Stockwinners Market Radar for April 21, 2020 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:43 EDT SPDR Gold Shares holdings rise to 1,033.39MT from 1,029.59MT - This is the highest level of holdings since May of 2013.

19:05 EDT Medtronic sees 'significant' short-term impact from delayed procedures - The company states: "The impact of COVID-19 on Medtronic's businesses remains fluid, and the company continues to actively monitor the dynamic situation. Medtronic continues to expect COVID-19 to negatively affect its fiscal fourth quarter financial results, which ends on April 24, 2020. Given the progression of COVID-19 around the world and the timing of the company's fiscal quarter, Medtronic's fourth quarter financial results will reflect an additional month of impact compared to many other companies who operate on a calendar-based fiscal year. Hospital resources have been diverted to fight the pandemic, and many government agencies in conjunction with healthcare systems have made decisions to defer many elective and semi-elective procedures that use the company's products. In addition, some people are avoiding seeking treatment for non-COVID-19 emergency procedures, resulting in an impact to those emergent product lines. Capital equipment purchases, outside of ventilators and patient monitoring equipment, are also being deferred by hospitals in the current environment. In addition to the impact to its revenue from procedure volume declines, the company expects an incremental negative impact to revenue from a decline in typical large, end of Medtronic fiscal year customer orders as customers prioritize preservation of cash and reduce their holdings of purchased product inventories, especially in more elective procedure categories, as well as purchases of certain capital equipment. Regarding expenses, the company is expecting significant deleveraging, or earnings declining significantly more than revenue, in its Q4. In general, the company has continued to invest in R&D and its employees, including its sales force, despite the decrease in revenue. In addition, the company has been running many of its factories at or near full capacity, to provide inventory to support the anticipated rebound in procedures during the expected recovery period. While Medtronic has had significantly reduced employee travel, the majority of this benefit will not be recognized until the fiscal first quarter. Finally, the company does expect a negative mix shift to gross margin, as the products in higher demand, such as ventilators and diabetes supplies, generally carry a lower margin." President Geoff Martha says: "While the expected short-term impact to our financial results is significant, it is consistent with the impact discussion broadly across the medical device industry. Importantly, we are starting to enter the early stages of a global recovery. As hospitals begin to resume broader treatment of non-COVID-19 patients around the world, we expect our business to begin to recover as well. In addition, given the financial strength of the company, we are executing strategies to come out of this pandemic even stronger, attracting and retaining top talent and increasing and innovating the products and services that we offer physicians, patients, and healthcare systems to win in the evolving marketplace."

18:47 EDT Inseego CEO: Seeing high demand for our products - In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Dan Mondor said the company is witnessing strong demand for its mobile connectivity products. Mondor noted the company is a turnaround play, having been in business over 20 years, and is focused on 5G, Cloud, and industrial IT. It used to called Novatel Wireless. He added that Inseego is probably in the second inning of a restructuring process.

18:39 EDT Netflix says 'impressed' with execution of Disney+ - Netflix (NFLX) COE says "never seen" such a good execution of coming into a competitive space the way Disney+ (DIS) has. Says picking up kids and family content following Disney+ launch. Says "doing a lot" to make product more attractive in India.

18:33 EDT Expedia up over 8% above $62 following WSJ report of potential PE deal

18:30 EDT LendingClub announces workforce reduction of approximately 460 employees - On April 20, the company's Board of Directors approved a restructuring plan to further address the impact of COVID-19 on the company's business by repositioning the company's expense base to better reflect current loan volume and better position the company for profitability to achieve its strategic goals when the economy and business stabilizes. The Plan includes workforce reductions affecting approximately 460 employees. In connection with the workforce reductions under the Plan, the company expects to incur total pre-tax restructuring and related charges of approximately $10M during the remainder of the year ending December 31, 2020, of which approximately $1M represents an employee relief plan to assist impacted employees through this challenging time and the remainder represents future cash expenditures for the payment of severance and related benefits costs.

18:11 EDT Netflix says sub additions may be light in Q3, Q4 - Says has had post-production, animation, and pre-production meetings remotely. Says focused on taking care of business and making sure it runs smoothly during pandemic. Says there might be some timing impacts from COVID-19. Says guess is subscriber additions will be light in Q3 and Q4. Says internet is growing, and a bigger part of people's lives.

17:57 EDT Scientific Games names Rich Schneider chief product officer - Scientific Games announced that Rich Schneider will join The Company in mid-2021 as Chief Product Officer. In this role, Schneider will oversee Scientific Games' product strategy, define R & D roadmaps and further Scientific Games' position as a product and technology leader in gaming. "Rich's expertise in design, development and gaming makes him the perfect complement to our Scientific Games leadership team," said Scientific Games President and CEO Barry Cottle. "Combining Rich's expertise and creativity with our talented teams will bring industry-leading products and technology to our partners and their players."

17:34 EDT Fiat Chrysler announces drawdown of revolving credit facility - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced that, in light of the continuing uncertainty relating to the impacts of COVID-19, it has drawn down its EUR 6.25B revolving credit facility originally signed in June 2015 and amended in March 2019. These funds add to EUR 1.5B drawn down from other bilateral credit facilities of the group. Earlier this month FCA had announced the successful syndication of a separate EUR 3.5B credit facility entered into on March 25, 2020. This credit facility remains undrawn.

17:25 EDT Raytheon Technologies awarded $111.13M Navy contract modification - Raytheon Technologies was awarded an $111.13M modification to a previously-awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost reimbursable contract. This modification exercises an option for the production and delivery of four Prat & Whitney F135-PW-600 propulsion systems for the Marine Corps to be installed in F-35B short take-off and vertical landing aircraft. Work is expected to be complete by July 2022. FY20 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $111.13M will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity.

17:20 EDT Snap extends afterhours gains, up over 20% at $15 per share

17:11 EDT Snap CEO Spiegel says long-term indicators position company for success - Says: "While it is difficult to predict the near-term impact of this unprecedented, complex, and global pandemic on our business, we believe that all of the long-term indicators we see in terms of our audience, their engagement, our momentum on product innovation, our auction dynamics, and advertiser ROI position us very well for success. Our deep investments in direct response advertising over the past few years, including advanced bidding and campaign management tools, ad formats designed specifically for mobile apps and e-commerce, and backend performance optimization have positioned us well in this uncertain environment. Our strong cash position allows us to continue to hire and make long-term investments in innovation during this time, while simultaneously prioritizing the health and safety of our community, team, and partners." Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

17:07 EDT Lilis Energy gets additional extension on borrowing base deficiency payment - Lilis Energy announced that the Company's bank lending group has agreed to amend the existing revolving credit agreement to, among other things, extend the due date for the final installment payment of $7.75M on the previously announced borrowing base deficiency from April 21 to June 5 as well as defer the timing of the scheduled spring borrowing base redetermination from on or about May 1, 2020 to on or about June 5. As previously reported, the first two borrowing base deficiency installment payments under the amended revolving credit agreement aggregating $17.25 million were funded on February 28, 2020. The due date for the final $7.75 million installment payment is June 5, 2020. The Company is continuing to consider transactions to fund the repayment of the borrowing base deficiency on a timely basis. There is no assurance, however, that such transactions will be completed or that the bank group will agree to further deficiency payment extensions. If the Company is unable to repay the borrowing base deficiency as and when required under the revolving credit agreement, an event of default would occur under the revolving credit agreement.

17:03 EDT Snap reports Q1 global ARPU $2.02 vs. $1.68 last year - Comments taken from investor presentation slides.

17:01 EDT Amplify Energy gets NYSE listing notice - Amplify Energy announced that on April 20, 2020, the company received formal notice from the New York Stock Exchange that the average closing share price of the Company's common stock over the prior 30-consecutive trading day period was below $1.00, which is the minimum average share price for continued listing on the NYSE. The NYSE notification does not affect the Company's ongoing business or its Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements, nor does it trigger any violation of its debt obligations. Amplify intends to notify the NYSE of its intent to cure the deficiency and return to compliance with the NYSE continued listing requirements within the six-month cure period.

16:58 EDT Emergent BioSolutions appoints Karen Smith as CMO - Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) announced the appointment of Karen Smith as CMO with responsibility for leading and further establishing Emergent's global integrated capability in clinical development, medical affairs and regulatory affairs. Smith and her teams will work in partnership with the business units to advance the company's portfolio of products in development. She will be a member of the executive management team reporting to the president and CEO. Smith has previously served as CMO for Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ) and has held senior executive positions at various other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

16:51 EDT Chipotle rises 4.2% after reporting Q1 results, withdrawing FY20 guidance

16:48 EDT Boeing makes key changes, names Greg Smith to lead new Enterprise ops - Boeing announced key organization and leadership changes aimed at driving greater cross-company integration and continuous improvement; aligning enterprise services to current business conditions while increasing value; streamlining senior leadership roles and responsibilities; and preparing now for the post-pandemic industry footprint. The changes are effective May 1. A newly formed group - Enterprise Operations, Finance & Strategy - will consolidate several important areas, bringing together teams responsible for manufacturing, supply chain and operations, finance, enterprise performance, strategy, enterprise services and administration. Led by Greg Smith, executive vice president, Enterprise Operations, and chief financial officer, this new global organization will embed operational excellence and consistent lean principles across Boeing and its supply chain, and restore production and supply chain health as Boeing and the broader aerospace industry recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Corporate Audit will join Smith's new group and continue to report directly to the Boeing Board of Directors Audit Committee as it does today, providing independent, objective assurance and advisory services to improve company operations. Jenette Ramos, senior vice president of Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Operations, will bring 34 years of Boeing experience, leadership and operational skills to a special assignment in support of Smith and Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun. The company also is combining its legal and core compliance programs, including global trade controls, ethics and business conduct, into a single organization led by Brett Gerry, chief legal officer and executive vice president of Global Compliance. This approach will enhance Boeing's already strong compliance and internal governance program through focused accountability for, and a more integrated approach to, Boeing compliance responsibilities. It also will help the company proactively address new legal and compliance obligations arising from an increasingly complex global regulatory environment.

16:40 EDT Chipotle reports Q1 digital sales up 80.8% to $371.8M - Digital sales grew 80.8% year over year to $371.8M, the company's highest ever quarterly level, and represented 26.3% of sales. After our dining rooms closed to help control the spread of COVID-19, Chipotle moved swiftly by driving further investments towards digital and delivery designed to reduce friction while increasing convenient access. This included reprioritizing marketing efforts by offering free delivery from March 15 to at least early May, shifting media spend from live sports to more online and streaming platforms, and announcing a national delivery partnership with Uber Eats. As a result, digital sales for the month of March grew 102.6% year over year and represented 37.6% of sales.

16:34 EDT TechnipFMC cuts annual dividend to 13c from 52c per share - TechnipFMC announced that the company's board revised its dividend policy to $0.13 per share on an annualized basis due to the sharp decline in commodity pricing and the impact of COVID-19. The company made a dividend payment of $0.13 per share in April 2020, which fulfills this annual dividend for 2020. The company is taking this action to further strengthen the balance sheet and preserve liquidity. The company intends to pay its 2021 dividend in quarterly installments beginning in April 2021.

16:32 EDT Mercury Systems announces SOSA-aligned ultra-wideband dual microwave upconverter - Mercury Systems announced the SpectrumSeries RFM3103s ultra-wideband dual upconverter, designed to align with the emerging sensor open systems architecture technical standard for demanding electronic warfare (EW) environments. By creating a common architecture that streamlines system integration, the rugged, compact upconverter pioneers system interoperability and upgradeability, supporting an increased and more diverse range of unmanned systems on various platforms including ground, airborne, and subsurface. "Mercury solutions are designed to be the most rugged, long lasting and highest performing available to meet the rigorous demands of military and commercial customers," said Neal Austin, Vice President and General Manager of Mercury's Embedded Sensor Processing group. "Our new purpose-built dual upconverter delivers on these demands while aligning with snapshot 3 of the SOSA reference architecture technical standard. Additionally, it is the first in a new series of RF solutions that enable users to better mitigate electronic threats with the rapid deployment of innovative and secure technology. It's another proof point of how Mercury is making commercial technology profoundly more accessible to to aerospace and defense."

16:32 EDT Xenia Hotels eliminates CIO role, Philip Wade departs - Xenia Hotels announced that, due to the severe downturn in lodging demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has further streamlined its operations and reduced its ongoing corporate expenses by eliminating the role of chief investment officer, or CIO. As a result, Philip Wade, who served as the company's senior VP and CIO, has left the company. With this change, the company's corporate office headcount has been reduced by over 20% since the company's operations have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

16:29 EDT Canadian Pacific backs FY20 CapEx view C$1.6B

16:26 EDT Canadian Pacific reports Q1 operating ratio up 1,010 basis points to 59.2%

16:21 EDT Supernus, Navitor announce development pact for oraly active mTORC1 activator - Supernus Pharmaceuticals and Navitor Pharmaceuticals announced a joint development and option agreement for Navitor's mTORC1 activator, NV-5138.NV-5138 is a first-in-class, orally active small molecule that directly activates brain mTORC1, the gatekeeper of cellular metabolism and renewal, which is often suppressed in people suffering from depression. Phase I data demonstrated early proof of concept in which a single dose of NV-5138 showed rapid and sustained improvement in core symptoms of depression with favorable safety and tolerability in patients with treatment-resistant depression. Under the terms of the agreement, Supernus and Navitor will jointly conduct a Phase II clinical program for NV-5138 in TRD. Supernus will pay the costs of Phase II development up to $50 million, plus certain costs associated with nonclinical development and formulation. In addition, Navitor has granted Supernus an exclusive option to license or acquire NV-5138 in all world territories, excluding Greater China, prior to initiation of a Phase III clinical program. In exchange for the option to license or acquire NV-5138, Navitor will receive an upfront payment of $25 million, composed of a $10 million option fee and a $15 million equity investment representing approximately 13% ownership in Navitor. Total payments, exclusive of royalty payments on net sales of NV-5138 and development costs under the agreement, have the potential to reach $410 million to $475 million, which includes the upfront payment of $25 million, an additional license or acquisition fee depending on whether Supernus ultimately licenses or acquires NV-5138, and subsequent clinical, regulatory and sales milestone payments. Supernus also will have the first right of refusal for any compound with a similar mechanism of action on mTORC1 as NV-5138 in the central nervous system. In conjunction with the equity investment, Jack Khattar, President and CEO of Supernus, will join the Board of Directors of Navitor.

