Stockwinners Market Radar for June 08, 2020 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:52 EDT Innovent Biologics to partner with Roche on product development - Innovent Biologics (IVBHX) announced a strategic research and development collaboration with Roche (RHHBY) covering multiple cell therapies and bispecific antibodies. The collaboration will focus on the discovery, clinical development and commercialization of bispecific antibodies and multiple cell therapies and will be directed to the treatment of hematological and solid cancers. Under the terms of the agreement, Innovent will pay upfront, development and commercial milestone payments, and royalties, to non-exclusively access certain Roche technologies that enable the discovery and development of specific 2:1 T-cell bispecific antibodies and the universal CAR-T platform. Innovent will create, develop, manufacture, and commercialize the products. Roche retains an option right to license each product for ex-China development and commercialization. Should Roche exercise all of its options, it will pay option exercise payments totaling $140M plus additional development, approval, and sales milestone payments up to $1.96B if all products are successfully developed and commercialized. Additionally, Roche will pay double-digit up to mid teen percentage royalties on each product.

19:05 EDT SPDR Gold Shares holdings fall to 1,125.48MT from 1,128.11MT - This is the 3rd consecutive decline and the lowest level of holdings since May 29th.

18:01 EDT Resideo director Roger Fradin buys almost $1M in shares - Resideo director Roger Fradin disclosed that he had purchased 109,860 shares of company stock at $9.08 per share between June 4 and June 5 for a total transaction value of $997,979.

17:35 EDT Raytheon Technologies declares 47.5c per share quarterly cash dividend - Raytheon Technologies Corporation announced that its board has declared a dividend of 47.5c per outstanding share of RTX common stock. The dividend will be payable on September 10, to shareowners of record at the close of business on August 14. Raytheon Technologies, formerly United Technologies Corporation, has paid cash dividends on its common stock every year since 1936.

17:27 EDT Beacon Roofing quarter-to-date performance 'exceeded expectations' - Beacon announced that it is providing the following business updates to offer continued visibility into the company's performance during the COVID-19 pandemic: May 2020 consolidated daily sales improved significantly compared to the approximately 20% year-over-year decline experienced in April, with May's daily sales decreasing only low-single digits compared to the prior year. The company's average daily sales in May 2020 improved sequentially each week, as economies are re-opening and we are beginning to experience a return to more normal seasonality for our business. In May 2020, the company produced low-single digit year-over-year daily sales improvement in geographies that have seen less restrictions throughout the pandemic. In the other 10 jurisdictions where business was most heavily impacted by the virus, daily sales improved materially in May on a sequential basis as states began to loosen restrictions. In those 10 areas, on a year-over-year basis, May's daily sales finished down approximately 11% compared to the roughly 45% year-over-year decline experienced in April. Operating in the COVID-19 environment, quarter-to-date performance has exceeded expectations and is benefiting from a heightened focus on generating operating leverage as sales return. On the strength of operating performance and strong working capital management, the company's cash position at the end of May improved meaningfully since the end of Q2.

17:10 EDT Northwest Pipe authorized to re-open plant operations in Mexico - Northwest Pipe has received official notification from the Sonoran State and Mexican Federal authorities that it has authorized a phased re-opening of the water infrastructure manufacturing facility in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. As of May 30, the SLRC facility has been authorized to operate at 30% capacity providing the company continues to implement recommended COVID-19 safety protocols. Given the protocols in place are proving to be effective, the company expects the facility will receive authorization to return to full production in a phased re-opening during the next two months.

17:05 EDT Cabot says liquidity position remains sound amid amended credit facilities - Cabot Corporation announced it has amended its revolving credit facilities to increase the maximum leverage ratio permitted under those agreements. The maximum leverage ratio applicable on the last day of each fiscal quarter will increase to 4.5 times beginning with the quarter ending September 30, 2020 and through the quarter ending June 30, 2021. There were no changes in material terms under the agreements. The company's maximum leverage ratio was previously 3.5 times for the term of these credit facilities. The agreements are scheduled to mature in October 2022. Cabot President and CEO Sean Keohane said, "While our liquidity position remains strong, increasing the maximum leverage ratio permitted under these credit facilities represents a prudent step to provide incremental headroom in light of the uncertainty in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This step will provide additional flexibility beyond the COVID-19 related stress test scenarios we have assessed." "Our financial position remains sound as we work through this uncertain environment. We are confident in our expected strong cash flow generation in the second half of the fiscal year and believe our solid balance sheet will allow us to successfully navigate this period and emerge from the downturn as an even stronger industry leader," said Keohane.

16:59 EDT Pzena Investment reports AUM $30.8B as of May 31 - Pzena Investment Management reports AUM $30.8B as of May 31.

16:47 EDT Macy's jumps 11% to $10.64 after raising approximately $4.5B in financing

16:47 EDT MSA Safety to expand operations at Cranberry Township manufacturing facility - MSA Safety announced plans to expand its Cranberry Township manufacturing footprint to "support anticipated future growth and enable productivity improvements within the company's gas detection product portfolio. The expansion, which includes a new 20,000-square-foot, single-story manufacturing facility adjacent to the company's existing building in Cranberry Woods Office Park will be used exclusively for assembly work connected to the company's leading line of gas detection products. The new building is scheduled to open in mid-2021."

16:36 EDT Wendy's says beef supply has returned to near-normal levels across system - As previously disclosed, the company experienced disruptions to its beef supply beginning in early May as beef suppliers across North America faced production challenges. As a result, some menu items were occasionally in short supply at some Wendy's system restaurants. The company and its supply chain partners effectively managed through this disruption by allocating beef to all Wendy's system restaurants, with deliveries occurring two or three times a week, consistent with normal delivery schedules. The company also shifted its marketing efforts in the short term to focus on chicken products in an effort to alleviate pressure on beef demand. At this point in time, beef supply has returned to near-normal levels across the Wendy's system.

16:35 EDT O-I Glass says trends improved starting mid-May in most markets - Trends improved starting mid-May in most markets; Mexico/Andean reopening early June

16:34 EDT Wendy's reports global same-restaurant sales down 3.3% for May - Global same-restaurant sales have improved each week throughout the fiscal month of May after being impacted by the previously disclosed disruption in beef supply at the beginning of the month. Global same-restaurant sales for the last week of May turned positive in the low single digit range. Breakfast in the U.S. continued to perform very strongly in the fiscal month of May at approximately 8% of U.S. systemwide sales. U.S. digital sales in the fiscal month of May were approximately 4.5% of U.S. systemwide sales. This business was impacted by the temporary disruption in beef supply as items were temporarily removed from mobile order and delivery menus if there were beef supply issues at an individual restaurant level.

16:32 EDT Wendy's reports quarter to date global same-restaurant sales down 9.9% - Reports QTD U.S. same-restaurant sales down 8.6%; QTD International same-restaurant sales down 22.4%.

16:32 EDT Rollins UK unit acquires Albany Environmental, Van Vynck Environmental - Rollins announced that its subsidiary, Rollins UK Holdings Ltd., acquired two environmentally friendly companies in the first quarter of 2020. Rollins UK expanded their holdings with Albany Environmental Services Ltd., based in central London and Van Vynck Environmental Services based in Essex. These companies mark the 6th and 7th acquisitions for Rollins in the UK.

16:27 EDT Stitch Fix sees adjusted EBITDA to be negative in Q4 - "We expect adjusted EBITDA to be negative in Q4'20, and adjusted EBITDA ex. SBC to return to positive levels in Q4'20. As our business has improved, we now also expect to deliver positive free cash flow in Q4'20, which we believe highlights the strength of our unit economics and reinforces the confidence we have in our growth investments which continue to scale and strengthen," said the company.

16:19 EDT Global Blood Therapeutics to seek expanded labeling for Oxbryta - Global Blood Therapeutics announced plans to expand the potential use of Oxbryta for the treatment of sickle cell disease, or SCD, in children ages 4 to 11 years, following a Type B meeting with the FDA. Oxbryta is the first and only therapy that directly inhibits hemoglobin polymerization, the root cause of the sickling and destruction of red blood cells in SCD. It is currently approved in the United States to treat SCD in adults and adolescents ages 12 years and older. GBT intends to submit a New Drug Application, or NDA, for Oxbryta, which will include a new age-appropriate formulation, for the treatment of SCD in children ages 4 to 11 years under the FDA's accelerated approval pathway. The NDA will include clinical data from the ongoing Phase 2a HOPE-KIDS 1 study. The FDA's accelerated approval pathway can allow for earlier approval of drugs that treat serious conditions and that fill an unmet medical need based on a surrogate endpoint.

16:15 EDT Cohen & Steers reports preliminary AUM $63.8B as of May 31 - An increase of $1.7B from assets under management at April 30. Net inflows of $428M and market appreciation of $1.4B were partially offset by distributions of $199M.

16:09 EDT Sterling Construction awarded $97M in aviation projects by SLCDA - Sterling Construction announced that its subsidiary, Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction was awarded three separate alternative delivery construction contracts by the Salt Lake City Corporation's Department of Airports , or SLCDA. The Salt Lake City International Airport projects total $97M and are part of the airport's Terminal Redevelopment Program. The projects consist of foundation work, dewatering and earth retention work, and civil and airfield work for the South Concourse East. The foundation project will include pouring more than 70,000 linear feet of concrete filled steel pipe piles and 98,000 linear feet of driven H-piles.

16:09 EDT Agios gets FDA orphan drug designation for mitapivat for thalassemia treatment - Agios Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to the company's first-in-class pyruvate kinase-R , PKR activator mitapivat for the treatment of patients with thalassemia. Mitapivat is an investigational, oral, small molecule allosteric activator of wild-type and a variety of mutated PKR enzymes. "Receiving orphan drug designation is an important milestone as we continue to advance mitapivat for patients with thalassemia, a serious hemolytic anemia with limited treatment options," said Chris Bowden, M.D., chief medical officer at Agios. "We look forward to presenting updated data from our Phase 2 study of mitapivat in both alpha- and beta-thalassemia patients at the virtual European Hematology Association Annual Congress later this week." The FDA's Office of Orphan Drug Products grants orphan status to support the development of medicines for underserved patient populations, or rare disorders, that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. Orphan drug designation provides certain benefits, including market exclusivity upon regulatory approval if received, exemption of FDA application fees and tax credits for qualified clinical trials. Mitapivat was previously granted orphan drug designation by the FDA and the European Medicines Agency for pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency, a rare, debilitating, hemolytic anemia.

