Stockwinners Market Radar for June 29, 2020 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:46 EDT U.S. Bancorp announces CCAR SCB of 2.5% through Q3 of 2021 - U.S. Bancorp commented on the results of the Federal Reserve's 2020 Dodd-Frank Act stress tests and related Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, or CCAR. Based on its 2020 CCAR results, the company will be subject to a preliminary stress capital buffer, or SCB, of 2.5% for the period beginning October 1, 2020 and ending on September 30, 2021. The SCB, when added to the Basel III Common Equity Tier 1 minimum of 4.5%, requires the company to remain above 7.0% through this period. The Company's CET1 ratio was 9.0% at March 31, 2020 under the CECL transition rules. U.S. Bancorp expects to recommend to its Board that the company continue to maintain its current quarterly common dividend of 42c per common share.

18:32 EDT Friedman Industries announces 1.06M share stock repurchase - Friedman Industries announced a share repurchase program authorized by the board on June 25, 2020 under which the company may repurchase up to 1,062,067 shares of the company's outstanding common stock through June 30, 2023, which equates to 15% of the company's outstanding shares of common stock as of June 29, 2020.

18:05 EDT BNY Mellon announces Stress Capital Buffer of 2.5% effective October 1st - BNY Mellon announced that the Federal Reserve has notified the company that its Stress Capital Buffer, or SCB, requirement will be 2.5%, equal to the regulatory minimum, effective as of October 1, 2020. Additionally, on June 25, 2020, the Federal Reserve released the results of the 2020 Dodd-Frank Act Stress Test, which demonstrate the "resiliency and strength of BNY Mellon's business model and capital position." The company states that it "intends to maintain its quarterly cash dividend on common stock of 31c per share and will not conduct open market common stock repurchases during the third quarter of 2020 and will resume common share repurchase program as early as possible."

18:00 EDT Citizens Financial announces CCAR SCB of 3.4% through Q3 of 2021 - The company states: "Citizens Financial Group announces key aspects of its 2020 Capital Plan, which includes maintaining quarterly common dividends at the current level of 39c per share through the stress capital buffer, or SCB, window period ending third quarter 2021. The company previously announced its intention to cease stock repurchases through December 31, 2020. The company will assess potential changes to its capital distributions over the planning horizon as conditions warrant. The company's announcement follows the publication by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System of the results from its DFAST stress tests and the related Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review on June 25, 2020 and communication to Citizens of its preliminary SCB of 3.4%. Citizens has concluded that its proposed capital distributions under the Plan would be consistent with effective capital distribution limitations assuming the 3.4% SCB requirement provided by the Federal Reserve were in place during the relevant quarters."

17:21 EDT Covia Holdings trading halted, news pending

17:15 EDT Lockheed Martin awarded $360.8M Navy contract modification - Lockheed Martin was awarded a $360.8M not-to-exceed undefinitized contract modification to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract. This modification provides for the procurement of four F-35C Carrier Variant Lot 14 aircraft for the Navy. Work is expected to be completed by May 2023. FY20 aircraft procurement funds for $170M will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity.

17:11 EDT Wells Fargo sees Q2 results including increase in allowance for credit losses - "There remains great uncertainty in the path of the economic recovery and though it's difficult to accurately predict the ultimate impact on our credit portfolio, our economic assumptions have changed significantly since last quarter. Accordingly, we expect our second quarter results will include an increase in the allowance for credit losses substantially higher than the increase in the first quarter," said CEO Charlie Scharf. "Wells Fargo continues to have one of the strongest capital positions relative to regulatory minimums among the world's financial services firms as demonstrated by our stress test results. These are certainly extremely challenging times for many and we remain committed to supporting our customers and communities, and we will continue to take appropriate measures to maintain strong capital and liquidity levels and to improve the earnings capacity of the company."

16:53 EDT Micron up 5.8% at $52/share after Q3 beat, data center outlook commentary

16:46 EDT Lululemon up over 3% after announcing $500M acquisition of MIRROR - Share of Lululemon (LULU) are up 3.5% at $304.54 after announcing a $500M deal for in-home fitness company MIRROR. Shares of Peloton (PTON) are also trading down over 2% after the announcement.

16:43 EDT Morgan Stanley CEO says E-Trade will diversify, anticipates maintaining dividend - James P. Gorman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley (MS), said, "The CCAR 2020 results affirm our strong capital position and reflect the stability of our business model. Our E*TRADE (ETFC) transaction will further diversify our business model and add to our excess capital and liquidity positions. We anticipate continuing to pay our quarterly common stock dividend of 35c per share. We voluntarily suspended our share repurchases in March and have continued to accrete capital. The updated capital rules provide us flexibility to deploy our excess capital, and we will reevaluate our capital actions when we have more confidence in the shape and path of the economic recovery. We will continue to invest in our businesses and support our clients, evidenced by the approximately $100 billion of incremental balance sheet that we have deployed since January 1, 2019."

16:40 EDT Barnes & Noble Education confirms Outerbridge nominates four director candidates - Barnes & Noble Education confirmed that it has received correspondence from Outerbridge Capital regarding its intent to nominate four director candidates to stand for election at BNED's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and the BNED board will carefully review and consider Outerbridge's director candidates, as well as the validity of the purported nomination notice delivered by Outerbridge. A formal recommendation regarding director nominees will be included in the company's proxy statement and other materials.

16:40 EDT Hepion Pharmaceuticals advances final dose level in clinical trial of CRV431 - Hepion Pharmaceuticals announced the advancement to the final dose level in its ongoing clinical trial of CRV431, a Phase 1b multiple ascending dose, or MAD, study. The company states its "open-label MAD study is designed to assess safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of CRV431, administered orally to healthy volunteers, once daily for 28 days. To date, the study has examined doses of 75 mg, 150 mg, 225 mg and 300 mg. The Clinical Trial Management team has reviewed the 300 mg cohort data and determined this dosing level to be safe and well tolerated, authorizing advancement to the final dosing level of 375 mg daily for 28 days." Dr. Patrick Mayo, Hepion's Senior Vice-President, Clinical Pharmacolony, says: "However, we have not yet observed any dose-limiting side effects, even at 300 mg. As such, we decided to add one final dosing cohort of 375 mg to fully evaluate safety and tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of CRV431. This study has demonstrated that steady-state CRV431 concentrations achieved at a 75 mg daily dose are in the range that demonstrates efficacy in animal models and human liver tissue. This suggests that the dosing range captured in this study effectively explored clinically relevant exposures."

16:39 EDT State Street sees SCB requirement of 2.5% starting in 4Q20 - State Street announced its preliminary inaugural stress capital buffer (SCB) requirement of 2.5% beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the intention to continue its quarterly common stock dividend of $0.52 per share in the third quarter subject to consideration and approval by its Board of Directors. State Street's calculated SCB under this year's supervisory stress test was well below the 2.5% minimum, preliminarily resulting in an SCB at that floor. The firm's capital position remains strong amid the considerable economic uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the Company will consider a full range of capital actions, including the potential resumption of share repurchases, in upcoming quarters but will do so commensurate with economic conditions at the time, the importance of safety and soundness, the review of the supplemental CCAR scenarios to be established by the Federal Reserve, and subject to any interim regulatory limitations. The Company is suspending share repurchases for the third quarter of 2020, consistent with the Federal Reserve's instructions to all large banks. "We are pleased with our 2020 CCAR results and the inaugural determination of our stress capital buffer at the minimum 2.5% level. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an unprecedented, real-time, stress test and our strong capital position has enabled us to operate effectively, help stabilize the financial markets and support our employees, clients and communities. While the environment remains uncertain, State Street's performance under the Federal Reserve's severely adverse scenario is another reminder of our business model's resiliency and capital stability," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ron O'Hanley. State Street's Board of Directors will consider the common stock dividend at a regularly scheduled board meeting in the third quarter of 2020. State Street's third quarter 2020 common stock and other stock dividends, including the declaration, timing and amount, remain subject to consideration and approval by State Street's Board of Directors at the relevant times.

16:36 EDT Wells Fargo sees SCB requirement to be 2.5% - Wells Fargo commented on the results of the Federal Reserve Board's Dodd-Frank Act stress test and related Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review, including the FRB's instructions regarding capital distributions through the end of third quarter 2020. The company expects its common stock dividend in third quarter 2020 will be reduced from the current level of $0.51 per share. The company expects that the level of the third quarter dividend will be announced when it releases second quarter financial results on July 14, 2020. In addition, following the FRB's final publication of the CCAR results, the company expects its stress capital buffer to be 2.5%. The stress capital buffer represents a percentage amount of excess capital the company must hold above its minimum capital requirements beginning in October 2020. The stress capital buffer of 2.5% reflects a reduction in quarterly common stock dividends for the stress capital buffer period from the company's current level of $0.51 per share.

16:36 EDT Predictive Oncology receives cash proceeds of $2.2M form warrant exercise - Predictive Oncology announced the closing of its previously announced transaction resulting in gross cash proceeds to the Company of approximately $2.2 million, prior to deducting placement agent fees and offering expenses, through the exercise of certain existing warrants by several holders to purchase an aggregate of up to 1,396,826 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $1.575 per share. The shares of common stock issued upon exercise of the existing warrants are registered for resale pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1. In consideration for the immediate exercise of the existing warrants for cash, the exercising holders received new unregistered warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,396,826 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $1.80 per share with an exercise period of five and one-half years from the date of issuance. The Company expects to use the net proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes.

16:34 EDT Goldman Sachs says SCB requirement is 6.7% effective Oct 1 - On Thursday, June 25, the Federal Reserve notified the firm of the Stress Capital Buffer for The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. of 6.7%, resulting in a Standardized Common Equity Tier 1 ratio requirement of 13.7%, which will become effective on October 1, 2020. In adapting to the capital requirements under the SCB, the firm remains committed to the medium and long-term strategic direction detailed at its Investor Day in January, including strengthening existing businesses, expanding into new and adjacent businesses, and operating with greater efficiency. "Our durable earnings profile, continued performance, and highly liquid balance sheet allow us to serve our clients, maintain our dividend, and deliver for all our stakeholders," said Chairman and CEO David Solomon. "We have a track record of rebuilding capital when necessary, and have brought our standardized CET1 ratio above 13% as this quarter comes to a close. We fully intend to continue this dynamic capital management while helping our clients continue to navigate challenging markets."

16:33 EDT Univar appointed as distributor for Vink Chemical's Biocides in Brazil - Univar Solutions announced that it has reached an agreement with Vink Chemicals to distribute a portfolio of biocides in Brazil. The new authorization from Vink, a specialty biocide and biocidal products producer, includes brands appropriate for a wide variety of industries such as homecare and industrial cleaning, energy, and performance chemicals as well as coatings, adhesives, sealants, and elastomers.

16:32 EDT HD Supply discloses SEC completed investigation, no enforcement recommended - The company states: "On June 24, 2020 the company received a letter from the staff of the Atlanta Regional office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirming that the staff has completed its investigation of HD Supply Holdings, Inc. and, based upon the information the Staff has currently, does not intend to recommend to the Commission that an enforcement action be brought against the Company."

16:31 EDT Capital One says Stress Capital Buffer Requirement is 5.6% effective Oct 1 - Capital One Financial Corporation announced the company's Stress Capital Buffer Requirement, as calculated by the Federal Reserve 2020 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review process, is 5.6%, effective October 1st, 2020.

16:25 EDT Verrica reports FDA communicates 'deficiencies' in NDA for VP-102 - Verrica Pharmaceuticals announced that, on June 24 the company received a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of the FDA's ongoing review of the company's New Drug Application for VP-102, Verrica's lead product candidate for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum. The letter states that there are deficiencies that preclude discussion of labeling and post-marketing requirements/commitments at this time. The letter further states that the notification does not reflect a final decision on the information under review. In a letter dated November 26, 2019, the FDA had assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or "PDUFA," goal date of July 13, 2020 for completion of its review of the NDA. "The FDA's letter does not identify any specific items. But, the company notes that information requests from the FDA during the NDA review have focused on CMC aspects of the drug-device combination. Verrica's ability to address these CMC-related requests, however, was significantly impacted in large part by the COVID-19 pandemic. The requests include, but are not limited to, a specific request related to a potential safety issue with the applicator that could arise if the instructions for use were not properly followed. In response, the company incorporated an additional user feature into the applicator to address that issue. The addition of that user feature, however, has affected human factors testing as well as requiring additional supportive stability data on the fully assembled device incorporating such feature. The company believes that both its long-term and registration stability data with the ampule, and the as-submitted applicator, support significant shelf life and stability for VP-102. The company anticipates interactions with, and additional communication from, the FDA and intends to work with the FDA to resolve and address any items as quickly as possible. Notwithstanding the pandemic or the CMC-related requests that have arisen during the review cycle, the company believes that the positive results from its two double-blind Phase 3 trials that evaluated the safety and efficacy of VP-102 compared to placebo in patients two years of age and older diagnosed with molluscum indicates that VP-102 remains viable for FDA approval," Verrica stated.

16:21 EDT Merck's Keytruda approves by FDA for first-line treatment of MSI-H, dMMR cancer - Merck announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved KEYTRUDA, Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, as monotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient colorectal cancer. The approval is based on results from the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-177 trial, in which KEYTRUDA significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 40% compared with chemotherapy, the current standard of care. In the study, treatment with KEYTRUDA also more than doubled median progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy. "Today's approval has the potential to change the treatment paradigm for the first-line treatment of patients with MSI-H colorectal cancer, based on the important findings from KEYNOTE-177 that showed KEYTRUDA monotherapy demonstrated superior progression-free survival compared to standard of care chemotherapy," said Dr. Roy Baynes, senior vice president and head of global clinical development, chief medical officer, Merck Research Laboratories. "Our commitment to pursuing biomarker research continues to help us bring new treatments to patients, particularly for those who have few available options."