16:17 EDT Chipotle resolves prior investigation related to past food safety incidents - Chipotle announced it has signed a Deferred Prosecution Agreement to resolve the previously disclosed investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, in conjunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations related to past food safety incidents beginning in 2015. Pursuant to the Agreement, the government has agreed to take no action relating to these past incidents for three years provided that Chipotle complies with its obligations under the Agreement, which include paying a $25M fine (consisting of a $10M payment by June 1, 2020, followed by three separate payments of $5M each to be paid every 30 days after the first payment) and enhancing and maintaining its existing comprehensive compliance program, which is designed to ensure that it complies with all applicable federal and state food safety laws.

16:17 EDT Bed Bath & Beyond appoints John Hartmann as COO - Bed Bath & Beyond has appointed John Hartmann as COO of Bed Bath & Beyond and President, buybuy BABY, effective May 18. Hartmann will report directly to Mark Tritton, President & CEO, and be a key member of a streamlined senior leadership team. Hartmann will lead key areas of the Company's transformation including IT, supply chain and real estate, working across the Company's five strategic growth pillars to accelerate decision-making and enhance connectivity across functions. He will also be responsible for re-engineering the Company's supply chain and technology infrastructure to enhance fulfilment, drive cost improvements, improve customer experience and support the introduction of omnichannel improvements such as Buy-Online-Pick-Up-In-Store (BOPIS) across its fleet of stores. As President of BABY, John will be responsible for further developing the growth strategy for this leading infant and small children retail brand.

16:16 EDT EPR Properties says impact of pandemic has increased 'significantly - EPR Properties provided an update on the impact of COVID-19 on its operations and financial condition and announced that it will hold its earnings call for first quarter 2020 on Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Since the Company last issued an update on the impact of COVID-19 to its operations on March 24, 2020, the impact of the pandemic has increased significantly with the temporary closing of substantially all of its customers' operations. As discussed in the prior update, the Company is committed to working with its customers for our long-term mutual benefit. Since the prior update, tenants and borrowers have paid approximately 15% of April 2020 contractual base rent and mortgage payments. The Company has agreed to defer the rent and mortgage payments on a month-to-month basis for substantially all of the customers that have not paid rent for the month of April 2020. While deferments for this period delay rent or mortgage payments, these deferments generally do not release tenants from the obligation to pay the deferred amounts in the future.Several larger tenants of the Company have recently announced additional sources of liquidity including the Company's largest tenant, American Multi-Cinema, Inc. or "AMC," representing approximately 18% of the Company's total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019. On April 17, 2020, AMC's parent announced the pricing of a private offering of $500.0 million of first lien notes and has indicated that these additional proceeds would provide it with sufficient liquidity to withstand a global suspension of operations until a partial reopening ahead of Thanksgiving. Despite this increase in short term liquidity, the Company believes it is prudent to begin recognizing revenue for AMC on a cash basis. Accordingly, the Company will record a non-cash write-off of straight-line rent receivable of approximately $12.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 related to AMC as well as two small tenants where a similar assessment has been made that cash accounting is appropriate.

16:14 EDT Snap up over 10% at $13.90 per share after Q1 results

16:12 EDT Snap reports Q1 DAUs up 20% from last year to 229M - Q1 DAUs were 229 million in Q1 2020, an increase of 39 million or 20% year-over-year. Q1 DAUs increased sequentially and year-over-year in each of North America, Europe, and Rest of World. Q1 DAUs increased sequentially and year-over-year on each of iOS and Android platforms. On average, more than 4 billion Snaps were created each day in Q1 2020.

16:12 EDT GameStop gives update on cost reductions amid COVID pandemic - The Company is taking the following actions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: A temporary base salary reduction of 50% for George Sherman, Chief Executive Officer, 30% for Jim Bell, Chief Financial Officer and the remainder of the executive leadership team. The Board of Directors has temporarily reduced cash compensation to directors by 50%. Other actions include: Beginning April 26th, certain other employees across the Company's worldwide operating units will receive temporarily reduced pay of between 10% and 30%. Offered certain of the Company's corporate support staff the option to either a temporary furlough or reduced workweek / reduced pay program. Reduced inventory receipts to match demand with a focus on key hardware, software and accessories products. Lowered capital spending to focus on mandatory maintenance or near-term high value strategic projects. Due to the impact of governmental regulations and certain landlord decisions to close properties, the Company did not make a portion of certain lease payments and remains in discussions with its landlords regarding ongoing rent payments, including potential abatement, deferral and or restructuring of future rents during this period of COVID-19 related closure.

16:10 EDT Quotient reports 'positive performance data' on SARS-CoV-2 antibody test - Quotient Limited reported positive performance data for its SARS-CoV-2 antibody test. Based on these results, under applicable regulations, the company can now offer the MosaiQ COVID-19 Antibody Microarray as a research-use-only product in Europe and the U.S. "While the test is now available for research use only, the company will continue internal and external studies. We expect to achieve the CE Mark in the coming weeks, permitting broader distribution and use in Europe. Quotient also plans to seek emergency use authorization in the U.S., following guidelines established by the FDA. With FDA authorization, broader use would be permitted in the U.S. as well," said Franz Walt, CEO of Quotient.

16:09 EDT Chubb suspends share repurchases indefinitely - Given the current economic environment and to preserve capital for both risk and opportunity, the company has suspended further share repurchases indefinitely.

16:08 EDT Chubb had 'a very good first quarter' - Evan Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Chubb Limited, commented: "Chubb had a very good first quarter that demonstrated the underlying health and strength of our company as we entered this period of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Core operating income per share of $2.68 was up 5.5% from prior year, and our underwriting results were highlighted by a P&C combined ratio of 89.1%. We grew P&C premiums globally 9.3% in constant dollars as we continued to benefit from improved rate to exposure, particularly in our commercial P&C business - a positive and necessary trend that continued into April. The coronavirus is delivering a severe blow to the global economy. How long and how deep is unknown. It will have a major impact on the global insurance industry in terms of both losses and revenue. For Chubb, we expect our premium growth momentum to be impacted for a period as insurance exposures in important areas shrink. This will be an earnings event for our company; our balance sheet and liquidity remain strong. Insurance has an important role to play in society and in the economy, and at Chubb we are doing our job to support our customers, employees and business partners, all of whom rely on us. We are operating day to day at a very high level globally and I am confident Chubb will weather this difficult time and emerge stronger. As the U.S. gains better control over the virus and we look forward to reopening the economy, the ability to test, digitally trace and isolate is fundamental to suppressing the spread of the virus while returning to more normal economic and social activity. It is also important at this time that we do not add unnecessarily to the great uncertainty we are already experiencing. To that end, we should prevent self-inflicted harm from government attempts to force insurers to retroactively pay uncovered business interruption claims, which is simply unconstitutional."

16:07 EDT Chubb sees 'meaningful impact' on Q2 results from COVID-19 - While there was no significant impact on core operating income in the first quarter relating to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the company anticipates that this global catastrophe event will have a meaningful impact on revenue as well as net and core operating income in the second quarter and potentially future quarters as a result of an increase in insurance claims due to both the pandemic and recessionary economic conditions.

16:06 EDT Allegiant Travel to receive $171.9M in emergency relief under coronavirus act - Allegiant Travel announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to receive $171.9M in emergency relief under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The Payroll Support Program, or PSP, funds are targeted to support team member salaries and benefits for Allegiant's 4,500-member workforce. "The Payroll Support Program recognizes the essential role our team members play in our country's air travel infrastructure," said the company. The PSP is expected to provide Allegiant with $171.9M in funding and will cover approximately 76% of budgeted payroll and benefit costs through September 30. Of that funding, $21M will be in the form of a 10-year term, low-interest loan, to be repaid at any time prior to maturity at par. Under the loan, the company will issue warrants to the U.S. Department of the Treasury to purchase 25,890 shares of common stock with a cash settlement right at the company's option.

16:04 EDT Interactive Brokers says impact of COVID-19 cannot be quantified - The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's financial results for the first quarter of 2020 can be summarized as follows: (1) higher commission revenue due to increased trading activity and a higher rate of customer accounts opened during this period; (2) lower net interest income resulting from lower benchmark interest rates and smaller aggregate margin loans extended to customers as they de-leveraged their exposures; (3) higher valuation of U.S. Treasury securities and lower valuation of stocks; and (4) somewhat higher than typical customer bad debt expense. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's future financial results could be significant but currently cannot be quantified, as it will depend on numerous evolving factors that currently cannot be accurately predicted, including, but not limited to the duration and spread of the pandemic; its impact on our customers, employees and vendors; governmental regulations in response to the pandemic; and the overall impact of the pandemic in the economy and society; among other factors. Any of these events could have a materially adverse effect on the Company's financial results.

16:04 EDT Enservco receives extension for cure period from NYSE - Enservco announced that the NYSE has extended the period during which the company can cure its low stock price beyond the previous May 6 deadline so that the company can seek shareholder approval for a reverse stock split at its June 26, annual meeting. In November 2019 the NYSE notified Enservco that the company's common stock had been selling for a low price per share for a substantial period of time and that continued NYSE American listing was predicated on the company effecting a reverse stock split of its common stock or otherwise demonstrating sustained price improvement no later than May 6.

16:04 EDT Netflix sees Q1 global streaming paid net additions of 7.5M - Netflix said: "Hopefully, progress against the virus will allow governments to lift the home confinement soon. As that happens, we expect viewing and growth to decline. Our internal forecast and guidance is for 7.5 million global paid net additions in Q2. Given the uncertainty on home confinement timing, this is mostly guesswork. The actual Q2 numbers could end up well below or well above that, depending on many factors including when people can go back to their social lives in various countries and how much people take a break from television after the lockdown. Some of the lockdown growth will turn out to be pull-forward from the multi-year organic growth trend, resulting in slower growth after the lockdown is lifted country-by-country. Intuitively, the person who didn't join Netflix during the entire confinement is not likely to join soon after the confinement. Plus, last year we had new seasons of Money Heist and Stranger Things in Q3, which were not planned for this year's Q3. Therefore, we currently guess that Q3'20 and Q4'20 will have lower net additions than last year due to these effects."

16:03 EDT Carlisle withdraws FY20 revenue guidance - "In response to declining demand, we are making necessary adjustments to our business activities, including measures to manage our costs where appropriate," the company said. "We remain committed to emerging from this crisis in a strong financial position, able to significantly leverage ensuing growth longer-term. Our value creation potential remains very much intact. Highlights include: Vision 2025 is our long-term focus: growing annual revenues to $8 billion, expanding operating margins to 20%, and generating 15% ROIC, all ultimately driving to our targeted $15 of earnings per share. CCM's business is positioned to perform well in this market downturn given the significant need for maintaining critical infrastructure, coupled with a strong and growing industry backlog and evidence that demand is merely delayed. Additionally, CCM is benefiting from lower input costs and a highly variable manufacturing cost structure. Most importantly, we are focused on maintaining the premium Carlisle Experience which our customers have come to rely on, and as we emerge from this crisis, will become even more important. The unprecedented downturn in the commercial aerospace industry caused by the severe decline in passenger airline travel negatively impacts CIT's business, but also provides an opportunity to accelerate and complete restructuring actions, many of which were contemplated in Vision 2025. Recent news from aerospace manufacturers and major airlines, including Boeing resuming operations, airlines deferring and not canceling orders, and a continued multi-year backlog, are encouraging signs despite the current situation. We intend to continue building our Medical Technologies platform, organically and via a robust M&A pipeline. CIT supplies components to customers making critical medical equipment to combat COVID-19. We believe CIT's end market mix will improve dramatically as a result. We continue to evaluate opportunities to deploy capital into strategic and synergistic acquisitions across CCM, CIT, and CFT. The Carlisle Operating System (COS), which has delivered significant savings over the last decade, will continue to be an essential tool for our businesses to rely on as they seek new opportunities to make our operations and business processes more efficient. We remain committed to being a customer of choice, and being a reliable piece of our supply chain across businesses. In light of current economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19, we have decided to withdraw full-year 2020 revenue guidance until a clearer picture emerges for our businesses. We are hopeful that the major airlines and commercial aerospace manufacturers will find improved financial stability soon in order to improve our ability to make accurate forecasts in the future. As we enter the second quarter, I remain confident in Carlisle's businesses given our strong financial foundation, cash generating capabilities, unwavering commitment to our Vision 2025 strategic plan, and our outstanding employees across the globe who continue to provide products and services essential to the world's needs."

15:57 EDT Turtle Beach, Koss rise after NPD reports increased video game hardware spending - Shares of PC gaming equipment makers Turtle Beach (HEAR) and Koss Corporation (KOSS) were trading higher after The NPD Group reported that spending across video game hardware, software, accessories and game cards totaled $1.6B for the month of March, gaining 35% compared to the same period last year. According to NPD, all video game categories experienced double-digit sales increases in March, with hardware, software, and accessories & game cards increasing 63%, 34%, and 12%, respectively. "As communities have practiced social distancing and observed stay at home orders across the United States over the past weeks, many people have turned to video games as a means of finding connections. Whether together on the couch playing locally, or playing online, gaming has generated increased engagement, which has resulted in corresponding increases in consumer spend," said Mat Piscatella, games industry analyst at The NPD Group. Near the close, Turtle Beach was up over 16% while Koss was nearly 6% higher.

15:01 EDT Guaranty Bank names Craig Dunn chief commercial banking officer - Guaranty Federal Bancshares announced that its subsidiary, Guaranty Bank, hired Craig Dunn to serve as Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Banking Officer. As a member of the bank's executive management team, Dunns' primary responsibility will be to oversee the management, direction, and development of the bank's commercial banking and corporate services lines of business.

14:55 EDT PolyMet seeks state Supreme Court review of lower court air permit ruling - Poly Met Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of PolyMet Mining Corp., announced that it has filed a Petition for Review to the Minnesota Supreme Court seeking to overturn a state Court of Appeals ruling March 23, that remanded the company's air permit to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. "PolyMet is seeking Supreme Court review to clarify when a court of appeals can require an agency to make additional findings and whether it can presume without evidence that an agency will not enforce its permits. "The Court of Appeals' decision creates regulatory uncertainty that could have far-reaching, negative implications for businesses seeking permits in the state," said Jon Cherry, president and CEO. This is the second petition the company has made to the Supreme Court to review a Court of Appeals' decision," PolyMet noted.

