after equity offering... Translate Bio (TBIO) down 7.6%... Acadia Pharma (ACAD) down 2.6% after equity offering. Movers as of 18:30ET.

18:45 EDT Adobe CEO: We experienced growth across all of our segments - In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said: We are seeing tremendous adoption to digital initiatives... The breadth of our products and customers is contributing to our success... We are focused on delivering an innovation roadmap across our three clouds.

18:29 EDT FB Financial acquires FNB Financial - FB Financial, parent company of FirstBank, announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire FNB Financial and its wholly owned subsidiary, Farmers National Bank of Scottsville, pursuant to which Farmers National will be merged with and into FirstBank. Farmers National Kentucky, provides FirstBank an entry into the attractive Bowling Green MSA, where Farmers National is currently ranked 7th in deposit market share with approximately $204M in deposits, based on FDIC data as of June 30. Following close of the transaction, Dan Harbison, President and CEO of Farmers National, will serve as Market President for FirstBank and will be responsible for managing the combined banks' presence in South Central Kentucky. The consideration is valued at approximately $51.9M based on 954,827 shares of FBK common stock and $15.0M in cash consideration.

18:00 EDT FedEx says FY21 CapEx likely to be 'similar' to FY20

17:57 EDT Merck says FDA approves Keytruda-Lenvima combo treatment - Merck and Eisai announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the combination of KEYTRUDA, Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, plus LENVIMA, the orally available kinase inhibitor discovered by Eisai, for the treatment of patients with advanced endometrial carcinoma that is not microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient, who have disease progression following prior systemic therapy and are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation. This marks the first U.S. approval for the combination of KEYTRUDA plus LENVIMA and the first time an anti-PD-1 therapy is approved in combination with a kinase inhibitor for advanced endometrial carcinoma in the U.S. Following submission on June 17, this is an accelerated approval reviewed under the FDA's Real-Time Oncology Review pilot program, which aims to improve the efficiency of the review process for applications to ensure that treatments are available to patients as early as possible. This approval is based on tumor response rate and durability of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trial. According to the FDA, this review was conducted under Project Orbis, an initiative of the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence. Project Orbis provides a framework for concurrent submission and review of oncology drugs among its international partners. Under this project, the FDA, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration and Health Canada collaboratively reviewed applications for two oncology drugs, allowing for simultaneous decisions in all three countries.

17:47 EDT FedEx EVP Carere says building 'powerful relationships' with many retailers - Says forged new relationship with Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS). Says also working closer with Chewy (CHWY), which is taking advantage of its 7-day delivery. Says e-commerce will benefit company's LTL business.

17:46 EDT Gaming executives launch VENN network for esports, other gaming content - VENN, a startup announced earlier that:."Today gaming industry visionaries Ariel Horn, the four-time Emmy winning producer that pioneered esports broadcast production at Riot Games (TCEHY) and Blizzard Entertainment, and Ben Kusin, seasoned entrepreneur and former Global Director of New Media at Vivendi (VIVHY) Games," announced the creation of VENN or Video Game Entertainment & News Network, - "a new network launching in 2020 with live studios in New York and Los Angeles, aimed at the core gaming, esports and entertainment audiences. With $17M in seed round funding from investors spanning multiple industries, this new post cable TV network will cater to the $150B global gaming industry and live at the intersection of entertainment and gaming cultures...Today gaming industry visionaries Ariel Horn, the four-time Emmy winning producer that pioneered esports broadcast production at Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment, and Ben Kusin, seasoned entrepreneur and former Global Director of New Media at Vivendi Games, announced the creation of VENN - a new network launching in 2020 with live studios in New York and Los Angeles, aimed at the core gaming, esports and entertainment audiences. With $17 million in seed round funding from investors spanning multiple industries, this new post cable TV network will cater to the $150 billion global gaming industry and live at the intersection of entertainment and gaming cultures. Reference Link

17:39 EDT FedEx summer challenges increased due to decision not to renew Amazon contract - Says global macro environment continues to soften, and the company is taking steps to reduce capacity. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

17:25 EDT AT&T sees wireless service revenue growth continuing in second half of 2019 - Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T, provided an update to shareholders at today's Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. Stephenson discussed AT&T's plan to take advantage of two trends: continuous growth in time spent viewing premium content and increases in demand for connectivity and bandwidth. He said the company has the right assets to address these trends at a time when a direct path to the consumer gives content companies a competitive advantage. Stephenson reiterated that AT&T remains confident in its ability to reduce its net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio to the 2.5x range by the end of 2019. The company paid down $9B in net debt in the first half of 2019 and has reduced net debt by $18 billion since it closed the Time Warner acquisition. Its progress against this goal gave the company confidence to increase its full-year free cash flow target to $28B, a $2B increase. To reach its de-leveraging goal, AT&T plans to use free cash flow after dividends and to continue monetization initiatives, including both asset sales and working capital initiatives, such as collateral agreements. AT&T has already surpassed its monetization goal of a net $6B to $8Bin 2019, with a cumulative total of $9 billion raised year to date - $4 billion from asset sales and $5 billion from working capital and other monetization initiatives. Additional potential asset monetization activity could include the sales of company-owned cell towers in the United States; tower receivables; real estate; and the company's regional sports networks. In addition, European broadcaster CME, of which AT&T owns 75%, has initiated a strategic review that could include a sale of the company. Stephenson said that given the company's confidence in reaching its target net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio, investors should expect that share buybacks will be added to the mix of its capital allocation approach. AT&T is not providing guidance on the amounts of share buybacks but says it is a logical move given that the cash cost of debt is at historically low levels and significantly below the cash cost of equity. Stephenson said he expects continued progress in the third quarter and beyond. He said the company will also continue to focus on positioning WarnerMedia to be more competitive in an industry being reshaped by consolidation and technology. As WarnerMedia focuses on the launch of HBO Max in spring 2020, AT&T expects to accelerate investment and the development of new content. And AT&T plans to continue to invest in its network. The company's FirstNet build was already 9 months ahead of schedule at the end of the second quarter, and AT&T expects to reach 70% Band 14 coverage by the end of the year. AT&T has 5G mmWave in parts of 21 cities today and plans to be in parts of 29 cities by the end of 2019 with nationwide 5G coverage using sub-6 GHz spectrum by the first half of 2020.

17:16 EDT S&T Bancorp board authorizes new $50M stock buyback - The board of S&T Bancorp authorized a new $50M share repurchase plan at its regular meeting held September 16, 2019. This new repurchase authorization, which is effective through March 31, 2021, permits S&T to repurchase from time to time up to $50M in aggregate value of shares of S&T's common stock through a combination of open market and privately negotiated repurchases.

17:03 EDT Elastic selected by New Zealands'The Warehouse for its customer service program - Elastic N.V. announced that The Warehouse, a retail outlet operating in New Zealand, has chosen Elastic's Elasticsearch Service cloud offering to power a customer service improvement program that validates customer returns and boosts consumer loyalty by simplifying the returns process whilst also minimising the risk of fraud. The Warehouse Group is a publicly traded company on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. Its brands include The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Torpedo 7, Noel Leeming, and most recently The Market.

