Cliffs Natural Resources’ stock rockets after announcing new supply pact with ArcelorMittal

Shares of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. rocketed 36% in active morning trade Tuesday, enough to make them the biggest percentage gainers listed on the NYSE, after the mining company announced a new 10-year commercial agreement to supply Arcelor Mittal USA LLC with iron ore pellets. Trading volume reached 18 million shares within the first half hour of trade, compared with the full-day average of 12.5 million shares, according to FactSet. Cliffs said the new agreement establishes a minimum tonnage of pellets of seven million long tons, which is higher than the combined minimum levels of the agreements that expire in December 2016 and January 2017. The stock has nearly tripled year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.8%.

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Intercept Pharma’s chronic liver disease drug gets accelerated FDA approval

Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. received accelerated approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its chronic liver disease drug, the FDA said Tuesday morning. The drug, Ocaliva, is intended for adults with primary biliary cholangitis who have an inadequate response to another treatment, ursodeoxycholic acid. Ocaliva works in combination with ursodeoxycholic acid, which is the only other approved treatment for PBC but isn’t effective in up to 40% of patients, with 5% to 10% of patients not tolerating the treatment. Intercept shares rose 24.2% in the last three months, compared with a 8.7% rise in the S&P 500 .

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U.S. stocks open slightly higher after strong economic data

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday, following the release of stronger-than-expected economic data on U.S. consumer spending and home prices. The upbeat reports came after Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen said Friday that an interest-rate rise in the coming months is probably appropriate. The S&P 500 was up 3 points, or 0.1%, to 2,100. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 16 points, or 0.1%, to 17,892 at the open. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the session up 6 points, or 0.1%, at 4,939.

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Marketo to be acquired by Vista Equity for $1.8 billion in cash

Marketo Inc. announced an deal to be bought out by private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners in a cash deal valued at $1.79 billion. As part of the deal, Vista will pay $35.25 a share for each of the marketing software company’s shares outstanding, which represents a 9.5% premium to Friday’s closing price, and a 64% premium to the May 9 closing price. The stock had rocketed 50% from May 9 through Friday, after Bloomberg reported that the company was reviewing strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of the company.

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Osiris Therapeutics discloses criminal investigation, stock plunges

Osiris Therapeutics Inc.’s stock plunged 19% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the stem cell research company disclosed in a regulatory filing late Friday that it the subject of a criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office. The company said it believes the investigation is into the same matters as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “non-public investigation” disclosed in March into its accounting practices. Separately, Osiris said the Nasdaq has granted the company an extension to file delinquent financial reports until Sept. 12, 2016. the company hasn’t been able to file its reports while it was completing a review of accounting of revenue recognition practices. The stock had plummeted 45% year to date through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.7%.

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Time Inc. says Myspace was hacked, user information stolen

Time Inc. on Tuesday confirmed user login data from its social networking site Myspace was being made available in an online hacker forum. The company said it was aware the data — usernames, passwords and email addresses from Myspace’s platform prior to 2013 — had been stolen just before the long Memorial Day weekend, according to a news release. Time said Myspace has invalidated the passwords and is in the process of giving affected users a heads up, as well as working with law enforcement. “We take the security and privacy of customer data and information extremely seriously — especially in an age when malicious hackers are increasingly sophisticated and breaches across all industries have become all too common,” said Time’s Chief Financial Officer Jeff Bairstow in a statement. The breach did not affect any of Time’s systems, subscriber information and doesn’t seem to contain any financial data, according to Time.

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SodaStream shares surge after company launches home beer system

SodaStream International Ltd. shares surged 10.1% in Tuesday premarket trading after the sparkling water maker announced the release of a home beer system late Monday. The system will launch in Europe first, and is currently available on Germany’s online store and at retailers in Switzerland. Other markets will launch in 2016 and 2017. The Beer Bar will allow users to make home-crafted beer “in seconds” using sparkling water and a beer concentrate. The beer system launched with a light beer, Blondie, that has 4.5% alcohol by volume, a level commonly found in other beer brands. SodaStream shares are down 7.9% for the past year, but up 19.7% for the year to date. The S&P 500 is up 2.7% for the year so far.

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Micron’s stock surges after RW Baird analyst turns bullish

Shares of Micron Technology Inc. ran up 2.5% in premarket trade Tuesday, after Robert W. Baird & Co. turned bullish on the memory chip maker, citing an improving outlook for PCs and the Chinese smartphone market and a positive outlook for NAND flash memory. Analyst Tristan Gerra raised his rating to outperform, after being at neutral for the last nine months. He raised his stock price target to $18, which is 46% above Friday’s closing price of $12.31, from $12. “Samsung may shift meaningful capacity from DRAM to NAND this second half,” Gerra wrote in a note to clients. “Near term, PC units are rebounding above expectation–off a dismal 1Q–while the China smartphone market is also rebounding.” Gerra said he believes Micron’s gross margin will begin to stabilize, then rebound somewhat in the second half of the year. The stock has tumbled 13% year to date through Friday, while the PHLX Semiconductor index has climbed 4.9% and the S&P 500 has gained 2.7%.

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Medtronic beats profit and sales expectations

Medtronic PLC reported Tuesday fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $1.1 billion, or 78 cents a share, compared with a loss of 1 million, or breakeven on a per-share basis in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.27 from $1.16, just above the FactSet consensus of $1.26. The Ireland-based medical technology company said revenue increased to $7.57 billion from $7.30 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $7.49 billion. For fiscal 2017, the company expects adjusted EPS of $4.60 to $4.70, compared with the FactSet consensus of $4.69. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has gained 6.2% year to date while the S&P 500 has tacked on 2.7%.

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Veeva Systems rallies on better-than-expected earnings

Shares of Veeva Systems Inc. gained in Thursday’s extended session after the cloud-based software company geared to the life sciences industry posted quarterly earnings and revenue ahead of estimates. Veeva Systems reported its first-quarter earnings fell to $12.5 million from $13 million a year earlier. On per-share basis, earnings were flat at 9 cents a share. Adjusted earnings came in at 15 cents a share. Revenue grew 33% to $119.8 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast the company to earn 11 cents a share on revenue of $115 million. For the current quarter, Veeva projected adjusted EPS of 13 cents and revenue of $125.5 million to $127 million. Shares rallied 9.9% after hours.

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