Stockwinners Market Radar for April 22, 2020 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:21 EDT SPDR Gold Shares holdings rise to 1,042.46MT from 1,033.39MT - This is the 3rd consecutive increase and the highest level of holdings since May of 2013.

18:36 EDT Daimler reports preliminary Q1 adjusted EBIT EUR719M vs EUR2.31B last year - As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, market expectations for Daimler's first quarter 2020 appear to show a large degree of variation. The company sees Q1 adjusted EBIT of EUR719M, versus EUR2.31B last year, Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans adjusted EBIT EUR603M, and Trucks & Buses adjusted EBIT EUR247M.

18:24 EDT MarketAxess CEO: Seeing explosive growth in high yield spreads - In an interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Richard McVey said the value the company delivers to clients is "better than ever" in this environment. "We set records in March," he noted. There is a "sea change" taking place of people embracing electronic trading, McVey added.

18:04 EDT Bluegreen Vacations suspends dividend due to COVID-19 - Bluegreen Vacations announced that the company's board has determined to suspend the Company's regular quarterly cash dividends on its common stock citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

18:03 EDT NorthWestern expecting impact from COVID-19 on financial results - The company states: "This is a rapidly evolving situation that could lead to extended disruption of economic activity. We have not experienced major declines in customer usage across our business related to COVID-19. Nonetheless, as a result of the spread of COVID-19 in our service territories, business curtailments, 'shelter in place' or stay at home' orders and travel restrictions, we anticipate impacts to our 2020 financial results. In addition, while we have not experienced significant supply chain issues, so far, we continue to closely manage and monitor developments in our supply chain. There may also be material delays in scheduling proceedings and hearings, and in obtaining orders from federal and state courts and regulatory agencies; these delays could negatively affect us financially. An extended slowdown of the United States' economic growth, demand for commodities and/or material changes in governmental policy could result in lower economic growth and lower demand for electricity and natural gas as well as the ability of various customers, contractors, suppliers and other business partners to fulfill their obligations, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and prospects. If the situation leads to an extended disruption of economic activity in our service territories, we would expect to be negatively impacted by lower sales volumes, increased operating expenses due primarily to an increase in uncollectible accounts, and higher interest expense offset in part by cost control. At this time, we cannot predict the ultimate impact of COVID-19 on our results of operations, financial condition and prospects. The likelihood these events would materially impact our future financial results will increase the longer business curtailments, 'shelter in place' or 'stay at home' orders and travel restrictions remain in place. We remain on track for our approximately $400 million capital investment as disclosed in our annual report on Form 10-K. However, the progression of and global response to the COVID-19 outbreak increases the risk of delays in construction activities and equipment deliveries related to our capital projects, including potential delays in obtaining permits from government agencies, resulting in a potential deferral of capital expenditures. Given the rapid and evolving nature of the COVID-19 matter, the extent of any such impacts is uncertain."

17:51 EDT Rush Enterprises reports COVID-19 impact mitigation measures - Rush CEO W.M. Rush stated, "Currently, we are not experiencing a significant number of cancelled truck orders, but that can quickly change. However, many customers are delaying purchases due to the tremendous uncertainty right now about the economy and the impact of the pandemic. We expect that the pandemic will have a significant negative impact on new Class 8 truck sales in Q2, but it is not clear just how significant the impact will be," Rush said. With respect to new U.S. Class 4-7 retail sales, ACT Research is currently forecasting retail sales to be 147,400 units in 2020, which would represent a 44.8% decrease compared to 2019. "We also expect that our medium-duty truck sales will be negatively impacted by the pandemic in the second quarter, as medium-duty commercial vehicle sales usually track closely to the general economy," Rush added. "We are approaching write-downs of new and used commercial vehicle inventories more aggressively than in the past, and we believe our inventories are appropriately valued to meet the needs of the market," he said. In Q1, the company repurchased $19.9M in stock. However, the company suspended its stock repurchase program. "Our cash position remains strong at $138M. In March, we renewed a $100M line of credit for another two years. We currently have no outstanding draws on the line of credit, but believe it is prudent to maintain this credit line in these uncertain times. Our balance sheet is healthy, and we believe the company is well positioned to navigate the economic and industry challenges that lie ahead," Rush said. The company is taking steps to reduce expenses. The CEO has reduced his salary by 25%, other members of his senior executive team also reduced their salaries by 10%, and the members of the Board of Directors voted to reduce the amount of their annual cash retainer by 10%.

17:41 EDT Discover implements $400M of expense reductions - "While our results this quarter were heavily impacted by the emerging effects of the coronavirus, I could not be prouder of the team here at Discover and the work they did protecting employees and serving our customers in these challenging times," said Roger Hochschild, CEO and President of Discover. "We have taken decisive actions including suspending our share repurchase program, launching payment programs to support our customers, and implementing $400 million of expense reductions. I believe our digital business model, strong capital position, and robust funding channels will allow us to operate effectively during the downturn and position us well for the recovery."

17:39 EDT Discover suspends share repurchase program - During the first quarter, the company repurchased approximately 4.7M shares of common stock for $343M. The company suspended the share repurchase program in March. Shares of common stock outstanding declined by 1.2% from the prior quarter.

17:31 EDT Nine Energy Service receives NYSE continued listing notice - Nine Energy Service, Inc. announced that, on April 21, 2020, the Company was notified by the New York Stock Exchange of its noncompliance with the NYSE's continued listing standards because the average closing price of shares of its common stock had fallen below $1.00 per share over a period of 30 consecutive trading days, which is the minimum average closing price per share required to maintain continued listing on the NYSE. The Company's Board of Directors is reviewing all available alternatives to return to compliance with the NYSE's continued listing standards. Under the NYSE's rules, the Company has a period of six months following the receipt of the notice to regain compliance with the minimum share price requirement. To regain compliance, on the last trading day in any calendar month during the cure period, the Company's common stock must have (i) a closing price of at least $1.00 per share and (ii) an average closing price of at least $1.00 per share over the 30 trading day period ending on the last trading day of such month. During the cure period, subject to the Company's compliance with other NYSE continued listing requirements, shares of our common stock will continue to be traded on the NYSE under the symbol "NINE" but will have an added designation of ".BC" to indicate that the Company currently is not in compliance with the NYSE's continued listing requirements. If the Company is unable to regain compliance, the NYSE will initiate procedures to suspend and delist the Company's common stock.

17:30 EDT Immunomedics trading resumes

17:23 EDT Lockheed Martin awarded $519.06M Navy contract - Lockheed Martin was awarded a $519.06M cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee undefinitized contract for the procurement of international Aegis fire control loop development, Solid State S-Band Radar Processing Group, tools and test equipment and spares for five new multi-mission frigates supporting the Aegis combat system. Work is expected to be complete by April 2030. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales, or FMS, to the Kingdom of Spain. FMS funding in the amount of $90.7M will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with the authority from 10 U.S. Code 2304. The Naval Sea Systems Command is the contracting activity.

17:19 EDT Sleep Number sees most of COVID-19 impact on Q2 - Sees government-mandated closures to put pressure on sales through May. Sees gradual recovery in back half of 2020. Sees most impact of COVID-19 on Q2. Says Q2 is company's seasonally low quarter for sales.

17:16 EDT CSX up almost 2% after reporting Q1 results amid COVID-19 pandemic

17:11 EDT Seagate CEO says desktop and PC drives business saw early impact from outbreak - Says full impact of COVID-19 on broader economy and Seagate business remains unknown. Says company is on solid financial footing with ample liquidity. Says remain on track with 18-terabyte plans. Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call.

17:10 EDT Las Vegas Sands up 7% to $43.80 after Q1 results

17:07 EDT Seagate CEO expecting continued supply-related impact in Q4 - Says demand from hyper-scale customers was strong in Q3 due to work-from-home policies and rise in online entertainment. Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call.

17:05 EDT Incyte says Phase 3 REACH2 study data published in NEJM - Incyte announced that data from the Phase 3 REACH2 study have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine demonstrating that ruxolitinib improves outcomes across a range of efficacy measures in patients with steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease compared to best available therapy. The results of REACH2, the first Phase 3 study of ruxolitinib in acute GVHD to have met its primary endpoint, reinforce findings from the previously-reported Phase 2 REACH1 study. In REACH2, patients treated with ruxolitinib experienced a significantly greater overall response rate vs. BAT at Day 28, the primary endpoint of the study. For the key secondary endpoints, patients treated with ruxolitinib maintained significantly higher durable ORR at Day 56. In addition, ruxolitinib was associated with longer median failure free survival than BAT and showed a positive trend with other secondary endpoints, including duration of response. No new safety signals were observed, and the ruxolitinib safety profile in REACH2 was consistent with that seen in previously reported studies in steroid-refractory acute GVHD. The most frequently reported adverse events among study participants were thrombocytopenia and anemia. While 38% and 9% of patients required ruxolitinib and BAT dose modifications, the number of patients who discontinued treatment due to AEs was low. "The results from the REACH2 study reinforce findings from the pivotal REACH1 trial and demonstrate the potential that ruxolitinib has to effectively and safely improve outcomes for patients with GVHD," said Peter Langmuir, M.D., Group Vice President, Oncology Targeted Therapies, Incyte. "We are committed to continuing our research in GVHD with the goal of providing more effective treatment options for patients living with this disease, and look forward to the results of the REACH3 study in steroid-refractory chronic GVHD later this year."

17:03 EDT Summit Hotel Properties implements cost savings initiatives - The company has implemented a wide range of corporate cost savings initiatives including a voluntary 25% reduction of salaries and fees for executive officers and independent Board of Directors, respectively. In addition, approximately 25% of the corporate-level staff has been furloughed and salary reductions have been implemented for the majority of employees not subject to furlough. The company will pay 100% of employer and employee medical premiums during the furlough period for affected employees. Finally, a hiring freeze has been implemented for any new corporate-level positions. The company will continue to evaluate further expense reductions as appropriate. The company previously announced liquidity enhancement measures taken which included significant hotel-level cost reduction initiatives, postponement of all non-essential capital expenditures, the intention to suspend common stock and operating partnership unit distributions, and a revolving credit facility draw that resulted in a current unrestricted corporate cash balance of approximately $140M. The company's balance sheet position is further enhanced by having no debt maturities until November 2022.

16:59 EDT Universal Technical expects to take $33M in funds through CARES Act - The company states: "More than 8,000 students from across all of UTI's campuses are currently active in the online platform, including hundreds of new students who started directly into the online curriculum over the past several weeks. UTI is currently developing plans to return students to its campuses for in-person labs as soon as it is safe and practical, following CDC and local government protocols to protect the health of students and employees. UTI expects to receive a total of approximately $33 million in funds through the CARES Act: Higher Education Relief Fund. The majority of those funds will be used to grant emergency financial aid to students impacted by COVID-19, supporting their efforts to stay in school and continue their training toward graduation and future careers. The company also will use a portion of the funds to offset costs that have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, due to the operations and infrastructure investments needed to support our students' education and curriculum needs during this time. These could include costs associated with the initial development and delivery of UTI's online educational programs as well as the transition back to on-campus, in-person lab instruction when authorities deem it safe to do so. As of March 31, 2020, UTI had no debt and its preliminary estimate of available liquidity was approximately $118 million comprised of approximately $77.6 million of cash and cash equivalents and approximately $41.5 million of short term, held to maturity securities. The estimated available liquidity includes the benefit of the $49.5 million of net proceeds the company raised in February 2020 through a primary equity offering."

16:57 EDT Universal Technical CFO says transition to online curriculum successful - "The transition to the online curriculum has been successful and opens new opportunities for the company and our students. However, the uncertainty and disruption created by the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in a larger than historical volume of temporary student leaves of absence and may also impact the length of some of our student programs, thus we expect that our revenue will be impacted for the fiscal year by the crisis," said Troy R. Anderson, CFO. "We have already begun working diligently to minimize impacts to profitability and cash flow through prudent cost and working capital management, and we will continue doing so throughout the disruption. Given the instability and lack of clarity in the macro environment, potential positive and negative impacts to our business, and our commitment to transparency with the investment community, we are withdrawing our guidance until we have better clarity on the many variables currently in play."

16:52 EDT Spirit Realty expects to receive 69% of April rent payments - Spirit Realty provided an update on April tenant rent payments. As of April 22, Spirit expects to receive 69% of April rent payments by the end of the month.