16:56 EDT Aqua America subsidiary to buy municipal wastewater system for $276.5M - Aqua America announced that its Pennsylvania subsidiary, Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater, has signed an asset purchase agreement with the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority, or DELCORA, to acquire the municipal authority's wastewater assets for $276.5M. The pending transaction is subject to Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approval. DELCORA serves a population of approximately 500,000 people in 42 municipalities in Southeast Pennsylvania. Aqua estimates that this represents the equivalent of 165,000 retail customers.

16:47 EDT Toll Brothers president Hartman sells over 40,000 common shares - In a regulatory filing, Toll Brothers president Richard T. Hartman disclosed the sale of 40,119 common shares at a price of $40.4766 per share.

16:44 EDT Adobe down 3.5% at $274.65/share after reducing Digital Experience bookings view - Shares of Adobe are sliding about 3.5% afterhours following the company's updated guidance, calling for FY19 digital experience bookings growth to be "greater than 20%" vs. "about 25%" prior forecast.

16:35 EDT Caleres appoints Angela Bass as Chief Human Resources Officer - Caleres announced Angela Bass will join the company as Chief Human Resources Officer on September 23. Bass will oversee all human resources functions for the company's portfolio of brands and its more than 10,000 employees, including recruitment, talent management, training, compensation, benefits, and labor law compliance. Bass replaces Doug Koch, who will transition to a new role as senior VP, Strategic Projects. Bass has more than 30 years of experience in the footwear, fashion, and sporting goods industries, including both retail and wholesale.

16:34 EDT Univar selected as distributor for Unovyn's chlorinated paraffins in U.S. - Univar Solutions has been selected to distribute INOVYN's full line of CERECLOR chlorinated paraffins in the United States. CERECLOR is a "leading brand" of chlorinated paraffins with properties well-suited to serve in applications and end-markets that include: metalworking and metalworking fluids, PVC enhancement, coatings, sealants and adhesives, single component polyurethane foams and rubber chemicals.

16:31 EDT CymaBay announces departure of Chief Medical Officer Pol Boudes - CymaBay Therapeutics announced that Pol Boudes, Chief Medical Officer, will be leaving the company on September 30, to explore other opportunities. CymaBay has initiated a formal search for his replacement.

16:29 EDT Facebook's Zuckerberg says Oversight Board a way to address 'harmful content' - Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, said in part in a letter: "Facebook is built to give people a voice. Free expression is fundamental to who we are as a company, just as it is to a free, inclusive and democratic society. We believe the more people who have the power to express themselves, the more progress our society makes together. We want to make sure our products and policies support this...We are responsible for enforcing our policies every day and we make millions of content decisions every week. But ultimately I don't believe private companies like ours should be making so many important decisions about speech on our own. That's why I've called for governments to set clearer standards around harmful content. It's also why we're now giving people a way to appeal our content decisions by establishing the independent Oversight Board...Over the past year, we've gotten feedback from experts around the world on what this board should look like. We've researched similar bodies, released a draft charter, run a public consultation process, engaged in workshops and published a summary of the feedback." Reference Link

16:21 EDT Jernigan Capital acquires membership interests in six properties - Jernigan Capital (JCAP) announced that it has acquired the membership interests of its developer partners in the five self-storage facilities underlying its Miami bridge portfolio as well as its Jacksonville 2 development investment. These six properties are all multi-story facilities with a combined 437,343 net rentable square feet, located in submarkets in the Miami and Jacksonville metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs. The current weighted average physical occupancy of the facilities is 73.6%, exceeding the company's average pro-forma physical occupancy at this stage of lease-up. The properties are branded and managed by CubeSmart (CUBE). With these acquisitions, the company, either alone or with its joint venture partner, has now acquired full ownership of 19 development projects financed this cycle. These six acquisitions, along with the company's previously disclosed acquisitions and development commitments, bring the company's aggregate year-to-date investment commitments to over $100M, exceeding the midpoint of the company's investment guidance range.

16:20 EDT Yum! Brands announces management changes - Yum! Brands announced that it has hired Clay Johnson as the Company's Chief Digital and Technology Officer, and promoted Gavin Felder to Chief Strategy Officer. These newly created leadership positions will partner with the global brand divisions to elevate the customer experience and accelerate global growth. Johnson will join the Yum! Brands Global Leadership Team and oversee the Company's global technology strategy, partnering with the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell divisions to ensure the Company provides a best-in-class digital journey across mobile, online, delivery and restaurant operations. He will lead a coordinated, cross-brand effort to accelerate the Company's digital commerce strategy, use of data and advanced analytics and emerging technologies to enhance the customer and employee experience. As Chief Strategy Officer, Felder will be responsible for developing Yum! Brands' long-term corporate strategies and partnering with the global brand divisions to implement initiatives to unlock new sources of growth and disruptive innovation.

16:18 EDT Facebook announces details of Oversight Board structure, charter - According to Facebook's Brent Harris, Director of Governance and Global Affairs:"Today, we're announcing more details on the structure of the Oversight Board and its relationship to Facebook in the form of a charter. This central governing document defines the board's mandate and describes its relationship to Facebook. It establishes its membership, governance and decision-making authority, and it sets out parameters for things like the size, scope and power of the board. In the coming months this charter will be available in multiple languages on a new board website." Reference Link

16:17 EDT EverQuote names Elyse Neumeier chief people officer - EverQuote announced that Elyse Neumeier will join the company as Chief People Officer. "We are thrilled to welcome Elyse to the leadership team. Her prior experience at Wayfair as a business leader in their Talent Strategy Business Partner organization and Talent Business Partner for the CTO will enable her to accelerate EverQuote's journey towards building best in class talent in all areas of the business, with a particular focus on the technical areas of AI, analytics, engineering and data science concomitant with the opportunities for innovation in the continued shift of insurance online," said Seth Birnbaum, CEO and Co-Founder of EverQuote. Neumeier previously served as Associate Director of Talent Strategy at Wayfair and as a Consultant at Bain & Company.

16:16 EDT NTN Buzztime CEO Krishnan to resign, CFO Wolff to serve as interim CEO - NTN Buzztime announced CEO Ram Krishnan will resign as CEO of the company effective September 17, 2019 and serve as an advisor through October 17, 2019. Effective September 17, 2019, CFO Allen Wolff will serve as interim CEO while the board conducts a search for a permanent CEO. Effective September 17, 2019, Krishnan will resign from the board, and the board has reduced its count to five directors. In addition, Sandra Gurrola, who has been at Buzztime for almost 10 years, was promoted to senior vice president of finance to assume some of Wolff's prior responsibilities as CFO as well as continue to oversee all aspects of accounting and financial reporting, including SEC reporting, SOX, tax compliance, technical accounting, forecasting/modeling, and accounting operations.

