Stockwinners Market Radar for November 14, 2019 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

18:41 EST BioMarin CEO: Our products have a very long life cycle - In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, BioMarin CEO Jean-Jacques Bienaime said: Confident in reaching $2B in revenue next year.

18:24 EST Viacom CEO: The road ahead for the company is very exciting - In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Viacom (VIA, VIAB) CEO Bob Bakish said: I'm really pleased with fourth quarter results... Merger with CBS (CBS) poised to close in early December... There are material synergies on both the cost and revenue side for this merger... We are playing all the segments and that is what makes us different... People who say we can't compete in streaming are absolutely wrong... The content market is very frothy.

18:04 EST Nvidia CEO says Q4 will be much stronger driven by AI and inference - Says computational intensity is "so high" that, aside from computer graphics, only accelerators make the work loads possible. Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call Q/A.

17:44 EST Nvidia CFO says Q3 decline in automotive revenue driven by one-time item - Says AI cockbit business grew. Says "remain exited" about long term opportunity in auto.

17:39 EST Nvidia CFO says visibility in Data Center business is improving - Says Google neural networks and conversational AI efforts driving GPU demand. Says model complexity to increase exponentially from here. Says conversational AI is a major driver for GPU acceleration. Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call.

17:37 EST Amarin: FDA committee votes 16-0 to recommend approval of Vascepa - Amarin announced that the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee of the U.S. FDA has voted unanimously (16-0) to recommend approval of an indication and label expansion for Vascepa capsules to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in high-risk patients based on results from the landmark REDUCE-IT cardiovascular outcomes trial. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee. Amarin plans to work with the agency as it completes its review of the company's application seeking an appropriate label expansion for Vascepa to reflect REDUCE-IT results.

17:30 EST Raytheon awarded $209.64M Navy contract for work on 361 NIINs - Raytheon was awarded $209.64M for a ceiling-priced, indefinite-delivery, performance-based logistics requirements contract for the repair, upgrade or replacement of 361 NIINs within two of the 13 major subsystems of the Aegis Weapon System: the MK99 fire control system and the Army Navy Joint Electronics Type Designation Systems Water/Surface Ship Radar Surveillance and Control Transmitter Group. This contract includes a five-year base period with no options. Work is expected to be completed by November 2024. Annual working capital funds in the amount of $34.29M will be issued for delivery order that will be awarded concurrently with the contract and will initially be obligated at the time of award as an undefinitized contract action with a commitment of $11.43M or a year's period of performance. Funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One firm was solicited for this non-competitive requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 and Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1, with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support is the contracting activity.

17:24 EST Rolls-Royce awarded $1.21B Navy contract in support of V-22 AE1107C engine - Rolls-Royce was awarded a $1.21B firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides sustainment support of the V-22 AE1107C engine at various V-22 aircraft production, test and operating sites. Sustainment support includes program management, integrated logistics support, sustaining engineering, maintenance, repair, reliability improvements, configuration management and site support. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Indiana, and various locations within and outside the continental U.S., and is expected to be completed in February 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity.

17:18 EST RadNet to replace Gannett in S&P 600 at open on 11/20 - New Media Investment Group (NEWM) is acquiring Gannett (GCI) in a transaction expected to be completed soon pending final conditions.

17:15 EST Wheaton Precious Metals raises 2019 gold production to about 390,000 ounces - Prior view was 365,000 ounces. "Wheaton is updating production guidance for 2019, with estimated attributable gold production being increased to approximately 390,000 ounces due to continued outperformance primarily from the Salobo mine, while estimated attributable silver production has been adjusted to approximately 21 million ounces to reflect production interruptions at the Penasquito mine. Forecast palladium production in 2019 remains unchanged at approximately 22,000 ounces. For the five-year period ending in 2023, the company continues to estimate that average annual gold equivalent production will amount to 750,000 ounces."

17:11 EST Pershing Square exits stake in ADP, cuts stakes in Hilton, Chipotle - Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of September 30, 2019. Pershing Square exited one position during the third quarter, ADP (ADP). Pershing Square increased its stake in one holding, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B). Pershing Square reduced its stake in four holdings, including by size of previous position, Hilton (HLT), Restaurant Brands (QSR), Lowe's (LOW), and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG). Pershing Square's top holdings as of September 30, in order of size, were Chipotle, Restaurant Brands, Hilton, Lowe's, and Berkshire Hathaway.

17:06 EST Aurora Cannabis reports Q1 production volume up 43% from Q4 at 41.4K kg - CEO Terry Booth says: "Despite short term distribution and regulatory headwinds in Canada that have temporarily impacted the industry, the long-term opportunity for Aurora in the global cannabis and cannabinoids market is immens. Aurora has, and will continue to focus on everything in our control. Our success in doing this was demonstrated again this quarter by continued strong improvement in our core KPIs. We delivered solid operating results this quarter, exemplified by our industry-leading cash cost to produce which declined another 25% to $0.85 per gram this quarter, as well as by our industry-leading gross margins and market share."

17:02 EST Crescent Point Energy to sell Sasketchewan gas infrastructure assets for $500M - Crescent Point Energy Corp. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell certain associated gas infrastructure assets in Saskatchewan to Steel Reef Infrastructure Corp. for total cash consideration of $500M. Through the sale of the Assets, Crescent Point will monetize nine natural gas gathering and processing facilities and two gas sales pipelines currently in operation within Saskatchewan. These gas processing facilities and associated sales gas lines have a total throughput capacity of more than 90 MMcf/d. The Assets do not include any oil-related infrastructure. Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company will enter into certain long-term take-or-pay commitments with Steel Reef in exchange for Steel Reef granting Crescent Point processing rights at the facilities. The expected annual cash flow to the Purchaser is estimated at approximately $47 million, excluding cash flow from third parties. Steel Reef, an established midstream company with other gas processing assets in Saskatchewan and a strong track record of environmental, health and safety performance, will operate the Assets. As part of the Agreement, Steel Reef has committed to fund an upcoming 12 MMcf/d expansion of one of the gas processing facilities, reducing the need for capital that would otherwise be required by Crescent Point. Steel Reef's cost to construct this expansion is estimated to be approximately $30M, which will be in addition to the purchase price of $500M. This facility expansion is expected to begin in 2020 and be completed within approximately 12 to 18 months following closing of the Asset sale. The expansion is expected to further enhance sales volumes while also reducing the facility's emissions intensity. Crescent Point's disciplined capital allocation is centered on returns with a priority on continued balance sheet strength. Upon closing of the sale of the Assets, the Company expects that its net debt will be reduced from approximately $2.8 billion at year-end 2019 to approximately $2.3 billion while also reducing Crescent Point's net debt to adjusted funds flow ratio by approximately 0.3 times. The Company continues to retain significant liquidity and unutilized credit capacity with no material near-term debt maturities. Crescent Point currently expects to allocate approximately $50 million of proceeds from this disposition for additional share repurchases subsequent to closing and subject to market conditions. Given the anticipated timing for closing of the sale of the Assets in first quarter 2020, the Company's 2019 budget continues to assume a total of approximately $125 million of share repurchases. Crescent Point continues to be active in achieving this 2019 target and has repurchased, for cancellation, approximately 16.3 million shares year-to-date 2019 for total consideration of approximately $83 million, up to and including November 13, 2019.

17:00 EST Sysco raises quarterly diviend to 45c from 39c per share - The new dividend is payable on Jan. 24, 2020, to common stockholders of record at the close of business on Jan. 3, 2020.

16:51 EST Greenlight raises stake in Brighthouse, cuts stake in Dillard's - David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of September 30, 2019. Greenlight's one new buy during the third quarter was NeuBase Therapeutics (NBSE). Greenlight exited four positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV), KAR Auction Services (KAR), Valaris (VAL), and Cars.com (CARS). Greenlight increased its stake in four holdings, including by size of previous position, Brighthouse Financial (BHF), Chemours (CC), General Motors (GM), and Adient (ADNT). Greenlight reduced its stake in one holding, Dillard's (DDS). Greenlight's top holdings as of September 30, in order of size, were Green Brick (GRBK), General Motors, AerCap (AER), Brighthouse, and Chemours.

16:47 EST Pennsylvania American Water to acquire Kane Authority wastewater assets - Pennsylvania American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the wastewater assets of the Borough of Kane Authority in McKean County for approximately $17.5M. The Authority's wastewater system serves nearly 2,100 customers in Kane Borough and Wetmore Township.