16:08 EDT RCI Hospitality says 37 subsidiary club and restaurant locations now open - The company announced a total of 37 subsidiary club and restaurant locations are now open with the continued easing of COVID-19 pandemic related restrictions. Eric Langan, RCI President & CEO, said: "Sales have been very good at this stage from reopenings as well as from opened locations that have been able to expand occupancy, while locations continue to follow all required practices for the health and well-being of staff and guests. We are hopeful we will be able to reopen more clubs in other municipalities as restrictions are lifted. As they do, and as open locations are allowed to expand their business, we continue to look forward to returning to profitability."

16:05 EDT Soleno Phase III trial does not meet primary endpoint - Soleno Therapeutics announced top-line results from the company's Phase III trial, DESTINY PWS, evaluating once-daily Diazoxide Choline Controlled Release, or DCCR, tablets for patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome, or PWS. The study did not meet its primary endpoint of change from baseline in hyperphagia. Significant changes were observed in two of three key secondary endpoints from baseline to week 13 in subjects receiving DCCR as compared to placebo: Improvement in Clinical Global Impression of Improvement score as assessed by the investigator, and reduction of body fat mass measured by DXA scan. "While we are disappointed to have not achieved statistical significance on the study's primary endpoint, we are excited by the results observed in those subjects with severe hyperphagia, as well as the changes in body composition and behavioral endpoints," said CEO Anish Bhatnagar. "Based on these data, we will continue treatment of patients on C602. We are continuing to evaluate the data from C601 and C602 and plan to meet with regulatory authorities to determine next steps. On behalf of the Soleno team, I would like to thank the patients, families and investigators involved in this study, as well as the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research and Prader-Willi Syndrome Association USA and UK, for their support of the DCCR Phase III development program."

16:05 EDT Kindred Biosciences to reduce operating expenses, cut about 25 employees - Kindred Biosciences announced a plan to enhance its strategic position. The company will prioritize its most attractive late stage programs and substantially reduce expenses to best position it for success with the previously announced business model. KindredBio intends to reduce operating expenditures by prioritizing investment in its highest value, late stage programs, especially the interleukin-31 antibody, interleukin-4 receptor antibody, and parvovirus antibody programs. These actions, alongside a streamlining of the company's operations, are expected to reduce quarterly operating expenses to approximately $10M by the fourth quarter of 2020 and maintain expenditures at a similar level through 2021. The restructuring will reduce the company's workforce by approximately 25 employees, including the departure of Denise Bevers, KindredBio's President and Chief Operating Officer. Ms. Bevers will remain on the Board of Directors. Operating expenses for 2020, which represents a peak year given multiple pivotal studies planned, are projected to range between $53 and $55 million. This includes a restructuring charge of approximately $2.3 million related to severance and health care benefits, exclusive of stock compensation, pertaining to today's announcement. Excluding first half expenditures, the annualized run rate for 2020 is expected to be between $43 million and $45 million. Eliminated positions relate primarily to the collapsing of functions and pausing of mid-stage programs. For 2021, operating expenses are predicted to range between $39 and $42 million. KindredBio believes its existing cash, cash equivalents and investments, the net reduction in the company's workforce, proceeds from the Mirataz sale, and revenues from anticipated partnerships will be sufficient to fund the current operating plan through mid-2022, excluding the drawdown of $30 million from its debt facility.

16:01 EDT Air Transport Services delivers Boeing 767 freighter to Raya Airways - Air Transport Services announced the delivery by its Cargo Aircraft Management subsidiary of a Boeing 767-200 converted freighter to Raya Airways of Malaysia under a five-year lease. This will be the second Boeing 767-200 freighter that Raya Airways has leased from CAM and put into service.

16:00 EDT Soleno Therapeutics trading halted, news pending

15:36 EDT Urban Outfitters requests extension to file quarterly report with SEC - In a regulatory filing, Urban Outfitters said the company's "operations and business have experienced significant disruptions due to the unprecedented conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. These disruptions include, but are not limited to, the temporary leaves of absence of a significant number of our employees, the temporary closures of all of our offices and global retail locations, and other financial and operational concerns associated with or caused by COVID-19." The company is relying on the Securities and Exchange Commission's Order under Section 36 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Modifying Exemptions From the Reporting and Proxy Delivery Requirements for Public Companies "to allow for additional time to complete the impairment assessments of the company's long-lived assets for the quarter, which is necessary to finalize the quarterly report. The company anticipates that it will file its quarterly report no later than 45 days after June 9," it stated.

15:06 EDT Churchill Downs to reopen Derby City Gaming on June 8 - Churchill Downs Incorporated announced plans to reopen Derby City Gaming, its racing machine property located in Louisville, Kentucky at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, June 8. "We are pleased to receive approval from the Governor of Kentucky to get our team members back to work and to welcome our guests back to Derby City Gaming using national best practices and in compliance with all state and local requirements. We look forward to, once again, contributing to the state and local economy because we know a strong horse racing industry means a strong Kentucky," said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of CDI.

14:37 EDT EMA announces application for conditional authorization of remdesivir for COVID - The EMA announced it has now received an application for conditional marketing authorization of the antiviral medicine remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19 and has formally started its evaluation. "The assessment of the benefits and risks of remdesivir is being performed under a reduced timeline and an opinion could be issued within weeks, depending on the robustness of the data submitted and whether further information is required to support the evaluation..Should the additional data now submitted with the CMA application be sufficient to allow CHMP to conclude that the benefits of remdesivir outweigh its risks in the treatment of COVID-19, EMA will liaise closely with the European Commission to support fast-tracking of the decision-making process and granting of a marketing authorisation by the European Commission valid in all EU1and EEA Member States," the EMA stated. Remdesivir is being developed by Gilead Sciences. Reference Link

14:02 EDT Izea announces 'significant six-figure contract' with new Fortune 500 customer - Izea announced that it has "secured a significant six-figure contract with a new Fortune 500 customer for influencer marketing managed services." In addition, the company said it has "secured a variety of contracts with repeat customers, including the renewal of a contract with Global Fortune 500 technology company." Ted Murphy, Izea's Chairman and CEO, added: "Izea continues to see a strong recovery of our managed services business following the initial negative impacts we observed due to COVID-19. The company remains above the January 1-March 15 average bookings trendline we previously shared and we are optimistic about year over year managed services bookings in the second quarter, despite the pandemic. The SaaS business is also starting to show early signs of recovery as businesses begin to reopen and gain more comfort with the longer-term commitments required for those licensing our software."

13:12 EDT ThermoGenesis announces publication of joint venture's COVID-19 antibody article - ThermoGenesis announced that the Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, the research partner of ThermoGenesis' joint venture, ImmuneCyte, published the results of ImmuneCyte's licensed, fully human neutralizing antibody therapeutics for COVID-19 in an article entitled, "Cross-neutralization antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and RBD mutations from convalescent patient antibody libraries," in bioRxiv on June 6. "The research team at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, led by Dr. Minyao Liu, is among the leading research groups in the field, and we are thrilled to work with them to develop cutting-edge therapeutics against COVID-19. The importance of these four neutralizing antibodies, which also strongly bind with mutant COVID-19 viral strains, suggests their strong potential to become effective therapeutic agents against COVID-19 and its mutants causing the global pandemic," stated Chris Xu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ThermoGenesis and Chairman of ImmuneCyte. As previously announced, ThermoGenesis' ImmuneCyte joint venture has acquired the global intellectual property rights to the above four high-affinity neutralizing antibody drug candidates against the COVID-19 virus. ImmuneCyte intends to advance these antibodies as therapeutics in human clinical trials. ThermoGenesis currently owns approximately 19% of the equity in ImmuneCyte.

12:51 EDT Egan-Jones recommends Mack-Cali shareholders vote for Bow Street nominees - Bow Street announced that another independent proxy advisory firm, Egan-Jones Proxy Services, has recommended that Mack-Cali Realty Corporation shareholders elect ALL EIGHT of Bow Street's independent director nominees by voting the GOLD proxy card in connection with the company's Annual Meeting on June 10, 2020. Two other proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, have also recommended that Mack-Cali shareholders vote Bow Street's GOLD proxy card. In addition, Bow Street announced that ISS issued a proxy alert reaffirming its recommendation that Mack-Cali shareholders vote the GOLD proxy card to elect ALL EIGHT of Bow Street's nominees. The proxy alert, issued in response to Mack-Cali's modified slate, stated: "ISS' analysis, and the recommendation to support all eight dissident nominees, including the four directors elected last year but not re-nominated by the board this year, remain unchanged." In making its recommendation that Mack-Cali shareholders vote the GOLD proxy card FOR ALL EIGHT of Bow Street's nominees, Egan-Jones noted: "[W]e believe that voting FOR the dissident shareholder nominees is in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders" and "We believe that Bow Street has presented a compelling case to elect its slate. In our view, Mack-Cali's operational underperformance stems from the leadership, or lack thereof, of its CEO Michael DeMarco. In his five-year tenure as the CEO, Mack-Cali has suffered a significant increase in leverage, almost zero returns to shareholders and a wide discount to its NAV. We believe that these metrics and in our view, the mismanagement of its assets clearly indicate the lack of strategy and vision to maximize shareholder value."

12:42 EDT Habit Burger Grill announces partnership with Impossible Foods - Yum! Brands' (YUM) The Habit Burger Grill has announced its newest partnership with Impossible Foods, bringing the plant-based meat to select locations in the US. Starting June 8th, The Habit Burger Grill will introduce two new culinary innovations to their menu, the Original Impossible Burger and the Impossible Bistro Burger, both of which are made with Impossible Foods' award-winning plant-based meat. Available for a limited time at participating locations the Original Impossible Burger is $6.99 and the Impossible Bistro Burger is $7.99. The announcement comes on the heels of The Habit Burger Grills' recent innovations amidst COVID-19 including no-contact drive-up, curbside, park and order service, and no-contact pop-up drive-thru service which converts non-drive-thru units into a contactless drive-thru service. These were implemented in response to COVID-19 and have "successfully sustained the brand's business while ensuring the safety of all," the company said. Impossible Foods competes with Beyond Meat (BYND) in the plant-based meat substitutes space.