16:21 EDT Energy recovery in pact with Schlumberger to exit from VorTeq deal - Energy Recovery (ERII) announced an agreement with Schlumberger (SLB) to exit its 15-year licensing deal for Schlumberger's exclusive use of Energy Recovery's VorTeq hydraulic pumping system. Under the terms of the new agreement, no further payments will be made by either party. Energy Recovery will now be fully responsible for commercialization of the VorTeq technology globally. At this time, the two parties have different strategic perspectives as to the path to VorTeq commercialization," said Robert Mao, Energy Recovery Chairman of the Board of Directors and President and Chief Executive Officer. "We believe this to be a positive outcome for all parties and are grateful to Schlumberger for their partnership through the years."

16:17 EDT Monmouth Real Estate reports occupancy rate, rent collection figures - Monmouth Real Estate reported that its occupancy rate from March 1 through June 30 averaged 99.4%. Rent collections throughout this period were as follows: March 100%, April 99%, May 98% and June 99%.

16:16 EDT MSG Entertainment names Scott Packman as General Counsel - Madison Square Garden Entertainment announced that Scott Packman has been named Executive Vice President and General Counsel, effective July 1. In this role, Mr. Packman will oversee and direct all of MSG Entertainment's legal affairs, supporting the company's growth initiatives.

16:15 EDT Vocera provides regulatory update on VP-102 - Verrica Pharmaceuticals announced that, on June 24, the Company received a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of the FDA's ongoing review of the Company's New Drug Application for VP-102, Verrica's lead product candidate for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum. The letter states that there are deficiencies that preclude discussion of labeling and post-marketing requirements/commitments at this time. The letter further states that the notification does not reflect a final decision on the information under review. In a letter dated November 26, 2019, the FDA had assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date of July 13 for completion of its review of the NDA. The FDA's letter does not identify any specific items. But, the Company notes that information requests from the FDA during the NDA review have focused on CMC aspects of the drug-device combination. Verrica's ability to address these CMC-related requests, however, was significantly impacted in large part by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company anticipates interactions with, and additional communication from, the FDA and intends to work with the FDA to resolve and address any items as quickly as possible.

16:14 EDT Scientific Games appoints Eileen Moore Johnson Chief Human Resources Officer - Scientific Games Corporation announced that Eileen Moore Johnson will join the global gaming entertainment company as executive VP and Chief Human Resources Officer. Moore Johnson joins Scientific Games from Caesars Entertainment where she served as Regional President of The Cromwell, Flamingo, Harrah's and The LINQ resorts.

16:12 EDT Simon Property provides update, declares Q2 dividend - Simon provided an update on the reopening of the company's retail properties and declared a common stock dividend for Q2. Simon has reopened 199 of its 204 U.S. retail properties in 37 states which represent more than 95% of the company's property net operating income. These properties are located where governmental orders have enabled reopening and the remaining five properties are expected to reopen within the next week. More than 18,000 stores across the company's U.S. portfolio have reopened. Since reopening, many tenants have reported higher-than-expected conversion rates and sales. In addition, 30 of Simon's Designer and international Premium Outlets properties are open, including all of the company's international Premium Outlets in Asia and Designer Outlets in Continental Europe, with nearly 100% of retail stores open. The last remaining international Premium Outlet is expected to open next week. The company recently announced the grand opening of Siam Premium Outlets Bangkok, marking Thailand's first Premium Outlet center. The company maintains a strong liquidity position of approximately $8.5B, consisting of approximately $3.5B of cash on hand, including its share of joint venture cash, and $5.0B of available capacity under its revolving credit facilities and term loan, net of outstanding U.S. and Euro commercial paper as of May 31. Simon's board declared a $1.30 per common share dividend, payable in cash, for Q2. The dividend will be payable on July 24 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 10. The company expects to pay at least $6.00 per share in common stock dividends for 2020, in cash, subject to board approval.

16:10 EDT Jefferies Financial Group authorizes additional $250M stock buyback - The company states: "We repurchased 10.1M shares for $166M, or an average price of $16.42 per share, including the 8.0 million shares repurchased early in March and previously disclosed; a further $250M now authorized for repurchase."

16:08 EDT Avista announces 10-year wildfire resiliency plan - Avista is implementing additional measures to enhance its ability to mitigate the potential for, and impact of, wildfires within its service territories. Building on prevention and response strategies that have been in place many years, the company has committed to a new comprehensive 10-year wildfire resiliency plan that includes improved defense strategies and operating practices for a more resilient system. Avista spent the last year developing its plan through a series of internal workshops, industry research and engagement with state and local fire agencies. Improvements to infrastructure and operational practices were identified as key components to the plan. The formalized plan emphasizes continued collaboration with land-management and fire-response agencies. It promotes increased public and worker safety as well as protection of physical assets and property. It also identifies measures to further minimize service disruptions caused by wildfires and other extreme weather events.

16:06 EDT Lululemon to acquire MIRROR for $500M - Lululemon Athletica announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MIRROR, an in-home fitness company that created an interactive workout platform that features live and on-demand classes, for a purchase price of $500M. Calvin McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "In 2019, we detailed our vision to be the experiential brand that ignites a community of people living the sweatlife through sweat, grow and connect. The acquisition of MIRROR is an exciting opportunity to build upon that vision, enhance our digital and interactive capabilities, and deepen our roots in the sweatlife. We look forward to learning from and working with Brynn Putnam and the team at MIRROR to accelerate the growth of personalized in-home fitness." This transaction builds on a successful partnership between the two companies, which began in mid-2019 with an initial investment in MIRROR by lululemon, and also includes a content partnership which brought sweat and meditation classes to the MIRROR platform by lululemon's Global Ambassadors. This acquisition will further expand the content creation partnership between the two brands and will help lululemon, MIRROR and lululemon Ambassadors reach new guests. The purchase price is expected to be paid from the company's primary sources of liquidity, which include over $800M in cash, its existing $400M revolving credit facility, and a new one-year, $300M revolving credit facility. Following completion of the transaction, MIRROR will operate as a standalone company within lululemon and Ms. Putnam will continue as MIRROR's chief executive officer, reporting to Mr. McDonald. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal 2020.

16:02 EDT Luminex submits EUA request to FDA for COVID-19 antibody test - Luminex Corporation announced that the company has submitted an Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA, request to the FDA for its xMAP SARS-CoV-2 Multi-Antigen IgG assay. The assay was developed to provide additional capacity to detect antibodies in patients who may have been exposed to or infected by SARS-CoV-2. It delivers results for up to 96 samples in under three hours and is designed to be run on all xMAP platforms, with more than 17,000 systems sold globally, and 65+ Luminex global partners offering 1,300+ kits and custom assay solutions.

15:22 EDT Roku weakness attributed to rise in HBO Max streaming - Roku (ROKU) shares are down the most in over six weeks today, noted Bloomberg, which reported an analysis of Apptopia data showed that AT&T's (T) HBO Max had the biggest increase in video streaming last week with a 12% increase in mobile app users. That compares to Roku's 0.9% increase, said Bloomberg, which added that HBO Max does not have its own app available for Roku's platform. In late afternoon trading, Roku shares are down $9.80, or 8%, to $112.75.

14:22 EDT New York Times exits partnership with Apple News - The New York Times (NYT) said that it will exit its partnership with Apple News (AAPL), as news organizations struggle to compete with big tech firms. Beginning Monday, Times stories were no longer appearing alongside other publications' stories in the curated Apple News feed on Apple devices. "Core to a healthy model between The Times and the platforms is a direct path for sending those readers back into our environments, where we control the presentation of our report, the relationships with our readers, and the nature of our business rules," Meredith Kopit Levien, chief operating officer, wrote in a memo to employees. "Our relationship with Apple News does not fit within these parameters." Reference Link

14:16 EDT HHS secures over 500,000 treatment courses of Remdesivir - The Department of Health and Human Services announced an agreement to secure "large supplies" of Remdesivir for the United States from Gilead Sciences (GILD) through September, "allowing American hospitals to purchase the drug in amounts allocated by HHS and state health departments." HHS has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the drug for American hospitals through September, the agency said in a statement. This represents 100% of Gilead's projected production for July, 90% of production in August, and 90% of production in September, in addition to an allocation for clinical trials, it added.. A treatment course of remdesivir is, on average, 6.25 vials. Hospitals will receive the product shipped by AmerisourceBergen (ABC) and will pay no more than Gilead's wholesale acquisition price, which amounts to approximately $3,200 per treatment course, the HHS said. Reference Link

14:09 EDT Facebook intends to include prevalence of hate speech in reports - Facebook said in a statement, "In May, we made the announcement our Community Standards Enforcement Report (CSER) is moving to a quarterly basis. The next report will be released in August. This detailed report showcases how we are doing at removing content that violates our Community Standards, in more detail than any other major internet service. As part of our ongoing commitment to transparency we intend to include the prevalence of hate speech in our CSER reports over the coming year, pending no further complications from COVID-19. As Mark said in February, we're also looking at opening up our content moderation systems for external audit. We're reaching out to key stakeholders spanning government regulators, civil society, and the advertising industry as this is designed. This separate third-party audit will be completed by a reputable firm and include the incidence of violating content. We are in the early days of this process and will share more details as we are able."

14:06 EDT Facebook acknowledges 'much more work to do' on keeping platform safe - Facebook said in a statement, "We recognize our responsibility to facilitate a safe environment for everyone using our platforms. To do this, we have to provide our partners with transparency of how well we are doing at keeping the platform safe by removing violating content. We have work underway to address the major concerns expressed but acknowledge there is much more work to do."

14:04 EDT Facebook shares updates on making 'systems more transparent'

14:02 EDT U-Haul to bring new self-storage center to St. Augustine - U-Haul is bringing a retail and self-storage facility to St. Augustine with its recent land acquisition on the south side of CR 16A and the north side of SR 16. U-Haul Moving & Storage of Mill Creek will offer truck and trailer sharing, towing equipment, moving supplies and U-Box portable storage containers. There will be more than 1,000 self-storage units for rent with climate-control options and high-tech security features at affordable price points. The 100,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed by fall 2021.

14:01 EDT Consolidated Communications introduces CCiTV in Texas - Consolidated Communications introduced CCiTV to residential and small and medium business customers in its Texas service areas. "We're excited to bring this new, one-of-a-kind TV service to Texas," said Rob Koester, senior vice president of consumer product management at Consolidated Communications. "CCiTV breaks the traditional mold of television services by removing the two biggest pain points customers experience when dealing with traditional providers - weather-related outages and never-ending fees on the bill. Customers have the flexibility to watch on a TV, computer, tablet or phone and use their own streaming device, like Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV, or receive a set-top box from Consolidated." Consolidated's CCiTV provides a fully customizable, cloud-enabled TV experience that supports individual preferences, parental controls and viewing recommendations. The service's bring-your-own-device functionality creates a highly flexible in-home viewing experience that serves a wide variety of viewing habits. It can be delivered in high-definition quality to a big-screen TV, as well as to tablets and mobile devices through compatibility with a wide variety of Apple iOS-, Amazon- and Android-supported devices. CCiTV delivers content from the most popular networks including: A+E, USA, FX, ESPN, Longhorn Network, HBO, Showtime, local broadcast channels, regional sports networks and others.

13:53 EDT NIO jumps after announcing 'substantial' cash 'injections' in June - Shares of EV maker NIO are up 4% to $7.21 per share in afternoon trading on Monday after announcing earlier that investors have substantially completed the cash injection obligations for the first two installments of their investments in NIO China. NIO Holding, or NIO Anhui, the legal entity of NIO China wholly owned by the Company prior to the investments, has received from the investors RMB4.8B out of the RMB5 billion of cash investments for the first two installments. Under the definitive agreements, as amended and supplemented, the investors will inject an aggregate of RMB7 billion in cash into NIO Anhui. NIO will inject its core businesses and assets in China, including vehicle research and development, supply chain, sales and services and NIO Power, or together as the Asset Consideration, into NIO Anhui. Further, the Company will inject RMB4.26 billion in cash into NIO Anhui. Upon the completion of the investments, NIO will hold 75.885% of controlling equity interests in NIO China, and the Strategic Investors will collectively hold the remaining 24.115%.

13:30 EDT IAMGold attains milestone in permitting for Cote Gold project - IAMGold Corporation confirms that it has received approval for its application under Section 36 of the Fisheries Act, Canada, for the Cote Gold Project, "a key milestone in attaining permits relating to impacts on fish habitats and tailings management. Final publication of the amended Schedule 2 of the Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations is expected on July 8. Cote, located in northern Ontario, is a 70/30 Joint Ventur with Sumitomo Metal Mining, demonstrating potential to produce 460,000 ounces of gold annually at low all-in sustaining costs of approximately $700 per ounce in the first six years of production with a 16-year mine life. The JV has been very active in de-risking the Project since the feasibility study was published in late 2018 ;The Company's share of the anticipated go-forward range for capital is $875 - 925 millionour proposed growth plans, with over $800 million in cash on hand, access to a currently undrawn $500 million committed revolving credit facility, and expected stronger operating cash flows from our current mining operations, including anticipated contributions from Saramacca at Rosebel and steady performance from Essakane and Westwood." Addressing the Boto Gold Project, Mr. Stothart commented, "In Senegal, we are actively engaged in advancing Boto through a disciplined, staged approach, building essential initial infrastructure to secure access to the site, and further de-risking the Project as we have successfully done for Cote."

