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

20:53 EST Lipocine gets 'tentative approval' of Tlando by FDA - The company states: "Lipocine announced that the FDA has granted tentative approval to TLANDO, its oral testosterone product for testosterone replacement therapy in adult males indicated for conditions associated with a deficiency or absence of endogenous testosterone: primary hypogonadism and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. In granting tentative approval, the FDA has concluded that TLANDO has met all required quality, safety and efficacy standards necessary for approval, but TLANDO has not received final approval and is not eligible for final approval and marketing in the U.S. until the expiration of the exclusivity period previously granted to Clarus Therapeutics, Inc. with respect to Jatenzo(R), which expires on March 27, 2022. Lipocine is currently reviewing FDA's tentative approval of TLANDO and remains committed to taking appropriate actions with the goal of receiving final approval to permit the launch of TLANDO. The FDA has also required Lipocine to conduct certain post-marketing studies to (i) assess patient understanding of key risks relating to TLANDO and (ii) evaluate development of adrenal insufficiency with chronic TLANDO therapy."

20:45 EST Lipocine says Tlando was not approved by FDA, deletes erroneous website info - The company states: "Lipocine announced that an independent contractor posted on Lipocine's website, without authorization from Lipocine, statements suggesting that TLANDO was approved by the FDA. TLANDO has not received final approval from the FDA. Upon learning of the unauthorized posting to its website, Lipocine deleted the incorrect posting."

20:11 EST Sorrento Therapeutics gets CLIA licensure from CA for clinical sample testing - Sorrento Therapeutics announced that it has received CLIA Licensure from the State of California that permits testing of clinical samples. The Company intends to initially focus on testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection but expects to expand to include immuno-oncology tests to support its clinical trials.

19:02 EST Tricida falls 10% to $7.30 after updating on Veverimer, revising VALOR-CKD trial - Shares of Tricida are down 10.1% or 82c at $7.30 after the company updated on the development of its veverimer drug and also revised the protocol for VALOR-CKD outcome trial. The company stated: "Tricida announced key updates on veverimer's development program, regulatory status and patent protection. Tricida has revised the protocol for its VALOR-CKD outcome trial. The VALOR-CKD trial evaluates the effect of treating metabolic acidosis with veverimer on the clinical endpoint of slowing of CKD progression. The trial protocol previously had an adaptive design and included an unblinded interim analysis for sample size re-estimation. The revised protocol has a group sequential design, no interim analysis for sample size adjustment, and unblinded interim analyses for early stopping for efficacy after 150 primary endpoint events, anticipated in the second half of 2021, and 250 primary endpoint events, anticipated in mid-2022, have accrued. The interim analyses will be conducted by an independent unblinded Interim Analysis Committee, and the trial will remain blinded unless it is stopped early for efficacy. If this trial is successful, Tricida intends for it to serve as the confirmatory trial for accelerated approval or form the basis for traditional approval of veverimer. As of December 7, 2020, the VALOR-CKD trial has randomized 1,277 of 1,600 subjects with an average treatment duration of approximately one year and has accrued 50 of the 511 required subjects with positively adjudicated primary endpoint events. In response to feedback from the FDA at the End-of-Review Type A Meeting, recruitment has been closed in all regions except for the United States, Canada and Western Europe. Recruitment completion is projected to occur by the end of 2022. Tricida currently has the financial resources to fund our operations into at least mid-2022, prior to modifying any of its material agreements. Cash, cash equivalents and investments as of September 30, 2020 were approximately $376M. Tricida currently has $75M principal amount of debt with Hercules which has a final maturity of April 2023 and has $200M in outstanding principal amount of 3.5% Convertible Senior Notes which mature in May 2027."

18:48 EST Hain Celestial CEO: We've become a much more focused company - In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Mark Schiller said he was brought in to change Hain from a holding company to an operating company. It has shed 17 brands over the past 18 months. Health and wellness is in the core DNA of the company, he said. It is well-positioned to serve health-conscious consumers. The brands the company has chosen to focus on have great growth potential, Schiller noted.

18:42 EST Realty Income raises monthly cash dividend to 23.45c per share from 23.4c - Realty Income Corporation announced its Board of Directors has declared an increase in the company's common stock monthly cash dividend to 23.45c per share from 23.4c per share. The dividend is payable on January 15, 2021 to shareholders of record as of January 4, 2021. This is the 109th dividend increase since Realty Income's listing on the NYSE in 1994. The ex-dividend date for January's dividend is December 31, 2020. The new monthly dividend represents an annualized dividend amount of $2.814 per share as compared to the current annualized dividend amount of $2.808 per share.

18:33 EST Tetra Tech CEO sells 50K shares of common stock - In a regulatory filing, Tetra Tech disclosed that its CEO Dan Batrack sold 50K shares of common stock on December 4th in a total transaction size of $6.07M. The sale represents about 20% of his total shares owned.

18:27 EST Chewy CEO: We are surprising and delighting customers - In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Sumit Singh said, "We've made it part of our mission to be there for our pet parents." Chewy has the most forward and friendly policies in the pet industry, according to Singh. Chewy's growth is based on the value proposition the company brings to the market, Singh said. 2020 has been a tremendous boost to the growth curve the company was already seeing, Singh noted, as several quarters of growth were compressed into this year.

18:10 EST Omnicell jumps 16.5% to $128 after reported takeover interest from Baxter

18:02 EST DoorDash to price IPO at $102, above $90-$95 range, CNBC's Leslie Picker tweets

17:18 EST United States Lime & Minerals CEO Timothy Byrne sells over $438K in shares - United States Lime & Minerals CEO Timothy Byrne sold 4,000 shares of stock at $109.54 per share December 4 through December 7. The total transaction value of the sale was $438,154.

17:00 EST Atlantic Power announces one-year extension of its Calstock PPA - Atlantic Power announced a one-year extension of its Calstock Power Purchase Agreement and a final settlement of the insurance claim for its Cadillac plant. Calstock is an approximately 35 megawatt biomass plant located in Hearst, Ontario. The offtaker under the PPA is the Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation. The PPA was originally scheduled to expire in June 2020 but prior to that date was extended to December 2020 on existing terms. The second extension, which is also on existing terms, runs to December 16, 2021. The extension provides the provincial government additional time to consider future options for addressing mill waste in the province, including a potential new PPA for Calstock. The extension could be terminated early by mutual agreement if the Company is successful in securing a new contract. The PPA extension, which is effective December 17, 2020, does not result in a change to the company's 2020 Project Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $175M-$190M. Separately, earlier this month, the company executed a final settlement of its insurance claim for the Cadillac plant, under which it will receive final payments from the insurers totaling approximately $10.1M. The outcome was consistent with the company's expectation. The cash is expected to be received by year-end 2020, which would allow the company to record business interruption insurance recoveries to income in the fourth quarter of 2020.

16:46 EST Univar expands distribution agreement with Solvay Novecare - Univar Solutions announced an expanded distribution agreement with Solvay Group's Novecare Coatings and Industrial Process Solutions business units to distribute their coatings products in the United States and industrial products in the United States and Canada. As the only national distributor for Solvay in the coatings and industrial businesses, Univar Solutions will leverage its reach, technical expertise and knowledge in these markets to broaden the availability of Solvay products across the United States and Canada. Novecare Coatings chemistries are used in everything from paints and adhesives to inks and waterborne and architectural coatings. Applications for the industrial product lines include lubricants and metalworking, metal cleaning and finishing, automotive, and chemical manufacturing.

16:36 EST S&W provides update on proprietary seed trait technology products - S&W Seed "Over the past few years, S&W has made significant progress toward its evolution into a completely integrated agricultural seed company. Key to that transformation has been the development, and now the commercial launch, of proprietary seed trait technology products," commented Mark Wong, CEO of S&W Seed Company. "The commercialization of these products is anticipated to transform the operating profile of S&W into a high growth, high margin business, with more than 50% of our gross profit contribution within the next decade expected to come from these new tech products. With a highly accomplished management team that has successfully developed, marketed, licensed, and sold similar trait technologies over the years, I am highly optimistic that S&W is entering a new era." Management has conducted substantial market research to assess the combined potential opportunity for the Company's three lead trait technology products and its core non-tech business. FY 2024 total revenue of $130Mn with $13Mof adjusted EBITDA. $12M of FY 2024 total revenue expected to come from technology products, encompassing seed, trait and license revenue. FY 2026 total revenue of $176M with $34M of adjusted EBITDA. $35M of FY 2026 total revenue expected to come from technology products, encompassing seed, trait and license revenue. FY 2031 total revenue of $234 million with $69 million of adjusted EBITDA. $70 million of FY 2031 total revenue expected to come from technology products, encompassing seed, trait and license revenue. More than 50% of the Company's gross profit contribution within next decade is expected to come from new trait technology products. Revenue, excluding new trait technology products, is anticipated to grow at 18.4% CAGR through FY 2024, 15.4% CAGR through FY 2026, and 9.6% CAGR

16:36 EST UPS names Darrell Ford as Chief Human Resources - UPS (UPS) announced the appointment of DuPont (DD) Chief Human Resources Officer Darrell Ford to the position of UPS Chief Human Resources Officer. Charlene Thomas, UPS's current Chief Human Resources Officer, will assume the role of Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, a new position on the company's Executive Leadership Team. Both appointments are effective January 1, 2021. Most recently, Ford led DuPont's H.R. functions and activities, and was integral in helping shape the company's culture, with a focus on talent to increase customer and shareholder value. He achieved similar results in previous leadership roles with Xerox, Advanced Micro Devices, Shell and Honeywell during his 30-year career. Thomas began her UPS career in 1989 and has progressed through various leadership roles at the company. In addition to her extensive operations knowledge, she has experience in global marketing and training and development. In her current role as CHRO, Charlene led the transformation of UPS's global H.R. team, developing a new strategy for talent and performance management, leadership and culture for UPS's 528,000 employees.

16:32 EST SmileDirectClub granted new patent for SmileShop retail concept - SmileDirectClub announced it has secured a second patent from the United States Patent & Trademark Office for its SmileShop retail concept and digital methodology for the delivery of clear aligner treatment to consumers. The patent, U.S. Patent No. 10,861,599, further strengthens protection for SmileDirectClub's groundbreaking method for bringing affordable, accessible oral care to more people through its telehealth platform. The patent further ensures no clear aligner competitor will be able to duplicate SmileDirectClub's unique model for 18 years.

16:31 EST FDA accepts BLA for Pfizer's pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for priority review - Pfizer announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted for priority review a Biologics License Application for its 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidate, as submitted for the prevention of invasive disease and pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes in the vaccine in adults ages 18 years and older. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date for a decision by the FDA on the 20vPnC application is in June 2021. "The FDA's acceptance of our application for 20vPnC is yet another significant milestone in Pfizer's continuing efforts to help protect adults against pneumococcal disease," said Kathrin U. Jansen, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Head of Vaccine Research and Development, Pfizer. "If approved, 20vPnC will cover more serotypes responsible for the majority of pneumococcal disease than any other pneumococcal conjugate vaccine currently licensed or currently in late-stage clinical development. Importantly, 20vPnC has shown to induce immune memory, which provides protection and efficacy against non-bacteremic pneumonia, particularly in older adults."

16:31 EST FireEye falls 8% to $14.26 per share after disclosing cyber attack in 8-K filing

16:27 EST VMware COO Rajiv Ramaswami resigns to pursue external opportunity - In a regulatory filing, the company states: "Rajiv Ramaswami resigned his position as VMware, Inc.'s chief operating officer, products and cloud services effective December 7, 2020 in order to pursue an external opportunity. Raghu Raghuram, VMware's chief operating officer, products and cloud services, has taken over Mr. Ramaswami's former responsibilities."

16:24 EST Applied Materials appoints Rani Borkar to its Board of Directors - Applied Materials announced Rani Borkar will join its Board of Directors effective Dec. 14. Ms. Borkar brings decades of expertise in semiconductor design and computing systems development to Applied and will serve on the Board's Strategy and Investment Committee."Rani is a well-respected technology leader and product visionary, and we look forward to her contributions as we drive growth and build long-term shareholder value for Applied Materials," said Tom Iannotti, Chairman of the Board of Applied Materials. "Her experience in chip design and cloud computing provide valuable insights as Applied looks to expand its ecosystem engagements from materials to systems." Ms. Borkar is currently Corporate Vice President, Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure at Microsoft Corporation. In this role she leads the core organizations building Microsoft's leading cloud computing platform, including silicon, systems and supply chain. Ms. Borkar has extensive experience in cutting-edge semiconductor design having served in engineering and executive roles at IBM Corporation and Intel Corporation. At Intel, where she spent 27 years of her career, Ms. Borkar was most recently Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Product Development Group, overseeing all processor and System-on-a-Chip (SoC) development for PC clients, servers, phones and tablets.

16:22 EST Tattooed Chef expands product range with meal alternatives - Tattooed Chef announced it has expanded its product range with meat alternatives, offering an approach on plant protein with the taste and texture of real meat. Tattooed Chef's plant-based pepperoni and plant-based sausage crumbles are currently featured in two new items and available in the club channel nationwide. Tattooed Chef's plant-based pepperoni and plant-based sausage crumbles are gluten-free and made with real food ingredients. The company expects to launch three additional items featuring meat alternatives in the club channel in 2021.

16:22 EST Chewy reports Q3 active customers up 39.8% at 17,788 - Reports Q3 net sales per active customer up 0.8% at $363.

16:21 EST MAA raises quarterly dividend 2.5% to $1.025 per share - MAA announced that its board of directors approved a quarterly dividend payment of $1.025 per share of common stock to be paid on January 29, 2021 to shareholders of record on January 15, 2021, representing a 2.5% increase over the prior rate. The increase will raise the annualized dividend payout to $4.10 per share of common stock, an increase of 10c per share from the prior dividend level. This is MAA's eleventh consecutive annual increase of its common dividend.

16:20 EST Erie Indemnity approves management fee rate, raises dividend - At its regular meeting held Dec. 8, 2020, the Board of Directors of Erie Indemnity Company set the management fee rate charged to Erie Insurance Exchange, approved an increase in shareholder dividends and declared the quarterly dividend and a special cash dividend. Erie Indemnity Company has paid regular shareholder dividends since 1933. The Board agreed to maintain the current management fee rate paid to Erie Indemnity Company by Erie Insurance Exchange at 25%, effective Jan. 1, 2021. The management fee rate was 25% for the period Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2020. The Board has the authority under the agreement with the subscribers at Erie Insurance Exchange to set the management fee rate at its discretion; however, the maximum fee rate permissible by the agreement is 25%. This action was taken based on the Board's consideration and review of the relative financial positions of Erie Insurance Exchange and Erie Indemnity Company. The Board also agreed to increase the regular quarterly cash dividend from 96.5c to $1.035 on each Class A share and from $144.75 to $155.25 on each Class B share. This represents a 7.3% increase in the payout per share over the current dividend rate. The next regular quarterly dividend is payable Jan. 20, 2021, to shareholders of record as of Jan. 5, 2021, with a dividend ex-date of Jan. 4, 2021. The Board also declared a special one-time cash dividend of $2.00 on each Class A share and $300.00 on each Class B share. This special cash dividend is payable Dec. 29, 2020, to shareholders of record as of Dec. 21, 2020, with a dividend ex-date of Dec. 18, 2020.