16:41 EST Soros adds to Celgene position, lowers Caesars stake, exits Disney - George Soros' Soros Fund Management disclosed in an SEC filing its holdings as of September 30, 2019. Soros' 28 new buys during the third quarter included, by size of position, Peloton (PTON), Alcon (ALC), Ally Financial (ALLY), and Owl Rock Capital (ORCC). Soros exited 33 positions during the quarter, including by size of previous position, Disney (DIS), Vulcan Materials (VMC), and Conagra Brands (CAG). Soros increased its stake in 20 holdings, including by size of previous position, Celgene (CELG), Edgewell Personal Care (EPC), Vistra Energy (VST), Annaly Capital (NLY), and Citigroup (C). Soros reduced its stake in 22 holdings, including by size of previous position, Caesars Entertainment (CZR), Vici Properties (VICI), Morgan Stanley (MS), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), and Liberty Broadband (LBRDK). Soros' top holdings as of September 30, in order of size, were Liberty Broadband, Vici Properties, Caesars Entertainment, Celgene, and Alphabet (GOOGL).

16:31 EST Old Line Bancshares, WesBanco announce regulatory approval for merger - WesBanco (WSBC) and Old Line Bancshares (OLBK) jointly announced that they have received all necessary regulatory approvals for the pending merger between WesBanco and Old Line whereby WesBanco will acquire Old Line. On October 29, the stockholders of Old Line and the shareholders of WesBanco each approved the transaction at their respective special meetings. WesBanco and Old Line expect that the closing of the merger will occur on or about November 22, although completion of the merger remains subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

16:31 EST WesBanco, Old Line announce approval of merger - WesBanc (WSBC) and Old Line Bancshares (OLBK), the parent company of Old Line Bank, a Maryland-chartered trust company with the powers of a commercial bank, jointly announced today that they have received all necessary regulatory approvals for the pending merger between WesBanco and Old Line whereby WesBanco will acquire Old Line. On October 29, 2019, the stockholders of Old Line and the shareholders of WesBanco each approved the transaction at their respective special meetings. WesBanco and Old Line expect that the closing of the merger will occur on or about November 22, 2019, although completion of the merger remains subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

16:28 EST CNO Financial announces additional $500 share repurchase program - CNO Financial announced that its board of directors has approved an additional $500M to repurchase the company's outstanding common stock. As of September 30, CNO had repurchased $177.3M of common stock in 2019 and had remaining repurchase capacity under the buyback program of approximately $107M.

16:26 EST Nvidia reports Q4 Gaming segment revenue $1.66B, down 6% from last year - Reports Q4 Data Center segment revenue $726M, down 8% from last year. Tegra Processor business revenue, which includes Automotive, SoC modules for gaming platforms, and embedded edge AI platforms, - was $449M, up 10% from a year ago and down 5% sequentially.

16:22 EST Starboard adds 7M shares of Box in Q3, exits Cars.com and Dollar Tree - Jeffrey Smith's Starboard Value disclosed in a regulatory filing its holdings as of September 30, 2019. Starboard made one new buys in the quarter: 6.97M shares of Box (BOX). The fund exited five positions during the quarter: Cars.com (CARS), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Marvell Technology (MRVL), Natus Medical (NTUS) and KAR Auction (KAR). Starboard increased its stake in three holdings: NortonLifeLock (NLOK), Aecom (ACM) and Cerner (CERN). The fund reduced its stake in six holdings, including by size, Perrigo (PRGO), Advance Auto Parts (AAP), RPM International (RPM), eBay (EBAY) and comScore (SCOR). Starboard's top holdings as of September 30, in order of size, were NortonLifeLock, Advance Auto Parts, Perrigo, Cerner and iShares Russell 2000 Value Index (IWN).

16:21 EST Nvidia CEO says gaming business and hyperscale demand powered Q3 results - CEO Jensen Huang says: "Our gaming business and demand from hyperscale customers powered Q3's results. The realism of computer graphics is taking a giant leap forward with NVIDIA RTX. This quarter, we have laid the foundation for where AI will ultimately make the greatest impact. We extended our reach beyond the cloud, to the edge, where GPU-accelerated 5G, AI and IoT will revolutionize the world's largest industries. We see strong data center growth ahead, driven by the rise of conversational AI and inference."

16:19 EST RH up 7% in afterhours trading after Buffett's Berkshire discloses stake

16:16 EST Gulf Island Fabrication board Chairman Jack Laborde to step down - Gulf Island Fabrication announced that Jack Laborde has informed the board of his intention to step down as Chairman of the Board following the 2020 annual shareholders' meeting. As set forth in the company's corporate governance guidelines, the corporate governance and nominating committee will review and recommend a new Chairman for the Board of Directors to consider.

16:15 EST Icahn bought 62.9M shares of HP, 54.8M shares of Cloudera in Q3 - Carl Icahn disclosed in a regulatory filing his holdings as of September 30, 2019. Icahn made two new buys in the third quarter: 62.9M shares of HP Inc. (HPQ) and 54.8M shares of Cloudera (CLDR). Icahn increased his holdings in four names: Hertz (HTZ), Caesars (CZR), Conduent (CNDT) and Icahn Enterprises (IEP). He decreased his holdings in three names: Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Cheniere Energy (LNG) and Freeport McMoRan (FCX). Icahn's top five holdings as of September 30 were Icahn Enterprises, CVR Energy (CVI), Herbalife Nutrition (HLF), Caesars and Cheniere Energy.

16:11 EST Natural Grocers announces initial dividend of 7c per share - To be paid on December 17 to all stockholders of record at the close of business on December 2.

16:09 EST Repay Holdings reports Q3 card payment volume up 40% at $2.6B - Q3 adjusted EBITDA was $11.9M, up 29% from last year.

16:08 EST Ascendis Pharma announces protocal addendum to expand PaTH Forward trial - Ascendis Pharma announced a protocol addendum designed to facilitate enrollment of subjects previously treated with Natpara or injection in the United States in PaTH Forward, a global phase 2 trial evaluating the safety, tolerability and efficacy of TransCon PTH in adult subjects with hypoparathyroidism, or HP. TransCon PTH is an investigational long-acting prodrug of parathyroid hormone in development as a potential once-daily replacement therapy for HP. Previously, patients treated with Natpara were required to undergo a long washout period prior to entering screening in PaTH Forward. In response to the recent recall of Natpara in the U.S. Ascendis has been evaluating pathways to help enroll patients affected by the recall. Under the protocol addendum, patients previously treated with Natpara in the U.S. will now have an expedited pathway to enroll in PaTH Forward. As a result, the company expects to exceed targeted enrollment of 40 subjects in the trial.

16:04 EST Oncternal Therapeutics presents dnterim data on TK216 in Ewing Sarcoma patients - Oncternal Therapeutics announced the presentation of interim clinical data from its ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating TK216, a first-in-class, targeted, investigational small-molecule inhibitor of the E26 transformation-specific family of oncoproteins, in patients with relapsed or refractory Ewing sarcoma. Paul A. Meyers, M.D., Chief, Pediatric Sarcoma Service and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, reported at the Connective Tissue Oncology Society 2019 Annual Meeting in Tokyo, Japan that one of two patients treated in the current, highest exposure dose cohort of Study TK216-01 is without evidence of Ewing sarcoma after eight months on study, and has tolerated treatments with TK216 alone or combined with vincristine well. One of two patients treated at the current, highest exposure dose regimen has experienced a deep and sustained clinical response to TK216. Multiple lung nodules regressed following two cycles of TK216 alone. After six months of treatment that included concomitant vincristine starting in the third cycle, a single 7 mm lung nodule was resected, resulting in a surgical complete remission. The patient remains with no evidence of disease after eight months of treatment. TK216, with or without vincristine, has been well tolerated by this patient, with only minimal myelosuppression. Clinical pharmacology data suggest that this dosing regimen may result in drug levels that meet or exceed those that killed tumor cells in vitro and inhibited tumor growth in animal models. "We are encouraged by this first reported deep and sustained clinical response to TK216 in a patient with Ewing sarcoma in the dose-finding portion of our clinical trial and look forward to further evaluating the recommended Phase 2 dose regimen of TK216 in a larger number of patients with this devastating disease," said James Breitmeyer, M.D., Ph.D., Oncternal's President and CEO. "This first-in-class investigational agent may also be applicable in other malignancies driven by ETS alterations including AML and prostate cancer, which we continue to explore in preclinical studies."