16:45 EDT Zogenix provides update on Fintepla in Sunflower Syndrome - Earlier, Zogenix presented updated data from two ongoing studies with Fintepla in Sunflower Syndrome. The company disclosed 10 patients enrolled and 9 of 10 completed trial period. 1/10 developed rash after 3 doses of med, decided not to re-challenge. 8 of 9 responders saw 84% median reduction in hand waving. None of the responders had other seizure type during treatment period. The study was "well tolerated" - 2/9 reported decreased appetite, 1/9 reported fatique. Reference Link

16:44 EDT ObsEva announces publication of 52-week EDELWEISS trial data - ObsEva reported that there will be an online publication of two abstracts in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the official journal of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The abstracts are based on 52-week data from the EDELWEISS trial, a Phase 2b randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging trial conducted in the U.S. and Europe to assess the safety and tolerability of a range of daily oral linzagolix doses in women with moderate to severe endometriosis-associated pain. Subjects receiving the 200 mg dose were switched to 100 mg after 24 weeks of treatment. No hormonal add-back therapy, or ABT, was used in this trial. Quality of life, or QoL, is critically important for women suffering from endometriosis- associated pain. In the trial, several QoL endpoints were assessed, including the difficulty of doing daily activities, the Patient Global Impression of Change, or PGIC, and the Endometriosis Health Profile-30, or EHP-30. On all endpoints linzagolix demonstrated significant improvements versus placebo at 12 weeks. Difficulty of doing daily activities was significantly decreased compared to placebo at week 12 at doses of 75 mg and higher and these decreases were maintained or further improved up to 52 weeks. At 52 weeks, 64.3% and 76.2% of subjects treated with the 75 and 200/100 mg doses, respectively, reported much or very much improved endometriosis symptoms on the PGIC.Subjects at all linzagolix doses reported improvements on the EHP-30 questionnaire, which were maintained at week 52. As treatments that modulate estrogen levels may impact serum lipids, changes in serum LDL-cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C ratio and triglycerides were assessed. Once daily doses of linzagolix for 52 weeks resulted in expected small percentage increases of HDL-C and LDL-C after 12 weeks, which generally did not increase further up to 52 weeks of treatment. In the 200/100 mg arm, serum triglycerides increased by 32% compared to 20% in the placebo arm; of note, other than at baseline, fasting was not required for blood sampling. Across treatment groups, the percentages of women with LDL cholesterol greater than 160 mg/dL or triglycerides greater than 200 mg/dL at 24 and 52 weeks were less than 10% at most time points, and the overall proportions were similar to baseline levels. Overall, these findings support non-clinically relevant changes in serum lipids with long-term linzagolix treatment. These data add to the favorable safety and efficacy profile of linzagolix in the treatment of women with endometriosis-associated pain. Together with mean lumbar spine BMD loss results of 1.14% and 2.19% at 52 weeks for the 75 mg and 200/100 mg doses, respectively, the overall data are supportive of potential long-term use of the 75 mg dose of linzagolix without the need for ABT in this patient population. The 75 mg and 200 mg + ABT doses are currently being studied in the Phase 3 EDELWEISS endometriosis trials.

16:38 EDT Lumber Liquidators appoints Matthew Argano as Chief Human Resources Officer - Lumber Liquidators appointed Matthew Argano as the company's Chief Human Resources Officer effective April 20. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer of Altar'd State, Inc., Knoxville, TN and from 2012 to 2016 he served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources of The Fresh Market, Inc., Greensboro, NC.

16:36 EDT Gladstone says portfolio occupancy remains at approximately 97% as of March 31 - Gladstone Commercial is providing the following business update regarding portfolio performance and economic stability during this time of significant market volatility related to the global COVID-19 pandemic. We acquired $201 million in new investments since January 1, 2019, inclusive of $72 million acquired in the first quarter of 2020. All new investments over this period are distribution or manufacturing investments in industries that we believe are likely to be insulated from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; andOver the past four years, we have used our credit-focused investment strategy to cultivate a high quality, diversified portfolio with a focus on strong cash flowing businesses. At the end of 2019, 63% of our rents were derived from investment grade or investment grade equivalent tenants and 54% of our tenants were publicly owned companies. Over 84% of our annual rental revenue is derived from tenants that each represent on average less than 1% of our revenue. The remaining 16% of our annual rental revenue is derived from investment grade or investment grade equivalent tenants, or subsidiaries of investment grade companies. As of December 31, 2019, our tenants in the hospitality, airlines and oil & gas industries comprise approximately 2.4% of our annual rental revenue. Our team has transitioned seamlessly to the work-at-home arrangement and is focusing on current portfolio performance and economic stability, with a continued emphasis on maintaining appropriate liquidity, inclusive of capital markets initiatives. In addition, we continue to have active market engagement with a primary focus toward industrial investment opportunities.

16:35 EDT Coeur Mining reports Q1 gold production 85.1K oz vs. 78.3K oz last year - Reports Q1 silver output 2.7M oz. vs. 2.5M oz. last year. To provide additional flexibility to respond to potential downside scenarios, Coeur drew an additional $100.0 million from its RCF shortly after the end of the first quarter as a precautionary measure. As of April 22, 2020, the Company had approximately $150.0 million drawn under its RCF. Additionally, as Coeur seeks to proactively maximize its financial flexibility during these unprecedented levels of volatility and uncertainty, the Company intends to take the prudent step of re-establishing an at-the-market equity facility.

16:33 EDT Manning & Napier suspends quarterly dividend - Manning & Napier's Board of Directors decided to suspend the company's quarterly cash dividend of 2c per share to holders of Class A common stock. The previously declared 2c/share dividend will be paid on May 1, as previously disclosed. The Board of Directors will continue to monitor the company's ability to declare future dividends on a quarter-by-quarter basis during the course of its regularly scheduled quarterly meetings.

16:32 EDT Therapix Biosciences names Gilad Bar-Lev as CEO - Therapix Biosciences announced the appointment of Gilad Bar-Lev as CEO of the company, effective as of May 6. Bar-Lev will replace Dr. Ascher Shmulewitz at his position as the interim CEO of the company. Dr. Shmulewitz will continue to serve as the Chairman of the company's Board of Directors. Gilad Bar-Lev currently serves as a director of the Company. Mr. Bar-Lev is an active investor with vast experience in publicly traded securities, leveraged buyouts and venture capital. During his career, Mr. Bar-Lev has held various leadership positions, including as CEO of Carnie Capital, an Israeli family office, and as Executive Vice President of Hadas Arazim Group, the parent company of the Israeli investment house Hadas Arazim. Mr. Bar-Lev is trained as a security analyst and began his career working for financial institutions in both the United States and Israel.

16:30 EDT Lam Research down 3.8% after reporting Q3 earnings results

16:30 EDT Meta Financial provides business update amid COVID-19 - The company enacted a COVID-19 Crisis Command Center consisting of leadership and business continuity planning resources throughout the organization to effectively monitor possible interruptions related to the pandemic and to ensure business continuity. The company's loan and lease portfolio is diversified by geography and industry. The company's focus is on actively monitoring and assisting customers. The following actions have been implemented: tighter underwriting standards; monitoring and placing limits on originations to industries and customers most adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including, but not limited to transportation, travel, entertainment, and retail; contacting customers in order to assess their credit situations and needs; offering flexible repayment options to current customers, when appropriate and utilizing CARES Act, SBA and USDA programs and loan products to help small business clients. The company increased its allowance for loan and lease losses during Q2 as a result of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. The company will continue to diligently monitor the allowance for loan and lease losses and adjust as necessary in future periods to maintain an appropriate and supportable level. The company said that its capital position remained strong as of March 31. As of March 31, the bank's capital leverage ratio based on average assets was 8.52%, which is seasonally low due to higher asset levels driven by the tax services business. In addition, the company has options available that can be used to effectively manage capital levels through turbulent times.

16:25 EDT Seagate reports Q3 operating margin 15.5% vs. 12.7% last year

16:21 EDT Alcoa cuts FY20 Aluminum segment shipment view to 2.9M-3.0M from 3.0M-3.1M MT - Alcoa has updated annual Aluminum segment shipments to between 2.9 and 3.0 million metric tons from its earlier outlook of between 3.0 and 3.1 million metric tons, due to the impact of the Intalco curtailment on the second half of 2020. The Company's 2020 shipment outlook for Bauxite and Alumina remain unchanged from the prior full-year estimates. Total annual bauxite shipments are expected to range between 48.0 and 49.0 million dry metric tons. Total alumina shipments are projected between 13.6 and 13.7 million metric tons. In the second quarter of 2020, Alcoa expects lower quarterly results in the Bauxite segment primarily due to the non-recurrence of an annual sales contract true up. In the Alumina segment, the Company expects benefits from lower costs for raw materials. In the Aluminum segment, the Company expects performance to be nearly flat, as improvements from lower alumina costs, smelter power costs and production costs are expected to be offset by lower Brazil Hydro sales prices and lower value add pricing and volumes. The Company recognized significant currency benefits related to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar in the first quarter 2020, and it continues to be exposed to impacts of currency rate fluctuations in the second quarter. The extent and duration of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is unknown. The uncertainty around the future impact on the Company's business, financial condition, operating results, and cash flows could cause actual results to differ from this outlook. Due to the uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the global economy, Alcoa has suspended its quarterly projections on global supply/demand balances for bauxite, alumina, and aluminum.

16:19 EDT Las Vegas Sands CEO says impact on business from COVID-19 'unprecedented' - "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our business has been unprecedented, and I have never seen anything like it in my over seventy years in business," said Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO. "Our greatest priority during this difficult time remains our deep commitment to supporting our team members and to helping those in need in each of our local communities of Macao, Singapore and Las Vegas. Despite these circumstances, our balance sheet strength will enable us to emerge from this pandemic with all our promising future growth opportunities fully intact. We remain extremely optimistic about an eventual recovery of travel and tourism spending across our markets, as well as our future growth prospects. We are fortunate that our financial strength will allow us to continue to execute our previously announced capital expenditure programs in both Macao and Singapore, while continuing to pursue growth opportunities in new markets."

16:19 EDT Ring Energy says drilled four new horizontal San Andres wells in Q1 - Ring Energy released its operations update for the first quarter of 2020. In the three months ended March 31, 2020, the Company drilled four new horizontal ("Hz") San Andres wells (2 - 1 mile, 2 - 1.5 mile) on its Northwest Shelf ("NWS") asset. All four new wells drilled were completed, tested and had Initial Potentials ("IPs") filed. In addition to the four new wells drilled in the first quarter which had IPs filed, the company completed testing and filed IPs on two additional horizontal wells drilled in previous quarters (2 NWS 1 mile). The average IP rate for all the horizontal wells (6 wells) IP'd in the first quarter of 2020 was 558 Barrels of Oil Equivalent ("BOEPD") per day, or 107 BOE / 1,000 feet on an average lateral of 5,246 feet. The Company performed nine conversions from electrical submersible pumps ("ESP") to rod pumps (4 NWS / 5 CBP) in the first quarter 2020. Mr. Danny Wilson, Ring's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, commented, "Again, the results of the six new wells IP'd in the first quarter bear out the fact that the NWS is a superior play. The average IP rate on the six wells is in line with the 14 NWS wells we drilled in 2019 (550 BOEPD). The four new wells drilled in the first quarter 2020, using a larger frac and refined completion technique, averaged over 600 BOEPD. As we reported in early March, we have stopped drilling any new wells until we can see stabilization in the marketplace return. As a result, we currently estimate our capital expenditure budget ("CAPEX") for 2020 to be approximately $32 million, of which we have spent approximately $19 million in the first quarter. That amount is subject to change based on market conditions. We will continue to perform rod conversions in both the NWS and CBP wells, performing nine in the first quarter. In addition, the Company will perform downhole workover projects, as well as surface work on storage facilities and compressor improvements. We continue to work with our vendors, lowering costs and improving efficiencies wherever possible." As a result, net estimated production for the first quarter of 2020 was approximately 991,772 BOEs (Avg. 10,899 BOEPD), as compared to net production of 878,600 BOEs (Included 2 Months of NWS Acquisition) for the first quarter of 2019, a 12.9% increase, and net estimated production of 1,049,200 BOE for the fourth quarter of 2019, an approximate 5.5% decrease. March 2020 average net production was approximately 11,474 BOEPD, as compared to net daily production of 6,381 BOEs in March 2019 (Ring Only), a 79.8% increase, and net daily production of 11,270 BOEs in December 2019, a 1.8% increase.

16:18 EDT Netgear says on way to goal of doubling subscriber count 2020 - The company said, "We saw two distinct phenomena during the Covid-19 pandemic. Whenever a shelter in place lockdown was declared, business activities fell and demand for our SMB products dropped significantly. At the same time, consumers are quickly finding out that high performance WiFi at home is a necessity and are rushing to upgrade their home WiFi, driving upticks in our consumer WiFi and mobile hotspot sales. We also saw significant channel shift from physical retail channel purchases to online purchases which put strain on the logistics of some of our online sales partners. Despite the rapidly changing environment, we were able to navigate the impact the pandemic had on the global economy in Q1 and delivered financial results better than our forecast. I would like to extend our appreciation to the team and to our channel partners. We are continuing on our drive to increase our paid subscriber base worldwide. The number of our registered users went up from 12.8 million to 13.7 million, and our registered app users went up from 4.4 million to 5.1 million total. The number of net new paid service subscribers increased by 50,000 to 228,000 at the end of the first quarter. With this performance, we are well on our way to reaching our goal of doubling our subscriber count in 2020."

16:14 EDT Alcoa reduces non-critical capex by $100M - Alcoa is implementing new actions in 2020 to effectively manage cash during the economic downcycle caused by the pandemic: Those actions include: Reducing $100M of non-critical capital expenditures; Delaying non-regulated environmental and Asset Retirement Obligations spending of $25 million; Deferring $220 million in pension contributions in the United States under provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In addition to these immediate cash improvement actions, Alcoa amended its Revolving Credit Facility agreement in April 2020 to temporarily increase borrowing base availability for the next four quarters and provide improved flexibility. Alcoa has fully deployed its new operating model announced in September 2019 that will reduce annual overhead expense by $60 million beginning in the second quarter of 2020. The Company is also continuing the review of its asset portfolio to drive lower costs and sustainable profitability. The asset review includes two components: Potential sales of non-core assets to generate between $500 million and $1 billion in cash by early 2021, and an evaluation of the competitiveness of existing production capacities, focusing on 1.5 million metric tons of global smelting capacity and 4 million metric tons of global alumina refining capacity.