14:32 EDT Gogo to furlough approximately 60% of employees - Gogo announced that effective May 4, it will furlough approximately 60% of its workforce and reduce compensation for most other employees as part of a broad-based cost reduction plan due to the impact of COVID-19. The furloughs will impact more than 600 employees across all three of Gogo's business segments. The time and duration of those furloughs will vary based on workload in individual departments. Salary reductions will begin at 30% for the CEO, then 20% for the executive leadership team, and feather down from there. In addition, Gogo's Board of Directors has agreed to reduce their compensation by 30%. Certain types of employees, such as hourly workers, will not have their compensation reduced. Approximately 60% of Gogo's revenue comes from its two commercial airline segments. Passenger traffic on commercial airlines using Gogo's service has declined 95% this month compared to the prior year, resulting in a projected 60-70% reduction in sales for the month of April.

14:15 EDT Nintendo's 'Animal Crossing' best-selling game for March 2020, says NPD - NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella said via Twitter that the Nintendo Switch (NTDOY) set a new March hardware sales record, while its latest game "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" has become one of the company's fastest selling games in history. The new "Animal Crossing" debuted as the best-selling game for the month of March, inching past Activision's (ATVI) "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," which is currently the best selling game of 2020 so far. "Animal Crossing" is currently the second best-selling game of the year, noted Piscatella. In addition, Sony's (SNE) "MLB The Show 20" was the third best-selling game of March, and has become the fifth best-selling game of 2020. Rounding out the top five best-selling games for 2020 year-to-date are Bandai Namco's "Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot" and Take-Two's (TTWO) "NBA 2K20." Other companies in the video game sector include Microsoft (MSFT), Electronic Arts (EA), GameStop (GME), Ubisoft (UBSFY), and Capcom (CCOEY). Reference Link

14:03 EDT Verizon Media launches enhancements to maximize streaming reach and revenues - Verizon Media has launched a range of capabilities to enable broadcasters, content owners, and service providers to grow audiences and monetize content in new ways. These include advanced advertising tools that improve transparency in the bidding process and track ad performance. Additional features that maximize audience reach and enhance live event streaming have also been announced. Verizon said in part earlier on Tuesday: "Verizon Media Smartplay Prebid is a server-side integration that exposes inventory and conducts auctions faster with more demand partners using the prebid open-source framework. This low-risk solution is easy to implement and opens up content owner supply to more demand partners, allows for fair market competition, and provides visibility into content value with price transparency...In order to maximize audience reach, content publishers want their content seen by viewers on the broadest range of platforms. Verizon Media Control addresses this need with optimized capabilities that make it possible to curate content, simulate live channels, and syndicate to multiple platforms within a single platform...Already a leader in live event streaming, Verizon Media continues to provide a scalable platform backed by a managed service team. Verizon Media has enhanced its ingest, encoding, and CDN capabilities to deliver live content in 4K HDR, with the TV-like picture quality viewers expect. Recent testing of concurrent viewers on the platform has now reached the 10 million viewer threshold, surpassing the scale seen in recent large live events.

13:18 EDT Crinetics holder Perceptive Advisors buys almost $15M in company shares - Crinetics holder Perceptive Advisors disclosed in a regulatory filing that it had purchased 1,071,428 shares of company stock at an average price of $14.00 per share on April 17. The total transaction value of the purchase was $14,999,992.

12:57 EDT PlayAGS trading halted, news pending

12:30 EDT NY DFS files administrative proceedings against Mallinckrodt - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the New York State Department of Financial Services has initiated administrative proceedings and filed charges against Mallinckrodt plc and its subsidiaries, Mallinckrodt LLC and SpecGX LLC. These charges are the first to be filed in DFS' ongoing investigation into the entities that created and perpetuated the opioid crisis. According to DFS' Statement of Charges, Mallinckrodt was the most prolific manufacturer of opioid pills in the New York market, producing approximately 39% of the opioid pills that flooded New York from 2006 to 2014. From 2009 to 2019, Mallinckrodt supplied New York policyholders of commercial health insurance - a population that included approximately five million New Yorkers - with over one billion opioid pills. According to DFS' Statement of Charges, Mallinckrodt violated two New York Insurance Laws. Section 403 of the New York Insurance Law prohibits fraudulent insurance acts and carries with it penalties of up to $5,000 plus the amount of the fraudulent claim for each violation; DFS alleges that each fraudulent prescription constitutes a separate violation. Section 408 of the Financial Services Law prohibits intentional fraud or intentional misrepresentation of a material fact with respect to a financial product or service, which includes health insurance and carries with it penalties of up to $5,000 per violation; once again, DFS alleges that each fraudulent prescription constitutes a separate violation. Reference Link

12:08 EDT Vivendi acquires 10.6% of Lagardere - Vivendi (VIVHY), following the recent sale of 10% of its 100% share capital of Universal Music Group for an enterprise value of EUR30B, announced the acquisition of 10.6% of the Lagardere (LGDDF) share capital. This acquisition is a long-term financial investment reflecting Vivendi's confidence in the future prospects of the French group which enjoys international leadership positions in its businesses and which, like many others, is experiencing difficult times at the moment, Vivendi said.

12:01 EDT Syndax treatment of acute myeloid leukemia granted FDA orphan status - A treatment of acute myeloid leukemia being developed by Syndax Pharmaceuticals was granted FDA orphan designation on April 20, according to a post to the agency's website. Reference Link

11:36 EDT eBay announces enhancements to accelerator programs for sellers - eBay said in a post that, "Earlier this month, eBay developed 'Up & Running,' an accelerator program specifically designed to help Main Street retailers without an e-commerce presence transition to selling online - pledging up to $100M in support for small businesses across North America. Since launch, there has been a remarkable 55% increase in our business registration numbers. While this response is strong, we know there is more to be done to fast track the success of businesses that could use a boost right now. Today, we are launching a short film on our social channels to help spread the word about the support eBay is offering new and existing sellers. The film, created from footage of real eBay sellers, is a tribute to small business owners everywhere who pour their hearts into their work, day in and day out. [...] Over the past several weeks, we've taken steps to implement support and relief for our sellers, from deferred payments to seller protections. The new accelerator program also gives new sellers a free basic eBay store for three months, and waives selling fees for these new businesses, allowing them to sell up to 500 items for free. Today, we've extended and enhanced many of these offers." The company also announced incremental free listings through July, with "50,000 additional, free fixed price listings per a month for store sellers" and "200 additional, free listings per a month for non-store sellers." Reference Link

11:28 EDT Lockheed Martin 'feels really good' about cash flow

11:22 EDT FangDD Network Group Ltd (ADS) trading halted, volatility trading pause

11:17 EDT Appeals court denies Biogen bid to block Banner from selling Tecfidera rival - Biogen appealed a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware that Banner Life Sciences does not infringe the extended portion of U.S. Patent 7,619,001, extended under the patent term restoration provisions of the Hatch-Waxman Act. "Because the scope of a patent term extension under 35 U.S.C. Section 156 only includes the active ingredient of an approved product, or an ester or salt of that active ingredient, and the product at issue does not fall within one of those categories, we affirm the judgment of the district court," said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a ruling posted to its website. Biogen holds the New Drug Application for the active ingredient dimethyl fumarate, or "DMF," which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2013 as Tecfidera, a twice-daily pill indicated "for the treatment of patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis" at a daily dose of 480 mg, the ruling noted. In 2018, after the five-year data exclusivity period for Tecfidera had expired, Banner submitted an applicatio to market a twice-daily monomethyl fumarate, or "MMF," pill at a daily dose of 380 mg.

11:08 EDT 3M files lawsuit in Canada over deceptive N95 retail sales - 3M (MMM) continued to take decisive action to protect the public from price gouging and fraud for respiratory protection equipment by filing a legal action today in Superior Court in Ontario. The defendants, Zhiyu Pu and Harmen Mander, directors of Caonic Systems, Inc., falsely affiliated themselves with 3M to sell N95 respirators at exorbitant prices during the pandemic. The defendants registered 3M-Health.com on the Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify (SHOP), and starting in March, sold respirators they fraudulently claimed originated from 3M certified suppliers in Singapore and the UK. On March 31, at 3M's request, Shopify closed the site. Caonic Systems immediately reopened another Shopify site as www.tormenhealth.com, and continued to claim an affiliation with 3M on social media. After Shopify shut the second site, Caonic persisted, relaunching briefly on another platform. Caonic was selling the N95 respirators for $17.00 each, more than five times the appropriate retail price. The Application requests that the Court order Caonic to assist in identifying the location of any remaining respirators and sharing sales and customer information. 3M will assist in evaluating the respirators' authenticity. If the N95s are authentic, 3M will support returning them for use in efforts to fight COVID-19. If they are not authentic, 3M will inform Caonic's customers. Once the respirators are recovered, 3M will pursue damages. 3M will donate any damages recovered to COVID-19-related nonprofit organizations. 3M has filed a series of legal actions in four U.S. states over the past week. The company is working with national and international law enforcement, state Attorneys General, and the largest online retail and tech companies in the world to identify illegal activity and help punish criminals. Indeed, prior to filing this action, 3M reported the information regarding these defendants to the Ontario authorities. The goal is to prevent fraud before it starts and stop it where it is happening. 3M has deployed its internal litigation team, working closely with volunteers from its network of outside counsel and resources in every part of the country. In this case, 3M is represented by David L. Campbell and Sunny Rehsi from Bowman and Brooke LLP. 3M has not changed the prices it charges for respirators as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The company is working with online retailers and technology companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook to identify and remove counterfeiters and price gougers from their sites and refer them to law enforcement authorities.

10:28 EDT Mirati slides as short-seller says oncology drugs 'destined for futility' - Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX) is under pressure on Tuesday after Kerrisdale Capital said it is short shares of the company and that investors are "ignoring KRASi risks." Further, the short-seller argued that while most of Mirati's value is tied up "in the dream of '849," investors are still ascribing significant value to the company's other oncology compound, sitravatinib, which Kerrisdale expects will fail the multiple combination trials Mirati is now conducting. INVESTORS IGNORING KRASI RISKS: In a newly published report, Kerrisdale Capital said it is short shares of Mirati Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company whose lead drug candidate, MRTX-849, is a small-molecule KRAS inhibitor. "While most of Mirati's value is tied up in the dream of '849, investors are still ascribing significant value to Mirati's other oncology compound, sitravatinib. But given sitravatinib's almost complete failure as a single agent, we're confident the drug will fail the multiple combination trials Mirati is now conducting. Bolstering our confidence are the weak data, a barely believable mechanism of action, and a sloppy trial riddled with data discrepancies and irregularities that are easily identified in Mirati's sitravatinib presentations. With both '849 and Sitravatinib destined for futility, and its pipeline practically non-existent, Mirati investors will soon discover that the only thing the company can successfully inhibit is their performance," the report reads. "Mirati's opportunity set is therefore best described as an extremely low-percentage chance of attaining a low-percentage share of a $600-800 million market circa 2025. What's that worth right now? A small fraction of $4.6 billion. Investors who have gambled on the M&A prospects of what amounts to a single dead-end compound will soon find out they're on the wrong path." PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Mirati have dropped almost 5% to $91.05. Reference Link

10:20 EDT BioSig's ViralClear submits application for Vicromax through CTAP - BioSig Technologies announced that on April 16, 2020 its subsidiary ViralClear Pharmaceuticals, Inc. submitted an application for Vicromax through the FDA's Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program to administer the drug to hospitalized patients with COVID-19. On March 31, 2020, the FDA created the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program, a special emergency program for possible therapies, using every available method to move new treatments to patients as quickly as possible. The FDA continues to support clinical trials that are testing new treatments for COVID so that they gain valuable knowledge about their safety and effectiveness.Vicromax is an anti-viral candidate merimepodib that targets RNA-dependent polymerases. The molecule has shown activity against a broad spectrum of RNA viruses and has demonstrated satisfactory safety data from over 300 patients treated for hepatitis C. Recently, ViralClear published its first pre-clinical data generated under contract with Galveston National Laboratory at The University of Texas Medical Branch. A manuscript titled "The IMPDH inhibitor merimepodib suppresses SARS-COV-2 replications" was authored by Natalya Bukreyeva, Emily K. Mantlo, Rachel A. Sattler, Cheng Huang, Slobodan Paessler, DVM, Ph.D. of the UTMB Galveston National Laboratory, and Jerome Zeldis, M.D., Ph.D. of ViralClear. In vitro studies referenced in the manuscript demonstrated that merimepodib decreased viral production by over 98%.

10:12 EDT Cinedigm reports 9.4M monthly active ad-supported viewers in March - Cinedigm announced several key growth milestones for its fast-growing group of advertising-based digital networks. In March 2020, Cinedigm's footprint reached approximately 9.4M monthly active ad-supported viewers across Cinedigm's digital networks distributed via linear Free Ad-supported TV and Advertising Video on Demand, up more than 108% from the 4.5M viewers reported in October, 2019. Key Milestones and Facts: FAST linear channel delivery reached approx. 7.2M monthly active viewers across eight live channels across partner base including Xumo, Stirr, Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel, Vizio Watch Free, DistroTV, and others. AVOD channel delivery reached approx. 2.2M monthly unique viewers across five channels on partners including Tubi, Stirr, Xumo, and others. Total viewing hours were up 636% YoY and more than 419% since Oct 2019. Total viewing hours were up 28% MoM in March 2020 with the commencement of shelter-in-place restrictions due to COVID-19. Increased highly valuable connected TV ad requests to 89% of overall inventory mix. Added three additional Ad Demand Partners in the Quarter.

10:04 EDT Rite Aid opens COVID-19 on-site testing site in Richmond, VA - Rite Aid continues to expand COVID-19 testing sites with its 25th location opening on Thursday, April 23, in Richmond, Va., through its partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Now spanning eight states and 25 store locations, all of Rite Aid's self-testing sites will be open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week and expect to be able to conduct approximately 200 tests each day through online appointments. In total, Rite Aid will have the capacity to conduct nearly 5,000 tests daily across all locations.

10:00 EDT Benton Oil & Gas Company falls -18.0% - Benton Oil & Gas Company is down -18.0%, or -$1.44 to $6.55.

10:00 EDT Navios Acquisition rises 22.2% - Navios Acquisition is up 22.2%, or $1.19 to $6.56.

10:00 EDT Caterpillar rises 60611.1% - Caterpillar is up 60611.1%, or $109.10 to $109.28.

09:47 EDT Benton Oil & Gas Company falls -19.6% - Benton Oil & Gas Company is down -19.6%, or -$1.57 to $6.42.

09:47 EDT Navios Acquisition rises 18.8% - Navios Acquisition is up 18.8%, or $1.01 to $6.38.