13:17 EDT Clorox to stop advertising spending with Facebook through December - In a post to its corporate blog entitled "Clorox's Response to Hate Speech," the company stated: "The Clorox Company will stop advertising spending with Facebook through December. As a people-centered company committed to our values, we feel compelled to take action against hate speech, which we believe will increase through the balance of the year. This creates an increasingly unhealthy environment for people and our purpose-driven brands. We will maintain our planned level of advertising spending but shift to other media. We will continue to monitor this situation and revisit our position as needed. In the meantime, we will evolve our standards and guidelines for progress for all platforms and publishers to reflect our rising expectations for greater responsibility as these channels continue to become a more important part of people's lives." Reference Link

13:10 EDT NYSE suspends Chesapeake trading, to commence delisting proceedings - The New York Stock Exchange announced that the staff of NYSE Regulation has determined to commence proceedings to delist the common stock of Chesapeake Energy - ticker symbol CHK - from the NYSE. Trading in the company's common stock will be suspended immediately. NYSE Regulation reached its decision that the company is no longer suitable for listing after the company's June 28 disclosure that the company filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. In reaching its delisting determination, NYSE Regulation noted the uncertainty as to the ultimate effect of this process on the value of the company's common stock. NYSE Regulation also noted that, under the consensual plan of reorganization, each holder of equity interest in the company would have such interest cancelled, released, and extinguished without distribution.

12:59 EDT DOT says Cheniere can commission Train 3 fuel gas system - The Department of Transportation notified Cheniere Energy that its June 16 request for Corpus Christi Liquefaction to introduce gas and commission the Train 3 fuel gas system has been granted. Shars of Cheniere Energy are up 4% to $46.88 in afternoon trading. Reference Link

12:50 EDT IPA confirms discovery of human, neutralizing antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 - ImmunoPrecise announced the identification of numerous lead candidate antibodies with highly-potent neutralizing activity in vitro, which are being manufactured for further testing and possible inclusion in the Company's PolyTope mAb Therapy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 12th, 2020, ImmunoPrecise announced several preclinical programs currently being undertaken to assist in the efforts against SARS-CoV-2. Today's announcement updates the company's progress on the development of a PolyTope mAb therapy designed to treat severely ill patients, as well as protect high-risk individuals such as those exposed to the virus, front-line workers, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. "Arriving at this critical point in our preliminary research with many lead, functional therapeutic candidates is indicative of the broad scientific scope of IPA's anti-COVID-19 programs," stated Dr. Jennifer Bath, CEO and President of IPA. "An effective cocktail therapy for COVID-19, targeting multiple epitopes on the virus, could prove fundamental in combating this pandemic in an effective and enduring way."

12:32 EDT Aegion awarded $6M wastewater rehabilitation contract in MA - Aegion announced that its subsidiary, Insituform Technologies, has been awarded a contract valued at $6m from the City of Newton, Massachusetts, for the rehabilitation of its wastewater systems. Aegion said in a release, "Insituform will perform a number of trenchless services on the project, including 70,000 linear feet of 6-inch to 12-inch cured-in-place pipe, or CIPP, lining, lateral lining, sectional liners and geopolymer manhole rehabilitation. Insituform has been installing CIPP lining for Newton since 2007 and has won more than $12 million in contracts since 2017. The project is recently underway and is expected to be fully completed by June 2021."

12:03 EDT Ball Aerospace selected for four NOAA operational weather studies - Ball Aerospace (BLL) was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for four, six-month study contracts that will inform mission, spacecraft and instrument concepts for future operational weather architectures and Earth observation capabilities. Ball Aerospace is also collaborating on a fifth study contract awarded to L3Harris Technologies (LHX).

12:00 EDT Sunnova Energy falls -10.9% - Sunnova Energy is down -10.9%, or -$2.05 to $16.80.

12:00 EDT Leaf Group rises 18.8% - Leaf Group is up 18.8%, or 63c to $3.99.

12:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN rises 37.6% - VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN is up 37.6%, or $2.70 to $9.89.

11:30 EDT Privet, UPG urge Synalloy stockholders to vote for director nominees - Privet Fund Management and UPG Enterprises, which collectively own approximately 24.9% of the outstanding common stock of Synalloy Corporation, commented on Synalloy's rescindment of the limited duration stockholder rights plan unanimously authorized by its eight-member Board of Directors roughly three months ago. Privet and UPG have nominated independent candidates - Andee Harris, Chris Hutter, Aldo Mazzaferro, Ben Rosenzweig and John Schauerman - for election to the Company's Board at the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled to be held on June 30, 2020. Ben Rosenzweig, Partner at Privet, and Chris Hutter, Co-Founder at UPG, commented: "Only three months after adopting a poison pill without stockholder approval, the Board is now trying to court favor with dissatisfied investors and win their votes by walking its decision back on the eve of the Annual Meeting. The Board's clandestine rescindment of Synalloy's poison pill over the weekend does not address the fact that the step was taken without stockholder approval in the first place. Moreover, conspicuously missing from Synalloy's announcement is a commitment from the Board that it will not just unilaterally put the pill back in place following the Annual Meeting should the incumbent directors retain control. This is why we are urging stockholders to avoid being misled by what amounts to a contradictory and disingenuous ploy. Stockholders should recognize that this latest maneuver, which was enacted by the Board as Synalloy's stock continues its descent toward a five-year low, only reinforces the need for meaningful change in the boardroom. The same entrenched directors who claimed they were implementing a poison pill because of the pandemic and Synalloy's purported trading price discount have now covertly rescinded it for entirely self-serving purposes. In light of this, we question how stockholders can believe that a Board dominated by the incumbents is best situated to save Synalloy. After failing to produce a strategic plan with tangible targets and projected goals over the course of this election contest, the incumbents have demonstrated once and for all that their priority is self-preservation over stockholder value creation."

11:17 EDT Canadian National investing C$445M in British Columbia - CN announced that, as part of its strategic investments to support growing demand and enable supply chains, it plans to invest approximately C$445 million across British Columbia in 2020. CN said in a release, "The investments will include expansion projects that will add track in yards to handle growing traffic, new sidings as well as continued investments in multi-year initiatives to increase capacity at the Port of Vancouver and at the Port of Prince Rupert in collaboration with the Government of Canada, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, and the Prince Rupert Port Authority. The maintenance program will focus on the replacement of rail and ties and maintenance work on level crossings, culverts, signal systems and other track infrastructure. The Company's investments will create greater capacity, which supports reductions in its customer's transportation supply chain GHG emissions, by encouraging the use of rail for long haul needs. This reduces emissions, traffic congestion, accidents and burdens on public transportation infrastructure as one freight train can replace over 300 trucks from roads. Moving freight by rail instead of truck reduces GHG emissions by 75%. The Company will continue to deploy important safety enhancing technologies across its network, such as the Autonomous Track Inspection Program, Distributed Air Cars and Automated Inspection Portals."

11:10 EDT Dynavax, Moderna, Novavax COVID-19 vaccine candidates listed in WHO review - The World Health Organization released landscape documents that it has prepared "for information purposes only concerning the 2019-2020 global of the novel coronavirus." WHO stated that inclusion of any particular product or entity in any of its landscape documents "does not constitute, and shall not be deemed or construed as, any approval or endorsement by WHO of such product or entity." Among the 17 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation, WHO listed products under development from or in partnership with AstraZeneca (AZN), Moderna (MRNA), Sinopharm Group (SHTDF), Novavax (NVAX), BioNTech (BNTX) and Pfizer (PFE), Inovio (INO), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Dynavax (DVAX), and others. Reference Link

10:00 EDT Phoenix Tree rises 9.8% - Phoenix Tree is up 9.8%, or 90c to $10.11.

10:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN rises 27.8% - VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN is up 27.8%, or $2.00 to $9.19.

09:56 EDT Acasti Pharma expects TRILOGY 2 topline results in Q3

09:54 EDT Acasti identifes 'Triglyceride Normalization' phenomenon in TRILOGY study - Acasti Pharma provided a business and TRILOGY Phase 3 Clinical Program update, and announced its operating and financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. The Company also reported a phenomenon that it refers to as "Pre-Randomization Triglyceride Normalization" that occurred between the screening and randomization periods of the study, and prior to patients starting on drug or placebo. The Company released topline results from its TRILOGY 1 Phase 3 trial in January 2020, reporting a 30.5% median reduction in triglyceride levels among patients receiving CaPre at 12 weeks, and a 42.2% median reduction in triglyceride levels among patients receiving CaPre while on background statin therapy at 12 weeks. Additionally, the Company reported a 36.7% median reduction in triglyceride levels among patients receiving CaPre at 26 weeks. Despite positive results in the CaPre arm, TRILOGY 1 did not reach statistical significance due to an unusually large placebo response of 27.5% and 28.0% median reductions in triglyceride levels at 12 and 26 weeks, respectively. The safety profile of CaPre in TRILOGY 1 was similar to placebo, as there was no significant difference in treatment-related serious adverse events in the trial. The protocol for TRILOGY 1 and 2 had input from and was approved by the FDA, and followed essentially the same standard design as has been used by all other companies running trials in sHTG. There were some slight differences in the TRILOGY 1 patient population as compared to previous studies with other omega-3 therapeutics in sHTG, but none that were believed to have contributed to the significant placebo effect. As previously reported, despite monitoring activities conducted throughout the TRILOGY 1 trial to ensure adherence to the protocol and to detect potential protocol violations, Acasti subsequently identified some unexpected and inconsistent findings that the Company believes may have negatively contributed to the unusual placebo effect. These findings were further explored via a comprehensive and rigorous post-hoc review of the data by the Company, the academic Principal Investigator of the study, Dariush Mozaffarian M.D., Dr.P.H., and external clinical and statistical experts, as well as audits of the central blood testing laboratory and certain clinical sites, which were conducted by an independent team of auditors. This post-hoc analysis of the TRILOGY 1 data revealed a rapid, significant and sustained reduction in TG levels during the patient qualification period, which took place between screening and the time of patient randomization. Acasti refers to this phenomenon as "Pre-Randomization TG Normalization." This phenomenon, which to our knowledge has not been reported in any other TG studies, resulted in an artefactual overestimation of TG reduction in both treatment groups. However, the Pre-Randomization TG Normalization was much greater in the placebo group as compared to the CaPre group, resulting in a significant underestimation of the post-randomization treatment effect of CaPre in TRILOGY 1, and further compromising the ability of the study to detect a clinically significant drug treatment effect. TG values are normally quite variable, and it is expected that the intra-individual TG variation in subjects on a healthy, low fat National Cholesterol Education Program diet may be 10% or greater within a one to two week period. Thus, it is standard practice to include 2 or 3 pre-randomization TG measurements in the determination of the baseline for the calculation of the primary endpoint. The pre-randomization reduction in TGs across all subjects in TRILOGY 1 was about 20%, with 25% of all subjects experiencing a reduction equal to or greater than 38%. The median Pre-Randomization TG Normalization reached 30% or more in 12 out of 54 sites, in all, much greater than the 10% variation that would have been expected based on physiological variability. In addition, natural variability would have resulted in both increases and decreases in individual levels which would largely offset each other, limiting aggregate variability below 10%. The magnitude of pre-randomization reduction in TG levels seen in TRILOGY 1 indicated a largely unidirectional variability, which was not likely due solely to physiological intra-individual variation, and therefore is considered to be artefactual. The unexpected and large magnitude of this Pre-Randomization TG Normalization phenomenon resulted in about 40% of all randomized and eligible subjects having TG levels at randomization that fell below the protocol specified average qualification lower threshold of greater than or equal to 500 mg/dL for patients with sHTG. Based on the above observations, we believe that the Pre-Randomization TG Normalization substantially impacted the outcome of TRILOGY 1, and the ability of the study to accurately determine the therapeutic impact of CaPre as measured by the pre-specified primary endpoint. Specifically, we believe that the use of an average of 3 values for the calculation of the baseline TG levels corresponding to time points during Qualification, and Week 0, resulted in an overestimation of the TG reduction, particularly in the placebo group - with significant TG reduction occurring in many patients even before either drug or placebo were started. The Company conducted post-hoc analyses of the primary endpoint using a revised, single point baseline value from Week 0, the date of randomization, which is referred to as the "Revised Baseline." Furthermore, only those subjects meeting the protocol-specified TG threshold of greater than or equal to 500 mg/dL and less than or equal to 1500 mg/dL at Week 0 were included in this post-hoc analyses. This revised approach for calculating the baseline TG levels corrected for a significant amount of the pre-randomization TG reduction in the subjects that were most affected by this normalization phenomenon. After patients with TG values less than500 mg/dL and greater than1500 mg/dL on the date of randomization were removed, a total of 143 subjects remained, including 42 subjects in the placebo group, and 101 subjects remained in the CaPre group, and were included in the post-hoc analyses representing 61% and 58% of all randomized subjects, respectively. In this post-hoc analysis of subjects with TG levels meeting the protocol specified TG threshold of greater than500 mg/dL and less than1500mg/dL at Week 0, subjects receiving CaPre showed a 28.1% median reduction in TG compared to a 15.4% median reduction among subjects receiving placebo after 12 weeks. As compared to the original analysis, the Revised Baseline attenuated the placebo response by approximately 12 percentage points, while the response in the CaPre arm remained mostly unaffected. After 26 weeks of double-blind treatment, the efficacy of CaPre showed good persistency of effect with a 32.6% median reduction compared with a 14.6% median reduction in the placebo group, reaching a non-adjusted difference of -18.0%, which trended toward statistical significance. As compared to the original analysis, the Revised Baseline attenuated the placebo response at 26 weeks by approximately 13 percentage points, while the response in the CaPre arm remained mostly unaffected. The median TG reductions seen with CaPre using this post-hoc methodology compare favorably to those of previous published studies of other FDA approved drugs for sHTG. The subgroup of subjects with Revised Baseline TG levels above 750 mg/dL at Visit represented 41% of the subjects retained in the post-hoc analyses. Within this group, the median TG reduction in the subjects receiving CaPre was larger as would be expected, reaching 36.3% and 43.0% at Week 12 and Week 26, respectively. In comparison, the median TG reduction for the placebo group was 11.8% at Week 12 and 14.4% at Week 26, resulting in non-adjusted differences of 24.5% and 28.6% respectively in favor of CaPre. Not surprisingly, a post-hoc power calculation revealed that these substantially smaller sample sizes resulted in reduced statistical power to detect a treatment difference of 20% as specified in the original Statistical Analysis Plan. However, the Company believes that these post-hoc results suggest clinical relevance even if statistical significance was not demonstrated, as it is plausible that the trend revealed in the post-hoc analysis may have achieved statistical significance with a larger sample size. In summary, the post-hoc analyses of TRILOGY 1 data using the Week 0 calue as a Revised Baseline in subjects with TG greater than or equal to 500 mg/dL and less than or equal to 1500 mg/dL at Week 0, showed a strong trend towards correcting for the unexpectedly large placebo response observed in the original analysis, without major changes in the CaPre response observed, and we believe allows for a clearer understanding of the impact on the TG primary endpoint, and the potential therapeutic effect of CaPre. However, the median difference in TG levels between CaPre and placebo from the TRILOGY 1 post-hoc analyses still fell short of reaching statistical significance at the Week 12 primary endpoint in this patient adjusted sample The Company provided all of the TRILOGY 1 background information and accompanying data to the FDA in a Type C briefing package which was filed on April 29, 2020. The FDA provided Acasti with a written response to its Type C Meeting request and briefing package, and confirmed that it will require pivotal efficacy analyses for TRILOGY 2 to be performed on the full Intent to Treat population, as contemplated in the original Statistical Analysis Plan, and they supported the conduct of post-hoc analyses in TRILOGY 1 for exploratory purposes. Consistent with the Company's prior disclosures, and depending on the outcome of TRILOGY 2, an additional clinical study may still be needed prior to submitting a New Drug Application. Acasti and its expert advisors are now carefully considering the FDA's comments on the TRILOGY 1 data and will conduct further post-hoc analysis based on their feedback.