16:12 EDT Beyond Meat announces new $150M revolving credit facility - Beyond Meat announced that it has entered into a new $150M five-year secured revolving credit facility to support its future growth initiatives. The new credit facility also includes an accordion feature for up to an additional $200M. "Our current cash and liquidity position is strong, and we are pleased to complete this New Credit Facility on terms that will provide Beyond Meat with a greater amount of financial flexibility and better position the company for long-term success," said Mark Nelson, Beyond Meat's CFO and Treasurer. "We appreciate the support of our lenders as this transaction lowers our cost of capital, is expected to support our future global growth initiatives and enables greater strategic flexibility. We remain committed to providing consumers around the world with great-tasting plant-based meats, while contributing to important health, climate, natural resource, and animal welfare goals."

16:08 EDT Seagate CEO says company executed very well - CEO Dave Mosley states: "Seagate executed very well in the third quarter while navigating the unprecedented challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our teams worked tirelessly to safeguard the health of their colleagues, support customer demand, and execute our product roadmap. In this challenging environment, we achieved strong financial performance, delivering revenue and non-GAAP EPS that were above our guidance midpoint and continuing to generate solid free cash flow. Our results demonstrate the resilience of our business model, which combined with our strong balance sheet and liquidity offer stability to manage through this uncertain environment. Over the long-term, we believe the strength of our technology innovation and product portfolio position Seagate well to capitalize on secular demand for mass capacity storage as well as the growing necessity for cost effective data management solutions driven by the transition to IT 4.0."

16:06 EDT Kinder Morgan raises annual dividend 5% to $1.05 - "The board deliberated thoughtfully with regard to this quarter's dividend," said KMI Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder. "While we have the financial wherewithal to pay our previously planned dividend increase, with significant coverage, in unprecedented times such as these, the wise choice is to preserve flexibility and balance sheet capacity. Consequently, we are not increasing the dividend to the $1.25 annualized that we projected, under far different circumstances, in July of 2017. Nevertheless, as a sign of our confidence in the strength of our business and the security of our cash flows, we are increasing the dividend to $1.05 annualized, a five percent increase. In doing so, we believe we have struck the proper balance between maintaining balance sheet strength and returning value to our shareholders. We remain committed to increasing the dividend to $1.25 annualized. Assuming a return to normal economic activity, we would expect to make that determination when the board meets in January 2021 to determine the dividend for the fourth quarter of 2020."

16:02 EDT Sleep Number says COVID-19 actions expected to result in $250M in reduced spend - The company has taken decisive actions to manage liquidity and costs through the challenging economic environment caused by COVID-19. The pandemic and ensuing government restrictions have resulted in the temporary closure of most of our retail stores since mid-March. The company took immediate measures to preserve cash: suspended share repurchases for the balance of the year, significantly reduced capital expenditures, compensation, benefits and discretionary spending, and temporarily furloughed 40% of its team members, with approximately another 30% working reduced hours. These actions are collectively expected to result in more than $250 million of reduced cash spending versus plan in 2020.

15:11 EDT CDC confirms COVID-19 diagnosed in two pet cats in New York - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratories announced the first confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infection in two pet cats. These are the first pets in the United States to test positive for SARS-CoV-2. "The cats live in two separate areas of New York state. Both had mild respiratory illness and are expected to make a full recovery. SARS-CoV-2 infections have been reported in very few animals worldwide, mostly in those that had close contact with a person with COVID-19. At this time, routine testing of animals is not recommended. Should other animals be confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, USDA will post the findings. State animal health and public health officials will take the lead in making determinations about whether animals should be tested for SARS-CoV-2," the CDC stated. Makers of veterinary medicines and animal health products include Aratana Therapeutics (PETX), PetIQ (PETQ), Elanco (ELAN) and Zoetis (ZTS). Reference Link

15:00 EDT Star Group raises quarterly distribution to 13.25c per unit - Star Group, L.P. announced that it has increased its quarterly distribution for the three months ended March 31, 2020 to 13.25c per common unit from 12.50c per common unit.

14:50 EDT ECB to mitigate impact of possible rating downgrades on collateral availability - The Governing Council of the European Central Bank adopted temporary measures to mitigate the effect on collateral availability of possible rating downgrades resulting from the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The decision complements the broader collateral easing package that was announced on April 7, the ECB said. "Together these measures aim to ensure that banks have sufficient assets that they can mobilize as collateral with the Eurosystem to participate in the liquidity-providing operations and to continue providing funding to the euro area economy," the ECB stated. Specifically, the Governing Council decided to grandfather the eligibility of marketable assets and the issuers of such assets that fulfilled minimum credit quality requirements on April 7, 2020 in the event of a deterioration in credit ratings decided by the credit rating agencies accepted in the Eurosystem as long as the ratings remain above a certain credit quality level. By doing so, the Governing Council aims to avoid potential procyclical dynamics. This would ensure continued collateral availability, which is crucial for banks to provide funding to firms and households during the current challenging times. Reference Link

14:02 EDT Criteo moves higher after saying it is implementing Nielsen DAR - Criteo (CRTO) announced earlier on Wednesday that the planned implementation of Nielsen's (NLSN) Digital Ad Ratings or DAR, the industry standard for digital ad measurement, and Digital Brand Effect, which helps advertisers better measure and optimize brand lift metrics, with Criteo solutions. Combining the power of Criteo's Shopper Graph and AI Engine with audience demographic measurement from Nielsen will enable advertisers to validate consumers based on specific parameters, such as age or gender. Nielsen's Digital Ad Ratings provides a comprehensive, de-duplicated next-day view of an ad's audience across desktop, mobile and connected devices in a way that is comparable to Nielsen TV Ratings. As Criteo continues its evolution into a full-funnel advertising platform and aligns its technology to a broader array of marketing objectives and insights, including Connected TV, DAR measurement will help provide more transparency, flexibility and performance for brand advertisers. Criteo has built its reputation on its unparalleled direct response advertising engine. As clients are looking for more transparency and outcomes measurement, measurement capabilities like Nielsen's Digital Brand Effect enables Criteo clients to now understand the additional brand uplift benefits they receive from their performance-oriented campaigns. Shares of Criteo are up 2.8% or 25c to $9.27 per share.

13:54 EDT Medallia moves higher after pact to buy real-time speech to text platform Voci - Medallia announced earlier on Wednesday, that the company entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Voci Technologies, the real-time speech to text platform. The acquisition will combine Voci's leading real-time speech to text capabilities with Medallia's powerful experience management platform to deliver a rich, single view of the customer that can power exceptional customer experience and deliver significant gains in operational efficiency. Voci's artificial intelligence and deep learning capabilities, backed by expert speech scientists, generate sophisticated language models for accurate transcription of calls into highly accurate insights - such as emotion, gender, sentiment, and voice biometric identity. This powerful comprehension of a customer's intended meaning enables contact centers to operate at elevated levels of impact. Voci's real-time platform currently serves some of the world's biggest brands and is playing a significant role in optimizing remote contact center operations during the current surge in traffic and providing them with the fastest, most accurate call transcriptions and unmatched insights. "Voci transcribes 100% of live and recorded calls into text that can be analyzed quickly to determine customer satisfaction, adding a powerful set of signals to the Medallia Experience Cloud," said Leslie Stretch, president and CEO of Medallia. "At the same time, Voci enables call analysis moments after each interaction has completed, optimizing every aspect of call center operations securely. Especially important as virtual and remote contact center operations take shape." Under the terms of the agreement, Medallia will acquire Voci for approximately $59 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close in May 2020, subject to customary closing conditions. The company will use its revolver facility in order to preserve its current cash balance for any future needs. Shares of Medallia are up 6.8% or $1.40 to 21.96 per share.

13:43 EDT iAnthus says strategic alternatives review process 'ongoing' - iAnthus Capital Holdings responding to a request from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canadaregarding online media reports with respect to the Company's Strategic Alternatives Review Process. The company said, "The Company's policy is not to comment on speculative media reports and directs readers to its April 6, 2020 news release, iAnthus Announces Default of Interest Obligations to Debenture Holders on March 31, 2020, with respect to the Company's announcement that it formed a special committee, initiated the Strategic Alternatives Review Process and has hired Canaccord Genuity Corp. as its financial advisor. The Strategic Alternatives Review Process is ongoing and there can be no assurance as to what, if any, alternative might be pursued by the Company. In accordance with applicable disclosure requirements, the Company will advise the market of material changes, if and when they occur"

13:01 EDT North American rail traffic dropped 20% in week ending April 18 - The Association of American Railroads or AAR reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending April 18.For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 403,283 carloads and intermodal units, down 23.3 percent compared with the same week last year.Total carloads for the week ending April 18 were 189,598 carloads, down 27.5 percent compared with the same week in 2019, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 213,685 containers and trailers, down 19.1 percent compared to 2019. None of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2019. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2019 included coal, down 35,555 carloads, to 48,423; motor vehicles and parts, down 14,459 carloads, to 1,943; and nonmetallic minerals, down 5,188 carloads, to 30,377. "Rail volumes suffered again last week as extremely difficult times for rail customers and the economy continued," said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. "Like everyone else, railroads are looking forward to a return to normalcy and an end to the significant challenges associated with the pandemic. Until that happens, railroads will work hard to keep their employees and the communities they serve safe, will continue to deliver the goods needed to sustain and heal the nation and, when appropriate, support its economic restoration." For the first 16 weeks of 2020, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 3,592,286 carloads, down 9.5 percent from the same point last year; and 3,823,931 intermodal units, down 10.4 percent from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 16 weeks of 2020 was 7,416,217 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 10 percent compared to last year. North American rail volume for the week ending April 18, 2020, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 277,795 carloads, down 23.5 percent compared with the same week last year, and 291,778 intermodal units, down 16.5 percent compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 569,573 carloads and intermodal units, down 20 percent. North American rail volume for the first 16 weeks of 2020 was 10,236,377 carloads and intermodal units, down 8.4 percent compared with 2019. Publicly traded companies in the space include CSX (CSX), Canadian National (CNI), Canadian Pacific (CP), Genesee & Wyoming (GWR), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Union Pacific (UNP). Reference Link

12:43 EDT Palihapitiya says stock market not reflecting 'state of affairs on the ground' - Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya is speaking on CNBC.

12:24 EDT Palihapitiya calls out IBM as example of bad use of capital in buying back stock - Palihapitiya contends that the best capital allocators make the best CEOs. Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya is being interviewed on CNBC.

12:15 EDT Palihapitiya says latest SPAC IPO 'well received' - Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya is being interviewed on CNBC following the initial public offering for his latest special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. III priced its initial public offering of 72,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit. The units will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the ticker symbol "IPOC.U" beginning April 22. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-third of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share. Only whole warrants are exercisable. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, the Class A ordinary shares and redeemable warrants are expected to be listed on the NYSE under the symbols "IPOC" and "IPOC WS," respectively.

12:01 EDT BBX Capital suspends regular quarterly cash dividends - BBX Capital Corporation announced today that the company's Board of Directors has determined to suspend the company's regular quarterly cash dividends on its Class A and Class B Common Stock citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

12:00 EDT American Eagle falls -16.0% - American Eagle is down -16.0%, or -$1.33 to $7.01.

12:00 EDT Snap rises 29.1% - Snap is up 29.1%, or $3.62 to $16.06.

12:00 EDT Delek Logistics rises 57.1% - Delek Logistics is up 57.1%, or $5.03 to $13.84.

11:50 EDT Akazoo forms independent special committee to investigate QCM allegations - Akazoo announced that its Board of Directors has formed a special committee of independent directors to investigate the allegations in a report released by Quintessential Capital Management on April 20, 2020. The special committee has retained Latham & Watkins LLP as its legal counsel to assist in its review. The company said, "Akazoo has no reason to believe the accuracy of this Report, which the Company believes QCM issued in order to cause a decline in Akazoo's stock price and profit at the expense of the Company's shareholders. However, in order to ensure transparency and in an overabundance of caution, the special committee will conduct a thorough review with the assistance of its advisors. The Company cautions that Akazoo shareholders should exercise caution in relying on the information contained in the Report, which asserts certain 'opinions and projections' regarding the Company, and recognize that, by its own admission, 'QCM has an economic interest in the price movement.' Furthermore, the Report specifically disclaims responsibility for the accuracy of any data presented therein."

11:50 EDT Facebook expands Messenger Kids to more countries, with parental control feature - Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety for Facebook posted earlier: "With schools closed and people physically distancing, parents are turning to technology more than ever to help their kids connect with friends and family. Messenger Kids is a video chat and messaging app that helps kids connect with friends and family in a fun, parent-controlled space. Today, we're starting to roll out Messenger Kids to more countries and we're adding new choices for parents to connect kids with friends. Starting today, kids in more than 70 new countries around the world can use Messenger Kids, with more coming soon...Parents have told us they want to be able to give their kids more independence in managing their contact list while still maintaining parental supervision. Previously, it was up to parents to invite and approve every contact for their child. Now with Supervised Friending, parents can choose to allow their kids to also accept, reject, add or remove contacts, while maintaining the ability to override any new contact approvals from the Parent Dashboard. Supervised Friending will start rolling out today in the US and will gradually roll out to the rest of the world." Reference Link

11:28 EDT Walgreens Boots Alliance keeps quarterly dividend at 45.75c per share - Walgreens Boots Alliance announced that its board has declared a quarterly dividend of 45.75 cents per share, unchanged from the previous quarter The dividend is payable June 12, to stockholders of record as of May 20.