11:51 EDT Alcoa still targeting same timeline, proceeds for asset sales

11:43 EDT Grifols sees EUR 200M impact in fiscal 2020 for COVID-19 - As a result of the current situation derived from the COVID-19, Grifols has assessed its best estimate based on the information available to date of its potential impacts in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. According to the evaluation, Grifols estimated a total impact of 200M euros for the fiscal year 2020. "This impact, which is mainly related to inventory valuation, will be recognized on the gross margin line of the consolidated profit and loss for the first half of 2020," the company said in a statement. In parallel, Grifols has implemented a "containment plan of non-structural operating expenses" to mitigate the impact, estimated to have a positive effect of 100M euros on its consolidated profit and loss of the 2020 financial year.

11:34 EDT Alcoa: "Clearly, the world is producing more aluminum than it needs'

11:31 EDT Canopy Growth reopens Tweed stores across Newfoundland - Tweed cannabis stores across Newfoundland are reopening to foot traffic guests who are looking to purchase their cannabis products in store, following a period of reduced operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of enhanced health and safety protocols have been added to the in-store experience to increase the comfort and safety of guests, including: limiting the number of guests in store, increasing sanitation frequency, and the addition of floor markers to help with physical distancing. Tweed customers may also continue purchasing their products online through Tweed.com with our Click and Collect service that allows for contactless pickup of orders in store.

11:03 EDT Neurocrine sees initiation of registrational crinecerfont study in 2H20 - Neurocrine Biosciences plans to initiate a single, global registrational study of crinecerfont in adult patients with classic CAH in the second half of 2020. Classic CAH is a genetic disorder, in which an enzyme deficiency alters the production of adrenal steroids. Because of this deficiency, the adrenal glands fail to produce enough cortisol and, sometimes, aldosterone, resulting in a potentially life-threatening condition.

10:57 EDT Nikola Corporation trading resumes

10:48 EDT Elanco reports EC approves pending acquisition of Bayer animal health business - Elanco Animal Health (ELAN) announced that the European Commission has granted approval of Elanco's pending acquisition of Bayer AG's (BAYRY) animal health business. Elanco previously announced divestiture agreements in the range of $120M-$140M of revenue to help advance the needed regulatory reviews. The EC's approval is conditional on several of these proposed divestitures, the company noted. In addition to EC approval, Elanco has received antitrust clearance for the transaction in China, Colombia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam, and provisional clearance in Brazil. Elanco continues to cooperate with agencies in other jurisdictions. Further, Elanco fully secured financing early in the first quarter of 2020 to complete the transaction through its completed equity issuance and pricing of its Term Loan B, which will fund at deal close. The transaction remains subject to additional regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The company continues to progress toward a mid-year closing, anticipated August 3, Elanco said.

10:32 EDT Lincoln Educational reopens Melrose Park, IL campus - Lincoln Educational Services announced that it has re-opened its Melrose Park, IL campus and resumed on-site instruction on a limited basis. Medical Assistant career training programs will resume on campus beginning Monday, June 8th, while programs for the automotive, collision repair, electrical, and welding fields will open the following Monday, June 15th. The welding certificate program is being offered at the campus for the first time.

10:00 EDT Fiverr falls -6.8% - Fiverr is down -6.8%, or -$4.37 to $59.52.

10:00 EDT Emergent BioSolutions falls -17.2% - Emergent BioSolutions is down -17.2%, or -$14.91 to $72.00.

10:00 EDT AG Mortgage rises 45.6% - AG Mortgage is up 45.6%, or $1.64 to $5.24.

09:47 EDT Small Cap Bear 3x falls -5.4% - Small Cap Bear 3x is down -5.4%, or -$1.08 to $18.86.

09:47 EDT Emergent BioSolutions falls -14.3% - Emergent BioSolutions is down -14.3%, or -$12.40 to $74.51.

09:47 EDT Transocean rises 24.8% - Transocean is up 24.8%, or 62c to $3.12.

09:42 EDT Luckin Coffee trading resumes

09:35 EDT Chesapeake trading resumes

09:30 EDT Chesapeake trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:21 EDT Aphria announces first day of trading on Nasdaq - Aphria announced June 8 will be its first day of trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market, as previously communicated on May 26, and will continue to be listed under the ticker symbol "APHA." This transition will not impact the company's primary listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

09:13 EDT Digital Ally announces subscription program for body camera purchases - Digital Ally announced the launch of a body camera subscription program as a response to high demand for video evidence technology for police and other first responder personnel. The program features Digital Ally's lightweight, weather-resistant FirstVu Body Camera with Mini Dock. There will be several subscription packages available, with versatility to match a department's unique needs for additional products and services, including VuLinka auto activation technology. The company has determined that many departments do not have adequate funding for video evidence technology. The new subscription program will not only provide an opportunity to pay off the units over time, but in many cases, will offer packages that require no down payment.

09:12 EDT 180 Degree Capital begins managing $25M allocation from pension fund - 180 Degree Capital announced that it has executed a definitive investment advisory agreement to manage the previously noted $25M allocation from a pension fund in a separately managed account. 180 also noted it is also now registered as a Registered Investment Adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

09:10 EDT Genius Brands CEO responds to 'misleading' short seller criticisms - Genius Brands released the following statement from CEO and Chairman Andy Heyward, in response to recent short seller criticisms published online and on certain social media platforms: "Genius Brands has carefully reviewed the report and social media comments published by two short seller funds last week. These materials contain numerous misleading statements, omissions of key facts, and red herrings. More importantly, the short sellers themselves demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of the unique potential of Genius Brands and our position of strength given the current dynamics of our industry. It is also important to keep in mind how these short sellers make money and what they are trying to do. Make no mistake, their intention - and indeed how they make their money - is to manipulate the stock price of companies like ours in order to profit at the expense of other shareholders. Their interests are directly opposed to shareholders' interests. In contrast, as one of the largest investors in the Company myself, my interests are fully aligned with those of my fellow shareholders - and will remain so. With that in mind, I submit the following: We are well positioned to create substantial value - With Kartoon Channel! launching on June 15 and to be available in more than 100 million U.S. TV households and 200 million mobile devices, we are positioned to be one of the preeminent ad-supported kids' digital networks. The service referred to as a 'Netflix for kids' is made even stronger by the distinct fact that it is a free service. There are no subscriptions fees, it is ad-supported. Further, we do not anticipate being impacted by COVID-19. The business of cartoons has historically had an appeal that is timeless, and is a rare asset class which has historically been resistant to typical market forces (e.g., the price of gold, oil, interest rates, elections, etc.). While the rest of Hollywood is grinding to a stop during the COVID-19 crisis, we're creating new products for an audience that is growing now out of the new technologies and streaming services. This is especially true at a time when there are more kids at home and in front of their devices during the pandemic. We believe we will see robust and accelerated revenue growth coming forth in this arena for the foreseeable future. Our balance sheet is strong - We have $9.75 million of debt; in excess of $45 million of cash, significant receivables from a diverse array of companies across our industry with strong credit profiles, and low overhead. Today, Genius Brands has enough cash on our balance sheet to meet our existing obligations and execute on our business plan for at least 60 months, and still fund continuing new production and content acquisitions each year. Conveniently, last week when one of the short sellers stated we weren't at the same revenue point as one of our Canadian-based competitors, he neglected to mention that the other company has more than 60 times ($600 million) as much debt as Genius Brands. We think identifying this omission is important to understanding the whole story. Finally, to clear up market confusion that we believe has been generated as a result of one short seller's report, the shelf registration on form S-3 filed on June 4th was related to our capital raise in March 2020. We registered the resale of shares underlying the warrants we issued in March, and the S-3 filing does not in any way represent a new capital raise, nor is it related to recent changes in our stock price. The short sellers' criticisms of our Programs highlight their own industry ignorance - Llama Llama is an industry-recognized tremendous asset that we have on great terms, which are mutually beneficial with the IP's author/book publisher and ourselves. We are also confident in the appeal of the soon to be launched Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten, one of the last creations of Stan Lee, creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor, Fantastic Four, Black Panther, and the Avengers, among others. Similarly, we are happy with the outlook for Rainbow Rangers. The fact is that the show's airings on Nick Jr. have been scaled back while we are currently producing new episodes, which is a standard industry practice known as "resting." We expect the airings to ramp back up in August when the new episodes are completed and this will be timed with the launch of toys from Mattel hitting the shelves of Walmart in August. We are confident Nick Jr.'s interests are aligned with ours - after all, they have a stake in the consumer products merchandising royalties related to this asset. The track record of our leadership team speaks volumes - Our senior management comes largely from the Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks Animation, and Hasbro Toys, and has been responsible for many of the biggest and most profitable hits in children's television history, as well as toy and consumer product programs generating Billions of dollars of program sales and royalty income. The management team and board have had creative, licensing, production, broadcasting, and sales roles in some of the biggest animated hits in children's history, including Lion King, Toy Story, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Power Rangers, My Little Pony, Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, Transformers, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock, Real Ghostbusters, and Inspector Gadget. Collectively, we have more than 150 years of experience in children's media, and have helped generate literally tens of billions of dollars of content and consumer products sales. Further, last Friday, we announced the addition of two of our industry's most accomplished executives overseeing the new channel: Margaret Loesch as Executive Chairman of Kartoon Channel! (former President of Marvel Entertainment, FOX Kids, and Henson Television), and David Neuman as Chief Content Officer of Kartoon Channel! (former President of Walt Disney Television). Margaret was founding CEO of FOX Kids, and built it from zero to the most successful and profitable kids program service, and what was eventually sold to the Walt Disney Company for $5.5 billion dollars. None of us claim to be experts at 'short selling'. But we also think it's a stretch for short sellers to claim to know more about this industry than those of us who have been industry leaders and spent decades making money for investors while building some of the sector's most successful brands and companies. Genius Brands is a long-term growth story - We have a number of hit brands and shows today - but we are even more excited about what is coming, and the synergies with the newly announced Kartoon Channel!. We have over 450 licensed products contracted (with advances and guarantees) to come into the marketplace in the coming months. Our pipeline of new animated products, soon to be announced, is robust and pre-sold with significant brand equity. Our partners, licensees, and retail customers include Alibaba, Amazon, Mattel, Netflix, Target and Walmart, among others. Rainbow Rangers toys from Mattel, based on our hit series on Nick Jr., will hit Walmart stores in August beginning with a multipack of Rainbow Rangers figures. Over 350 other licensed consumer product SKUs are due as well, including publishing, room decor, bedding, footwear, apparel, health and beauty, bicycles, toothpaste, touring shows, among others, some of which are now already on Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and Target.com. Above all else, we are focused on long-term value. After working with Warren Buffett for 25 years and producing the children's animated series with Warren to teach financial literacy (Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club), I've learned to focus on the importance of the basics: asset creation and value-building for our shareholders. On a personal note, I have not sold a single share, and in fact, have materially increased my holdings in the Company in the last two years. We take the views of all our investors seriously, and we and our board are committed to maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency. The Company is not suggesting that any particular trading price for the Company's securities is appropriate, whether in the short- or long-term. However, we would like to seek to clarify certain facts as it relates to the short seller information that has been put into the marketplace. Finally, the Company reserves the right to take appropriate legal action against Hindenburg Research and Citron Research, as we will always do what we can to protect our shareholders' interests."