09:47 EDT AMC Entertainment falls -8.7% - AMC Entertainment is down -8.7%, or -36c to $3.81.

09:47 EDT Coty rises 13.6% - Coty is up 13.6%, or 57c to $4.75.

09:47 EDT VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN rises 23.1% - VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN is up 23.1%, or $1.66 to $8.85.

09:39 EDT RTI receives 510(k) premarket notification for Streamline Navigated Instruments - In a decision dated June 26, the FDA judged the Streamline Navigated Instruments submitted by Pioneer Surgical Technology, Inc. DBA RTI Surgical, as "Substantially Equivalent," a post to the FDA website indicates. Reference Link

09:33 EDT Ideanomics responds to J Capital and Hindenburg short-selling report - Ideanomics announced a response to the recent short-selling communications from J Capital and Hindenburg. The company said, "According to their websites, these companies take short positions in publicly traded companies then disseminate very negative reports on these companies." "After consultation with our legal counsel, we believe these communications, marketed as research are illegal or have been banned in many countries, but continue to operate in the grey areas of financial regulatory law in the United States," said Alf Poor, CEO of Ideanomics. Ideanomics response said, "J Capital alleged that Ideanomics does not have sufficient cash to fund operations for more than three months. This statement can easily be reconciled from the Company's recent series of filings of form 424B2 with the SEC, which clearly shows the company has raised capital in recent weeks and months.Hindenburg Research alleged that Ideanomics claims to own and operate a large-scale facility in Qingdao for its MEG division sales and that their investigators have been on-site and claim MEG does not have a presence there. Ideanomics has never claimed or disclosed ownership of the site. It holds a 15-year rent-free agreement which was signed by Ideanomics in Nov. 2019 and has since provided images to show its participation at the site. Hindenburg Research disseminated social media content regarding their conversation with MEG partner's sales staff with auto dealers at this site. We have since obtained statements from these staff members that refute Hindenburg's claims. J Capital has alleged it made inquiries with the local Qingdao city investment group for the Chengyang business district - Qingdao Chengyang Xinyang Investment Co. Ltd - and that they have no knowledge of Ideanomics or its MEG division. Ideanomics is providing government-issued registration of the venture with our Company, which is a matter of public record in China. Furthermore, the city investment entity has released details of its interest in the ventures, including a recent RMB 50 Million investment received by the Company in January 2020, as part of a potential series of investments, and recent media coverage in the People's Republic of China corroborates this. J Capital further alleges that it has inquired with recent deals signed by Ideanomics MEG division, and its subsidiaries, and that these companies deny having a business relationship with our Company. We have contacted each of the partners and they have provided statements confirming their business relationships with our Company, and have each applied their respective company seal for authenticity, in order to refute those claims entirely. These partners include Tianjin Zhongcheng order for 42 units of Toyota Land Cruiser, Jiudao Group for 400 units of Aoxin X30L EV, Beijing Silk Road Rainbow, and Qinou Group order of 200 units of Dong Feng Liuzhou S50EV for the City of Neijiang, Sichuan."

09:32 EDT Avalon GloboCare completes Phase 1 study of AVA-001 - Avalon GloboCare announced it has completed Phase I first-in-human clinical study of its leading Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy candidate, AVA-001. Nine out of ten patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia have achieved complete remission within one month after the initiation of AVA-001 CAR T-cell therapy treatment. The treatment with AVA-001 was generally well tolerated with minimal toxicities and adverse side effects. No neurotoxicity or greater than Grade-1 cytokine release syndrome was observed in this cohort of patients treated with AVA-001. All patients who achieved CR successfully proceeded to allogeneic bone marrow transplant with curative intent. AVA-001 is a third generation CAR T-cell therapy which involves the 4-1BB co-stimulation signaling pathway. Accessary laboratory testing that accompanied this pilot clinical study has demonstrated evidence of enhancement in CAR T cell persistence and protection against CAR T cell exhaustion. Avalon will present the results of this AVA-001 Phase 1 clinical trial on July 11,2020 at The Eighth Annual Lu Daopei Hematology Forum, the largest Hematology Conference in Asia.

09:29 EDT Wrap Technologies receives international order for 21,600 BolaWrap cartridges - Wrap Technologies announced the Company has received a new follow-on order for 21,600 additional BolaWrap cartridges for the Indonesia National Police force. Wrap Technologies said in a release, "Earlier this month, the Company reported the fulfillment of an initial order of devices and cartridges placed by the Company's distributor in Indonesia at the end of 2019. The Company's distributor recently secured a contract with the Indonesian National Police force following successful BolaWrap demonstrations across the country. The Company supplied the Indonesian National Police force with BolaWrap devices customized with the police force's logo and matching uniform colors. The Indonesian National Police force consists of approximately 387,000 police officers, and they plan to use this new order of cartridges with previously purchased BolaWrap devices to begin training thousands of officers in their agency. The Company expects to recognize revenue on this order in Q2 and Q3 of 2020."

09:27 EDT Comtech receives $1.8M delivery order to support U.S. Air Force - Comtech Telecommunications announced that during its fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, its Tempe, Arizona-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data, which is part of Comtech's Commercial Solutions segment, received a delivery order in support of a recently awarded contract for engineering services from a large prime U.S. Department of Defense contractor. Comtech said in a release, "This latest delivery order is for $1.8 million to support a critical Air Force and Army Anti-jam Modem, or A3M, program under the U.S. Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center. The $4.7 million contract has been funded $2.3 million to date. The A3M program will provide the Air Force and Army with a secure, wideband, anti-jam satellite communications terminal modem for tactical satellite communication operations. The jam-resistant modems will support SMC's Protected Tactical Waveform technology, an anti-jam capability operating on military satellite communication terminals through the Wideband Global Satcom constellation."

09:22 EDT MySize announces Sweet Fit integrates MySizeID into platform - MySize announced that Sweet Fit, an interactive virtual fitting mirror, has integrated MySizeID into its technology platform. Sweet Fit is a virtual fitting mirror that uses augmented reality technology to scan a person's figure and display a virtual outfit. With the integration of MySizeID, shoppers can select the appropriate apparel size for a specific brand, based on real-time body measurements. Sweet Fit is currently available in France, with plans to expand internationally.

09:20 EDT TFF announces first human dosing with Tacrolimus Inhalation Powder - TFF Pharmaceuticals announced the initiation of its second clinical trial program with the dosing of healthy subjects with Tacrolimus Inhalation Powder. TFF said in a release, "This Phase 1 single ascending dose, or SAD, and multiple ascending dose, or MAD, study will assess the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus, an important immunosuppressive agent for the prophylactic treatment of lung transplant rejection. Subjects were dosed at a single site in Australia under the Australian CTN process. The Company also announced topline safety data from the single ascending dose portion of its Phase 1 clinical trial of Voriconazole Inhalation Powder, a next-generation, direct-to-lung, inhaled dry powder version of Voriconazole. Voriconazole is generally considered to be the most effective antifungal drug for treating Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis."

09:19 EDT Cinedigm announces MyTime Movie Network debut in Fall - Cinedigm announced the launch of the all-new female-focused streaming linear channel MyTime Movie Network, to debut in early Fall 2020. MyTime Movie Network is the latest addition to Cinedigm's growing portfolio of digital-first linear networks, which currently includes popular networks including The Bob Ross Channel, fandom network CONtv, family entertainment network Dove Channel, and the documentary-focused Docurama, among many others.

09:17 EDT EnWave signs equipment purchase agreement with Calbee - EnWave announced that it has signed an Equipment Purchase Agreement with Calbee to commission an additional two 10kW Radiant Energy Vacuum dehydration machines in Japan. The addition of the two 10kW REV machines will significantly expand Calbee's commercial manufacturing capacity to launch its new line of REV-based snack products. Calbee has successfully developed several "better-for-you" snack products internally using REV technology and intends to intensify its commercial efforts throughout 2020, focusing on premium, healthy fruit and vegetable snack products. Calbee entered into a royalty-bearing commercial license agreement with EnWave approximately one year ago, and the purchase of the two additional REV machines demonstrates the commercial value of using EnWave's proprietary technology for producing premium snack products. albee continues to have the exclusive rights to commercialize EnWave's REV food dehydration technology for the development of several premium, healthy fruit and vegetable snack products and ingredients in the country of Japan. The installation of the two additional 10kW machines will triple the royalty-bearing production capacity of Calbee in Japan.

09:16 EDT Borqs Technologies ruggedized mobile phones certified by mobile operators - Borqs Technologies announced that the intrinsically safe mobile rugged phones which it developed for its German technology partner has passed the stringent certification of two of the largest mobile operators in North America. Borqs has started to deliver products ordered by the German technology partner and is ramping up production rapidly. In April this year, Borqs has announced that it has formed a partnership with a leading German partner for its Intrinsically Safe Mobile Devices and has supplied key technologies which enable the German partner to deliver rugged enterprise-class mobile products that can be used in hazardous areas, with high levels of expertise and reliability in demanding projects in the field of explosion-shielded products. As a partner to customers from the most diverse sectors, which include the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and mining industries, Borqs' technologies are used in the German partner's market-winning Android smartphones. One of these phones is the world's first intrinsically safe smartphone for Zone 1/21 and Div. 1 areas that meets Google's sophisticated Android Enterprise Recommended validation. The devices together with the accessories provide a wide range of safe and reliable mobile instruments for measuring and calibrating inside and outside hazardous parameters, ranging from the multimeter to devices for measuring temperature, pressure and rpm, plus pressure, current loop and process calibrators, etc. These orders will be filled in the second half of 2020 and also into 2021.

09:11 EDT CyrusOne appoints Bruce Duncan as CEO - CyrusOne announced that CyrusOne's board has elected Bruce Duncan as President & CEO and as a member of the board, effective July 6. CyrusOne said in a release, "Duncan succeeds Tesh Durvasula, who has served as CyrusOne's interim President & CEO since February 20. Durvasula will work with Duncan to ensure a smooth leadership transition."

09:10 EDT Heron Therapeutics trading resumes

09:08 EDT Imax, CGV to launch 117 new theaters internationally - Imax and CGV announced an expansion of their partnership with an agreement to launch 17 new theaters around the world. The agreement includes nine new Imax theaters in South Korea as well as theaters across CGV's global footprint, which includes Turkey, Vietnam and Indonesia. The agreement is the biggest theatre deal for IMAX in 2020 to date. As a result of their 15-year partnership, CGV and IMAX now have more than 185 open or contracted theaters worldwide.

09:07 EDT Plumas Bancorp to join Russell 2000 index - Plumas Bancorp announced that Plumas Bancorp has been included in the Russell 2000 Index by FTSE Russell. The announcement was made after the U.S. stock market closed on June 26, 2020.