15:57 EST T. Rowe Price reports preliminary approval from SEC for 'semi-transparent' ETFs - The Securities and Exchange Commission has granted preliminary exemptive relief to T. Rowe Price to offer semi-transparent exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, the company announced. " The relief paves the way for T. Rowe Price to bring to market ETFs that employ the firm's successful, longstanding actively managed investment approach. T. Rowe Price has been engaged in constructive dialogue with the SEC about the potential launch of semi-transparent active ETFs for several years and first filed for exemptive relief in 2013. While the preliminary SEC approval clears an important hurdle toward T. Rowe Price offering ETFs, additional regulatory steps must take place before the firm can launch any ETFs. T. Rowe Price is still determining which investment strategies may be available as semi-transparent ETFs, though it will begin by offering certain U.S. equity strategies. The semi-transparent structure, which is an alternative to the daily portfolio disclosure structure used by conventional transparent ETFs, would allow T. Rowe Price to deliver its active strategies in an ETF wrapper without disclosing information that could be harmful to the interests of fund shareholders," T. Rowe stated.

15:49 EST ThermoGenesis postpones Q3 earnings release and call to Nov. 19 - ThermoGenesis Holdings (THMO), formerly known as Cesca Therapeutics (KOOL), announced it will delay its third quarter ended September 30, 2019 earnings release and subsequent earnings conference call, previously scheduled for today to Tuesday, November 19, 2019. A conference call and webcast will follow at 4:30 pm ET. The company will file a Form 12B-25 with the Securities Exchange Commission to extend its filing deadline for five calendar days until Tuesday, November 19, 2019 for its 10-Q third quarter report. "The delay in filing is to allow for additional time to address complex accounting issues, including the completion of a third-party valuation related to the convertible note issued by the company in the quarter ended September 30," the company stated.

15:40 EST Microsoft says Project xCloud preview coming to Windows 10 users in 2020 - Microsoft said in its Inside Xbox event livestream that a preview for its Project xCloud streaming service will be available for Windows 10 users in 2020. The company also said Project xCloud on PC will be compatible with multiple different kinds of controller.

15:33 EST Michaels announces three executive leadership team changes - The Michaels Companies announced changes in its executive leadership team. Vidya Jwala has been appointed to the newly created role of Chief Customer Officer, Scott Lindblom has been promoted to executive VP - Chief Information Officer, and Holly Shaskey-Platek has been promoted to executive VP - Chief Human Resources Officer. Jwala comes to Michaels from Dick's Sporting Goods, where he was the Chief eCommerce and Supply Chain Officer. Lindblom has been with Michaels for 5 years, most recently serving as Senior Vice President - CIO. Shaskey-Platek has been with The Michaels Companies since 2017, when she joined as Senior Vice President - Merchandise Operations and subsequently served as Senior Vice President - Human Resources.

15:21 EST Pot stocks 'up in smoke' after latest earnings casualty Cronos Group - Shares of marijuana stocks are falling after another Canadian pot company reported quarterly results that disappointed investors. In its quarterly report, Canopy Growth (CGC), considered one of the leaders in the sector, reported net revenue of almost C$77M, 15% lower than the almost C$91M reported last quarter. CANNABIS DISAPPOINTMENT: In a report out earlier this week, Bill Kirk of MKM Partners said he sees today to be "book ended with cannabis disappointment." Kirk was referring to Thursday as a day that two significant marijuana companies report quarterly results. Canopy reported before the market open and is down significantly heading into the close. Aurora (ACB) results are expected after the bell tonight. The MKM analyst said in his note that he doesn't think either company will show meaningful top-line improvement due to inventory held leading to prices falling. Kirk added that "Aurora is unlikely to be EBITDA positive by June 2020 as consensus expects." Canopy Growth's CEO Mark Zekulin confirmed MKM's inventory concerns. "The last two quarters have been challenging for the Canadian cannabis sector as provinces have reduced purchases to lower inventory levels, retail store openings have fallen short of expectations, and Cannabis 2.0 products are yet to come to market." PRICE ACTION: Canopy Growth is trading 13.4% lower in afternoon trading to just over $16.00 per share. OTHER MARIJUANA RELATED STOCKS: Shares of other marijuana-related names are all lower in the final hour, including ETFMG Alternative Harvest (MJ), Tilray (TLRY), Aphria (APHA), Hexo (HEXO) Constellation Brands (STZ), and Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG).

14:28 EST Ford names new all-electric SUV the Mustang Mach-E - Ford said that its all-new, all-electric SUV will don the iconic pony badge and the name Mustang Mach-E when reservations for the vehicle open after it is revealed this Sunday. The all-electric Mustang Mach-E will make its debut Nov. 17 at an event in Los Angeles that will be streamed on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Autohome. Special guest, actor Idris Elba, will help introduce the latest addition to the Mustang family. Reservations for the vehicle will open immediately following the broadcast.

14:07 EST Nielsen announces expanded analytic relationship with General Mills - Nielsen (NLSN) announced details around its "growing" analytic relationship with General Mills (GIS), stating that General Mills will "advance its analytic cogency through Nielsen's new Connect platform within the U.S. and will expand its international service engagements within key global markets."

14:01 EST Motorola Solutions increases quarterly dividend 12% - Motorola Solutions announced that its board has increased its regular quarterly dividend by 12% to 64c per share. The next quarterly dividend will be payable in cash on January 15, 2020, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 13, 2019.

13:32 EST Dean Foods receives court approval of 'first day' motions to support operations - Dean Foods announced that it has received approvals from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas for the "First Day" motions related to the company's voluntary Chapter 11 petitions filed on November 12, 2019. The Court granted Dean Foods interim approval to access up to $475M of the $850M in committed debtor-in-possession financing from certain of its existing lenders, which along with cash on hand and operating cash flows is expected to be sufficient to support the company's continued operations during this process. Among other things, the Court has authorized the company to continue paying employee wages and benefits without interruption and making payments to suppliers and vendors in full under normal terms for goods and services provided on or after November 12, 2019. Eric Beringause, President and CEO of Dean Foods, said, "We appreciate the swift action by the Court to approve these motions, which will enable us to continue operating as normal. As we move through this process, we remain focused on providing customers with wholesome, great-tasting dairy products and the highest levels of quality, service and value. I would also like to thank our employees, customers, dairy providers, lenders and other partners for their continued support."

13:02 EST MDU Resources increases quarterly dividend - The MDU Resources Group board increased the company's quarterly common stock dividend to 20.75c per share, for an annualized dividend of 83c per share. The previous quarterly dividend was 20.25c per share. The quarterly dividends are payable January 1, 2020, to stockholders of record December 12, 2019.

12:28 EST Amazon announces expansion of workforce in Las Vegas - Amazon announced an expansion of the company's workforce in Las Vegas with plans to create 125 additional corporate jobs in the city. "To accommodate this growth, the company recently opened a new 30,000 square foot office in Town Square in downtown Las Vegas. This expansion will allow Amazon to more than double its corporate workforce in the area - with teams based in the new Las Vegas office supporting the company's Human Resources organization," Amazon stated.

12:23 EST Precipio announces $750K project win with 'large healthcare company' - Precipio announced a "substantial biomarker project with a large healthcare company that will generate significant revenue over the next two quarters." Precipio expects the project to be completed by the end of Q1 2020. Stephen Miller, Precipio's Chief Commercial Officer, said, "With the exception of the recent quarter, we have had ongoing profitable revenue from our pharma clients. We are confident that our pharma project pipeline will continue to generate substantial revenue in the coming quarters." The company's headline for its announcement identifies the opportunity as a "$750,000 pharma project."

12:00 EST Canopy Growth falls -15.6% - Canopy Growth is down -15.6%, or -$2.88 to $15.62.

12:00 EST Contura Energy falls -44.1% - Contura Energy is down -44.1%, or -$8.04 to $10.20.

12:00 EST Ping Identity rises 14.5% - Ping Identity is up 14.5%, or $2.40 to $18.91.

11:52 EST Accenture announces intent to acquire consulting firm Silveo - Accenture has announced its intent to acquire Silveo, a French consulting company that provides solutions and services for supply chains and manufacturing. Silveo would join Accenture Industry X.0, the part of Accenture that uses digital technologies to improve how companies engineer and manufacture products and services and operate industrial facilities, the company said. "Adding the capabilities of Silveo would enhance Accenture's ability to help clients reinvent their manufacturing and supply chain processes faster. This is important for manufacturers whose customers are demanding increasingly more personalized products and services," Accenture added. The acquisition requires prior consultation with the relevant works councils and would be subject to customary closing conditions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

11:14 EST Boeing moves to session high, up 1.3% to $367.30

10:24 EST New Media, Gannett shareholders approve merger agreement - New Media Investment Group (NEWM) and Gannett Co. (GCI) jointly announced that at their respective special shareholder meetings held today, New Media and Gannett stockholders approved all of the proposals necessary to complete the previously announced acquisition of Gannett by New Media for a combination of cash and stock. New Media and Gannett expect to complete the Merger on November 19.