16:18 EST ProPhase Labs expands COVID testing capacity with location in Garden City ,NY - ProPhase Labs announced that it has continued its CLIA Lab rollout with the execution of a lease for a 25,000 square foot facility in Garden City, New York. This new lab, like the Company's first lab in Old Bridge, New Jersey, will provide a wide range of laboratory testing services for diagnosis, screening and evaluation of diseases, including COVID-19 and Respiratory Pathogen PanelMolecular tests. The Company reported that the equipment needed to outfit the Garden City lab has already been ordered and the Company is in the process of recruiting and hiring the necessary technical staff to operate the new lab. When fully ramped up, the new facility could bring as many as 100 new jobs to Garden City, New York. Ted Karkus, CEO of ProPhase Labs, stated: "We expect to be able to start processing COVID-19 tests in our new lab by mid-January and are seeking to build capacity to process up to 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day by the end of Q1 2021. We are also ahead of schedule with the development of our first CLIA lab in New Jersey. Our original goal was to have capacity there to process 8,000 to 10,000 tests per day in Q1 2021. We will achieve this goal well before year-end. Future goals include diversification into other areas of high margin diagnostic molecular testing."

16:17 EST MasterCard raises quarterly dividend to 44c from 40c pe share - The cash dividend will be paid on February 9, 2021 to holders of record of its Class A common stock and Class B common stock as of January 8, 2021.

16:15 EST Phreesia says more COVID-19 restrictions could impact patient visits - "Given the unknown timeline and the near-term uncertainty of COVID-19 on our business, there continues to be uncertainty as to the extent to which the global COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact our business operations, financial performance, and results of operations at this time," the company said. "Further, due to recent surges of COVID-19 cases in many states, or a second wave, we may see quarantines and additional restrictions being put in place again, which could impact patient visits across our provider clients similar to the trends during the earlier periods of the pandemic."

16:14 EST Chewy says 'private label was strong contributor' in Q3 - The company states: "Private label was a strong contributor in the quarter, as private label hardgood penetration reached 16%. Our seasonal businesses, such as Halloween, were also strong, improving private label merchandise mix by 20 points, to 70%, showcasing the quality and appeal of our newly launched proprietary assortment. This helped grow total third-quarter hardgoods sales, which includes both thirdparty and private label hardgoods, by more than 70% compared to last year."

16:12 EST AeroVironment acquires Telerob for roughly $45.4M in cash - AeroVironment announced the acquisition of Telerob, a German robotics company, for approximately $45.4 million in cash plus a three-year, milestone-based earn-out of up to $7.3 million and the payoff of $9.4 million in debt at closing. The company expects the acquisition to be accretive to non-GAAP EPS in fiscal 2022. Upon closing, Telerob will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AeroVironment. The acquisition remains subject to German government clearance and is expected to close by Spring 2021. "Acquiring Telerob, a leader in ground robotic solutions, gives us the opportunity to offer a broader portfolio of highly complementary robotic solutions to a larger set of global customers. We have already submitted a joint proposal for a multi-year United States Air Force robotics program and have also identified multiple U.S. and international opportunities that we plan to pursue in the future. This acquisition supports our goal of transforming AeroVironment into a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic solutions for defense and commercial customers. Telerob's ground robotics solutions and global footprint will enhance our offering and customer base, levering our strong financial foundation and positioning us to continue creating long-term shareholder value," Mr. Nawabi added.

16:11 EST GameStop expects positive comparable store sales results in Q4 - The company said, "The Company continues to focus on efforts that position it to manage through this unprecedented time, including maintaining its balance sheet strength, prioritizing the allocation of resources to areas of the business that produce strong cash flow, reducing expenses across the business, developing and expanding its digital strategy, and intensifying inventory discipline. Due to the uncertainty around the duration and evolving impact of COVID-19, the Company is continuing to suspend guidance, however it expects to realize positive comparable store sales results and profitability in the fiscal fourth quarter. For fiscal November 2020, comparable store sales increased 16.5% and total net sales were $791.1 million compared to $747.6 million in fiscal November 2019."

16:10 EST Rush Enterprises announces new $100M share repurchase program - Rush Enterprises announced that its Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase program authorizing the Company to repurchase, from time to time, up to an aggregate of $100Mn of its shares of Class A common stock, $.01 par value per share, and/or Class B common stock, $.01 par value per share. The Company also announced a $500 holiday appreciation gift to employees to be paid on December 15. "I am pleased to announce the approval of a new $100 million stock repurchase program, said W.M. "Rusty" Rush, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company. "While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted our business and caused many uncertainties in our industry and the global economy, we believe that our financial performance through the third quarter has demonstrated that we are able to generate cash in a difficult economic environment and in all cycles of the truck market, and that our strategy is working," Rush stated. "As we look forward to 2021, our first priority in allocating capital will continue to be investing in our strategy to grow our market share in both heavy- and medium-duty commercial vehicle sales and aftermarket parts and service sales. We remain confident that we can continue to invest in our growth strategy while also continuing to return capital to shareholders, even in this challenging business environment, as evidenced by our most recent quarterly dividend payment, which, in connection with the recent stock split, increased the dividend to our shareholders by 50% from the prior quarterly dividend," Rush added. This new stock repurchase program replaces the Company's prior $100 million stock repurchase program. As of December 2, 2020, the Company had repurchased $23.5 million worth of shares of its common stock under the prior stock repurchase program, which was scheduled to expire on December 31, 2020, and was terminated effective December 3, 2020.

16:09 EST MongoDB CEO says Q3 revenue growth 'well ahead of our expectations' - "MongoDB continued to perform at a high level in the third quarter, highlighted by revenue growth that was well ahead of our expectations. The strength of our product platform and go-to-market execution has established MongoDB as a key strategic partner for any organization looking to innovate quickly to seize new opportunities or to respond to new threats," said Dev Ittycheria, President and CEO of MongoDB.

16:07 EST HTG Molecular announces Early Access Program for transcriptome panel - HTG Molecular Diagnostics announced that it has launched an Early Access Program for its whole transcriptome panel using the HTG EdgeSeq technology.The Early Access Program is intended to allow select customers access to the panel in their laboratories or through services to be performed in our development laboratory prior to commercial launch of this product. HTG announced the completion of proof of concept for a prototype whole transcriptome panel and demonstrated technical feasibility in November 2020. The panel is expected to allow for analysis of the entire known human transcriptome while retaining the advantages of HTG's smaller targeted panels, including the ability to run small sample sizes without requiring RNA isolation and purification and the ability to successfully process low-quality samples. "The Early Access Program is intended to allow HTG to collaborate with key opinion leaders in academia and pharmaceutical companies to evaluate our prototype whole transcriptome panel and associated simplified workflow in a real-world setting, providing a more thorough assessment of different user experiences," said Byron Lawson, Chief Commercial Officer. "Comparison of collaborator experiences across many of the most prevalent oncology and immune indications is expected to provide us with valuable insight into the capabilities of this panel and help guide our next development steps as we progress towards commercial launch in mid-2021."

16:06 EST Four Corners Property Trust acquires 13 KFC properties for $21.7M - Four Corners Property Trust announces the acquisition of a portfolio of 13 KFC properties for $21.7M. The portfolio is located in Alabama and occupied under two, identical, triple-net master leases to one of the largest franchisees in the country with approximately 14 years of term remaining and annual rent increases of 2%. The transaction was priced at a cap rate in range with previous FCPT transactions.

16:06 EST Illumina and Harvard Pilgrim Health expand access to whole-genome sequencing - The company states: "llumina and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care announce a risk-sharing agreement to make whole-genome sequencing available to certain Harvard Pilgrim members, effective January 1, 2021. The program will leverage WGS to support faster diagnoses of genetic diseases in children, potentially eliminating the long, costly diagnostic odyssey experienced by many families, with the goal of improving patient outcomes. Diagnosing genetic diseases often takes many years and diagnostic testing costs can exceed $10-20,000 for some patients. Through this agreement, Harvard Pilgrim and Illumina will work together to evaluate how insurance coverage of WGS impacts patient care and healthcare costs. To date, there are more than 20 peer-reviewed publications demonstrating the clinical utility of WGS in over 3,000 patients with suspected genetic diseases. Health economic models predict that implementing WGS earlier in the diagnostic workup is likely to be cost-neutral or even save payers money."

16:05 EST John Schnatter says Freeh report 'sets the record straight' - John Schnatter, the founder and former CEO and Chairman of Papa John's International, issued the following statement: "Judge [Louis] Freeh's investigation coincides with what I have said all along - that my comments in May 2018, which clearly reflected my total disdain for racism, were reversed and mischaracterized by the media to damage my reputation and harm the company I founded, built, and love. The report sets the record straight about the media attacks that delivered tremendous economic harm to the franchisees and employees of Papa John's. It also shows that the Papa John's leadership failed to protect me as the founder and face of the brand... While Judge Freeh's report is important for detailing the facts of what really happened, there's a lot more of the story to come. For instance, we now know unequivocally through my lawsuit that the effort to destroy my character was a malicious set-up perpetrated by executives at the Papa John's ad firm, Laundry Service, actively supported by certain board members of Papa John's International."

16:01 EST Lattice Semiconductor launches 2nd generation security solution FPGAA - The company states: "Lattice Semiconductor announced the Lattice Mach-NX FPGA family, the second generation in its successful line of secure control FPGAs. Building on the capabilities of the Lattice MachXO3D(TM) family announced in 2019, Mach-NX FPGAs deliver heightened security features and the fast, power-efficient processing needed to implement a real-time Hardware Root-of-Trust on future server platforms, as well as computing, communications, industrial, and automotive systems. Mach-NX marks the third FPGA family developed on the Lattice Nexus FPGA platform in a year."

15:25 EST G4S announces rejection of GardaWorld's revised offer - Garda World Security Corporation announced on December 2 it had revised its unsolicited offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of G4S plc from 190 pence to 235 pence in cash per share. "The Board of G4S has carefully considered the revised GardaWorld offer with its financial and legal advisers. Whilst the Board recognises the increase in the price of the revised GardaWorld offer, the Board has unanimously decided to reject it on the basis that it continues to undervalue G4S," G4S announced. As previously reported earlier today, the boards of Allied Universal Topco and of G4S announced that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer, to be made by Atlas UK Bidco Limited, a newly incorporated entity that is indirectly controlled by Allied Universal, to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of G4S. Under the terms of the offer, G4S shareholders will be entitled to receive: 245 pence in cash for each G4S share. The offer values the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of G4S at approximately GBP 3.8B.

15:14 EST McEwen Mining reports 49% owned San Jose mine has resumed production - McEwen Mining reports that the temporary shutdown mandated by the provincial government of Santa Cruz that applied to several mines in the region has been lifted and the San Jose mine has resumed production. As detailed in a release dated November 30, "a significant increase in Covid-19 infections prompted the government to act to halt the spread," the company said. McEwen Mining owns 49% of the San Jose mine, which is operated by its 51% owner, Hochschild Mining PLC.

15:10 EST FTC sues to block Procter & Gamble's acquisition of Billie, Inc. - The Federal Trade Commission has filed an administrative complaint and authorized a suit in federal court to block The Procter & Gamble Company's proposed acquisition of Billie, Inc., a direct-to-consumer company that began selling women's razors and body care products in November 2017. "The complaint alleges that the proposed acquisition would allow P&G, the market-leading supplier of both women's and men's wet shave razors, to buy Billie, a newer but expanding maker of women's razors, and thereby eliminate growing competition that benefits consumers... Billie sells a quality, mid-tier women's system razor targeted at Generation Z and Millennial women, including through marketing attacking the practice of pricing women's razors higher than comparable men's razors-otherwise known as the "pink tax." The transaction was announced in January 2020, just over two years after Billie came to market but after it had already seen significant growth in sales," the FTC stated. The FTC will file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction to stop the deal pending an administrative trial. The trial is scheduled to begin on June 22, 2021. Reference Link

15:07 EST Penumbra trading resumes

14:45 EST Penumbra says short sellers' 'false' claims are 'baseless' - Penumbra responded to recent attacks by short sellers that it says contain "inaccurate and misleading information" regarding scientific research published by Penumbra's co-founder and Chief Innovator, Arani Bose, MD. "Dr. Arani Bose has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and scientific presentations in his more than 30-year career in the medical field. As is commonplace in the medical community, many of his papers are published under the name A. Bose, as referenced on pubmed.gov and the original scientific publications. Penumbra confirms the papers rumored to be attributed to Antik Bose are in fact attributed to Dr. Arani Bose. To imply that Dr. Arani Bose's peer-reviewed research, co-authored with a large cohort of his peers, was ever or would ever be attributed to anyone other than Dr. Arani Bose is inaccurate and conspiratorial... These claims are baseless. Penumbra is reviewing its options of how to further respond," the company said.

14:22 EST Blink Charging CEO says industry will need 13M-14M charging stations in U.S. - Blink Charging CEO Michael Farkas, while being interviewed on CNBC, said Blink's goal is to own and operate "as many as possible" of the 13M to 14M electric vehicle charging stations that he projects will be needed in the U.S.

14:04 EST Penumbra trading halted, news pending

13:52 EST Ally Financial: Core trends 'look really strong' across the bank

13:34 EST Massachusetts sues three UnitedHealth companies for 'misleading consumers' - Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced that her office has sued three companies for "misleading consumers looking for traditional health insurance into purchasing supplemental health insurance products of very limited value, cheating more than 15,000 Massachusetts residents out of more than $43.5 million since 2011." The office filed the complaint against HealthMarkets and its subsidiaries The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company and HealthMarkets Insurance Agency. The complaint alleges that the companies violated the state's consumer protection law and a prior consent judgment in the same court meant to protect consumers. The companies have been owned by UnitedHealth Group since 2019. Reference Link

13:07 EST G4S reaches agreement to be bought by Allied Universal for GBP 3.8B - The boards of Allied Universal Topco and of G4S announced that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer, to be made by Atlas UK Bidco Limited, a newly incorporated entity that is indirectly controlled by Allied Universal, to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of G4S. Under the terms of the offer, G4S shareholders will be entitled to receive: 245 pence in cash for each G4S share. The offer values the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of G4S at approximately GBP 3.8B. Allied Bidco has committed financing available to satisfy the full cash consideration payable to G4S shareholders under the terms of the offer. Allied Bidco confirmed that it has cleared U.S. antitrust review, having received early termination of the applicable waiting period under the HSR Act on November 13.