09:09 EDT Hoth Therapeutics receives Notice of Allowance for U.S. patent - Hoth Therapeutics announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for US Patent Application Number: 15/528,317 related to "13-Cis-RAMBA Retinamides that Degrade MNKs for Treating Cancer". The Notice of Allowance concludes the substantive examination of the U.S. Patent Application by the USPTO and will result in the issuance of a U.S. patent after remaining administrative processes are completed. Hoth Therapeutics continues to strengthen the company's intellectual property portfolio surrounding new generation therapies treating various diseases.

09:07 EDT Urban Tea receives regulatory approval to seek franchisees for growth in China - The company said, "Urban Tea announced that we received the approval from the Commercial Franchise Enterprise Administration on May 20th, 2020 and was approved to seek franchisees for growth opportunities throughout China. Hunan Ming Yun Tang Brand Management Co., Ltd., the company's variable interest entity, has officially obtained the 'Business Franchise Enterprise' license issued by the Hunan Provincial Department of Commerce. The license enables the company to grow its business through franchising with its brand Buoyance Manor,' in addition to operating corporate stores within China. Management believes that due to Hunan MYT's efficient brand operation, management and supply chain system, coupled with newly obtained franchise qualifications, we are well positioned to attract potential franchisees across the country. The Buoyance Manor franchising opportunity represents an exceptional opportunity in the tea retailer industry. In addition to providing franchisees with brand publicity, store design, staff training, and standard administration services, the centralized kitchen will also provide finished products to franchisees. Given the extensive collaboration with major raw material and equipment suppliers, franchisees will always be offered supplies of the best quality at a competitive price."

09:07 EDT Altisource to withhold votes for two Front Yard board nominees - Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), a significant shareholder of Front Yard Residential (RESI), issued the following open letter to RESI shareholders criticizing the Company's decision to schedule a fast-tracked annual meeting of shareholders and announcing its intention to vote "Withhold" against directors Rochelle Dobbs and George McDowell and to vote "Against" the advisory proposal to approve the compensation of RESI's named executive officers at the Company's upcoming annual meeting scheduled to be held on June 22, 2020. The letter read, in part, "Altisource is a long-term holder of more than 5% of RESI's outstanding shares and has been supportive of management since Altisource established and separated via spinoff RESI in 2012. Our support included acquiring a position in RESI to assist in its defense against a dissident proxy contest in early 2016. As a shareholder, Altisource continued to provide strong support to RESI for several years, including most recently when we agreed to lock up our shares and commit to vote in favor of the now terminated merger with Amherst Residential. Like other shareholders who voted in favor of the merger at the special meeting of shareholders on April 27, 2020, we were shocked to learn of the Board of Directors' unexpected and still unexplained decision to voluntarily terminate the merger on May 4, 2020. Together with all RESI shareholders, we suffered substantial destruction of shareholder value due to the Board's actions. We think it is important to share with our fellow shareholders the rationale for Altisource's decision to vote WITHHOLD on Rochelle R. Dobbs and George W. McDowell, two of the directors standing for election at the upcoming 2020 annual meeting of shareholders, and to vote AGAINST the advisory proposal to approve the compensation for RESI's named executive officers...We have written to the Board to voice our frustrations regarding its actions in scheduling the annual meeting, but received only a cursory and inadequate response, which further shows that this Board is seriously tone deaf to the concerns of shareholders. Past failures and disappointing performance do not give us confidence that the Company's incumbent Board or executive management are capable of engineering a meaningful increase in shareholder value. We simply will not countenance the Board's actions and failures, and will vote "Withhold" against the apparently conflicted directors at the annual meeting and will vote "Against" the advisory proposal to approve the compensation of RESI's named executive officers. We urge our fellow shareholders to do the same in order to clearly communicate the message that the Board will be held accountable for its failure to preserve the shareholder franchise and enhance shareholder value."

09:03 EDT Arthur J. Gallagher acquires CRES Insurance Services, terms not disclosed - Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced the acquisition of Las Vegas, Nevada-based CRES Insurance Services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1996, CRES designs, markets and services comprehensive errors & omissions insurance and risk management services to real estate firms and professionals across the United States, particularly in the Southwest.

09:02 EDT Eastside Distilling names Geoffrey Gwin as CFO - Eastside Distilling announced the appointment of Robert Grammen as independent director to the company's board of directors, effective June 15. Geoffrey Gwin will step down from his role as a member of the company's board commensurate with the appointment of Grammen and will be appointed Eastside's Chief Financial Officer effective June 15. Geoffrey Gwin joined the Eastside board of directors in August 2019. Until March 2020, Gwin was most recently a Member of Quad Capital Management Advisors, LLC and the Managing Member of Group G Capital Partners.

09:00 EDT China Distance Education trading resumes

08:39 EDT ElectraMeccanica begins proposed site visits in search for EV U.S. facility - ElectraMeccanica Vehicles provided an update related to its ongoing search for a U.S. based assembly facility and engineering technical center. On February 27, 2020 the Company announced its engagement with BDO USA's Site Selection & Business Incentives Practice to lead the search. After a nationwide review of potential locations that matched ElectraMeccanica's criteria, BDO initially identified seven candidates and sent initial requests for proposal to the chief economic development entities in each state. Following the initial review, the Company has narrowed its list to the following five states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. The proposed new U.S. facility is expected to employ up to 250 people and feature a state-of-the art engineering technical center, including plans for multiple labs to support ongoing vehicle, chassis and power electronics testing as well as comprehensive research facilities. Collectively, the operation would be expected to meet the growing demand for SOLO EVs throughout the United States, where EVs are projected to exceed more than 30% of all passenger vehicles by 2040. In addition, the proposed new U.S.-based facility would allow ElectraMeccanica to reduce or potentially eliminate tariffs as well as benefit from logistical efficiencies. ElectraMeccanica intends to maintain a capital-light model and begin commercial production and delivery of its flagship, single-seat, three-wheeled SOLO EV during 2020 with its contract manufacturing partner and strategic investor, Zongshen Industrial Group, in Chongqing, China. In conjunction with the proposed new ElectraMeccanica U.S. facility, Zongshen will continue to manufacture SOLO EVs for the global market, while also supplying knock-down kits for assembly in the United States. As part of the secondary phase in the site selection process, ElectraMeccanica management will be visiting proposed sites within the remaining states during the summer of 2020 with a final decision expected by the end of the year. Last week, at the invitation of the Arizona Commerce Authority and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the Company toured locations in Phoenix, Mesa, Avondale and Casa Grande, Arizona.

08:36 EDT Surmodics receives CE Mark Certification for SurVeil DCB - Surmodics (SRDX) announced it has received CE Mark Certification in the European Union for its SurVeil drug-coated balloon, or DCB. As a result of CE Mark attainment, Surmodics will receive an additional $10.8M milestone payment from Abbott (ABT). The company will recognize approximately $6.5 as revenue in Q3 and could earn up to an additional $45M for future product development milestones. Surmodics is not forecasting material revenue from the sale of its SurVeil DCB product over the remainder of FY20.

08:35 EDT Gladstone Land acquires pecan orchard in California for $14.2M - Gladstone Land Corporation announced that it has acquired 590 gross acres of farmland in Kern County, California, for approximately $14.2M. The farm consists of 554 planted acres of mature pecan trees. In connection with the acquisition, Gladstone Land also entered into a 15-year, triple-net leaseback agreement with the seller.

08:34 EDT Molina Healthcare extends COVID-19 testing, treatment cost waivers - Molina Healthcare announced that it will continue waiving all out-of-pocket costs associated with COVID-19 testing and treatment for its Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace members nationwide through December 31.

08:32 EDT China Distance Education receives non-binding proposal to acquire company - China Distance Education Holdings announced that its Board of Directors has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter dated June 8, from Zhengdong Zhu, co-founder, chairman of the Board and CEO of the company, Baohong Yin, co-founder of the vompany, deputy chairman of the Board and the spouse of Zhu and their affiliated entity to acquire all of the outstanding ordinary shares of the company, including ordinary shares represented by American depositary shares, for $2.27 in cash per ordinary share, or $9.08 in cash per ADS. According to the Proposal Letter, the Buyer Group intends to fund the consideration payable in the Proposed Transaction with a combination of debt and/or equity capital. Equity financing is expected to be provided by the Buyer Group and from any additional equity investor who may be admitted to the Buyer Group. Debt financing is expected to be provided by loans from third party financial institutions. The Board will consider the Proposed Transaction. The Board cautions the company's shareholders and others considering trading the company's securities that the Board has just received the Proposal Letter and has not had an opportunity to carefully review and evaluate the proposal or make any decision with respect to the company's response to the proposal. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any definitive agreement will be executed relating to the Proposed Transaction or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated.