10:05 EST Stilwell Group says Wheeler REIT CEO is 'being misleading' about meeting - The Stilwell Group, the largest shareholder of Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, announced that it delivered an open letter to shareholders of the Company. The letter said, in part, "We've finally heard from our Company in its November 8th letter to shareholders. It's no surprise to see misleading information. During the 2018 quarterly earnings calls, WHLR CEO, Dave Kelly, seemed to re-read a script when addressing WHLR's suspension of dividend payments; First Quarter: 'And for our shareholders, we want to return to a dividend-paying REIT. All of which are ways to establish our primary goal: maximizing shareholder value....Suspending the dividend was a difficult decision, but it was a necessary step to maintain the cash we need to shore up our balance sheet.' Third Quarter: 'And for our shareholders, we want to return to a dividend-paying REIT, all of which are ways to establish our primary goal: maximizing shareholder value. While we intend to return to being a dividend-paying REIT, we will not do so until we can demonstrate sustainable cash flows that support a consistent dividend.' Fourth Quarter: 'As we've consistently stated in the past, our objective is to be a grocery-anchored dividend-paying REIT. We believe that this is the surest path to restoring shareholder value. While we intend to return to being a dividend-paying REIT, we will not do so until we can demonstrate sustainable cash flows that support a consistent dividend.'...and then he suspended the earnings calls. Mr. Kelly is now being equally misleading about the meeting at our office on October 8th. Having personally attended the meeting, I can attest to what really happened. Joe Stilwell did not end the meeting until Dave Kelly threatened Joe 'if he persisted with the proxy contest.' The truth is, we came to a verbal agreement with WHLR to cancel this contest in exchange for three WHLR board seats and to work to maximize shareholder value. Joe signed the final, negotiated written agreement in August. Instead of countersigning, Mr. Kelly spent two more months trying to keep the largest WHLR shareholder out of the boardroom. To boot, WHLR is stonewalling us in our attempt to gather information on the rather rotten situation at Sea Turtle. We recently had to go to court just to obtain documents that we, as shareholders, are rightfully entitled to. Given the substantial efforts undertaken and expenses incurred by the Company just to prevent us from exercising our rights under the law, we can only imagine everything Dave Kelly is hiding on the Sea Turtle fiasco! Mr. Kelly seems to have a tenuous relationship with the truth. Unfortunately, we've all suffered. Please vote the GREEN card TODAY to take Dave Kelly off the WHLR board and begin to maximize shareholder value."

10:00 EST Canopy Growth falls -14.4% - Canopy Growth is down -14.4%, or -$2.67 to $15.83.

10:00 EST Teekay LNG rises 15.9% - Teekay LNG is up 15.9%, or $2.25 to $16.43.

10:00 EST Dillard's rises 23.6% - Dillard's is up 23.6%, or $15.98 to $83.79.

09:47 EST Beazer Homes falls -7.3% - Beazer Homes is down -7.3%, or -$1.07 to $13.60.

09:47 EST Griffon rises 15.3% - Griffon is up 15.3%, or $3.33 to $25.06.

09:47 EST Ping Identity rises 23.2% - Ping Identity is up 23.2%, or $3.83 to $20.34.

09:36 EST PAVmed enters license, shareholder agreements with Airware, Liquid Sensing - PAVmed announced the Company and its newly formed subsidiary, Solys Diagnostics, have entered into definitive license and shareholder agreements with Airware and its newly formed subsidiary Liquid Sensing, to develop and commercialize non-invasive diagnostic products using Nondispersive Infrared laser technology developed by laser technology pioneer Dr. Jacob Wong, founder and CEO of Airware. NDIR laser technology, secured by intellectual property covered under the license agreement, promises to fulfill a decades-long goal of noninvasively measuring glucose, electrolytes and other important biochemical substances in patients, without the need for blood draws, needle sticks or other invasive maneuvers. These technologies have broad applications and large market opportunities in both inpatient settings, where millions of patients undergo frequent blood draws to monitor glucose and other substances, and outpatient settings, where tens of millions of patients use multiple finger sticks daily to manage their diabetes.

09:29 EST Precipio announces preliminary results from IV-Cell Media comparative study - Precipio announced preliminary results shared by two independent laboratories conducting testing of IV-Cell Media in a side-by-side parallel study comparing it to the media currently used by these laboratories. Both laboratories conducted a multi-sample study to evaluate the clinical and operational performance of IV-Cell, as part of their assessment to convert to using IV-Cell exclusively. One laboratory reported that in a case tested, an abnormality was identified in the translocation of chromosomes 15 and 17, an abnormality indicative of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, or APL. This translocation was found only when IV-Cell was applied to the cell culture. APL is an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia that cannot be definitively diagnosed without the identification of this translocation. The same sample was cultured using the laboratory's current media and the translocation was not identified due to inferior results of their current media. In this situation, using the existing media the pathologist would not have been able to diagnose the patient with Leukemia based on the cell culture created. By analyzing the culture using IV-Cell, a cytogeneticist would clearly identify this as an abnormality associated with Leukemia, providing the diagnosing pathologist with pertinent information to make the definitive diagnosis of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. This is a finding that demonstrates the clinical value of IV-Cell media. A second laboratory sharing results of its testing also presented superior results for IV-Cell media when compared to their existing media used. The results showed improved performance in terms of mitotic index and banding resolution, two quality indicators critical to successful cell culturing. Furthermore, the laboratory also measured the labor time required to set up and run the culture using IV-Cell versus their existing culture. The results showed an average reduction of three plus hours of labor time per case using IV-Cell.

09:26 EST Tribune Publishing declares inital quarterly cash dividend of 25c per share - Tribune Publishing Company announced that its Board of Directors has approved the initiation of a cash dividend program under which Tribune Publishing intends to declare regular quarterly cash dividends to its shareholders. In conjunction therewith, Tribune Publishing's Board of Directors has declared an initial quarterly cash dividend of 25c per share of common stock. The initial dividend will be payable on December 10, 2019, to Tribune Publishing shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 25, 2019.

09:22 EST Acme United board approves stock repurchase program up to 200,000 shares - Acme United Corporation announced that its Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase program of up to 200,000 of its outstanding common stock. The Company may also repurchase up to 17,999 shares under a repurchase program announced on November 22, 2010.

09:20 EST Gevo enters into fuel sales agreement with Scandinavian Airline System - Gevo announced it has signed a Fuel Sales Agreement with Scandinavian Airline System to produce and supply sustainable aviation fuel for use and distribution in low carbon fuel regions of the United States. With the finalization of this new supply contract, Gevo will supply SAF to SAS from Gevo's expanded Luverne, Minnesota plant, which is expected to be constructed over the next several years. For every gallon of SAF produced, Gevo also produces approximately 10 pounds of protein that goes into the food supply chain and can sequester up to 2 pounds of carbon dioxide as carbon into the soil, making it one of the only renewable jet fuel producers to produce both food and fuel while sequestering carbon dioxide and lowering the GHG emissions as compared to traditional fossil-based jet fuel. In addition to adding food back into the food chain, Gevo will also be more transparent with its sustainability practices by utilizing blockchain technology to track its sustainable agriculture efforts.

09:19 EST Diana Shipping announces direct continuation of contract for m/v Medusa - Diana Shipping has entered into a time charter contract with Cargill International S.A., Geneva, for one of its Kamsarmax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Medusa. The gross charter rate is US$11,000 per day, minus a 4.75% commission paid to third parties, for a period of about eleven months to maximum thirteen months. The new charter period is expected to commence on November 15, 2019. The "Medusa" is a 82,194 dwt Kamsarmax dry bulk vessel built in 2010. This employment is anticipated to generate approximately $3.47M of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.

09:17 EST Cisco's Robbins says CEO confidence waning on trade, Brexit uncertainties - Chuck Robbins is speaking on CNBC.

