Tag: stock market

The Trump administration on Thursday announced sanctions on 19 Russians and five entities for interfering with the 2016 U.S. elections. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions were “part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia.” The Treasury said one entity, the Internet Research Agency, created fake online personas that posed as legitimate U.S. persons and reached millions of people online. The sanctions freeze the designated persons’ U.S. assets and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas fell by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 9. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a decrease of 100 billion, while the five-year average withdrawal is 97 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.532 trillion cubic feet, down 718 billion cubic feet from a year ago, and 296 billion below the five-year average, the government said. April natural gas was down 3.2 cents, or 1.2%, at $2.699 per million British thermal units, down from $2.728 before the data.

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The bank deregulation bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday has a 20% chance of failing, an analyst said. That’s if the House amends the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act in ways Senate Democratic supporters of the bill reject or by simply delaying the process and causing the Senate to run out of time before it can vote on the bill again, said KBW analyst Brian Gardner in a note to clients. Mid-sized banks including PNC Financial , Regions Financial and SunTrust , as well as custodian banks including State Street , are among the beneficiaries of the legislation.

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The leaders of the U.S., U.K., France and Germany condemned the attack on a Russian double agent and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury last week in a joint statement released Thursday. The statement said the U.K. had thoroughly briefed allies it was “highly likely” Russia was behind the attack. “We share the United Kingdom’s assessment that there is no plausible alternative explanation,” said the joint statement. The leaders called on Russia to address “all questions related to the attack.”

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Stocks opened flat to slightly higher Thursday as investors sought to shake off worries of a potential trade war. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 2,752, while Dow industrials rose 48 points or 0.2%, to 24,805. The Nasdaq Composite was up less than 0.1% at 7,497. The White House has considered imposing tariffs on Chinese goods, according to news reports, after last week moving to implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

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Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. shares rose 22% in premarket trade Thursday after the company reported a smaller-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and said its cystic fibrosis drug had been granted orphan drug designation by the Food and Drug Administration. Orphan drug designation allows for seven years of marketing exclusivity along with federal grants, tax credits and waived administrative filing fees; the drug, PTI-428, previously received a breakthrough therapy designation as well. Also late Wednesday, the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $13.4 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of a loss of $16.3 million. Its cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments came to $74.5 million as of the end of 2017, which the company expects will fund its expenses into early 2019. Proteostasis shares have surged 31.4% over the last three months to $6.56, compared with a 2.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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BlackBerry Ltd. said Thursday it has reached an agreement with chief executive and chairman John Chen to extend his contract through November 2023. Chen joined the company is November of 2013 and has led a turnaround that has seen the company shed its hardware business to expand into cybersecurity and software. There will be no change to the executive’s compensation, the company said. Shares were slightly higher premarket, and have gained 79% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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TapImmune Inc. shares rose 17% in premarket trade Thursday after the company said its TPIV200 T-cell vaccine, which was tested in patients with ovarian and breast cancer, had positive safety results in a phase 1 trial. Though the trial was not designed to show how well the vaccine worked and enrolled only a small number of patients, the company said results suggested positive outcomes in future trials, citing an analysis done retrospectively that showed extended survival without cancer progression among patients who were vaccinated. All patients also remained alive at least two years after immunization, the company said. TapImmune has an ongoing phase 2 study of the vaccine enrolling patients at the same stage of disease; “should we see a similar result… we believe that TPIV200 has a viable pathway toward potential approval in this indication,” said Chief Executive Peter Hoang, adding that an interim analysis was expected by mid-2019. There are also currently no approved therapies in this area, Acting Chief Medical Officer Richard Kenney said. TapImmune shares have surged 10.3% over the last three months, compared with a 2.8% rise in the S&P 500 .

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is working on a plan to list its shares in China, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The e-commerce giant is looking into ways its shares could be traded by investors on the mainland, the paper reported. A listing could come as soon as summer, if the country changes it securities laws, it said. Under current rules, Alibaba is forbidden from listing in china because of its dual-class structure. Shares were up 2.7% in premarket trade, and have gained 86% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Shares of biotech Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. soared 11% in premarket trade Thursday, after the company announced positive results in a trial of a treatment for Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). The disease is a chronic, progressive, debilitating, and potentially life-threatening ultra-rare blood disorder, said the company. It can affect people of all races, backgrounds, and ages without warning, with an average age of onset in the early 30s. The Phase 3 trial compared the company’s ALXN1210 with Soliris, its existing treatment for PNH, and found it met its primary endpoint, demonstrating the same safety profile, said Alexion. It also showed non-inferiority on four key secondary endpoints. “We are very pleased with these positive data for ALXN1210 in the first and only head-to-head study versus Soliris, and the results reinforce our ambition to establish ALXN1210 as the new standard of care for patients with PNH,” Alexion head of research and development John Orloff said in a statement. The company is planning to make regulatory submissions in the U.S. EU and Japan in the second half, he said. Shares have gained 0.5% in the last 12 months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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