16:14 EDT Adobe says momentum with Document Cloud accelerated in Q3 - Says strong acquisition, upsell and retention of Creative Cloud subscriptions continued during Q3, and were driven by: New user growth, helped by many global initiatives to generate demand, including targeted; campaigns and promotions, a large funnel of users coming from desktop and mobile; and leveraging; Adobe's brand and new products to expand into adjacent creative categories; Increasing adoption of single app offerings, including Adobe Premiere Pro for video and Adobe Illustrator for artwork; Continued growth in international markets, including greater than 40% year-over-year unit growth in key emerging markets; Ongoing success in the enterprise, including new logos, seat expansion and services adoption which drives higher contract value; and adoption of creative services including Adobe Stock, where revenue grew greater than 30% yearover-year. Says momentum with Document Cloud accelerated in Q3. Says strong Q3 Document Cloud performance driven by subscription demand across key routes to market with individuals, small and mid-market businesses, and large enterprises; the continued migration of Acrobat perpetual customers to subscriptions, enterprise services adoption and the conversion of free mobile Reader users to paid subscriptions. Says subscription bookings growth for Marketo in the mid-market did not meet expectations. Comments taken from Q3 earnings call script.

16:08 EDT Adobe reports Digital Media segment revenue $1.96B, up 22% from las tyear - The company states its "Creative revenue grew to $1.65B and Document Cloud achieved revenue of $307M. Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue, or ARR, grew to $7.86B exiting the quarter, a quarter-over-quarter increase of $386M. Creative ARR grew to $6.87B, and Document Cloud ARR grew to $993M." CEO Shantanu Narayen states: "We're excited for the opportunities in front of us and confident in our ability to drive strong top-line and bottom-line growth."

16:06 EDT FedEx CFO says implementing more cost cutting to mitigate uncertainty - "FedEx is implementing additional cost-reduction initiatives to mitigate the effects of macroeconomic uncertainty, including post-peak reductions to the global FedEx Express air network to better match capacity with demand," said Alan B. Graf, Jr., FedEx Corp. executive vice president and chief financial officer. "However, we are continuing to make strategic investments to improve our capabilities and efficiency, which we expect will drive long-term increases in earnings, margins, cash flows and returns." These forecasts assume moderate U.S. economic growth, the company's current fuel price expectations, no further weakening in international economic conditions from the company's current forecast and no additional adverse developments in international trade policies and relations. FedEx's ETR and earnings per share outlooks are based on the company's current interpretations of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and related regulations and guidance, and are subject to change based on future guidance, as well as FedEx's ability to defend its interpretations. These forecasts do not include potential costs associated with capacity reductions.

16:02 EDT Optinose Chief Commercial Officer Tom Gibbs to depart - Optinose announced the departure of its Chief Commercial Officer, Tom Gibbs. Gibbs will be leaving the company next week to assume a senior general management role at a multinational pharmaceutical company. Senior members of the Optinose commercial leadership, including VPs of sales, marketing, and market access, will report directly to Optinose COO Ramy Mahmoud on an interim basis as the company initiates a search for a Chief Commercial Officer.

16:02 EDT Charter appoints Stephanie Mitchko as CTO - Charter Communications announced that Stephanie Mitchko has joined the Company as Executive Vice President, CTO. Mitchko will oversee the company's Network, Mobile, Video and Software Engineering teams, as well as Network Architecture, Technology Policy, and Emerging Technology organizations. She will report to Rich DiGeronimo, Chief Product and Technology Officer, and have offices in both Stamford and Denver. Mitchko joins Charter from Cadent, a provider of data-driven solutions for buying and selling TV Advertising, where she served as joint CTO and COO. As leader of operations and IT teams, Mitchko oversaw day-to-day operations and the development and execution of strategic initiatives. She was also responsible for overseeing all technical strategy and the development of Cadent's proprietary media planning platform.

15:33 EDT Arcadia Biosciences assigned U.S. patent for plants with reduced gluten grains - A post to the USPTO site, dated September 17, shows that Arcadia Biosciences was assigned a patent for reduced gluten grains. Reference Link

15:24 EDT Wells Fargo to pilot internal settlement service called Wells Fargo Digital Cash - Wells Fargo announced plans to pilot an internal settlement service, Wells Fargo Digital Cash, which will run on Wells Fargo's first distributed ledger technology platform. Wells Fargo Digital Cash will allow Wells Fargo to complete internal book transfers of cross-border payments within its global network using digitized cash - and for those international locations to exchange that digitized cash among themselves. To date, Wells Fargo has successfully proven the concept of moving value between the U.S. and Canada. The internal DLT network will be a reusable enterprise utility for Wells Fargo to build and deploy multiple DLT-based applications. The pilot, planned for 2020, is expected to complete USD transfers initially, with a goal to expand to multicurrency transfers and the entire global Wells Fargo branch network. The internal DLT network is proprietary and will not be connected to any other digital cash solutions emerging in the financial services markets today.

15:08 EDT Match Group up 3.5% to $79.34 in afternoon trading - This morning, Citi analyst Nicholas Jones started Match Group with a Buy rating and $95 price target.

15:00 EDT Salem Media shares down 7c to $1.89 after board resignations

14:43 EDT Google provides ability to search for 'key moments' within video content - Prashant Baheti Product Manager, Google Search wrote in a blog post: "There are a lot of ways that Search helps you discover visual, textual, and even audio information, from finding the most useful podcasts to understanding elements within images. But what if what you're searching for is inside a video? Videos aren't skimmable like text, meaning it can be easy to overlook video content altogether. Now, just like we've worked to make other types of information more easily accessible, we're developing new ways to understand and organize video content in Search to make it more useful for you. Starting today you can find key moments within videos and get to the information you're looking for faster, with help from content creators. When you search for things like how-to videos that have multiple steps, or long videos like speeches or a documentary, Search will provide links to key moments within the video, based on timestamps provided by content creators. You'll be able to easily scan to see whether a video has what you're looking for, and find the relevant section of the content. For people who use screen readers, this change also makes video content more accessible." Reference Link

14:37 EDT Commercial National declares $1.00 per share special cash dividend - Commercial National Financial Corporation, parent company of Commercial Bank & Trust of PA, has declared a special cash dividend of $1.00 per share payable October 4 to shareholders of record as of September 27.

14:11 EDT Nordstrom down 9% to $32.23 in afternoon trading - Fellow department store retailer Macy's (M) is down nearly 5% to $16.60 in afternoon trading.

13:28 EDT SEC: Raymond James agrees to pay $15M for improperly charging retail investors - The Securities and Exchange Commission instituted a settled order against three Raymond James entities for improperly charging advisory fees on inactive retail client accounts and charging excess commissions for brokerage customer investments in certain unit investment trusts. The SEC order finds that Raymond James & Associates, Inc., and Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc., failed to consistently perform promised ongoing reviews of advisory accounts that had no trading activity for at least one year. In addition, the order finds that Raymond James & Associates, Inc., and Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., recommended that their brokerage customers sell UITs before their maturity and buy new UITs without adequately determining whether these recommendations were suitable. To settle the charges, the three Raymond James entities agreed to be censured and to disgorge approximately $12M representing inappropriate client advisory fees and unit investment trust commissions, together with prejudgment interest, and to pay a $3M civil penalty. The three Raymond James entities have agreed to make distributions to harmed investors. Reference Link

13:15 EDT Bloom Energy calls Hindenberg Research report 'grossly misleading' - Bloom Energy issued the following statement in response to a report published by Hindenberg Research, titled "Bloom Energy: A "Clean" Energy Darling Wilting to its Demise". The company said, "The authors of the research note did not engage with Bloom Energy to validate the assertions made in their report. We strongly disagree with the conclusions drawn. In particular, the service replacement liability mentioned in the report is grossly misleading. Bloom Energy will make a further statement on this topic in due course."