11:13 EDT L Brands trading halted, news pending

11:09 EDT L Brands continues slide, down 25% as Sycamore said to try to back out of deal - Shares of L Brands are down $2.96, or 24.5%, to $9.10 at time of writing after Bloomberg reported that Sycamore Partners is seeking to terminate its agreement with the company regarding a spinoff of the Victoria's Secret brand.

11:07 EDT Thermo Fisher up 3% after earnings beat, discussing COVID testing tailwinds - Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific are up 3%, or $9.72, to $329.34 in early trading after the company reported better than expected earnings and revenue for the first quarter. Earlier, the company reported Q1 adjusted earnings per share of $2.94, versus the consensus $2.79 per share forecast, with Q1 revenue of $6.23B that topped the $6.17B consensus call. The COVID-19 pandemic "has put a spotlight on the importance of the work we do at Thermo Fisher Scientific," said Marc Casper, chairman, president and CEO of the company. Casper added earlier on the company's earnings call that due to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and related customer impact "there are many unique variables that make forecasting in the current environment very challenging." CFO Stephen Williamson commented later in the call on framing Q2 organic growth. According to a transcript, he said in part: "There are many variables that will drive the outcome for the quarter. Our current best estimate of how these variables will play out results in a Q2 organic growth somewhere between flat and negative 15%." He pointed to two "key variables" that will primarily drive the outcome for Q2 - the scale of COVID-19-related revenue tailwinds and "a combination of the scale of the COVID-19-related headwinds, underlying market growth and our share gain activity." Regarding the revenue tailwinds, Thermo Fisher estimates the range of outcomes for Q2 to be somewhere between $400M-$750M, or an additional 6% to 12% of growth. "The level of testing undertaken by our customers using our proprietary testing kits will determine where we end up in this range. We estimate the combination of COVID-19-related headwinds for Q2, our share gain activity and the underlying market growth to be a net headwind of the range of 10% to 25%. And this range is largely driven by the level of customer demand, which in turn is driven by whether they are shut down altogether or operating at a reduced level. Another factor to consider is the continuity of our supply chain, which has been largely unaffected so far this year." The CFO also noted that large parts of the company's business are "relatively unaffected by COVID-19," including its bioproduction business and the majority of its pharma services business. "Where we end up in the range of outcomes for COVID-19 headwinds will depend on a combination of factors, including the impact of country and state restrictions, the speed in which they're lifted, how quickly our customers ramp up their activity and the COVID-19 impact on our supply chain. We remain confident in our ability to continue to drive share gains. In challenging times like this, you need to rely on your trusted partners, and we're seeing that playing out right now with our great relationships that we've built over the years with our customers across the globe," concluded Williamson.

10:56 EDT L Brands falls after Sycamore said to try backing out of Victoria's Secret deal - Shares of L Brands fell nearly 6% and were halted for volatility after Bloomberg reported that Sycamore Partners is seeking to terminate its agreement with the company regarding the Victoria's Secret brand. Bloomberg cites a court complaint filed by Sycamore in a Delaware court. On February 20, L Brands and Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm specializing in consumer and retail investments, announced a strategic transaction that would position Bath & Body Works as a standalone public company and separate Victoria's Secret Lingerie, Victoria's Secret Beauty and PINK into a privately-held entity.

10:41 EDT Immunomedics trading halted, news pending

10:34 EDT Delta has 'no interest' in monetizing stakes in global carriers

10:25 EDT Delta Air Lines to apply for CARES Act loan by April 30

10:20 EDT Delta to accelerate retirements of Boeing MD-80 aircraft

10:13 EDT Delta CFO expects net sales to remain 'slightly negative' moving through Q2

10:08 EDT Delta Air Lines received $2.7B of stimulus aid on Monday - The rest of the aid is expected over the next few months, CEO Ed Bastian says.

10:08 EDT Delta halves daily cash burn from $100M/day in March to $50M/day by May

10:06 EDT Geronimo Energy, Cargill execute VPPA for 200 MW MISO Illinois solar project - Geronimo Energy, a National Grid company, and Cargill announced the execution of a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement for the Prairie Wolf Solar Project in Coles County, Illinois. The contract marks the second renewable energy VPPA executed between Cargill and Geronimo, the first being for a portion of the Crocker Wind Farm in Clark County, South Dakota. Prairie Wolf is a 200 megawatt clean solar energy project located in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator market. The project is anticipated to begin operations at the end of 2021. Once operational, Prairie Wolf is poised to represent the largest single solar investment in the State of Illinois, as well as one of the largest solar developments east of the Mississippi and one of the largest single project VPPAs in the country. Using the United States' Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, the project is estimated to offset carbon dioxide emissions by 285,000 metric tons annually.

10:05 EDT Verizon signs agreements for more than 380MW of renewable energy - Verizon Communications (VZ) announced that it has entered into long-term renewable energy purchase agreements with Clearway Energy Group (CWEN) and Invenergy. These agreements, which are virtual power purchase agreements, will help finance the construction of new wind and solar farms."We are committed to sourcing or generating renewable energy equal to at least 50 percent of our total annual electricity usage by 2025," said James Gowen, Verizon's Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President, Supply Chain Operations. "The purchase agreements with Clearway and Invenergy will help us meet our commitment while increasing the supply of renewable energy to the power grids by almost 400 megawatts." Verizon entered into two agreements with Clearway Energy Group for an aggregate of up to 254 megawatts of capacity from two solar energy facilities being developed by Clearway in Texas. These facilities are expected to become operational in 2023. Verizon's agreement with Invenergy supports the development of an additional 130 MW of renewable energy capacity at Invenergy's Blooming Grove Wind Energy Center in Illinois. The facility is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year.

10:02 EDT State Auto Financial customers to receive 5% reduction on policy premium - State Auto Insurance Companies customers with personal auto policies as of June 1, 2020, will receive a 5% reduction on their entire policy premium at their next renewal. The discount is one of three elements of State Auto's In This Together Plan, which is focused on supporting customers through the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. State Auto customers with personal auto insurance policies as of June 1, 2020, will receive an automatic 5% discount on their entire policy premium at their next renewal, pending regulatory approval. Customers with State Auto Connect personal auto policies also have the opportunity to save an additional 10% right away by enrolling in the State Auto Safety 360 program, which adjusts auto insurance premiums based on how customers drive, and how much they drive. With safe driving and fewer miles driven, customers can grow the discount to as much as 50% at their next policy renewal. As it has since the beginning of the outbreak, State Auto will continue to work with customers who need flexibility when it comes to payments and payment plans.

10:00 EDT Comcast awarded $9.3M contract from Defense Information Systems Agency - Comcast announced it has been awarded a $9.3M, 10-year contract by the United States' Defense Information Systems Agency to establish commercial ethernet gateways to provide ethernet connections to its defense information systems network in the Northeastern United States. Reference Link

10:00 EDT Scor ADR falls -30.6% - Scor ADR is down -30.6%, or -$16.54 to $37.49.

10:00 EDT Snap rises 24.3% - Snap is up 24.3%, or $3.03 to $15.47.

09:47 EDT Small Cap Bear 3x falls -6.0% - Small Cap Bear 3x is down -6.0%, or -$2.85 to $44.44.

09:47 EDT Scor ADR falls -18.9% - Scor ADR is down -18.9%, or -$10.21 to $43.82.

09:47 EDT Hess Midstream Partners rises 14.0% - Hess Midstream Partners is up 14.0%, or $2.02 to $16.48.

09:37 EDT SCWorx says cannot accept PPE related purchase orders due to price increases - In a regulatory filing last night, SCWorx stated that on Wednesday April 15, 2020 at 11:00 AM ET, the CEO of the company, Marc Schessel, hosted a business update conference call. "With regard to the customer purchase commitments for PPE referenced [in the filing], the company has since informed the customers that it cannot accept the related purchase orders due to price increases. The company is continuing to endeavor to fill the customers' PPE needs at the higher prevailing price levels. The company anticipates that these customers will submit new purchase orders if and when the company is able to definitively source the needed products at an acceptable price," SCWorx stated in its filing last night. The Fly notes that Nasdaq has reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission has suspended trading in the common stock of SCWorx Corp.

09:33 EDT Fifth Third, Bellwether Enterprise announce strategic relationship - Fifth Third Bank, National Association, and Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital announced a new strategic relationship. The companies said, "Bringing together two institutions that are deeply committed to providing affordable multifamily housing, the relationship is designed to offer a broad set of solutions for the commercial real estate industry. Given Bellwether Enterprise's wide capabilities with government lending programs, including Fannie Mae DUS, Freddie Mac, FHA, USDA, and others, this will provide long-term agency financing through Bellwether Enterprise for Fifth Third's clients in this environment when the government is becoming the dominant financing source for real estate assets. Fifth Third Bank will gain access to Bellwether Enterprise's diverse permanent lender platform including its agency relationships and long-term correspondent relationships with life insurance companies. It will also have access to invest in new market tax credits, low-income housing tax credits, workforce housing equity and other products provided by Bellwether Enterprise's parent company, Enterprise. The relationship will provide Bellwether Enterprise the ability to leverage Fifth Third Bank's short-term and construction lending products, as well as treasury management, capital markets and investment solutions."

09:25 EDT AT&T CFO says 'terms have changed, but credit market open to us'

09:23 EDT Cinedigm finalizes share transfer for equity stake in Starrise Media - Cinedigm announced the Company has closed the final share transfer in connection with its previously announced deal to acquire approximately 27% of the outstanding equity of leading Chinese entertainment company Starrise Media Holdings from existing holders as part of an all-stock transaction. The Company now holds 385,542,162 shares of Starrise common equity, which it acquired for 51,501,685 shares of Cinedigm common equity. Utilizing those unique OTT and independent content distribution capabilities, Cinedigm has already been working to develop strategies and forge partnerships to release entertainment content and develop OTT channels in China while, reciprocally, releasing Chinese content and new OTT channels in North America, such as the recently launched Chinese language content channel, Bambu. Starrise' Film/TV business segment mainly invests in film, television and other short form content. Starrise distributes film content theatrically and to all key media platforms in China and is committed to significantly growing its investment in entertainment content for the rapidly expanding Chinese theatrical and digital marketplaces.

09:19 EDT Zoom Video announces upcoming general availability of Zoom 5.0 - Zoom Video Communications announced security enhancements with the upcoming general availability of Zoom 5.0, a key milestone in the company's 90-day plan to proactively identify, address, and enhance the security and privacy capabilities of its platform. By adding support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption, Zoom will provide increased protection for meeting data and resistance against tampering. AES 256-bit GCM encryption: Zoom is upgrading to the AES 256-bit GCM encryption standard, which offers increased protection of your meeting data in transit and resistance against tampering. This provides confidentiality and integrity assurances on your Zoom Meeting, Zoom Video Webinar, and Zoom Phone data. Zoom 5.0, which is slated for release within the week, supports GCM encryption, and this standard will take effect once all accounts are enabled with GCM. System-wide account enablement will take place on May 30. Control Data Routing: The account admin may choose which data center regions their account-hosted meetings and webinars use for real-time traffic at the account, group, or user level. Security icon: Zoom's security features, which had previously been accessed throughout the meeting menus, are now grouped together and found by clicking the Security icon in the meeting menu bar on the host's interface. Robust host controls: Hosts will be able to "Report a User" to Zoom via the Security icon. They may also disable the ability for participants to rename themselves. For education customers, screen sharing now defaults to the host only. Waiting Room default-on: Waiting Room, an existing feature that allows a host to keep participants in individual virtual waiting rooms before they are admitted to a meeting, is now on by default for education, Basic, and single-license Pro accounts. All hosts may now also turn on the Waiting Room while their meeting is already in progress. Meeting password complexity and default-on: Meeting passwords, an existing Zoom feature, is now on by default for most customers, including all Basic, single-license Pro, and K-12 customers. For administered accounts, account admins now have the ability to define password complexity. Additionally, Zoom Phone admins may now adjust the length of the pin required for accessing voicemail. Cloud recordings passwords: Passwords are now set by default to all those accessing cloud recordings aside from the meeting host and require a complex password. For administered accounts, account admins now have the ability to define password complexity. Secure Account Contact Sharing: Zoom 5.0 will support a new data structure for larger organizations, allowing them to link contacts across multiple accounts so people can easily and securely search and find meetings, chat, and phone contacts. Dashboard enhancement: Admins on business, enterprise, and education plans can view how their meetings are connecting to Zoom data centers in their Zoom Dashboard. This includes any data centers connected to HTTP Tunnel servers, as well as Conference Room Connectors and gateways. Additional: Users may now opt to have their Zoom Chat notifications not show a snippet of their chat; new non-PMI meetings now have 11-digit IDs for added complexity; and during a meeting, the meeting ID and Invite option have been moved from the main Zoom interface to the Participants menu, making it harder for a user to accidentally share their meeting ID.

09:18 EDT Itamar Medical funds study to evaluate CPAP therapy in COVID-19 - Itamar Medical announced the initiation of a funded trial that will evaluate the use of CPAP to manage patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. The study is a prospective, single-center, parallel group, open-label, randomized clinical trial to assess the efficacy of CPAP in 200 COVID-19 confirmed or suspected patients within the Mount Sinai Health System with respiratory symptoms who do not require hospital admission and are discharged home from the emergency room. The primary aim of the study is to determine if early, low, fixed CPAP at home reduces the risk of hospital/ER re-admission or death in COVID-19 confirmed or suspected patients. Secondary aims of the study are to determine if obstructive sleep apnea and obesity are independently associated with increased hospitalizations, mechanical ventilation, and/or death in COVID-19 suspected or infected patients. The study will also track COVID-19 conversion rates for household members of participants randomized to CPAP vs. control. All subjects will self-quarantine for the duration of CPAP use. They will also receive a disposable WatchPAT ONE connected to the Itamar Medical Digital Health platform and activated through a smartphone application to determine their sleep apnea status. Subjects will be randomized to receive 72 hours of CPAP or to a control group. The primary endpoint of the study is time to hospital admission or death within 14 days of randomization.