09:47 EDT Caterpillar rises 60894.4% - Caterpillar is up 60894.4%, or $109.61 to $109.79.

09:42 EDT Delta Air Lines CFO Paul Jacobson agrees to rescind retirement - In a memo to Delta employees Tuesday, CEO Ed Bastian shared that Paul Jacobson has agreed to rescind his retirement. The memo, posted to the Delta News Hub, states in part: "Last week, I asked Paul Jacobson to reconsider his decision to retire from Delta. I am happy to announce that Paul has agreed to rescind his retirement and continue as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Paul's experience and guidance have been critical to Delta's initial response to the COVID-19 crisis. Under his leadership, we have boosted our liquidity through commercial markets and expanded our cash position to help us weather the storm in the months to come. Paul and his team have been instrumental in executing our strategy for cost reduction while forging the path ahead so that Delta is positioned to lead the industry when the recovery comes...It's too early to know how long our rebound will take. But we can all be heartened by the fact that Paul has chosen to stay with Delta not only as we rebuild, but for many years to come as we continue our climb." Reference Link

09:31 EDT PAVmed receives FDA 510(k) clearance for CarpX carpal tunnel device - PAVmed announced it has received 510(k) marketing clearance from the U.S. FDA for its CarpX minimally invasive carpal tunnel device. The FDA determined that CarpX is "substantially equivalent to legally marketed predicates" and that PAVmed may market CarpX for "the minimally invasive isolation and incision/division of ligaments, tendons, or fascia such as the transverse carpal ligament for treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome." The FDA reached this determination after reviewing detailed data from the company's successful CarpX clinical safety study performed in New Zealand.

09:28 EDT Dasan Zhone, UIA tem to bring broadband services to Inland Empire - DZS announced that agile and rapidly growing service provider Ultimate Internet Access is the first to bring symmetrical, gigabit hyper-speed internet services to California's Inland Empire. A leading enabler to California's fastest growing region, UIA is leveraging a unique "fast fiber" business model to bring world-class internet speeds and services to business and residences in Ontario and surrounding communities. With fiber optic services enabled by the multi-terabit capacity DZS MXK-F Optical Line Terminal platform and a world-class ecosystem, UIA is changing the competitive landscape in this highly competitive region, tripling its customer base over the last 5 years by offering services up to 100 times faster than typical competitors, and preparing to raise the bar yet again with a simple upgrade to symmetrical 10 gigabit per second on the horizon.

09:26 EDT Webster Financial says opened 338,000 new accounts in Q1 - Sees Q2 NIM flat compared to Q1. Says had more than 2,000 Small Business Association, or SBA, approved loans before the SBA stopped accepting loans. Says anticipates closing acquisition of health savings accounts from State Farm Bank in Q2 or Q3. Says does not anticipate purchasing shares until pandemic is over. Says loan and deposit ratio is favorable at 85%. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

09:25 EDT Hyatt amends revolving credit facility to obtain relief from certain covenants - In a regulatory filing, Hyatt said: "On March 18, 2020, we borrowed $400 million under our revolving credit facility to enhance our cash position in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We repaid $50 million of these borrowings on March 31, 2020. As of April 21, 2020, we had $350 million of borrowings outstanding under our revolving credit facility. On April 21, 2020, we amended our revolving credit facility to obtain relief from certain covenants and add or tighten other covenants through April 1, 2021. As we manage through the effects of the pandemic, our level of indebtedness may increase substantially. In addition, certain debt covenants may restrict our ability to make dividend payments to shareholders or engage in share repurchase activity. A default under our revolving credit facility would enable the lenders to terminate their commitments thereunder and could trigger a cross-default, acceleration or other consequences under our other indebtedness or financial instruments. There is no guarantee that debt financings will be available in the future to fund our obligations or will be available on terms consistent with our expectations. We also expect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial markets to adversely affect our ability to raise equity financing. Changes in the credit ratings of our debt, including our revolving credit facility and the notes, could have an adverse impact on our interest expense. As a result of the general economic uncertainty and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some credit agencies have downgraded our credit ratings. If our credit ratings were to be further downgraded, or general market conditions were to ascribe higher risk to our credit rating levels, our industry, or our company, our access to capital and the cost of debt financing would be negatively impacted."

09:21 EDT Adamis Pharmaceuticals announces production of additional drugs - Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced that its wholly owned drug outsourcing facility, US Compounding Inc., has increased its product mix to provide additional drugs to assist in the ongoing fight against COVID-19. Due to this pandemic, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed outsourcing facilities to compound certain medications that are in short supply, but not listed on FDA's Drug Shortage List. USC has begun manufacturing a variety of these pharmaceutical products, many of which may be used to treat acutely ill COVID-19 patients.

09:20 EDT Virginia, CIT, UPS, DroneUp, Workhorse Group test unmanned systems - Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology recently partnered with UPS's (UPS) drone delivery subsidiary UPS Flight Forward and drone technology companies DroneUp and Workhorse Group (WKHS) in tests designed to determine how unmanned aerial systems can assist medical professionals in their fight to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. As healthcare practitioners nationwide and around the world race to contain the virus and save lives, time is of the essence. Experts in the healthcare industry and in government are calling for technology solutions that can speed the pace of testing and treatment for infected patients. They also express concern for healthcare providers on the front lines who interact with potentially infected patients on a daily basis. Technology leaders see autonomous drones as a potentially valuable solution. The tests in Virginia evaluated the commercial drone industry's ability to provide and scale small unmanned aerial systems to support various use cases to speed and assist the U.S. healthcare system during the novel Coronavirus crisis. Data collected during this fast-paced simulation will be used to determine how private-sector drone operators can effectively supplement emergency response and certain patient care. The findings and recommendations will be included in a report to the White House, where leaders are considering what role the nascent industry could play in the Coronavirus response. The test participants conducted exercises over three days earlier this month on the vacant campus of St. Paul's College, in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The Brunswick County facility, which closed to the public in 2013, provided a safe, complex community environment to test package deliveries by drones under a variety of conditions.

09:18 EDT Curetis, Karolinska Institutet collaborate to study bacterial co-infections - OpGen announced the start of an investigator initiated collaboration with Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, to identify bacterial co-infections in patients admitted to the ICU for COVID-19 pneumonia using the Unyvero HPN panel. High-risk COVID-19 patients, especially in intensive care units and on ventilation, many of whom may be elderly or have preexisting conditions that compromise their immune system, are at a higher risk of acquiring bacterial co-infections that pose severe life-threatening complications. These co-infections are not always easily determined based on clinical symptoms alone, and, if they go unnoticed or diagnosis is delayed, it can lead to dire outcomes including mortality. Karolinska Institutet had previously evaluated the Unyvero system and the HPN panel. Curetis has now provided additional Unyvero Analyzers for increased throughput and additional HPN cartridges to enable testing of these critical specimens. The Unyvero Hospitalized Pneumonia panel detects 21 clinically relevant pathogens and 17 antibiotic resistance markers in less than 5 hours directly from native specimen with only around 2 minutes of hands-on time, compared to routine bacterial cultures that can take up to several days for confirmatory pathogen identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing results. In the U.S., the Unyvero LRT and LRT BAL panels for rapid detection of lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia are FDA-cleared for tracheal aspirate samples and bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, respectively. Unyvero HPN and LRT BAL are the only syndromic pneumonia panels that also include Pneumocystis jirovecii.

09:17 EDT WarnerMedia announces HBO Max to Launch May 27 - WarnerMedia, owned by AT&T, announced that HBO Max will officially launch May 27 and has unveiled its slate of premium Max Originals that will be available to viewers. The slate includes "Love Life", starring Anna Kendrick; "On the Record"; "Legendary"; "Craftopia"; the new "Looney Tunes Cartoons" and "Sesame Workshop's" . Starting May 27, HBO Max will offer a direct-to-consumer experience with 10,000 hours of content including the entire HBO service.

09:15 EDT Beyond Meat jumps 12% with Starbucks launch marking China entry - Shares of Beyond Meat (BYND) are jumping after Starbucks (SBUX) said it will roll out a new plant-based lunch menu in China this week with Beyond Meat's products. The coffee giant's new lunch menu will feature pastas and lasagna using Beyond Meat's plant-based beef products, and also include dishes from Omnipork, a plant-based pork alternative brand. Beyond Meat's plant-based minced beef will be sold at more than 3,300 Starbucks stores across China, marking the company's market entry into China. Shares of Beyond Meat are up 12%, or $9.25, to $88.37 in premarket trading. Starbucks is down 2% to $74.11.

09:13 EDT Merchants to sell for free on Google amid coronavirus pandemic - In a blog post, President of Commerce at Google (GOOG) Bill Ready said that, "The retail sector has faced many threats over the years, which have only intensified during the coronavirus pandemic. With physical stores shuttered, digital commerce has become a lifeline for retailers. And as consumers increasingly shop online, they're searching not just for essentials but also things like toys, apparel, and home goods. While this presents an opportunity for struggling businesses to reconnect with consumers, many cannot afford to do so at scale.In light of these challenges, we're advancing our plans to make it free for merchants to sell on Google. Beginning next week, search results on the Google Shopping tab will consist primarily of free product listings, helping merchants better connect with consumers, regardless of whether they advertise on Google. With hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google each day, we know that many retailers have the items people need in stock and ready to ship, but are less discoverable online. For retailers, this change means free exposure to millions of people who come to Google every day for their shopping needs. For shoppers, it means more products from more stores, discoverable through the Google Shopping tab. For advertisers, this means paid campaigns can now be augmented with free listings. If you're an existing user of Merchant Center and Shopping Ads, you don't have to do anything to take advantage of the free listings, and for new users of Merchant Center, we'll continue working to streamline the onboarding process over the coming weeks and months. These changes will take effect in the U.S. before the end of April, and we aim to expand this globally before the end of the year. [...] We're also kicking off a new partnership with PayPal [PYPL] to allow merchants to link their accounts. This will speed up our onboarding process and ensure we're surfacing the highest quality results for our users. And we're continuing to work closely with many of our existing partners that help merchants manage their products and inventory, including Shopify [SHOP], WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, to make digital commerce more accessible for businesses of all sizes." Reference Link

09:12 EDT Comtech awarded $2.2M contract for RF microwave control components - Comtech announced that during its Q3, its New York-based subsidiary, Comtech PST Corp., which is part of Comtech's Government Solutions segment, was awarded a $2.2M contract for RF microwave control components from a major domestic prime contractor. These integrated microwave assemblies and protection components provide for very broad frequency coverage and are key components in an integrated electronic countermeasures system used by the U.S. Military.

09:12 EDT United States Oil Fund temporarily suspends issuance of added 'Creation Baskets' - As previously reported to the SEC on April 20, United States Oil Fund indicated that it would announce through a current report on Form 8-K when USO has determined to temporarily suspend the issuance of additional "Creation Baskets." Today, USO issued all of its currently remaining registered shares. The registration statement that USO filed on April 20, 2020 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register an additional 4,000,000,000 shares has not been declared effective. As a result, USCF management is suspending the ability of the USO Authorized Purchasers to purchase new creation baskets until such time as the new USO registration statement for the additional shares has been declared effective by the SEC. "The ability of Authorized Purchasers to redeem Redemption Baskets during the suspension of the sale of Creation Baskets will remain unaffected. In addition, trading of USO shares on the NYSE Arca, Inc. will not be discontinued as a result of the suspension of sales of Creation Baskets. USO will issue a subsequent current report on Form 8-K to announce the effectiveness of the above-mentioned registration statement offering the additional, new shares as well as USO's ability to resume offering Creation Baskets to its Authorized Purchasers," the fund stated in a regulatory filing.

09:10 EDT Marimed launches 'Betty's Eddies' edibles in Nevada adult use market - MariMed announced that Betty's Eddies will now be available for retail purchase in Nevada. The expansion is part of MariMed's plan to increase the licensing and distribution of its proprietary Brands and Products into high-growth legal state markets. In Nevada, MariMed has partnered with Solace Holdings at their state-of-the-art licensed production and manufacturing facility in Las Vegas. A variety of Betty's Eddies are now being sold in Nevada, and can be found at Nuwu Dispensary in Elko, Nevada, with several more retail locations to be added this month.

09:10 EDT Fifth Third: Capital position strong enough to maintain current dividend - Fifth Third said its capital position its strong enough to maintain the current dividend if economic conditions persist through the end of the year.

09:09 EDT WarnerMedia's HBO Max to launch May 27 - WarnerMedia announced that its streaming platform HBO Max will officially launch May 27th, 2020 and has unveiled its slate of premium Max Originals that will be available to viewers on day one. The company said: "The slate includes the scripted comedy Love Life, starring Anna Kendrick; Sundance 2020 Official Selection feature documentary On the Record; underground ballroom dance competition series Legendary; Craftopia, hosted by YouTube sensation LaurDIY; the all-new Looney Tunes Cartoons, from Warner Bros. Animation; and Sesame Workshop's The Not Too Late Show with Elmo. Starting May 27th, HBO Max will offer an impressive direct-to-consumer experience with 10,000 hours of premium content including the entire HBO service, together with beloved franchises, titles past and present from Warner Bros., the best of the best from around the world, and a monthly offering of new Max Originals which guarantee something for everyone in the house - from preschoolers to teens to grownups - with scripted and unscripted series, docs, animation for kids and adults, and movies." In addition to series, specials, and docs, HBO Max will feature a library of more than 2,000 feature films within the first year.

09:07 EDT Synchrony to halt further share repurchases due to COVID-19

09:07 EDT Fifth Third has made up to $1,000 special payment to certain employees - The company has made an up to $1,000 special payment to banking center, operations and call center employees providing essential banking services. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

09:03 EDT U.S. Cellular, Ericsson increase mobile broadband capacity in certain areas - U.S. Cellular (USM) with Ericsson (ERIC) support, began boosting mobile broadband capacity to customers in parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, New Hampshire, Maine and North Carolina, due to increased demand for data usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. Cellular recently requested and was granted Special Temporary Authority (STA) from the Federal Communications Commission to operate additional spectrum licensed to Advantage Spectrum in the AWS-3 band for 60 days. Ericsson has worked with U.S. Cellular to add additional capacity to more than 200 sites to help ensure connectivity for U.S. Cellular customers.

