Category: Stock Market News

Shares of OraSure Technologies Inc. dropped 6.1% in premarket trade Friday, after the diagnostic device maker said it agreed to an early termination of its co-promotion agreement with AbbVie Inc. . The pact was for the co-promotion of OraSure’s OraQuick HCV rapid antibody test in the U.S. It was as originally scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2019, but will now end Dec. 31, 2016. OraSure said it has been ratably recognizing $75 million in aggregate exclusivity payments resulting from the agreement over the original 5 1/2-year term, beginning June 2014. Given the early termination of the agreement, OraSure said only a portion of the $75 million will be received. AbbVie’s stock tacked on 1.4% in premarket trade. OraSure shares had fallen 8.2% year to date through Thursday, while AbbVie’s stock had gained 4.5% and the S&P 500 had advanced 2.7%.

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Allergan PLC said Friday belkyra, a treatment for submental fullness, or double chins, received a “positive opinion” from the Swedish Medical Products Agency. The Ireland-based drugmaker said it belkyra will be the first prescription treatment for the treatment of double chins in adults, when it has a psychological impact on the patient. Belkyra is currently licensed in Canada and in the U.S. as Kybella. “We look forward to our continued work with the 20 EU member states, Norway and Iceland to secure marketing authorizations to make this important new treatment option available to customers and patients,” said Chief R&D Officer David Nicholson. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 26% year to date, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has lost 0.5% and the S&P 500 has gained 2.7%.

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KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc., the drug maker formerly run by Martin Shkreli, said Friday it emerged from bankruptcy. The company emerged with exit equity financing of $11 million, which is in addition to the $3 million debtor-in-possession financing it received in May. KaloBios said it acquired the rights to develop benznidazole for the treatment of Chagas disease from Savant Neglected Diseases LLC for an upfront payment of $3 million, and warrants for Savant to buy 200,000 KaloBios common shares. “The Company has risen from the ashes with a great deal of hard work and new thinking on how a biopharmaceutical company can operate and a clear vision to move forward as a successful, positive leader in our industry,” said Chief Executive Cameron Durrant. Shkreli was ousted as CEO earlier this year after less than a month in the position. Shkreli had gained notoriety last year by raising the price of by 5,000%, before being arrested for fraud charges unrelated to KaloBios.

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A court battle between Hewlett-Packard and Oracle Corp. ended Thursday afternoon with HP victorious to the tune of $3 billion in damages, Oracle confirmed. HP, which has split into two companies since filing the lawsuit, claimed that Oracle backed out of a deal to support HP servers that used the Itanium line of chips from Intel Corp. Thursday’s ruling is the second to favor HP in the case, which was originally filed in 2011, but Oracle said in a statement Thursday that it would appeal both. “Two trials have now demonstrated clearly that the Itanium chip was nearing end of life, HP knew it, and was actively hiding that fact from its customers,” Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley said in a statement confirming the plans to appeal. The legal loss is the second court defeat to a Silicon Valley rival for Oracle in slightly more than a month, after the software giant in May lost in a second proceeding against Alphabet Inc.

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Hertz Global Holdings Inc. shares rallied in Thursday’s extended session after the company said it raised about $2 billion from the spinoff of its equipment rental business into a separate publicly-traded company. A portion of the funds will be used to pay down its debt and for investment in its car rental business. The company also plans to buy back up to $395 million in shares. The new entity, Hertz Global, will begin trading on July 1. Shares of Hertz Global Holdings were up 3.9% after hours.

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Tesla Motors Inc. stock fell in the extended session Thursday after reporting that a Model S car in self-driving mode was involved in a fatal crash. Tesla said in a blog post that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Tesla’s autopilot feature after a Model S using the autonomous-driving feature was involved in a deadly crash in Florida. “It is important to emphasize that the NHTSA action is simply a preliminary evaluation to determine whether the system worked according to expectations,” the company said. Tesla limited autonomous features in January after several videos showed drivers performing unsafe acts while their car was in autopilot mode, but has also increased the number of cars that have some autonomous features. Tesla shares fell about 3% in late trading Thursday.

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Nike Inc. late Thursday named Apple Inc.’s Chief Executive Tim Cook as its lead independent board member. Cook has been on Nike’s board since 2005. The move comes as Nike Chairman Phil Knight stepped down in a planned succession, with Nike CEO Mark Parker taking on the added role of chairman. Knight was named Chairman Emeritus. Shares of Nike declined 0.5% to $54.90 after hours.

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Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. were halted in the extended session Thursday after the biotech said it was reducing its workforce by 73% to focus on drugs in development. Arena shares were halted at $1.83 after hours. The company said it was laying off 100 U.S. employees in research, manufacturing, and general and administrative staff. The move comes nearly three months after the company named Amit Munshi as chief executive.

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Micron Technology Inc. announced plans for layoffs Thursday along with a disappointing earnings report, sending the company’s stock down in late trading. The chipmaker reported a net loss of $97 million, or 9 cents a share, on sales of $2.9 billion for its third fiscal quarter; after adjustments, the company claimed a loss of 8 cents a share. According to FactSet, analysts on average expected an adjusted loss of 4 cents a share on sales of $2.96 billion. “We continue to face challenging market conditions,” Micron Chief Executive Mark Durcan said in Thursday’s announcement, which included mention of a global workforce reduction. Neither the news release nor a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailed how many jobs will be cut, but Micron did say its cost-reduction plan was expected to save the company more than $300 million in the 2017 fiscal year, roughly $80 million per fiscal quarter. The move is expected to incur charges of about $70 million, according to the SEC filing. Micron shares declined more than 8% in after-hours action, following a 4.3% gain in the regular session.

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U.S. stocks logged their third day in a row of post-Brexit gains, bolstered by the expectation that some of the world’s largest central banks will further expand their monetary stimulus efforts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 235.31 points, or 1.3%, to 17,929.99, bringing it within 90 points of its pre-Brexit highs. The S&P 500 climbed 28.09 points, or 1.4%, to 2,098.86, within 20 points of its pre-vote highs. The Nasdaq Composite gained 63.43 points, or 1.3%, to 4,842.67, within 70 points of its highs pre-Brexit. Both the S&P and the Dow finished the second quarter with small gains of 1.2% and 1.7%, while the Nasdaq posted a slight drop of 0.5%. Both the S&P and Dow are positive for the year, while the Nasdaq is in the red.

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