12:31 EDT Barrick Gold reports new discovery at Fourmile project in Nevada - Barrick Gold reported a new discovery hole about 2 kilometers from the intercept at its Fourmile project in Nevada and said this pointed to the delivery of at least one more Tier 1 gold mine through the combination of Fourmile with the nearby Goldrush development project. Barrick did not include Fourmile in the recent combination of its Nevada assets with those of Newmont Goldcorp to create the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture, but has the right to bring it into the joint venture for full market value provided certain agreed investment criteria are met. The intercept is of a new orebody a kilometer north of Fourmile. It increases the strike length of the mineralized Goldrush-Fourmile trend to greater than 6 kilometres. Mineralization is open in all directions and significant resource growth is expected from continuing the step-out drilling program. "Discovery is fundamental to value creation and the latest results from Fourmile confirm the potential for further high-value discoveries in the greater Cortez - Carlin region which has been a prolific source of gold discovery and production for 150 years, and still holds an untapped wealth of geological endowment," said president and CEO Mark Bristow said. "We're well positioned to achieve our targets for the year. Production is trending towards the top end of the 5.1 to 5.6-million-ounce guidance range while costs are likely to be at the lower end of the cost forecasts. The market is starting to recognize and reward this performance, and it's worth noting that the Barrick share price has increased by 90% since the Randgold deal announcement a year ago, outstripping the GDX index and the spot gold price by a wide margin," he said.

12:14 EDT BlackRock's GRP platform sells stake in Iowa wind projects to Greenbacker - BlackRock Real Assets' Global Renewable Power platform has reached an agreement with Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company for the sale of its controlling interest in the 42.5 MW Elk and 37.5 MW Bethel operating wind energy facilities in Iowa. The transaction marks another exit for the GRP platform and is its second bilateral transaction with Greenbacker this year. This transaction follows the sale of the Community Wind South project in Minnesota earlier this year, another long-term contracted renewable asset in the Midwest power market. "Our second transaction with Greenbacker demonstrates our commitment to delivering value for our clients and to building strong, lasting, relationships with partners in our industry," said David Giordano, Global Head of Renewable Power at BlackRock. "As one of the early movers in the renewables investment sector, BlackRock is well positioned to source attractive projects that allow our clients to invest capital in the transition towards low carbon energy. The growing demand for clean renewable power, along with the need to replace aging power generation infrastructure in developed markets, presents significant opportunities for investors."

11:57 EDT Ceridian hires Bill Crawford as Chief Value Officer - Ceridian HCM Holding announced that it has hired Bill Crawford as Chief Value Officer. As the CVO, Bill's "prime objective will be to lead functions designed to enhance Ceridian's value proposition in the market," the company said. He comes to Ceridian from "a global HCM provider, where he led high-performing sales teams, and oversaw sales operations and channel development," Ceridian stated.

11:30 EDT Zscaler, Crowdstrike rise after announcing cloud security partnership - Earlier, Zscaler (ZS) announced a partnership to integrate Crowdstrike's (CRWD) AI-powered Threat Graph with Zscaler's cloud security platform to "provide customers with real-time threat detection and automated policy enforcement that improves security across their networks and endpoints." The companies stated in their press release earlier: "Joint customers will benefit from the partnership by being able to easily leverage each company's offerings to secure their organizations through rich conditional access, which prevents infected or non-compliant devices from obtaining corporate resources until appropriate remediation has taken place. The integration will also provide customers with automated one-click access to CrowdStrike's endpoint telemetry, SSL inspection on the endpoint, always-on threat protection with real-time intelligence, and visibility into endpoints with zero-day indicators of compromise identified by Zscaler." In late morning trading, Zscaler shares are up $3.39, or 7%, to $51.01 while Crowdstrike shares are up $2.28, or 3%, to $70.14.

11:17 EDT Teamsters Local 710 Starbucks distribution workers ratify contract - Nearly 300 Teamsters Local 710 members at DPI Dedicated Logistics, who service Starbucks stores across four major metropolitan areas, overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year contract last night. This ratification comes after the agreement was previously voted down on August 22. Since that vote, Local 710 said it "successfully secured strong protections for the members and a longer contract term, both top issues that led to the original rejection." Teamsters Local 710 represents approximately 300 distribution workers who handle the delivery of products to more than 900 Starbucks stores across the Chicagoland, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Minneapolis areas.

11:04 EDT U.S. Bancorp raises quarterly common stock dividend 13.5% to 42c per share - The board of directors of U.S. Bancorp has approved a 13.5% increase in the dividend rate on U.S. Bancorp common stock to 42c on a quarterly basis, payable October 15 to stockholders of record at the close of business on September 30. U.S. Bancorp previously announced in July that its board of directors approved an increase in the company's quarterly dividend of 13.5% to 42c per common share beginning in Q3.

11:02 EDT Boeing, Safran announce joint investment in Electric Power Systems - Boeing (BA) and Safran (SAFRY) announced a joint investment in Electric Power Systems, or EPS, which is a company offering a suite of "safe, certifiable and lightweight energy storage products that provide high-quality power for aerospace and other markets." The companies said the joint investment "will help EPS develop a highly automated industrial base capable of producing aviation-grade energy storage systems at an unprecedented scale. The investment will also support the advancement of technologies to further reduce the costs of battery systems for electric airplanes."

10:00 EDT W&T Offshore falls -13.7% - W&T Offshore is down -13.7%, or -81c to $5.12.

10:00 EDT Bloom Energy falls -23.4% - Bloom Energy is down -23.4%, or -98c to $3.21.

10:00 EDT WideOpenWest rises 8.9% - WideOpenWest is up 8.9%, or 55c to $6.76.

09:47 EDT Myovant Sciences falls -6.9% - Myovant Sciences is down -6.9%, or -41c to $5.56.

09:47 EDT Bloom Energy falls -14.5% - Bloom Energy is down -14.5%, or -61c to $3.58.

09:47 EDT New Relic rises 4.5% - New Relic is up 4.5%, or $2.63 to $60.80.

09:40 EDT Amazon Music announces launch of Amazon Music HD - Amazon Music announced the launch of Amazon Music HD, "a new tier of premium quality music with more than 50 million songs in High Definition, and millions of songs in Ultra High Definition, the highest quality streaming audio available." At $12.99/month for Prime members and $14.99/month for Amazon customers, or an additional $5/month for current subscribers, Amazon Music HD makes high quality, lossless audio accessible to all music fans, the company added. Amazon Music HD is now available to stream in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan. New subscribers to Amazon Music can receive a 90-day free trial, and current subscribers can try Amazon Music HD at no additional cost for 90 days.

09:19 EDT Vuzix receives approvals for the M400 Smart Glasses - Vuzix is announcing that the Company has received regulatory compliance approval for the M400 Smart Glasses from the US, EU, Japanese and Canadian regulatory agencies. Concurrently, Vuzix has begun shipping early adopter program M400 Smart Glasses orders, as well as making the M400 Smart Glasses available for purchase from Vuzix' US, EU and Japanese webstores. The Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 Platform.