13:02 EST Amazon Web Services announces nine new SageMaker capabilities - Amazon Web Services announced nine new capabilities for its machine learning service, Amazon SageMaker, making it even easier for developers to automate and scale all steps of the end-to-end machine learning workflow. The new capabilities included Data Wrangler automated data preparation; feature storage and management; workflow management and automation; bias detection and explainability; deep profiling for Debugger model training profiler; distributed training to accelerate training times; model management for edge devices; and JumpStart to enable the "machine learning journey." "Hundreds of thousands of everyday developers and data scientists have used our industry-leading machine learning service, Amazon SageMaker, to remove barriers to building, training, and deploying custom machine learning models. One of the best parts about having such a widely-adopted service like SageMaker is that we get lots of customer suggestions which fuel our next set of deliverables," said Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President, Amazon Machine Learning, Amazon Web Services, Inc. "Today, we are announcing a set of tools for Amazon SageMaker that makes it much easier for developers to build end-to-end machine learning pipelines to prepare, build, train, explain, inspect, monitor, debug, and run custom machine learning models with greater visibility, explainability, and automation at scale."

12:57 EST HighPeak Energy Inc trading halted, volatility trading pause

12:12 EST Penumbra falls after short seller charges 'fake person' publishing core research - Shares of Penumbra are lower near midday after Quintessential Capital Management, or QCM, stated in follow-up report that it has reason to believe that Penumbra's "core scientific research" is "authored by a fake person" as part of a "sophisticated, multi-year gross deception." Quintessential Capital Management previously announced a short position in Penumbra on November 10, stating at the time that it uncovered "concealed information pertaining to catastrophic corporate malfeasance." Penumbra's flagship Jet 7 device is linked to 18 recorded deaths, Quintessential said in its prior short report. In its newly-published follow-up report, QCM accuses the company of using a "fictional character" to "hide its involvement with critical research produced with significant undisclosed conflict of interest." Near noon, shares of Penumbra are down $36.27, or 16%, to $187.75. Reference Link

12:00 EST Penumbra falls -13.0% - Penumbra is down -13.0%, or -$29.02 to $195.00.

12:00 EST Renren rises 17.4% - Renren is up 17.4%, or 95c to $6.41.

12:00 EST Cantel Medical rises 20.9% - Cantel Medical is up 20.9%, or $12.88 to $74.48.

11:34 EST CynergisTek announces cybersecurity expansion agreement with university system - CynergisTek announced that a state university system has signed a Master Service Agreement authorizing CynergisTek to offer its entire suite of high-value services to the university's diverse infrastructure, including numerous campuses, multiple academic medical centers, several laboratories, and other support locations. Besides this newly signed MSA, additional contracts were signed including a multi-year six-figure vendor security managed services renewal for one of the system's academic medical centers and a consulting services contract with a department in the system that has not been supported in the past. Under the MSA, the entire university system has the ability to leverage the expertise CynergisTek currently delivers to multiple entities in the system, including its complete portfolio of managed services.

11:32 EST AstraZeneca reports AZD1222 Oxford Phase 3 trials interim analysis published - Results of an interim analysis of the Phase 3 program conducted by Oxford University with AZD1222, peer-reviewed and published in The Lancet today, "demonstrated that the vaccine is safe and effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19" and that it protects against severe disease and hospitalization, announced AstraZeneca. The interim analysis for efficacy was based on 11,636 participants accruing 131 symptomatic infections from the Phase 3 UK and Brazil trials conducted by Oxford University, the company stated. More data will continue to accumulate as part of the upcoming primary analysis and further follow-up, refining the efficacy reading and characterizing vaccine efficacy over a longer period of time, Astra noted. The safety data published so far is from over 20,000 participants enrolled across four clinical trials in the UK, Brazil and, in addition, from South Africa. "The Lancet publication confirmed that AZD1222 was well tolerated and that there were no serious safety events confirmed related to the vaccine," AstraZeneca stated. Pascal Soriot, CEO, said: "Today's peer-reviewed publication enables a full disclosure of the Oxford programme interim analysis. The results show that the vaccine is effective against COVID-19, with in particular no severe infections and no hospitalisations in the vaccine group, as well as safe and well tolerated. We have begun submitting data to regulatory authorities around the world for early approval and our global supply chains are up and running, ready to quickly begin delivering hundreds of millions of doses on a global scale at no profit." Reference Link

11:16 EST Boeing reports 118 commercial airplane deliveries in year-to-date - On its website, Boeing reports 118 year-to-date deliveries of commercial airplanes and reports that its year-to-date net orders are down 1,048 as of November 30, 2020. The company also reported on its November metrics and reports unfilled plane orders of 5,053 as of the end of last month. Reference Link

11:03 EST Spark Networks appoints Gitte Bendzulla as COO - Spark Networks announced the promotion of Gitte Bendzulla to COO. Bendzulla, Spark's first female COO, takes the role in addition to her position as the company's CLO and managing director. Reporting directly into Spark CEO Eric Eichmann, Bendzulla's responsibilities will include overseeing operational efficiency and excellence for Spark and supporting growth and innovation for its portfolio of premium dating brands including Zoosk, EliteSingles, SilverSingles, Christian Mingle, Jdate, JSwipe and eDarling.

10:47 EST Luminar drops 4% to $39.13 following cautious tweet from Citron

10:36 EST Truist Financial sees achieving 65% of $1.6B net cost savings by 4Q21 - Sees additional 226 branch closures in 1H21.

10:18 EST Meridian submits application to FDA for EUA SARS-CoV-2 molecular assay - Meridian Bioscience announced that it has submitted its application for Emergency Use Authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the company's SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostic test on the Revogene platform. The SARS-CoV-2 test is a molecular diagnostic test for the qualitative detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent of COVID-19. The COVID-19 global pandemic has resulted in a need for accurate and timely results to quickly determine which patients are infected with COVID-19. With results available as early as 47 minutes, the Revogene SARS-CoV-2 test will help customers improve their testing capacity and enable healthcare providers to quickly deliver appropriate care and guide infection control measures for patients. The Revogene is a flexible molecular testing platform that can be easily integrated into any laboratory or health system.

10:03 EST 22nd Century receives order for 3.6M SPECTRUM variable nicotine cigarettes - 22nd Century Group announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in coordination with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and others, has submitted an order to 22nd Century for 3.6 million variable nicotine research cigarettes. The Company's research cigarettes will continue to fuel numerous independent, scientific studies to validate the enormous public health benefits identified by the FDA and others of implementing a national standard requiring all cigarettes to contain minimally or non-addictive levels of nicotine. The selection of SPECTRUM cigarettes for use in ongoing research is not connected to 22nd Century's Modified Risk Tobacco application for the Company's reduced nicotine content VLN cigarettes. 22nd Century believes that authorization of the Company's MRTP application is imminent, and it plans to launch VLN cigarettes within just 90 days of authorization. The company said, "22nd Century continues to maintain a dialogue with the FDA, and the Company believes the agency is in the final stage of review. At this time, the Company has no outstanding requests for information from the FDA, and the Company is confident it has satisfied every FDA requirement for the agency to make a final decision about our application."

10:00 EST Toll Brothers falls -6.4% - Toll Brothers is down -6.4%, or -$3.15 to $46.06.

10:00 EST Penumbra falls -11.4% - Penumbra is down -11.4%, or -$25.48 to $198.53.

10:00 EST BP Prudhoe Bay rises 13.4% - BP Prudhoe Bay is up 13.4%, or 37c to $3.09.

09:59 EST Azul reports November traffic up 17.5%, capacity up 12.2% vs. October - Azul announces its preliminary traffic results for November. Consolidated passenger traffic increased 17.5% compared to October on a capacity increase of 12.2%, resulting in a load factor of 83.1%. Domestic load factor was 83.8% and international load factor was 72.6%. "In November we recovered 85% of our domestic demand, which is one of the fastest rates in the world. We expect this trend to continue as we progressively ramp up our operations. We will fly to 113 destinations by the end of 2020 as our fleet flexibility and unique network structure enable us to accurately match capacity with demand", said John Rodgerson, Azul's CEO.

09:43 EST AXT trading resumes

09:38 EST Cinedigm, Spherex partner on global content localization, compliance - Spherex announced a strategic partnership with Cinedigm to accelerate Cinedigm's international expansion. The companies are partnering on global content localization and compliance, deploying Spherex's AI and machine learning capabilities. As part of Cinedigm's ongoing efforts to monetize its extensive digital content catalog, the company has selected Spherex to utilize its technology and expertise to ensure its video assets and metadata are compliant with international regulations for content age ratings and optimized to adhere to prevailing cultural norms and practices across a wide range of international territories.

09:38 EST AXT trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:34 EST Adicet Bio trading halted, volatility trading pause

09:33 EST Verizon becomes official 5G innovation partner for Simon Fuller - Verizon is teaming with Simon Fuller, guiding light behind the Spice Girls, creator of the American Idol franchise and founder of XIX Entertainment, to transform storytelling and entertainment using 5G, virtual reality and extended reality. Verizon will work with Simon and his XIX team to conceptualize and create a sequence of new entertainment experiences powered by Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband. XIX will be collaborating with Verizon's XR and 5G Labs to craft new storytelling experiences. The content that Verizon and XIX create together will be optimized for audiences empowered with 5G-connected devices or next-gen entertainment devices like VR headsets or AR glasses. The companies' first project is expected to be a short-form VR experience designed by Fuller and his team using custom, industry-leading 360 Stereoscopic 3D cameras and maximizing the visual and audio fidelity of VR headsets, to create superior and more immersive experiences.

09:23 EST Cemtrex announces engagements with HBO Max, Modelo USA - Cemtrex (CETX) announced ongoing engagements with HBO Max (T), a pay television network, and Modelo USA (BUD), brewer of Modelo beer, to create AR/VR technology experiences in two digital marketing campaigns. For HBO Max, Cemtrex built a dynamic digital marketing campaign for HBO Max's first exclusive movie, Charm City Kings. Cemtrex Labs, a Cemtrex Company, delivered eye-catching social media assets, a portal for a writing contest, along with an AR face filter and name generator to drive social engagement. The campaign combines the best of traditional digital marketing campaigns with exciting AR technology to reach a wider audience, boost social engagement and build awareness for the movie. For Modelo, Cemtrex Labs built a powerful augmented reality web experience to promote the company's Modelo x RSVP WebAR Sweepstakes. RSVP Gallery, a conceptual retail experience, and Modelo USA partnered to create a co-branded apparel collection that pays homage to the fighting spirit of Chicago's iconic sports culture. The experience allows users to engage with the apparel in AR before entering the sweepstakes.

09:21 EST Blink Charging Hellas awarded purchase agreement to deploy EV charging stations - Blink Charging Hellas, a joint venture between Blink Charging Co. and Eunice Energy Group, announced the purchase of 45 dual-port Blink charging stations by Public Power Company for deployment across Greece. This tender is the first following the utility's public announcement to enter into the Greek EV charging market with 10,000 charging stations.

09:20 EST EyePoint announces 1-for-10 reverse stock split - EyePoint Pharmaceuticals announced that it will effect a 1-for-10 reverse stock split at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time today. Beginning with the opening of trading on December 9, 2020, EyePoint's common stock will trade on the Nasdaq Global Market on a split-adjusted basis under a new CUSIP number 30233G209. The reverse stock split is intended to enable EyePoint to regain compliance with the $1.00 minimum closing bid price required for continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Market. At EyePoint's special meeting of stockholders on December 1, 2020, EyePoint's stockholders approved the proposal to authorize EyePoint's Board of Directors to file an amendment to EyePoint's certificate of incorporation to effect the reverse split at a ratio to be determined by the Board, ranging from 1-for-10 to 1-for-25. The specific 1-for-10 ratio was subsequently approved by EyePoint's Board of Directors and the reverse stock split was effected by filing a Certificate of Amendment to EyePoint's certificate of incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware. The reverse split will affect all issued and outstanding shares of EyePoint's common stock. At the effective time of the reverse stock split the number of shares of common stock issued and outstanding will be reduced from approximately 151.3 million shares to approximately 15.13 million shares. All outstanding options, warrants, restricted stock units and deferred stock units entitling their holders to receive or purchase shares of EyePoint's common stock will be adjusted as a result of the reverse split, as required by the terms of each security. The number of shares reserved for future issuance pursuant to EyePoint's 2016 Long-Term Incentive Plan and the number of shares reserved for future issuance pursuant to EyePoint's 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan will also be appropriately adjusted. The reverse stock split will affect all stockholders uniformly and will not affect any stockholder's ownership percentage of EyePoint's shares. Stockholders will receive cash in lieu of fractional shares based on today's closing sales price of EyePoint's common stock as quoted on the Nasdaq Global Market. The reverse stock split will not reduce the number of authorized shares of common stock, or preferred stock, or change the par values of EyePoint common stock or preferred stock.

09:17 EST EnWave announces results for terpene retention process for drying cannabis - EnWave Corporation announces the research and development results of a new terpene retention process for drying cannabis using Radiant Energy Vacuum dehydration technology. Third-party, lab-verified results demonstrate that EnWave's patented REV technology can deliver a higher percentage of retained terpenes, approximately 10% higher, than traditional cannabis drying methods such as air drying or rack/room drying. The Company offers scaleable, continuous REV machinery that can process up to 28 metric tons of high-terpene, dried cannabis per year using the Terpene Max process, and up to 46 metric tons of dried cannabis to be used for extraction purposes per year. This new process, branded as Terpene Max, further demonstrates the advantages of the Company's scaleable, proprietary vacuum-microwave drying technology for the global cannabis industry. Terpene Max ensures that drying temperatures remain well below 40 degrees Celsius for the entire drying process, which takes less than two hours. The initial quantitative results from using the new Terpene Max drying program on a specific low-THC cannabis strain demonstrated an average terpene retention level of 88 percent when compared to the fresh flower, making it materially superior to traditional air or rack/room drying where terpene retention averages 79 percent. The tests were conducted for the Company by accredited, third-party testing facilities using cannabis product dried with large-scale, continuous REV technology at a licensed partner's facilities against standard room-dried protocols. Further data, analysis and certified results will be released in a white paper that will be published in January 2021.