09:17 EST Livongo Health says study demonstrates sustained blood pressure reduction - Livongo Health announced the findings of a study that demonstrated people with both diabetes and high blood pressure who used the Livongo for Hypertension solution and the Livongo for Diabetes solution on an integrated platform saw sustained clinically-significant blood pressure reduction after only four weeks and experienced further improvements after using the program for twelve weeks. In addition, Livongo Members who checked their blood pressure more frequently using Livongo's connected blood pressure monitoring technology experienced additional improvement for both systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure reduction. The research findings will be presented on November 16, 2019 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions being held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nearly 20 percent of people living with hypertension report access-to-care challenges and are offered little guidance outside of the time they spend in a doctor's office. Without continued support, many people with high blood pressure do not understand how behavioral and lifestyle changes affect their blood pressure. At home blood pressure monitoring is proven to provide context on care routines, help predict health complications, and allows easier access to remote coaching2 or other clinical interventions. Livongo Member participants who had starting blood pressure higher than 130/80 mm Hg, saw their systolic blood pressure decline by an average of 10.2 mm Hg at four weeks which was maintained and continued to decrease to a final reduction of 12.7 mmHg by week 12. Multivariable regression analysis identified that age, baseline blood pressure, and frequency of blood pressure readings were associated with a reduction in blood pressure. The 1,690 Livongo Members had an average age of 54 years and 47 percent of them were women. At study entry, all of them lived with diabetes and 63 percent had blood pressure higher than 130/80 mm Hg, the threshold for a diagnosis of stage 1 high blood pressure according to the revised guideline issued in 2017 by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. All participants received a Livongo for Hypertension blood pressure monitor and cuff that connected wirelessly with Livongo's smartphone app. After participants measured their blood pressure, the readings were automatically transmitted to Livongo's Applied Health Signals platform where participants could review their results and get tips on managing their blood pressure through actions such as: quitting smoking, following a healthy eating pattern, getting more physical activity, and reducing their weight. The Livongo app also enabled participants to compare their blood-pressure readings over time, schedule a call with a Livongo health coach, and share their results with family members, friends, or healthcare providers.

09:17 EST Performance Food Group appoints Erika Davis CHRO, Don Bulmer CIO - Performance Food Group (PFGC) announced Erika Davis, formerly with Owens & Minor (OMI), is now PFG's chief human resources officer, or CHRO and Don Bulmer, formerly with PFG's Vistar division, is now the company's chief information officer, or CIO. Both report to George Holm, chairman, president & CEO.

09:13 EST zTrip places additional order fo Digital Ally's DVM-250, FleetVu manager - Digital Ally announced a contract extension and upgrade with zTrip or the Company's DVM-250 in-car video event recorder and video management platform, FleetVu Manager. zTrip will now implement nearly 300 DVM-250 units integrated with FleetVu Manager in Jacksonville, FL and will upgrade an additional 125 units in West Palm Beach, FL. zTrip, North America's largest taxicab company with a fleet of more than 5,000 vehicles in 19 U.S. cities, continues to set the standard for driver and passenger safety, technology innovations and customer service. As a long-standing customer of Digital Ally, zTrip has seen the long and short-term return on its investment since the implementation of the Company's DVM-250 video event recorder and FleetVu Manager platform.

09:11 EST Viacom: 'We're making enough TV to supply our needs, 3rd-parties' - Viacom management said "the third-party demand for our content is incredible."

09:10 EST Zealand Pharma 'on track' for HypoPal NDA submission in early 2020 - Primary and all key secondary endpoints achieved in pediatric Phase 3 study with dasiglucagon HypoPal rescue pen, thereby completing the Phase 3 program and keeping on track for submission of U.S. FDA New Drug Application in early 2020.

09:06 EST Medici Ventures joins Sovrin Alliance to promote self-sovereign identity - Medici Ventures has joined the Sovrin Alliance to support the infrastructure of the Sovrin Network and promote self-sovereign identity for all. The Sovrin Alliance is a function of the Sovrin Foundation, which is an independent organization focused on the advancement of self-sovereign identity supporting the governance of the Sovrin Network technology platform. The Sovrin Alliance brings together a community of developers, enterprises, business and government leaders, NGOs, Sovrin Foundation staff, and volunteers to serve the needs of identity holders everywhere. As a member of the Sovrin Alliance, Medici Ventures receives valuable access to self-sovereign identity expertise, including education and trainings, access to developers and other resources, and networking opportunities.

09:05 EST Microsoft, Salesforce expand strategic partnership - Microsoft (MSFT) and Salesforce (CRM) announced plans to expand their strategic partnership to help customers meet the evolving needs of their businesses and boost team productivity. Salesforce has named Microsoft Azure as its public cloud provider for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Salesforce will also build a new integration that connects Salesforce's Sales Cloud and Service Cloud with Microsoft Teams.

09:02 EST Lionsgate, Amazon.com enter UK output deal - Amazon (AMZN) announced that it has struck a new deal with Lionsgate (LGF.A, LGF.B) to be the UK's first window streaming home to the studio's recently released and upcoming theatrical feature films. The multi-year deal, which begins on 1st January 2020, will enable Prime members in the UK, or those subscribing to the monthly standalone Prime Video service offer, to access exciting, star-driven Lionsgate hits like Angel Has Fallen, Rambo: Last Blood and Lionsgate UK's The Personal History of David Copperfield. The agreement also encompasses eagerly-anticipated upcoming Lionsgate films such as the critically-acclaimed Knives Out, the action epic Midway and the buzzy Bombshell.

09:01 EST Ribbon Communications announces departure of CEO Franklin Hobbs - Ribbon Communications announced the departure of its President and CEO Franklin Hobbs, effective November 14. The Board has appointed Steven Bruny, Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Services, and Kevin Riley, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, as Interim Co-Presidents and CEOs. Bruny and Riley will assume Hobbs' duties while Ribbon's Board of Directors works with One Degree Partners, a leading global executive search firm, to recruit a new CEO for Ribbon.

08:59 EST PDL BioPharma responds to escalation of Engine Capital's public campaign - PDL BioPharma issued the following statement in response to Engine Capital's escalation of its public campaign criticizing PDL's strategic direction: "PDL values shareholder input and invited Engine to present its views to members of our Board yesterday. It's unfortunate that Engine decided to escalate its public campaign less than 24 hours after the meeting rather than give the Board a meaningful opportunity to consider its most recent presentation. PDL's Board and management team are steadfast in their commitment to acting in the best interests of all PDL shareholders and in September began working with an external financial advisor to provide an independent strategic and financial review of PDL's business, including many of the topics that Engine has raised. This review is ongoing, and the Board will consider suggestions from the company's shareholders, including Engine, as part of its deliberations. Recently, the Board has taken significant steps to build value for all shareholders, including repurchasing $155 million, or almost 32%, of PDL common stock since March 2017. Further, since June 2018, PDL has replaced 50% of its Board with the appointments of four new directors, significantly reducing the Board's average tenure. Three of the new directors are independent and two of the new independent directors increased the diversity of the Board. The company's Board, which is comprised of directors with vast experience in areas important to PDL's business and who have served as executives at some of the world's largest biopharmaceutical and biotech companies, will evaluate the results of the independent review. The Board and management team are confident that the actions the company has taken, and will continue to take, best position PDL to enhance value to all of the company's shareholders. PDL looks forward to continuing its dialogue with all of its shareholders, including Engine, as it works to enhance shareholder value."

08:53 EST Apple announces users can enroll in three health studies through Research app - Apple announced that customers in the U.S. can enroll in three health studies - the Apple Women's Health Study, the Apple Heart and Movement Study, and the Apple Hearing Study. Conducted in partnership with academic and research institutions, these multi-year longitudinal studies are available in the new Research app, which can be downloaded from the App Store. Now participants can contribute to medical discoveries with iPhone and Apple Watch. The studies allow users to contribute to medical research through an enrollment process and engaging tasks. After enrolling in a study, participants using Apple Watch and iPhone can contribute data around movement, heart rate and noise levels, captured during everyday activities. There is an opportunity to better understand menstrual cycles and how they relate to women's health. The Apple Women's Health Study is the first long-term study of this scale and scope; it aims to advance the understanding of menstrual cycles and their relationship to various health conditions, including polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, infertility, osteoporosis and menopausal transition. Conducted in partnership with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the study will use iPhone and Apple Watch to collect study-specific data like cycle tracking information, and use monthly surveys to understand each participant's unique menstrual experience. The study seeks to analyze the impact of certain behaviors and habits on a breadth of reproductive health topics. Measuring the quality and quantity of a person's movement can provide insight into their current and future health status. The Apple Heart and Movement Study is a broad study of factors that affect heart health and potentially cause deterioration in mobility or overall well-being, in an effort to promote healthy movement and improved cardiovascular health. Users can participate by using the Research app on their iPhone and recording workouts on their Apple Watch Series 1 or later. With Brigham and Women's Hospital and the American Heart Association, Apple is taking on this study to understand how certain mobility signals and details about heart rate and rhythm could serve as potential early warning signs of atrial fibrillation, heart disease or declining mobility, to build new interventions that could help consumers lead longer, healthier and more active lives.2 The impact of sound exposure on hearing health and stress levels over time is not well understood. The Apple Hearing Study will collect headphone usage and environmental sound exposure data through iPhone and the Noise app on Apple Watch, in order to explore how both can impact hearing over time. Alongside the University of Michigan, the study will also determine how long-term sound exposure can impact stress levels and cardiovascular health. Participants will be randomly assigned to two groups within the study to assess if receiving Health app notifications when loud sound exposure is detected can motivate users to modify their listening behaviors. Data from the study will also be shared with the World Health Organization's Make Listening Safe initiative to raise awareness of safe listening practices with the aim of reducing hearing loss.