09:05 EDT Frontier Software leverages Pluralsight to close skills gaps - Pluralsight announced that Frontier Software is partnering with Pluralsight to upskill its workforce and modernize its technologies while executing on its mainstay software solutions. Based in Australia, Frontier Software provides integrated HR and payroll solutions to more than 1,500 organizations across 23 countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific and the Far East, including payroll services to nearly 10% of Australia's workforce. To keep up with the rapid pace of change and enable the business to continually evolve to meet client expectations in the age of technology, Frontier Software has partnered with Pluralsight to implement a technology skills development strategy that will close its skills gaps and transition the company's manual processes to intelligent workflow automation and robotic automated processes.

09:02 EDT Philips expands remote clinical collaboration offering based on Reacts platform - Royal Philips announced that it is expanding its remote clinical collaboration and virtual training offerings across its portfolio, building on the IIT Reacts collaborative platform. Leveraging innovative technologies, such as augmented reality, for remote virtual guidance, supervision and training, the platform provides unique interactive tools designed to meet the multi-faceted collaborative needs of healthcare professionals and patients. The Reacts platform has already been deployed in more than 80 countries, across various disciplines in both clinical and educational settings. It allows healthcare professionals to interact remotely and dynamically in a wide range of applications, from teleconsultations, secure messaging, remote wound care and tele-ultrasound, to interactive telesurgical assistance and remote procedure supervision.

09:01 EDT Heritage Insurance enters agreement with member companies of AIG, Safeco - Heritage Insurance (HRTG) announced that it has entered into an agreement with member companies of AIG (AIG) and Safeco Insurance, a Liberty Mutual company, to offer AIG's private client group, or PCG, agents the ability to transition their upper middle market personal insurance business to Safeco and Heritage. As part of AIG PCG's decision to focus its personal lines business on the high net worth segment, Heritage will offer policy renewals to a select portion of AIG PCG's personal lines business that provides upper middle market clients with homeowners coverage.

08:58 EDT Lantern Pharma's AI platform for precision oncology surpasses 450M data points - Lantern Pharma announced that it surpassed the milestone of 450 million curated data points being utilized in its proprietary A.I. and machine learning-powered platform, RADR. RADR leverages genomic, transcriptomic, clinical and drug sensitivity data points across more than 145 drug-tumor interactions to predict the potential response cancer patients will have to potential drugs, therefore enabling a more personalized approach to therapy that is aimed at better outcomes. Lantern is establishing collaborations and partnerships to expand the functionality of RADR, including algorithms that can operate 200 to 300 percent faster than its existing algorithms, enabling the company to develop robust gene signatures that can be used to guide patient enrollment in trials and as a companion diagnostic. During the most recent data enrichment campaign, Lantern focused on significantly increasing the depth and amount of data for: non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, glioblastoma, and gliomas. Reaching this milestone of over 450 million curated data points for oncology drug development will bring greater precision and speed in helping Lantern with its objective of personalizing oncology therapy with reduced risk and cost. As a pioneer in the application of machine learning to oncology-focused drug development and clinical trial design, Lantern has published gene signatures derived from RADR as posters and presentations at both ASCO and AACR. Lantern's pipeline of compounds includes one candidate in an active Phase 2 clinical trial for metastatic, hormone-refractory prostate cancer using a genomic signature for patient selection; another candidate in preparation for a Phase 2 clinical trial in non-small cell lung cancer in a targeted patient population; and a third candidate in two preclinical programs for biomarker-defined solid tumors and glioblastoma. Lantern Pharma is ahead of the initial platform development schedule, reaching 400 million data points by the end of 2020, which puts Lantern on track to reach over 1 billion data points earlier than expected. The developmental focus on increasing the number of data points, and improving the performance of the algorithms is expected to yield additional targeted indications for Lantern's current pipeline of drugs, and also help to uncover additional compounds and therapies that can be in-licensed or acquired and subsequently developed in a more efficient manner that leverages the insights from Lantern's data-driven, A.I.-enabled approach.

08:55 EDT Fluidigm says muti-site study of COVID-19 using Mass Cytometry Technology - Fluidigm announced that Fluidigm mass cytometry technology and the Maxpar Direct Immune Profiling Assay are being utilized in a prospective observational cohort surveillance study of up to 2,000 adult participants hospitalized with COVID-19. Ten leading U.S. medical institutions are engaging in the study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and entitled Immunophenotyping Assessment in a COVID-19 Cohort. The study could help inform recommendations for COVID-19 care and potentially identify new strategies and optimal timing for experimental treatments. Investigators at the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in collaboration with the Human Immunology Project Consortium and the Asthma and Allergic Diseases Clinical Research Consortium, are exploring how certain immunological responses correspond to, or may even predict, the clinical severity of COVID-19. COVID-19 patients age 18 and older are enrolled in the study within 36 hours after admission to a hospital. Samples are collected from nasal swabs, blood and tracheal fluid at 10 time points from hospital admission to up to one year after discharge. When possible, researchers will also examine lower airway secretions collected from patients requiring a ventilator for breathing support. As IMPACC study patients recover, investigators will continue to evaluate their immune responses to identify factors that may relate to long-term protection against re-infection. Institutions participating in the study are Brigham and Women's Hospital; University Hospitals Case Medical Center; University of California, Los Angeles Department of Medicine; University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine; Drexel University College of Medicine; Emory University School of Medicine; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Oregon Health & Science University; Stanford Medicine's Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research; and Yale School of Medicine.

08:51 EDT ESW continues to consider acquisition of additional securities of Optiva - In response to the press release of Optiva dated June 26, 2020 and the receipt of a related redemption notice from Optiva relating to the redemption of all of the Series A Preferred Shares of Optiva held by ESW Investment Corp., an affiliate and joint actor of ESW Capital, LLC), and the material changes related thereto, ESW announces an update to its previously disclosed investment intentions to confirm that it continues to consider the acquisition of additional securities of Optiva in the market, or through private or other transactions, and the sale of all or some portion of the securities of Optiva that it owns or controls, including the entering into of derivative or other transactions, with respect to its securities of Optiva, subject to market conditions, ESW's current and future investment objectives and developments to the business of Optiva. ESW has not eliminated any of its options with respect to how it may transact in the securities of Optiva in the future. Currently, ESW, and its joint actors, including ESW Investment Corp. and ESW Holdings, Inc., own or control 800,000 Series A Preferred Shares of Optiva, representing 100% of the issued and outstanding Series A Preferred Shares, 1,476,851 Subordinate Voting Shares of Optiva and 975,712 Subordinate Voting Share purchase warrants of Optiva, representing approximately 27.78% of the issued and outstanding Subordinated Voting Shares on a non-diluted basis and approximately 38.98% of the issued and outstanding Subordinated Voting Shares, assuming the exercise of all of the Warrants.

08:48 EDT Fortress Biotech added to Russell 3000 Index - Fortress Biotech announced that the company has been added to the Russell 3000 index, effective after the U.S. market opens today, following Russell's annual reconstitution of its U.S. and global equity indexes.

08:42 EDT AAR Corp. to divest non-core composites manufacturing business - AAR CORP. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to divest its aerospace composite manufacturing business after running a sale process that began earlier this year. The buyer is an affiliate of Architect Equity. The Composites business designs, fabricates and assembles composite aerospace products for customers in the commercial aerospace and defense industries. The divestiture of the Composites business, which was unprofitable in fiscal year 2020, along with AAR's previously announced cost reduction actions, are expected to drive meaningful margin improvement once demand recovers from the impact of COVID-19. Our other cost reduction actions include: Closing the Duluth, Minnesota maintenance, repair and overhaul facility and transferring the equipment to other AAR operations; Furloughing approximately 1,000 full-time employees ; Eliminating significant headcount through contractor and employee reductions; Implementing executive and other employee pay reductions; Consolidating the Goldsboro, North Carolina facility into the Cadillac, Michigan facility; Exiting underperforming contracts and product lines. Architect is an experienced investor, and AAR believes it is the right partner to leverage Composites' history of designing and manufacturing complex aerospace products, and to ensure the continued success of the business and its customers and employees going forward. The Composites business employs approximately 150 people at facilities located in Clearwater, Florida and Sacramento, California. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of calendar year 2020, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

08:42 EDT Leaf Group investors send letter to board to remove CEO, sell certain assets - Investors, owning over 40% of the issued and outstanding shares of Leaf Group, released a letter to the company's board of directors "expressing their concern with the current corporate strategy, management team and lack of corporate governance." The list of signatories to the letter includes Osmium Partners, PEAK6 Investments, Boyle Capital Opportunity Fund, Oak Management, Generation Capital Partners II, Spectrum Equity Investors and Spectrum Equity Associates and is comprised of several of the company's largest and longest-standing shareholders. The investors said, "In the letter, the Investors contend that the Company is not realizing its full potential, and there are clear opportunities to unlock shareholder value. In order to address many of the issues plaguing the Company, the Investors call on the board to immediately: Remove the Company's CEO, Enhance corporate governance by refreshing and de-staggering the board, and Sell both the Media and Marketplace assets of the Company."

08:40 EDT Heron Therapeutics trading halted, news pending

08:38 EDT OSI Systems receives $60M in orders - OSI Systems announced that its Security division received orders valued at approximately $60 million from a U.S. customer to provide several platforms of its cargo inspection systems and solutions, related upgrades, integration and maintenance services.

08:37 EDT Sharps Compliance joins Russell 2000, 3000 Indexes - Sharps Compliance announced that it has been added to the U.S. broad-market Russell 3000 and Russell 2000 Indices.

08:36 EDT Stifel Financial hires Rob Wagman as senior advisor - Stifel Financial (SF) announced the hiring of Rob Wagman, former President and CEO of LKQ Corp. (LKQ), as a senior advisor. He will primarily work with Stifel's growing investment banking team, which includes a diverse group of senior investment bankers covering all facets of the global automotive, mobility, capital goods, auto aftermarket, and auto technology sectors. Mr. Wagman currently serves as a board member to a number of leading automotive aftermarket and industrial companies and brings to Stifel more than three decades of experience as a senior executive.

08:34 EDT Artelo Biosciences expands Stony Brook commercial license agreement - Artelo Biosciences announced that it has expanded its existing research and worldwide commercial license agreement with The Research Foundation For The State University of New York, Stony Brook. Artelo has obtained exclusive rights to recently developed, third-generation fatty acid binding protein 5 inhibitors. The company plans to select a lead cancer therapeutic compound from these compounds, as well as to identify additional candidates for pain, inflammation and other conditions, facilitating a potentially significant expansion to the company's development pipeline. Many of the third generation FABP5 inhibitors have shown greater potency and/or selectivity to FABP5. Fatty acid binding proteins are intracellular lipid chaperones, and transport fatty acids, including the endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, as well as related N-acylethanolamines. Inhibition of FABP5 has been shown to suppress the growth and migration of breast and prostate cancers in preclinical models, and may have the potential to treat pain, based on animal studies where elevated levels of endocannabinoids showed beneficial effects on measures of stress, pain, and inflammation.

08:33 EDT Royce Value Trust receives Glass Lewis recommendation for advisory agreement - Royce Value Trust announced that Glass Lewis recommends that stockholders vote in order to approve the new investment advisory agreement with Royce Investment Partners, the Fund's investment manager. Glass Lewis is the second independent proxy advisory firm to recommend that stockholders vote for the agreement on the white proxy card. As previously announced on June 24, Institutional Shareholder Services, or ISS, has also recommended that the fund's stockholders vote for the agreement. "We are pleased that Glass Lewis and ISS recognize that approval of the new investment advisory agreement with Royce is in the best interest of all stockholders," said Christopher Clark, president of Royce Value Trust. "Voting 'FOR' the new investment advisory agreement ensures the Fund continues to operate and execute the strategy that has delivered superior relative returns and an impressive performance record for stockholders."

08:26 EDT LiveXLive Media paid subscribers increases to record 873,000 - LiveXLive Media announced the international pay-per-view, or PPV, event with Monsta X sold out of all $149.99 VIP packages in just two minutes with still more then 30 more days of ticket sales remaining. Ticket sales kicked off on June 26 on LiveXLive's site and apps. The upcoming Monsta X PPV concert follows LiveXLive's recent 90-minute special in partnership with Live Nation, Lift Every Voice: A Juneteenth Special which garnered over 3M views, as well as this past weekend's Shaq's Fun House vs. Gronk Beach live stream which garnered over 9M views. Since January 1, LiveXLive has live streamed 59 live music events and 1,200 artists, an increase of over 300% and over 1100%, respectively, as compared to the same time period last year. LiveXLive's platform has generated over 78M live stream views and over 5B video views on TikTok. LiveXLive paid subscribers has increased to a record 873,000 and has achieved a total potential reach of 7.3B between press and social.

08:25 EDT Tiziana announces agreement with STC Biologics for manufacturing of TZLS-501 - Tiziana Life Sciences (TLSA), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing targeted drugs for cancer, inflammatory diseases and COVID-19, announces the execution of an agreement with STC Biologics for GMP manufacturing of TZLS-501, an anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody acquired from Novimmune in 2017, currently in agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY). Tiziana is simultaneously developing an inhalation technology, in collaboration with Sciarra Laboratories, for the direct delivery of TZLS-501 into the lungs using a handheld inhaler or nebulizer for treatment of patients with COVID-19. The proprietary novel technology to administer TZLS-501 directly into the nasal passages or lungs by inhaler or nebulizer has potentially significant clinical advantages for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The company recently submitted a patent application for the inhalation delivery of anti-IL6R-monoclonal antibody for the treatment of COVID-19. "We are aggressively advancing GMP manufacturing of TZLS-501 concurrently with the development of inhalation technology using a hand-held nebulizer and safety toxicology studies in cynomolgus monkeys. Our objective is to submit an Investigational New Drug Application in the first quarter of 2021 for the treatment of COVID-19 patients," said Kunwar Shailubhai, Ph.D., CEO and CSO of Tiziana Life Sciences.