09:15 EST Comtech awarded $3.8 M contract with the 9-1-1 association in Oklahoma - Comtech Telecommunications announced , that during its first quarter of fiscal 2021, Comtech Solacom Technologies, was awarded a Next Generation 911 services contract from the 9-1-1 Association of Central Oklahoma Governments. The $3.8M contract includes option years and is initially funded at $1.8M, which Comtech booked in its first quarter of fiscal 2021. The 9-1-1 ACOG is one of the latest customers to join Comtech Solacom's growing global customer base in the United States, Canada and Australia.

09:13 EST Qualigen Therapeutics names Amy Broidrick as EVP, Chief Strategy Officer - Qualigen Therapeutics announced the appointments of Amy Broidrick as Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, a newly created executive position, and veteran public company CEO Sidney Emery, Jr. to the company's board as an independent director, both effective as of yesterday. Broidrick will report to Chairman, CEO and President Michael Poirier and will have broad responsibility over the prioritization and execution of the company's strategic initiatives, particularly to innovate and create value from the therapeutics pipeline. Emery's appointment increases the size of the Qualigen board to seven directors, including four independent directors.

09:12 EST WaterMill sends letter to Ziopharm shareholders - WaterMill, which collectively with the other participants in its consent solicitation beneficially owns approximately 3.3% of the outstanding shares of Ziopharm, issued the below letter to shareholders. As a reminder, WaterMill is encouraging shareholders to consent to all of its proposals by voting on the white consent card. The letter said, "WaterMill Asset Management Corp. (together with its affiliates, "WaterMill" or "we") wants to emphasize that Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. ("Ziopharm" or the "Company") is at a critical inflection point. The Board of Directors (the "Board") has put Ziopharm on a path to financial ruin by burning through capital, incurring mounting expenses and failing to deliver value-generating clinical progress. Despite receiving blunt investor feedback in recent years, the Board opted to pursue a string of self-directed refreshments that only solidified the Company's abysmal governance and dismal business practices. This is why we have taken the extraordinary step of initiating a consent solicitation to facilitate meaningful and timely boardroom change. We firmly believe that our three aligned, independent and well-qualified director candidates collectively represent the right shareholder-driven solution to help Ziopharm quickly reverse its tailspin. Our minority slate possesses the capital allocation acumen, commercial intensity, financial expertise and ownership perspectives that have been lacking in the boardroom for far too long. Each member of our slate also recognizes that Ziopharm's deteriorating cash position will require a reconstituted Board to expeditiously address challenges and promptly pursue new sources of liquidity. Although Ziopharm contends that it has tried to engage with WaterMill to settle this contest, these are disingenuous and misrepresentative claims. Not only has the Company taken every opportunity to discredit our integrity-rich director candidates, but all offers to date have been reactive and woefully inadequate relative to the litany of governance issues that exist throughout the c-suite and boardroom. The incumbents' blatant, last-minute distortions only reinforce why our full slate needs to be added to the Board. Indeed, Ziopharm's leadership has brazenly dismissed investor input and has refused to even acknowledge that long-term shareholders have had to endure staggering underperformance over every relevant time horizon. As shareholders consider how to vote in the final days of this consent solicitation process, we believe it is important to focus on an irrefutable fact: Ziopharm's attempts at incremental and self-directed boardroom change have only fueled more shareholder suffering over the past five years. This is why we have invested considerable energy, resources and time in this campaign to offer shareholders the right solution at the right time. We cannot continue to roll the dice on Ziopharm's perpetual promises of nearing a so-called turning point that has remained consistently elusive..."

09:11 EST eXp World Holdings expands real estate operations into Portugal - eXp World Holdings announced its expansion into Portugal, under the eXp Portugal banner. Portugal represents the seventh international expansion for the company. In addition to its robust U.S. presence, eXp Realty also operates in Australia, Canada, India, Mexico, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, with more than 39,000 agents across the globe.

09:09 EST LiveRamp, Nativo announce partnership - Nativo announced a partnership with LiveRamp to deliver people-based addressability across the open web. Nativo offers advertisers the ability to reach specific audiences with unique content marketing opportunities and native formats. Through Nativo's integration with LiveRamp, advertisers and publishers will be able to improve personalized content experiences for consumers and simultaneously enable enhanced targeting, measurement and monetization. Through this partnership, Nativo will also provide its network of publishers access to LiveRamp's Authenticated Traffic Solution so publishers can connect their addressable inventory to advertiser demand. ATS enables a three-way value exchange among brands, publishers and consumers: consumers retain control over the use of their data, publishers deliver valuable content experiences and brands enhance customer interactions through improved personalization.

09:08 EST Bank7 raises quarterly dividend 10% to 11c from 10c per share - The dividend will be paid on January 7, 2021, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 22, 2020.

09:06 EST Middleby acquires Wild Goose Filling - Middleby announced the acquisition of Wild Goose Filling, based in Louisville, Colorado. The company brands are Wild Goose, Inline Filling Systems and Meheen which together generate $35M in annual revenues. Wild Goose Filling is known for an advanced canning process which allows customers to minimize installation, set up and training costs while delivering can integrity. The company has also designed solutions to minimize dissolved oxygen in beverages and their solutions have given rise to the mobile canning industry.

09:06 EST Primoris announces utility award valued over $36M - Primoris Services Corporation announced a three-year utility award valued at approximately $36M. The contracts were secured by the Utilities & Distribution segment. The award is for maintenance work on a high-pressure gas pipeline system for a major utility customer in Northern California. Work is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2021, and completion is expected in the fourth quarter of 2023.

09:05 EST Verizon, Motorola Solutions announce Group First Response solution - Verizon Public Sector (VZ) and Motorola Solutions (MSI) announce Group First Response, a mission-critical push-to-talk solution that leverages LTE to enable first responders to communicate seamlessly via voice, data and video across a variety of devices -- improving situational awareness and operational efficiency. Group First Response can be integrated with land mobile radio systems, extending interoperable push-to-talk communications to public safety users without radios or outside coverage areas.

09:04 EST AWS and ViacomCBS expand strategic pact to transform content creation/delivery - Amazon Web Services (AMZN), and ViacomCBS (VIAC) announced an agreement that makes AWS the preferred cloud provider for ViacomCBS's global broadcast media operations. As part of the strategic agreement, ViacomCBS will migrate operations for its entire broadcast footprint, which spans 425 linear television channels and 40 global data and media centers, to the world's leading cloud - one of the first such large-scale transformations in the media and entertainment industry. The migration will enable ViacomCBS to drive greater efficiencies and cost savings, simplify access to content for its licensing partners, and reliably deliver new viewing experiences to consumers by broadcasting and streaming content on any device. ViacomCBS will leverage AWS's industry-leading infrastructure and comprehensive cloud capabilities, including serverless, containers, databases, media services, analytics, and machine learning, to build a cloud-based broadcast and media supply chain operating model. This new cloud-based hub will help the broadcaster spin up new channels faster, dynamically assemble live content to optimize delivery over any distribution channel, add image and video analysis to applications, and automate workflows. ViacomCBS plans to use AWS Elemental media services as well as AWS machine learning technologies, including Amazon Rekognition (AWS's service that adds intelligent image and video analysis to applications) and Amazon SageMaker (AWS's service for building, training, and deploying machine learning models), to quickly scale video processing resources, automate workflows, and predict audience preferences. These capabilities will aid ViacomCBS in producing and streaming dynamic content and enabling efficient national and local news distribution on CBSN, CBS News's 24/7 digital streaming service. "We are expanding our strategic relationship with AWS to support our industry-leading technology and operations transformation," said Phil Wiser, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at ViacomCBS. "With AWS, we will be able to automate and streamline our processes for content production, licensing, and distribution to consumer streaming services and innovate faster to deliver improved customer experiences. We are thinking and acting aggressively to build on the major disruptions that ViacomCBS is bringing to the market with our leading global content and services. AWS's deep portfolio of services will help us unleash the power of content in new and interesting ways that benefit our advertisers, licensing partners, and streaming services."

09:03 EST Palantir awarded $44.4M contract from FDA - Palantir announced it was awarded a $44.4M, three-year contract with the FDA. The contract will build on Palantir's existing partnership with the FDA by providing an enterprise data management and analytics solution for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, or CDER, and the Oncology Center of Excellence, or OCE, amongst their other technology investments. This contract represents Palantir's largest partnership with the FDA to date. Palantir's software will enable IT leadership, analysts, medical offices, consumer safety officers and others to use their data to its full potential and make critical information more accessible, governable, and secure as they assess the safety and efficacy of drugs and regulate the industry. Palantir will support the CDER and OCE's work by providing these organizations with a sophisticated system for integrating, organizing and making decisions based on their data. Palantir's software breaks down information silos and allows end users to see new connections and insights from data, while taking into account data governance and appropriate data permissions through granular access controls. The system will help CDER and OCE address gaps in their current IT capabilities, as well as support vital human drug review and other regulatory activities on behalf of CDER and OCE.

09:01 EST AAR Corp. forms Aviation Safety and Training Oversight Committee - AAR announced that it has formed an Aviation Safety and Training Committee at the Board of Directors level. The ASTC will be comprised of three independent directors, with retired United States Air Force General Duncan McNabb, who last served as the ninth Commander, United States Transportation Command, serving as Chair, and Robert Leduc and Jennifer Vogel joining him as committee members. The ASTC will assist the Board in the oversight of aviation safety matters relating to AAR's operations, including training employees, promoting a robust safety

08:59 EST UPS says 'network running smoothly,' cites 'industry-leading' on-time deliveries - UPS issued the following statement: "UPS continues to deliver on customer expectations and the company's network is running smoothly heading into the second week of December...UPS works closely with our customers to align volume with capacity during the holidays and throughout the year; this collaboration has been particularly strong this year... UPS has invested in its physical network as well as in our people - those efforts have allowed the company to fine-tune capacity and delivery, and align it with our customers' needs." UPS CEO Carol Tome added: "UPS is running one of the most successful peak holiday shipping seasons ever. With great discipline and precision, we are delivering industry-leading on-time delivery performance - all part of our focus on ensuring we maintain a reliable delivery network that all of our customers can depend on. A huge thank you goes to each of our UPS frontline heroes, who are the heartbeat of our company. Because of them, we also stand ready to begin delivering vaccines as soon as they are available for distribution." Reference Link

08:58 EST Pulmonx appoints Georgia Garinois-Melenikiotou, Thomas Burns to board - Pulmonx Corporation (LUNG) welcomes Georgia Garinois-Melenikiotou and Thomas Burns to its Board of Directors. Both Directors joined the Pulmonx Board in October 2020 in connection with Pulmonx's initial public offering. Georgia Garinois-Melenikiotou previously led Estee Lauder's (EL) global corporate marketing function as Executive Vice President of Corporate Marketing where she was a member of Estee Lauder's Executive Leadership team. Thomas Burns is the President, CEO and a member of the board of directors of Glaukos Corporation (GKOS).

08:49 EST Casa Systems announces Software AG Cumulocity IoT partnership - Casa Systems (CASA) announced the integration of its portfolio of IoT devices with Software AG's (SWDAF) Cumulocity IoT Platform. Targeting smart transport, environmental monitoring, smart metering, automation, physical security and other industrial use cases, the combination of Casa's IoT devices and simplified management at scale will enable service providers to quickly create new IoT revenue streams across a diverse set of use cases. Software AG's Cumulocity IoT is a self-service platform that simplifies IoT environments with a large number of devices and applications. Encompassing device connectivity and management, application enablement and integration, and streaming and predictive analytics, Cumulocity IoT allows users to connect and manage any asset, as well as analyze any amount of data automatically and in real time. By natively integrating Software AG's Cumulocity IoT with Casa's IoT devices, service providers can take advantage of Casa's powerful and dependable range of devices that include secure, high-performance routers and antennas in various form factors. Casa's devices easily integrate with existing platforms and have the flexibility to support a variety of industrial applications. Key to the integration is Cumulocity IoT's Cloud Fieldbus capability for Modbus. It provides no-code integration and industrial-strength security without VPN for bi-directional connections to industrial machines. This reduces the time to establish new connections from hours to minutes and allows subsequent connections to be fully automated.

08:47 EST Hawaii Water Service to acquire Keauhou wastewater system - Hawaii Water Service has entered into an agreement with Keauhou Community Services to acquire its wastewater system assets and provide wastewater utility service to its customers in Keauhou on the island of Hawaii. The purchase is subject to due diligence and approval by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. KCSI serves more than 1,500 residential, hotel, and commercial customers, along with the Keauhou Bay Facility and Kahaluu Beach Park, and provides effluent to Kona Country Club, Inc. for golf course irrigation. Hawaii Water has already been operating the Keauhou system since 2018 through an operation and maintenance contract. The utility will continue to invest in local wastewater system infrastructure to keep service reliable for customers and protect the environment.

08:46 EST Neogen launches new preventative care DNA test, Igenity Canine Wellness - Neogen announced that it has launched Igenity Canine Wellness, a preventative care DNA screening tool for veterinarians. Genetic background can influence health, physical traits and behavior in dogs. Igenity Canine Wellness addresses this by predicting a percentage of the heritable component for relatively common, actionable diseases. Awareness of genetic risks allows veterinary professionals to make more informed recommendations on diet, diagnostic screening, and lifestyle to enable a longer and happier life for each pet and their family.

08:43 EST Columbus McKinnon announces Intelli-Guide Auto-Dispatch System - Columbus McKinnon Corporation has expanded its Intelli-Crane family of automation solutions with the new Intelli-Guide Auto-Dispatch System. Using Magnetek radios, drives and automation programming integrated with motors and brakes, Intelli-Guide allows operators to automatically send a load to different pre-programmed areas in a facility with the push of a button. As the load moves to the programmed destination along a determined route, the operator can work on a different task or start on the next step of the production process, increasing productivity and efficiency.

08:41 EST SEG Automotive signs 5-Year outsourcing contract with DXC Technology - DXC Technology announced that it has signed a 5-year renewal of its IT outsourcing contract with SEG Automotive Germany GmbH, a leading global supplier of hybrid e-machines, starter motors and generators. SEG Automotive selected DXC for its ability to run reliable, optimized and secure mission-critical systems, and its deep understanding of SEG's business culture. As part of the contract, DXC will manage SEG Automotive's local data center. This will help SEG to simplify and optimize their existing IT investments and provide a path to move portions of their IT estate to the cloud, thereby reducing the burden on internal staff and driving innovation and additional cost savings. The data center will be managed through a hybrid strategy using a combination of DXC's virtual private cloud and Microsoft Azure, with additional automation provided by Platform DXC. By introducing PDXC the efficiency and reliability of incident management will increase. Rino Ariganello, DXC's automotive industry general manager for North and Central Europe, said: "The services we will provide as the 'new DXC' will help SEG Automotive enjoy numerous benefits such as cost optimization and risk reduction, as well as benefit from critical security, cloud and applications capabilities across the entire Enterprise Technology Stack." SEG Automotive's system costs have been reduced by approximately 20% and an upgrade of the local data center infrastructure will contribute to minimizing overall operational risks. "The DXC team's flexibility, constructiveness and their deep understanding of SEG Automotive's business and requirements were the key success factors for this continued partnership," said Thomas Flesch, Global Lead Buyer IT at SEG Automotive Germany.