08:30 EDT Aeterna Zentaris regains compliance with Nasdaq minimum bid price rule - Aeterna Zentaris announced that it has regained compliance with the minimum bid price for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, as the closing bid price of the Company's common stock has been at $1.00 or greater for 10 consecutive trading days. On April 8, 2020, the Company received notice that its common stock failed to maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 over the previous 30 consecutive business days as required by Nasdaq. Now that the Company has regained compliance with this listing rule, Nasdaq has advised the Company that this matter is now closed.

08:29 EDT Bionano Genomics issued U.S. patent for nanochannel nanopore device - Bionano Genomics announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office will issue US Patent No. 10,676,352 on June 9th, 2020. The patent, titled "NANONOZZLE DEVICE ARRAYS: THEIR PREPARATION AND USE FOR MACROMOLECULAR ANALYSIS," covers the addition of a detector, such as a nanopore, to Bionano's patented nanochannels. The patent describes how such nanodetector could detect DNA sequence information, detect the presence or absence of chemical modifications or specific labels attached to the DNA using a variety of detection technologies, and how such nanochannel-nanodetector combination array, called a nanonozzle device array, can be manufactured. Bionano's proprietary nanochannel arrays already provide industry-leading throughput of the longest DNA molecules and are used in a wide range of disease applications, including highly complex cancers. Bionano believes that combining these nanochannel arrays with nanodetectors such as nanopores may one day enable high-throughput massively parallel long-read sequencing of ultra-high molecular weight DNA. The patent is part of Bionano's intellectual property portfolio that includes 100 issued patents and numerous patent applications that cover its core technology of confining and linearizing ultra-long DNA molecules and other macromolecules in parallel nanochannel arrays, and the detection of sequence or genomic feature specific labels on those molecules. Additionally, Bionano's patent portfolio covers the methods for fabricating such nanochannel devices, as well as multiple technologies for sample processing and analysis related workflows.

08:25 EDT Aaron's jumps approximately 9% to $49.56 after Q2 guidance tops estimates

08:23 EDT OraSure Oragene Dx included in EUA for use with SARS-CoV-2 test - OraSure Technologies announced that Phosphorus Diagnostics was granted an Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowing individuals to self-collect saliva specimens with the Company's Oragene*Dx collection kit for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 using the Phosphorus COVID-19 RT-qPCR test. The Phosphorus COVID-19 RT-qPCR test detects nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva of individuals who are suspected of being infected with COVID-19 by a healthcare professional. Combined with the easy-to-use Oragene*Dx saliva collection device from OraSure's subsidiary, DNA Genotek, this is an easily deployable testing option for patient or employee populations and for at-home use. Eligibility to receive an Oragene*Dx collection device for in-home self-collection will be determined based on a medical questionnaire reviewed by a healthcare professional before shipment. This is the third EUA for SARS-CoV-2 testing that utilizes a DNA Genotek collection device and the first that allows a fully at-home, unsupervised collection solution utilizing a DNA Genotek device. Earlier this month, the Company's ORAcollect*RNA kit was included as the collection device for the EUA granted to Biocerna LLC. The Company's OMNIgene*ORAL was included in the EUA recently granted to P23 Labs.

08:19 EDT IntelGenx receives Health Canada micro-processing license - IntelGenx announced that it has received a cannabis micro-processing license from Health Canada for the Company's Montreal, Quebec facility, in accordance with the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations.

08:19 EDT Benefitfocus closes $80M investment by BuildGroup - Benefitfocus announced it has closed the previously announced $80M preferred stock investment from BuildGroup LLC. BuildGroup is an operator-led, permanent capital investment company for enhanced software-as-a-service business models. In conjunction with the closing, the Benefitfocus Board appointed Lanham Napier as its lead independent director. Mr. Napier has served as a company director since 2014. He is Co-Founder and CEO of BuildGroup and was previously the CEO of Rackspace. As previously announced, the company intends to use the proceeds from the investment to accelerate ongoing initiatives, including the potential reduction of debt, potential acquisitions to extend the company's market or technology leadership and other general corporate purposes.

08:16 EDT Catalyst Biosciences announces presentations at hemophilia virtual summit - Catalyst Biosciences announced oral and poster presentations at the upcoming World Foundation of Hemophilia Virtual Summit, taking place from June 14-19, 2020. The open-label Phase 2b study of dalcinonacog alfa, a next-generation subcutaneously administered Factor IX for the treatment of hemophilia B was designed to evaluate daily SQ dosing and the ability to maintain protective steady state FIX levels above 12% in six individuals with severe hemophilia B. Each subject received a single intravenous dose, followed by daily SQ doses of DalcA for 28 days whereby the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, safety, tolerability and anti-drug antibody formation were monitored. In February 2020, Catalyst Biosciences reported positive interim efficacy and safety data from its Phase 2b trial in an oral presentation at the 13th Annual Congress of the European Association for Haemophilia and Allied Disorders. Blouse will present data from preclinical studies of Catalyst's hemophilia B gene therapy CB 2679d-GT, a novel chimeric AAV capsid expressing the Company's proprietary enhanced potency FIX variant that may reduce the vector dose required in gene therapy, while maintaining high FIX levels.

08:15 EDT First Western Financial to be added to Russell 3000, 2000 indexes - First Western Financial announced that it is set to join the broad-market Russell 3000 Index and the small-cap Russell 2000 Index at the conclusion of the Russell US Indexes annual reconstitution, effective after the US equity markets open on June 29, 2020, according to a preliminary list of additions posted by FTSE Russell on June 5, 2020.

08:12 EDT RTI Surgical announces filing of 2019 10-K, completion of financial restatement - RTI Surgical Holdings announced that it has completed the filing of its 2019 Form 10-K and has completed its previously announced financial statement restatement. The Company has also completed its previously announced internal investigation of certain accounting matters, including the Company's revenue recognition practices for certain contractual arrangements, primarily with OEM customers involving the accounting treatment, financial reporting and internal controls related to such arrangements. The Company revised its financial statements to correct for errors, and has filed restated audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2016, 2017 and 2018, selected financial data for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2015, and related disclosures for the quarterly periods for such years, each on Form 10-K/A, and restated condensed consolidated unaudited financial statements for the quarters ended March 31, 2019, June 30, 2019, and September 30, 2019, reflected in its 2019 Form 10-K. The previously announced investigation by the SEC remains ongoing, and the Company is cooperating with the SEC in its investigation.

08:09 EDT Ooma appoints Judi Hand to board of directors - Ooma (OOMA) announced the appointment of Judi Hand, an experienced cloud services sales and marketing leader, to its board of directors, effective June 3, 2020. Hand is executive vice president and chief revenue officer of TTEC Holdings (TTEC) in Englewood, Colorado.

08:08 EDT Kiniksa announces 28-day outcomes data from mavrilimumab treatment protocol - Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals announced the presentation of 28-day clinical outcomes data from the open-label treatment protocol with mavrilimumab, an investigational fully-human monoclonal antibody that targets granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor receptor alpha, in severe coronavirus 2019 pneumonia and hyperinflammation at the European E-Congress of Rheumatology 2020. The company also announced an active investigational new drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its global placebo-controlled Phase 2/3 clinical trial of mavrilimumab in severe COVID-19 pneumonia and hyperinflammation. Additionally, an investigator-initiated placebo-controlled study in the U.S. is enrolling patients. On Saturday, June 6, 2020, at EULAR 2020, Professor Lorenzo Dagna, MD, FACP, Head, Unit of Immunology, Rheumatology, Allergy and Rare Diseases, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy, delivered 28-day clinical outcomes data from the open-label treatment protocol with mavrilimumab in non-mechanically ventilated patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and hyperinflammation. The presentation, entitled Mavrilimumab Improves Outcomes in Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia and Systemic Hyper-Inflammation, is available through the Science section of Kiniksa's website. In the treatment protocol, 13 non-mechanically ventilated patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and hyperinflammation were treated with a single intravenous dose of mavrilimumab 6 mg/kg upon admission to the hospital. Twenty-six contemporaneous non-mechanically ventilated patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and hyperinflammation and with similar baseline characteristics upon admission to the hospital, including comorbidities, baseline inflammatory markers and respiratory dysfunction, were evaluated as a control-group. All patients received similar standard of care therapy, including antivirals and antibiotics. Over the course of the 28-day follow-up period, mavrilimumab-treated patients experienced earlier and improved clinical outcomes than control-group patients, including earlier weaning from supplemental oxygen, shorter hospitalizations, and no deaths. Death occurred in 0% of mavrilimumab-treated patients by Day 28, compared to 27% of control-group patients. 8% of mavrilimumab-treated patients progressed to mechanical ventilation by Day 28, compared to 35% of control-group patients who progressed to mechanical ventilation or died. 100% of mavrilimumab-treated patients and 65% of control-group patients attained the clinical improvement endpoint by Day 28. Fever resolved in 91% of mavrilimumab-treated patients by Day 14, compared to 61% of control-group patients. Representative mavrilimumab-treated patients showed significant improvement in lung opacification on computerized tomography scans, consistent with the overall improvement in their clinical status. P-values above are unadjusted for multiplicity. Mavrilimumab was well-tolerated in all patients, without infusion reactions. Kiniksa's Phase 2/3 clinical trial protocol is a global, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of mavrilimumab relative to placebo in addition to standard of care therapy in the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and hyperinflammation.

08:07 EDT Weatherford announces departure of CEO Mark McCollum - Weatherford announced that Mark McCollum, President, CEO and a director, has left the company, effectively immediately. Karl Blanchard, Executive Vice President and COO, and Christian Garcia, Executive Vice President and CFO, will form the Office of the Chief Executive, reporting directly to the Board of Directors and will oversee the day to day operations. The Board of Directors has initiated a search to identify a permanent President and CEO and will work with a leading executive search firm to assist in the process.

