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After a district court ruled in favor of Amgen Inc. in two patent claims, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi SA said Wednesday they disagreed and would appeal the judgment. The lawsuit’s dispute centers around two Amgen patents for antibodies targeting the PCSK9 protein. Known as PCSK9 inhibitors, both Regeneron and Sanofi’s Praluent and Amgen’s Repatha are high-cost, cholesterol-lowering drugs that are close competitors. Regeneron and Sanofi said in a press release that the suit will not affect Praluent injection or “our ability to deliver it to physicians and patients at this time.” Trading of Regeneron shares were halted at around 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, before the news broke. After the halt, Regeneron shares were up 0.7%, with the S&P 500 down 0.1%.

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Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said Wednesday it is considering lowering its credit ratings on Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. given the drug maker’s lowered outlook and delayed annual report. S&P placed Valeant’s B+ corporate credit rating and other ratings on “CreditWatch Negative.” “Given delays in reporting its 10-K, the company will likely violate reporting covenants this month and the company has until the end of April to resolve the covenants in the credit agreement,” S&P said in a statement. The ratings agency said it will decide on whether to lower ratings within 90 to 180 days. Valeant shares dropped 51% Tuesday after the company lowered its outlook and delayed it annual report.

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Oil futures held onto their gains on Wednesday after theU.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 1.3 million-barrel rise in crude-oil supplies for the week ended March 11. That was less than the 1.5 million-barrel increase reported by the American Petroleum Institute, and below the rise of 2.7 million barrels expected by analysts polled by Platts. Gasoline supplies edged down by 700,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 1.1 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. April crude was at $37.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $1.26, or 3.5%. Prices traded at $37.55 before the data.

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Mallinckrodt PLC’s stock tumbled as much as 14% in active trade early Wednesday, before paring losses, in the wake of concerns raised by famed short seller Andrew Left surrounding the specialty pharmaceutical company’s business model. The stock bounced to be down just 4.3% in recent trade. Volume less than an hour after the open was about 5.6 million shares, which was already more than double the full-day average. On Tuesday, the stock had plunged 15%, the second-biggest percentage decline since it went public in June 2013, on volume of 10.1 million shares, after Left’s Citron Research tweeted that investors were starting to realize that Mallinckrodt posed equal risk as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. . Valeant’s stock lost over half its value on Tuesday after the company slashed its financial outlook and said it may breach loan covenants. Left took aim at Valeant in October,alleging revenue-recognition improprieties.

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Kellogg Co. was upgraded to neutral from sell at Goldman Sachs on the margin opportunity available to the food company, though analysts say it’s unlikely Kellogg will take full advantage of this “compelling bull margin case” because of the top-line growth focus. Still, “the optionality is too great for us to stay sell rated,” the bank wrote in a Wednesday note. They raised their price target to $80 from $67. Kellogg’s improved top-line has come at the expense of margins, analysts said, with the company reaching a new low last year despite an 18% decline in ad spending. The bank is raising its earnings per share estimates for 2016 (to $3.68 from $3.66), 2017 (to $4.04 from $3.93) and 2018 (to $4.29 from $4.12), but Goldman said the company could earn more than $5 per share if the productivity for that time period “dropped through to the bottom line.” Kellogg shares are down 0.6% in Wednesday morning trading, but up 18.8% for the past 12 months. The S&P 500 is down 3.2% for the same period.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Kellogg Co. was upgraded to neutral from sell at Goldman Sachs on the margin opportunity available to the food company, though analysts say it’s unlikely Kellogg will take full advantage of this “compelling bull margin case” because of the top-line growth focus. Still, “the optionality is too great for us to stay sell rated,” the bank wrote in a Wednesday note. They raised their price target to $80 from $67. Kellogg’s improved top-line has come at the expense of margins, analysts said, with the company reaching a new low last year despite an 18% decline in ad spending. The bank is raising its earnings per share estimates for 2016 (to $3.68 from $3.66), 2017 (to $4.04 from $3.93) and 2018 (to $4.29 from $4.12), but Goldman said the company could earn more than $5 per share if the productivity for that time period “dropped through to the bottom line.” Kellogg shares are down 0.6% in Wednesday morning trading, but up 18.8% for the past 12 months. The S&P 500 is down 3.2% for the same period.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday as investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates expected at 2 p.m. Eastern. A pair of economic reports pointed to a robust housing market and firming consumer prices. The data were taken as an indication that the Fed might have enough ammunition to raise rates later this year. The S&P 500 opened 2 points, or 0.1%, lower at 2,013. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22 points, or 0.1%, to 17,225. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the day down 11 points, or 0.2%, at 4,718.

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Shares of LinkedIn Corp. tumbled 5% in premarket trade Wednesday after the stock was downgraded to equal-weight from overweight at Morgan Stanley. Analyst Brian Nowak lowered his 12-month price target on the stock to $125 from $190, which implies potential growth of 8% from Tuesday’s closing price. The downgrade reflects “slowing enterprise and online talent solutions growth,” and increased investment across all four of its businesses, which is reducing earnings power, Nowak said. The analyst, who was previously bullish on the professional social network, now has the lowest price target among a poll of 35 analysts surveyed by FactSet. He said he was wrong about his previous upbeat view about the company, and that LinkedIn “isn’t likely to be as big of a platform as we previously thought.” The average rating on the stock remains equivalent to buy, while the average price target is $172.91, according to a FactSet poll of 35 analysts. Shares of LinkedIn are down 51% over the last three months, vastly underperforming the S&P 500’s 3% slump.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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