08:39 EST Turning Point granted breakthrough therapy designation for repotrectinib - Turning Point Therapeutics announced its lead drug candidate, repotrectinib, has been granted breakthrough therapy designation by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of patients with ROS1-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who have not been treated with a ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Turning Point plans to present updated TRIDENT-1 Phase 2 study data from patients with TKI-naive ROS1-positive NSCLC during a mini-oral presentation at the World Conference on Lung Cancer on Jan. 31, 2021. The breakthrough therapy designation for repotrectinib was supported by the initial data from TKI-naive ROS1-positive NSCLC patients enrolled in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 portions of the TRIDENT-1 study, which is currently evaluating patients in multiple potentially registrational cohorts. Repotrectinib was previously granted three Fast Track designations by the FDA, in ROS1-positive NSCLC patients who are TKI naive, ROS1-positive NSCLC patients who have been previously treated with one prior platinum chemotherapy and one prior ROS1 TKI, and NTRK-positive patients with advanced solid tumors who have progressed following treatment with at least one prior line of chemotherapy and one or two prior TRK TKIs.

08:39 EST State Street announces extension of servicing agreement with GIM - State Street announced that it has extended its investment servicing relationship with Glenmede Investment Managemen and the Glenmede Funds, which are managed by GIM. As part of these renewals, State Street will continue to provide global custody, accounting, fund administration and transfer agency solutions for the Glenmede Funds. In addition, in line with State Street's front-to-back offering, GIM will be taking advantage of State Street's outsourced non-US equity trading and middle office services for GIM's international equity strategy. "We are very pleased to expand on our relationship with GIM and the Glenmede Funds," said Ellyn Charters, senior vice president at State Street. "We are committed to partnering with each of our clients to help them generate and sustain growth. I believe that State Street is uniquely positioned to help our clients navigate the complexities of today's market, and that our solutions are helping drive value and create efficiencies on behalf of our client's stakeholders."

08:37 EST Calix partners with Arlo expanding CSP's ability with the Revenue EDGE - Calix (CALX) announced the addition "of a leading internet-connected camera brand Arlo Technologies (ARLO) to the expanding ecosystem of Revenue EDGE solutions." Calix will offer the revenue-generating Arlo connected camera solution as part of EDGE Suites so communications service providers can deliver industry-leading video monitoring and do-it-yourself security to their subscribers. This new offering will be fully integrated into the Calix Cloud platform, meaning CSPs can quickly go to market with almost zero integration (as the new service is pre-integrated into Calix Support Cloud) and achieve the highest level of sales success through the power of real-time behavioral data with Calix Marketing Cloud. The Arlo offering is particularly exciting for CSPs that have invested in fiber networks as it allows subscribers to add a powerful service that leverages the upload potential of a symmetrical fiber offering. Arlo is a pioneer in the industry and provides wireless connected cameras, floodlights, and video doorbells to help consumers secure people and their property. By leveraging connected camera capabilities from Arlo through the EDGE Suites, CSPs can expand their services via a fully managed experience that leverages the existing EDGE Suite offerings such as ProtectIQ for device security. With the addition of the Arlo offering to the Revenue EDGE solution, a CSP will be able to:

08:36 EST Monopar Therapeutics intiates Phase 2b/3 trial of Validive - Monopar Therapeutics announced that its Phase 2b/3 clinical trial of Validive for the prevention of chemoradiotherapy-induced severe oral mucositis in patients with oropharyngeal cancer is active and recruiting patients. The completed Phase 2 trial showed the incidence of SOM in OPC patients receiving Validive 100 microgram to be 40% lower compared to those receiving placebo. It is estimated there will be greater than 40,000 new OPC patients in the U.S. alone in 2021, the majority of whom will be treated with chemoradiation and run substantial risk of developing SOM. Currently, there is no FDA approved preventive or treatment for SOM in these patients, emphasizing the clear unmet medical need in this patient population. Up to approximately 260 patients will be enrolled in this multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase 2b/3 clinical trial. The trial includes an interim analysis, which is anticipated to be reached approximately twelve months after the first patient is dosed.

08:35 EST H&R Block to present next phase of strategic transformation - H&R Block will introduce its Block Horizons strategy, the next phase of the company's strategic transformation. This builds on previous work to strengthen the company's foundation, and will position it for long-term, sustainable growth. At the virtual event, CEO Jeff Jones, CFO Tony Bowen, and other members of the senior leadership team will provide an in-depth look at the three strategic imperatives that comprise the company's new long-term strategy. These imperatives-Small Business, Financial Products, and Block Experience-will enable H&R Block to serve more customers, in more ways, by better leveraging existing assets. They build on the company's current business and encompass a new approach to the customer experience. Today's event will include details on how Block will execute on its strategy during the upcoming tax season and beyond. Block Horizons imperatives will guide the company to growth Block Horizons includes three strategic imperatives grounded in customer insight, market testing and a solid base of current business. They will guide the company's path to achieving its financial and operational goals. Small Business: Building on an already-significant base of 2.4 million small business customers, the company will go to market with two small business brands: Wave and Block Advisors. Through this imperative, H&R Block seeks to further strengthen the spirit of entrepreneurship and enable small business owners to thrive, particularly as they lead the country's growth post-pandemic. Financial Products: With approximately one-third of H&R Block's 20 million tax customers being under-banked, the company will build on its Emerald Debit Card program, which today is linked to the tax event, to develop a year-round mobile banking platform. In addition, products like Wave Money will make spending and accounting for business transactions easier than ever by automatically bookkeeping business expenses and helping small business owners always be ready for tax time. These products aim to create financial confidence in consumers and small business owners. Block Experience: H&R Block is reimagining tax preparation for a digital-first world, blending technology and data with human expertise and care. This includes enabling clients to take advantage of all of Block's capabilities, whether in-person, digital or a mix of both. MyBlock is the mobile hub that connects tax professionals and customers and becomes the platform to create deeper engagement. H&R Block also updated its financial principles to reflect the company's new long-term strategy, including: Annual revenue growth goal of 3-6% annually; EBITDA growing as fast or at a faster rate than revenue; Redeployment of savings to the highest ROI opportunities; Maintaining a strong balance sheet and access to liquidity to support growth investments; Returning capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. H&R Block will also provide an update on how the company plans to measure and manage the business going forward and will provide its outlook for fiscal year 2021.

08:34 EST AT&T awarded contract by FBI valued at approximately $92M - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is expanding its usage of FirstNet, awarding AT&T a mobility contract for additional FirstNet capabilities to support the FBI's day-to-day and emergency operations. The agreement, valued at approximately $92M, is the largest commitment to FirstNet by a law enforcement or public safety agency.

08:33 EST Sino-Global announces LOI to acquire 51% of Shenzhen Jiayoubao Mobile Internet - Sino-Global announced that the company has entered into a non-binding letter of intent to acquire 51% of Shenzhen Jiayoubao Mobile Internet Co., Ltd. Pursuant to the terms of the LOI, Sino-Global has agreed to pay approximately $1.1M of shares of its common stock, based on the average closing bid price for the consecutive thirty trading days prior to the execution date of the definitive purchase agreement. Founded in 2014, Jiayoubao is an innovative mobile Internet company. Through its "Didi Jiayou" technology platform, Jiayoubao engages in mobile refueling, location based service map navigation, QR code mobile payments, online financial management, mobile app development, and IT operations. Didi Jiayou has been well integrated into the industry's sales strategies and customer-facing experiences, and its platform serves over 70M users. Through this acquisition, SINO will be more effectively integrated into the current transport capacity resources of the transportation logistics supply chain while furthering its own technological content.

08:29 EST AMMO reports backlog of $135M in booked orders as of Dec. 1 - AMMO is providing a corporate update amidst unprecedented demand in the U.S. domestic and International commercial ammunition markets. AMMO has a current record backlog of $135M in booked orders as of December 1, 2020-the largest in Company history.

08:28 EST Wells Fargo CEO: 'We have to do the work' on consent orders

08:27 EST Chinook announces license agreement with Morehouse School of Medicine - Chinook Therapeutics announced that it has entered into a license agreement with Morehouse School of Medicine for certain patents supporting the development of therapeutics in kidney diseases that disproportionately affect people of West African descent and underserved communities. Under the terms of the agreement, Chinook has been granted an exclusive, worldwide, sublicensable, royalty-bearing right and license under certain patents related to methods and compositions for the treatment and detection of kidney diseases, including HIV-associated nephropathy and/or focal segmental glomerulosclerosis using endothelin-1 receptor antagonists, to develop and commercialize therapeutic products. Terms of the license agreement have not been disclosed.

08:25 EST Stem Holdings announces product lineup for 2021 - Stem Holdings (STMH) announced that they will be starting 2021 with an exciting line-up of disruptive products beginning in Oregon and launching in all markets in which Stem operates. Stem has added a cutting-edge extraction laboratory to its commercial kitchen capabilities for full integration in production of these value-added, margin-accretive products. The pending acquisition of Driven Deliveries, Inc. later this month (DRVD) will support new distribution in current and new markets. Cannavore Cannabis Confections - Just in time for the holidays, Stem's Cannavore is launching two flavors for its award-winning caramels - Irish Cream and Hazelnut - two on trend flavors complementing our original Salted Caramel. Made with full spectrum solventless bubble hash, they are rich in cannabinoids and terpenes for consistent dosing and effectiveness. Dose-ology Topicals - To condition skin all year round, Stem's Dose-ology brand is launching its first cannabis-infused topicals featuring lotion, massage oil, and facial serum. Made with THC concentrate from Stem's own TJ Gardens award-winning brand of cannabis, Dose-ology will feature the exact dose recommended by Stem Medical Holdings' team led by Dr. Drore Eisen, to assure consumers that they will experience optimal products benefits with each and every usage. Dose-ology CBD Topicals - Dose-ology will also enter the mass market with a line-up of four new broad-spectrum CBD-infused topical products that reflect Stem's commitment to efficacious dosing and performance. They will initially be sold at select retailers and in e-commerce. The hemp grown for these products features patent-pending genetics that resist powdery mildew, and continues to be part of Stem's work with Cornell University's School of Agriculture.

08:21 EST Verizon expands SD WAN portfolio with Silver Peak - Verizon Business (VZ) is expanding its Software Defined-Wide Area Network portfolio to include the Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect edge platform as a managed service offering. Recently acquired by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) company, the addition of the Silver Peak EdgeConnect platform to Verizon's SD WAN portfolio provides enterprises with new optionality to transition to an SD WAN with integrated WAN Optimization environment for the management of business applications.

08:20 EST Capital Senior Living completes transfer of Deer Park community to Fannie Mae - Capital Senior Living Corporation (CSU) announced it has completed the operational transfer of its independent living community in Deer Park, Texas, to Fannie Mae (FNMA), the holder of the community's non-recourse debt. The Deer Park community is the first of 18 properties the Company will transition to Fannie Mae under a cooperative process initiated in August, 2020. As previously announced, the Company plans to enhance liquidity and improve operating cash flow by eliminating underperforming operations and focusing on its core owned and managed portfolio. The Company will transfer the operations and ownership of the 18 Transition Communities, all of which are either underperforming or are in underperforming loan pools, to Fannie Mae. The Company expects all 18 of the community transitions to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2021. The Company receives a monthly management fee of approximately $0.2 million for managing the 18 communities. The Company expects to extinguish $19.4M in debt related to the Deer Park community when the legal transfer is complete, which is expected to occur in January 2021. The transfer of all 18 communities will reduce the Company's debt by $217.7M and improve annual cash flow by approximately $10M. As part of its SING strategy to improve its operating performance and financial foundation, the Company has taken a number of actions, including asset sales, lease terminations and community transitions to other owners and operators. Upon completion of all asset transitions, the Company's portfolio is expected to consist of 68 senior living properties that primarily serve the fast-growing middle market senior population.

08:17 EST Zuora announce strategic partnership with Stripe - Zuora announced a strategic partnership with Stripe to accelerate the growth of the Subscription Economy. A new product integration will enable Zuora customers -- including Carbar, Intercom and Seiko Epson -- to enhance their subscription experience with advanced payment capabilities. IDC predicts that, by 2023, the global economy will reach a point of digital supremacy, whereby products and services from digitally determined organizations will make up over 50% of the global GDP. "Digitally determined" enterprises will be far more proactive than their peers in building out new partner ecosystems required to monetize and deliver digital services and consuming monetized digital services delivered through the partner ecosystems. "Winning subscription companies want to use the best technologies to build a competitive advantage," said Chris Battles, Chief Product Officer at Zuora. "We're thrilled to work with Stripe in an ecosystem of new world partners that helps to optimize and automate processes throughout our customers' journey in the Subscription Economy." Stripe's Chief Business Officer Billy Alvarado, said, "Stripe's mission is to grow the GDP of the internet, and this partnership with Zuora extends that goal by giving Zuora users access to the full capabilities of Stripe payments. With the internet powering a rapidly growing portion of the global economy, it's never been more important to provide subscription businesses with the economic infrastructure they need."