08:05 EDT Chembio Diagnostics receives FDA 510(k) clearance for DPP Zika IgM System - Chembio Diagnostics announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance to market the DPP Zika IgM System. The Chembio DPP Zika IgM System is intended for the presumptive qualitative detection of Zika virus IgM antibodies in human serum, potassium-EDTA plasma, potassium-EDTA venous whole blood, or fingerstick whole blood specimens, collected from individuals meeting the CDC Zika virus clinical criteria and/or CDC Zika virus epidemiological criteria. Additionally, this clearance represents the initial U.S. regulatory approval for the DPP Micro Reader. The DPP Micro Reader is a handheld portable analyzer that produces numerical results from Chembio DPP tests and is compatible with the entire portfolio of Chembio DPP tests. The DPP Zika System, which includes the DPP Zika IgM Assay and DPP Micro Reader, detects IgM antibodies from a 10uL fingerstick blood sample and provides numerical results after 15 minutes of sample incubation and 15 seconds of test read time. Funds used to develop the system included $5.9M awarded in a previously announced contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

08:03 EDT Constellation Pharmaceuticals appoints Jeffrey Humphrey as CMO - Constellation Pharmaceuticals announced that Jeffrey Humphrey, M.D., will join Constellation Pharmaceuticals as CMO. Most recently he was Chief Development Officer at Kyowa Kirin. Adrian Senderowicz, M.D., Constellation's current CMO, will transition to the role of Senior Advisor, where he will continue to advise Constellation on initiatives in research and development, translational science and corporate strategy. The appointment of Dr. Humphrey as CMO and transition of Dr. Senderowicz to a Senior Advisor of Constellation will be effective as of June 22, 2020.

08:02 EDT Inspire Medical appoints Phil Ebeling as COO - Inspire Medical Systems announced the appointment of Phil Ebeling as COO. In this newly created role at Inspire, he will be responsible for the oversight and leadership of operations, quality assurance, clinical research, regulatory affairs, and business development activities. Most recently, Ebeling served as VP and CTO at Abbott Laboratories.

07:42 EDT Aleafia Health to commence cultivation in Niagara greenhouse facility - Aleafia Health will now commence operations in the entirety of its 160,000 sq. ft. Niagara Facility. On March 13, 2020, the Company secured its initial cultivation licence authorizing operations in 70,000 sq. ft. of the Niagara Facility. The Company may now commence operations in the remaining 90,000 sq. ft. of the facility following changes to site plan approval requirements announced by Health Canada on May 12, 2020. Health Canada no longer requires licence amendment applications for certain site plan changes, as long as they are within an approved building that already appears on the previously issued licence.

07:38 EDT Applied Materials appoints Teri Little as SVP, CLO - Applied Materials (AMAT) announced that Teri Little has joined the company as SVP and chief legal officer. Previously, Little served as executive vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary at KLA Corporation (KLAC) where she led the legal affairs of the company worldwide, including corporate securities and governance, M&A, intellectual property, commercial, employment, compliance and litigation. Tom Larkins, SVP and general counsel of Applied Materials, announced his decision last fall to retire after leading Applied Materials' law department since 2012.

07:35 EDT Deciphera announces INVICTUS study results published - Deciphera announced that The Lancet Oncology has published results from the INVICTUS pivotal Phase 3 study of Qinlock in patients with fourth-line gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST. The INVICTUS study met its primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significantly improvement in progression free survival, or PFS, in patients randomized to Qinlock compared with patients receiving placebo. The safety profile observed in INVICTUS was consistent with previously published results, and results from the study were previously presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology Congress in September 2019. The article is now available online and will be published in a future print issue of The Lancet Oncology. Qinlock demonstrated a median PFS of 6.3 months compared to one month in the placebo arm and significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 85%. Qinlock demonstrated a median overall survival of 15.1 months compared to 6.6 months in the placebo arm and reduced the risk of death by 64%. The most common adverse reactions were alopecia, fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, constipation, myalgia, diarrhea, decreased appetite, palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome and vomiting. Adverse reactions resulting in permanent discontinuation occurred in 8% of patients, dosage interruptions due to an adverse reaction occurred in 24% of patients and dose reductions due to an adverse reaction occurred in 7% of patients who received Qinlock.

07:32 EDT Heat Biologics announces FDA clearance of IND application for PTX-35 - Heat Biologics announced that the FDA has cleared the Investigational New Drug, or IND, application for PTX-35, developed by Heat's Pelican Therapeutics subsidiary. The company said in a release, "Pelican has near-term plans to initiate its Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with solid tumors. PTX-35 is a novel, first-in-class agonist antibody targeting TNFRSF25, also known as death receptor 3, or DR3, a receptor that is preferentially expressed by antigen-experienced T cells. TNFRSF25 agonism leads to activation of antigen-experienced memory CD8+ T cells, which are instrumental for tumor destruction. Preclinical studies have demonstrated PTX-35, in combination with antigen-driven immunotherapies, resulted in enhanced anti-tumor properties, including potent proliferation of antigen-specific T cells, production of effector cytokines and augmented effector immune function."

07:30 EDT Nikola chairman says Badger truck reservations to open June 29 - In a tweet June 7, Nikola founder and executive chairman Trevor Milton said: "Breaking: Nikola World 2020 (Badger World) to be announced Monday, June 29th. Badger reservations open same day. Deposit holders will have dibs on tickets for #nikolaworld2020 Phoenix, AZ. The Badger will dominate ICE trucks live. Be there to see it" Reference Link

07:17 EDT Veeva appoints Brent Bowman as CFO - Veeva Systems announced that Brent Bowman will become the company's next CFO. Bowman will assume the role of CFO after a transition period of approximately 90 days with current CFO Tim Cabral, who previously announced his intent to retire and assume a new role as an advisor to Veeva. Bowman joins Veeva from [24]7.ai, where he has been CFO since 2018.

07:14 EDT Green Thumb Industries to open Rise Chambersburg in Pennsylvania - Green Thumb Industries announced it will open Rise Chambersburg, its 46th retail location, on June 8. Profits from the first day of sales will be donated to Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit coalition of cannabis industry leaders, executives, and artists dedicated to bringing restorative justice to the cannabis industry. In addition to Rise Chambersburg, there are Rise retail stores in Pennsylvania in the following locations: Cranberry, Erie, Hermitage, Latrobe, King of Prussia, Mechanicsburg, New Castle, Carlisle, Steelton and York, the last three of which are licensed to KW Ventures. Green Thumb entered the Pennsylvania market in 2017 and operates a manufacturing facility in Danville where the company produces its branded products including Rythm and Dr. Solomon's.

07:13 EDT Nebula Acquisition, Open Lending announce intent to close business combination - Open Lending and Nebula Acquisition Corporation announced that they expect all conditions to the closing of the previously announced business combination between Open Lending and Nebula to be satisfied or waived after the special meeting of Nebula's stockholders to be held on June 9, 2020. Open Lending and Nebula have agreed to increase the price that will be paid to redeem Nebula's public warrants from $1.50 to $1.80 per whole warrant, if the holders of at least a majority of Nebula's public warrants vote to approve the amendment to Nebula's warrants at the special meeting of Nebula's warrantholders to be held on June 9, 2020. In addition, the parties have waived the condition to closing the business combination that requires the holders of at least a majority of Nebula's public warrants approve an amendment to Nebula's warrants such that all of Nebula's warrants will be redeemed upon the closing of the business combination. Therefore, regardless of the results of the special meeting of Nebula's warrantholders, the parties expect to close the business combination on June 10, 2020 or shortly thereafter.

07:11 EDT Greenlane launches VIBES rolling papers in Europe, Canada - Greenlane Holdings announced that VIBES Rolling Papers are now available in specialty locations throughout Europe and Canada. The brand is a joint venture between Greenlane and San Francisco entrepreneur and rapper Gilbert "Berner" Milam Jr. Cultivated and crafted in France and then cut and kitted in the Dominican Republic, VIBES papers allow for a slow burn and elevated flavor experience. The collection includes cones and papers made out of natural materials such as hemp and rice as well as unbleached ultra-thin paper. The highly sought-after rolling papers will initially be available at over 200 retailers across Europe and more than 100 specialty stores in Canada.

07:09 EDT Myriad Genetics announces publication of study on GeneSight Psychotropic test - Myriad Genetics announced a newly published study in Psychiatry Research. The study demonstrated the GeneSight Psychotropic test is better at predicting citalopram and escitalopram blood concentrations when compared to single-gene testing. The GeneSight test uses a combinatorial pharmacogenomic approach, which evaluates how variations in multiple genes may influence an individual's outcomes with certain medications. The new study assessed 191 patients from the GUIDED clinical study who were taking either citalopram or escitalopram at the time of their screening visit, had their dose specified, and provided a blood sample. Citalopram and escitalopram are routine first and second line treatments for major depressive disorder. Current Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium guidelines make recommendations for citalopram based upon CYP2C19 metabolizer status. However, scientific evidence supports the role of additional genes in citalopram metabolism. In the study, if testing was conducted on CYP2C19 alone, fewer patients with decreased metabolism for citalopram would have been identified. However, the combinatorial approach used by the GeneSight Psychotropic test identified more patients with decreased metabolism. Accordingly, more patients who could benefit from clinically actionable recommendations were identified. Furthermore, combinatorial pharmacogenomic testing explained more variance in citalopram blood levels when compared to single-gene testing.

07:07 EDT FibroGen plans initiation of two additional Phase 2 studies of pamrevlumab - FibroGen announced the planned initiation of two additional randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 studies investigating the efficacy and safety of pamrevlumab versus standard of care in patients with severe COVID-19 infection in the United States. The Investigational New Drug application for the first trial has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and it will assess the efficacy and safety of pamrevlumab in approximately 130 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the acute setting. This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, to assess the efficacy and safety of pamrevlumab in hospitalized patients with acute COVID-19 infection, in a 1:1 ratio. The primary efficacy assessment is the proportion of hospitalized COVID-19 patients who never receive mechanical ventilation and/or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and remain alive at day 28. The second planned U.S. trial, under discussion with the FDA, is expected to assess the longer term efficacy and safety of pamrevlumab in patients who recovered or are recovering from COVID-19 infection with evidence of interstitial lung disease.

07:06 EDT Akcea Therapeutics says TEGSEDI approved for reimbursement in Italy - Akcea Therapeutics (AKCA), a majority-owned affiliate of Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS), announced that AIFA, or The Italian Medicines Agency, has granted approval for the reimbursement of TEGSEDI for the treatment of stage 1 or stage 2 polyneuropathy in adult patients with hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis.