09:12 EDT Generex announces first patient enrolled in Phase II clinical trial of AE37 - Generex Biotechnology Corporation announced that the NSABP Foundation has enrolled the first patient in the study: A Phase II Clinical Trial of Pembrolizumab in Combination with the AE37 Peptide Vaccine in Patients with Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer. The trial, conducted in conjunction with research partners Merck and the NSABP Foundation, is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of AE37 given in combination with KEYTRUDA as well as the objective response rate.

09:09 EDT Novo Nordisk announces findings from exploratory analysis of PIONEER program - Novo Nordisk announced findings from an exploratory analysis of the PIONEER trial program, showing oral semaglutide improved glycaemic control in people with type 2 diabetes across baseline HbA1c levels. Greater reductions in HbA1c were demonstrated with 7 mg and 14 mg oral semaglutide vs all comparators including placebo, Jardiance, Januvia or Victoza. The results were presented today at the 55th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

09:08 EDT NBCUniversal names new streaming service 'Peacock' - NBCUniversal's new streaming service will be named "Peacock" and will be available in April 2020, the company said in a statement. The new offering will include reboots of "Battlestar Galactica," "Saved by the Bell," plus new comedies from Mike Schur and Rashida Jones, according to the statement. The service will also feature blockbusters and critically-acclaimed films from Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and other Hollywood movie studios. Peacock rolls out in April of 2020 with over 15,000 hours of content and takes center stage at the end of July during the 2020 Summer Olympics. As previously announced, Peacock will be both advertising and subscription supported. Details on pricing and distribution will be announced closer to launch. Bonnie Hammer, Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises, says "Peacock will be the go-to place for both the timely and timeless - from can't-miss Olympic moments and the 2020 election, to classic fan favorites like 'The Office'." Reference Link

09:05 EDT Yext appoints Deepika Rayala as CIO - Yext has appointed Deepika Rayala as the company's CIO. Drawing on 20+ years of IT experience, Deepika will spearhead Yext's global IT organization, driving the enterprise applications and analytics, infrastructure, and operations roadmap that enable Yext to deliver its platform to businesses around the world. Prior to joining Yext, Deepika drove IT application delivery as the Vice President of Enterprise Applications and PMO at Apttus. Prior to Apttus, she led and worked on large IT transformation programs at Broadcom and Genentech, executing strategies to modernize and align the IT application landscape with the companies' business goals.

09:03 EDT Abbott receives approval in Europe for two pediatric devices - Abbott announced approvals in Europe for two of its life-saving pediatric devices. The Masters HP 15mm rotatable mechanical heart valve and the Amplatzer Piccolo Occluder have received CE Mark and are now available in Europe and other countries that recognize CE Mark. The new treatments, already available in the U.S., offer young pediatric patients and their families hope when no other suitable treatment option may exist. Congenital heart defects or CHD, affect approximately 36,000 births in the European Union each year. The Amplatzer Piccolo is smaller than a pea and is the world's first medical device that can be implanted in the tiniest babies to treat patent ductus arteriosus, or PDA, a potentially life-threatening opening in the heart.

09:00 EDT Fly Intel: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: Capricor Therapeutics (CAPR), up 18% after announcing that it will present results from the randomized, double-blind, Phase II HOPE-2 clinical trial of CAP-1002 in boys and young men with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the International Congress of the World Muscle Society... Splunk (SPLK), up 3% after JPMorgan analyst Mark Murphy upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $130. The analyst expects a bookings growth rebound in the second half of 2019 and has a favorable view of the company's transition to a recurring/renewable model. LOWER: Corning (GLW), down 9% after cutting guidance for its display and optical communications units... Shopify (SHOP), down 5% after its 1.9M share spot secondary offering priced at $317.50 per share... Kraft Heinz (KHC), down 4% after disclosing that private equity investor 3G Capital sold 25.1M shares of its common stock... Opera (OPRA), down 7% after filing to sell 7M American depositary shares.

08:42 EDT Oramed announces last patient treated in Phase IIb HbA1c trial of ORMD-0801 - Oramed Pharmaceuticals announced the treatment of the last patient in the primary cohort of the Phase IIb HbA1c trial evaluating Oramed's lead oral insulin candidate, ORMD-0801, which has the potential to be the first commercial oral insulin capsule for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. The Phase IIb double-blind, randomized, 90-day dose-ranging trial will assess the primary efficacy endpoint of reduction in HbA1c, as well as safety endpoints. Topline data from the primary cohort of the Phase IIb trial are expected to be released in the Q4.

08:39 EDT Cracker Barrel CEO says ended year 'with a strong quarter' - Commenting on the fourth quarter and full year results, Cracker Barrel President and CEO Sandra Cochran said, "In fiscal 2019, our teams drove performance through an increased focus on our menu, the guest experience, and the continued expansion of our off-premise business. We ended the fiscal year with a strong quarter, delivering comparable store restaurant sales and traffic growth in the fourth quarter that outperformed the casual dining industry, and I was especially pleased with the results of our Signature Fried Chicken initiative. As we enter our 50th year of Pleasing People, we believe our fiscal 2020 business plans will help build on our momentum and support long-term value creation."

08:35 EDT Stein Mart launches 'Buy Online, Pick Up in Store' at all locations - Stein Mart announced its Buy Online, Pick Up in Store service, offering customers the option to conveniently pick up most merchandise purchased on SteinMart.com at a store of their choice. BOPIS, the latest addition to Stein Mart's continuing digital expansion, is now available at all 283 Stein Mart store locations. The company expects about 15 percent of their online orders will shift to instore pickup. By bringing a customer into the store, shoppers are more likely to purchase additional items. While enhancing the customer's shopping experience, BOPIS will also improve Stein Mart's profitability by creating incremental attachment sales and reducing shipping costs.

08:34 EDT Evoke Pharma completes manufacturing of commercial scale batches of Gimoti - Evoke Pharma (EVOK) announced that it has completed manufacturing commercial scale batches of its product candidate Gimoti with its partner Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO). Evoke plans to collect Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls data from these registration batches, which were requested in the complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These data will be used to support the proposed acceptance criteria for performance characteristics and device quality control and will be included in Evoke's planned resubmission of the 505(b)(2) New Drug Application for Gimoti

08:32 EDT AT&T CEO says U.S. must lead in 5G

08:32 EDT MDU Resources acquires the assets of Pride Electric - MDU Resources Group announced that it has acquired the assets of Pride Electric, a leading electrical construction company in Redmond, Washington. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