09:16 EDT USA Truck appoints Zachary King as CFO - USA Truck announced that Zachary King has been appointed to Senior Vice President and CFO. Mr. King has served as the company's Vice President and Corporate Controller since 2017 and has been with the company since 2015. He succeeds Jason Bates, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

09:16 EDT Delta CEO says in 'cash preservation mode' for 'balance of this year' - Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian is being interviewed on CNBC.

09:15 EDT Wayside Technology to acquire Interwork Technologies, terms not disclosed - Wayside Technology Group has entered into an agreement to acquire Interwork Technologies, a technology distribution company, which will be integrated into Wayside's Lifeboat Distribution business. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2020, subject to customary closing conditions. Interwork is a Toronto based value-added specialty distributor focused on cybersecurity, information management and network solutions in both Canada and the US. Interwork brings scale to Wayside with more than 20 new vendor partners, a network of approximately 2,500 value-added resellers and an incremental increase in annual gross billings of approximately 10%. Interwork President Joe Graci will now lead Lifeboat's Canadian business with plans to integrate both companies' Canadian operations, which Wayside anticipates will bring various cost synergies through the consolidation of sales, general and administrative expenses. Joe's diverse industry experience and perspective will be a welcome addition to the Wayside management team. Although Lifeboat and Interwork have only three overlapping vendor partners, one of their top shared technology partners, Acronis, has endorsed the business combination.

09:13 EDT Sunrun prevents emission of over 5M metric tons of carbon pollution - Sunrun has prevented the emission of more than 5 million metric tons of carbon pollution, according to the company's third annual Impact Report released. Through the generation of nearly 2,000 megawatts of clean, reliable solar energy, Sunrun customers have saved hundreds of millions of dollars on their electricity bills since the company's founding while helping spur the transition away from fossil fuels. Now, with the growing adoption of Sunrun's Brightbox solar home battery, more households were able to maintain electricity during unprecedented multi-day utility power outages in California throughout 2019. Additional highlights from the report include: Sunrun systems have further prevented the emission of pollutants known to harm public health, including preventing nearly 5 million tons of nitrogen oxide pollution since 2008. During California's 2019 utility-mandated power outages, Brightbox customers kept their lights on for an average of more than 36 hours while the grid was down. One Santa Rosa family powered their essential home needs using rooftop solar and battery storage for 143 hours-nearly six straight days. Sunrun has produced 7.4 billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy since 2007, which is equivalent to taking 1.3 coal-fired power plants offline for a year. For each metric ton of carbon pollution emitted by Sunrun in 2019, our entire fleet of solar energy systems has already prevented more than 16 metric tons of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere. Sunrun installs a new solar system every 2.3 minutes on average per workweek and has created thousands of local jobs, both directly and through their partners. Sunrun continues to lead on pay equity, this year signing the California Equal Pay Pledge and previously The White House Equal Pay Pledge. Sunrun is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. Women make up 50% of Sunrun's senior management team and 43% of our Board of Directors. We have operated 6 inclusivity programs over the last year. Sunrun is committed to serving all stakeholders: employees, customers, financial partners, and local communities. This year, the company created a formal committee to oversee Environmental, Social and Governance matters in addition to board-level oversight of ESG performance. As one of the world's top holders of solar energy assets, Sunrun's 2019 progress cements their place as the home solar industry leader.

09:13 EDT LivaNova cardiopulmonary products permitted to be used for ECMO therapy by FDA - LivaNova announced that several of its cardiopulmonary products are now permitted to be used in the U.S. for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, or ECMO, therapy greater than six hours per guidance issued by the FDA on April 6 to temporarily expand the availability of devices to address the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance is intended to remain in effect during the COVID-19 public health emergency declared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including any renewals made by the HHS Secretary. Product indications for use have been modified accordingly for the following LivaNova products and product lines: S5 heart-lung machine, CP5 centrifugal pump driver, Revolution centrifugal pump, Inspire family of oxygenators, EOS PMP oxygenator, LifeSPARCpump and controller, TandemHeart pump and controller, TandemLung oxygenator and ProtekDuo cannula.During ECMO procedures, a patient's blood is externally oxygenated and recirculated through the body to provide circulatory and respiratory support. To expand availability of such therapy, the FDA is permitting manufacturers of cardiopulmonary bypass devices to modify the product indications for use to include ECMO therapy greater than six hours, without prior submission of a premarket notification to FDA. The listed LivaNova products are being made available to support ECMO therapy for greater than six hours and now have updated labeling with a special supplement to the product package, including recommendations and use conditions to help users understand the products' use in ECMO therapy. Users of these products should carefully review the instructions for use and the special supplement to the product package.

09:12 EDT Bastian says 'no evidence' that Delta transmitting virus with remaining flights - The company continues to offer flights for healthcare professionals and other essential workers, but Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said there is "no evidence" that the airline is contributing to transmission of COVID-19 with its emergency flights. Bastian is being interviewed on CNBC.

09:12 EDT Knight-Swift doesn't have plans to change amount, frequency of dividend

09:09 EDT Yext and Olo partner in verified menu content integration - Yext and Olo, a digital food ordering platform for the restaurant industry, announced an integration allowing restaurants to sync verified menu content into the Yext platform and distribute it across more than 150 digital services, including Google, Facebook, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. Mutual customers of Yext and Olo will now be able to deliver menu information online so that customers get information before they place an order.

09:08 EDT Delta CEO says currently operating at less than 5% of normal customer load - Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian is being interviewed on CNBC.

09:07 EDT Thermo Fisher says customer shutdowns in China created headwinds in Q1 - Says every site has remained open despite COVID-19. Says pivoted teams to accelerate growth plans in other parts of the world. Says performed well in Q1 before the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Says underlying growth in Q1 was very good. Says analyzing the virus is a key focus. Says Q1 was an active quarter for capital deployment. Says Qiagen acquisition is a perfect fit. Sees accretion immediately after close of Qiagen deal. Says Qiagen's COVID-19 test is complementary to the companies. Sees Q2 organic growth flat to down 15%. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

09:05 EDT Landstar System to hold Annual Stockholder Meeting virtually - Landstar System announced that its Board of Directors has approved a change in the location of its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to a virtual-only stockholder meeting to align with public health guidelines regarding the coronavirus pandemic, including gathering and travel restrictions. This change in meeting format is expected to be effective for this year only. Virtual meeting date: Tuesday, May 19, 2020; Virtual meeting time: 9:00 a.m. ET.

09:03 EDT LPL Financial launches affiliation model LPL Strategic Wealth Services - LPL Financial has introduced a new affiliation model, LPL Strategic Wealth Services, designed to support the unique needs of established advisors in wirehouses and other employee-channel firms seeking to launch independent practices. LPL Strategic Wealth Services is a comprehensive solution, offering hands-on support throughout all aspects of the transition experience as well as ongoing business management services to help advisors thrive as business owners. The solution is backed by LPL's fully integrated brokerage and advisory custody platform, service commitment, investments in innovation and technology, and financial strength and stability. LPL Strategic Wealth Services brings together the most vital elements of running a business into a single, integrated solution that simplifies the business management experience and gives advisors the ability to stay focused on their clients.

09:00 EDT Tyson Foods to indefinitely suspend Waterloo operations - Tyson Fresh Meats plans to indefinitely suspend operations at its Waterloo, Iowa, pork plant this week. The facility, the company's largest pork plant, has been running at reduced levels of production due to worker absenteeism, and will stop production mid-week until further notice. The facility's 2,800 team members will be invited to come to the plant later this week for COVID-19 testing. Affected Waterloo team members will continue to be compensated while the plant is closed. The timing of resumption of operations will depend on a variety of factors, including the outcome of team member testing for COVID-19. Tyson Foods has been focused on COVID-19 since January when it formed a company coronavirus task force. It has since implemented numerous measures to protect workers. It was one of the first food companies to start taking worker temperatures. The company started efforts to secure a supply of protective face coverings before the CDC recommended them and now requires their use in all facilities. In an effort to promote social distancing, plants like Waterloo have installed workstation dividers and are providing more breakroom space. Tyson Foods' other meat and poultry plants currently continue to operate, but some are running at reduced levels of production either due to the planned implementation of additional worker safety precautions or worker absenteeism

08:55 EDT AT&T: Company has strong balance sheet, substantial liquidity - Says lots of levers to pull to optimize capital structure. Says no plans to draw on credit facility.

08:53 EDT Q.E.P. Co. announces delay of Q4, FY20 earnings release - Q.E.P. CO., nnounced that its press release and investor conference call on its consolidated results of operations for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2020 will be delayed. The delay is due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that has limited the Company's access to facilities, support staff and professional advisors. The Company will issue an updated press release closer to the date that its consolidated results of operations will be available.

08:51 EDT B.O.S. Better Online supply chain division receives orders totaling $1M - BOS Better Online Solutions announced that its Supply Chain Division has received orders totaling $1,000,000 for electronic components. The orders are from a new American customer and are for delivery through the years 2020-22.

08:50 EDT MySize and Logystico sign LOI to form joint venture for micro-fulfilment centers - My Size has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Logystico, a third party logistics fulfillment company that specializes in automating the order fulfillment process, to form a joint venture. The JV will exclusively operate and manage micro-fulfilment centers using My Size's BoxSize platform for retail vendors in the U.S. and My Size will have a 68% stake and Logystico will have a 32% stake in the JV Entity. Establishment of the JV is subject to the entry into a definitive binding agreement. BoxSize is a parcel measurement app that can provide real-time logistic data on packages volumes and transportation, designed to improve operational efficiency and reduce operating expenses.

08:47 EDT AT&T expects increase in bad debt expense across businesses due to COVID-19 - Expects labor cost to increase temporarily. Anticipates "strong demand" for HBO Max.

08:47 EDT Perspecta wins $14.5M award for defensive cyber operations - Perspecta's applied research arm, Perspecta Labs, was awarded the Autonomous Defensive Cyber Operations program from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center, Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate. The program, which represents new work for the company, has a five-year period of performance and total potential value of $14.5M. Perspecta Labs will research, design, develop, demonstrate and deliver a machine learning for defensive cyber operations solution for training, deploying and retraining containerized cyber sensors that detect both known and unknown vulnerabilities, attacks and malware.

08:44 EDT AT&T expects $6B in costs savings over next several years - Says 5G deployment continues and expects nationwide coverage this summer. Says HBO Max continues to be a "high priority" and will launch May 27. Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

08:42 EDT Foresight Autonomous provides operational, financial update amid COVID-19 - Foresight Autonomous provided an update on operational and financial measures taken by the Company in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company and its wholly owned subsidiaries are fully maintaining their business activities as usual, with minimal impact to research and development, business development and marketing activities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and its financial implications, Foresight has taken decisive action to reduce its monthly cash burn spending by more than 20%. These measures were implemented as of March. Foresight is pleased with its technological development progress and does not foresee sizable impacts to its current commercialization efforts. Considering the existing travel restrictions, the company has adopted virtual meeting and presentation practices that allow continuous communications with both potential and existing customers. Foresight broadcasts live demonstrations to potential customers and shared recent test results over several media channels. Foresight's health and welfare strategy aims to protect stakeholders such as employees, customers and vendors from the spread of COVID-19 while providing as much economic flexibility as is feasible. Consequently, the company has implemented appropriate procedures, including remote working practices, to ensure that it is conducting business in a safe and effective manner.

08:38 EDT Verizon to bridge digital divide with connectivity for 250,000 California studen - One in five students in California does not have the connectivity they need to participate in distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In partnership with California Governor Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the First Partner of California, Verizon announced its support for the State of California's mission to help bridge the digital divide by committing unlimited Internet connectivity to the state at a discounted rate for up to 250,000 underserved students. Last month, Verizon also partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest in the country, to provide more than 100,000 students with connectivity, who previously had no access to the Internet.

08:35 EDT North American site for FSHD Muscular Dystrophy testing adopts Bionano's Saphyr - Bionano Genomics announced that the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics will switch their method of clinical molecular testing for patients with presumed Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy to optical mapping using Bionano's Saphyr System. The UIHC recently completed development of an FSHD assay on Saphyr and validated its results by processing patient samples for FSHD. Following this evaluation, the UIHC is implementing this month a Saphyr-based assay into its clinical testing workflow. FSHD affects approximately 1 in 10,000 individuals in the United States. It is usually caused by deletion or loss of DNA in a section of chromosome 4 shortening a critical repeat element, the D4Z4 repeat, that plays an essential role in regulating the expression of the DUX4 gene. One component of genetically confirming a diagnosis of FSHD is measuring the exact number of D4Z4 repeats. The Molecular Pathology Laboratory at the University of Iowa, directed by Aaron Bossler MD, PhD, is the largest FSHD testing site in North America and to date has relied on the labor-intensive technique of Southern blotting for FSHD molecular diagnostic testing. The Saphyr System from Bionano provides a safe, fast and automated system to more accurately size patient alleles and determine the number of D4Z4 repeats. The University of Iowa FSHD testing involves a comprehensive algorithm which utilizes Bionano's EnFocus FSHD Analysis tool to accurately represent the repeat number with a high sensitivity for mosaicism and distinguish the presence or absence of the permissive haplotype for pathogenic and non-pathogenic variants. While FSHD testing is the first assay to be developed and validated using the Saphyr platform, the UIHC molecular team is assessing other genetic targets to analyze with Saphyr in order to diagnose other disease-associated chromosomal abnormalities.

