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The euro jumped to $1.2045 against the U.S. dollar on Thursday during the European Central Bank’s news conference with President Mario Draghi following its decision to leave interest rates unchanged. The eurozone currency last hit above the $1.20 level in late August. Draghi said that European exports were doing well, but that one should expect consequences from the appreciation of the euro. He continued that the exchange rate was not a policy target but stressed its importance for growth and inflation, which was revised downward due to the euro’s recent strength. The ECB cut its inflation projections for 2018 and 2019 to 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively, compared with earlier forecasts for 1.3% and 1.6%, respectively. Economic growth in the eurozone region is expected to improve at a faster rate than previous estimates, with 2.2% in 2017 versus an earlier forecast of 1.9%.

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Barnes & Noble Inc. shares sank 10.8% in Thursday premarket trading after the bookseller reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and sales that missed consensus. Net loss for the quarter totaled $10.8 million, or 15 cents per share, after a loss of $14.4 million, or 20 cents per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet consensus was for a loss of 12 cents per share. Sales for the quarter were $853.3 million, down from $913.9 million and below the $873.0 million FactSet consensus. Same-store sales fell 4.9% for the quarter. The company maintained its full-year same-store sales guidance for a decline in the low-single digits. Barnes & Noble shares are down 29.6% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index is up 10.1% for the period.

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Shares of Mastercard Inc. rallied 1.6% in premarket trade Thursday, after the credit card company raised its 2017 revenue outlook. With the stock trading at $135.00, it is on track to open above its Aug. 28 record close of $133.85 and its Aug. 31 all-time intraday high of $134.50. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it now targets 2017 revenue growth in the “high end of low double-digits” percentage range, up from previous guidance of “low double-digits.” The FactSet revenue consensus of $12.22 billion implies 13.4% growth from 2016. The stock has soared 29% year to date through Wednesday, while shares of rival Visa Inc. have run up 32% and the S&P 500 has gained 10%.

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Shares of General Electric Co. slumped 1.5% in premarket Thursday, after J.P. Morgan analyst Stephen Tusa reiterated his underweight rating on the industrial conglomerate, saying the outlook is even worse than he thought. While he has a $22 price target on the stock, which is 12% below Wednesday’s closing price of $24.92, Tusa said he sees “something in the high teens” as an investable fair value for the shares. He said he believes GE is “tight on cash,” but while the dividend appears safe “for now” he believes the share buyback program is “fungible.” He said his more bearish view is “an adjustment to reality, not cyclical,” as structural weakness in GE’s power business, a less-than-expected bounce in oil and gas and transportation and a more GAAP approach to reporting numbers provides downside risk to earnings expectations. “Based on our standing [free cash flow] estimates and estimates for outflow from investing activities, GE is already below breakeven when it comes to funding the dividend with ongoing FCF, with compounding risk if fundamentals come in worse that expectations,” Tusa wrote in a note to clients. The stock has tumbled 21% year to date, while the SPDR Industrial Select Sector ETF has gained 9.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 10%.

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The euro slightly pared its gain on Thursday after the European Central Bank left interest rates on hold and made no changes to its quantitative easing program. The shared currency bought $1.1966, compared with $1.1981 ahead of the decision, but up from $1.1917 late Wednesday in New York. The ECB repeated that it expects rates to remain at present levels for an “extended period.” The ECB also reiterated its plan to buy 60 billion euros a month worth of bonds through the end of December and that if the outlook deteriorated, it could increase the size of the program. Focus now turns to ECB President Mario Draghi’s news conference at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The key question for traders is what will happen to the QE program when it expires at the end of the year and when the ECB will start tapering the purchases.