08:30 EDT Fujifilm exercises license option in graft-versus-host disease - Cynata Therapeutics announced that FUJIFILM Corporation has exercised its license option in graft-versus-host disease. The exercise of the license option follows the successful completion of the Phase 1 clinical trial of CYP-001 in GvHD, where all safety and efficacy endpoints were achieved. Fujifilm is granted an exclusive, worldwide license to develop and commercialise Cynata's lead mesenchymal stem cell product, CYP-001, for the prevention and treatment of GvHD in humans. Cynata will receive $3M cash from Fujifilm as an upfront fee. Fujifilm will bear responsibility for all costs of any further product development activities in relation to GvHD, along with responsibility for regulatory submissions and commercialisation. The non-dilutive upfront payment of $3M will lengthen Cynata's cash runway and support further investment in the upcoming Phase 2 trials in critical limb ischemia and in osteoarthritis, along with other potential future clinical programs. Cynata will potentially receive additional future milestone payments from Fujifilm totalling up to $4M based on successful attainment of certain industry standard product development and commercial milestones, the first of which is $2M on completion of the first Phase 2 clinical trial in USA, UK or Japan. Subsequent milestones are completion of Phase 3 clinical trials, submission of applications for regulatory approvals, acceptance of geographic marketing authorisations and first sales and extending the indication. Cynata will receive a 10% royalty on all future product sales if the licensed product is successfully commercialised in any country in which any licensed patents are granted or pending. Having sub-licensed certain patent rights licensed-in from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation in respect of Cynata's Cymerus technology to Fujifilm, Cynata will be required to make a one-off cash payment to WARF of $10,000. Cynata is also required to pay WARF a mid-single digit percentage royalty on Fujifilm product sales and 30% of other amounts received from Fujifilm, including in respect of milestone payments. Both Fujifilm and Cynata have rights to terminate the license under certain conditions such as material breach and bankruptcy and failure to use reasonable efforts to achieve certain specified milestones. The agreement also includes limited mechanisms for potential royalty adjustment on termination of the WARF Head License, entry of a generic competitor or in-licensing third party enabling technology. Fujifilm and Cynata will enter into a separate agreement for the supply of product by Cynata for certain future product development activities at cost plus a moderate doubt digit manufacturing margin.

08:26 EDT Avalo Networks uses Ubersmith business management software for voice services - Avalo Networks is transforming the delivery of voice services while streamlining its operations and supporting its growth with business management software from Ubersmith, an INAP company. Avalo makes available cloud-based communications services that cable, mobile, telco, and other broadband providers deliver to their residential and business customers. The next-generation Voice over IP services replace traditional public switched telephone networks and serve as a foundation for adding features and building applications that integrate with the telephony system

08:21 EDT AT&T CEO sees bringing share buybacks back to mix

08:21 EDT AT&T CEO: Board 'has not informed me that I'm retiring yet'

08:20 EDT AT&T CEO says some things in Elliott letter make sense - Comments taken from the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference.

08:19 EDT Soliton completes enrollment for keloid scar trial - Soliton announced that the company has completed its site initiation visit for the first site to be included in its upcoming keloid scar proof-of-concept trial. Site initiation visits are for initial clinical staff training and protocol reviews with the staff in advance of patient treatments. The company also announced that patient enrollment for the trial has been completed. The initial training, site visit and enrollment were completed at Clear Dermatology & Aesthetic Center in Scottsdale.

08:17 EDT Adaptive Biotechnologies enters partnership with Amgen for use of clonoSEQ - Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT) announced it has entered into a global agreement with Amgen (AMGN) for the use of Adaptive's next-generation sequencing-based clonoSEQ Assay to assess minimal residual disease across multiple drug development programs within the Amgen hematology portfolio. Under the terms of the four-year agreement, Adaptive will receive annual development fees in addition to sequencing payments and regulatory milestones in exchange for providing MRD testing and analysis for ongoing and future clinical trials. The partnership, which began in 2016 to assess MRD in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, demonstrates the increasing utility of MRD assessment in the clinic. Adaptive will leverage data generated under this partnership to continue building robust evidence that supports MRD as a validated measure of patient outcomes across multiple novel treatments and blood cancers.

08:15 EDT Immucell enters into lease agreement for facility for First Defense production - ImmuCell Corporation announced that it has entered into a lease covering approximately 14,300 square feet of office and warehouse space effective approximately November 1, 2019. The space will be utilized to enable the Company's plan to increase the production capacity of the First Defense product line. The Company expects to have use of this new space by mid-2020 after building out the needed production rooms. The Company had considered a "build to suit" option on nearby land. This leasing option saves time and building construction costs, allowing the Company to move forward with its expansion plans more effectively and timely. The property is located nearby to the Company's facility at 56 Evergreen Drive in Portland, Maine. The lease term is ten years with a right to renew for a second ten-year term and a right of first offer to purchase. The total lease liability over the initial ten-year term aggregates approximately $1.3M before real estate and personal property taxes, utilities, insurance, maintenance and related building and operating expenses.

08:13 EDT Masco announces $2B share repurchase authorization - Masco's board has approved a share repurchase program that authorizes the repurchase of up to an aggregate value of $2B of Masco's outstanding common stock. The manner, timing and amount of any purchases will be determined by Masco based upon an evaluation of market conditions, stock price and other factors. This authorization is effective September 18, and cancels Masco's prior share repurchase program.

08:11 EDT Opiant appoints Aziz Mottiwala as CCO, Rahsaan Thompson as general counsel - Opiant Pharmaceuticals announced the appointments of Aziz Mottiwala as Opiant's chief commercial officer, and Rahsaan Thompson as general counsel, two newly created positions, effective September 16, 2019. Mottiwala will be responsible for building Opiant's commercial organization and pre-commercial activities, as appropriate. Thompson will be responsible for all legal aspects of corporate strategy, intellectual property, transactions, compliance and regulatory matters. Both Mottiwala and Thompson will report directly to Roger Crystal, M.D., CEO of Opiant. Prior to joining Opiant, Mottiwala was SVP and Head of Commercial at Avanir Pharmaceuticals. Thompson joins Opiant with more than a decade of experience in corporate counsel roles, most recently serving as VP, Law, for Actelion U.S.

08:08 EDT BioQ Pharma announces agreement with Avanos Medical - BioQ Pharma announced that it has entered into a Development, Supply, Distribution Agreement with Avanos Medical. Under the agreement, the parties will work together to obtain appropriate regulatory approvals and commercialize self-contained, infusible, non-opioid post-operative pain pharmaceutical product in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. With an estimated 30 million applicable surgical procedures annually in the U.S. alone, the market opportunity for non-opioid, post-surgical pain therapies in North America is significant.

08:07 EDT Jounce Therapeutics appoints Jacqui Fahey Sandell as CLO - Jounce Therapeutics (JNCE) announced that Jacqui Fahey Sandell has been appointed as chief legal officer and corporate secretary. Most recently, she served as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Vericel Corporation (VCEL).

08:07 EDT Genpact, Celonis announce strategic partnership - Genpact and Celonis, a leader in enterprise performance acceleration software, announced a strategic partnership that will allow enterprises to quickly identify, transform, and monitor critical business processes in real time to drive agility, consistency, and uncover new areas of business value in their operations. The partnership combines Genpact's digital and process expertise in a variety of end-to-end services including finance and accounting, supply chain, sourcing and procurement, financial crimes and risk management, and insurance underwriting and claims with Celonis' patented leading-edge process-mining technology. Process mining allows companies to visualize, monitor, and enhance their operations, providing clarity on where and how to quickly and efficiently reengineer processes, and drive more strategic results.

08:05 EDT Humana partners with Seniorlink on Virtual Care Team pilot - Seniorlink is pleased to announce a Virtual Care Team pilot with Humana, focused on providing additional care management to the company's Medicare Advantage members. The pilot is designed to allow Humana At Home care management teams to connect digitally with Humana Medicare Advantage members and their families, so that members with medical and functional challenges can maintain their independence and receive support at home. Humana At Home is a division of Humana that identifies and supports Humana Medicare Advantage members who have multiple chronic conditions, struggle with daily activities and are frequently hospitalized, as well as their family members and caregivers. The six-month pilot will include up to 250 Humana Medicare Advantage members and family caregivers in 34 states across the country.

