Author: therawinformant

The sanctions prohibited it from broadcasting channels that were essential to providing its pay TV services in Venezuela, the wireless carrier said. The United States has been slapping sanctions on Venezuela in a pressure campaign aimed at ousting President Nicolas Maduro. AT&T said the decision to close operations was made by its U.S. team without any participation from the pay TV’s Venezuela team.

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(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for the first time in four sessions after reports circulated that Moderna Inc.’s vaccine study, which was credited in part for Monday’s rally, didn’t produce enough critical data to assess its success. Crude oil and Treasuries gained.The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite turned negative in the last hour of trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average extended its losses. Equities had fluctuated much of the day after optimism over the drug as a potential coronavirus vaccine sent the S&P up the most Monday in almost six weeks. Crude oil rose for a fourth day.“We’re going to continue to see volatility because every day the market’s taking any little piece of information it has about things and prices it in,” said Peter Mallouk, president and chief investment officer of Creative Planning. “Every day it’s taking every little piece of information and it’s instantly pricing it in. Everything else is a derivative of Covid-19 now.”Earlier, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated during a Senate hearing that the central bank is ready to use all the weapons in its arsenal to help the U.S. economy endure the coronavirus pandemic.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated as investors showed little reaction to both news of a $546 billion recovery fund for the region and a surprise jump in German investor confidence. European government bonds were mixed. Sterling strengthened after the U.K. announced plans for 30 billion pounds ($37 billion) in tariff cuts after Brexit.Riskier assets had started the week on the front foot after the Moderna news fueled hopes for a coronavirus vaccine, but investors are struggling to maintain the optimism as they continue to monitor efforts to both contain the pandemic and restart economies.“A vaccine would be a bullish game changer, and stocks reacted accordingly,” Tom Essaye, author of “The Sevens Report” newsletter, wrote in a note. “But one day doesn’t make a sustainable move.”Headwinds remain for stocks, not least a deteriorating U.S.-China relationship. In a further sign of tightening scrutiny on capital flows to the Asian nation, Nasdaq is set to unveil new rules for initial public offerings including tougher accounting standards that will make it more difficult for some Chinese companies to list on the exchange.Asian equities rallied, tracking the big gains on Wall Street from a day earlier.These are some of the main moves in markets: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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According to a report from STAT, vaccine experts are saying that Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, mRNA-1273, does not have sufficient data to support the optimism which surrounds it. Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani joins The Final Round to break down the latest news about the coronavirus.

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Shares in Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) rose 5.7% after the U.S. carrier said that it has seen a “modest improvement” in May demand as new passenger bookings outpaced trip cancellations.In the month through May 18, the U.S. airline recorded net positive bookings reversing net negative booking trends prevalent during most of March and April, where trip cancellations outpaced new passenger bookings, it said in a SEC filing disclosing preliminary figures. The reversal drove shares up 5.7% to $28.58 in early afternoon U.S. trading.The value of Southwest's shares has almost halved this year as stringent travel restrictions tied to the coronavirus pandemic have brought travel demand to an almost halt. U.S. airlines have been burning through billions of dollars in the first quarter incurring huge losses and implementing broad cost-cutting plans, as well as taking steps to shore up its cash buffers.Southwest said it expects average daily cash burn in June to be in the low-$20 million compared with average daily core cash spending of $30 million to $35 million in the second quarter.In May, capacity is set to decrease 60% to 70%, compared with an estimated decline of 45% to 55% in June, according to the preliminary figures. This month, the load factor is expected to be in the range of 25% to 30%, compared with a range of 35% to 45% expected in June.Bernstein analyst David Vernon last week maintained his Hold rating on the stock with a $29 price target, saying that although Southwest has some of the highest industry margins, it will have steeper capital spending as it upgrades its fleet with Boeing (BA) 737 MAX planes on order.“The company has the healthiest balance sheet among the four [U.S. airlines] and the equity dilution risk is already baked in,” Vernon wrote in a note to investors.Southwest said it currently has $13 billion in cash and short-term investments. Since the beginning of the year, it raised about $13.9 billion, including $10 billion in financings and sale-leaseback transactions and $2.2 billion through a common stock offering. Based on the preliminary figures, it currently estimates to have about 20 months of liquidity, it said.Overall, Wall Street analysts are cautiously optimistic on the stock. The 15 analyst ratings are divided between 9 Buys and 6 Holds adding up to a Moderate Buy consensus. The $42.50 average price target indicates 49% upside potential in the shares in the coming 12 months. (See Southwest Airlines stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Ryanair Cuts Traffic Target By Almost 50% For Coming Year, Seeks To Reduce Boeing Plane Deliveries Boeing Gets No Orders in April, Customers Cancel 737 MAX Jets Colombian Carrier Avianca Files for Bankruptcy Protection Due to Coronavirus Woes More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Walmart’s Quarterly Sales Surprise As Virus Lockdown Drives Online, Store Delivery Traffic * Kohl’s Posts Quarterly Loss, Sees April Online Sales Jumping 60%  * GM Director Displays Confidence in Company Despite Recent Troubles * iQIYI Sinks 4% As Online Ad-Revenue Falls Sharply

