Category: Stock Market News

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. shares rose 37.7% in morning trade Wednesday to $4.35 per share after the biotech said it signed an agreement with Biogen Inc. to test its lead drug candidate. Biogen’s testing will examine the remyelination ability of the drug, ANAVEX 2-73, in an effort to treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis. ANAVEX 2-73 is currently in midstage clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease, and has grant funding to be studied for Parkinson’s disease, Anavex said. Anavex shares dropped 12.0% over the last three months, compared with a 6.2% rise in the S&P 500 .

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U.S. stocks on Wednesday traded marginally higher as Wall Street got a lift from higher crude-oil futures and awaited comments from a roster of expected Federal Reserve speakers later in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading 37 points, or 0.2%, higher at 18,267, the S&P 500 index advanced about 3 points, or 0.2%, at 2,163, while the Nasdaq Composite Index picked up 6 points, or 0.1%, at 5,312. Chairwoman Janet Yellen is due to testify about regulation and supervision before a House panel on financial services at 10 a.m. Eastern, while. Elsewhere, St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard is expected to deliver opening remarks at the St. Louis Fed’s conference on community banking at 10:15 a.m. Eastern. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans is slated to speak at 1:30 p.m. Eastern about the economy at that same confab. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester is set to make remarks on the economic outlook and monetary policy at a forum in the Cleveland area at 4:35 p.m. Eastern. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 1.2% at $45.25 a barrel, as energy traders watched for headlines from a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Procter & Gamble & Co. gained 1.1% to lead Dow components in early trade.

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Amazon.com Inc. said Wednesday that it has introduced a new Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, priced for $39.99. It’s now available for pre-order, and will start shipping to U.S. customers on Oct. 20. The latest version is up to 30% faster than the original, according to Amazon, and allows access to more than 7,000 channels, apps and Alexa skills. Later this year, a free software update will improve browsing. Amazon shares are nearly flat in premarket trading, but up almost 62% for the past year. The S&P 500 Index is up 14.8% for the last 12 months.

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SolarCity Corp. said Wednesday that President Tanguy Serra, who also oversaw finance, will leave the company at the end of the year, as the company is expected to be acquired by Tesla Motors Inc. . The clean energy company said it promoted Radford Small to chief financial officer. Small, who joined SolarCity from Goldman Sachs, was previously executive vice president of global capital markets at Tesla. SolarCity’s stock, which gained 0.8% in premarket trade, has plunged 61% year to date through Tuesday, while Tesla shares have lost 14% and the S&P 500 has gained 5.7%. Separately, SolarCity said it has partnered with Citigroup Inc. to create funds to finance over $347 million in solar projects.

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Propane supplier Ferrellgas Partners L.P. said Wednesday it had a net loss of $654.8 million, or $6.68 per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter to July 31, wider than the loss of $58.2 million, or 64 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose to $409.5 million from $382.5 million. The FactSet consensus was for a loss of 46 cents a share and revenue of $462 million. “As we highlighted last quarter, record temperatures across the nation continue to have an adverse impact on the propane sector of our company and low oil prices have seriously damaged our midstream sector,” Founder and Interim Chief Executive James Ferrell said in a statement. “In particular, unusually warm winters over the past two years drove down propane sales across all our geographies, and low crude oil prices have negatively impacted our midstream logistics business.” The company said the increase in debt it took on to fund the acquisition of Bridger, a recent settlement with Jamex and the impact of warm weather had combined to raise its leverage ratio to close to the 5.5 times limit on some of its borrowing. The company has obtained an amendment raising the maximum leverage ratio to 5.9 times to 6.05 times over the next six quarters. it will now focus on reducing debt and lowering its leverage ratio, and may reduce its quarterly distribution to about $1.00 per unit vs. $2.05. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are down 0.6% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 6%.

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Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. surged 6.6% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the smartphone maker surprisingly reported a breakeven quarter and raised its full-year outlook. The company reported a net loss of $372 million, or 71 cents a share, for the fiscal second quarter to Aug. 31, compared with a profit of $51 million, or a per-share loss of 24 cents, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted per-share earnings were breakeven, compared with the FactSet consensus for a loss of 5 cents per share. Revenue dropped to $334 million from $490 million, below the FactSet consensus of $392 million. The company said it now expects full-year adjusted per-share earnings of breakeven to a loss of 5 cents, compared with the FactSet consensus for a per-share loss of 16 cents. “We are reaching an inflection point with our strategy,” said Chief Executive John Chen. “Our financial foundation is strong, and our pivot to software is taking hold.” Separately, BlackBerry said Chief Financial Officer James Yersh is leaving the company for personal reasons, and named Steven Capelli as his replacement. Capelli was previously president of worldwide field operations at Sybase. The company also announced an agreement to license its software and services to PT BB Merah Putih for production of handsets in Indonesia. The stock had dropped 15% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 had gained 5.7%.

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Propane supplier Ferrellgas Partners L.P. said Wednesday it has named founder James Ferrell as interim chief executive. Ferrell will replace Stephen Wambold, who is stepping down. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are down 0.6% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 6%.

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Shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc. fell 0.8% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the stock was downgraded to underperform at Wedbush. “Paid search monetizes better than other digital media because its traffic is a good proxy for “self-identified consumers,” analysts wrote in a note. “GOOGL’s recent mobile search ad changes push the traffic mix to paid from organic, which has decelerated sharply.” That creates “potential disequilibrium” in monetizing these consumers, as advertisers weigh the cost of search ads against return on investment, they wrote. Wedbush lowered its price target on the stock to $700. Alphabet shares have risen 29% in the last year, versus the S&P 500’s 14%.

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Wells Fargo & Co. said Tuesday afternoon that one executive has left the company and an investigation is being launched after a scandal that involved employees opening up accounts in unwitting customers’ names. The bank said that independent directors, working with law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP, will investigate the retail banking sales practices of the bank. The bank also said that the company’s head of community banking, Carrie Tolstedt, had left the company and would not receive any severance nor $19 million in unvested equity awards. Chief Executive John Stumpf has recused himself from all matters involving the inquiry and agreed to forfeit outstanding equity awards that would be worth $41 million at current share prices, Wells Fargo said. Stumpf also agreed to forego any salary during the investigation, and neither executive will receive a bonus in 2016. “These initial actions will not preclude additional steps being taken with respect to Mr. Stumpf, Ms. Tolstedt or other executives as a consequence of the information developed in the investigation,” the company’s announcement said. Wells Fargo stock has fallen more than 9% since the controversy first came to light earlier this month.

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Coty Inc. shares jumped in the extended session Tuesday after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the beauty-products maker will replace Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. on the S&P 500 index . Coty shares rose 4.7% to $24.56 after hours. “Diamond Offshore Drilling is ranked at the bottom of the S&P 500 and has a market capitalization more representative of the mid-cap market space,” S&P said of the index change, which will occur after markets close on Friday. Diamond Offshore shares declined 0.7% to $15.90 after hours.

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