08:15 EST FDA posts briefing document for panel review of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine - In a briefing document ahead of the December 10 meeting of an expert panel to review the Emergency Use Authorization request made to FDA by Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) for an investigational COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162b2, intended to prevent COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, FDA staff stated in part that "safety data from approximately 38,000 participants 16 years of age or greater randomized 1:1 to vaccine or placebo with a median of 2 months of follow up after the second dose suggest a favorable safety profile, with no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an EUA." This meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, is being convened to discuss and provide recommendations on whether based on the totality of scientific evidence available, it is reasonable to believe that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine may be effective in preventing COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age and older, and the known and potential benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine outweigh its known and potential risks for use in individuals 16 years of age and older. Reference Link

08:15 EST H2O Innovation presents three-year strategic plan - H2O Innovation presents its first 3-year strategic plan aligning its long-term vision with key strategic objectives. These objectives and their progress over time will be regularly communicated to key stakeholders to ensure proper alignment at all levels within the framework of the 3-year strategic plan. The current Global Water market is estimated at $842 B for the year 2020. This market is expected to grow annually between 5 to 14% depending on the sub-market or geography. Fundamental drivers such as population growth, tightening regulations, water scarcity, and growing demand from agriculture and industries are just a few of the multiple factors influencing this expected growth. These market drivers would add pressure on existing infrastructure to become leaner and more efficient with their operations. To develop the 3-year strategic plan, the Corporation's executive team, in collaboration with the business line managers, has identified specific sub-markets and sub-segments to determine a current addressable market for H2O Innovation in the range of $4.5B. This addressable market is where the Corporation intends to continue its growth during the next three years, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. The Corporation intends to build out its businesses in a way that will enhance cross-selling opportunities, maximize customer synergies and retention, and improve its operational efficiency. By the end of fiscal year 2023, the current goal is to expand H2O Innovation's adjusted EBITDA margin above 11%. To reach this objective, focus will be put on improving the gross profit margin, reducing fix costs percentage over revenue, and completing acquisitions. In three years, it is expected to reach $175 to $250M in revenues, depending on the number of acquisitions completed. The Corporation is expecting to reduce its cost of goods sold and improving operational excellence by taking the following measures: leaner business processes in the acquired companies, implementation of comprehensive business intelligence solutions, smart procurement, rebranding & merger of the O&M business pillar, as announced last week, and pro-active health & safety practices. The Corporation should reduce its fix costs percentage over revenues by leveraging its centralized corporate support services. New innovative products will be developed and taken to market through the Corporation's large distribution network which will leverage the sales organisation and enable to increase the gross profit margin. The pipeline of acquisition targets is rich in opportunities and is diversified in size as well as company profile. The Corporation intends to complete between two to four acquisitions within the next 30 months. Based on its current situation and on financial forecasts, the Corporation has the ability and financial capacity to acquire complementary businesses. The intention is to do it without dilution for the shareholders, unless it is required to complete a significant transaction in size, and to remain disciplined in the multiple paid for these transactions. Most importantly, proper integration will be key to maximize sales and costs synergies.

08:14 EST Lineage Cell Therapeutics provides OPC1 update - Lineage Cell Therapeutics provided an update on OPC1, its oligodendrocyte progenitor cell, or OPC, allogeneic transplant for the treatment of acute spinal cord injuries, or SCI. The company reported it has developed an enhanced differentiation process, leading to major improvements in production and quality of its OPC1 cell therapy drug product including: a new ready-to-inject formulation of OPC1, which enables clinical use at a much larger number of spinal cord treatment centers, accelerating enrollment for a larger and potentially registrational clinical trial; elimination of dose preparation, reducing overall preparation time from 24 hours to 30 minutes and cutting logistics costs by approximately 90%; a 10 to 20-fold increase in OPC1 production scale, sufficient to support late-stage clinical development and which can be further scaled to meet initial commercial use; a 50-75% reduction in product impurities; improvements in OPC1 functional activity, as assessed by cellular migration and secretion of key growth factors; development of 12 new analytical and functional methods for in-process quality control and release of improved product; elimination of all animal-based production reagents resulting in a xeno-free final product formulation, consistent with guidelines preferred by U.S. and European regulatory agencies and filing of patent applications on the process and product which, if allowed, are anticipated to have expiration dates in 2039 and 2040.

08:13 EST electroCore announces topline results from PREMIUM II study - electroCore announced top-line results from its GM-US-10 study. Despite the early termination of the study in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all study endpoints, including several patient-assessed quality of life measures, showed benefit from non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation, with many endpoints showing a statistically significant improvement with nVNS compared to sham stimulation. In the predefined modified intent to treat population, which was the designated primary analysis population for the study, patients using gammaCore nVNS had 3.1 less migraine days over the final four weeks of the 12 week double blind study period versus the four weeks of the run-in period as compared to a decrease of 2.3 migraine days in the sham group. Within the mITT population, 44.9% of the subjects using gammaCore nVNS had at least a 50% decrease in the number of migraine days compared to 26.8% for those receiving sham stimulation. Patients using gammaCore also reported a statistically significant decrease in migraine associated disability and improvement in their quality of life across all of the quality of life endpoints in the study. Of particular interest were the results in the predefined sub-population of patients diagnosed as having migraine with aura. In this group, patients using nVNS had 5.5 fewer headache days compared to 2.7 fewer headache days in the sham group. There were no serious adverse effects reported in the study, which is consistent with nVNS' strong safety and tolerability profile. Complete results of the study are expected to be published in early 2021 in a peer reviewed neurology journal. gammaCore received 510(k) clearance for the preventative treatment of migraine on March 26, 2020. PREMIUM II was a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial of gammaCore for the prevention of migraine conducted at over 30 sites in the United States. The study was originally designed based on mITT of approximately 300 subjects. The study was closed before reaching its original enrollment targets in Q2 of 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19 on the conduct of clinical trials, resulting in intent to treat and mITT groups of 228 and 113, respectively.

08:11 EST Altimmune commences dosing in Phase 1 trial of ALT-801 - Altimmune announced that it has commenced dosing in a Phase 1 single ascending dose and multiple ascending dose clinical study of ALT-801. ALT-801 is a long-acting GLP-1/glucagon receptor dual agonist being developed for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is expected to affect more than 13 million adults in the United States. The Phase 1 clinical trial is being conducted in Australia and is expected to enroll approximately 50 and 60 volunteers in the SAD and MAD phases of the trial, respectively. The trial is designed to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics and activity of ALT-801 over 6 weeks of treatment in overweight and obese but otherwise normal volunteers. Readouts from the trial, including initial weight loss and liver fat reduction, are expected in the second quarter of 2021. This 6-week study will be followed by a 12-week Phase 1b study in volunteers with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2021.

08:11 EST NanoVibronix's UroShield ,PainShield meet New Zealand standards - NanoVibronix announced that its UroShield and PainShield meet the New Zealand Medical Devices Safety Authority regulatory requirements and have been added to the official WAND database in accordance with the Regulations. Coupled with this approval, the company signed an agreement, and fulfilled its first shipment, with Obex Medical Ltd to distribute both of the Company's technologies throughout New Zealand. Brian Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of NanoVibronix Inc., commented, "This agreement with Obex Medical Ltd provides us with strong distribution capabilities in New Zealand and further advances our strategy to penetrate new markets globally by partnering with leading organizations with significant sales resources. Obex Medical has already placed its initial order, validating their confidence in our technology and the market potential of our products. UroShield enables clinicians to potentially prevent the incidence of catheter-related infections that further complicate patient care, extend the duration of hospital stays or increase the risk of readmission, which is more important than ever before given this critical time for healthcare systems around the world."

08:09 EST CLPS unit signs deal with Chinese state-owned automotive company - CLPS announced that, through its majority-owned subsidiary, Judge Co., Ltd., it will undertake the big data project for a leading Chinese state-owned automotive company. The project aims to integrate big data technology on the Client's vehicle intelligent manufacturing and R&D systems. To successfully execute and complete the project, CLPS and the Client have agreed in principle to share and integrate each other's competitive advantage and resources. CLPS has years of experience in big data technology application, such as in Internet of Things data collection and big data analytics, among others. CLPS will utilize the big data application architecture, comprised of intelligent data acquisition, analysis, and display to achieve the project's goal. The Client is a leading auto company listed in China's A-share market. With international operations, it manufactures automobiles, auto parts, and accessories. In addition, the Client offers auto loan and mobile development application services for ride-hailing companies. CLPS currently provides IT consulting and solutions services for the Client's automated driving system, vehicle control, IoT system, and vehicle management system to accelerate its intelligent transformation and upgrade.

08:08 EST Hershey announces departure of General Counsel Damien Atkins - The Hershey Company announced that Damien Atkins, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, will be resigning due to family illness effective January 31, 2021. In connection with his pending resignation, Atkins will step down from his General Counsel and Secretary role immediately and will focus on the transition of his responsibilities until his departure. James Turoff, currently Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, will serve as Acting General Counsel as the company completes its internal and external search process for Atkins' successor.

08:07 EST Soligenix shows extended protection with RiVax ricin toxin vaccine - Soligenix announced that it has demonstrated extended protection with its heat stable ricin toxin vaccine, RiVax. Mice, vaccinated twice on Days 1 and 21 were protected for at least 365 days against subsequent ricin challenge. These results demonstrate that the thermostabilized vaccine formulation is capable of eliciting enduring protection in mice. Coupled with previous demonstration of efficacy in mice and non-human primates as well as long-term thermostability, these results reinforce the practicality of stockpiling and potentially utilizing the RiVax vaccine in warfighters and civilian first responders without the complexities that arise for vaccines that require cold chain handling. This same thermostabilization approach is also being advanced in the development of Soligenix's CiVax vaccine for COVID-19.

08:05 EST Actinium reports 67% ORR in first cohort in Actimab-A venetoclax combination - Actinium announced that first-in-human data from the first dose cohort of the Phase 1 portion of the Actimab-A venetoclax Phase 1/2 combination trial in patients with relapsed or refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia were presented at the 62nd American Society of Hematology annual meeting. The poster presentation highlighted results from the first three patients treated with the initial subtherapeutic dose level of 0.5 muCi/kg of Actimab-A and venetoclax. The enrolled patients had a median of 2 prior therapies (range 2-3) and a median bone marrow blast percentage of 30% (range 20 - greater than60). All 3 patients had poor risk disease with adverse cytogenetics, and each patient had an additional high-risk marker. One patient who had multiple genetic mutations including IDH2, RUNX1, TP53 and others, achieved a complete remission with incomplete blood count recovery after the first cycle of Actimab-A and venetoclax. Next generation sequencing at the end of the first cycle showed that patient was negative for the known IDH2 and RUNX1 mutations. This patient has continued treatment receiving the second cycle and their bone marrow remains normocellular with no excess blasts. In addition, another patient achieved a partial response after one cycle of Actimab-A and venetoclax. There were no Actimab-A related dose limiting toxicities or nonhematologic Grade 3 or greater related AEs reported in the first cohort. The trial has advanced to the second dose cohort of 1.0 muCi/kg of Actimab-A and venetoclax with patient enrollment ongoing.

07:57 EST Jushi's BEYOND/HELLO, Holistic Industries collaborate for Garcia Hand Picked - Jushi Holdings announced the Company's retail brand, BEYOND / HELLO, and Holistic Industries have collaborated to bring Garcia Hand Picked to cannabis consumers in Santa Barbara. Starting on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, BEYOND / HELLO Santa Barbara will make GHP, a cannabis collection developed by Holistic Industries in partnership with the Garcia Family to honor and celebrate the legacy of Jerry Garcia, available for purchase. GHP cannabis strains available at BEYOND / HELLO Santa Barbara include: Chemdog, SFV OG, Fire OG, among others. In addition, other GHP merchandise apparel and accessories will also be available for purchase at Jushi's flagship retail location in California.

07:40 EST Noble Midstream completes integration plans with new affiliate Chevron - Noble Midstream Partners (NBLX) announced that the Partnership has successfully integrated its business into its new affiliate, Chevron (CVX). Chevron has announced its capital and exploratory budget for 2021, with activity planned on Noble Midstream dedicated acreage in both the DJ and Delaware basins. On Noble Midstream's dedicated acreage, the Partnership anticipates Chevron activity to be primarily in the DJ Basin, where there is significant backbone infrastructure in place. As a result, Noble Midstream expects to allocate the majority of its 2021 organic capital program to well connections with minimal larger-scale facility spending. Noble Midstream plans to provide a detailed 2021 investment program and guidance after its third-party customer base finalizes activity plans and the Partnership receives Board approval early in the first-quarter 2021. In its Equity Method Investments, Noble Midstream does not anticipate any material capital outlays next year. The Partnership anticipates growing full-year run rate cash flow contribution in 2021 from the intermediate and long-haul assets brought online or acquired this year. Robin Fielder, President and CEO of the Partnership stated, "Noble Midstream achieved significant accomplishments this year, reducing its cash operating costs by more than 20 percent, placing multiple major equity-method investment pipelines into full service, and beginning to fund our investments and distribution from cash flow from operations. Along with these wins and a 2021 organic capital program focused mainly on well connections, we expect Noble Midstream to generate sizable cash flow in excess of capital expenditures in 2021 and enable the Partnership to reduce debt and protect the balance sheet."

07:39 EST Pipestone Energy announces 50 MMcf/d gas processing agreement with Veresen - Pipestone Energy Corp. announced it has entered into an agreement with Veresen Midstream or an additional 50 MMcf/d of gas processing capacity at the Veresen Midstream Hythe Gas Plant, as well as ancillary transportation and fractionation services with Pembina Pipeline and certain of its affiliates. This arrangement with Veresen Midstream aligns with the Company's corporate growth profile over the next three years as previously announced. Pipestone requires additional gas processing capacity by early 2022. In addition, this new midstream relationship enables Pipestone to diversify its gas processing alternatives by Q4 2021 and is expected to result in lower average per boe gathering and processing costs beginning in 2022. The gas processing arrangement with Veresen Midstream secures 25 MMcf/d of firm priority 1 service at Hythe, with an additional 25 MMcf/d of interruptible service for a term of approximately 10 years. In addition, Veresen Midstream is funding the construction of a new gathering pipeline from Pipestone's 6-30 pad to its 16-28 compressor station and battery, as well as additional facilities on the 6-30 pad required to accommodate up to 50 MMcf/d of raw gas and associated liquids. The firm service commences on October 1, 2021, which coincides with the expected completion of the new gathering pipeline. Pipestone will design, construct, and operate these facilities upon commissioning. The Arrangement includes a 12-month ramp up period with no associated take-or-pay commitment, ending on September 30, 2022, at which point the Company will have TOP volumes of 22.5 MMcf/d beginning on October 1, 2022 and ending on February 28, 2033. Pipestone expects to be able to access its interruptible capacity as required through the contract term. The Company has also secured liquids transportation and fractionation capacity with Pembina with its volume commitments proportionate to its firm gas commitment at Hythe. Firm service commences in October 2021 and TOP obligations begin in October 2022. Pipestone has also committed to bid for 10 MMcf/d of natural gas transportation from the Hythe outlet to Chicago on the Alliance Pipeline, and if available, acquire such capacity with a firm contract start date in October 2022.

07:37 EST Sirius XM, Howard Stern announce new agreement - Howard Stern and SiriusXM announced a new agreement under which the legendary broadcaster will continue to produce and host The Howard Stern Show exclusively for SiriusXM for the next five years, and the Howard Stern archive of audio and video will continue to be licensed to SiriusXM for an additional seven years. The news was first reported by Stern live during his show this morning.

07:35 EST Shyft Group's Spartan RV Chassis launches new RV app - Spartan RV Chassis, a business unit of The Shyft Group, has launched Spartan RV Dealer Connect, an easy-to-use mobile application geared toward Class A diesel RV salespeople offering Spartan RV chassis. The Spartan RV Dealer Connect app offers a more seamless and quicker way for dealer salespeople to gain access to coach-and model-year-specific information, by OEM.