07:06 EDT FibroGen enrolls first patient in pamrevlumab clinical trial - FibroGen announced the initiation of an open-label, randomized, parallel-arm study investigating the efficacy and safety of pamrevlumab versus standard of care in patients with severe coronavirus 2019 infection. The trial is being conducted by Professor Luca Richeldi, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy. BOREA is a Phase 2/3 investigator-initiated clinical trial investigating the efficacy and safety of pamrevlumab in approximately 68 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The primary objective of this study is to assess the effect of pamrevlumab on blood oxygenation in patients with COVID-19 infection. Patients will be randomized to treatment with pamrevlumab or standard of care in a 1:1 ratio. Based on the investigator's decision, a subgroup of patients may continue treatment for up to 12 weeks. Pamrevlumab is an antibody developed by FibroGen to inhibit the activity of CTGF, a common factor in fibrotic and proliferative disorders characterized by persistent and excessive scarring that can lead to organ dysfunction and failure. This trial will assess pamrevlumab's effect on patient time to and on ventilatory support, currently the most urgent need, and its potential to reduce mortality and fibrotic sequelae in the lung.

07:04 EDT Mesa Air reports 12,077 block hours in May - Mesa Airlines reported 12,077 block hours in May 2020, a 68.6 percent drop from May 2019 as a result of reduced schedules during the COVID-19 outbreak. The company also reported a controllable completion factor of 100 percent for both its American and United operations.

07:03 EDT Aaron's says experiencing recovery in invoice volume from low point in April - As Progressive's retail partners begin to reopen their stores, the company is experiencing a recovery in invoice volume from a low point in April 2020 and expects this improving trend to continue. The company expects second quarter invoice volumes will end the quarter flat to down low single digits compared to the second quarter of 2019. The company believes that, in the first quarter, Progressive adequately reserved for the future impact of COVID-related write-offs and, at this time, does not anticipate incremental COVID-related charges in the second quarter. Write-offs for the second quarter are expected to be in-line to slightly better than the second quarter of 2019.

07:01 EDT Summit Therapeutics appoints Michael Donaldson as CFO - Summit Therapeutics announces that Michael Donaldson has been appointed as CFO, effective immediately. Donaldson joins Summit from Goldfinch Bio, Inc., where he led finance and accounting as Vice President, Finance, and Corporate Controller.

06:57 EDT IFF says currency neutral sales down 3% through first eight weeks of Q2 - IFF provided an update on its business performance for the first eight weeks of the second quarter and provided additional commentary regarding ongoing business dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales declined by 3% on a currency neutral basis and 7% on a reported basis compared to the corresponding period last year, driven by continued pressure in certain end-market categories, across select countries and particularly with small- and mid-sized customers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. IFF experienced solid demand for products used in packaged food, beverage, hygiene and disinfection categories. Representing approximately 85% of total 2019 revenue, currency neutral sales for this portion grew by 3% compared to the corresponding period last year, with Consumer Fragrances up double-digits. The categories most exposed to the temporary disruptions of consumer access to retail markets (Fine Fragrance) and away-from-home channels (Food Service), experienced significant pressure. Representing approximately 15% of total 2019 revenue, currency neutral sales for this portion declined approximately 40% compared to the corresponding period last year. From a geographic perspective, North America showed resiliency, while the emerging markets, especially India and several Latin American countries, were impacted by COVID-19 and strong regulatory restrictions put in place to protect communities. In China, where restrictions have already eased, growth has sequentially improved. Lower sales volumes and an unfavorable mix, combined with additional COVID-19 manufacturing and procurement costs, reduced gross profit by 12% on a reported basis compared to the corresponding period last year. Disciplined cost management and continued productivity initiatives partly offset these challenges. "The company quickly adapted its operations to responsibly operate the business while continuing to meet customer demand, despite some logistics challenges around the world. Nearly all our global Creative Centers and manufacturing facilities continue to operate. Across the IFF global network, teams have begun proceeding through the different phases of our return-to-work protocol. This gradual return-to-work strategy is intended to prioritize the safety of all IFF employees and create a new way of working that allows IFF to continue meeting customers' needs, while abiding by government mandates and regulations."

06:47 EDT Eldorado Gold to start construction of three kilometre tunnel at Lamaque - Eldorado Gold announces that it is commencing construction of a three kilometre decline, or tunnel, from the Sigma mill to the 405 metre level of the Triangle mine. The company is also providing an update on several positive developments in Greece. The fully permitted decline project represents a relatively modest investment that is expected to provide multiple near-term and long-term benefits as the company continues to grow production at Lamaque. Detailed engineering and site preparations for the decline will commence this month and surface construction on the portal will begin in Q3 2020. The decline is expected to be completed by H1 2022 at an estimated cost of $24M. Additionally, the company is evaluating the possible addition of an underground crushing and conveying system as well as a potential mill expansion. An update outlining the path forward at Lamaque is expected in Q4.

06:37 EDT Thor Industries says North America market indicators are increasingly positive - "Today, market indicators in North America are increasingly positive. Every North American dealer I have spoken to in the last few weeks has been very excited about the pace at which sales are picking up. Many of our dealers are reporting a significant improvement in sales from April to May and are excited about the sales potential for June and beyond. Because of this improved outlook and the relaxation of many stay-at-home restrictions, we began to restart production in the first week of May in North America. We have been successful in safely bringing our people back to work, and we are ramping-up production in a measured way in order to keep our team members safe and product quality high, while also fulfilling dealer orders as quickly as possible. In Europe, with over 1,200 dealer-partners in Germany and across the continent, our brands have one of the strongest dealer and service networks, and our long-term outlook for future growth in retail sales remains positive. More and more people are discovering RVs as a way to support their lifestyle of independence and individuality, as well as using the RV as a multi-purpose vehicle to escape urban life and explore outdoor activities and nature. While we are optimistic about the long-term growth of the RV market in Europe, the outlook for European RV retail sales for the remainder of the calendar year depends upon the economic conditions in the countries in which we do business. Since the end of our third fiscal quarter, our outlook for the balance of our fiscal year and the calendar year has markedly improved. We're seeing an influx of first-time buyers, which bodes well for the long-term health of the RV industry. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, we saw many people start to work at home. One new trend we are seeing is an evolution from 'work at home' to 'work from anywhere' as RV buyers use their new RVs as their office wherever they are, or wherever they want to be. Our channel checks tell us that many of our independent RV dealers are seeing a significant resurgence in their sales, and their inventory levels, which were already down 20% year-over-year, are further declining. Demand for our products is very strong. Our flexible business model gives us the ability to quickly ramp production in a focused way, and we will ramp production with three primary objectives: the safety of our team members, the quality of our products, and the speed of our production, in that order. We remain steadfast in our confidence in the long-term outlook for not only our business, but the entire RV industry, and we continue to look forward to a bright future." said Martin.

06:33 EDT Clearwater Paper expects to outperform previous FY expectations - In connection with its fourth quarter of 2019 earnings call, the company provided its outlook expectations for certain revenue and cost components for the full year of 2020. Due to anticipated performance in the second quarter of 2020, the company now believes that it will, in the aggregate, outperform the previous full-year expectations. "We remain focused on two priorities - the health and safety of our employees and continuing to safely operate our facilities to meet the needs of our customers," said Arsen Kitch, president and CEO. "Through April and May, we continued to see strong tissue demand with shipments up nearly 30% versus 2019 averages. While order pace is starting to normalize in June, we anticipate that our production in the second quarter will exceed expectations and match increased demand, which would drive an improvement in overall cost structure. In addition, our paperboard business is expected to remain stable in the second quarter, with strength in our core market segments offsetting recessionary impacts," Kitch concluded. The company is on track with ramping tissue production at its Shelby, North Carolina expansion, with the paper machine approaching its full run-rate targets. While the company expects to continue to explore the optimization of its pulp assets at the Lewiston, Idaho plant, it now believes that the pulp optimization project will not produce future incremental financial benefits as previously anticipated.

06:32 EDT Clearwater Paper raises Q2 adj. EBITDA view to $71M-$77M from $45M-$55M - Clearwater Paper announced a preliminary update to the company's previous outlook for second quarter 2020 Adjusted EBITDA of $45M-$55M. Due to demand, production, and cost trends in April and May that were more favorable than previously anticipated, the company now expects Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2020 to be in the range of $71M-$77M.

06:28 EDT PPG initiates global restructuring, targets $170M in annual savings - PPG announced that it has approved significant and broad restructuring actions to reduce its global cost structure. The company cited weakened global economic conditions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and related pace of recovery in a few end-use markets, along with further opportunities to optimize supply chain and functional costs. When completed, the company expects the planned actions will deliver $160M-$170M in annual pre-tax cost savings, with approximately $25M-$35M of savings projected in 2020. The remainder of the annual cost savings is anticipated to be substantially realized by year-end 2021. The plan includes a voluntary separation program that was offered in the U.S. and Canada. PPG will record a restructuring charge of $160M-$180M pretax, $125M-$140M after-tax, or 52c-58c per diluted share, in the second quarter, which is nearly all related to employee severance. The company will also incur other associated restructuring-related costs of approximately $10M over future quarters. The total cash outlay to complete these actions is approximately $180M, with about $110M expected in 2020 and the remainder in 2021. The cash outlay includes capital expenditures to relocate certain operational activities.

06:15 EDT CytoDyn receives BLA acknowledgment letter from FDA - CytoDyn announced the U.S. FDA advised the company, subject to its ongoing review, it could receive its "PDUFA date" on July 10. The company's drug candidate, leronlimab, was previously granted Fast Track designation by the FDA and the BLA was granted rolling review. The company recently filed for Priority Review designation with the intent to reduce the FDA's review time to six months. The FDA informs the applicant of a Priority Review designation within 60 days.