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Click here to read the full article. "The Joe Rogan Experience," one of podcasting's longest-running and most popular shows, will be launching on Spotify exclusively this year.The Rogan-hosted comedy talk-show series will debut on Spotify on Sept. 1, 2020, on a nonexclusive basis — before becoming exclusive to the platform later later in 2020 under the multiyear licensing deal.With Rogan, Spotify has landed one of the podcasting biz's whales. It currently ranks as the No. 2 most popular show on Apple Podcasts (after Barstool Sports' "Call Her Daddy"), per Podcast Insights. A source familiar with the deal said Rogan became sold on Spotify's ability to build his audience worldwide, after initially resisting distributing the podcast on the platform because he saw it as primarily a music service.In addition to the podcast, JRE also produces corresponding video episodes, which will also be available on Spotify as in-app "vodcasts."Rogan announced the deal on social media Tuesday."The podcast is moving to @spotify!" he wrote on Instagram. "It will remain FREE, and it will be the exact same show. It’s just a licensing deal, so Spotify won’t have any creative control over the show. They want me to just continue doing it the way I’m doing it right now."Rogan said there will still be clips from the show on YouTube "but full versions of the show will only be on Spotify after the end of the year. I’m excited to have the support of the largest audio platform in the world and I hope you folks are there when we make the switch!"Since its launch in 2009, "The Joe Rogan Experience" has built a large, loyal and engaged fanbase tuning in to hear his discussions with a range of guests, including comedians, actors, musicians, MMA fighters, authors, artists and more.Under the distribution deal with Spotify, "The Joe Rogan Experience" will be available to Spotify's 286 million active monthly users free with ads (and without ads for premium subscribers). According to Spotify, "The Joe Rogan Experience" has long been the most-searched-for podcast on its service.Rogan, a stand-up comedian and actor, was previously best known for hosting NBC reality competition show “Fear Factor” in the early 2000s (which he reprised in 2011-12). The Boston native previously appeared in NBC sitcom "NewsRadio." He also has two stand-up specials on Netflix, 2018's "Strange Times" and 2016's "Triggered."Rogan is repped by Chandra Keyes and Jeff Sussman at Jeff Sussman Management, Matt Lichtenberg at Level Four Business Management, and attorney Seth Horwitz at Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.

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Novavax (NVAX) filed a prospectus to sell up to $250 million of shares of common stock as it prepares to scale up production of its coronavirus vaccine candidate.Shares in Novavax jumped 31% to close at $56.96 in U.S. trading on Monday after their value more than doubled over the past month.The late-stage biotech company, which is in the process of developing a coronavirus antigen vaccine candidate, said that the net proceeds from the sale of common stock will depend on the number of shares actually sold and the offering price for such shares. The company based its calculation on the event that all of the offered shares would be sold at $43.63, the closing price per share on May 15.“We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including but not limited to working capital, capital expenditures, research and development expenditures, clinical trial expenditures, as well as acquisitions and other strategic purposes,” Novavax said in the prospectus filing.The offering comes after Novavax announced last week that it will receive $384 million in funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop and produce its coronavirus vaccine candidate. The biotech company has set itself the aim of producing up to 100 million vaccine doses by end of 2020. For 2021, it is planning to target large-scale manufacturing capacity in multiple countries with a goal of potentially producing over one billion doses during the year.Five-star analyst Mayank Mamtani at B. Riley FBR on Monday raised his price target on the biotech stock to $53 a share from $43 and kept his Buy rating, following a meeting with Novavax management to review progress on on its COVID-19 vaccine development.“We believe NVAX not only offers a clinically validated adjuvanted recombinant nanoparticle platform (recently reporting overwhelmingly positive data in the Ph. III NanoFlu) but, also, demonstrates the ability to illicit a potent immune response at extremely low doses, boding favorably for both safety and scalability, with management guiding to 100M doses by YE20 and >1B during 2021,” Mamtani wrote in a note to investors. “With a regulatory path becoming relatively clearer, likely on the basis of Ph. IIb results by leveraging Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), we increase the probability of success, from 25% to 40%, which drives our PT increase.”The rest of Wall Street analysts covering the stock in the past three months join Mamtani in their recommendation to Buy the shares adding up to a Strong Buy consensus. Following the stock’s rally, the $47.60 average price target indicates 16% downside potential in the coming 12 months. (See Novavax stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Novavax Spikes 31% on $384 Million Cash Injection for Vaccine Production AstraZeneca, Daiichi Get FDA Breakthrough Status For Gastro Cancer Drug Seres Therapeutics Reports Weak Earnings, But Significant Upside Lies Ahead More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Southwest Pops Almost 6% As May Passenger Bookings Outpace Cancellations * Aurora Cannabis (ACB) Has a Positive Outlook, But the Stock Needs to Settle Down * Walmart’s Quarterly Sales Surprise As Virus Lockdown Drives Online, Store Delivery Traffic * Kohl’s Posts Quarterly Loss, Sees April Online Sales Jumping 60%

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