09:02 EDT Flowr announces C$20M private placement - The Flowr Corporation announced a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of C$20,000,000, with the ability, at the Company's discretion, to upsize the amount to an aggregate gross proceeds of C$25,000,000. The Company expects to use the proceeds of the Offering for general working capital purposes. Chairman & Chief Strategist Steve Klein and Chief Executive Officer Vinay Tolia are leading the Offering with commitments in excess of $10M. Management and insiders will continue to own approximately 58% of the shares of the Company post financing on a fully diluted basis. In addition, certain directors, officers, employees and executives of Flowr, including Chairman & Chief Strategist Steve Klein, CEO Vinay Tolia, Founder and Managing Partner Thomas Flow, Managing Director, Europe Pauric Duffy and Managing Director, Australia & Asia Pacific Peter Comerford who currently collectively control approximately 58% of the Company have agreed to voluntary lock-up agreements in connection with the closing of the Offering whereby all shares held by these shareholders will be subject to restrictions on sale until released under the terms of the Lock-Up Agreements on the 12-month anniversary of the closing date of the Offering. The Offering consists of units of the Company at a price of C$1,000.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one subordinated secured debenture of the Company and one common share purchase warrant. Each Debenture is comprised of C$1,000.00 principal amount of convertible debentures of the Company. The Debentures will bear interest at a rate of 10.0% per annum from the Closing Date, calculated semi-annually in arrears on June 30 and December 31 of each year. Interest will, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, be paid annually in Common Shares and paid on December 31 of each year, with the last interest payment to be paid on the fourth anniversary of the Closing Date. Subject to TSXV approval, the conversion price with respect to the Common Shares issued as payment in kind on account of interest shall be the market price of the Common Shares on the business day immediately prior to the conversion date of such interest payment. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that the TSXV does not approve the payment of interest in Common Shares for any particular interest payment period, such interest shall instead be paid in cash pursuant to the debenture indenture to be entered into between the Company and the debentureholders. The Debentures will be convertible into Common Shares at the option of the debentureholder at any time and from time to time prior to the Maturity Date upon such holder providing five business days' notice to the Company. The conversion price with respect to the Common Shares issued upon conversion of Debentures is $0.58 per Common Share. Debentureholders converting their Debentures will be entitled to receive accrued and unpaid interest thereon for the period from and including the date of the latest interest payment date, to and including the date of conversion. Any outstanding principal amount of the Debentures not converted prior to the Maturity Date will be repaid by the Company, at the election of the holders of the Debentures, in cash or Common Shares on the Maturity Date. Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.76 per Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from the closing date. Any Warrants not exercised prior to the Expiry Date shall be deemed to be void and of no further force and effect. The Debentures will rank subordinate to any and all current secured indebtedness and senior to any and all current and future unsecured indebtedness of the Company and any and all future secured indebtedness of the Company. The closing of the Offering is currently expected to occur on or about April 23, 2020, but is at the discretion of the Company and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, receipt of approval of the TSXV as well as finalization and execution of definitive documentation. AltaCorp Capital is participating in this Offering as an advisor to the Company. AltaCorp is a subsidiary of ATB Financial, which entered into a credit agreement with the Company for access to debt financing of up to CAD$25 million on November 18th, 2019. ATB has consented to the Offering pursuant to the terms of the Credit Agreement. As part of the Offering, the Company and ATB have agreed to amend the terms of the Credit Agreement. The Amending Agreement amends, among other things, the following: the CD$3.5 million cash collateral account put into place on the closing of the Credit Agreement will be used to permanently paydown the credit facilities under the Credit Agreement on a pro-rata basis; the inclusion of certain cash-flow reporting requirements and additional certification requirements; the reduction of certain baskets under the Credit Agreement, including permitted financial assistance and permitted investment baskets being reduced from C$15 million to C$9.5 million; and the entering into of a subordination agreement between the senior lenders under the Credit Agreement and the debentureholders under the Offering.

09:01 EDT Scripps National Spelling Bee cancels national finals - The Scripps National Spelling Bee is canceling its 2020 national finalsdue tothe ongoing concerns about the spread ofthe novelcoronavirus and uncertainty around when public gatherings will be possible or advisable. This decision follows the Bee's announcement on March 20 that it was suspending the national finals and hoped to reschedule. The Bee has determined there is no clear path to safely set a new date in 2020.

08:56 EDT Sharps Compliance receives PPP loan of $2.2M - Sharps Compliance announced that it has received loan proceeds of $2.2M under the Paycheck Protection Program under a promissory note from its commercial bank. The PPP, established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, provides for loans to qualifying businesses for amounts up to 2.5 times the average monthly payroll expenses of the qualifying business. The loans and accrued interest are forgivable after eight weeks providing that the borrower uses the loan proceeds for eligible purposes, including payroll, benefits, rent and utilities, and maintains its payroll levels. The term of the Company's PPP Loan is two years. The annual interest rate on the PPP Loan is 1% and no payments of principal or interest are due during the six-month period beginning on the date of the PPP Loan.

08:53 EDT Outlook Therapeutics appoints Gerd Auffarth, Julian Gangolli to board - Outlook Therapeutics, Inc. (OTLK) announced it has bolstered its Board of Directors with the appointments of Prof. Dr. Gerd Auffarth and Mr. Julian Gangolli. Dr. Auffarth is an internationally recognized ophthalmologist in the area of research and development as well as clinical care for patients. He currently serves as the Medical Director of Heidelberg University Eye Clinic. Gangolli most recently served as President, North America of Greenwich Biosciences, a GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (GWPH).

08:49 EDT Abeona Therapeutics appoints Brian Pereira, Shawn Tomasello to board - Abeona Therapeutics announced appointments of Brian Pereira, M.D. and Shawn Tomasello, M.B.A. as Executive Chairman and Independent Board Member, respectively. Pereira, President and CEO of Visterra, brings proven leadership to Abeona fostered during a distinguished career in guiding several biopharma companies to success. Equally, Ms. Tomasello has extensive experience in several leadership roles, most notably as Chief Commercial Officer at cell therapy pioneer Kite Pharmaceuticals.

08:46 EDT Valaris receives noncompliance notification from NYSE - Valaris announced today that on April 15 the Company was notified by the NYSE of its noncompliance with continued listing standards because the average closing price of its Class A ordinary shares over a prior 30-day consecutive trading period had fallen below $1.00 per share, which is the minimum average closing price per share required to maintain listing on the NYSE.

08:46 EDT aTyr Pharma announces FDA acceptance of IND for ATYR1923 in Phase 2 study - aTyr Pharma announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to evaluate its lead therapeutic candidate, ATYR1923, in a Phase 2 study in COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory complications. ATYR1923 has been shown pre-clinically to downregulate T-cell responses, thereby dampening the inflammatory cytokine and chemokine signaling that has been implicated in these severe COVID-19 cases. ATYR1923 has also been shown to improve lung function, as well as to reduce inflammation and fibrosis, in multiple animal models of immune-mediated acute lung injury. The Phase 2 clinical trial will be a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study with ATYR1923 in 30 confirmed COVID-19 positive patients at up to 10 centers in the United States. Patients enrolled in the trial will be assigned to one of three cohorts of 10 patients each. Patients will receive a single intravenous dose of either 1.0 or 3.0 mg/kg ATYR1923 or placebo. The study will look to demonstrate safety and preliminary efficacy of ATYR1923 in COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory complications. Interim safety data results from a Phase 1b/2a study of ATYR1923 in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis were announced in December 2019. Study drug was observed to be generally safe and well tolerated with no drug-related serious adverse events, consistent with Phase 1 study results in healthy volunteers.

08:44 EDT Myovant Sciences submits NDA to FDA for once-daily, oral relugolix - Myovant Sciences announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for once-daily, oral relugolix for the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer. Myovant also announced that it expects to submit its NDA for once-daily, oral relugolix combination tablet for women with heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids in May 2020. The NDA submission is supported by positive results from the Phase 3 HERO study, a randomized pivotal study comparing relugolix versus leuprolide acetate. Relugolix met the primary efficacy endpoint with 96.7% of men achieving sustained testosterone suppression to castrate levels through 48 weeks. Six key secondary endpoints demonstrated superiority to leuprolide acetate, including sustained testosterone suppression to castrate levels through 48 weeks, rapid suppression of testosterone at Day 4 and at Day 15, profound suppression of testosterone at Day 15, rapid suppression of prostate-specific antigen at Day 15, and suppression of follicle-stimulating hormone at Week 24. The overall incidence of adverse events in the relugolix and leuprolide acetate groups was comparable. Major adverse cardiovascular events were reported in 2.9% of men in the relugolix group versus 6.2% of men in the leuprolide acetate group. These events included non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and all-cause mortality.

08:42 EDT Simmons First National receives approval from SBA for over 3,100 PPP loans - The company said, "In March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which is designed to provide comprehensive relief to individuals and businesses following the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act includes approximately $2 trillion in assistance and a key component is the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides 100% federally guaranteed loans for small businesses to cover up to eight weeks of payroll costs to retain their workforce and assist with mortgage interest, rent and utilities. Notably, these small business loans may be forgiven if borrowers maintain their payrolls and satisfy certain other conditions during the crisis. In response to the economic hardships associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, as of April 16th, the Company has obtained approval from the SBA for over 3,100 PPP loans totaling over $745 million for existing and new customers. The Company is continually monitoring the PPP and making the necessary adjustments to its own operations. In addition, the Company has completed or is in the process of modifying more than 3,600 loans totaling over $2.8 billion. The Company is dedicated to supporting its customers and communities throughout this period of uncertainty. In March and in response to the pandemic, the Company announced temporary closure of 52 branches and has been focusing on the enhanced digital banking experience. The Company has implemented business continuity plans to help ensure that customers have adequate access to banking services while at the same time working to protect associates through heightened safety procedures. As of March 31, 2020, the Company has approximately $4.7 billion in liquidity sources available and is well capitalized, which management believes should allow the Company to approach the crisis from a position of strength."

08:39 EDT Chuy's sees approx. $3M in tax refunds due to the CARES Act - The Company also expects approximately $3.0 million in tax refunds due to the CARES Act as a result of an administrative correction of the depreciation recovery period for qualified improvement property, including restaurant construction costs and other improvements that will result in the acceleration of depreciation on these assets.

08:38 EDT Chuy's furloughs 80% of hourly employees, 40% of store management by end of Q1 - As of the end of the first quarter of 2020, the Company has furloughed approximately 80% of hourly employees and approximately 40% of store management personnel, while enacting temporary salary reductions for remaining managers. In addition, as previously announced, the Company has furloughed approximately 40% of its corporate and administrative staff, has temporarily reduced the pay of all necessary corporate and administrative staff by 25% to 50%, temporarily reduced senior management salaries by 50% to 75%, and has temporarily suspended all board fees.

08:37 EDT Chuy's temporarily suspends payment of rent on operating leases - To preserve financial flexibility and liquidity, the Company has temporarily suspended the payment of rent on operating leases and is currently negotiating rent concessions, abatements and deferrals with landlords.

08:36 EDT Chuy's pays full cost of health insurance for all eligible employees - Steve Hislop, Chuy's CEO, stated, "I'm proud of our team members who have worked tirelessly to transform our business to a safe and efficient off-premise model, including enhanced take-out and curbside pick-up. Their commitment and ability to skillfully adapt in the face of the COVID-19 crisis has been nothing short of amazing. Their efforts are evident in the steady improvement of our sales in recent weeks. Our top priority continues to be the safety and well-being of our employees and guests. To help ease the impact of this pandemic on our team members we are providing support through our Redfish Relief Fund, an established fund that provides assistance to employees facing financial hardship. We are also paying the full cost of health insurance for all eligible employees, including those currently furloughed. We will continue to follow CDC guidance and work closely with local health officials to determine the best time to resume our normal operations."

08:34 EDT Chuy's sees preliminary Q1 SSS down 9.7% - Preliminary comparable restaurant sales for the first quarter of 2020 are expected to decrease by 9.7%. These results include comparable restaurant sales growth of 3.1% for the first 10 weeks of the 13-week quarter, prior to the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business. During the last two weeks of the first quarter, as required by federal and local officials, Chuy's restaurants transitioned to an enhanced off-premise operating model at 92 of its locations with a limited menu featuring a number of long-time favorites, plus convenient family meal and beverage kits. Since that transition, the Company's combined take-out and delivery sales have more than tripled from its pre-COVID-19 off-premise sales, including an alcohol mix of approximately 6%.

08:32 EDT NeuroBo granted patent by USPTO - NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals announced that on March 17, the U.S Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent No. 10,588,927 B2, entitled, "Composition Containing Mixed Extract of Mulberry and Poria Cocos Peel." The patent covers the extract of a mixture containing mulberry and Poria cocos peel, which are the active ingredients contained in the composition, at a certain ratio or a method of treating a degenerative neurological disease using the extract. The extract has memory improving activity through the inhibition of acetylcholine esterase, and neuroprotective effects and neuron protection by inhibiting the formation of beta amyloid and tau phosphorylation and promoting NGF production. The company said, "Our recently announced $7.5M financing, when combined with current cash on hand, will allow us to submit an Investigational New Drug application to the FDA for NB-02 and to initiate a Phase 1 trial when global health and macroeconomic conditions improve. We look forward to moving ahead with this program in order to further explore its considerable promise as a neuroprotective agent, which has been demonstrated in extensive preclinical studies. If successful, we believe that NB-02 could drive a paradigm shift in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders."

08:29 EDT Iridex appoints Doris Engibous to board of directors - IRIDEX Corporation announced the appointment of Doris Engibous to its board of directors effective April 20, 2020. The Company will also nominate Ms. Engibous for re-election to the board at its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Ms. Engibous has been an independent consultant and advisor to medical technology companies and executives since 2010. Maria Sainz has notified the IRIDEX board that she will not stand for re-election at the Company's 2020 Annual Shareholder Meeting. Ms. Sainz has served on the IRIDEX board since April 2018. Following the retirement of Ms. Sainz, the Company's board will be composed of six directors.

08:25 EDT CHF Solutions receives $1.66M under SBA's PPP, $1.1M from warrant exercises - CHF Solutions announced receipt of $1.66M under the Paycheck Protection Program under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. This amount represents the full amount available to the company, based on its payroll expense. In addition, the company has received approximately $1.1M in proceeds from the exercise of outstanding warrants. With these funds, in addition to the proceeds from the three previously announced equity financings closed earlier this year, the company's total pro forma cash balance, as of December 31, 2019, is approximately $15.7M, based on its most recently reported financial results. The principal amount of the PPP loan will be fully forgiven if the company uses the funds solely for the purposes outlined under the program over the next eight weeks: at least 75% for payroll, including employee benefits, and the remaining 25% for rent and utilities. The PPP loan has a fixed interest rate of 1.00% and maturity of two years. All payments are deferred for six months. No collateral or personal guarantees were required for the PPP loan. CHF Solutions expects to meet the forgiveness terms of the program. The warrants had a current exercise price of 30c per share and were issued as part of the units sold in the company's underwritten public offering which closed on January 28, 2020.