08:34 EDT Everest receives CTA approval to initiate study of sacituzumab govitecan - Everest Medicines announced that the Center for Drug Evaluation of the National Medical Products Administration of the People's Republic of China approved a Clinical Trial Application in China for sacituzumab govitecan. With this CTA, Everest Medicines plans to initiate in the first half of 2020 a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of sacituzumab govitecan for the treatment of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who have received at least two prior therapies for metastatic disease. Sacituzumab govitecan is a novel, potential first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate targeting the Trop-2 receptor expressed by many solid cancers and delivering the moderately-toxic drug, SN-38, directly to the tumor and the tumor micoenvironment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration previously granted Fast Track Designation and Breakthrough Therapy Designation to sacituzumab govitecan for the treatment of patients with mTNBC who have received prior therapies for metastatic disease. The FDA is currently reviewing a biologics license application for the therapeutic candidate submitted by Immunomedics for later-line mTNBC. Under a licensing agreement with Immunomedics, Everest Medicines has exclusive rights to develop, register, and commercialize sacituzumab govitecan for all cancer indications in Greater China, South Korea, and certain Southeast Asian countries. TNBC is a highly aggressive disease and accounts for approximately 15% of all breast cancer types worldwide. i-iii The median age of breast cancer diagnoses tends to be younger in China than western countries, and the percentage of TNBC molecular subtype has increased to 20.3% in the past 10 years. TNBC cells lack sufficient estrogen, progesterone or HER2 receptor expression to benefit from the use of hormonal or HER2-directed therapy. Overall survival among patients with this form of breast cancer has not changed in the past 20 years, which highlights the need for advances in therapeutic options for these patients.

08:29 EDT CorMedix completes sale of $5.5M of NOL tax benefits - CorMedix announced that it has completed the previously announced sale of $5.5M of the total $6M of its available tax benefits to an unrelated, profitable New Jersey corporation through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's New Jersey Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer program for State Fiscal Year 2019. As a result, the Company has received approximately $5.2M in cash from the sale of these NOL tax benefits. The New Jersey Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer program enables qualified, unprofitable NJ-based technology or biotechnology companies with fewer than 225 U.S. employees to sell a percentage of net operating losses and research and development tax credits to unrelated profitable corporations. NOLs and R&D tax credits may be sold for at least 80 percent of their value, up to a maximum lifetime benefit of $15M per business. This allows qualifying technology and biotechnology companies with NOLs to turn their tax losses and credits into cash proceeds to fund growth and operations, including research and development or other allowable expenditures.

08:26 EDT Compugen granted patent in Europe for backup cancer antibodies - Compugen has been granted a new patent by the European Patent Office for the composition of COM701 or backup antibodies for the treatment of cancer. The patent covers the composition of matter for COM701 and backup antibodies including any anti-PVRIG antibody having the binding fragments of COM701 or backup antibodies for the treatment of cancer. The patent is expected to expire in Europe no earlier than February 2036.

08:24 EDT Navient's customer base managing crisis 'as well as can be hoped for'

08:21 EDT American Shared Hospital president, CEO Ernest Bates to retire - American Shared Hospital Services announced that effective on May 4, 2020, Ernest Bates, M.D., will retire as president and CEO of the Company. Bates will continue as the Company's Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors until December 31, 2020. Raymond Stachowiak, a member of the Board since 2009, has been appointed Interim president and CEO effective upon Dr. Bates' retirement and will continue to serve on the Board.

08:18 EDT Ideanomics' MEG to provide energy procurement services in China - Ideanomics announced that Qingdao Enengju New Energy Sales and Service, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Seven Stars Investment Group, has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Zhongsen Tower Communications to build and operate new infrastructure projects, under which Ideanomics' Mobile Energy Global or MEG division will secure rights to provide electricity for projects which include 5G towers and new energy vehicle charging piles. As part of the agreement between Enengju and Zhongsen Tower, MEG's energy services division will provide the wholesale electrical energy supply required to power these projects.

08:16 EDT GCP Applied Technologies urges shareholders to vote for director nominees - GCP Applied Technologies issued the following open letter to shareholders in connection with GCP's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, urging them to Vote "FOR" ALL Its Director Nominees on the BLUE Proxy Card: The company said, "Amid the significant uncertainty and volatility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the GCP Board and management team have been working with relentless focus to execute our operating plan and deliver value for shareholders while prioritizing the safety of employees and customers. Despite our substantial and continued progress, Starboard has insisted on moving forward with an unnecessary and unjustified proxy fight to appoint a supermajority of GCP's Board. We urge you to consider the results our recently refreshed Board has delivered, the proactive steps we have taken to position the Company for long-term success and the undue disruption to GCP's progress and momentum that could result from replacing nearly all directors on the Board. We recommend that shareholders vote the BLUE proxy card or voting instruction form to support GCP's highly qualified board of directors...Our team continues to drive significantly improved performance. We have previously outlined the many initiatives implemented to enhance operational performance and create value. On April 15, we demonstrated our continued progress against this plan when we provided expected financial results for the first quarter of 2020 that significantly exceeded consensus estimates and would represent our best first quarter earnings performance since 2016. Highlights of our expected results include sales growth in North America from both Specialty Construction Chemicals and Specialty Building Materials, growth in expected Adjusted EBIT of approximately 17% year-over-year to approximately $14 million, and expected Adjusted EBIT Margin expansion to approximately 6.5% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 5.3% in the first quarter of 2019. We also expect first quarter Adjusted EPS growth of approximately 29% year-over-year to $0.09. Our progress and expected results in the first quarter of 2020 further advance the successes we have delivered under the leadership of our CEO Randy Dearth over the past year...Importantly, our Board and management team have also maintained a disciplined approach to capital management that has resulted in a very strong balance sheet with significant liquidity and no near-term debt maturities. Today, our balance sheet is a competitive differentiator, providing substantial financial flexibility and positioning us to successfully manage through the ongoing economic challenges and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic...The GCP Board has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to regular, disciplined refreshment. This year, we nominated two new independent directors - Armand F. Lauzon, Jr. and John R. McPherson - to enhance our Board and help drive GCP's continued progress. We are confident that the Board and our 2020 nominees possess the expertise, operational and industry experience, knowledge, and skills to support the continued execution of GCP's strategy...GCP's recently refreshed Board is also delivering significant performance improvement and positive business results. While Starboard has not presented substantive alternative ideas to enhance value at GCP after over a year of engagement with the Company, the GCP Board has overseen the successful execution of the Company's strategic initiatives to improve business fundamentals and position GCP for long-term value creation. We look forward to the opportunity to further advance our current momentum...At GCP's upcoming Annual Meeting on May 28, 2020, shareholders will be asked to make an important decision regarding the composition of the Company's Board and its path for the future, which we believe will have an impact on your investment in the Company. We believe that Starboard's attempt to replace nearly all of the Company's directors would create unnecessary risk for your investment and the value creation trajectory the current Board and leadership team have demonstrated they are capable of delivering. The Company's top focus and priority needs to be on continuing to execute in a challenging and rapidly evolving operating environment to drive value for our shareholders, while also ensuring the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, customers and business partners. We remain firm in our belief that the Company's director nominees are best suited to lead GCP and deliver value."

08:14 EDT Navient sees chargeoffs, delinquencies declining through rest of year

08:12 EDT Peck announces investment partnership with GreenSeed, GreenBond - Peck announced a new investment partnership designed to increase Peck's access to capital for the construction of new solar projects and to scale its existing pipeline of new EPC business. Peck has partnered with GreenSeed Investors and its affiliate GreenBond Advisors to gain access to the Green Bond segment of the fixed income markets. Of note, this partnership provides Peck with access to project growth capital through additional EPC contract work from Green Bond proceeds. For this transition to occur, new renewable energy infrastructure must be built. Green Bonds are the financial instruments focused on financing this transition, directing investor capital to the projects that are building this new infrastructure and delivering returns to investors in the process.

08:11 EDT Covetrus takes additional actions to improve cash flow - The company said, "Covetrus ended the first quarter of 2020 with $204M in cash and cash equivalents, $1.185B in term loan debt, and $190M drawn on the company's $300M credit facility. In light of market conditions, timing of certain year-end payables and other seasonal working capital dynamics, the Company drew down on its revolver during the first quarter of 2020 to manage its cash position and to maintain additional liquidity in today's uncertain market environment. When financial results are finalized, the Company expects to be in full compliance with its credit agreement as of March 31, 2020. Subsequent to quarter-end, Covetrus announced, on April 1, 2020, the closing of its divestiture of scil animal care to Heska Corporation for $110M or approximately $100M net of deal-related fees and other transaction items. Covetrus used $45M of the proceeds to pre-pay its remaining quarterly term loan principal amortization payments for 2020. Adjusting for these, the Company would have had approximately $259M in cash and cash equivalents and $1.14B in term loan debt. With additional cash outflows expected near-term tied to investing activities and intra-quarter working capital dynamics as well as the unknown impact from COVID-19, the Company is taking additional proactive actions to improve cash flow, including reducing capital expenditures and discretionary spending."

08:08 EDT Covetrus says all distribution centers, pharmacies remain open operationally - The company said, "Operationally, all of the Company's distribution centers and pharmacies currently remain open as veterinary medicine has been deemed an essential service in most geographies around the globe. Additionally, the Company's supply chain operations continue to work with manufacturers and suppliers across the globe to provide access to critical supplies and quality products, with only personal protective equipment facing significant supply constraints. However, as net sales have weakened over the last four weeks as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on many of the Company's customers, management has taken certain measures to help better align the Company's cost structure near-term, including executive, board and other senior-level employee compensation reductions, employee furloughs in certain European countries, certain shift eliminations, a hiring freeze and discretionary spending deferrals."

08:05 EDT Navient donated stockpile of nearly 10K N95 masks to hospitals, first responders

08:04 EDT Navient has had 'less than a handful' of positive COVID cases among employees - Comments taken from Q1 earnings conference call.

08:01 EDT BOK Financial 'closely monitoring' loan portfolio - The company said, "We are closely monitoring our loan portfolio for effects related to COVID-19. Exposure to highly affected industries include, but are not limited to, oil and gas, entertainment and leisure, and senior housing. Energy loan balances comprise 18 percent of total loans, senior housing comprises 11 percent, and entertainment and leisure comprises approximately 8 percent. While our liquidity remains strong, we have enhanced daily monitoring of liquidity by tracking deposit inflows and outflows by customer, analyzing loan advances by segment, optimizing our borrowing capacity at the Federal Home Loan Bank, and increasing our collateral at the Federal Reserve Discount Window, among other things."

08:00 EDT BOK Financial processes approx. 4,700 PPP applications - The company said, "We have implemented programs to help our customers through this uncertain time. We are actively participating in programs initiated by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, including the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program that began on April 3, 2020 and Mortgage Forbearance program. As of April 17, 2020, we have processed approximately 4,700 PPP applications and currently have SBA approval for $1.8 billion. We have the ability to fund PPP loans through the Federal Reserve's PPP liquidity facility. We are also evaluating participating in the Main Street Lending Program. We are waiving fees on excessive savings and money market account withdrawals as well as overdraft protection transfer fees for automatic transfers between linked accounts at BOKF through May 31, 2020. Further, we are waiving loan payment late fees on consumer loan payments, mortgage accounts and small business loans in April 2020."

07:57 EDT Immunic reports IMU-838 demonstrates activity against SARS-CoV-2 - Last night, Immunic reported that its lead asset, IMU-838, a selective oral DHODH inhibitor, has demonstrated preclinical activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2. More specifically, IMU-838 was observed to inhibit replication of clinical isolates of SARS-CoV-2 associated with COVID-19. In cellular assays, IMU-838 demonstrated this antiviral activity at concentrations which are well below the blood concentrations associated with IMU-838 dosing regimens studied in ongoing and previous clinical trials. These results have encouraged Immunic to prepare a clinical development program for IMU-838 as a potential treatment option for patients with COVID-19 and potential other, future viral pandemics. IMU-838 is already being investigated in ongoing phase 2 clinical trials in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Although the drug is being studied in these ongoing trials primarily for its anti-inflammatory effect, one of IMU-838's postulated benefits is a host-based antiviral effect, which may be important in these indications to potentially prevent virus reactivations known to occur with other immunomodulatory therapies. In support, IMU-838's antiviral activity has previously been demonstrated in vitro against human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, hepatitis C virus, or HCV, human cytomegalovirus, or hCMV, Arenavirus and Influenza A virus. Given what is known about the natural course of the disease, IMU-838's combination of antiviral activity against the highly pathogenic SARS-CoV-2 and a selective immunomodulatory effect against highly activated immune cells may be a promising profile for the treatment of COVID-19. The company said IMU-838 has an attractive pharmacokinetic, safety and tolerability profile and, to date, has already been tested in about 650 individuals. Management noted that Immunic is collaborating with several regulatory agencies and other institutions in the United States and in Europe to define and accelerate the development path for IMU-838 in COVID-19. The aim is to investigate IMU-838 as an oral treatment option for COVID-19 and to enable the use of IMU-838 in treating current and potential future pandemic threats. Immunic intends to initiate a prospective, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind phase 2 clinical trial in patients with moderate COVID-19 disease and clinical symptoms, in order to evaluate efficacy, safety and tolerability. The plan is to test IMU-838 versus placebo on the background of investigator's choice of standard-of-care therapy used in both treatment arms. Adequate drug supply exists to begin clinical testing in COVID-19 very soon.