07:34 EST Foot Locker adopts short-term shareholder rights plan - Foot Locker announced that its Board of Directors has adopted a short-term shareholder rights plan and declared a dividend distribution of one right on each outstanding share of the company's common stock. The Rights Plan is effective immediately and has a one-year duration, expiring on December 7, 2021. The Rights Plan may also be terminated, or the rights may be redeemed, prior to the scheduled expiration of the Rights Plan under certain other circumstances.

07:32 EST Parsons awarded $32M contract by San Bernardino County Transportation Authority - Parsons announced that the company has been awarded a $32M contract by the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority support administration of a $4.3B program to improve transportation and traffic management programs in the county. The five-year contract will support program and project management for freeways, interchanges, grade separations and other projects.

07:31 EST NextEra Energy acquires eIQ Mobility - NextEra Energy announced the acquisition of eIQ Mobility, a software provider of mobility planning solutions based in Oakland, California.

07:26 EST Paramount Gold begins program to advance former Sleeper Gold Mine to production - Paramount Gold Nevada announced that in response to higher gold prices it has initiated a program to evaluate restarting the historic Sleeper Mine. From 1986 to 1996 the Sleeper mine produced 1.7 million ounces of high-grade gold at costs well below $400 per ounce. The 38,300 acre property in Humboldt County Nevada currently hosts 3 million ounces of measured and indicated gold resources, nearly 1.5 million ounces of inferred gold resources and a considerable silver resource. The Sleeper program is multi-faceted: exploring to discover new, high grade satellite deposits similar to the original Sleeper Mine, and developing a plan to exploit the existing resource based on an in depth re-interpretation of existing data and further work designed to upgrade the current resource. Paramount has contracted Mine Development Associates of Reno, Nevada to review all available data at Sleeper. MDA will deploy a team of expert geologists, mining engineers, metallurgists and geophysicists to analyze the entire dataset with the following objectives: Identify the most prospective drill targets with the goal of defining a new high-grade Sleeper type vein deposit; Identify priority drill targets within the Sleeper deposit which could improve the overall grade and confidence level of the current resource; Produce a scoping level study comparing various processing and throughput alternatives for restarting production at Sleeper; Define the parameters of a prefeasibility or feasibility study. Paramount expects to commence drilling priority targets in the first half of 2021.

07:23 EST Mammoth Energy announces third validation of work performed in Puerto Rico - Mammoth Energy Services announced that it has received and posted to its website additional information related to its work in Puerto Rico obtained from the Federal Emergency Management Agency through a Freedom of Information Act request. The presentations, reports and additional data add further validation that the work performed by Cobra Acquisitions for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority significantly aided the restoration of power to millions of residents of Puerto Rico under very harsh conditions. With the release of additional information through FOIA, we feel that this is the third validation of the high-quality work Cobra performed in Puerto Rico, these three validations include the following: Determination Memorandum from FEMA, dated December 23, 2017, stating that PREPA awarded the Cobra contract in compliance with the emergency procurement provisions and determined the costs under this contract to be reasonable. Report produced by the Rand Corporation, an independent third party, stating that the Cobra contract was procured in a reasonable procurement process and the blended rates charged fall within estimated ranges for all scenarios considered for the emergency work performed. The RAND report was commissioned by the Homeland Security Operational and Analysis Center as a result of the Office of the Inspector General verbally questioning FEMA's DM stating that the Cobra contract was obtained in a reasonable manner and the costs were reasonable. 781 pages obtained under a FOIA request which, among other things, highlights that Cobra was responsive to PREPA and the people of Puerto Rico, assigned some of the most difficult work and was the only company to work in all phases of recovery.Following multiple requests under the Freedom of Information Act, Mammoth recently received an additional 781 pages of information from FEMA relating to the restoration of the electric grid in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The information received includes FEMA presentations, daily status reports, restoration reports and meeting schedules with meeting notes. After evaluating the data, we believe it is clear that the Cobra team played a significant role in restoring power to millions of people in Puerto Rico. Specific data points include the following: The Cobra team lived on barges and was assigned the hardest-hit part of the island. As of 8/31/2018, the Cobra team was assigned approximately 41% of all transmission restoration projects and as of that date had completed more than 95% of all of these assigned transmission projects. Cobra was the only contractor on the island that was assigned work in all phases of restoration. Cobra dispatched significant resources faster than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. power industry and stayed longer than all other contractors. In total, Cobra teams represented approximately 19% of the total electrical restoration workforce during the bulk of the recovery period. As of October 2018, FEMA estimated that the restoration work in Puerto Rico would cost approximately $5.4B. Of this amount Cobra was expected to receive up to approximately 30% of the total, despite doing approximately 41% of the very challenging transmission work which required specialized equipment.

07:19 EST Constellium's operations in Neuf-Brisach certified by ASI - Constellium announced that its facility in Neuf-Brisach, France, achieved certification according to the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative's Performance and Chain of Custody Standards. This certification covers the plant's recycling, casting, rolling and finishing operations. Constellium's Neuf-Brisach facility can now provide responsibly sourced, independently certified solutions, using both the plant's end of life recycling capacity and its ASI certified supply chain, and can offer certified and sustainably manufactured aluminium rolled products to its customers.

07:18 EST Aleafia Health's Niagra Greenhouse deemed EU GACP compliant - Aleafia Health announced that its Niagara Greenhouse facility has been deemed European Union Good Agricultural and Collection Practices compliant following a review and inspection from certified auditors. With EU GACP, flower grown at the Niagara Facility can now be exported to certain international markets, including Israel. In addition, it can also now be exported to the European Union, following drying and processing in an EU Good Manufacturing Practices certified facility. The Company expects to complete shipments of cannabis flower into new, additional countries in Q1 2021, pending receipt of necessary import and export permits. The EU GACP compliant rating is based on the European Medicines Agency's guidelines concerning the cultivation and collection of medicinal plants. Shipments of cannabis extract products to Australia, the Company's largest international orders to date, are also expected to be completed later this month.

07:15 EST Sabina reports final results from 2020 exploration season at Back River - Sabina Gold & Silver Corp provides final results from the 2020 exploration program at the Company's 100% owned Back River Gold Project, Nunavut, Canada. During the season, the Company completed approximately 8,000 meters of drilling at Goose in addition to completion of an extensive airborne geophysical Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic "VTEM" survey over the Goose, George and Del properties. Previously reported drilling this year includes significant intercepts within the high-grade underground corridor at the Umwelt V2 zone. The emergence and confirmation through drilling of the V2 zone will result in an updated reserve estimate and has provided the basis upon which to re-envision our development plans, focusing on early mining of this high-grade underground material into the mine life first. This drilling further highlights the exceptional nature of the Goose site gold structures. Drilling outside of the Umwelt high grade corridor was completed at five target areas that include the Llama Extension zone, the Umwelt underground hinge zone and the Hook, Jackaroo and Hackles targets. Highlights from these results include hole 20GSE585 returning 3.74 g/t Au over 43.70 m including 22.40 g/t Au over 2.00 m intersecting the anticline hinge of the Umwelt underground, see table 1 for details. This hole is a further example of the wide zones encountered at the Goose deposits and was drilled to expand the mineralization encountered in the Umwelt underground to adjacent favourable structural traps. Hole 20GSE577 from the Llama Extension zone, where additional drilling was required to inform an initial inferred resource estimate on this new zone, returned 3.75 g/t Au over 9.15 m, including 8.04 g/t au over 3.40m. Hole 20GSE580 returning 1.90 g/t Au over 13.7 m, including 5.71 g/t Au over 1.00 m at the Hook prospect, targeted a potential bridging zone between the Goose Main and Nuvuyak deposits. While the hole overcut its target, it provided further information for future drill testing. At Llama Extension three widely spaced drill holes tested discrete portions of the 500 m mineralization trend with a main purpose of increasing resolution of the gold mineralization shape boundaries and the geologic modelling of key areas in support of an initial resource calculation. Drilling also aimed to follow up coarse grained arsenopyrite-bearing structures identified within the main D1 axial plane from previous drilling. New drilling results provided additional data for input to the resource model that are highlighted by assay intercepts returning of 3.75 g/t Au over 9.15 m including 8.03 g/t Au over 3.00 m in drill hole 20GSE577 targeting the area of the arsenopyrite structures. At the Umwelt anticline hinge target, outside of the main mineralizing corridor of the V2 zone, three drill holes tested a ~300 m plunge extent of lesser resolved, favourably folded iron formation stratigraphy. The three holes successfully intersected mineralization over significant widths, such as 3.74 g/t Au over 43.70 m in drill hole 20GSE585, that continues to support additional follow up opportunities in resource growth. The Hook target is a potential bridging zone between the Goose Main and Nuvuyak deposits, with a strike length of 600 m which hosts a large volume of iron formation with indications of strong zones of mineralization. One drill hole test targeted a complex D2 cross fold setting that extends south from the Nuvuyak zone. Drill hole 20GSE580, returning 1.90 g/t Au over 13.7 m, is the first focused test in establishing the continuity of the mineralization controls between the Nuvuyak and Goose Main deposits. The drill hole aimed to test the lower portion of the folded iron formation structure however ultimately over cut a portion of the main target stratigraphy setting up improved guidance for additional testing that may be achieved for 2021. As previously reported, exploration activities included an airborne VTEM geophysical survey over the Goose, George and Del properties. The VTEM system was selected for the deep penetrating transmitting and receiving capabilities allowing for deeper structures and electromagnetic responses to be detected. First phase 3D modelling of the 2020 VTEM data has been successful in calibrating results and characterizing key elements over known deposits, showing strong conductors centered on the Llama, Umwelt and Goose Main deposits. Typically, two types of VTEM responses are observed; broad single peak anomalies where conductors are typically modelled at higher than 100 Siemen (i.e Umwelt), and broad double peak anomalies from thin sheet-like conductors with extensive strike length and depth extent with a lower conductance of 10 Siemen. This modelling has led to the geophysical characterization of key known deposits enabling the evaluation through comparison and prioritization of new and previously identified geophysical anomalies. The second phase of result modelling using deposit response characteristics is well advanced, with initial targeting showing anomalous responses at the Goose property down plunge of the Umwelt deposit, and in the Jackaroo and Hackles areas. The completion of this second phase will facilitate exploration targeting in 2021 at the Goose, George and Del properties.

07:13 EST L Catterton-led consortium to acquire Truck Hero, terms not disclosed - L Catterton and CCMP Capital announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which a consortium led by L Catterton and its affiliates will acquire a controlling interest in Truck Hero, a provider of functional aftermarket accessories for pickup trucks and Jeep vehicles. The consortium includes a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, as well as Mubadala Investment Company and StepStone Group. CCMP, among other shareholders, and Truck Hero's founding CEO Bill Reminder, will remain meaningful investors in the company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

07:12 EST Curis reports 'positive' data from Phase 1 study of CA-4948 - Curis announced positive preliminary data from its ongoing open-label, single arm Phase 1 dose escalation study of CA-4948, a novel, small molecule IRAK4 kinase inhibitor, in patients with acute myeloid leukemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. IRAK4 plays an essential role in the toll-like receptor and interleukin-1 receptor signaling pathways, and these pathways are frequently dysregulated in patients with AML and MDS. Third parties have recently discovered that the long form of IRAK4 is oncogenic and preferentially expressed in over half of patients with AML and MDS. A variety of drivers are believed to cause this, including specific spliceosome mutations. Key findings include: Marrow blast reductions observed in all evaluable patients (6 patients). 6 of 7 patients enrolled remain on study. Patients enrolled experienced a median of 3 prior lines of treatment (range 1-4). Two patients experienced a marrow complete response, one with blast count going from 23% pretreatment to 1% on treatment, and the other going from 11% pretreatment to 2% on treatment. No DLTs observed in 7 DLT-evaluable patients in the 200 mg BID and 300 mg BID cohorts. Enrollment has begun in the 400 mg BID cohort.

07:10 EST Theratechnologies announces preclinical in vivo findings for TH1902 - Theratechnologies announced new pre-clinical in vivo findings regarding the efficacy and tolerability of its novel investigational proprietary peptide-drug conjugate, TH1902, for the treatment of several cancer types expressing the sortilin receptor. New pre-clinical in vivo results in colorectal, pancreatic, melanoma and endometrial cancers are similar to those presented at the American Association for Cancer Research last June, which confirmed, at the time, the effect of TH1902 in vivo in ovarian and triple-negative breast cancers. The Company intends to present the detailed results at scientific meetings next year. In addition, based on recently completed IND-enabling toxicity studies, Theratechnologies confirmed that TH1902 could be administered at three times the maximum tolerated dose of docetaxel alone.

07:08 EST uniQure presents late-breaking data from Phase III HOPE-B trial - uniQure announced the late-breaking presentation of initial data from its pivotal, Phase III HOPE-B gene therapy trial of etranacogene dezaparvovec, an investigational adeno-associated virus five-based gene therapy for the treatment of patients with severe and moderately severe hemophilia B. This is the first data set to be reported from a Phase III gene therapy study in hemophilia B and, with 54 patients, the largest set of patients receiving a single gene therapy investigational product to be reported to date. These clinical data will be presented today in an oral session at the virtual 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology. Patients in the Phase III HOPE-B clinical study were initially enrolled into a prospective, observational lead-in period of at least six months during which bleeding events and FIX replacement therapy usage were monitored. All patients required prophylactic routine FIX replacement prior to entering the clinical trial, and patients were not excluded from the trial based on pre-existing NAbs to AAV5. The primary endpoints in the study include FIX activity at 26-weeks and 52-weeks after dosing and annualized bleeding during the 52 weeks after dosing. More than 80 percent of the 54 patients treated in the open-label study had severe hemophilia with endogenous FIX activity at less than or equal to1%. Forty-three percent of patients in the study had NAbs to AAV5 up to a maximum titer of over 3,200. Fifty-four patients reported 123 bleeds during the lead-in phase of the study, even while they remained on prophylactic replacement therapy. Key Initial Efficacy Findings From HOPE-B Pivotal Trial: FIX activity increased rapidly after dosing to a mean of 37.2 percent at 26 weeks from a baseline of less than 2 percent, meeting the first primary endpoint of the study. For those patients with follow up beyond 26 weeks, similar FIX expression was sustained including one patient who has reached 18 months of follow up. No correlation between pre-existing NAbs and FIX activity was found in patients with NAb titers up to 678.2, a range expected to include more than 95 percent of the general population; a single patient with a higher NAb titer of 3,212.3 did not show an increase in FIX activity. The number of bleeds requiring treatment decreased by 91 percent after the one-time administration of etranacogene dezaparvovec, with 87 percent of patients reporting no such bleeds after dosing. Total reported bleeds, which includes suspected bleeds that did not require treatment and bleeds associated with trauma and unrelated medical procedures, decreased by 83 percent.Usage of FIX replacement therapy in all patients declined 96 percent, with 52 of 54 patients successfully discontinuing their prophylactic infusions. Of the two non-responders, one patient received only a partial dose due to an infusion reaction during administration. The second patient had a pre-existing NAb titer of 3,212. It is expected that less than 1 percent of the general population have a pre-existing NAb titer of more than 3,000. Key Initial Safety Findings From HOPE-B Pivotal Trial: Etranacogene dezaparvovec was generally well-tolerated with no treatment-related serious adverse events. Most adverse events were classified as mild. Most common treatment-related events included transaminase elevation treated with steroids per protocol, infusion-related reactions, headache and influenza-like symptoms. Liver enzyme elevations resolved with a tapering course of corticosteroids, and FIX activity remained in the mild range in the steroid treated patients. While administration was discontinued in one patient experiencing an infusion reaction, administration was completed successfully in the remaining six patients who experienced an infusion reaction. No inhibitors to FIX were reported. No relationship between safety and NAbs titers was observed.

