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Doug Jones’s victory in the Alabama Senate election Tuesday night does not change prospects for the Republican tax bill, said Brian Gardner of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a note Wednesday. “We expect the tax bill will probably be passed by Congress before Christmas,” Gardner said. He noted Jones won’t be sworn in until the Senate receives certification from Alabama. Alabama’s secretary of state estimates certification will be between Dec. 26 and Jan. 3. The election “should not impact the tax bill unless some other factor(s) derail the tax bill and push the issue into 2018,” Gardner said.

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Shares of biotech Stemline Therapeutics Inc. jumped 4% premarket Wednesday, after the company said a trial of a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia met its main goal. Stemline said data from the trial of its SL-401 therapy in blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), a highly aggressive, lethal malignancy of unmet medical need, with no approved therapies, showed it met its primary endpoint. The trial involved 45 patients and data was presented at this week’s American Society of Hematology annual meeting. “The remarkable data presented at ASH from our pivotal trial with SL-401 in BPDCN sets the stage for our upcoming BLA submission and a successful 2018,” Stemline Chief Executive Ivan Bergstein said in a statement. Shares have gained 43% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%.

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Shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. are down 8.7% in premarket trading Wednesday following news that Apple Inc. was investing $390 million in Finisar Corp. , one of Lumentum’s competitors. Both companies make vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, or VCSELs, which help enable 3D-sensing capabilities and facial recognition. In a release, Apple said that its investment in Finisar would “enable Finisar to exponentially increase its R&D spending and high-volume production” of VCSELs. “In the fourth quarter of 2017, Apple will purchase 10 times more VCSEL wafers than were previously manufactured worldwide over a similar time period,” the company added. As of Tuesday’s close, Apple shares were up 48% so far in 2017, compared with a 34% gain for Lumentum and a 36% drop for Finisar. The S&P 500 Index has gained 19%.

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Aerospace and industrial company Honeywell Inc. set guidance for 2018 Wednesday, saying it expects it to be a transformative year as it completes the spinoff of its homes and global distribution and transportation systems businesses. The company is expecting EPS of $7.55 to $7.80, excluding separation costs, compared with a FactSet consensus of $7.79. “In 2018, we are targeting free cash flow growth of more than 20 percent and intend to continue our aggressive capital deployment strategy,” Chief Executive Darius Adamczyk said in a statement. The company narrowed its fourth-quarter EPS guidance to $1.84, the upper end of its range, and said it expects sales growth of 9%, up from a prior range of 5% to 7%. Shares were slightly higher premarket, but have gained 33% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%.

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Drug company Eli Lilly and Co. on Wednesday set guidance for 2018, saying it expects EPS of $4.24 to $4.34, or adjusted EPS of $4.60 to $4.70. revenue is expected to range from $23.0 billion to $23.5 billion. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of $4.65 and revenue of $23.1 billion. “The company is expecting continued pipeline progress, including U.S. regulatory action for baricitinib for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, galcanezumab for the treatment of migraine and a new indication for Verzenio in breast cancer, as well as the launch of a new indication for Taltz in psoriatic arthritis,” it said in a statement. The company is now expecting 2017 EPS of $1.56 to $1.66, or $4.15 to $4.25 on an adjusted basis. That compares with a FactSet consensus of $4.21. Shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained 18% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%.

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Italy’s government plans to hold a much-anticipated election on March 4, according to multiple media reports on Wednesday. Italians have to go to the polls next year, as the general election has to be completed by late May. March 4 had previously been mentioned in news reports as a possible date.

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Toshiba Corp. and Western Digital Corp. officially settled litigation Tuesday that should clear a path for a long-planned sales of Toshiba’s flash-memory unit. Toshiba has agreed to sell the business to a consortium led by private-equity firm Bain Capital, which includes Apple Inc. , Dell Technologies Inc., Seagate Technology PLC and others. Western Digital made its own bid for the assets, and eventually sued Toshiba based on joint-manufacturing agreements. Western Digital confirmed reports earlier in the day of a settlement with a filing Tuesday afternoon that breaks down the revised agreement for new manufacturing facilities. Toshiba is seeking to sell its profitable flash-memory unit as part of an effort to avoid having its stock delisted in Japan due to struggles at its U.S. nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse. Western Digital shares increased more than 2% in after-hours trading Tuesday.

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Commuter shuttle drivers for Amazon.com Inc. selected Teamsters Local 853 to represent them, the union said late Tuesday. Selected via a card-check agreement, where the drivers signed authorization forms or cards indicating they wish to be represented by the union, the Teamsters said about 40 drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area are contractors for WeDriveU. Local 853 represents WedDriveU drivers at tech giants in the Bay Area such as Salesforce Inc. , Microsoft Corp. unit LinkedIn and Facebook Inc. . The union said that more than 1,000 tech commuter shuttle drivers have joined the Teamsters since 2015 and drivers have seen pay increases of about 25% after unionizing. Amazon stock is down a fraction after hours to $1,164.99. Amazon shares are up 55% this year, with the S&P 500 index up 19%.

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Sears Holdings Corp. said late Tuesday it has agreed to extend the maturity of an existing term loan originally maturing June 2018 to January 2019, with an option to further extend the maturity to July of that year. Sears paid down the term loan by $325 million in the fourth quarter, reducing the outstanding balance to about $400 million and bringing the total term loan repayment in 2017 to about $570 million, the company said in a statement. Sears also said it plans to get a new security credit facility, intending to use the proceeds to fund the payment of about $407 million in the Sears pension plans and for general purposes. Sears has “taken further action to provide the company with additional financial flexibility as we enter 2018,” Chief Financial Officer Rob Riecker said. Sears continues to “explore alternatives” around debt maturities to reduce cash interest payments and get more flexibility, he said. Shares of Sears rose 4.8% in the late session after ending the regular trading day down 5.9%.

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