08:22 EDT Checkpoint issued U.S. composition of matter patent for cosibelimab - Checkpoint Therapeutics announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a composition of matter patent for cosibelimab, Checkpoint's high affinity, fully-human IgG1 monoclonal antibody that directly binds to programmed death ligand-1 and blocks the PD-L1 interaction with the programmed death receptor-1 and B7.1 receptors. U.S. Patent No. 10,590,199 specifically covers the antibody, cosibelimab, or a fragment thereof, providing protection through at least May 2038, exclusive of any additional patent-term extensions that might become available. Cosibelimab is currently being studied in an ongoing, multicenter, registration-enabling Phase 1 clinical trial intended to support a potential Biologics License Application submission for the initial indication of metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Earlier this year, Checkpoint announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had confirmed the registration submission pathway for cosibelimab in CSCC based on the ongoing clinical trial, which is over one-third enrolled. Cosibelimab is potentially differentiated from currently marketed PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies with a half-life that supports sustained greater than99% tumor target occupancy and the additional benefit of a functional Fc domain capable of inducing antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity for possible enhanced efficacy in certain tumor types.

08:19 EDT Nasdaq launches Nasdaq Cloud Data Service - Nasdaq announced the launch of its Nasdaq Cloud Data Service, which provides clients access to real-time exchange data, index, and fund data through cloud-based technology. Users worldwide can now access Nasdaq data through a suite of highly scalable, cloud-based Application Programming Interfaces. These APIs utilize open-source delivery standards and a software development kit to fast track engineering efforts, which eliminates the need for hardware procurement, proprietary protocols, file formats, and leased lines. This allows for effortless integration of data from disparate sources, and a dramatic reduction in time to market for customer-designed applications. NCDS runs on Amazon Web Services to help deliver world-class ease of use, agility and scale for its clients.

08:15 EDT AzurRx BioPharma says taken steps to strengthen team, streamline operations - CEO James Sapirstein said, "We have taken several steps to strengthen our team, broaden our talent pool and consolidate and streamline our operations: Finance: hiring Daniel Schneiderman as our CFO and a new Controller; Clinical Operations: consolidation of all U.S.-European clinical trial programs under Jim Pennington, M.D., our CMO; Chemistry, Manufacturing & Controls: hiring Ted Stover to serve as global Product Development Manager for MS1819; and Board of Directors: appointing Greg Oakes, a seasoned biotech executive with significant experience and a track record in pharma commercialization and partnering."

08:13 EDT VF Corp. to proceed with occupational workwear business divestiture - VF intends to proceed with the divestiture of its occupational workwear business as announced on January 21 and is actively engaged with prospective buyers. As of March 28, the company expects to have met the accounting criteria for the classification of discontinued operations for its occupational workwear business. As the company's financial closing procedures related to the discontinued operations presentation for the occupational workwear business are not finalized, these preliminary results include the contribution of the company's occupational workwear business. In conjunction with the release of the company's Q4 and FY20 results in May, VF expects to exclude the operating results of the occupational workwear business from continuing operations for all periods presented.

08:12 EDT AzurRx BioPharma expects interim data from Phase 2 combination trial in Q3 - CEO James Sapirstein said, "In Q4 2019 we dosed the first patient in our Phase 2 combination therapy clinical trial in Hungary. In January 2020 we reported that the data from the first five patients in the study, for primary and secondary efficacy endpoints, was positive and that there were no safety issues. We are completing the trial in sites in Hungary and plan to open new trial sites in Spain, and possibly in Turkey, in Q3 2020. We plan to release interim data during Q3 2020, anticipate completion of the Combination Trial by the end of 2020 and top line data in Q1 2021. Although we are very pleased with our current clinical trial progress, the impact of COVID-19 on clinical trials changes on a daily basis and could in the future impact the progress of our trials. We intend to provide updates if required as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop."

08:10 EDT AzurRx BioPharma expects minor delays in Phase 2 OPTION 2 clinical trial - CEO James Sapirstein said, "Despite COVID-19, we currently anticipate only minor delays in initiating and completing our dose-escalating Phase 2 OPTION 2 monotherapy clinical trial, using 2.2g and 4.4g doses of MS1819 in enteric capsules in the U.S. and Poland. During Q1 2020, we executed contracts with our clinical research organizations and began preparation for the trial, including identifying the trial sites and investigators. In addition, the clinical trial protocol has been reviewed by the FDA with no comments, and we intend to begin Institutional Review Board reviews shortly. Barring any significant coronavirus developments, we should be able to initiate the OPTION 2 Trial by the end of Q2 2020 and expect top line data in Q1 2021."

08:09 EDT AzurRx BioPharma CEO reiterates 'firm, continued belief' in MS1819 - AzurRx BioPharma issued a letter to its shareholders and the investment community from James Sapirstein, President and CEO. The letter said, in part, "I hope that all is well with you and your families during these difficult and unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic. When I last wrote to you six months ago, as the newly appointed President and CEO of AzurRx, I spoke about my strong belief in the potential of MS1819, our focus on building shareholder value and in raising sufficient capital to achieve our milestones. I am pleased to say we have made progress towards all of these goals. Let me now provide a more detailed update on our progress and share with you our goals for 2020 and 2021, including our plans to develop MS1819 into a Phase 3 ready asset that can potentially be monetized..I would like to reiterate my firm and continued belief in the potential for MS1819 as we remain focused on building shareholder value and executing upon our corporate objectives and milestones. We believe that the successful completion and release of key efficacy data from the Phase 2 monotherapy and combination therapy trials in Q1 2021 represent inflection points that can increase the value of AzurRx and provides the fundamental basis for developing MS1819 into a Phase 3 ready asset. In addition to executing on our clinical studies and releasing data, we plan to spend 2020 and early 2021 focusing on the necessary CMC and regulatory objectives needed to fully develop MS1819 for Phase 3 and commercialization. To that end, we are planning for a new manufacturing campaign to optimize our long-term drug supply chain and evaluate process improvements to further reduce manufacturing costs. Additionally, this campaign will support the toxicity studies needed to provide the clinical drug supply necessary to initiate our Phase 3 trial. Finally, we will be drafting a pediatric study plan to support a successful end of Phase 2 meeting with the FDA. I believe achieving these clinical, CMC and regulatory milestones are critical in order to maximize the value of AzurRx and reward the patience and support of our investors and stakeholders."

08:07 EDT Lockheed Martin backs FY20 segment operating profit view $6.8B-$6.95B - Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call presentation slides.

08:05 EDT Entercom adopts limited duration shareholder rights plan - Entercom Communications announced that its board has adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan to protect the long-term interests of its shareholders. The Plan has a one-year duration, expiring April 20, 2021. The board adopted the Plan at this time due to the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on equity market valuations which has led to substantial volatility in the trading of the company's stock and a dislocation in Entercom's share price. The Plan is similar to those adopted by other publicly held companies and is intended to promote the fair and equal treatment of all shareholders and ensure that the board remains in the best position to uphold its fiduciary duties to the company and its shareholders. The Plan is designed to allow shareholders to realize the long-term value of their investment by guarding against opportunistic efforts to capitalize on recent macroeconomic conditions, including open market accumulations and other strategies, aimed at gaining control of the company without paying all shareholders a full control premium for their shares. The Plan provides for the issuance of one preferred stock purchase right for each share of Class A Common Stock and each share of Class B Common Stock held by shareholders of record on May 5, exercisable for Series A Preferred Stock and Series B Preferred Stock, respectively. Generally, the rights will become exercisable or exchangeable only if a person or group acquires 10% or more of the company's outstanding Class A Common Stock, or 15% in the case of certain passive investors or announces a tender offer and the consummation of that offer would result in ownership above such percentage-levels. If the rights become exercisable, the rights will entitle its holder to purchase one one-thousandth of a share of the newly-created Series A and Series B Preferred Stock, as applicable, which, in each case, at the board's election, may be converted into shares of Class A and Class B Common Stock, respectively, of the company. The company intends to engage with shareholders regarding the Plan. If the board determines it is appropriate to extend the Plan, it intends to submit such an extension to a vote of the shareholders at the 2021 annual meeting of the shareholders.

08:05 EDT Great Panther Silver names Rob Henderson as CEO - Rob Henderson has been appointed President and CEO effective April 21. Henderson is a professional engineer and seasoned mining executive with 35 years of experience in operations, capital projects, and mining finance. Most recently, Henderson was President and CEO of Amerigo Resources, a copper producer with assets in Chile. Board Chair and Interim President and CEO Jeffrey Mason has stepped down from both roles and has resigned from the Board of Directors; however, he will continue to provide consulting services to the company to ensure a smooth transition of the executive duties to Henderson. Mason has served for the last six years as a Director on, or advisor to, the Board and has been Chair since July 2019.

08:03 EDT Equinix, GIC to form JV greater than $1B - Equinix announced the signing of a greater than $1B initial joint venture in the form of a limited liability partnership with GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, to develop and operate xScale data centers in Japan. The three initial facilities in the joint venture - one in Osaka and two in Tokyo -- will serve the unique core workload deployment needs of a targeted group of hyperscale companies, including the world's largest cloud service providers. With these xScale data centers, hyperscale companies can add core deployments to their existing access point footprints at Equinix, enabling their growth on a single platform that can immediately span 55 global metros and offer direct interconnection-within a vibrant set of ecosystems-to their customers and strategic business partners. Under the terms of the agreement, GIC will own an 80% equity interest in the joint venture and Equinix will own the remaining 20% equity interest. The joint venture is expected to close in 2H 2020, pending regulatory approval and other closing conditions. Upon closing of this joint venture, GIC is expected to have contributed cash to fund its 80% equity interest in the joint venture. Equinix is expected to have transferred its Tokyo TY12 and Osaka OS2 development assets, along with development rights and the land for an additional data center in Tokyo, to the joint venture in return for a 20% equity interest in the joint venture and net cash proceeds in excess of $100M. Financing for the joint venture is also expected to close in 2H 2020 and is anticipated to consist of a delayed draw term loan facility and a revolving credit facility. Proceeds from the delayed draw term loan facility are expected to fund a portion of the consideration paid to Equinix for the sale to the joint venture of TY12 and OS2 development assets, as well as to fund a portion of the planned development and construction costs for those assets. The revolving credit facility is expected to be available for working capital needs and other general corporate purposes of the joint venture. Citi served as exclusive financial advisor to Equinix in connection with this transaction.

07:59 EDT Newmont raises quarterly dividend to 25c per share from 14c per share - Newmont announced that its board declared a quarterly dividend of 25c per share of common stock, payable on June 18, to holders of record at the close of business on June 4. Consistent with the company's prior announcement to significantly increase its industry leading dividend, the Q1 dividend declared represents an increase of 79% compared to the prior quarterly dividend of 14c per share.

07:57 EDT Coca-Cola doesn't foresee any significant M&A activity this year - The company also said it doesn't intend to repurchase shares.

07:53 EDT SeaWorld expects sufficient liquidity to meet its cash expenditure into 4Q21 - Factoring in measures already taken in response to COVID-19, the company estimates net cash outflows to be up to approximately $25M per month, on average, while parks remain closed. The company is actively evaluating additional cost reduction and cash saving measures. Including the expected proceeds from the notes offering announced 4/21, the company expects to have sufficient liquidity to meet its cash expenditure requirements into the fourth quarter of 2021.

07:49 EDT Coca-Cola CEO: Consumption in China remains below year-ago levels

07:45 EDT Coca-Cola: Other countries may not follow same trajectory as China

07:40 EDT Primoris to hold Annual Meeting of Stockholders virtually - Primoris Services Corporation announced that due to the public health impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak and governmental restrictions limiting the number of people who may gather together, and to support the health and well-being of our stockholders, employees and communities, the location of the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Primoris has been changed. The Annual Meeting will now be held over the internet in a virtual meeting format only, via live webcast. You will be able to attend the Annual Meeting only via the webcast. As previously announced, the Annual Meeting will be held on Friday, May 1, 2020 at 9 a.m. Central Time.

07:37 EDT Coca-Cola sees having 'better picture' in July of how recovery will unfold - Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

07:36 EDT Lockheed Martin: Impact from COVID-19 'remains uncertain' - The company said, "The global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and a national emergency by the U.S. Government in March 2020 and has negatively affected the U.S. and global economy, disrupted global supply chains, resulted in significant travel and transport restrictions, including mandated closures and orders to "shelter-in-place," and created significant disruption of the financial markets. Lockheed Martin has taken measures to protect the health and safety of its employees, work with its customers to minimize potential disruptions and support its community in addressing the challenges posed by this global pandemic. The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the corporation's operational and financial performance, including its ability to execute its programs in the expected timeframe, will depend on future developments, including the duration and spread of the pandemic and related actions taken by the U.S. Government, state and local government officials, and international governments to prevent disease spread, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted. The outbreak did not have a material impact on the corporation's operating results or business in the first quarter of 2020. However, the corporation is beginning to experience some issues in each of its business areas related to COVID-19, primarily in access to some locations and delays of supplier deliveries. The corporation is updating its 2020 guidance for net sales to reflect these impacts, as production and supply chain activities have recently slowed in the Aeronautics business area. However, the ultimate impact of COVID-19 on the corporation's 2020 outlook for sales, segment operating profit, earnings and cash flows from operations remains uncertain. The corporation's 2020 outlook assumes, among other things, that its production facilities continue to operate and it does not experience significant work stoppages or closures, it is able to mitigate any supply chain disruptions and these do not worsen, and it is able to recover its costs under contracts and government funding priorities do not change. In addition, the corporation's financial performance assumes actual returns on its pension assets during 2020 will be 7.0%, and the discount rate used to re-measure its pension liabilities at year-end 2020 will be 3.25%. Differences between these assumed values and actual values will affect the corporation's plan funded status and stockholders' equity as measured at year-end 2020. The corporation is also monitoring the impacts of COVID-19 on the fair value of its assets. While the corporation does not currently anticipate any material impairments on its assets as a result of COVID-19, future changes in expectations for sales, earnings and cash flows related to intangible assets and goodwill below its current projections could cause these assets to be impaired. While these are the corporation's current assumptions, this is an emerging situation and these could change, including if the duration of the pandemic is extended, which could affect outlook."