08:51 EST Teladoc earns two telehealth accreditations from ClearHealth Quality Institute - Teladoc Health announced it has earned two accreditations through ClearHealth Quality Institute's Telemedicine Accreditation Program. The company gained independent accreditation for both its Consumer-to-Provider services for acute care needs, as well as its Provider-to-Consumer services, which focus on the ongoing provider/patient relationship when treating specialty and chronic conditions, including mental health.

08:47 EST Sienna Biopharmaceuticals says Nasdaq panel grants request for continued listing - Sienna Biopharmaceuticals announced that, on November 12, 2019, the Nasdaq Hearings Panel granted the Company's request for continued listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market, subject to certain conditions, including the following: On or before December 5, 2019, the Company shall update the Panel regarding the results of the Chapter 11 auction process currently being conducted under the jurisdiction of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The Company shall also provide a timeline for completion of the transaction and/or delisting, or, in the alternative, details regarding the financing / reorganization. Based on the information provided, the Panel will evaluate whether the listing should be continued. On or before December 13, 2019, in the event the auction process results in an asset sale, the Company shall have completed the asset sale transaction. In the alternative, if the auction process results in a financing or reorganization plan with intent to emerge from bankruptcy, the Company shall provide the Panel with a submission detailing the plan and timeline going forward, as well as financial information regarding the ability of the post-bankruptcy entity to qualify for initial listing. The Panel will at that time evaluate whether the listing should be continued. There can be no assurances that Nasdaq will continue the Company's listing through the entire bankruptcy process or that there will be a successful auction process. In the interim, Sienna continues to manage and operate its business under the jurisdiction of the Court and in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. Sienna has retained Latham & Watkins as legal counsel and Cowen and Company as its investment bank to review financial and strategic alternatives with the goal of maximizing stakeholder value.

08:45 EST Sarepta announces collaboration, license agreement with StrideBio - arepta Therapeutics announced the signing of a collaboration and license agreement to develop in vivo AAV-based therapies for up to eight central nervous system and neuromuscular targets. Pursuant to the agreement, Sarepta is granted an exclusive license on selected targets to leverage StrideBio's novel, structure-driven capsid technology, intended to enhance specific tropism to tissues of interest and evade neutralizing antibodies. The parties also plan to focus on strategies intended to address re-dosing challenges in patients who have received AAV-delivered gene therapy. StrideBio will conduct all investigational new drug enabling research, development and manufacturing for the first four CNS targets, which are MECP2, SCN1A, UBE3A, and NPC1. Additionally, Sarepta will have an exclusive option to four additional targets based on StrideBio's capsid technology. StrideBio has created a growing portfolio of novel AAV capsids evolved in non-human primates that show reduced seroprevalence and potential for improved tropism to targeted tissues. Under the terms of the agreement, StrideBio will be responsible for AAV capsid development, non-clinical development and manufacturing of preclinical candidates to be selected for advancement into clinical studies. The parties will also share early clinical development activities for selected targets, with Sarepta responsible for late stage development and commercialization. A total of four initial targets are specified under the collaboration. StrideBio will receive a $48M upfront payment in the form of cash and Sarepta stock, in addition to significant future development, regulatory and commercial milestones for the four programs. StrideBio will also receive royalties on worldwide net sales of any commercial products developed through the collaboration. Sarepta has also obtained an exclusive option to expand the collaboration to include up to an additional four targets with an upfront payment of up to $42.5M along with future downstream milestone payments, while StrideBio has an option to obtain co-development and co-commercial rights to one of the collaboration targets. In addition, Sarepta has made a commitment to invest in StrideBio's next financing round. Further financial terms were not disclosed.

08:41 EST Agraflora Organics introduces organic lip balm SKU into 200 Gateway Newstands - AgraFlora Organics International announced the Company has received a purchase order from Gateway Newstands for its Whole Hemp Health organic lip balm SKU. Gateway's purchase order and subsequent listing of a secondary AgraFlora SKU secures additional high-visibility Canadian shelf space for the Company's expanding line of organic cannabis sativa seed oil infused consumer packaged goods. The Company was awarded approved supplier status by Gateway on October 9, 2019 and now boasts two unique SKUs on the shelves of Gateway's 200 high-traffic storefronts.

08:36 EST Immutep announces European patent grant for LAG525 antibody - Immutep announced the grant of patent no. 3116909 entitled "Antibody molecules to LAG-3 and uses thereof" by the European Patent Office. The claims of the patent are directed to LAG525, and to the use of LAG525 in the treatment of cancer and infectious disease. LAG525 is a humanised form of Immutep's IMP701 antibody that was originally developed by Immutep, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. The patent is co-owned by Novartis AG and Immutep S.A.S. and will expire on 13 March 2035.

08:33 EST Gulf Island Fabrication appoints Richard Heo as CEO - Gulf Island Fabrication announced that the Company's Board of Directors has appointed Richard Heo as President and CEO. Richard has also been appointed to serve as a Director of the Company. He will replace Kirk Meche, who has served as the Company's President and CEO since 2013. As previously announced, Kirk will assist the Company with the leadership transition. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of North, Central and South America for McDermott International (MDR).

08:31 EST Ribbon Communications to acquire ECI Telecom Group in cash and stock deal

08:30 EST Ribbon Communications trading halted, news pending

08:25 EST Transitional Research in Oncology initiates Phase I study for MT-5111 - Translational Research in Oncology announced enrollment of the first patient in a Phase I study with its partner Molecular Templates. This Phase I first-in-human study is an open-label, dose escalation and expansion study of MT-5111 given as monotherapy in subjects with HER2-positive solid tumors. The primary objective of the trial is to evaluate the safety and tolerability and determine the recommended Phase II dose of MT-5111 in subjects with advanced HER2-positive solid tumors.

08:19 EST Nokia, VMware expand partnership for large-scale, multi-cloud operations - Nokia (NOK) and VMware (VMW) announced an expanded partnership that includes the development of integrated solutions to support communications service providers' drive for operational improvements and cost efficiency through large-scale, multi-cloud operations. After years of working with virtual or cloud-based network functions in limited production deployments, CSPs need to build out these functions at scale to handle the increasing use of new data-intensive applications for tomorrow's 5G and edge computing use cases. Success of this strategy is dependent on seamless interoperability and efficient operations of cloud-based network functions. VMware and Nokia have a broad mutual customer base globally, across both companies' portfolios. Through the expanded partnership announced today, the two companies will advance the interoperability between Nokia software applications and VMware's Telco Cloud, including VMware vCloud NFV. Nokia and VMware will also increase their investments in a deeper partnership with technology collaboration and advanced research & development to develop integrated solutions. As a result, CSPs will be able to more easily meet their business and use case objectives, using VMware cloud infrastructure that is engineered to work together with Nokia virtualized and containerized network functions. Nokia and VMware have been working together to create seamless cloud redundancy by running Nokia's applications, such as Nokia Service Management Platform, on VMware's Telco Cloud platform and VMware HCX, an application mobility platform designed for simplifying application migration, workload rebalancing, and optimized disaster recovery across data centers and clouds. This will enable customers to embrace a multi-cloud strategy to unify network and IT environments and connect them to private enterprise clouds, edge clouds, and public clouds. Nokia will continue to focus on the technical certification of Nokia VNFs and software applications on VMware vCloud NFV platform through a dedicated, on-site VMware Ready for NFV Certification Lab. The new lab includes performance characterization to enable CSPs to properly configure their technology environments for the best results. With the Certification Lab, Nokia and VMware will serve customers in an accelerated fashion, keeping pace with new features and releases and enabling better roadmap alignment between the two companies' portfolios.