08:23 EDT Arcturus Therapeutics added to Russell 2000 Index - Arcturus Therapeutics announced that it will be added to the Russell 2000 Index, as part of the 2020 Russell indexes reconstitution.

08:21 EDT Aspira Women's Health enrolls first patient in OVANex study - Aspira Women's Health announced the first patient enrolled in a national clinical study of benign pelvic mass management. The study will enroll over 1,000 women for assessing ovarian cancer risk in women who have an adnexal mass and a high probability for developing the disease. In this recently launched study, ovarian cancer risk will be assessed by a newly developed, multi-biomarker, proprietary algorithm based on AWH's experience and vast specimen bank in developing algorithms and FDA-cleared products for assessing ovarian cancer risk. This study will enroll women in three distinct cohorts; women with pelvic masses without symptoms, women with pelvic masses with indeterminate symptoms, and women without pelvic masses that are high risk for ovarian cancer due to hereditary genetic risk. The primary objective is to determine which patients are low risk and can be monitored without surgery, and which women are at higher risk and need to be sent for further clinical assessment.

08:19 EDT Orgenesis added to Russell 3000 Index - Orgenesis announced that it has been added to the Russell 3000 Index, following the annual Russell indexes reconstitution.

08:17 EDT A-Mark Precious Metals joins Russell 3000 Index - A-Mark Precious Metals was added to the broad-market Russell 3000 Index at the conclusion of the annual reconstitution of the Russell indexes.

08:15 EDT Steelcase partners with MIT researchers for safer workplaces - Steelcase announces its collaboration with MIT professor and disease transmission specialist Dr. Lydia Bourouiba, director of The Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission at MIT to study disease transmission in the workplace. Bourouiba specializes in fluid dynamics and understanding properties of turbulent gas clouds that are produced when people exhale, sneeze or cough and how that spreads respiratory pathogens. The goal of the research is to not only understand how these pathogens spread in typical office layouts, but also to develop design strategies for how to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses at work. Steelcase will be working with Dr. Bourouiba to conduct combined laboratory testing and modelling of furniture configurations and materials to determine the best combinations for reducing the spread of respiratory diseases. The work will happen over a series of phases, insights immediately benefiting organizations by providing best practices to assist in retrofitting or reconfiguring existing workplaces. In future phases, the teams will focus on advanced mitigation strategies supported by scientific research, mathematical algorithms, and modeling to inform better workplace designs. While many employees are currently working from home due to the COVID-19 crisis, the vast majority, 88-90%* want to work in an office again. In order for employees to return though, the workplace must be safe. Steelcase data about the most common office configurations among its global customers shows that 98% of seats in the office will be at risk. This means these settings do not have either 6 feet of distance between the next closest employee or a space divider that is 54 inches high. Workplaces that were designed to foster creativity and innovation now must be reimagined to help mitigate the spread of disease.

08:15 EDT Ideanomics subsidiary announces delivery of $3.15M order - Ideanomics announced that its mobile energy global, or MEG, subsidiary, Qingdao Ai Neng Ju New Energy has completed delivery of multiple orders for a total of 117 units. Total value of complete delivery orders is $3.15M. The multiple orders consisted of 25 Dongfeng Heavy Truck units ordered by Hangzhou Deqian, 40 Aoxin EV500 logistic vehicles for Jiudao Group and various customer orders for a combined 52 units of various electric vehicle types. As part of the delivery, the financing, licensing, insurance, vehicle registration plate administration and tax invoice issuance are all complete.

08:14 EDT Cidara Therapeutics added to Russell 3000 Index - Cidara Therapeutics announced that it has been added to the Russell 3000 Index at the conclusion of the Russell indexes annual reconstitution.

08:12 EDT Bellerophon added to Russell 3000, Microcap Indexes - Bellerophon Therapeutics announced that the company has been added to the Russell 3000 and Microcap Indexes at the conclusion of the Russell indexes annual reconstitution.

08:12 EDT Immutep completes recruitment for Part A of Phase II TACTI-002 study - Immutep Limited (IMMP) reports it has enrolled and safely dosed the last patient for stage 2 of Part A of its TACTI-002 Phase II study, completing recruitment for Part A. TACTI-002 is being conducted in collaboration with Merck & Co (MRK) and is evaluating the combination of Immutep's lead product candidate, eftilagimod alpha with MSD's KEYTRUDA. Immutep recently reported new data from TACTI-002 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Annual Meeting 2020, including results from stage 1 of Part A which showed an improving Progression Free Survival estimate of more than 9 months in patients with 1st line NSCLC. The Company expects to report more mature data from TACTI-002 in H2 CY20. In total 81 patients out of up to 109 are already enrolled in the trial at 12 clinical sites across Australia, Europe, the UK and US. Recruitment is ongoing for Part B and for stage 2 of Part C.

08:10 EDT Intra-Cellular announces top-line results from ITI-214 Phase I/II study - Intra-Cellular Therapies announced topline results from Study ITI-214-104, a Phase I/II translational study of single ascending doses of ITI-214, a novel, selective phosphodiesterase-1 inhibitor, in patients with chronic systolic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. ITI-214 is the first PDE1 inhibitor to be tested in patients with HFrEF. In this study, ITI-214 improved cardiac output by increasing heart contractility and decreasing vascular resistance. Agents that both increase heart contractility and decrease vascular resistance are called inodilators. Inodilators in current clinical use are associated with the development of arrhythmias, which are abnormal heart rhythms that when serious can impair heart function and lead to mortality. ITI-214, which acts through a novel mechanism of action, was not associated with arrhythmias in this study and was generally well tolerated in all patients. The results of Study ITI-214-104 are consistent with our prior findings in preclinical models of heart failure and indicate that single-dose administration of ITI-214 can improve heart function in patients with HFrEF. These findings warrant further investigation of acute and chronic PDE-1 inhibition with ITI-214 in this patient population. The initiation of Study ITI-214-104 followed findings in preclinical models that ITI-214 had improved cardiac output through a mechanism of action different from those of available heart failure therapies. These findings in preclinical models of heart failure were published by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Intra-Cellular Therapies scientists in the journal Circulation1. Currently available heart failure drugs that strengthen heart contractions, such as PDE3 inhibitors and ss-adrenergic agonists, are associated with potentially dangerous complications, such as arrhythmias. ITI-214 does not interact with the ss-adrenergic signaling pathway and does not stimulate abnormal rhythms in an animal model of heart failure. These experimental results demonstrated that ITI-214 may exert its effects via distinct pathways, one of which involves adenosine A2B receptor signaling, and suggest that ITI-214 may represent a mechanistically novel and potentially safe approach for the treatment of human heart failure. Study ITI-214-104 was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of escalating single oral doses of ITI-214 in patients with HFrEF NYHA class II-III. The primary objective of the study was to determine the effects of ITI-214 on cardiac function, using echocardiography with Doppler imaging, in patients with reduced ejection fraction who were already maintained on standard-of-care treatment. Safety was evaluated by monitoring for hemodynamic effects and changes in cardiac rhythm. Thirty-five patients were enrolled in this study, 9 in each of three dose cohorts and 8 in the placebo arm. The mean age of the patients was 54; 57% were male, and 57% were black. The etiology of the heart failure was ischemic heart disease in 31% of the patients. The mean left ventricular ejection fraction at screening was 25%. In this study, compared to placebo, single doses of ITI-214 increased mean left ventricular power index and cardiac output while systemic vascular resistance and mean arterial blood pressure decreased. Reported adverse events were all mild to moderate and consisted of three occurrences of orthostatic hypotension and three episodes of non-postural hypotension. Patients were monitored by continuous telemetry, and no changes in heart rhythms were noted. No serious adverse events were reported. Further details of these results will be presented at upcoming medical conferences.

08:08 EDT Xunlei announces $20M share buyback program - Xunlei announced that the board of directors of the Company has approved a plan under which the Company may repurchase up to $20M of its shares over the next 12 months. The board will review the share repurchase program periodically and, if needed, adjust its size and terms. Under the Share Buyback Program, repurchases may be made from time to time on the open market at the prevailing market prices, in privately negotiated transactions, in block trades and/or through other legally permissible means, depending on market conditions and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. The shares to be repurchased can be both its ADS and common shares. The repurchase plan will be funded from the Company's cash balance. As of March 31, 2020, the Company had cash, cash equivalent and short-term investments of approximately $255.7M, and the balance of bank borrowings was about $11.2M.

08:06 EDT NV5 Global awarded $12M project management contract by Caltrans - NV5 Global announced that it has been awarded a $12M contract by the California Department of Transportation - District 6 to provide construction management not at risk services, including on-call construction inspection, office engineering, claims resolution, and constructability support services for transportation facilities throughout Kern, Tulare, Kings, Fresno, and Madera Counties. Work has already begun on the contract, which has a duration of 36 months.

08:04 EDT PTC Therapeutics announces CHMP opinion to remove Translarna statement - PTC Therapeutics announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, of the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, has recommended by a majority of votes to remove the statement "efficacy has not been demonstrated in non-ambulatory patients" from the SmPC for Translarna. This label change enables healthcare professionals to use their clinical judgement to make treatment decisions for their patients on Translarna who have lost ambulation. The company said the change also should support reimbursement agencies granting continued access to Translarna for patients who become non-ambulatory during the course of their treatment. The CHMP's opinion is subject to final approval by the European Commission, which is normally granted in a two-month time frame.

08:03 EDT TFI International acquires assets of CT Transportation for $15M - TFI International announced the acquisition of substantially all the assets of CT Transportatio. Originally Coastal Transport & Trading Company, CT Transportation was the flatbed subsidiary of Comcar Industries, Inc., which along with its other subsidiaries filed Chapter 11 petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on May 17, 2020. TFI International paid total consideration of $15M for the assets acquired. Founded in 1939 and headquartered in Savannah, GA, CT Transportation operates more than 270 tractors and 560 trailers, with 11 terminals from Maryland to Florida, and generated revenue before fuel surcharge of approximately $50M in 2019. Its approximately 250 drivers provide quality transportation of drywall, lumber, tiles, cement board and other materials to major building product manufacturers and home improvement distributors throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. CT Transportation will become part of TFI International's Truckload segment and operate under the business name Coastal Transport.

07:56 EDT WSP Global, Altus Group launch GeoVerra geomatics firm - WSP Global (WSPOF) and Altus Group Limited (ASGTF) announced that the previously announced transaction to combine their respective geomatics business units has closed. The combined entity launched as GeoVerra Inc., forming a leading Canadian geomatics firm with offices in Western Canada and Ontario. With offices in 29 cities and towns across Western Canada and Ontario, GeoVerra is well equipped to serve its clients by offering a broad variety of geomatics services. Through the combination, GeoVerra has the expertise and scope to take on large, complex projects, while remaining agile to be competitive at the local level for smaller projects. GeoVerra will be led by John Nielsen as CEO, who served as Vice President, Operations, Infrastructure, at WSP Canada, and Mitch Ettinger as COO, who was President of Altus Group's Geomatics business unit.

07:52 EDT Elevate Credit to exit UK market - Elevate Credit announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary in the UK, Elevate Credit International Limited, or ECIL, will cease operations in the UK effective June 29. Elevate Credit said in a release, "The ECIL Board of Directors placed the UK subsidiary in administration under the UK Insolvency Act 1986 and appointed insolvency practitioners from KPMG LLP to take control and management of the UK business. ECIL's entry into administration will place its business under the direct control of the Administrator. Accordingly, Elevate will deconsolidate ECIL as of June 29 and will present ECIL as discontinued operations starting in the second quarter of 2020. Upon deconsolidation of ECIL, Elevate will recognize an estimated net impairment loss on its investment in ECIL of approximately $10 million (which includes an estimated US federal tax benefit of $20 million). Please reference Elevate's Form 8-K filing today, which contains additional pro forma financial information. After recognizing this estimated net impairment loss, Elevate's only remaining material exposure to ECIL will be its guarantee of ECIL's repayment of its outstanding debt, which was approximately GBP 10.2 million as of June 29, 2020. As of May 31, ECIL's cash balances totaled over GBP 11 million with the book value of loans receivable, net of the allowance for loan losses totaling over GBP 11 million as well. Elevate expects ECIL to completely repay its outstanding debt obligation by the end of this year."