07:34 EDT Idera Pharmaceuticals announces final safety data from ILLUMINATE-204 trial - Idera Pharmaceuticals is announcing final topline data from the ILLUMINATE-204 trial investigating intratumoral tilsotolimod, Idera's investigational Toll-like receptor 9 agonist. ILLUMINATE-204 is a multi-center, two-arm phase 1/2 trial in patients with anti-PD-1 refractory advanced melanoma. The phase 1 portion of the trial tested the safety and efficacy of increasing doses of tilsotolimod in combination with either Yervoy or Keytruda. The phase 2 expansion of the trial enrolled additional patients at the recommended phase 2 dose of 8 mg of tilsotolimod in combination with Yervoy, which is the treatment regimen being evaluated for the same indication in the Company's registrational trial, ILLUMINATE-301. ILLUMINATE-204 Key Findings: The study included 52 patients treated with 8 mg of tilsotolimod in combination with Yervoy. 49 patients were evaluable for efficacy. Median overall survival was 21.0 months. The overall response rate per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors was 22.4%, including 2 complete responses. The disease control rate was 71.4%. Median duration of response was 11.4 months. 7 of 11 RECIST v1.1 responses were durable for greater than 6 months. Tumor reduction was observed in both injected and noninjected tumors.The combination regimen was generally well tolerated among the 62 patients receiving tilsotolimod at any dose in combination with Yervoy. 48% of patients reported a maximum Grade 3 or 4 treatment emergent adverse event.The most common serious TEAEs were autoimmune hepatitis, hyponatremia, and hypophysitis. 26% of patients reported immune-related toxicities, suggesting that tilsotolimod + Yervoy does not add immune-related toxicity versus Yervoy alone. There were no TEAEs leading to discontinuation or death. Final data from ILLUMINATE-204 is planned for submission to a medical meeting in the second half of 2020. "The outcomes from this study encourage our belief that the combination of tilsotolimod and ipilimumab may provide a much-needed treatment option for advanced melanoma patients who have limited available therapies," stated Elizabeth Tarka, M.D., Idera's CMO. "We are looking forward to completing our registrational trial for this indication, ILLUMINATE-301, where a comparator arm is included, and moving this potential therapy one step closer to patients in need. As with many of our peers, we are intently monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential effect on the ILLUMINATE-301 trial. We are working closely with our investigators and partners and taking proactive steps to help protect the safety of our study participants and clinical trial staff while also ensuring the scientific integrity of the trial data. Based on what we know today, and while recognizing the environment could rapidly change, we currently expect to achieve our target of sharing key topline data from the trial in the first quarter of 2021."

07:25 EDT MiX Telematics appointed to assist Brazil major ethanol producer - MiX Telematics confirmed that one of Brazil's largest ethanol and sugar producers have appointed MiX Telematics to assist in modifying driver behavior and reducing vehicle collisions. The major industry player accounts for 10% of ethanol supply in Brazil; grinding 27 million tons of sugarcane in one harvest year, resulting in the production of 2.1 billion liters of ethanol. The company is present in four Brazilian states and employs over 10,000 people. MiX Telematics will be assisting the company to optimize the safety and efficiency of over 650 vehicles currently operating throughout Brazil.

07:20 EDT WindMIL opens combination therapy portion of Phase 2a trial of MILs - WindMIL Therapeutics announced it has begun enrollment in the combination therapy portion of its open-label, multi-center Phase 2a clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of MILs in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who are refractory to, or have relapsed on, an anti-PD-1-containing regimen. In this part of the study, MILs will be administered in combination with nivolumab, a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor. The trial, part of a clinical research collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company which is providing the nivolumab, began late last year with the first set of patients treated with MILs - NSCLC only. MILs - NSCLC is an adoptive cell therapy product produced via WindMIL's proprietary process to activate and expand T cells derived from the bone marrow of NSCLC patients. The trial's safety committee cleared the opening of the combination therapy portion of the study based on favorable safety data in the monotherapy part of the study. Only mild MILs related toxicities were observed, with no Grade 3/4 or dose limiting toxicities. WindMIL plans to treat approximately 20 patients with MILs - NSCLC plus nivolumab in this next part of the study. The study's primary endpoint is objective response rate, with duration of response, progression free survival and overall survival serving as secondary endpoints. The company has seven U.S. clinical sites activated for patient recruitment.

07:16 EDT WPD, CNS announce additional coronavirus testing on WP1122 - WPD Pharmaceuticals along with its development partner CNS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CNSP), announce that ImQuest Biosciences has been engaged to expand in vitro and in vivo testing of WP1122, a drug candidate for the treatment of COVID-19. The agreement with ImQuest Biosciences was entered into by WPD's license partner Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (MBRX) to expand testing of WP1122 as a potential treatment for the Coronavirus. WPD is not making any express or implied claims that this new partnership may eliminate, cure or contain the Covid-19 at this time. ImQuest BioSciences is a preclinical CRO that provides expert services to evaluate the potential of new and novel pharmaceutical products for the treatment and prevention of viruses, bacteria, cancer and inflammatory diseases. ImQuest has developed a robust platform to identify and support the development of therapeutic products to inhibit and prevent coronavirus infection. These preclinical research services are part of the ImQuestSUCCESS Platform and include compound screening to define compound efficacy and drug target validation to define the mechanism of action and toxicity of pharmaceutical products, as well as evaluation of the potential of products to induce resistance and the impact of combination antiviral therapy.

07:13 EDT Scynexis announces results from second Phase 3 study of oral ibrexafungerp - SCYNEXIS announced positive top-line results for its Phase 3 VANISH-306 study investigating the safety and efficacy of oral ibrexafungerp, a novel broad-spectrum antifungal, as a treatment for women with vulvovaginal candidiasis, also known as vaginal yeast infection. With these results, ibrexafungerp has now achieved superiority over placebo with a high degree of statistical significance on key study endpoints required for regulatory approval of the VVC indication in both VANISH pivotal trials, clearing the way for the NDA submission for the treatment of VVC in the second half of 2020. VANISH-306 Efficacy Results: 63.3 percent of ibrexafungerp-treated patients met the primary endpoint of clinical cure at the Day-10 test-of-cure visit, defined as the complete resolution of all vaginal signs and symptoms following a single-day 600mg dose regimen consisting of two doses of 300mg administered 12 hours apart. 58.5 percent of ibrexafungerp-treated patients met the secondary endpoint of mycological eradication at TOC visit, defined as negative culture. 72.3 percent of ibrexafungerp-treated patients were categorized as clinically improved at TOC visit, defined as having total signs and symptoms of 0 or 1. 73.9 percent of ibrexafungerp-treated patients had complete symptom resolution at the Day-25 follow-up visit. Safety Results: In VANISH-306, oral ibrexafungerp was generally safe and well tolerated. Severe and serious adverse events were rare and there were no drug-related SAEs. Similar to previous studies, the majority of Treatment-Emergent AEs observed at a higher frequency in the ibrexafungerp group in VANISH-306 were gastrointestinal in nature, with the three most common GI events occurring at rates of 9.4%, 8.4% and 2.7%, respectively. These events were predominantly regarded as mild, of short duration and did not lead to discontinuation, confirming the favorable tolerability profile of the single-day 600mg dose regimen of oral ibrexafungerp that was previously observed. The combined safety database of the VANISH and DOVE programs in VVC patients now includes more than 850 enrolled patients, with 575 treated with the one-day 600mg dose regimen of ibrexafungerp. The overall incidence of the most common GI events for ibrexafunergp-treated patients in the total database was 16.7% for diarrhea/loose stool, 11.8% for nausea and 4.5% for abdominal pain, supporting the favorable safety and tolerability profile of ibrexafungerp.

07:10 EDT Applied Therapeutics announces data from Phase 2 ACTION-Galactosemia trial - Applied Therapeutics announced new data and scientific presentations from the pivotal Phase 2 ACTION-Galactosemia trial. The full study data, originally planned to be presented at the Society for Inherited Metabolic Disorders conference this week, will be available on the company's website. The double-blind placebo-controlled ACTION-Galactosemia trial evaluated safety and pharmacokinetics of AT-007, a Central Nervous System penetrant Aldose Reductase Inhibitor in healthy volunteers, as well as safety, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy biomarkers in adult Galactosemia patients. The key biomarker outcome of the study was reduction in galactitol, an aberrant toxic metabolite of galactose, formed by Aldose Reductase in Galactosemia patients. Accumulation of galactitol causes long-term complications ranging from CNS dysfunction to cataracts. As previously announced, once-daily 20mg/kg AT-007 reduced galactitol levels by approximately 50% in Galactosemia patients. Reduction in galactitol levels was rapid and sustained throughout the treatment period of 27 days. Reduction in galactitol from baseline was statistically significant at the 20mg/kg vs placebo. The lower dose tested, 5mg/kg, demonstrated a similar trend in reducing galactitol levels approximately 20% from baseline. Reduction in galactitol was not accompanied by any increase in galactose. This data confirms that reduction of the toxic metabolite galactitol through Aldose Reductase inhibition does not result in derangement of other metabolites in the galactose pathway as previously demonstrated in animal models of Galactosemia. Patients treated with AT-007 demonstrated a positive trend in MRI outcomes, specifically on measures of edema and overall neuronal health. AT-007 treated patients demonstrated improvement in ventricular volume, a measure of edema, which has been shown to occur in the brain of Galactosemia patients due to osmotic dysregulation caused by galactitol. Patients treated with AT-007 also demonstrated improvements in N-acetyl-aspartate, a marker of neuronal health. Galactitol was visible on MRI in the brain of all patients at baseline, and a positive trend toward decreased brain galactitol levels in AT-007 treated patients was observed by quantitative MR Spectroscopy. As no drug-related adverse events were seen at the once-daily 20mg/kg dose, a once-daily 40mg/kg dose was subsequently studied in healthy volunteers and is ongoing in Galactosemia patients. The 40mg/kg dose was safe and well tolerated. Evaluation of once-daily 40mg/kg AT-007 in Galactosemia patients remains ongoing and this data will be shared when available. No drug-related adverse events were reported at any dose of AT-007 in ACTION-Galactosemia. This robust safety data includes all 80 healthy volunteers and 8 adult Galactosemia patients who received active drug during the core study. A 90-day safety extension study for ACTION-Galactosemia is ongoing. The extension study is open to patients from the core study and to new adult Galactosemia patients. A pediatric study with a safety and biomarker design similar to ACTION-Galactosemia is planned to commence in Q2 of this year. Both the extension study and the pediatric study are designed to incorporate primarily home health visits in order to limit travel and risk of exposure to COVID-19. More information on the pediatric study will be shared in coming weeks.

07:08 EDT Inspire Medical announces FDA approval of expanded age range for Inspire therapy - Inspire Medical Systems announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an expanded age range for Inspire therapy to include 18-21 year old patients, as compared to the previous minimum age requirement for patients to be 22 years old. Following a detailed review of the clinical evidence and iterative discussions with the FDA, Inspire believes that this is the initial step in the pediatric approval process, with further expansion to lower age groups possible. Inspire therapy will immediately be available in the U.S. for patients 18 years of age and older with moderate to severe OSA who are not able to benefit from CPAP. The primary procedure for this population today is a tonsillectomy, and the FDA's indication provides guidance for attending physicians regarding patient selection.

07:07 EDT PacWest Bancorp extends suspension of share repurchases indefinitely - The company said, "During February 2020, we repurchased 1,953,711 shares at an average price of $35.83 and a total cost of $70.0 million under the previous share repurchase program which expired on February 29, 2020. At March 31, 2020, the remaining amount that could be used to repurchase shares under the $200 million Stock Repurchase Program approved on February 12, 2020 was $200.0 million. The previously announced suspension of share repurchases through June 30, 2020 has been extended indefinitely in light of recent COVID-19 related developments."

07:06 EDT Emerson cuts FY20 operating cash flow view to ~$2.75B from ~$3.15B - Cuts FY20 free cash flow view to ~$2.2B from $2.5B; tax rate ~22% vs. prior view of ~23%.

07:04 EDT Emerson experienced 'rapid deterioration of demand in March' - The company said, "Second quarter net sales were down 9 percent and underlying sales were down 7 percent excluding unfavorable currency of 2 percent and no impact from acquisitions or divestitures. Growth was below management expectations in both business segments due to the unforeseen and rapid deterioration of demand in March. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated uncertainty, social distancing and business closure mandates negatively affected nearly all of our end markets and geographies, particularly in China, the United States, and Europe. One exception, however, was the surge in demand for products and solutions that support medical and life science end markets. Additionally, our businesses were negatively affected by the dramatic drop in oil and gas prices resulting from geopolitical tensions and a surge in global supply. Second quarter trailing three-month underlying orders were down 3 percent, reflective of customers across industrial, commercial and residential markets cutting costs and spending budgets in response to operating restrictions and a general drop in economic activity from the pandemic."

07:02 EDT Philip Morris to provide quarterly forecasts on one quarter forward basis - Until PMI is able to estimate the full-year 2020 impact of COVID-19 on its business with greater certainty, the company plans to continue providing quarterly forecasts on a one quarter forward basis, with the exception of the following items forecasted for the full year: capital expenditures of approximately $0.8 billion, compared to approximately $1.0 billion disclosed previously, with the reduction unrelated to reduced-risk product investments; and an effective tax rate of approximately 23%, subject to changes in full-year earnings mix.

07:02 EDT AirNet Technology receives not in compliance letter from Nasdaq - AirNet Technology announced that it received a notification letter from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market dated on April 17 stating Nasdaq's determination to toll the compliance periods for bid price and market value of publicly held shares requirements through June 30. The Notice further stated that on April 16 Nasdaq filed an immediately effective rule change with the SEC to toll the compliance periods for the Price-based Requirements. Accordingly, since the Company had 163 calendar days remaining in its bid price compliance period as of April 16, the Company will, upon reinstatement of the Price-based Requirements, still have 163 days from July 1, or until December 10 to regain compliance. The Company can regain compliance, either during the suspension or during the compliance period resuming after the suspension, by evidencing compliance with the Price-based Requirements for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days.

06:59 EDT Emerson cuts FY20 CapEx view to $550M from $650M - Total restructuring actions for the year are now expected to be approximately $280M, an increase of approximately $65M compared to the previous plan.