08:17 EST Auscrete announces 1-for-200 reverse stock split - Auscrete Corporation announced that it was performing a one for two hundred reverse stock split. This move was approved at a Company meeting recently. Company CEO, John Sprovieri, stated that, "Past problems for ASCK stemmed from using a convertible note for capital reflects the difficulty of obtaining investment financing when needed. ASCK has had to use backup funding from these sources and, as happened in the past, note holders ran rampant creating significant increases in the Company's issued stock. Fortunately, the notes are now all but completely exhausted" The adjustment only affects the number of shares per shareholder, while the equity per shareholder remains the same. It will make for a quicker move back to the OTC.QB thereby opening the Company's market to a much larger audience. This is in keeping the Company's mission of utilizing any and all opportunity that presents itself to enhance shareholder values for both near and long-term holders. The stock symbol, for the next 20 business days will carry the letter "D", as in ASCKD. After that, the "D" will drop off and the ASCK symbol returns. The company said, "The Board of Directors are looking past the split with optimism with of forecasts to be disclosed soon. Auscrete recently delivered the building panels for a 1520 sq. ft house locally using the former manufacturing equipment while waiting for their new equipment to arrive."

08:14 EST BioNTech expects to report data from Phase 1 trial of BNT114 in 1H20

08:13 EST BioNTech expects to initiate Phase 1/2 trial of BNT112 in 2H19

08:12 EST China Rapid Finance achieves key milestones for continued listing - China Rapid Finance announced two developments that mark significant progress in regaining compliance with the New York Stock Exchange's Continued Listing requirements. The Company completed its 2018 financial statement audit and filed its 2018 Annual Report on Form 20-F with the U.S. SEC. In addition, the company instructed its Depositary Bank to implement a ratio change for its American Depositary Shares. The new ratio will be 10 Class A ordinary shares per one ADS. The company expects the effective date for the ratio change will be on or around December 2, 2019; however, the exact date could change depending on the timing of SEC approval. Finally, the company announced that Dr. Po Wang will now focus on new business development in order to accelerate the company's growth and planned return to profitability. As a result, Dr. Wang's title was changed from Co-CEO to Executive Vice-President, New Ventures. Dr. Wang will remain on the Board as an executive director. A key element of the company's recovery plan is to partner with multiple financial services enterprises that can leverage the company's "decision-making" technology to better serve their large customer bases.

08:11 EST BioNTech expects to re-initiate Phase 1/2 trial of BNT321 in Q4

08:10 EST CME Group to launch Block Cheese futures and options in January, 2020 - CME Group announced that it will launch Block Cheese futures and options in January 2020, pending regulatory review. The new futures and options contracts will be cash-settled to the monthly average price for 40-lb. block cheddar cheese as reported by the USDA's National Dairy Products Sales Report with each contract representing the equivalent of 20,000 pounds of block cheddar cheese and the tick size of $0.001 per pound. Block Cheese futures and options will be listed with and subject to the rules and regulation of CME.

08:07 EST Rubius expects to report data from Phase 1b trial of RTX-134 in 1Q20

08:06 EST Insmed names Roger Adsett as COO, effective immediately - Insmed announced the promotion of Roger Adsett, the company's Chief Commercial Officer, to COO, effective immediately. In addition to his current responsibilities, Adsett will now assume responsibility for Insmed's overall business operations on a global basis in this newly created role. Adsett will continue to report to Will Lewis, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Insmed.

08:04 EST PhaseBio expects to initiate Phase 3 trial of PB2452 in 1Q20

08:03 EST PhaseBio expects presentation of PB2452 Phase 2a results in 1H20

07:57 EST Vaccinex announces award notice from the Alzheimer's Association - Vaccinex announced that it received notice of a $750,000 grant from the Alzheimer's Association under the 2020 Part the Cloud Program to evaluate its lead drug candidate, pepinemab, in Alzheimer's Disease. Eric Siemers, MD, will serve as Senior Medical Director of this 60 subject, randomized, placebo-controlled, multi-center clinical study which is expected to start enrolling in 2Q 2020. Top-line data is anticipated late 2021/early 2022. Vaccinex's plan for this study is based on evidence from Cohort A of its ongoing "SIGNAL" clinical trial in Huntington's disease that showed treatment with pepinemab prevented the characteristic loss of glucose transport in the brain during underlying HD disease progression as detected by conventional FDG-PET imaging. Uptake of glucose, the main source of energy in the brain, is also known to decline with underlying disease progression in Alzheimer's disease. In particular, previous studies in AD have shown that decline in glucose transport correlates with cognitive decline and, more recently, that FDG-PET is a superior indicator of cognitive performance compared to Abeta amyloid-PET in AD. Based on supporting preclinical data, Vaccinex believes that FDG-PET is a biomarker of underlying pathogenic transformation of astrocytes from normal function to an inflammatory state in which, among other important changes, they abandon their normal role in glucose transport. The important pathogenic role of inflammatory transformation of glial cells such as astrocytes in neurodegenerative disease progression has become the focus of considerable attention in AD research in recent years.

07:50 EST Revive Therapeutics announces joint venture with Herman Holdings - Revive Therapeutics announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to form a Joint Venture Partnership with Herman Holdings for the purpose of developing, producing, distributing, marketing and selling cannabis derivative products for the Canadian recreational cannabis market. The JV will formulate and develop all-natural gummies and solvent-less rosin vape cartridges with pesticide-free, non-irradiated flower supplied by our newly licensed partner Richmond Cannabis Co. and will also manufacture white labeled products for other cannabis companies for the Canadian market. The partnership is further enhanced with Joshua Herman joining Revive's Board at December's Annual General Meeting, if elected by shareholders.

07:48 EST Guardion Health Sciences sees adequate funding for operations through Dec. 2020 - Management believes that with net proceeds raised of approximately $12.1 million from the August and October offerings that the Company has adequate funding to pursue its planned business initiatives and operations through at least December 31, 2020.

07:37 EST Contura Energy cuts FY19 coal shipments view to 23.2M-24.6M from 23.9M-25.6M - "The company is adjusting its total 2019 coal shipments guidance to a range of 23.2 million to 24.6 million tons, from the previously announced range of 23.9 million to 25.6 million tons. CAPP - Met coal guidance is reduced to a range of 12.4 million to 13.0 million tons, from 12.8 million to 13.7 million tons, due to softer market conditions, especially in Europe and South America. NAPP shipments are now expected to be between 6.5 million and 6.9 million tons in 2019, down from 6.8 million to 7.2 million tons. The guidance range for CAPP - Thermal shipments remains unchanged at 4.3 million to 4.7 million tons."

07:34 EST VistaGen says AV-101 did not differentiate from placebo on Phase 2 endpoint - VistaGen Therapeutics announced topline results from the ELEVATE study, a Phase 2 study of AV-101, its NMDA receptor glycine site antagonist, as an adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder . In this study, the AV-101 treatment arm did not differentiate from placebo on the primary endpoint. As in prior clinical studies, AV-101 was well tolerated, with no psychotomimetic side effects or serious adverse events. "While we are disappointed with the topline results of the study, it is possible that efficacy may have been compromised by either insufficient transport of AV-101 across the blood brain barrier or subsequent inadequate concentrations of its active metabolite, 7-Cl-KYNA, in the brain. We will continue to examine the full dataset from this study to evaluate effects on other endpoints and pharmacokinetics, as well as consider both the upcoming results from a target engagement study and the potential impact of compelling new evidence from recent preclinical studies demonstrating substantial concentration increases of AV-101and 7-Cl-KYNA in the brain in rodent studies when AV-101 is administered in combination with probenecid, an FDA-approved anion transport inhibitor used adjunctively with numerous well-established medications to enhance efficacy," said Shawn Singh, CEO of VistaGen.

07:32 EST Walmart continuing to assess ongoing civil unrest in Chile - Walmart continues to assess the ongoing civil unrest in Chile and has not included any related potential discrete financial effects in its assumptions.

07:30 EST Exicure Inc trading resumes

07:26 EST Lifetime Brands outlines five-year financial objectives at Investor Day - Lifetime Brands will host its 2019 Investor Day, where it will provide an update on the significant progress made on the Company's strategic transformation and its long-term financial goals. The company said, "In presentations, Lifetime Brands will provide more detail on the areas of its business that are expected to drive meaningful value creation for shareholders, including: A leading portfolio of strong, recognizable brands with multi-channel growth opportunities in core end markets; Significant opportunities in adjacent durables categories for growth above end market growth rates; A best-in-class innovation engine to strategically drive growth and maintain industry leadership; A more focused and efficient global platform with scale and enhanced operational effectiveness; and Strong cash flow generation to enable financial flexibility. In presentation, Lifetime Brands will outline the following five-year financial objectives, which include non-GAAP financial measures; Revenues $900+ million; Adjusted EBITDA $90+ million; Adjusted EBITDA Margin 10%; Sales Growth - Organic 2%; Sales Growth - with Food Service 4%; Capital Expenditures $6 million to 8 million; Cumulative Cash Flow $200 million to 215 million; Leverage Ratio Less than 3x."