07:48 EDT Auxly rationalizing cultivation portfolio by focusing on domestic cultivation - Auxly Cannabis Group provided an update on the Company's national and international cultivation strategy. The Company is pleased by the progress of its cultivation portfolio, which is instrumental in supplying a secure, cost-efficient and consistent source of input material for the Company's growing portfolio of cannabis products. In order to sharpen the Company's near-term focus on Cannabis 2.0 dominance in Canada, the Company has decided to rationalize its cultivation portfolio by focusing on its domestic cultivation, while maintaining optionality in Uruguay. On June 15, 2020, the Company announced that Sunens Farms, the Company's organic cultivation joint-venture with legendary greenhouse operator Peter Quiring, secured a standard cultivation licence from Health Canada for the first phase of its fully automated, purpose-built, 1.1 million sq. ft. greenhouse facility in Leamington, Ontario. The first phase of the licensed area includes approximately 360,000 sq. ft. of cultivation, processing, and storage space, with the additional licence amendments for the remaining phases being submitted throughout the course of 2020. Since announcing receipt of the cultivation licence, the Sunens team has already commenced cultivation of organic cannabis within the licensed area. Cannabis harvested from the Sunens facility will provide Auxly with a consistent, traceable source of low-cost, organic dried flower to support Auxly's commercial strategy, including the manufacturing of Auxly's branded cannabis products at its Dosecann facility in Prince Edward Island and continued product innovation. The Company believes that the Sunens facility will be the cornerstone of its cultivation portfolio and, when fully operational, will produce approximately 100,000 kg of organic cannabis annually. On May 20, 2020, the Company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Robinsons Cannabis received its sales licence from Health Canada, expanding Auxly's product portfolio to include hand-crafted cannabis flower for the connoisseur market. Since receipt of its cultivation licence, Robinsons has been growing small-batch cannabis at its 27,700 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Robinsons will release a selection of its favorite genetics in select Canadian provinces in July of 2020, each grown with an uncompromising commitment to quality, flavor and craftsmanship. On November 15, 2019, the Company announced the launch of Robinsons Outdoor Grow, a large-scale outdoor cultivation project located in Hortonville, Nova Scotia, with over 158 acres of land available for development. Robinsons OG will provide the Company with access to organic, sun grown cannabis flower to help support the Company's ongoing development of Robinsons branded cannabis products. The Company is pleased to announce that Robinsons OG has secured a standard cultivation licence from Health Canada. However, given timing for the optimal outdoor planting season and the operational challenges posed by COVID-19, the Company has made the strategic decision to delay the commencement of cultivation activities at the Robinsons OG site and, instead, focus its efforts on the continued development of the Robinsons OG land and facility in preparation for the 2021 cultivation season. During 2019, the Kolab Project facility located in Carleton Place, Ontario, was focused on providing quality cannabis flower and pre-rolls to registered medical patients across Canada. In 2020, the Company made the strategic decision to cease cultivation at the Kolab facility and fully focus Kolab's operations on pre-roll manufacturing and innovation activities to support the Company's branded pre-roll product offering. Inverell is the Company's 80%-owned subsidiary located in Montevideo. Inverell has completed its 2019-2020 harvest which resulted in approximately 43,000 kilograms of packed hemp biomass. However, due to the slower than anticipated pace of cannabis-specific regulatory development in Latin America and, consequently, the slower development of viable near-term commercial channels in the region, the Company has chosen not to proceed with planting for the 2020-2021 growing season nor with the development of extraction capabilities with a view to reducing headcount and keeping operating expenditures to a minimum. This strategy will reduce future operating expenses by approximately $6-7 million annually, which can be redirected into the Canadian market with a view to driving more immediate revenue to Auxly. Auxly will maintain the optionality Inverell provides and continue to monitor the regulatory landscape in LATAM, while exploring extraction opportunities as well as sales channel opportunities for the current stored biomass into legally permissible jurisdictions.

07:45 EDT Harrow Health to join Russell 2000, 3000 Index - Harrow Health announced that it is set to join the small-cap Russell 2000 Index and the broad-market Russell 3000 Index at the conclusion of the 2020 Russell indexes annual reconstitution, effective after the US market opens this morning, according to a preliminary list of additions posted June 5.

07:43 EDT Nikola to commence Badger preorders at 11 a.m. eastern time - In February, Nikola announced its entry into the electric pick-up market with its electric pickup, Nikola Badger. The company has now announced that preorders are now being accepted at 11 a.m. eastern time.

07:38 EDT Acreage Holdings closes acquisition of CCF of New Jersey - Acreage Holdings announced the closing of the transactions contemplated by the previously announced Reorganization Agreement, dated November 15, 2019, among Acreage, Compassionate Care Foundation, a New Jersey vertically integrated medical cannabis nonprofit corporation, and certain affiliates thereof, pursuant to which Acreage CCF New Jersey, LLC acquired 100% of the operations of CCF, and, accordingly, Acreage will subsequently consolidate the results of operations of the New Jersey medical cannabis business into its consolidated financial statements. In accordance with the terms of the Reorganization Agreement, Acreage assumed all debts, liabilities and obligations of CCF, including fees, costs and expenses to be incurred by CCF in connection with the dissolution and wind-up of CCF and paid to the former trustees of CCF an aggregate total of $10,000,000 at closing. Acreage's New Jersey vertically integrated operations include licenses for cultivation, manufacturing & processing, and three retail dispensaries. A description of the operations follows: Cultivation: Acreage operates one of New Jersey's largest indoor growing facilities, primarily for high end flower, in Egg Harbor, NJ. Acreage is planning to expand this facility to serve the existing demand for medical cannabis and in anticipation of adult-use legalization, and to build out a robust wholesale business. Retail Dispensary Operations: Acreage has licenses to operate two retail dispensaries, one in Egg Harbor and one on the iconic Atlantic City Boardwalk.

07:35 EDT Xoma added to Russell 2000, Russell 3000 Indexes - XOMA Corporation announced the Company has been added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes following the annual reconstitution, which took effect after the U.S. market closed on June 26, 2020.

07:34 EDT Iterum Therapeutics evaluating corporate, strategic, financial alternatives

07:32 EDT 9 Meters Biopharma amends definition of primary endpoint for larazotide trial - 9 Meters Biopharma announced that, after consultation with the FDA, the company will modify its definition of the primary endpoint in the ongoing Phase 3 trial evaluating larazotide for treating celiac disease. The company said in a release, "The validated instrument used for the primary assessment remains the Celiac Disease Patient-Reported Outcome, or CeD PRO. However, the definition of the primary endpoint will now utilize a continuous variable instead of a responder analysis. The design and execution of the ongoing trial have not been affected. The trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of larazotide for patients with celiac disease who continue to experience gastrointestinal symptoms while following a gluten-free diet. The primary efficacy outcome of the study comprises the mean change from baseline on the CeD PRO rating scale abdominal domain over 12 weeks for two active treatment doses (0.25 mg and 0.50 mg) compared to placebo. The trial is currently underway at over 100 clinical sites, with an interim analysis still anticipated during the first half of 2021 and topline data anticipated in the second half of 2021."

07:30 EDT Incyte announces approval of Tabrecta in Japan - Incyte (INCY) announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, or MHLW, approved Tabrecta for MET exon 14 skipping, or METex14, mutation-positive advanced and/or recurrent unresectable non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC. Incyte said in a release, "Tabrecta is approved for first-line and previously treated patients, regardless of prior treatment type. Tabrecta is the third Incyte-discovered medicine to receive approval in Japan. Novartis has exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to Tabrecta. Approval of Tabrecta in Japan triggers a $20 million milestone payment to Incyte, and Incyte is also eligible to receive 12-14% royalties on global net sales of Tabrecta by Novartis (NVS)."

07:25 EDT Provention Bio added to Russell 2000, 3000 - Provention Bio announced that it has been added to the broad-market Russell 3000 Index and the small-cap Russell 2000 Index as part of the Russell U.S. Indexes annual reconstitution.

07:25 EDT Cubic teams with Northrop Grumman, Carley to pursue Navy ID/IQ contract - Cubic (CUB) announced its Cubic Global Defense, or CGD, business division has partnered with Carley and Northrop Grumman (NOC) to pursue the U.S. Navy's potential $93M Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity, or ID/IQ, contract for the design, development, testing and delivery of products in support of the FY21 Ready Relevant Learning, or RRL, Content Conversion program. Cubic said in a release, "The Cubic-led team will use innovative instructional systems design, systems engineering and training assessment approaches in conjunction with new and modernized technologies to support ratings-accession training while simultaneously supporting the broader Sailor 2025, or S2025, overarching goal of improving Sailors' transfer of training to the operational work environment. The FY21 RRL CC program falls under the 'Ready, Relevant Learning' pillar of S2025, which focuses on learning continuums where training is delivered by modern methods to enable faster learning, more effective knowledge retention and delivery for Sailors."

07:18 EDT Resonant to join Russell 2000, 3000 Indexes - Resonant is set to join the small-cap Russell 2000 Index and broad-market Russell 3000 Index at the conclusion of the 2020 Russell indexes annual reconstitution. The Russell Index changes will be effective after the US market opens on June 29, 2020. The stock also was automatically added to the appropriate growth and value indexes.

07:17 EDT Mateon Therapeutics announces $2M financing with Golden Mountain Partners - Mateon Therapeutics announces it has secured a $2 million in debt financing with Golden Mountain Partners for the conduct of a clinical trial evaluating OT-101 against COVID-19. This is a 1-year convertible note with 2% annual interest, personally guaranteed by Dr. Vuong Trieu, the Chief Executive Officer of Mateon. The note is convertible at the 1 year anniversary of the note, at the common stock price of the Company on conversion with no discount. GMP does not have the option to convert prior to the 1-year anniversary. Such financing will be utilized solely to fund the clinical trial. OT-101 is an antisense againt the host TGF-beta protein required for viral replication and its overexpression likely to cause the wide range of clinical symptoms associated with COVID-19 including Kawasaki syndrome and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

07:16 EDT Intercept receives FDA CRL for obeticholic acid recommending additional data - Intercept Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a Complete Response Letter regarding the New Drug Application for obeticholic acid for the treatment of fibrosis due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. The CRL indicated that, based on the data the FDA has reviewed to date, the Agency has determined that the predicted benefit of OCA based on a surrogate histopathologic endpoint remains uncertain and does not sufficiently outweigh the potential risks to support accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with liver fibrosis due to NASH. The FDA recommends that Intercept submit additional post-interim analysis efficacy and safety data from the ongoing REGENERATE study in support of potential accelerated approval and that the long-term outcomes phase of the study should continue. Intercept had previously disclosed that, based on the FDA's decision to postpone a tentatively scheduled advisory committee meeting, it was expected that the Agency's review of its NDA would extend beyond the PDUFA goal date and that the FDA would move forward with rescheduling the Adcom. The NDA submission for OCA is the first for NASH and was based on data from 35 clinical trials and more than 1,700 NASH patients treated with the drug. OCA is the only investigational NASH drug with Breakthrough Therapy designation and has uniquely demonstrated reproducible ability to reverse or otherwise stabilize liver fibrosis in patients with advanced fibrosis due to NASH. According to the FDA draft guidance for NASH fibrosis, of the histologic features of NASH, fibrosis is considered the strongest predictor of adverse clinical outcomes, including liver-related death. There is currently no approved therapy for this devastating disease, which has become a leading cause of liver failure and resulting poor clinical outcomes.

07:16 EDT Aurora Cannabis director, co-founder Terry Booth retires - Aurora Cannabis announced that co-founder Terry Booth has retired from his role as director of the company, effective immediately. Booth was the CEO of Aurora from December 2014 through February and served on Aurora's board since December 2014.

07:13 EDT Insurance Acquisition to combine with Shift Technologies for $380M in stock - Shift Technologies and Insurance Acquisition announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby Shift will combine with Insurance Acquisition. In connection with the closing of the transaction, Insurance Acquisition intends to change its name to Shift Technologies and remain Nasdaq-listed under a new ticker symbol. The transaction is expected to close in Q3. Following the close of the transaction, Shift's management team will continue to operate the combined company. Insurance Acquisition will combine with Shift for aggregate consideration of approximately $380M in Insurance Acquisition Class A common stock, plus an additional 6M shares of Class A common stock that will be earned if the combined company achieves certain price targets over time. In connection with the transaction, institutional investors, including Fidelity Management & Research and ArrowMark Partners, have committed to a $185M private purchase of Insurance Acquisition Class A common stock that will close concurrently with the business combination. Insurance Acquisition has committed to register these private shares shortly following the closing of the combination. The combined company will retain up to $300M of cash following the transaction, which will be used to support working capital and fund growth. The boards of directors of both Insurance Acquisition Corp. and Shift unanimously approved the transaction. The proposed transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2020, pending stockholder approval of both Insurance Acquisition Corp. and Shift, and is subject to customary regulatory and other closing conditions.

07:11 EDT Gilead says remdesivir treatment to be priced at $2,340 per U.S. patient

07:10 EDT Sol-Gel signs agreements with Perrigo for three generic product candidates - Sol-Gel Technologies (SLGL) announced that it has entered into collaborative agreements with Perrigo Company (PRGO), for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of three new, generic product candidates. Consistent with Sol-Gel's prior agreements with Perrigo, Perrigo will seek regulatory approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for these generic product candidates. If approved by the FDA, Perrigo will lead the commercialization efforts for the generic product candidates in the United States. Sol-Gel and Perrigo will share the development costs and any gross profits generated from potential sales of the generic product candidates. Separately, Sol-Gel notes that Bausch Health Companies (BHC) filed a patent infringement action regarding Perrigo's Abbreviated New Drug Application for a generic version of Bryhali lotion, 0.01%, for the treatment of plaque psoriasis in adults. The halobetasol propionate lotion, 0.01%, development is covered under a previous collaboration between Sol-Gel and Perrigo.

07:06 EDT GenMark announces commercial launch of ePlex Respiratory Pathogen Panel 2 - GenMark Diagnostics announced that its ePlex Respiratory Pathogen 2 Panel is now available for U.S. commercial distribution and clinical use. The ePlex RP2 Panel is one of the first rapid-result multiplex panel tests that can identify 21 pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, to be made available for clinical use. The company also submitted an Emergency Use Authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the ePlex Respiratory Pathogen 2 Panel earlier this month. The ePlex RP2 Panel is designed to provide results for SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes COVID-19 - in addition to a number of other common respiratory pathogens, including influenza, adenovirus, rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus, in under two hours. The panel also includes a new, simplified workflow making it even easier for labs to run the test. The ability to quickly determine the cause of infections will be vital in the fall and winter when many of these respiratory pathogens are likely to be circulating, along with SARS-CoV-2. Incorporating the SARS-CoV-2 assay into the existing ePlex RP Panel is intended to streamline the diagnostic process for hospitals by allowing them to check for multiple pathogens with a single test, saving time and resources and improving bed management. A study at two acute large tertiary care hospitals demonstrated that using the ePlex RP panel in the Emergency Department led to earlier patient results which resulted in an 8.4% reduction in hospital admissions.

