Category: Stock Market News

Celgene Corp. shares rose 1.4% in Monday morning trade after a recent development suggested a settlement might be coming between Celgene and generic drugmaker Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. on a generic for Celgene’s blockbuster cancer drug Revlimid. Though a pre-trial hearing had been expected, “newly-emerging documents Friday night… indicate CELG and DRL have just resolved their differences around the disputed claim terms,” said RBC Capital analyst Brian Abrahams. “We see this as a positive indication of a settlement approaching, and continue to believe that settlement(s) with generic filers for incremental out-year Revlimid economics will provide reassurance there is unlikely to be an earlier-than-expected generic Revlimid entrant/cliff.” Those settlements with generic rivals would likely benefit Celgene and come with limited financial costs relative to the alternative, Abrahams added. Celgene shares have dropped 19.5% over the last three months, compared with a 1.8% drop in the S&P 500 .

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Yi Gang, newly named governor of the People’s Bank of China, said the country would gradually open up to foreign investors in a speech Sunday at the China Development Forum in Beijing, according to a Reuters report. This would also include reforms of the country’s economic and financial system, as an opening up would make the People’s Republic more competitive. “We have three major tasks for the financial system. First, implement prudent monetary policy. Second, push forward financial reforms and opening up. Third, win the battle against financial risks,” the central banker said. This would include, for example, opening the Chinese government bond market further. A second phase of the country’s cross-border settlement system for its currency, the yuan, will also soon be rolled out, making payments more efficient for global businesses. The yuan, the exchange rate of which is under government control, will be kept more or less stable, Yi said. One dollar last bought 6.2808 onshore yuan , down 0.5% from Friday, and 6.2681 offshore yuan , 0.7% lower versus late Friday in New York, according to FactSet.

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Lowe’s Cos. Chief Executive Robert Niblock will retire after 25 years with the company once a successor has been named, the home improvement retailer announced Monday. Niblock will continue in his role while the search, which has begun, is underway. Niblock was chairman and CEO for 13 of his 25 years with the company. Lowe’s shares are up 5.5% in premarket trading, but down nearly 10% for the year to date. The S&P 500 index is down 3.2% for 2018 so far.

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Shares of DarioHealth Corp. are up 29% in premarket trading Monday after the company said it had received FDA clearance for its blood glucose monitoring system to be used on Apple Inc. iPhone 7, 8, and X devices via the Lightning port on these phones. The monitor also works with a 3.5mm headphone jack. “With today’s news, DarioHealth plans to expand U.S. sales in the coming weeks,” the company said in a release. It’s been marketing its product for Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Galaxy S, Galaxy Note, and LG G phones since the fall. Dario Health shares were down 12.6% over the past year as of Friday’s close, compared with a 10% rise for the S&P 500 .

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Shares of Facebook Inc. rose 0.6% in premarket trade Monday, to bounce slightly after suffering their worst week in six years, after the social media giant took out full-page ads in newspapers over the weekend to apologize for a “breach of trust” in the wake of a data-privacy scandal. The stock had tumbled 13.9% last week, the worst week since it fell 16.5% during the week ending May 25, 2012. The stock’s worst week was a 17.6% decline the week ending July 27, 2012, which was about 2 1/2-months after it went public. Separately, the company tried to dispel over the weekend reports that people’s call and text history were being logged without permission, by saying, “This is not the case.” Facebook said logging call and text history was by users’ choice, and was a feature that can be turned off. After last week’s selloff, the stock had lost 9.4% over the past three months, but was still up 13.6% over the past 12 months, while the Nasdaq 100 had climbed 21.3% and the S&P 500 had gained 11.5% over the past year.

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Shares of Finish Line Inc. soared 27% in premarket trade Monday, after the athletic shoe and accessories retailer agreed to be acquired by the U.K.’s JD Sports Fashion Plc in a deal valued at about $558 million. Under terms of the deal, JD will pay $13.50 in cash for each Finish Line share outstanding, which is a 28% above Friday’s closing price of $10.55, and would value Finish Line’s shares outstanding at about $544.5 million. Finish Line executives will continue to be involved in the business after the deal closes. Separately, Finish Line said fiscal fourth-quarter sales rose 0.7% from a year ago to $561.3 million, while same-store sales were “more challenging” than expected, as they fell 7.9%. The company now expects to report adjusted earnings per share of 58 cents to 59 cents, compared with previous guidance of 50 cents to 58 cents. The stock had tumbled 25% over the past three months through Friday, while the S&P 500 had lost 3.4%.

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. [s:brkb] revealed that it proposed selling its stake in building materials group USG Corp. for $42 a share to a German-based rival, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday. USG shares rose 19% in premarket trading. The filing from Berkshire Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett revealed that executives from privately-held Gebr. Knauf Verwaltungsgesellschaft KG have been in contact over the years with Berkshire about purchasing its stake. On March 15, Knauf made a non-binding proposal to buy 100% of outstanding shares of USG for $42 a share. Buffett and another Berkshire executive spoke to Knauf executives by telephone on March 23, and proposed that the company buy all of Berkshire’s stake — 30.8%, according to the filing. Knauf owns 10.5% of USG, according to FactSet. The price proposed was for no less than $42 per share, less the option price of $2 per share to be paid to Berkshire if a definitive agreement was made. Knauf has not yet responded to the March 23 offer, said the Berkshire filing.

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Authorities have opened a criminal investigation into a fire that killed at least 64 people at a Russian shopping mall on Sunday, media reports said. The blaze at Winter Cherry mall, located in Kemerovo, Siberia, burned for 12 hours, and had been packed with families. The site of a former confectionary factory, the popular mall features a petting zoo, cinema and indoor skating rink. The Associated Press said several people were still missing, and that four persons had been detained for questioning. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

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U.S. stock futures indicated a bounce for major indexes at the start of trading on Monday, boosted in part by signs that trade tensions may be easing between the U.S. and China. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumped 170 points, or 0.7%, to 23,782, while S&P 500 futures rose 20.45 points, or 0.8%, to 2,618. Nasdaq-100 futures surged 65 points, or 1%, to 6,619.50. Major indexes logged their worst week since January 2016 on Friday, with the Dow plunging 424.69 points. Those losses stemmed from fears of a global trade war, with the U.S. and China trading barbs last week over the Trump administration’s plan to impose tariffs on China. But the two nations have started negotiations behind the scenes to ease U.S. access to China markets, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing sources. Asian markets were mostly lower, though sharper losses from earlier were easing up. The dollar was trading flat, while gold prices were modestly lower, as were those for crude .

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Dozens of Cambridge Analytica employees who were not U.S. citizens were deployed to provide campaign strategy and advice for Republican candidates in the 2014 elections, the Washington Post reported Sunday night. That may have been in violation of U.S. law, which restricts how much involvement foreign citizens may have in election campaigns. Former Cambridge Analytica research director Christopher Wylie, who blew the whistle on unauthorized data mining from Facebook Inc. user profiles, told the Post that the company aimed to provide candidates with individually tailored campaign messages. Two other former Cambridge Analytica employees also told the Post that those foreign workers may have been given potentially inaccurate immigration documents when they entered the U.S. Cambridge Analytica’s parent company is based in London.

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