07:49 EDT United States Oil Fund executing one-for-eight reverse share split - United States Oil Fundwill execute a one-for-eight reverse share split that will be effective for shareholders of the Fund after the close of the markets on April 28. Shares of USO will trade at their post-split prices on April 29. USO's ticker symbol will not change, and USO shares will continue to trade on the NYSE Arca. USO's new CUSIP number will be 91232N207. The reverse share split will reduce the number of USO's shares outstanding and will result in a proportionate increase in the net asset value per share of USO. The reverse share split will affect all of USO's shareholders. The reverse share split will not affect any shareholder's percentage interest in USO. The NYSE Arca does not permit the trading of fractional shares. Other than in the case of USO shareholders receiving cash in excess of basis, the reverse share split is not anticipated to result in the recognition of taxable gain to USO shareholders. USO has decided to implement the reverse share split for two reasons. First, the reverse share split is expected to increase the marketability and liquidity of USO shares. Second, the reverse share split will ensure that the value of USO shares is well above the NYSE Arca's minimum continued listing requirements.

07:39 EDT NextEra Energy Partners sees no material impact from COVID-10 - NextEra Energy Partners currently expects no material financial or operational impacts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. "While NextEra Energy Partners' expectations always assume normal weather and operating conditions, I have confidence in our ability to meet our financial expectations, even when accounting for a reasonable range of impacts and outcomes related to the current pandemic," said CEO Robo. At the end of Q1, NextEra Energy Partners maintained a net liquidity position, including cash on hand, of approximately $650M. NextEra Energy Partners' only near-term debt maturity is a $300M convertible debt issuance that matures in September 2020, which may be converted to NextEra Energy Partners common units if the conversion price is achieved. Financing and construction for all of the previously announced organic growth investments that NextEra Energy Partners is pursuing remain on track. In 2019, NextEra Energy Partners purchased all of the outstanding holding company and operating company notes at its Genesis project. Cash flows from the Genesis project can support significant long-term financing capacity. The Genesis financing capacity and the release of Desert Sunlight trapped cash are additional potential sources of capital and liquidity for NextEra Energy Partners.

07:36 EDT Kimberly-Clark reports Q1 volumes up more than 8% - Sales of $5B in the first quarter of 2020 increased 8% compared to the year-ago period. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates reduced sales by 2% and business exits in conjunction with the 2018 Global Restructuring Program reduced sales slightly. Organic sales increased 11%. Volumes increased more than 8%, driven by increased shipments to support consumer stock up related to the global outbreak of COVID-19. The stock up impacted all business segments, in particular consumer tissue, and all major geographies. Net selling prices and product mix each improved 1%. In North America, organic sales increased 11% in consumer products and 6% in K-C Professional. Outside North America, organic sales rose 9% in developing and emerging markets and 15% in developed markets.

07:35 EDT Navidea issues statement, clinical trial update amid COVID-19 pandemic - Navidea announced the following statement regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company's ongoing clinical development efforts: "First, we would like to express our sincerest gratitude for all of the healthcare workers and other responders on the frontlines who are working tirelessly to combat this global pandemic. This has affected us all. We wanted to share Navidea's response during this time of crisis and provide an update on our research and development activities. Navidea is on track to deliver interim data from arm 3 of the Company's Phase 2b clinical trial (NAV3-31) in the timeframe previously communicated on the March 11, 2020 quarterly update call. Navidea has enrolled sufficient patients to meet these previously communicated timelines." In regards to the company's planned meeting with the FDA, management has made no changes to its internal forecast of an FDA meeting in late Q2/early Q3. Management believes that sufficient patients have been enrolled to maintain the previous forecast. The NAV3-33 trial, pivotal Phase 3 trial for rheumatoid arthritis, remains on track for a second-half 2020 launch. This goal echoes guidance previously provided on the March 11 quarterly update call. Analysis of the data from the company's Cardiovascular Phase 2b study remains on track. Results provided to Navidea thus far have paralleled data in our earlier published article. These data are supportive of Navidea's hypothesis that Tilmanocept can provide marked signal to background in a host of cardiovascular disease applications. Navidea continues to anticipate meeting with the FDA in the coming months to discuss upcoming clinical trial designs.

07:33 EDT PAE awarded $12.4M contract to support USPS - PAE has been awarded a contract valued at more than $12.4M to continue supporting the U.S. Postal Service at its Milwaukee Mail Transport Equipment Service Center. The one-year contract, which has an option for a 24-month extension, includes the production and management of mail transport equipment, including sacks, trays, lids, pallets and wheeled containers used to enclose and transport mail.

07:32 EDT Myovant Sciences says co-primary endpoints met in Phase 3 SPIRIT 2 study - Myovant Sciences announced that SPIRIT 2, the first of two Phase 3 studies of once-daily relugolix combination therapy in women with pain associated with endometriosis, met its co-primary efficacy endpoints and six key secondary endpoints. In addition, relugolix combination therapy was generally well-tolerated including minimal bone mineral density loss over 24 weeks. Myovant also announced that, in a separate clinical study, relugolix combination therapy achieved 100% ovulation inhibition in 67 healthy women with no women ovulating during the 84-day treatment period, as evaluated by the Hoogland-Skouby assessment scale. Furthermore, 100% of women resumed ovulation or menses upon discontinuation of treatment with an average time to ovulation of 23.5 days. In the co-primary endpoint analysis of SPIRIT 2, 75.2% of women receiving once-daily relugolix combination therapy achieved a clinically-meaningful reduction in dysmenorrhea versus 30.4% of women in the placebo group. For non-menstrual pelvic pain, relugolix combination therapy achieved a clinically-meaningful reduction in 66.0% of women versus 42.6% women in the placebo group. On average, women receiving relugolix combination therapy had a 75.1% reduction on the 11-point Numerical Rating Scale for dysmenorrhea from 7.2 to 1.7. Six key secondary endpoints measured at Week 24 and compared to placebo achieved statistical significance, including changes in mean dysmenorrhea and overall pelvic pain, impact of pain on daily activities as measured by the Endometriosis Health Profile-30 pain domain, a greater proportion of women not using opioids, changes in non-menstrual pelvic pain, and dyspareunia. Relugolix combination therapy was generally well-tolerated with minimal bone mineral density loss over 24 weeks. The overall incidence of adverse events in the relugolix combination and placebo groups was similar. In the relugolix combination therapy group, 5.3% of women discontinued treatment early due to adverse events versus 3.9% in the placebo group. The most frequently reported adverse events, reported in at least 10% of women in the relugolix combination group, were headache, nasopharyngitis, and hot flashes. There were three pregnancies in the relugolix combination group and five in the placebo group.

07:25 EDT Clearside Biomedical appoints Nancy Hutson to board of directors - Clearside Biomedical (CLSD) announced that Nancy Hutson, Ph.D. has been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors, effective April 21, 2020. Hutson retired from Pfizer (PFE) in 2006 after spending 25 years in various research and leadership positions, serving as SVP, Pfizer Global Research and Development and Director of Pfizer's pharmaceutical R&D site, known as Groton/New London Laboratories.

07:24 EDT Helius Medical appoints Jeffrey Mathiesen to board of directors - Helius Medical Technologies announced the appointment of Jeffrey Mathiesen, CPA, to its Board of Directors, effective as of June 9, 2020. Upon his appointment, Mathiesen will serve as chair of the Company's Audit Committee. He most recently worked for Teewinot Life Sciences Corporation, a privately held global leader in the biosynthetic development and production of cannabinoids and their derivatives for consumer and pharmaceutical products, from March 2019 to December 2019, where he served as CFO and later Advisor to the CEO.

07:19 EDT CareDx to present heart, lung transplant data in virtual meetings - CareDx announced the delivery of content on state-of-the-art research accepted at the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplants annual meeting that was originally scheduled for April 22-25, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. CareDx's program will include two virtual abstract sessions with prominent authors delivering ten abstracts accepted for presentation at the ISHLT Annual Scientific Sessions, and a virtual symposium with leaders in the field of heart transplantation delivering cutting edge content on HeartCare, AlloMap, AlloSure, and RemoTraC. On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, 3:00 PM EDT, five abstracts will be presented: Gene Expression Profile Scores with AlloMap are higher in malignancy - Kiran Khush, MD - Stanford; The Effect of Pre-Transplant MCS on AlloMap Gene Expression Profile scores and AlloSure Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA - Nir Uriel, MD - Columbia; Correlation of Gene Expression Profile scores with AlloMap and CMV infection - Manreet Kanwar, MD - Allegheny; AlloSure Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA is associated with CAV - Luise Holzhauser, MD - University of Chicago' AlloSure Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA precedes graft dysfunction in AMR - Cassandra Buto-Colletti, DO - VCU. On Friday, April 24, 2020, 3:00 PM EDT, five abstracts will be presented: Gene Expression Profile scores with AlloMap in combined heart-kidney transplant patients - Eugene DePasquale, MD - USC; Correlating AlloSure Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA and IVUS - Nirav Raval, MD - Advent Health; Early Experience with AlloSure Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA in lung transplant patients - Deborah Levine, MD - UT Health San Antonio; Experience with AlloMap Gene Expression Profiling in the pediatric heart transplant population - Thomas Zellers, MD - Dallas Children's Hospital; Hepatitis C viremic donors and AlloSure Donor-Derived Cell-Free DNA as a marker of inflammation and graft injury - Mary Beth Maydosz, NP - INOVA.

07:14 EDT Rogers Communications suspends roaming, long-distance fees for consumers - The company said, "The COVID-19 pandemic is significantly impacting Canadians and economies around the world. During this time and as an essential service provider, ensuring our customers remain connected to the people in their lives, and that our customers and employees remain safe, is of utmost importance. We have taken swift action to ensure our customers can stay connected to the world around them, such as providing additional services and waiving certain fees, and that our networks remain operational, including through adding capacity and managing traffic. We have also taken steps to ensure our employees remain safe and healthy, including temporarily closing a majority of our retail stores and enabling our employees to work from home whenever possible. In addition, we have announced several community-focused initiatives to help those in need during this difficult time. While COVID-19 is having a significant worldwide impact, we remain confident we have the right team, a strong balance sheet, and world-class networks that will allow us to get through this difficult time having maintained our long-term focus on growth and doing the right thing for our customers...Waived pay-per-use international roaming fees in all available destinations until April 30 to help our customers return home from abroad. Waived long distance voice calling fees across Canada from mid-March until at least the end of June. Implemented flexible payment options for customers facing financial uncertainty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with no account suspensions or disconnections until at least the end of June. Increased digital adoption by six points sequentially to 84%, with many self-serve options during the public health crisis. Introduced an Ignite self-installation program as a safe, easy, no-contact way for our customers to install our Ignite Internet and Ignite TV services; 100% of our installations in April have been performed this way."

07:11 EDT Delta Air Lines reports Q1 adjusted TRASM 14.59 vs. 16.63 a year ago - Reports Q1: CASM-Ex 12.58 vs. 11.49 a year ago; Average fuel price per gallon $1.82 vs. $2.04 a year ago.

07:09 EDT Biogen sees completing U.S. filing for Alzheimer's drug aducanumab in Q3

07:07 EDT Delta Air Lines expects to receive payroll support of $5.4B from CARES Act - The company expects to receive relief from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act in the following forms: Payroll support of $5.4 billion, comprised of $3.8 billion of direct relief and a $1.6 billion low-interest, unsecured 10-year loan. Delta has already received $2.7 billion of these funds and expects to receive the remainder over the next three months. As consideration, the U.S. Treasury will receive warrants to purchase over 6.5 million shares of Delta common stock at a strike price of $24.39 with a 5-year maturity Eligibility for $4.6 billion in secured loans, if the company chooses to apply and accept funds.

07:06 EDT Nasdaq raises quarterly dividend 4% to 49c per share - The Board of Directors of Nasdaq has declared a regular quarterly dividend of 49c per share on the company's outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on June 26, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 12, 2020. Future declarations of quarterly dividends and the establishment of future record and payment dates are subject to approval by the Board of Directors.

07:04 EDT Nasdaq sees 2020 tax rate 25.5%-27.5% - The company is updating its 2020 non-GAAP operating expense guidance to the range of $1.32B to $1.37B, principally to reflect the acquisitions of Solovis and OneReport during the first quarter of 2020. Nasdaq continues to expect its 2020 non-GAAP tax rate to be in the range of 25.5% to 27.5%.

07:03 EDT Nasdaq refinances certain bonds to strengthen balance sheet - "Early in the first quarter, Nasdaq began adapting how and where we work to protect our people and ensure we are well positioned to meet our clients' needs. Effective continuity planning positioned us to realize the benefits of our financial model, with not only record net revenues and net income, but also strong operating leverage and cash flow generation," said Michael Ptasznik, Executive Vice President and CFO, Nasdaq. "Additionally, to prudently address COVID-19 crisis risks, the company took steps to strengthen its balance sheet. Specifically, Nasdaq refinanced certain bonds to lower interest costs and eliminated near-term bond maturities, and we increased cash on the balance sheet by drawing from our existing revolving credit facility to ensure short-term funding needs were insulated from volatile money markets. These prudent steps combined with Nasdaq's highly cash-generative business enabled the company to continue executing on our capital deployment plan, including investing for the future and returning capital to shareholders."