07:05 EDT Aquestive Therapeutics files IND for PK trials of AQST-108 - Aquestive Therapeutics announced that it has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for pharmacokinetic clinical trials of its drug candidate AQST-108, a "first of its kind" oral sublingual film formulation delivering systemic epinephrine that is in development for the treatment of anaphylaxis using Aquestive's proprietary PharmFilm technologies. The Company intends to initiate its planned PK trials before the year end 2020. Aquestive plans to initiate its PK clinical trials of AQST-108 in a crossover study to compare the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of epinephrine administered as sublingual film to that of epinephrine administered as an injection. As proposed by Aquestive and confirmed by the FDA at the pre-IND meeting held in February 2020, the clinical development for AQST-108 will be reviewed under the 505(b)(2) regulatory approval pathway. The FDA acknowledged that there appears to be an unmet medical need among patients who resist the standard of care use of subcutaneous and intramuscular injection in the treatment of anaphylaxis. The Company believes that AQST-108 may potentially address some of those unmet needs.

07:04 EDT Neptune Wellness receives cannabis sales license from Health Canada - Neptune Wellness announced it has been authorized by Health Canada to sell cannabis products to provinces and territories. This sales license includes edibles, vapes, extracts and topicals, including beverage products. This authorization adds to previously held processing license and will expand Neptune's cannabis operations to include proprietary branded products. Additionally, the authorization enhances the capabilities of the company's white label offerings, providing incremental value and service offerings to its B2B customers. In addition to the sales license, Neptune's cold storage and added operating space have been approved for operation. The enlarged cold storage and approved space in the Sherbooke facility provide greater capacity to process larger volumes of product and store at low temperature to protect product. The increased storage adds to Neptune's logistic capabilities and provides incremental solutions to the company's clients.

07:02 EDT Lilis Energy voluntarily files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - Lilis Energy announced that it has filed petitions under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code to initiate voluntary cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. The Chapter 11 petitions were filed in accordance with a Restructuring Support Agreement entered into among the Company and certain of its subsidiaries, certain investment funds and entities affiliated with Varde Partners, which collectively own all of the Company's outstanding preferred stock, a subordinated portion of the indebtedness outstanding under the Company's Second Amended and Restated Senior Secured Revolving Credit Agreement, a portion of the Company's common stock, and all other lenders under the Credit Agreement. Under the RSA, the Company and its subsidiaries, the RBL Lenders and the Varde Funds have agreed, subject to certain conditions set forth in the RSA, to support a restructuring of the Company and its subsidiaries under a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization to be proposed with terms set forth in the RSA. Such Plan, if consummated, is expected to reduce the Company's funded debt obligations by more than $34.9 million, and right-size the Company's bank indebtedness for future operations. The Plan contemplated by the RSA further provides that shares of the Company's common stock will be canceled for no consideration. The Company believes it is unlikely that the holders of shares of its common stock will receive any consideration for their shares under any plan approved by the Court, irrespective of whether such plan contemplates terms consistent with or similar to those agreed upon in the RSA. Consummation of any restructuring plan will be subject to confirmation by the Court and the satisfaction, or waiver by appropriate parties, of any conditions set forth in such plan and related transaction documents. The Company expects to continue to operate in the ordinary course throughout the restructuring process without material disruption to vendors, suppliers and partners. The Plan is contingent upon the Varde Funds' election to provide, on or before August 17, 2020, an agreed equity commitment and provision of additional debtor-in-possession financing. In the event the Varde Funds elect not to provide DIP financing and to make the equity investment in the Company or the Plan contemplated in the RSA is not otherwise pursued, the RSA provides that the Company will pursue an agreed sales process with respect to its assets. The RSA is also subject to termination by the RBL Lenders and the Varde Funds in the event certain milestones in the reorganization process are not met. With the filing, and subject to court approval, the Company has received a commitment from its bank lenders under its Credit Agreement to provide up to $15.0 million in DIP financing. The Company anticipates up to $5.0 million will be available on an interim basis. With the Company's usual operating cash flows, these financings are expected to provide sufficient liquidity for the Company to continue to operate in the ordinary course through the restructuring process. Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. is serving as legal advisor to the Company, Barclays Capital is serving as investment banker for the Company, and Opportune LLP is serving as restructuring advisor to the Company. On June 27, 2020, Markus Specks resigned as a director of the Company. Under their rights as holders of the Company's outstanding preferred stock, the Varde Funds named Mr. Nicholas Winter, a Managing Director of Varde Partners, Inc. as their new designated director, replacing Mr. Specks.

07:01 EDT Wex announces $400M investment from Warburg Pincus - WEX announced it has agreed to a $400M investment from an affiliate of Warburg Pincus LLC which includes convertible notes in an aggregate principal amount of $310M and $90M in common stock through a private placement. The Private Placement is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the next several days. Importantly, WEX has also obtained an amendment to its existing senior secured credit facilities, providing WEX with increased financial flexibility. The combination of the investment and the credit agreement amendment will strengthen WEX's financial profile and will enable the company to remain focused on its strategic initiatives as it navigates the global COVID-19 pandemic. "We are pleased to further fortify our balance sheet during the current uncertain operating environment while reaffirming our relationship with Warburg Pincus, who has demonstrated their strong commitment to the future growth of WEX," said Melissa Smith, WEX's Chair and CEO. Smith continued, "The combination of this investment and the recent credit agreement amendment put us in an even stronger financial position with additional financial flexibility, improved liquidity and increased cash on hand. This better positions us to remain focused on our long-term strategic initiatives to drive our future success, and capitalize on the economic recovery when market conditions improve."

06:53 EDT Descartes Systems platform selected by DHL Aviation - Descartes Systems announced that Brussels-based DHL Aviation has selected Descartes' global air messaging gateway as its platform to standardize electronic messaging with its global customer base, including freight-forwarding organizations, other airlines, postal service operators and express courier companies, as well as ground handling agents, or GHAs. DHL will also deploy Descartes air shipment management, or ASM, and Descartes AEI, a solution to collect, prepare and submit the required advance electronic information for global air cargo security filings to a range of countries worldwide.

06:23 EDT U.S. Auto Parts added to Russell 2000 Index

06:14 EDT CytoDyn, NIH of Mexico complete MOU to conduct small COVID-19 trial - CytoDyn announced the Company and the Coordinating Commission of the National Institutes of Health and High Specialty Hospitals of Mexico, or NIH, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, to conduct a COVID-19 clinical trial with leronlimab for severe and critically ill patients, with the potential to collaborate on additional COVID-19 trials. The NIH of Mexico is an organization that coordinates the main institutions of medical care and public research in the country. The MOU provides CytoDyn will supply leronlimab at its expense to the NIH and both parties are proceeding forward expeditiously to complete the mutually agreed protocol for this clinical trial.

06:12 EDT Tuniu regains compliance with Nasdaq - Tuniu announced that it received a notification letter from the Listing Qualifications Department of the Nasdaq Stock Market dated June 26, indicating that the Company has regained compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1) and the matter is closed.

06:06 EDT NetScout announces cloud collaboration with Oracle - NetScout (NTCT) announced that it is collaborating with Oracle (ORCL) to help customers gain end-to-end visibility for service assurance and security of mission-critical applications and services across their hybrid cloud infrastructures. NetScout is a gold level member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork, or OPN. NetScout's vStream and virtual nGeniusOne are now available from the Oracle Cloud Marketplace, offering Oracle Cloud customers application visibility and the ability to leverage information contained in application and network traffic for real-time telemetry. This enables I.T. teams to gain visibility and perform monitoring and troubleshooting of their critical services, regardless of the application or underlying infrastructure, with the ability to provide the forensics needed for responses. Deployable from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, the nGeniusOne platform uses ISNG software, appliances, and vStream agents, to provide service assurance by identifying developing service delivery problems across any hybrid cloud environment. It analyzes network and application traffic to deliver end-to-end visibility into the availability and performance of applications, networks, service enablers and end-users.

06:01 EDT CNOOC announces 'significant' discovery of Huizhou 26-6 - CNOOC announced that the Company made a significant discovery of Huizhou 26-6 in Eastern South China Sea. CNOOC said in a release, "It is expected to become the first mid-to-large sized condensate oil and gas field in the shallow water area of Pearl River Mouth Basin. The Huizhou 26-6 structure is located in Huizhou Sag in Zhu1 Depression of Pearl River Mouth Basin in Eastern South China Sea with an average water depth of about 113 meters. The discovery well HZ26-6-1 was drilled and completed at a depth of 4,276 meters and encountered oil and gas pay zones with a total thickness of approximately 422.2 meters. The well was tested to produce around 2,020 barrels of oil and 15.36 million cubic feet of gas respectively per day. The successful exploration of Huizhou 26-6 oil and gas structure is the first time that the Company has achieved commercial and highly productive oil and gas flow in buried hill exploration in Eastern South China Sea, marking a significant exploration breakthrough in Paleogene and buried hill complex oil and gas reservoir in Pearl River Mouth Basin, and further proving the huge exploration potential in this new field."

05:57 EDT Rio Tinto reaches power supply deal with Mongolia for Oyu Tolgoi mine - Rio Tinto, Turquoise Hill and the Government of Mongolia have reached an agreement on the preferred domestic power solution for Oyu Tolgoi that paves the way for the Government to fund and construct a State Owned Power Plant at Tavan Tolgoi. The agreement, which is a revision of the Power Source Framework Agreement signed in 2018, states that the Parties will work towards finalizing a Power Purchase Agreement by the end of March 2021. In addition, the amended PSFA sets a proposed timetable for development, with construction of the coal-fired power plant set to begin no later than July 1, 2021, and commissioning within four years thereafter. Oyu Tolgoi currently uses imported power and both the Government of Mongolia and Oyu Tolgoi have committed to extending the current arrangement to ensure continued stable power is supplied to the mine and underground project until the State Owned Power Plant is commissioned and is able to supply stable, reliable and continuous power. Arnaud Soirat, Copper & Diamonds CEO, said, "This agreement provides a potential pathway to securing a domestic power supply for the Oyu Tolgoi mine and underground project for the benefit of all shareholders and the wider community. We look forward to working with the Government of Mongolia to progress the solution."

05:49 EDT Caledonia Mining raises quarterly dividend to 8.5c per share - Mining Corporation announces that the board has declared a further increased quarterly dividend of 8.5c per share from 7.5c per share.

05:45 EDT Alexion announces EMA approval of ULTOMIRIS - Alexion Pharmaceuticals announced that the European Commission has approved ULTOMIRIS-the first and only long-acting C5 complement inhibitor administered every eight weeks-for the treatment of adults and children with a body weight of 10 kg or above with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, or aHUS, who are complement inhibitor treatment-naive or have received SOLIRIS for at least three months and have evidence of response to eculizumab. Alexion said in a release, "The European Commission approval is based on data from two global, single-arm open-label studies of ULTOMIRIS - one in adults and one in children, referred to as pediatrics in the study - with aHUS. Both studies are ongoing. A total of 18 out of 21 complement inhibitor treatment-naive children and 56 out of 58 complement inhibitor treatment-naive adults were enrolled and included in the interim analysis. The FDA approved ULTOMIRIS for the treatment of aHUS to inhibit TMA for adult and pediatric (one month of age and older) patients in October 2019."

05:42 EDT AVITA Medical implements scheme to redomicile to U.S. from Australia - AVITA Medical announced that the scheme of arrangement to effect the redomiciliation of the Company and its subsidiaries from Australia to the United States of America has been implemented. AVITA said in a release, "As previously announced, the Scheme was approved by the Company's shareholders at the Scheme meeting held via live webcast on 15 June 2020 and approved by the Federal Court of Australia on June 22. In accordance with the Scheme, all ordinary shares in the Company have today been transferred to AVITA Therapeutics, Inc. (Avita US), a company incorporated in the State of Delaware in the United States of America. Avita US is now the sole shareholder in the Company and the ultimate parent company of the Avita Group."

05:13 EDT KKR acquires stake in First Gen through voluntary tender offer - KKR announced that, following the completion of the voluntary tender offer period by Valorous Asia Holdings, an entity owned by KKR investment funds, the Offeror has accepted all of the 427,041,291 common shares of First Gen Corporation that were tendered by shareholders at the close of the tender offer, representing approximately 11.9% of First Gen's outstanding common shares. KKR said in a release, "The Offeror intends to acquire all of these tendered common shares at a price of 45c per common share on July 1, the cross date previously set out in the Offeror's tender documents, representing a total investment value of $192.2M. First Gen is one of the Philippines' largest independent power producers and is a subsidiary of First Philippine Holdings Corporation. First Philippine Holdings is controlled by the Lopez family and is one of the most established conglomerates in the Philippines. The Company primarily generates power through renewable energy and indigenous fuel sources such as natural gas, geothermal energy from steam, hydro-electric, wind, and solar power. First Gen has 3,492 megawatts of installed capacity in its portfolio, which accounted for 21% of the Philippines' gross power generation in 2019. KKR makes its investment from its Asia Pacific infrastructure strategy."