08:05 EDT The Stars Group begins with initial stages of U.S. strategy - The Stars Group announced that over the last two weeks it has successfully executed on initial stages of its U.S. strategy, with the launch of FOX Bet in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and FOX Sports Super 6 nationwide. The FOX Bet products in New Jersey and Pennsylvania offer fans the opportunity to legally and responsibly place real-money wagers on the outcome of a wide range of live sports and special events, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, motor sports, golf, tennis and soccer.

08:03 EDT Chipotle launches new steak option, Carne Asada, nationwide on September 19 - Chipotle Mexican Grill announced that it's introducing a brand-new steak option, Carne Asada, nationally on September 19. Chipotle Rewards members were the first to learn of the new menu item. To showcase the importance of its Rewards members and the exclusive access the program provides, Chipotle invited its top steak lovers in New York and Los Angeles to attend early VIP tasting events.

08:02 EDT Unique Fabricating names Doug Cain as president and CEO - Unique Fabricating announced it has appointed Doug Cain as its new president and CEO. Cain will begin work September 30, 2019. Recently, Cain served as CEO of Mubea North America where he was responsible for the activities of 13 sites in the U.S. and Mexico, including manufacturing, supply chain, sales, and engineering. "After conducting an extensive search that resulted in a number of highly qualified candidates, Doug Cain's relevant expertise, including experience in the automotive industry and specifically working with all North American producing automotive OEMs and their tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers convinced the Board that he was the ideal candidate to be Unique Fabricating's new CEO," said Richard Baum, Chairman of the Board. "Doug brings the right vision, leadership experience, discipline, financial acumen and operational expertise to drive Unique Fabricating's transformation forward."

08:02 EDT Durect completes Phase 2a trial of DUR-928 and announces results - DURECT announced that it has completed the Phase 2a clinical trial of its lead product candidate, DUR-928, in patients with alcoholic hepatitis, or AH. The final enrollment for the trial consists of 12 severe patients and 7 moderate patients for a total of 19 AH patients. Clinical data from the trial show that the 19 patients treated with DUR-928 had statistically significantly greater reductions from baseline in bilirubin and MELD 28), as well as statistically significantly lower Lille scores, compared with a historical control group from a University of Louisville AH study. Lille scores are used in clinical practice to help determine the prognosis for AH patients after 7 days of treatment. The lower the Lille score, the better the prognosis is for the AH patient

07:38 EDT Expedia to become exclusive global distributor of Marriott's wholesale rates - Expedia (EXPE) and Marriott International (MAR) announced that as part of a new agreement signed in April, Expedia Group will become the exclusive global optimized distributor of Marriott's wholesale rates, availability, and content to a network of global travel providers, effective October 15. Through this agreement, Marriott will leverage Expedia Group's industry-leading technology and enterprise-level service to create a single gateway for the redistribution of Marriott's wholesale inventory.

07:33 EDT Plus Products partners with John Legend, Casper to launch hemp CBD edibles - Plus Products announced the nationwide launch of its first-ever 100% hemp CBD product line. The launch is being supported by a newly established brand partnership between PLUS and American star John Legend, who will advocate on behalf of the Company's new nationwide hemp CBD product offering. PLUS is also partnering with global sleep company Casper Sleep to introduce its melatonin- and CBD-infused SLEEP product. Casper is the award-winning sleep company on a mission to bring better sleep to more people around the world. The new CBD line will include three distinct products, developed by PLUS's team of scientists, entrepreneurs and chefs: BALANCE in Blueberry flavor, UPLIFT in Grapefruit flavor, and SLEEP in Blackberry Tea flavor. All three products are available for purchase through the Company's newly launched e-commerce platform at www.plusproducts.com.

07:28 EDT Mereo BioPharma says acumapimod for AECOPD is Phase 3 ready - Acumapimod for Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is Phase 3-ready following a successful Type B End of Phase 2 meeting with the FDA and agreed outline for a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial program. Recently, a positive Scientific Advice Working Party also took place with the EMA.

07:26 EDT Mereo BioPharma intends to investigate alvelestat use with BOS - Investigator-sponsored clinical studies underway in AATD and also in bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome as a result of graft-versus-host disease in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantatione. BOS is an orphan disease characterized by inflammatory obstruction of the lung's tiniest airways and is the primary cause of death in patients who receive lung transplants. Based on the preliminary clinical data to-date, Mereo intends to investigate the use of alvelestat to treat patients with BOS following a lung transplant.

07:23 EDT Mereo BioPharma says pivotal pediatric study ready in EU, Canada - In addition to evaluating setrusumab in adult OI patients, Mereo's Paediatric Investigation Plan has been approved by the EMA and a study design has been agreed for a pivotal registration trial in children. Mereo is also exploring an extension of the planned pivotal study into the U.S

07:19 EDT Plug Power, Engie partner to expand use of renewable hydrogen, fuel cells - Plug Power (PLUG) has signed an agreement with ENGIE (ENGIY) combining their capabilities in order to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen and fuel cell systems. As a part of the agreement, Plug Power is partnering with ENGIE to identify mutually beneficial markets and customers, packaging Plug Power's fuel cell technology with ENGIE's hydrogen infrastructure, renewable energy and service programs to deliver cost effective hydrogen energy solutions. This partnership allows global customers to easily implement hydrogen technology into their operations, seamlessly purchasing hydrogen fuel cells and accessing clean energy.

07:16 EDT Evelo Biosciences appoints David Epstein as chairman of the board - Evelo Biosciences announced that David Epstein has been appointed chairman of its Board of Directors. Epstein has been a director of Evelo since March 2017. Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., a co-founder of Evelo and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, is stepping down after serving as chairman of the Board since Evelo's founding in 2014.

07:12 EDT Air New Zealand uses Descartes Core ULD solution for shipment tracking - Descartes Systems Group announced that Air New Zealand is using the Descartes Core Unit Load Device Tracking solution to automatically monitor the real-time location of international mail, parcel and cargo shipments while they are in the air and on the ground.

07:09 EDT Crispr Therapeutics, ViaCyte present data from regenerative medicine program - CRISPR Therapeutics and ViaCyte presented data from the Companies' regenerative medicine program targeted towards type 1 diabetes in an oral presentation at the 55th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Barcelona, Spain. The data demonstrate that the CyT49 pluripotent stem cell line, which has been shown to be amenable to efficient scaling and differentiation, can be successfully edited with CRISPR. The CyT49 pluripotent stem cell line is currently being used to generate islet progenitors for clinical trials. "These data provide further evidence that the combination of regenerative medicine and gene editing has the potential to offer durable, curative therapies to patients in many different diseases, including common chronic disorders like insulin-requiring diabetes," said Samarth Kulkarni, Ph.D., CEO of CRISPR Therapeutics. "We look forward to advancing our T1D program in partnership with ViaCyte." To protect pancreatic islet cells from immune rejection, researchers utilized CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to generate CyT49 clones that lack the beta2-microglobulin gene, a required component of the major histocompatibility complex class I, and express a transgene encoding programmed death-ligand 1 to further protect from T-cell attack. Edited clonal cells maintained karyotypic stability and showed in vitro protection against T-cell mediated cell lysis.

