Biotech Novavax (NVAX) has announced that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) will provide up to $60 million in funding to assist with the manufacturing of NVX‑CoV2373, Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Shares are currently surging 15% in Friday’s pre-market trading.The news comes after the company failed to make the cut as one of the five COVID-19 vaccine finalists selected for the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed project.NVX‑CoV2373 is a vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of SARS‑CoV‑2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. It consists of a stable, prefusion protein antigen made using the company’s proprietary nanoparticle technology and Matrix‑M adjuvant.According to Novavax, the funding will help support its production of several components of the vaccine that will be manufactured in the U.S.The agreement includes a 2020 delivery of 10 million doses of NVX‑CoV2373 for DoD that could be used in Phase 2/3 clinical trials or under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) if approved by the U.S. FDA.“Importantly, this award will allow Novavax to significantly expand its U.S. production capacity of NVX-CoV2373, a critical step in our ability to provide vaccine support to the COVID-19 pandemic” said Stanley C. Erck, CEO of Novavax.Novavax will work with a U.S.-based biologics contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) to manufacture the antigen component of NVX-CoV2373 for at least 10 million doses of vaccine.And the company will also collaborate with U.S.-based CDMOs to scale up production and manufacture of the Matrix-M adjuvant component of the vaccine, Novavax said.In preclinical trials, NVX‑CoV2373 demonstrated indication of antibodies that block binding of spike protein to receptors targeted by the virus, a critical aspect for effective vaccine protection. A Phase 1 clinical trial began in May 2020, with preliminary immunogenicity and safety results expected in July 2020.The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is also investing up to $388 million of funding to advance clinical development of NVX‑CoV2373.Year-to-date shares in NVAX have exploded by a jaw-dropping 1,022%- and analysts are bullish on the stock’s potential. Novavax scores a Strong Buy Street consensus with five back-to-back recent buy ratings. The average analyst price target stands at $49 (10% upside potential). (See Novavax stock analysis on TipRanks).“We remain encouraged by the de-risked nature of NVAX’s vaccine candidate, on the basis of the most extensive preclinical data generated to date” commented B.Riley FBR analyst Mayank Mamtani on June 3.The analyst reiterated a buy rating and $61 price target adding “We believe adding NVAX’s NVX-CoV2373 on the basis of its proprietary adjuvanted recombinant nanoparticle platform could further help diversify development risk as well as tap into a relatively clearer path to market and manufacturing scale-up.”Related News: Novavax Spikes 31% on $384 Million Cash Injection for Vaccine Production Moderna’s (MRNA) Stock Will Surge 80% From Current Levels, Says Analyst Think Novavax Has Surged Enough for Now? Think Again, Says 5-Star Analyst More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Facebook To Start Labeling State-Controlled Media Ahead of US Elections * Broadcom Reports Solid Results, Dividend As Analysts Boost PTs * Slack Plunges 15% Post-Print Despite Multi-Year Amazon Deal * Seanergy’s Shipping Rates Set to Rebound While Equity Raises Will Reduce Debt, Says Analyst

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(Bloomberg) — The longest euro rally in almost a decade is at risk of petering out even as investors’ appetite for risk makes a comeback.Europe’s shared-currency climbed for an eighth day Thursday — the longest streak since 2011 — after the European Central Bank expanded its emergency bond-buying program to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It reached an almost three-month high of $1.1362, more than 4.5% above its May 25 low.Yet while the euro’s surge against the dollar and other peers took it past key resistance levels, some strategists are urging caution and technical gauges are flashing warning signs.“The ECB-induced euro rally is running out of steam,” Petr Krpata, a strategist at ING Bank said by email. Any “meaningful” euro gains should stem more from the dollar’s bear trend, rather than additional ECB impact, he said.The euro currently appears to be overbought against the greenback, based on a relative strength index — an indicator that measures the speed and size of price movements. A stochastic gauge, meanwhile, suggests that upward momentum may dwindle in coming sessions as the pair nears its year-to-date high of $1.1495.Citigroup’s global head of foreign-exchange analysis Ebrahim Rahbari reckons now is a good time to take some profits even though he remains bullish on the currency. And ABN Amro’s Georgette Boele says it is premature to expect a “continued strong rally” in the currency as “difficult discussions” are ahead on the European Commission’s stimulus program.The euro largely traded in lockstep with surging equity markets amid optimism about the prospects for a global economic recovery. Some are concerned that the recent surge in appetite for riskier assets may have gone too far, though, and that could also weigh on the common currency.There are echoes in the current move of the euro’s rebound in late March, when it recovered from its pandemic lows. Back then, a rally of around 5% in just over a week was followed by a 3.5% slide in a matter of days.Many observers nevertheless remain solid in their bullish calls for the euro. A trio of Societe Generale SA’s quantitative models are signaling that the euro is the top Group-of-10 currency that investors should wager on to rally.Nomura’s Jordan Rochester has a “high conviction” on the euro-dollar pair after last week flipping to a long position from a short one. And Standard Chartered’s Steven Englander says the euro region is looking more attractive.Yen CrossThe currency busted through several key technical resistance levels against its Japanese peer on Thursday. The euro rose as much as 1.3% to 123.92 yen, the highest since May 2019 and notched its longest such streak of daily advances in over a decade.The technical significance of the move was further bolstered by the fact that the pair has breached its 55-week and 100-week moving averages.But, as with the euro-dollar pair, further gains may be difficult to muster. The euro-yen cross has struggled in the past to breach its 200-week moving average — currently 124.50 — and RSI gauges are also signaling that it’s getting stretched.That, combined with concern about waning fundamental factors, could well provide fodder for euro bears.(Corrects length of euro rally to eight days, in second paragraph of story originally published on Thursday)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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