• Traders Sift Through Virtual Cancer Meeting’s Winners and Losers

    Traders Sift Through Virtual Cancer Meeting’s Winners and Losers(Bloomberg) — Biotechnology stocks saw broad swings Friday morning as investors worked their way through a deluge of data from cancer drug developers presenting at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s virtual annual meeting.Wall Street was quick to crown small-caps Adaptimmune Therapeutics Plc and Trillium Therapeutics Inc. as well as heavyweight AstraZeneca Plc among the early winners with shares rallying on the back of their respective updates. On the flip side, uninspiring results from Arvinas Inc.’s prostate cancer study and Aveo Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s kidney cancer trial drove investors to punish shares.Here’s a breakdown of some of ASCO’s biggest winners and losers:Adaptimmune TherapeuticsThe small developer of cell therapies more than doubled in Friday’s session after announcing updated early-stage results from a handful of trials in a range of cancer types. The company said its treatments drove responses in esophagogastric junction, lung, and head and neck cancer patients. Adaptimmune plans to start a mid-stage study of its therapy in esophagogastric junction cancer patients in the first half of next year.Trillium TherapeuticsThe hedge fund darling jumped as much as 21% after updated results for its early-stage study of TTI-622 showed a second patient responded to treatment with their cancer shrinking, providing further evidence that the drug could help patients with lymphoma that has progressed after trying previous therapies.Ladenburg Thalmann analyst Wangzhi Li wrote that the update showcased “excellent safety and surprising monotherapy activity” in the second patient. The 81-year-old patient’s response was classified as a partial response, but looked like it was almost a complete recovery with nearly 100% of the tumor reduced after eight weeks of follow-up.AstraZenecaShares of the pharmaceutical giant rallied as much as 3.4% in London after updates from a trio of key cancer drugs. The U.K. drugmaker said its blockbuster drug Tagrisso cut the risk of lung cancer death while studies of Imfinzi and Enhertu showed meaningful benefits for patients with small-cell lung cancer and gastric cancer.Autolus TherapeuticsAutolus was among the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index’s top performers Friday after announcing new data on its CAR-T cell therapy in patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma. The updated results showed the medicine was well tolerated with no patients experiencing dose-limiting toxicity, and there were no treatment-related deaths.Aveo PharmaceuticalsAveo tumbled as much as 23%, the worst drop since early November, after late-stage results for its kidney cancer study showed its medicine didn’t extend lives longer than Bayer’s Nexavar. Aveo erased some of its loss after Baird raised its price target to a Street-high $24 from $15, saying the analysis removed an overhang on shares.ArvinasThe New Haven, Connecticut-based biopharma company sank 18% to make it the Nasdaq Biotech Index’s worst performer after updated results from its early-stage trial of ARV-110 in prostate cancer failed to excite investors. Just two of the 20 patients in the trial saw their PSA levels decline by 50% or more, missing many analyst expectations.MacroGenicsMacroGenics fell as much as 16% after releasing additional data for a trio of cancer drugs. Wall Street has been closely watching early data on MGD013 and MGC018 after bullish commentary from its management team earlier this month caused shares to triple.Allogene TherapeuticsShares of Allogene were little changed, erasing an initial drop, after updated results for its off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy showed a decline in patient benefit compared to an initial peek earlier this month. Twelve of 19 patients with blood cancer have responded to Allogene’s ALLO-501 in the “Alpha” study, including seven that had a complete response, the company said.Analysts had already started to debate whether the early-stage drug data that spurred Allogene to recored highs and a more than $6 billion valuation was warranted.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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  • Multiplex gyms will change business models to accommodate reopening: Mindbody CEO

    Multiplex gyms will change business models to accommodate reopening: Mindbody CEO	Mindbody Founder & CEO Rick Stollmeyer joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to weigh in on consumer behavior and booking trends as more states look to reopen wellness services.

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  • Uber launches hourly ride booking option in some U.S. cities

    Uber launches hourly ride booking option in some U.S. citiesThe option, which is already available in a handful of cities in Australia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, will cost $50 per hour. Fares for regular Uber rides are generally based on the level of demand and the trip distance. Uber said it decided to expand the hourly feature to the U.S. after riders requested an option for extended trips during the pandemic to avoid exposure to different drivers and vehicles when taking multiple trips in a confined time period.

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  • NantKwest Vaccine Now Part Of ‘Operation Warp Speed,’ Lays Out Plan For COVID-19 Candidates

    NantKwest Vaccine Now Part Of 'Operation Warp Speed,' Lays Out Plan For COVID-19 CandidatesNantkwest Inc (NASDAQ: NK) shares spiked after the company announced progress on the COVID-19 vaccine program and therapeutics options.Vaccine Program Part Of 'Operation Warp Speed'El Segundo, California-based NantKwest said its affiliate ImmunityBio has been selected to participate in Operation Warp Speed, a national program aimed at providing substantial quantities of safe, effective vaccine for Americans by January 2021.NanKwest said it will focus on developing, testing and largescale manufacturing of ImmunityBio's COVID-19 human adenovirus vaccine candidate, codenamed hAd5. The company said it's the first vaccine designed to deliver both Spike and Nucleocapsid DNA, offering scope for long-lasting immunity."ImmunityBio is honored to have been selected as one of the 14 companies for Operation Warp Speed and is committed to moving our vaccine candidate through the process to prevent people from contracting this deadly virus," said Patrick Soon-Shiong, CEO of ImmunityBio and NantKwest.Benzinga is covering every angle of how the coronavirus affects the financial world. For daily updates, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.COVID Therapeutics NantKwest will evaluate ImmunityBio's N-803, an interleukin 15 as well its own haNK, off-the-shelf natural killer cells, to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 symptoms. Phase 1 trials for N-803 is set to begin in Los Angeles in June."Based on initial data, we believe our IL-15 superagonist N-803 could prevent patients from reaching the most advanced stages of disease, including pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome," Soon-Shiong said.Meanwhile, the company has filed a pre-IND application to the FDA for haNK.For severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients on ventilator support, NantKwest's bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells are being evaluated. The company initiated a Phase 1b study on May 18 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of BM-Allo.MSC versus current supporting care.The companies also said the FDA has authorized the use of ImmunityBio's IL-15 to treat patients prior to the onset of severe disease by potentially activating natural killer cells to mitigate viral replication.Alliance Firmed Up NantKwest and ImmunityBio have agreed to jointly develop haNK, mesenchymal stem cells, adenovirus constructs, and N-803 for the prevention and treatment of SAR-CoV-2 viral infections and associated conditions, including COVID-19.The agreement calls for both parties sharing equally in all costs relating to developing, manufacturing and marketing of the product candidates globally, with net profits from the collaboration products to be shared 60%/40% in favor of the party contributing the product.At last check, NantKwest shares were surging by 20% to $6.53.See more from Benzinga * The Daily Biotech Pulse: Co-Diagnostics Earnings, NantKwest Plans Pancreatic Cancer Study, ADC Therapeutics IPO * NantKwest In 'Active Discussions' With FDA On COVID-19 Vaccine, Therapeutic Development(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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  • Virus Sparks Round-the-Clock Rush to Fill U.S. Gold Vaults