07:05 EDT Applied Therapeutics to present data highlighting AT-001 at EASD meeting - Applied Therapeutics announced presentation of data at the 55th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Barcelona on AT-001, a novel, potent and selective aldose reductase inhibitor in Phase 3 clinical development for Diabetic Cardiomyopathy. AT-001 Significantly Reduces Cardiac Damage in an Animal Model of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy: AT-001 normalized sorbitol levels to that of non-diabetic control rats, demonstrating effective inhibition of AR by AT-001. AT-001 significantly reduced cardiac damage in a relevant mouse model of DbCM.

07:02 EDT Canopy Rivers' TerrAscend enters distribution agreement with Syqe Medical - Canopy Rivers is pleased to announce its portfolio company, TerrAscend, has entered into a distribution agreement with Syqe Medical, an Israel-based pharma-tech company, to launch Syqe's flagship product, the Syqe Inhaler, in Canada. The Syqe Inhaler is the world's first metered-dose medical cannabis inhaler and will provide Canadians with an alternative to dried flower medical cannabis.

06:58 EDT McDermott joint venture awarded module fabrication contract - McDermott announced that its joint venture Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan, or QMW, in Qingdao, China, has been awarded a contract to provide three complex modules for the Arctic LNG 2 project in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region in Russia. The scope includes the fabrication of three pre-assembled unit complex process modules. QMW will undertake fabrication engineering, partial procurement, construction and pre-commissioning scope. Fabrication for the modules is scheduled to commence at the end of 2019 and be completed in mid-2022.

06:49 EDT Alliance Data signs agreement to provide credit card services for Sally Beauty - Alliance Data (ADS) has signed a new multi-year agreement to provide private label credit card services in the U.S. for Sally Beauty (SBH). Alliance Data will curate Sally Beauty's private label credit card offering to serve the respective needs of Sally Beauty Supply retail and CosmoProf professional customers. The card will enhance Sally Beauty Rewards, the brand's existing multi-tender loyalty program with more than 15M members. Sally Beauty Holdings will leverage Alliance Data's Frictionless Mobile Credit capability, built with patented technology. Sally Beauty will also benefit from Alliance Data's comprehensive data assets, helping it better understand its customers' behaviors and preferences, attract new customers to the brand, and ultimately drive sales and loyalty.

06:49 EDT Zymeworks names Lota Zoth as board Chair, voluntarily delists from TSX - Zymeworks announced that Lota Zoth has been appointed as its Chair of the Board of Directors. Zoth succeeds Nick Bedford, who has retired from his functions as Chair and Board member. Bedford served as Board Chair since September 2004. Zymeworks has also made a strategic decision to voluntarily delist its common shares from the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada, which is currently anticipated to occur on or around October 1. Zymeworks' shares will continue to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ZYME" and Canadian shareholders can continue to trade their shares on the NYSE.

06:47 EDT Merck: FDA accepts BLA, grants priority review for investigational Ebola vaccine - Merck announced that the U.S. FDA has accepted the Biologics License Application and granted priority review for Merck's investigational Ebola vaccine (V920), under review for the prevention of disease caused by the Ebola Zaire virus. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or target action date, is set for March 14, 2020. In July 2016, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to V920.

06:28 EDT SEC says Marvell Technology to pay $5.5M to settle disclosure-related charges - The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday that Marvell Technology Group, Ltd. will pay $5.5M to settle charges that it misled investors when it engaged in an undisclosed revenue management scheme in order to meet publicly-issued revenue guidance. According to the SEC's order, Marvell orchestrated a scheme to accelerate, or "pull-in," sales to the current quarter that had been scheduled for future quarters. As stated in the order, the purpose of the pull-in sales, which took place during the fourth quarter of 2015 and first quarter of 2016, was to close the gap between actual and forecasted revenue and to meet publicly-issued revenue guidance. The pull-ins for these quarters amounted to $24M and $64M of the total quarterly revenues, or 5% and 16% of revenue in its key storage segment, respectively. According to the SEC's order, Marvell's use of pull-ins masked a substantial decline in customer demand, a loss of market share and reduced future sales. The SEC's order finds that Marvell violated the antifraud and reporting provisions of the federal securities laws. Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, Marvell consented to the order, agreeing to cease and desist from further violations and to pay a $5.5M penalty.

06:22 EDT Lexaria Bioscience says TurboCBD capsule study results published - Lexaria Bioscience announced that final study results of the 2018 human clinical study evaluating CBD delivery and effectiveness using its patented DehydraTECH powered TurboCBD capsules have been published in the peer reviewed medical journal, "Advances in Therapy." Key findings highlighted in the publication include: CBD in-plasma levels with the TurboCBD 90 mg dose were significantly higher than with the generic 90 mg dose at both 90 and 120 min; Only the TurboCBD 90 mg dose was elevated at 30 min and remained elevated at 4 h; Mean arterial blood pressure in a subgroup analysis was significantly decreased with only the TurboCBD 90 mg dose relative to baseline; and Cerebral perfusion analyzed by an index of conductance in the middle cerebral artery in this subgroup was significantly higher with only the TurboCBD 90 mg dose relative to baseline. The study was conducted and well tolerated in 12 healthy young male athletes and the investigators concluded that further studies are warranted, noting in particular that "further acute and chronic dosing investigations in older and cerebrovascular-compromised patients may shed light on the vascular and clinical impacts of increased CBD bioavailability."

06:10 EDT Sony rejects activist investor's call to spin off image sensor business - Sony has rejected a proposal from activist investor Daniel Loeb to spin off its image sensor business, saying the unit is a "crucial growth driver" for the group. In an 8-page statement, Sony said its board had unanimously agreed to retain its semiconductor business, citing the costs of separating the business, such as an increase in patent licensing fees and difficulty in recruiting talent. " is the most important technology for enhancing Sony's corporate value over the long term," CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said in the statement. Reference Link

06:02 EDT Famous Dave's completes holding company reorganization - Famous Dave's of America (DAVE) completed its holding company reorganization whereby Famous Dave's of America became a wholly owned subsidiary of a new public holding company, BBQ Holdings (BBQ). Upon consummation of the merger, each issued and outstanding common share of DAVE was converted into one common share of BBQ, par value 1c per share. In connection with the merger, the common shares of BBQ will commence trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "BBQ". As a result of the merger, the common shares of Famous Dave's of America, which previously traded on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "DAVE," are deemed to be no longer publicly traded.

05:23 EDT AC Immune receives milestone payment for initiating Phase 2 trial of PI-2620 - AC Immune announced it has received a milestone payment from its partner Life Molecular Imaging in connection with the initiation of a Phase 2 study of the Tau positron-emission tomography, or PET, tracer PI-2620. The Phase 2 longitudinal study is being conducted in the UK and is expected to last approximately three years, with the overall goal being to evaluate PI-2620 as a targeted radiopharmaceutical for the detection of Tau deposits in the human brain. The data generated are intended to be used for obtaining regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe.