Author: therawinformant

Stock futures rose Wednesday morning, reversing some Tuesday losses that sent each of the Dow and S&P 500 off more than 1% by the closing bell.

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Oil prices firmed on Wednesday on signs of improving demand and a drawdown in U.S. crude inventories, but worries over the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and weak refining margins capped gains. Brent crude futures were up 51 cents, or 1.47%, at $35.16 per barrel at 0928 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) July crude futures were up 22 cents, or 0.69%, at $32.18 a barrel.

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Target's first quarter 2020 earnings are out. Here's what you need to know.

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Moderna, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: MRNA) claims on achieving a dose-dependent increase in immunogenicity in Phase 1 trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, are not backed by sufficient data, according to vaccine experts. The Curious Case Of Antibodies Moderna made claims on Monday that all 45 subjects who received doses of its vaccine developed COVID-19 binding antibodies.In its statement, the company indicated that eight volunteers developed neutralizing antibodies. Of the two types of antibodies, neutralizing antibodies are of definitive importance. STAT's experts question whether the remaining 37 volunteers also developed neutralizing antibodies.Since the tests required for ascertaining the antibody type present in these remaining 37 volunteers will take time, the experts, interviewed by a health-oriented news portal STAT News, conclude that Moderna only has data for eight subjects. The Age Factor Phase 1 trial data indicates volunteers ranged from 18 to 55 years. The exact ages of the eight subjects that developed neutralizing antibodies remain unknown. If these eight are of a younger age profile, then the effectiveness of the vaccine for seniors is questionable. COVID-19 has the most devastating effect on the elderly, and protecting seniors should be a priority in the development of any vaccine, according to the vaccine researchers.Durability Of The Vaccine Neutralizing antibodies were found two weeks after volunteers received their second dose of the vaccine. According to Anna Durbin, a vaccine expert at Johns Hopkins University, "That's very early. We don't know if those antibodies are durable." Vaccine Experts Cautiously Optimistic On Monday, stock market exuberance led to Moderna's stock market valuation reaching $29 billion, which is remarkable for a company that is yet to produce any product or bring any vaccine to the pharmacy shelves.The biotech company does not publish its research in scientific journals and thus lacks confidence within the scientific community. On the lack of disclosure, Rose commented, "My guess is that their numbers are marginal or they would say more." Durbin concurs, adding, "I do think it's a bit of a concern that they haven't published the results of any of their ongoing trials that they mention in their press release. They have not published any of that."The vaccine scientists are of the view that it is "encouraging" that an immune response has been observed after the administration of an RNA vaccine, which has not been seen with previous such vaccines for other pathogens. They question whether that's enough. Durban says she is "cautiously optimistic."Moderna Price Action Moderna shares traded 6.01% lower at $67.36 after-hours on Tuesday. The shares had closed the regular session 10.41% lower at $71.67.See more from Benzinga * Sony To Convert Its Financial Subsidiary Into Wholly Owned Unit Through .7B Tender Offer * Tesla's Car Registrations Slumped In China In April * Trump Says He's Looking For New Outlet Because Fox News Has Too Many Anti-Trump People(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Top news and what to watch in the markets on Wednesday, May 20, 2020.

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(Bloomberg) — ByteDance Ltd.’s valuation has risen at least a third to more than $100 billion in recent private share transactions, people familiar with the matter said, reflecting expectations the owner of video phenom TikTok will keep pulling in advertisers despite the Covid-19 pandemic.Stock in the world’s most valuable startup has changed hands recently at a price that suggests its value has risen more than 33% from about $75 billion during a major round of funding two years ago, the people said, requesting not to be named because the issue isn’t public. Some of those transactions valued the Chinese company at as much as $140 billion, one person said. The trades are private transactions and may not fully reflect broader investor expectations.ByteDance has grown into a potent online force in recent years, propelled in part by a TikTok short video platform that’s taken U.S. teenagers by storm. Investors are keen to grab a slice of a company that draws some 1.5 billion monthly active users to a family of apps that includes Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese twin, as well as news service Toutiao. That’s despite American lawmakers raising privacy and censorship concerns about its operation. This week, it poached Walt Disney Co. streaming czar Kevin Mayer to become chief executive officer of TikTok.The company was in the very early stages of exploring a share sale abroad last year, people familiar have said. But any float remains a longer-term objective given ByteDance remains well-funded, the people added. ByteDance declined to comment on Wednesday. Its backers include SoftBank Group Corp., General Atlantic and Sequoia.Its most recent market valuation puts the Chinese startup in the ballpark of industry stalwarts such as HSBC Holdings Plc or International Business Machines Corp. ByteDance — whose TikTok remains the venue of choice for half a billion lip-syncing, dancing music video aficionados — is now going head-to-head with Chinese internet leaders from Tencent Holdings Ltd. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. for user traffic and marketing dollars.It’s also strengthening its operations in newer arenas such as e-commerce and gaming. ByteDance this year kicked off a wave of hiring it envisions hitting 40,000 new jobs in 2020, hoping to match Alibaba’s headcount at a time technology corporations across the globe are furloughing or reducing staff.Longer term, the company will have to grapple with rising scrutiny from Washington. Two prominent senators have urged investigations into TikTok, labeling it a national security threat.Read more: ByteDance Launches Global Hiring Spree With 10,000 New Jobs(Updates with ByteDance’s major backers in the fourth paragraph. An earlier version of the story was corrected to reflect executive’s proper title.)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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High-tech stalwart Cisco Systems (CSCO) was one of the first major companies to report results for the fiscal quarter that ended in April. The results posted Wednesday afternoon are more reflective of the impact of Covid-19 than those in other recent earnings calls which only reflected results through March. And the results were grim: Cisco’s revenue for its fiscal third quarter fell 8% year-over-year to about $12 billion, its worst decline in six years. And yet, its per-share adjusted earnings of 79 cents on revenue of $11.98B easily beat analysts’ bleak target of 71 cents. The service and security segments managed modest revenue growth in the quarter. And of course, usage of WebEx videoconferencing, one of Zoom’s (ZM) primary competitors, grew strongly. Cisco’s shares rose 2% following the results.Cisco entered the pandemic from a position of relative weakness. The company has been citing a “broad based slowdown” affecting results for the last couple of quarters, and the pandemic has worsened conditions considerably for corporate tech. Market research firm Gartner revised its global IT spending forecast for the full year, projecting negative 8% growth, against a pre-Coronavirus forecast that called for a 3.4% rise.Cisco said it’s expecting 72 cents to 74 cents in adjusted earnings per share and a 8.5% to 11.5% decline in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter. In contrast to Cisco, most companies have declined to issue new guidance, with the exception of businesses that have benefited from the pandemic or subscription-based software companies that already have booked their annual revenue. Analysts are moderately bullish on Cisco, with 12 Buys and 10 Hold recommendations within the last 3 months. The average analyst price target for Cisco is $47, representing upside of 4.5%. (See Cisco stock analysis on TipRanks).  Related News: Microsoft Buys Softomotive to Boost Its Robotic Automation Offerings Roku Under Unvestigation By ITC for Universal Electronics Patent Infringement  IQIYI Sinks 4% As Online Ad-Revenue Falls Sharply More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Roku Under Investigation By ITC For Universal Electronics Patent Infringement * Microsoft Buys Softomotive To Boost Its Robotic Automation Offerings * Spotify Surges 8.4%, Joe Rogan Brings More Than Experience Says Top Analyst * Microsoft Launches Cloud-Based Platform For Healthcare Organizations

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(Bloomberg Opinion) — Nasdaq is tightening rules on initial public offerings in an effort that looks to be targeted primarily at Chinese companies. To appreciate just how tepid its proposals are, consider this: They wouldn’t have screened out Luckin Coffee Inc., the most notorious accounting scandal involving a U.S.-listed Chinese issuer in years. On this evidence, IPO hopefuls have little to worry about — as long as they’re not too small.Companies will need to raise at least $25 million, or sell stock equal to a minimum 25% of their post-listing market capitalization, according to a Bloomberg News report that cited Nasdaq filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Luckin sold $645 million of shares in its IPO last May. There’s little comfort in this for the would-be Starbucks Corp. challenger: Nasdaq is seeking to delist Luckin after the company acknowledged fabricating sales transactions and fired its chief executive. Its shares, which will resume trading Wednesday, plummeted more than 75% in a single day last month. For other companies, though, the message is that the lure of IPO business still trumps U.S. government pressure to deter the flow of money into Chinese assets.The revised standards aren’t particularly punitive. Only three of 10 Nasdaq IPOs by Chinese issuers in 2020 raised less than $25 million. Last year, 10 of 29 flotations failed to meet the threshold, which is about the price of an upmarket New York townhouse. The requirement to sell at least a quarter of the business may be more painful. Half the companies selling shares this year floated less than 25%.Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at the low bar. Chinese companies are big business after all, with a combined current market value of $380 billion on Nasdaq. The New York Stock Exchange, meanwhile, has almost $760 billion of Chinese listings — most of that accounted for by internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.There’s no sign that a rising U.S. climate of hostility to China is deterring IPO candidates. Beijing-based Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd. raised $510 million this month after increasing the size of its float. Dada Nexus Ltd., an operator of crowd-sourced delivery platforms backed by Alibaba rival JD.com Inc., is currently sounding out investors for a $500 million offering. Such sales must come as welcome relief after a deals drought caused by the coronavirus lockdown.A bigger issue in rooting out fraud and malpractice is U.S. regulators’ access to company financial records and audit papers, something that China prevents. Current rules already allow Nasdaq to deny listings of companies from countries with such restrictions. Nasdaq is proposing more stringent criteria, including requiring auditors to show that they have sufficient expertise with international accounting standards in the offices doing the audit. This looks like a Band-Aid.The impression persists of an exchange that was under pressure to do something about Chinese companies — and came up with little more than the bare minimum. Just in case there was any doubt about the U.S. government’s stance, President Donald Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow weighed in Tuesday to say that nobody can invest confidently in Chinese companies and the U.S. needs to protect investors from the country’s lack of transparency and accountability.Problems tend to be concentrated among the smallest and least liquid companies, so it makes sense to target them. Shares of Nasdaq-listed Chinese companies that raised less than $25 million since the start of 2017 are down an average of 60% from their IPO price — compared with a 34% average increase for all Chinese issuers selling shares during the period.(1)No one wants bit players in a world where investors have become increasingly skeptical of unprofitable technology companies. For the rest, America remains open for business — unless you’re Huawei Technologies Inc.\–With assistance from Zhen Hao Toh(1) The percentage figures are averages weighted by deal size.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Nisha Gopalan is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and banking. She previously worked for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones as an editor and a reporter.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Luckin Coffee Inc. (NASDAQ: LK) will resume trading on Wednesday, Nasdaq Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAX) said in a statement Tuesday.The trading of the Chinese coffee chain company at the Nasdaq Stock Market was halted back in April after the disclosure of securities fraud by its Chief Operating Officer Jian Liu.The move comes a day after Luckin said it received a delisting notice from Nasdaq. The latter cited "public interest concerns" and "failure to publicly disclose material information" by Luckin as the reason for the delisting.The Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Chinese competitor said it planned to appeal against the decision before a Nasdaq Hearings Panel, and the company's shares will continue to be listed until a decision is made.Reuters reported Tuesday that Nasdaq is considering tweaking listing rules to limit the number of Chinese companies that can list on its exchange desk.See more from Benzinga * Another Chinese Bitcoin Mining Device Maker Files To Go Public In US * Luckin Coffee Fraud Has Shaken Investor Faith In US-Listed Chinese Companies, Long-Term Backer Citron Says * 'The Netflix Of China' Inflating Numbers Since Before IPO, Short Seller That Warned Against Luckin Coffee Says(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) is said to be interested in snapping up debt-strapped J.C. Penney Co. Inc., (JCP) in a deal that would bolster the online retailer’s apparel business, Women’s Wear Daily reported.Shares in J.C. Penney plunged another 23% to $0.18 before being halted on Monday. The report comes after the U.S. apparel and home retailer on Friday filed for bankruptcy protection proceedings.As part of its “renewal” plan, the Plano-based company said it will to cut its debt, streamline operations, close stores and spin off a real estate division in a move to come back in a stronger position. It has about 850 stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.“There is an Amazon team in Plano as we speak,” according to the WWD report. “There is a dialogue and I’m told it has a lot to do with Amazon eager to expand its apparel business.”J.C. Penney has $500 million in cash on hand as of the Chapter 11 filing date, the retailer said in a SEC filing. In addition, the company received commitments for $900 million in financing from its existing first lien lenders, which includes $450 million of new money.“This financing, combined with cash flow generated by the company’s ongoing operations, is expected to be sufficient to meet J.C. Penney’s operational and restructuring needs,” the company said. “As part of the commitment from its existing lenders, J.C. Penney will explore additional opportunities to maximize value, including a third-party sale process.”It looks like Amazon is on a shopping spree as the economic crisis induced by the coronavirus pandemic is creating opportunities for mergers and acquisitions. The world’s largest online retailer has reportedly also held talks to buy debt-strapped theatre operator AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC).Wall Street analysts are bearish about J.C. Penney’s stock with 2 Sells and 2 Holds adding up to a Moderate Sell consensus. Should the $0.36 average price target be met, investors could be looking at 98% upside potential in the shares in the coming 12 months. (See J.C. Penney stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: AMC Pops 11% Amid Potential Acquisition Talks by Amazon Uber’s Latest Takeover Offer Said To be Rejected By GrubHub Apple is Said to Snap Up Startup NextVR For Virtual Reality Content; Top Analyst Sees Buying Opportunity More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Microsoft Buys Softomotive To Boost Its Robotic Automation Offerings * Spotify Surges 8.4%, Joe Rogan Brings More Than Experience Says Top Analyst * Microsoft Launches Cloud-Based Platform For Healthcare Organizations * Cisco’s Results Disappoint, Revealing a Challenging April

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