    Virus Sparks Round-the-Clock Rush to Fill U.S. Gold Vaults(Bloomberg) — The scramble to jump on one of the hottest gold trades in years — by shipping bullion to New York — has sparked what may be one of the largest ever physical transfers of the metal.“The flows into New York are unprecedented,” said Allan Finn, global commodities director at logistics and security provider Malca-Amit. His company’s teams in New York have been working 24 hours a day to cope with demand while navigating lockdowns, flight disruptions and social distancing.Gold flooded into the U.S. in recent months as traders rushed to profit from an arbitrage caused by dislocations in the market triggered by the pandemic. Since late March, some 550 tons of gold — worth $30 billion at today’s price and roughly equal to global mine output in the period — have been added to Comex warehouse stockpiles. Hundreds of tons of that was imported.While tens of billions of dollars of gold change hands every day in financial markets, a much smaller amount tends to physically move between vaults in trading hubs like London, Zurich and New York.But that started to change as the Covid-19 crisis affected the supply chain. When planes were grounded and Swiss refineries closed in late March, traders were worried they wouldn’t be able to get gold to New York in time to deliver against futures contracts. That caused futures, which typically trade in lockstep with the London spot price, to soar to a premium of as much as $70 an ounce.That created an opportunity for enterprising traders: buy gold somewhere in the world at the spot price, sell futures, and benefit from the difference by shipping the metal to New York.The scale of the trade has been revealed in exchange reports, import and export data and comments from some of the leading precious metals shipping and vaulting companies. On Thursday, traders declared their intent to deliver 2.8 million ounces of gold against the June Comex contract, the largest daily delivery notice in bourse data going back to 1994.Swiss gold exports to the U.S. have surged, reaching 111.7 tons in April, the highest on record. American import data for April isn’t yet available, but already in March gold imports topped $3 billion, according to the Census Bureau, the highest in at least a decade. Refineries as far away as Australia have ramped up output of kilobars — the form typically delivered on the Comex — to ship to New York.For Brink’s Ltd. Managing Director Mark Woolley, the spike in demand to ship gold to New York has been unlike anything he’s seen in 20 years in the market.“The amount of metal that we’ve successfully moved into New York is pretty significant,” he said Thursday on a webinar hosted by the London Bullion Market Association. “It’s probably not far off the total amount of metal that’s been mined in this period.”CME Group Inc., which owns Comex, responded to the recent market dislocation by introducing a new contract allowing the delivery of 400-ounce bars, the type traded in London. Still, “other changes need to be at least considered,” according to LBMA Chairman Paul Fisher.The enormous movement of gold has been a boon for logistics companies, but also a challenge. Not only have passenger flights — on which shipments are typically transported — been grounded, but New York City, where many Comex warehouses are located, has also been a hotspot for the virus.To deal with flows, Loomis International U.K. opened up additional vault capacity. Malca-Amit considered using airports in Boston and Philadelphia, but hasn’t needed to yet, Finn said.While large volumes and virus-related restrictions at vaults and airports caused some delivery delays, much of the spike in the premium for futures contracts in March — which left some banks nursing sizable losses — was driven by perception rather than reality, Finn said.“My own personal opinion is that any assessment on the inability to get gold in was ill-informed at the time and was made on assumptions rather than fact,” he said.Still, the bonanza for precious metals shippers may last a while. Large deliveries have seen June Comex futures drop to a discount to spot prices this week, but later dated futures are still at a premium. And as investor interest in other precious metals picked up, futures for silver and platinum have also traded at premiums to spot.“The guys in New York have done a great job,” said Brian Hayward, head of Loomis International U.K. “We’re seeing a lot of silver head that way right now.”(Updates with LBMA chairman’s comment below second chart. An earlier version corrected the Y axis in the first chart)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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  • Tyson Foods To Close Iowa Pork Plant After 555 Workers Test Positive For Coronavirus

    Tyson Foods To Close Iowa Pork Plant After 555 Workers Test Positive For CoronavirusTyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) is temporarily shutting down its Iowa pork factory due to the transmission of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) at the facility, Reuters reported Thursday.What Happened According to Iowa state officials, at least 555 workers at the Storm Lake plant have tested positive for COVID-19 so far, as reported by Reuters. The positive workers account for 22% of the total workforce at the facility.The company plans on resuming production next week, after "additional deep cleaning and sanitizing of the entire facility."President Donald Trump last month ordered meat-processing plants to stay open during the pandemic to ensure food supply across the United States.Nevertheless, companies including Tyson, WH Group Ltd. (OTC: WHGLY) subsidiary Smithfield Foods, and JBS SA (OTC: JBSAY), had to shutter 20 facilities across the country in April due to coronavirus outbreaks among workers.Why It Matters Meat companies have faced criticism for lack of worker safety measures during the pandemic.According to data from the Food & Environment Reporting Network, at least 18,437 meatpacking workers in the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Thursday, and 67 of them have died.The family of a Tyson employee who died from complications arising out of COVID-19 has sued the company for wrongful death.Tyson Price Action Tyson shares closed 0.14% lower at $62.66 on Thursday and were mostly unchanged in the after-hours.See more from Benzinga * Amazon Offers Full-Time Employment To 125,000 Workers Hired To Meet Increased Demand During Pandemic * UPS Slaps 'Peak' Surcharge On Amazon, Walmart, Others, As Delivery Requests Balloon Post Lockdown Ease * Trump Signs Executive Order To End Social Media Legal Immunity For Third-Party Content(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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  • How Hedge Funds Traded Soligenix, Inc. (SNGX) During The Crash

    How Hedge Funds Traded Soligenix, Inc. (SNGX) During The CrashThe latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. We at Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F […]

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  • Coronavirus job losses are hitting these 3 states the hardest

    Coronavirus job losses are hitting these 3 states the hardestThe number of jobs lost due to the coronavirus shutdown continue to mount, with the latest weekly total of Americans applying for unemployment benefits topping 2 million, yet again. Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman and Heidi Chung discuss.

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  • Stock market news live updates: Stocks fall as U.S.-China tensions simmer

    Stock market news live updates: Stocks fall as U.S.-China tensions simmerStocks fell Friday morning, extending losses from the regular session Thursday as investors eyed renewed tensions between the U.S. and China.

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