07:24 EST Walmart says 'we feel good about the quality of our inventory position' - "Comp store inventory was up 2.7% and total inventory increased 1.7% on net sales growth of 3.2%. This was due in part to strategic investments in certain categories and eCommerce. We feel good about the quality of our inventory position."

07:23 EST Walmart up 3.1% at $124.80 per share after Q3 earnings beat and raised FY20 view

07:22 EST SAIC awarded over $41M Army IT contract - The U.S. Army selected SAIC to modernize its information technology, or IT, infrastructure by migrating enterprise applications to a cloud environment. The Army Human Resources Command Cloud Computing Environment contract is worth more than $41M over three years and was competed under the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions - 3 Services contract. The contract calls for SAIC to assess, modernize, and migrate 89 Army Human Resource applications to a commercial cloud solution. By modernizing its IT, the Army will refactor, re-architect, rebuild and/or replace internal application components, which results in improved cybersecurity and application performance, lower total cost of ownership, and/or lower operations and maintenance costs.

07:16 EST Trillium Therapeutics seeking partner for further development of TTI-10001 - The Company presented updated preclinical data from its STING program at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer annual meeting in Washington, D.C, on November 9, 2019. The data demonstrate that TTI-10001, the Company's lead small molecule STING agonist, is well tolerated in mice by intravenous and oral administration, and induces durable complete regressions of tumors and immunologic memory by both routes of administration. These data highlight the potential of TTI-10001 to achieve best-in-class status among next generation STING agonists. The Company is currently seeking a partner for further development of this molecule.

07:11 EST Walmart reports Q3 Sams Club SSS up 06.% - Q3 Sam's Club comp sales increased 0.6%, and eCommerce sales grew 32%. Reduced tobacco sales negatively affected comp sales by 350 basis points. Net sales at Walmart International were $29.2B, an increase of 1.3%. Excluding currency, net sales were $30.2B, an increase of 4.8%. The inclusion of Flipkart and strength in Walmex and China were partially offset by softness in the U.K. Operating income declined 5.4%, or 4.1% in constant currency due in part to a non-cash impairment charge for Walmart International. Excluding the impairment charge, operating income would have increased slightly. As expected, the inclusion of Flipkart negatively affected operating income.

07:10 EST MediWound expects $10M-$12M in cash use in 2019 - The company said, "As of September 30, 2019, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits of $32.9 million, compared with $23.6 million at December 31, 2018. The Company remained on budget, utilizing $9.2 million in the first nine months of 2019 for its operational activities. Throughout the remainder of 2019, the Company will continue to invest primarily in research and development efforts for EscharEx, while NexoBrid research and development programs will be funded by BARDA. We now expect cash use in 2019 to be in the range of $10.0 million to $12.0 million, including NexoBrid license related payments and repayment of contingent liabilities, lower than the Company's previous guidance for 2019 of $12.0 million to $14.0 million."

07:07 EST VBL Therapeutics continues to advance development of MOSPD2 antibodies - VBL continues to advance the development of lead MOSPD2 antibodies towards IND applications in inflammation and in oncology, expected by year-end 2020. The Company has signed a service agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific, one of the leading vendors in the antibody field, for production of lead candidate VB-601 for toxicology and clinical development.

07:06 EST Walmart reports Q3 U.S. SSS up 3.2% - Q3 U.S. comp sales increased on a two-year stacked basis by 6.6%.

07:05 EST VBL Therapeutics expects cash to fund requirements for two years - At September 30, 2019, the Company had cash, cash equivalents, short-term bank deposits and restricted bank deposits totaling $41.1 million and working capital of $34.5 million. The Company expects that its cash, cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits will enable it to fund operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements for approximately two years.

07:02 EST Fulcrum Therapeutics expects to file IND for FTX-6058 in mid-2020 - n October 2019, Fulcrum announced progress in the Company's plan to advance the development program for FTX-6058 for the potential treatment of sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Fulcrum has initiated IND-enabling studies for FTX-6058 and anticipates filing an IND in mid-2020. In pre-clinical research, treatment with FTX-6058 was shown to increase HbF levels to ~30% of total hemoglobin as measured by HPLC and mass spectrometry methods in human erythroid progenitor cells from multiple donors.

07:00 EST Amarin announces Nasdaq halts trading of company's shares - Amarin announced that NASDAQ has halted trading of the company's shares. The U.S. FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee, as previously scheduled and announced, is meeting today to openly discuss the company's supplemental New Drug Application seeking a new indication for Vascepato reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events based on the landmark REDUCE-IT cardiovascular outcomes study.

06:56 EST Exicure Inc trading halted, news pending

06:20 EST Daimler Chairman: Streamlining to negatively impact 2020, 2021 earnings

06:19 EST Daimler seeks EUR1B in savings at Mercedes-Benz by cutting jobs - Daimler presented a new sustainable business strategy at its Capital Market Day. "We are positioning the company for the transformation with a clear strategy for the future. The expenditure needed to achieve the CO2 targets require comprehensive measures to increase efficiency in all areas of our company. This also includes streamlining our processes and structures," said Ola Kallenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG. "This will have a negative impact on our earnings in 2020 and 2021. To remain successful in the future, we must therefore act now and significantly increase our financial strength." Mercedes-Benz Cars has initiated systematic countermeasures to sustainably improve its cost structure and offset the expected margin erosion. Primarily, material cost reductions should support this compensation. By the end of 2022, Mercedes-Benz Cars plans to save more than EURO$1 billion in personnel costs. To this end, jobs are to be reduced in both management and the indirect areas. The company is in close dialog with the employee representatives in order to make the measures as acceptable as possible. To strengthen the free cash flow, investment in property, plant and equipment and in research and development will be capped at the 2019 level and be reduced in the medium term. In order to increase Mercedes-Benz Vans' competitiveness, material costs are to be reduced as well as personnel costs by EURO$100 million. On this basis, the division Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans expects to achieve a return on sales from operating activities of at least 4% in the year 2020 and at least 6% in 2022.

06:15 EST CytoDyn names Craig Eastwood as CFO - CytoDyn announced the appointment of Craig Eastwood as its new CFO. He joined CytoDyn in April and previously served as its Vice President and Controller. Craig brings with him an extensive background in corporate finance and accounting, investor relations, financial planning and analysis, and treasury and systems implementations. Michael Mulholland, the company's previous CFO, will remain at CytoDyn and will report to Eastwood in a newly created role of Senior Vice President of Finance, a critically important function as the company looks to improve its capital structure and prepare for commercialization in advance of its first BLA submission planned for late 2019.

06:09 EST Axonics announces FDA approval of Axonics r-SNM System - Axonics announced the approval of the Axonics r-SNM System by the United States FDA for the clinical indications of overactive bladder and urinary retention. The FDA premarket approval grants Axonics the right to market its product in the United States for the clinical indications of OAB as well as urinary retention, representing the largest segment of the market for SNM devices. The FDA approval follows the company's September approval for the clinical indication of fecal incontinence, which, according to published clinical studies, is a co-morbidity reported by as many as a third of patients presenting with urinary urge incontinence.

06:07 EST Athersys: Healios receives orphan designation for ARDS clinical program - Athersys announced that its collaborator in Japan, Healios K.K., received notification this week from the Pharmaceutical Affairs and Food Sanitation Council that its acute respiratory distress syndrome clinical program using HLCM051 will receive the orphan regenerative medicine designation from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare within the next few weeks. This designation may be given to investigational products being evaluated for indications that have a high unmet medical need and that occur in less than 50,000 patients in Japan. In addition to priority consultation and review for potential approval of the therapy, there are several financial incentives offered with the designation, such as subsidies to reduce the financial burden of product development, preferential tax treatment and extension of the re-examination period for Healios.

05:50 EST Mimecast acquires DMARC Analyzer - Mimecast announced it has acquired DMARC Analyzer, "a SaaS-based solution provider that offers user-friendly Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, or DMARC, setup, management and analysis." With this acquisition, Mimecast customers can address threats at the email perimeter, inside the email network, and beyond their immediate purview. DMARC Analyzer's simple and effective service offerings help reduce the time, effort and cost of stopping domain spoofing attacks. "By combining Mimecast defenses with DMARC Analyzer's reporting and email validation solution, customers can now further strengthen their cyber resilience with robust visibility into attacks that defraud customers, suppliers and partners."

05:41 EST Laix announces $20M share repurchase program - LAIX announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program under which the company may repurchase up to $20M of its outstanding American depositary shares over the next 12 months.