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Celgene Corp. shares dropped 1% in premarket trade Thursday after the company said that the Food and Drug Administration has placed a partial clinical hold on five clinical trials and a full clinical hold on one trial. All of the trials involved are testing the anti-PD-L1 antibody durvalumab, which is part of a class of cancer drugs called checkpoint inhibitors. The FDA’s decision was due to risks seen in other trials for another checkpoint inhibitor, Merck & Co.’s anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab, in combination with immunomodulatory agents. For the trials on partial clinical holds, patients who are benefiting from treatment can stay on the therapy. In the trial with a full clinical hold — which is testing a durvalumab combination in multiple myeloma — patients will be discontinued from treatment; no new patients will be enrolled in any of the six trials, which are in multiple myeloma, lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia and large B cell lymphoma. Two mid-stage trials with durvalumab, one in myelodysplastic syndromes or in elderly acute myeloid Leukemia and the other in myelodysplastic syndromes, will continue to enroll, Celgene said. Celgene has been developing and commercializing durvalumab for hematologic malignancies with AstraZeneca since 2015. AstraZeneca shares rose 1.3% in premarket trade. Celgene shares have risen 19.2% over the last three months, compared with a 1.3% rise in the S&P 500 .

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The European Central Bank on Thursday, as expected, left interest rates unchanged, leaving the focus on ECB President Mario Draghi’s news conference. The ECB Governing Council left the rate on the bank’s main refinancing operations at 0%, while the rate on deposits left overnight at the ECB was maintained at minus 0.4% and the rate on the marginal lending facility was left at 0.25%. The ECB repeated that it expects rates to remain at present levels for an “extended period.” The ECB also reiterated its plan to buy 60 billion euros a month worth of bonds through the end of December and that if the outlook deteriorated, it could increase the size of the program. The key question for traders, however, remains the fate of the bond-buying program beyond the end of the year, with the ECB expected to begin tapering its stimulus program in 2018. Draghi, whose news conference begins at 2:30 p.m. Frankfurt time, or 8:30 a.m. Eastern, is expected to keep plans under wraps due to worries that being explicit about taper plans could spur more unwanted strength in the euro.

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Shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. plunged 13% in premarket trade Thursday, after the RNAi therapeutics company said it has suspended fitusiran dosing after a “fatal thrombotic event.” The patient had hemophilia A without inhibitors in a phase 2 open-label extension study of fitusiran. The company said considering fitusiran’s “benefit-risk” profile, it aims to resume dosing as soon as possible after consulting with regulatory authorities. Regarding givosiran for the treatment of acute hepatic porphyrias, Alnylam said it has reached alignment with the Food and Drug Administration on a phase 3 study design. Alnylam’s stock had more than doubled year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 had gained 10%.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said early Thursday that a late-stage clinical trial for cancer drugs Opdivo and Yervoy in patients with previously untreated advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma showed better overall survival compared to chemotherapy in intermediate and poor risk patients. Overall survival was a co-primary endpoint of the trial; the cancer drug combination also showed to have improved overall survival compared with chemotherapy in all randomized patients, a secondary endpoint. The company said that an independent Data Monitoring Committee has recommended the trial be stopped early, based on a scheduled interim analysis. Renal cell carcinoma is the most common kidney cancer in adults, and the five-year survival rate for patients with metastatic or advanced kidney cancer is 12.1% globally, the company said. Bristol-Myers shares lifted 0.13% in premarket trade Thursday. Company shares have surged 13.9% over the last three months, compared with a 1.3% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble fired the latest salvo in its battle with activist shareholder Nelson Petlz Thursday, dismissing a 94-page white paper prepared by Peltz as containing “nothing substantive”. The company said it has held numerous talks with Peltz since he amassed a stake in the company, but that he has a “very outdated and misinformed” view of the company. “P&G is confident it has the right plan, the right structure and the right Board in place to continue its successful transformation and deliver results and shareholder value for the short-, mid- and long term,” said the company, reiterating the stance it has taken with Peltz from the outset. The company was already on the right track before he made his investment, it said, and is a “profoundly” different company today than it was a few years ago. P&G shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained 10% in 2017, matching the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 .

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