06:58 EDT Scynexis trading halted, news pending

06:47 EDT Express approves limited duration shareholder rights plan - Express announced that its board of directors unanimously approved the adoption of a limited duration shareholder rights plan to protect the interests of all Express shareholders. In adopting the Rights Plan, the Board has taken note of the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company, including the considerable decline in the Company's stock price, the substantial increase in trading volume and market volatility, and the significant impact the pandemic has had across the retail industry. Given the current environment, and to ensure the Company can continue to execute on its new long-term strategy, The EXPRESSway Forward, the Board believes adopting the Rights Plan at this time is in the best interests of all Express shareholders. The Rights Plan has not been adopted in response to any specific takeover bid or other proposal to acquire control of the Company. The Rights Plan is similar to plans adopted by other publicly traded companies. Pursuant to the Rights Plan, the Company is issuing one right for each share of common stock as of the close of business on April 30. The rights will initially trade with Express common stock and will generally become exercisable only if any person acquires 10%, or 20% in the case of certain passive investors, or more of the Company's outstanding common stock. In the event the rights become exercisable, each holder of a right, other than triggering person, will be entitled to purchase additional shares of common stock at a 50% discount or the Company may exchange each right held by such holders for one share of common stock.

06:42 EDT Graphic Packaging reports operational update amid COVID-19 - Graphic Packaging completed and began integration of a converting facility acquired from Quad/Graphics and seven converting facilities acquired from Greif. The company said these strategic tuck-under acquisitions strengthen the core business and will increase the company's paperboard integration rate over time. The company announced the planned closure of the 70,000 ton White Pigeon, Michigan CRB mill and the 120,000 ton PM1 containerboard machine in West Monroe, Louisiana. Both closures will be effective June 30. The CRB mill closure at White Pigeon is enabled by the operating strength of the current CRB mill network and a new CRB supply agreement with Greif. The closure of the non-core PM1 containerboard machine reflects the company's long-term confidence in the strength of the CUK global beverage packaging platform and the ability to repurpose existing pulp to support growth in CUK. The company is also announcing its decision to delay the planned maintenance outage at the West Monroe, Louisiana mill from Q2 to Q3 due to increased near-term demand for CUK and contractor work-related implications associated with the COVID-19 crisis.

06:38 EDT First Horizon reports Q1 net interest margin 3.16% vs. 3.31% a year ago

06:37 EDT Fifth Third: 99% of banking centers remain open for business - Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call presentation slides.

06:34 EDT Linde starts up new air separation plant to supply gases to Samsung facilities - Linde (LIN) announced that it has started up a new air separation plant to supply industrial gases to Samsung Electronics' (SSNLF) semiconductor facilities in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The start-up completes the first phase of Linde's largest single electronics investment to build, own and operate several air separation units and hydrogen plants to support growing demand for Samsung's semiconductors. The project comprises two phases and will incorporate large-scale infrastructure including multiple purifiers and an extensive pipeline system. The agreement includes a long-term supply contract for various ultra-high purity industrial gases, including hydrogen.

06:33 EDT Fifth Third CEO says Q1 results 'very strong' - Greg Carmichael, Chairman, President and CEO said, "The unprecedented nature of the environment that we are operating in today undoubtedly reprioritizes our focus to the significant and ongoing actions we are taking for our customers, our employees, and our communities. We are leveraging our balance sheet strength to help solve the spiraling economic effects of this health crisis, and we will continue to respond rapidly and do what is necessary to help mitigate the effects of the downturn. I am very proud of the way our employees have responded in extraordinary ways to support our customers and each other. Our operating results during the first quarter were very strong given the speed and extent of the deterioration in the economic environment that we experienced in the latter part of the quarter. The results show the impact of the strength of our franchise and the strategic decisions we have made in managing our balance sheet, our interest rate risk and our liquidity risk exposures. Net interest income, net interest margin, noninterest income, and expenses all performed in-line with or better than our January guidance, with the net charge off ratio also consistent with our previous expectations. Our allowance for credit losses now reflects both the adoption of the new CECL methodology and the impact of COVID-19. After assessing the impact of the deteriorating economic conditions and the counter impact of the unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus programs on our loan portfolios, we increased our reserves compared to last quarter, which includes the impact of the loan growth that we experienced during the quarter. While we do not know the duration or severity of the crisis, we have spent the past decade strengthening our balance sheet, diversifying our revenue streams, and stress testing our firm-wide resilience under a range of conditions worse than the last crisis and more severe than the regulatory-run stress tests. During that time, we have consistently communicated our 'through-the-cycle' principles of disciplined client selection, conservative underwriting, and an overall balance sheet management approach focused on a long-term performance horizon. Our unwavering adherence to these principles and our balance sheet strength give us confidence as we navigate this uncertain environment."

06:23 EDT Bright Horizons enters into $250M stock purchase agreement - In a regulatory filing yesterday, Bright Horizon announced that on "April 19, 2020, Bright Horizons Family Solutions entered into a stock purchase agreement with Durable Capital Master Fund LP, related to the issuance and sale by the Company to the Investor of 2,138,580 shares of unregistered common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of the Company, at a price of $116.90 per share. The gross proceeds to the Company from the Offering are expected to be approximately $250 million. The Offering is expected to close on or about April 21, 2020, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions."

06:20 EDT Danone 'confident' in fundamentals of brands, resilience, balance sheet strength

06:17 EDT ReneSola announces business update amid COVID-19 - ReneSola discussed recent initiatives taken to help it prudently manage its business during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also updated first quarter guidance to reflect the impact of those protective measures. As the crisis took hold in its major markets in Europe and the U.S. in March, the company immediately implemented initiatives to ensure the health and well-being of its employees and business partners, and to support government efforts to control the pandemic. Beginning in early March, the company transitioned all its employees from sales offices in Europe and the U.S. to a remote work environment, with a few exceptions where physical presence is necessary for operation of projects. The company's single office in Shanghai, China re-opened in mid-February, having been closed since late January, at the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday. ReneSola Power operates in the energy industry, which is federally identified as a critical infrastructure sector in the U.S. Therefore, the company is able to conduct business while protecting its employees. In addition to protecting the health of its stakeholders, the company considers it vitally important to economically support its employees and communities. Work continues at individual projects in the U.S. and internationally based on their stage of development. Projects in phases conducive to remote/electronic work continue uninterrupted; these stages include financing, design, permitting, sales, etc. Some projects under construction will be temporarily delayed as the company awaits delivery of key parts, such as modules. Construction continues uninterrupted at projects that have all components delivered. The company also updated its Q1 guidance due to the impact of the COVID-19 situation. The closing of a sale of two projects in Hungary was delayed from its scheduled time in late March. Cancellation of in-person meetings, along with the temporary closing of financial institutions, delayed by a few days the completion of all necessary documentation. The sale closed on April 7; revenue from the sale will be recognized in Q2.

06:14 EDT Coca-Cola sees Q2 revenue with 5%-6% FX headwinds - Q2 Comparable net revenues are expected to include a 4% to 5% currency headwind based on the current rates and including the impact of hedged positions. Q2 Comparable operating income is expected to include a 5% to 6% currency headwind based on the current rates and including the impact of hedged positions.

06:12 EDT Avangrid Renewables, T-Mobile announce long-term contract for Otter Creek - Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of Avangrid (AGR), and T-Mobile (TMUS), announced a long-term contract for the Otter Creek Wind Farm in LaSalle County, Illinois and a purchase of national renewable energy credits. The 158 megawatt wind farm achieved commercial operation on March 1, and is expected to generate more than 504,100 megawatt hours annually, or enough to power roughly 60,000 typical Illinois homes in a year. The Otter Creek Wind Farm is spread over 10,000 acres of land, mostly used to grow corn and soybeans, leased from 76 landowners. It will feature 38 Vestas 3.8 MW wind turbines and 4 Vestas 3.45 MW turbines. The construction effort has resulted in nearly $12M in local spending, and more than 200 workers on the site. Landowner lease and neighbor payments are expected to total roughly $650,000 in the first year of operation, and more than $30M over 25 years. New tax revenue is expected to exceed $1.1M in the first year and total roughly $17M over 20 years.

06:10 EDT Coca-Cola sees material COVID-19 impact on Q2, volume down 25% since April - The company says: "The company entered 2020 with solid momentum, coming off strong results in 2019. Through the end of February, the company was growing volume 3%, excluding China, and was on track to achieve its previously provided full year 2020 targets. In March, as the coronavirus pandemic spread globally, countries meaningfully increased social distancing and shelter-in-place mandates. In markets around the world, the company subsequently saw significant changes in consumer purchase patterns, notably substantial declines in away-from-home channels. In at-home channels, the company witnessed early pantry loading in certain markets, followed by more normalized demand levels, along with a sharp increase in e-commerce. Given that away-from-home channels represent approximately half of the company's revenues, the company expects the net effect of these consumer purchase patterns to have a significant impact on second quarter results. For context, since the beginning of April, the company has experienced a volume decline globally of approximately 25%, with nearly all of that decline coming in away-from-home channels. The ultimate impact on the second quarter and full year 2020 is unknown at this time, as it will depend heavily on the duration of social distancing and shelter-in-place mandates, as well as the substance and pace of macroeconomic recovery. However, the impact to the second quarter will be material. The company believes the pressure on the business is temporary and remains optimistic on seeing sequential improvement in the back half of 2020."

06:08 EDT Acacia Research provides update on investment in Immersion - Acacia Research (ACTG) provided an update on its investment in Immersion (IMMR) and its previous nomination of directors for election to the Board of Directors of Immersion. "On August 1, 2019 we stated on Schedule 13D that we believed Immersion shares were trading at a discount to intrinsic value owing to corporate missteps and errors of strategy," commented Al Tobia, President and Chief Investment Officer of Acacia Research Corporation. "We objected to the composition of the Immersion Board and their failure to hold management accountable for a profitable operating plan. We continued to monitor Immersion and, after seeing no progress, on December 26, 2019 we nominated a slate of highly qualified director candidates for election to the Board." Tobia continued, "We are now withdrawing our board nominees in light of VIEX Capital Advisors' agreement with the company, and the resulting reconstitution of the Board and formation of a Strategic Committee. We expect the new Board to hold management accountable for a risk adjusted operating plan as well as thoroughly vet strategic paths forward, and will continue to monitor our investment in Immersion in light of those objectives."

06:06 EDT Coca-Cola says equity of brands remains 'competitive advantage' - CEO James Quincey says: "Our approach to navigating the pandemic is grounded in our company's purpose, which ensures that we continuously strive to make a difference for people in the communities we serve around the world. We've been through challenging times before as a company, and we believe we're well positioned to manage through and emerge stronger. The power of the Coca-Cola system is our greatest strength in times of crisis. The resilience of our people, the equity of our brands and the strength of our bottling partners continue to be competitive advantages in the market."

06:04 EDT Morningstar to acquire remaining 60% stake in Sustainalytics - Morningstar announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Sustainalytics. Morningstar currently owns an approximate 40% ownership stake in Sustainalytics, first acquired in 2017, and will purchase the remaining approximate 60% of Sustainalytics shares upon closing of the transaction. The transaction consideration includes a cash payment at closing of approximately EUR 55M and additional cash payments in 2021 and 2022 based on a multiple of Sustainalytics' 2020 and 2021 fiscal year revenues. Based on the upfront consideration, Morningstar estimates the enterprise value of Sustainalytics to be EUR 170M. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur early in Q3.

06:01 EDT SPI Energy receives Nasdaq noice of noncompliance - SPI Energy announced that it received an additional notification letter from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market on April 17 indicating that the company will have 156 calendar days from July 1, or until December 3 to regain compliance with the Nasdaq's market value of publicly held shares, or MVPHS, requirement. The Notice stated that Nasdaq has determined to toll the compliance periods for bid price and MVPHS requirements through June 30. As a result, companies presently in compliance periods for any Price-based Requirements will remain at that same stage of the process and will not be subject to being delisted for these concerns. Starting on July 1, companies will receive the balance of any pending compliance period in effect at the start of the tolling period to regain compliance. Accordingly, since the company had 156 calendar days remaining in its MVPHS compliance period as of April 16, it will, upon reinstatement of the Price-based Requirements, still have 156 calendar days from July 1, or until December 3, to regain compliance. As previously announced, the company received a notification letter from Nasdaq indicating that the company is not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(b)(3)(C) for continued listing because the company's MVPHS was less than $15 million. The Notices have no immediate effect on the listing of the company's securities. The company can regain compliance at any time before December 3 by evidencing compliance with the MVPHS requirement for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days.

05:52 EDT Apple expands access of Services to 20 additional countries - Apple announced that even more customers around the world can enjoy many of Apple's most popular Services. The App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and iCloud are now available in 20 more countries, and Apple Music is available in 52 additional countries. "We're delighted to bring many of Apple's most beloved Services to users in more countries than ever before," said Oliver Schusser, Apple's vice president of Apple Music and International Content. "We hope our customers can discover their new favorite apps, games, music, and podcasts as we continue to celebrate the world's best creators, artists, and developers."

05:47 EDT Applied DNA Sciences signs agreement with Stony Brook University Hospital - Applied DNA Sciences announced the signing of an Agreement with Stony Brook University Hospital to validate and implement the company's patent-pending nucleic acid diagnostic, LineaCOVID-19, to detect and quantify in diagnostic samples the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, COVID-19. Validation is expected to begin immediately with results to be used to support the company's application to the FDA before the end of April for Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA. The Agreement calls for Applied DNA to permanently contribute equipment to the Hospital who will act as third-party validator of the company's LineaCOVID-19 diagnostic, and for the company to sell diagnostics kits to the Hospital once the EUA has been granted by FDA. Two forms of the diagnostic kit will be available to the market, a "Basic Kit" designed for high-volume labs that can provide some of the bulk ingredients usually found in large reserves at labs routinely processing thousands of patient samples per day, and a "Premium Kit" for labs that need everything at their fingertips. In addition, the company is working with its vendors to provide a fully integrated monobloc platform that will allow certified testing organizations to install turnkey operations in a single order. The company plans to manufacture the positive controls (that confirm the test is operating properly) using its LinearDNA platform used recently to deliver quantities of five candidate linear DNA vaccines designed by its development partner in Italy, Takis Biotech. The LineaCOVID-19 diagnostic leverages the company's established knowhow regarding the Spike protein that is abundant on the surface of the virus. The company believes the abundance of messenger RNA encoding for Spike is one of the factors that enhance the sensitivity of the assay. A provisional patent application has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office protecting the concepts on which the assay is based. Applied DNA makes clear that while the company expects to file an EUA with the U.S. FDA by the end of the month, the U.S. FDA has not yet approved the company's diagnostic and there is no guarantee that any EUA will be approved.