06:08 EDT Hercules Capital receives SBA 'green light' letter approval

06:05 EDT PG&E to pursue $5.75B offerings of stock, equity units

06:04 EDT PG&E announces $3.25B common stock investment from multiple investors - PG&E Corporation announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with a select number of investors, including affiliates of Appaloosa, Third Point LLC, Zimmer Partners and Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC, that have agreed to purchase an aggregate of $3.25B in common stock of PG&E, expected to be issued in a private placement upon PG&E's emergence from Chapter 11. The transaction is expected to close on the effective date of PG&E's emergence from Chapter 11. The investors will pay up to $10.50 per share, depending on the price per share to be paid in an expected public offering of common stock, as provided in the Investment Agreement for such purchase. The proceeds from the private placement will be used to fund a portion of PG&E's exit financing. Shares purchased in the private placement will be subject to a 90-day lock-up, subject to certain exceptions. The investors may terminate the Investment Agreement if the equity backstop commitments, which PG&E previously received from the equity backstop parties, are drawn or if PG&E does not emerge from Chapter 11 within 45 days. Lazard acted as financial advisor, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP acted as legal advisor and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan acted as placement agents for the company. PG&E Corporation also announced that it has received the consents needed to amend the equity backstop commitment letters to eliminate the previously existing tier structure that required the company to meet minimum prices to execute either a fully marketed or rights offering. Under the terms of the amendment, the company may pursue any kind of marketed equity capital raise, as long as the price per share in the transaction exceeds the "Backstop Price" provided in the equity backstop commitment letters. In addition, as part of the amendment, the parties to the backstop commitment letters have committed to enter into a Redeemable Forward Stock Purchase Agreement for $523M. By entering into the private placement and the RFSPA, PG&E has prearranged for almost $3.8B of the $9B of equity required for emergence. Combined with the amendment to the equity backstop commitment letters, PG&E has meaningfully reduced the amount of equity required to be raised for emergence and has meaningfully increased its flexibility as it considers alternatives to raise the remaining amount.

05:59 EDT New York Times is 'fake news,' Trump tweets after Bennet's resignation - President Trump said via Twitter on Sunday: "Opinion Editor at New York Times just walked out. That's right, he quit over the excellent Op-Ed penned by our great Senator Tom Cotton. TRANSPARENCY! The State of Arkansas is very proud of Tom. The New York Times is Fake News!!!" Reference Link

05:41 EDT Conduent holder Trillium calls to split company into 3 segments or sell company - Trillium Capital released the following Open Letter to the board of Conduent Incorporated - The Path to Unlock $3.9 Billion of Incremental Shareholder Value. Trillium Capital said in a release, "Trillium Capital LLC and its principals own over 2,500,000 shares of common stock of Conduent Incorporated. We believe that the Board of Directors of Conduent has not acted on obvious opportunities to increase shareholder value. The share price of Conduent has declined by almost 70% since this time last year. We have attempted to communicate our ideas several times to the Board. Unfortunately, we have not as yet received a direct response from any Board member. We now find ourselves in the reluctant position to try to share our ideas with them in an open letter. We believe that there are a number of opportunities that the Board can take to unlock as much as $3.9 billion incremental Enterprise Value (before the effect of income taxes, restructuring and transaction costs) by pursuing the actions describe in our letter. During the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, the CEO responded to a question as to whether he believed that he had the "Right Team". He responded that he does have the "Right Team" that has the turnaround skills, is not siloed and knows what good looks like. We disagree. The performance of Conduent over the last twelve months does not support the conclusion that the current Team has effectively led Conduent. The Team has not created, much less preserved, shareholder value, nor has it articulated a strategy that is believable to all stakeholders. If they had done even that, we believe that it would be reflected in the current stock price. Both revenue and profits have declined during the past year under the leadership of this Team. We believe that executive leadership should have significant "skin in the game" that demonstrates its commitment and confidence in the Company. This is not the case for Conduent's senior leadership team. Conduent's senior leadership team does not own enough stock that they have purchased in the open market and seems to only have been issued large stock option grants and RSU's. Moreover, in a company such as Conduent that has such substantial unlocked shareholder value and a yet to be demonstrated restructuring plan, managements' compensation, especially the CEO's, should be highly leveraged to targets that are clearly aligned with shareholders' interests. In Conduent, we have a CEO with a high base salary of $750,000 per year and a 200% bonus with targets that have not yet been disclosed to shareholders. We do not believe that there is sufficient alignment of management interests, particularly the CEO's, with the interests of shareholders to unlock the substantial value opportunity that we have identified in our letter. In fact, we may have the rare situation here where management's interests are diametrically opposed to those of the shareholders where they are more inclined to try to retain the conglomerate model, which would preserve their high compensation packages. We would have thought that the Board would have disclosed the CEO bonus targets prior to asking for a vote on an advisory basis of his 2020 compensation plan at the May 19, 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders rather than asking shareholders to wait until the 2021 proxy filing to find out the targets for these substantial bonus payments. The Board should disclose the bonus targets immediately... During the year ended December 31, 2019 and the Three Months Ended March 31, 2020, Conduent reported Corporate and Unallocated Costs at an annualized run rate of over $600 million. During its Q1-2020 Earnings Call management indicated that it would embark on a program to reduce its Corporate and Unallocated Costs by at least $100 million per year. There has been no significant progress to date that we can see as yet. As a result, shareholders have no way to judge its progress and that lack of transparency seems to be reflected in the stock's poor performance. Greater transparency would have already allowed shareholders to factor in the cost savings when projecting earnings of each its three Business segments on a stand-alone basis. Disclosing the Corporate and Unallocated Costs by Business segment would provide shareholders with valuable information to assess Conduent's financial performance and allow shareholders to calculate a market based valuation of each of the three separate Business segments on a stand-alone basis. We would expect that an experienced CEO would demand this disclosure to promote transparency with its investors and regulators. With the lack of information made available to the public shareholder by Conduent, we have been left to attempt to allocate the substantial Corporate and Unallocated Costs to each Business segment ourselves. We have used a proportional share of each Business segments' revenues to total Company revenues for the Year ended December 31, 2019 to allocate the Corporate and Unallocated Costs and the net debt position to each Business segment. While this may materially differ in the future, it is the only basis that is available to us at this point to allocate the substantial Corporate and Unallocated Costs of over $600 million per year. Conduent currently has about a $1.9 billion enterprise value based on the closing stock price on June 5, 2020 of $2.92 per share less its net debt position of $1.26 billion as reported in its Form 10-Q for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 as filed with the SEC. We believe that there is a path to significant value creation of about $3.9 billion incremental shareholder value locked in Conduent (before the effect of income taxes, restructuring and transaction costs) that has not yet been unlocked by the Team. This could result in over a 200% increase in Enterprise Value of Conduent and would likely result in a much higher stock price... We believe that the $21 billion sales pipeline, 93% customer renewal rate and TCV of $324 million new business contracts that were announced by management during the Q1-2020 Earnings Conference Call should convert into significant new revenue growth opportunities in the near future for Conduent. If implemented properly, we believe that conversion of the new business contracts should result in higher revenue and higher profitability for Conduent. Conduent also announced during its Q1-2020 Earnings Conference Call that its senior leadership team and Board would take compensation reductions, although these reductions have not yet been disclosed to shareholders. We encourage the Board to disclose the extent and timing of these reductions in compensation immediately. Even with all of these new initiatives, capturing these opportunities requires a highly skilled Team. We do not believe this Team has demonstrated that competence. We do not understand that with all of these tailwinds, described above, why Conduent is not reporting better financial results as a stand-alone conglomerate of the three separate businesses. Perhaps Conduent does not have the right Team after all to get the job done and to unlock the substantial shareholder value... We believe that there is significantly more value in Conduent using the sum of the parts valuation method than it is currently valued by the market as a conglomerate of its three businesses, Government, Transportation and Commercial. We believe that the conglomerate business model results in Conduent trading at a significant discount to its peers. We believe there should be much more value that could be returned to shareholders if each Business segment was separated and either sold or spun out as a separate public company. We believe that Conduent must be split into at least three separate entities, Government, Transportation and Commercial Businesses, with their own separate and likely lower cost structures to maximize shareholder value making each segment a much more attractive acquisition target to a greater number of potential acquirers. An acquirer could possibly achieve even greater cost efficiencies than we have estimated in our calculations from combination synergies. Conduent could minimize or even eliminate any material income taxes by using a Reverse Morris Trust transaction to consummate a transaction on or near a tax free basis. However, we do not have sufficient information to determine this affect at this time. We do not understand why the Board has been so reluctant to unlock the potential value opportunity of about $3.9 billion in incremental shareholder value (before the effect of income taxes, restructuring and transaction costs). This results in over a 200% increase in Adjusted EBITDA and would likely translate into a much higher stock price for Conduent... Finally, if the Board is not prepared to separate the three Business segments, restructure the cost base and deal with the management issues that we have described above to unlock the substantial untapped shareholder value, then we believe the Board has a fiduciary duty to put Conduent in its entirety up for sale. We do not necessarily believe this will bring maximum value to shareholders, but we do believe that it is a better alternative than the current course of action."

05:12 EDT CNH Industrial announces updates on investment in Nikola - CNH Industrial (CNHI) announced the following updates on the $250 million investment, made through its IVECO commercial vehicle segment, in Nikola (NKLA) as a consequence of the completion, on June 3, of the previously announced merger between VectoIQ (VTIQ), and Nikola. CNH said in a release, "Under the terms and conditions of the Merger, the former shareholders of Nikola received 1.901 shares of VectoIQ for every one share held in Nikola and became shareholders of VectoIQ, which, in turn, changed its name to "Nikola Corporation". Nikola Corporation shares began trading on Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol "NKLA" on June 4. As a result of the Merger, IVECO now holds 25,661,449 shares of Nikola Corporation, corresponding to approximately 7.11% of Nikola outstanding share capital. Until the closing of the Merger, in accordance with U.S. GAAP, our investment in Nikola was accounted for using the cost method in the absence of a readily determinable fair value. Following the listing of Nikola Corporation, such investment will be valued at Fair Value Through Profit or Loss, or FVTPL, with any changes in fair value recorded in Profit or Loss in our U.S. GAAP consolidated financial statements. We plan to exclude any fair value adjustments of this investment from the calculation of our Non-GAAP "Adjusted" measures, and, in particular, from our Adjusted diluted EPS, in order to enhance the readers' ability to assess the financial performance of our businesses. This approach will be consistently applied at each reporting date."