06:58 EDT AT&T reports Q1 cash from operating activities $8.9B - Cash from operating activities was $8.9 billion, and capital expenditures were $5.0 billion. Capital investment totaled $5.8 billion, which includes about $800 million of cash payments for vendor financing. Free cash flow - cash from operating activities minus capital expenditures - was $3.9 billion for the quarter. Net-debt-to-adjusted EBITDA at the end of the first quarter was about 2.6x3. In addition to its investments to further improve and expand operations, AT&T used its cash to return substantial value to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. In the first quarter, dividends paid for common shares totaled $3.7 billion and the company repurchased 142 million of its common shares

06:57 EDT AT&T CEO says 'our core businesses are solid' - "The COVID pandemic had a 5 cents per share impact on our first quarter. Without it, the quarter was about what we expected - strong wireless numbers that covered the HBO Max investment, and produced stable EBITDA and EBITDA margins," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO. "We have a strong cash position, a strong balance sheet, and our core businesses are solid and continue to generate good free cash flow - even in today's environment. In light of the pandemic's economic impact, we've already adjusted our capital allocation plans and suspended all share retirements," Stephenson said. "As a result, we're able to continue investing in critical growth areas like 5G, broadband and HBO Max, while maintaining our dividend commitment and paying down debt."

06:56 EDT Fulton Financial withdraws 2020 guidance due to impact from COVID-19

06:56 EDT Quest Diagnostics compliance with financial covenants in question amid COVID-19 - The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to impact Quest Diagnostics' ability to comply with applicable financial covenants, beginning as early as the end of Q2. In this scenario, the company would not be able to borrow against its credit facilities and the lenders would have the right to demand payment of any amounts outstanding. The company has been in advanced discussions with its lead lender regarding an amendment to certain financial covenants of its unsecured revolving credit facility. The company believes this would provide it with the necessary flexibility to remain in compliance for the remainder of 2020. The company is confident that it will be able to enter into this amendment later in the quarter. The company also believes that its investment grade credit rating would provide it with access to alternate sources of financing should they become necessary.

06:51 EDT Mallinckrodt reports FDA acceptance of NDA for terlipressin - Mallinckrodt announced that the FDA has accepted for review the company's New Drug Application, or NDA, for terlipressin, an investigational agent being evaluated for the treatment of hepatorenal syndrome type 1, or HRS-1. On March 17, the company announced the completion of its rolling submission of the NDA for terlipressin. The FDA assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, target date of September 12.

06:43 EDT Ericsson: 'No reason to change' 2020, 2022 financial targets

06:38 EDT Regenxbio provides long-term RGX-314 trial data - Regenxbio provided additional long-term data from the ongoing Phase I/IIa trial of RGX-314 for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration, or wet AMD. In the Phase I/IIa trial of RGX-314, 42 patients with severe wet AMD requiring frequent anti-vascular endothelial growth factor, or anti-VEGF, injections were treated across five dose cohorts, with doses ranging from 3x109 GC/eye to 2.5x1011 GC/eye. Patients were enrolled into all dose cohorts independent of their neutralizing antibody titers to AAV and did not receive prophylactic immune suppressive oral corticosteroid therapy before or after administration of RGX-314. Patients in the study are being assessed each month for 24 months and will receive safety follow-up for five years after RGX-314 administration. Efficacy assessments for the study include reduction in anti-VEGF intravitreal injections, change in vision as measured by Best Corrected Visual Acuity, or BCVA, change in central retinal thickness,or CRT, as measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography, or SD-OCT, and protein expression levels as measured from aqueous samples by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. As of April 6, RGX-314 continued to be well-tolerated across all cohorts, with no drug-related serious adverse events, or SAEs, reported. Sixteen SAEs that were not related to RGX-314, including two ocular procedure-related SAEs, were reported in ten patients. There have been no reports of clinically-determined immune responses, drug-related ocular inflammation, or post-surgical inflammation beyond what is expected following routine vitrectomy. Across all 42 patients in the study, the most common nonserious adverse events in the study eye were generally assessed as mild. These included post-operative conjunctival hemorrhage, post-operative inflammation, eye irritation, eye pain and post-operative visual acuity reduction. In 67% of patients across all cohorts, and in 83% of patients in Cohorts 3-5, mild to moderate retinal pigmentary changes were observed on imaging, the majority of which were in the peripheral inferior retina. There was no evidence of clinical symptoms or changes to visual acuity related to retinal pigmentary changes. Retinal hemorrhage was observed in 17% of patients and is an anticipated event in patients with severe wet AMD. Positive long-term potential efficacy signals were sustained over two years in Cohort 3.The mean change in visual acuity across all six patients in Cohort 3 was markedly improved over two years, with a mean BCVA improvement of +14 letters, and the mean change in CRT was stable, with an increase of +2 microm. Patients in Cohort 3 also demonstrated long-term reductions in anti-VEGF treatment burden over two years with a mean annualized rate of 2.8 anti-VEGF injections after administration of RGX-314, which is a reduction of over 60% from the mean annualized injection rate during the twelve months prior to administration of RGX-314. Three out of six patients received no anti-VEGF injections over two years following one-time administration of RGX-314. One patient received four anti-VEGF injections after RGX-314 administration and then did not receive anti-VEGF injections from nine months through two years. The four patients who did not receive anti-VEGF injections after nine months demonstrated a mean BCVA improvement of +14 letters, with a range of +6 letters to +25 letters. In addition, these patients had stable retinal thickness with a mean change of +9 microm. Additionally, long-term intraocular RGX-314 protein expression was stable in patients in Cohort 3 over two years. The mean RGX-314 protein expression level in Cohort 3 was 227.2 ng/ml at two years, compared to 217.8 ng/ml at six months. The mean RGX-314 protein expression level in the four patients who did not receive anti-VEGF injections after nine months was 291.7 ng/ml at two years, compared to 273.6 ng/ml at six months. Consistent with previous results, intraocular RGX-314 protein expression levels increased in a dose-dependent manner across cohorts when measured at six months after administration of RGX-314; the mean protein expression level in Cohort 4 and Cohort 5 was 653.6 ng/ml and 848.7 ng/ml, respectively. Patients in Cohort 5 continued to demonstrate a meaningful reduction in anti-VEGF treatment burden over nine months following administration of RGX-314, with eight out of 11 patients remaining anti-VEGF injection-free, and a reduction across the cohort of over 80% from the mean annualized injection rate during the 12 months prior to RGX-314 administration.

06:34 EDT inTEST offices operational, deemed 'critical and essential business operations' - inTEST's corporate offices and business units are operational and have been deemed 'critical and essential business operations' under the various governmental COVID-19 mandates. The company is taking all precautions to ensure the safety of its employees, customers, and business partners, while continuing to provide worldwide sales, service and support. On April 10, inTEST closed on a $7.5M working capital line of credit with M&T Bank. This line was put in place to provide the company with additional working capital financing capability in response to the current business environment, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the working capital line, inTEST has been approved for Paycheck Protection Program loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act totaling $2.8M to support employee retention during the pandemic.

06:33 EDT Digital Realty reaches new wind energy agreement to power Texas data centers - Digital Realty (DLR) announced a new 7.5-year power and renewable energy credit agreement with Citi (C) to supply clean, renewable energy for Digital Realty's portfolio of data centers in the Dallas, Texas region. This contract will advance Digital Realty's environmental and sustainability goals by supplying approximately 30% of the company's power needs in this market. The transaction provides Digital Realty with over 260,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy annually, which represents 55% of the wind generation project output being developed by Bearkat Wind Energy II, LLC. The energy provided through the 162-megawatt project in Glasscock County will serve a portion of the power needs of Digital Realty's 13 data centers in the Greater Dallas, Texas region.

06:10 EDT Canada Goose commits to carbon neutrality by 2025 - Canada Goose (NYSE/TSX: GOOS) launched its Sustainable Impact Strategy outlined in the company's first-ever Sustainability Report. Driven by its long-standing commitment to keep the planet cool and the people on it warm, the accelerated strategy includes tangible commitments supporting four key UN Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, to ensure a sustainable future for generations to come. As part of its Sustainable Impact Strategy, Canada Goose outlines key commitments: Carbon Neutrality: Net zero direct and indirect (Scope 1 and 2) greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, through aggressive and tangible action plans which aim to reduce emissions by more than 80 per cent from current levels. Reclaimed Fur: In 2022, Canada Goose plans to introduce reclaimed fur into its supply chain, which includes beginning to manufacturing parkas using reclaimed fur and ending the purchasing of new fur. The company also plans to launch a consumer buy-back program for fur in the months ahead. Responsible Down Standard, or RDS: In 2019, in partnership with Textile Exchange, the company completed third-party compliance audits at 100 per cent of its manufacturing facilities and commits to being 100 per cent RDS-certified by 2021. bluesign: Commit to reach 90% of Canada Goose fabrics as bluesign approved for responsible and sustainable practices by 2025, increasing from 32 per cent in 2019. Plastic-Free: Eliminating single-use plastics in all Canada Goose owned or controlled facilities.

06:07 EDT HC2 Holdings board urges shareholders to vote the WHITE card - In a letter to shareholders, the board said, "Your Board and management team are executing on HC2's plan to enhance value for all HC2 stockholders. HC2's well thought out strategy is in direct contrast to Percy Rockdale's ill-conceived plan which would likely destroy stockholder value and is a misleading ploy to garner investor support. We respectfully ask that you take a few minutes to learn the deep risks inherent in Percy Rockdale's thoughtless plan and promptly return the WHITE card marked 'REVOKE MY CONSENT.' We want to set the record straight so that you can make an informed decision based on the FACTS. As your Board of Directors, we once again urge you to ignore Percy Rockdale's misleading schemes and support your current Board to continue to deliver enhanced long-term stockholder value."

06:03 EDT Evercore Partners sees 'significant impact' on results from COVID-19 - The company said, "At this time, it is uncertain how long our business will be negatively impacted by COVID-19 and the associated economic and market downturn. We anticipate that the decline in revenue will have a significant impact on our results of operations and cash flows. It is uncertain at this time how significant that impact will be. The degree of the impact will likely be directly correlated to the length and depth of the economic slowdown and speed of the recovery of the equity and credit markets. Market access to working capital, access to both short-term and long-term financing and/or the ability to raise capital will be impacted, and may be impacted significantly, during these resulting periods of economic distress. Our ability to fund operations, make capital investments, maintain compliance with our debt covenants and fund shareholder dividends and other capital commitments or stock repurchases may be adversely affected, depending on the length and depth of the disruption. We continue to monitor our cash levels, liquidity, regulatory capital requirements, debt covenants and our other contractual obligations regularly. This includes focusing on client billing activity, accounts receivable collections and cost management initiatives. Management is also carefully reviewing decisions related to capital projects and returning capital to investors, such as purchasing outstanding shares and dividend recommendations to the Board of Directors."

05:42 EDT BioNTech, Pfizer receive German regulatory approval for COVID-19 vaccine trial - BioNTech SE (BNTX) and Pfizer (PFE) have announced that the German regulatory authority, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, has approved the Phase 1/2 clinical trial for BioNTech's BNT162 vaccine program to prevent COVID-19 infection. BioNTech and Pfizer are jointly developing BNT162. The trial is the first clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate to start in Germany, and is part of a global development program. Pfizer and BioNTech will also conduct trials for BNT162 in the United States upon regulatory approval, which is expected shortly. The four vaccine candidates are the first candidates from BioNTech's COVID-19-focused project "Lightspeed", each representing different mRNA formats and target antigens. Two of the four vaccine candidates include a nucleoside modified mRNA, or modRNA, one includes a uridine containing mRNA, or uRNA, and the fourth vaccine candidate utilizes self-amplifying mRNA, or saRNA. Each mRNA format is combined with a lipid nanoparticle, or LNP, formulation. The larger spike sequence is included in two of the vaccine candidates, and the smaller optimized receptor binding domain, or RBD, from the spike protein is included in the other two candidates. The RBD-based candidates contain the piece of the spike that is thought to be most important for eliciting antibodies that can inactivate the virus.

05:33 EDT Jacobs Engineering will be net zero carbon in 2020, carbon negative by 2030 - Jacobs released a Climate Action Plan that outlines the commitments the company is making to help abate the climate crisis. Jacobs' Climate Action Plan commits to help solve the climate crisis by achieving and maintaining 100% renewable energy, net zero carbon for the company's operations and business travel in 2020 and carbon negative for its operations and business travel by 2030. "Today, we reveal a plan that sets us apart - capturing the shared passion, pride and drive of our people as we work to preserve our planet for future generations," said Jacobs Chair and CEO Steve Demetriou. "From the way we operate our business, to the work we perform with clients and other organizations, Jacobs' Climate Action Plan details how we will continue to make a positive environmental, societal and economic difference for businesses, governments and communities around the world."

05:15 EDT STMicroelectronics proposes cutting dividend to 16.8c per share from 24c - Taking into account the increasing global societal and economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, STMicroelectronics' supervisory board is now proposing a decrease in the 2019 dividend from 24c to 16.8c per share, with the authorization to consider, during September, to increase such dividend up to a maximum of 24c per share. The updated dividend resolution will be proposed at the 2020 AGM which is now postponed to June 17.