07:07 EST Vistra Energy names Jim Burke as CFO, succeeding David Campbell - Vistra is announcing the appointment of Jim Burke as president and CFO, effective immediately. Burke, who has been with Vistra and its predecessor companies since 2004, has been serving as executive vice president and COO since 2016. Vistra's outgoing CFO, David Campbell, will be leaving to join Evergy, a Missouri-based regulated utility, as its chief executive officer following a transition period through the end of the year.

07:05 EST Evergy names David Campbell CEO - Evergy announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously appointed David A. Campbell as President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Evergy, effective January 4. Campbell succeeds Terry Bassham, who previously announced his intention to retire from the Company. Bassham will remain Evergy's President, CEO and member of the board until Campbell joins the Company.

07:04 EST Orchard Therapeutics reports OTL-201 initial clinical data - Orchard Therapeutics reported initial data from an ongoing proof-of-concept clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of OTL-201, an investigational ex vivo autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy being studied for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA. The data were presented as part of an oral presentation given yesterday at the 62nd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. As of December 2020, preliminary results from the first patient treated with OTL-201 showed promising safety, tolerability, engraftment and biomarker data over a follow up period of three months. Certain data, including engraftment of gene-modified cells as measured by vector copy number, were unavailable at the time of the presentation due to the impact of COVID-19. Specifically, the results showed: The treatment was generally well-tolerated with no treatment related adverse events or serious adverse events to date. Evidence of hematological engraftment as suggested by recovery of neutrophils and platelets post myeloablative conditioning. N-sulphoglucosamine sulphohydrolase enzyme expression reached supra-physiological levels in plasma, total leukocytes and multiple cell subpopulations, including CD3+ and CD15+ cells, within 3 months of receiving OTL-201. Reduction of urinary heparan sulfate from 60.8 mg/mmol creatinine at baseline to the normal range by three months post-treatment with gene therapy. Three patients have been treated in the ongoing proof-of-concept study, which is being sponsored and conducted by The University of Manchester and funded by Orchard. The OTL-201 program and this clinical trial follow over a decade of development and pre-clinical work by Brian Bigger, Ph.D., Professor of Cell and Gene Therapy at UoM. Completion of enrollment and the release of additional interim results are expected in 2021.

07:03 EST Altair CFO Howard Morof to step down, Matthew Brown to succeed - Altair (ALTR) announced that Matthew Brown has been appointed to serve as senior vice president, effective January 1, 2021, and will become Altair's CFO, on March 16, 2021. Brown will succeed Howard Morof, who will be stepping down from the CFO role on March 16, 2021 to pursue new opportunities and personal interests. Brown previously served in finance leadership roles at NortonLifeLock (NLOK), a leading consumer cyber safety company, including as interim CFO from November 2019 to July 2020.

07:02 EST Enbridge raises quarterly dividend 3% to 83.5c per share - Enbridge announced that its board has declared a quarterly dividend of 83.5c per common share, payable on March 1, 2021 to shareholders of record on February 12, 2021. The declared dividend represents a 3% increase from the prior quarterly rate and the twenty-sixth consecutive year in which the company has increased its common share dividend.

06:58 EST AutoZone opened 39 new stores in the U.S in Q1 - During the quarter ended November 21, AutoZone opened 39 new stores in the U.S. and two in Brazil. As of November 21, the company had 5,924 stores in the U.S., 621 stores in Mexico, and 45 stores in Brazil for a total store count of 6,590.

06:57 EST Taylor Morrison renews $100M stock repurchase program - Taylor Morrison announced that its board has authorized a renewal of its stock repurchase program until December 31, 2021. The stock repurchase program permits the repurchase of up to $100M of the company's common stock. Repurchases of the company's common stock under the program will occur from time to time in open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or other transactions through December 31, 2021.

06:53 EST Baidu increases share repurchase program to $4.5B from $3B - Baidu announced that its board of directors has authorized a change to the company's share repurchase program, increasing the aggregate value of shares that may be repurchased from $3B to $4.5B. The share repurchase program is effective through December 31, 2022.

06:50 EST U.S. Steel to acquire remaining equity of Big River Steel for about $774M - United States Steel announced it has exercised its call option to acquire the remaining equity of Big River Steel for approximately $774M from cash on hand. The company ended November with approximately $2.9B of liquidity, including over $1.7B of cash. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings with the potential for significant synergies to further support long-term value creation. The transaction is subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including antitrust approval, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. U. S. Steel delivered notice of the exercise of its option to acquire the remaining equity in Big River Steel. Under the terms of the 2019 agreement between Big River Steel, U. S. Steel and the other Big River Steel equity holders, U. S. Steel and the relevant parties will enter into a purchase agreement providing for the purchase of outstanding equity interests not already owned by U. S. Steel for an aggregate price of $774M, which will contain customary terms and conditions. In order to preserve certain tax benefits related to Big River Steel's Phase II-A expansion, U. S. Steel will defer the closing of the purchase of a de minimis percentage of the equity in Big River Steel for a limited period.

06:35 EST Brookdale Senior Living says communities are first priority for COVID-19 vaccine - Brookdale Senior Living announced that its communities have been included in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' first priority phase for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. On behalf of the more than one million individuals living in senior living communities across the U.S., Brookdale is pleased that the CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, has prioritized residents and staff members of long-term care facilities in the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Ensuring residents and staff are among the first to receive the vaccine will help limit the spread of this virus in one of the most vulnerable populations.

06:33 EST Thor Industries expects to achieve continued growth in 2021 - "Our financial results were very strong for the first quarter, despite the continued challenges we faced as a result of the pandemic. Our teams have done a great job of managing through what continues to be an uncertain operating environment. We view the current chain constraints to be temporary in nature, and expect to achieve continued growth in fiscal 2021 supported by our October 31st backlog of $8.92 billion," said Bob Martin, president and CEO of Thor Industries.

06:15 EST Conn's CEO says experienced 'robust year-over-year growth' in Q3 - "Our third quarter results highlight the resilience of our unique hybrid retail and credit business model and the ability to de-risk our credit business while still supporting retail demand through our diverse credit offerings. As a result, we experienced another quarter of robust year-over-year growth of cash and third-party retail sales, which increased 32.7% over the prior fiscal year period and reflect strong demand for home-related products. We are also quickly expanding our digital and omnichannel capabilities to meet surging online trends and e-commerce sales increased nearly 61% during the quarter," stated Norm Miller, Conn's Chairman and CEO. "The performance of our credit segment throughout the COVID-19 crisis demonstrates the success of the adjustments we made earlier this year to mitigate the potential impacts on our business of high unemployment and economic uncertainty. While retail sales financed by our in-house credit offering declined 27.9% from the prior fiscal year, our credit segment is benefitting from newer, higher quality originations and the highest rate of cash collections in over ten fiscal years. In addition, the reduction in the portfolio balance, driven by strong cash collections and higher cash and third-party sales, has contributed to significant year-to-date and third quarter operating cash flow and strengthened our balance sheet. Same store sales improved sequentially reflecting the progress we are making to capture retail sales opportunities while prudently managing credit risk. I am proud of our response to the unprecedented challenges we have faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and our continued commitment to protect the health and safety of our employees, customers, and communities. This is a testament to the experience of our senior leadership team, the dedication of our employees and the value our credit and retail products provide our communities. As we successfully navigate this difficult period, I remain confident in the direction we are headed," concluded Miller.

06:11 EST Tarena receives proposal to be acquired by Shaoyun Han for $4.00 per share - Tarena has received a preliminary non-binding proposal letter from Shaoyun Han, its founder and chairman of the board, to acquire all of the outstanding Class A ordinary shares of the company that are not already owned by Han and his affiliates for a purchase price of $4.00 per American depositary share, or ADS, each representing one Class A ordinary share, or $4.00 per Class A ordinary share, in cash. The company expects that a special committee of the board, composed solely of independent and disinterested directors, will be formed to consider the proposal letter and the proposed transaction. The company cautions that the board has just received the proposal letter and has not made any decisions with respect to the proposal letter and the proposed transaction. There can be no assurance that the buyer group will make any definitive offer to the company, that any definitive agreement relating to the proposal letter will be entered into between the company and the buyer group, or that the proposed transaction or any other similar transaction will be approved or consummated. The company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to this or any other transaction, except as required under applicable law.

06:06 EST Nielsen to launch cross-media solution Nielsen One in 2022 - Nielsen announced its plans to launch a single, cross-media solution to drive more comparable and comprehensive metrics across platforms. Nielsen's cross-media solution, called Nielsen One, will evolve the current metrics that underpin the more than $100B video advertising ecosystem using a phased approach. The company plans to launch its single measurement solution beginning in Q4 2022 with the intention to fully transition the industry to cross-media metrics by the Fall 2024 season. With Nielsen One, advertisers and publishers will be able to transact using a single metric across linear and digital that is independent and standardized across the industry. With a single, deduplicated number, marketers will have visibility into total video consumption regardless of platform or device. Nielsen One will also underpin the company's outcomes solutions, thus enabling the industry to optimize media plans and maximize performance across platforms.

06:04 EST Phoenix New Media announces renewal of trademark licenses with Phoenix TV - Phoenix New Media announced that it has, through certain of its affiliated consolidated entities, entered into amendments to the trademark license agreements with a subsidiary of its parent company, Phoenix Satellite Television, or Phoenix TV, to renew such trademark license agreements between the parties entered into on December 8, 2017. The Amendments extended the terms of the 2017 trademark license agreements to December 7, 2023 and covered additional trademarks registered in various classes containing the double-phoenix logo together with the Chinese or English words of "Phoenix New Media" or "ifeng" and other variations. Except for extending the terms and licensing additional trademarks, the Amendments did not change the other terms of the 2017 trademark license agreements.

06:02 EST ReneSola announces China Ministry of Finance approval for incentive payments - ReneSola announced that China's Ministry of Finance recently approved ten of the company's rooftop projects to receive incentive payments. The company expects to receive payments in 2021. In late November, the Ministry of Finance proposed to review a backlog of renewable energy projects and qualify them in batches for subsidy payments. All qualified projects, specifically those that completed all necessary filings in or after 2006, will be registered. This indicates that the 25 projects totaling 49 MW, which ReneSola Power completed between August 2017 and May 2018, can be incorporated into the Ministry's "subsidy catalog". In early March, the Ministry of Finance proposed to review renewable energy projects and incorporate them into the "subsidy catalog" in batches for projects that were completed before July 31, 2017 or those that had already obtained FIT price in 2019. ReneSola Power has a total of 32 projects in the first batch of qualified projects. Of the 32 projects, 10 projects totaling 28 MW were approved for payments, while the remaining 22 projects of about 62 MW are currently under review.

05:33 EST Lemonade launches in France - Lemonade launched in another European market. Residents of France can now get renters insurance instantly, anytime, and from any device, as well as file claims and get paid through the Lemonade app. The launch marks the third EU country Lemonade has entered, following the Netherlands' launch earlier this year, and Germany in June 2019. Lemonade keeps a flat fee for its operations, and gives unused remaining money to nonprofits, as part of its annual giveback. The company launched its homeowners and renters insurance in New York in late 2016.

05:17 EST Takeda Pharmaceutical announces China NMPA approval for Takhzyro - Takeda Pharmaceutical announced that China's National Medical Products Administration, or NMPA, has approved Takhzyro subcutaneous injection for prophylaxis to prevent attacks of hereditary angioedema, or HAE, in patients 12 years and older. Takhzyro is a fully human monoclonal antibody, or mAb, that inhibits the activity of plasma kallikrein, an enzyme which is uncontrolled in people with HAE, to help prevent HAE attacks.

05:08 EST Portland General Electric starts commercial power generation at Wheatridge - Portland General Electric (POR) announced the start of commercial power generation at the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility in Eastern Oregon. Wheatridge is a joint project of PGE and a subsidiary of NextEra Energy (NEE). Wheatridge will be one of the first large-scale energy facilities in the United States to combine wind, solar and battery storage resources at a single location. The 300-megawatt wind farm is now complete and delivering power to PGE customers. The 50-megawatt solar and 30-megawatt battery facilities will be completed by the end of 2021. With the addition of Wheatridge's wind farm, PGE's wind generation portfolio now totals more than 1,000 megawatts nameplate capacity, available from five owned or contracted wind farms in the Northwest - typically generating enough power to serve the equivalent of 340,000 homes. When complete, the solar and battery storage facilities will be among the largest in Oregon. Located just northeast of Lexington in Morrow County, Oregon, Wheatridge's wind farm generates power using 120 wind turbines manufactured by GE Renewable Energy. The facility uses a mix of 2.3-megawatt and 2.5-megawatt machines. Final selection of the specific equipment to be used at the associated solar farm and battery storage facility is still pending. Up to 300 jobs were created at Wheatridge during construction of the wind farm; up to 175 workers will be employed to build the solar and storage sites. Approximately 10 full-time employees will operate the combined facilities once all three components are fully commissioned for service. NextEra Energy purchased the development rights and together with PGE expanded the project scope to include solar generation and battery storage. Power from the project will reach PGE customers in Portland and the north Willamette Valley via a new transmission line, constructed by Umatilla Electric Cooperative, that connects Wheatridge locally with the Bonneville Power Administration's regional grid. PGE now owns 100 megawatts of the wind project. A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources owns the balance of the project and will sell its output to PGE under 30-year power purchase agreements. The NextEra Energy Resources' subsidiary is building and will operate the combined facility. PGE expects to invest approximately $155M for its owned portion of the project.