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The U.S. Department of Defense last month reversed its decision to fund two projects to process rare earth minerals for military weapons, one of which has controversial ties to China, according to three sources and a government document seen by Reuters. The Pentagon decision is a step backward for President Donald Trump’s plan to redevelop the U.S. rare earths supply chain and reduce reliance on China, the world’s largest producer of the strategic minerals used to build a range of weapons. Australia’s Lynas Corp and privately held U.S. firm MP Materials both said on April 22 they had been awarded funding by the Pentagon for rare earths separation facilities in Texas and California, respectively.

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(Bloomberg) — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. expects revenue growth to slow this year, reflecting post-Covid 19 economic uncertainty at home as well as the potential for U.S.-Chinese tensions to disrupt its business.The e-commerce giant forecast sales growth this year of at least 27.5% to more than 650 billion yuan ($91 billion), down from 35% previously and slightly below analysts’ estimates. While it posted a better-than-expected 22% rise in March quarter revenue of 114.3 billion yuan, that marked its slowest pace of expansion on record. Alibaba’s shares slid more than 5% in New York.Online shopping began to bounce back from March, executives said Friday. But the tepid outlook demonstrates the world’s second largest economy has yet to fully shake off Covid-19, with consumers still hesitant about spending on big-ticket items. Asia’s largest corporation is tackling also the rise of rivals such as ByteDance Ltd. and Pinduoduo Inc. And the Tmall operator is going head-to-head with Tencent Holdings Ltd. for internet leadership in everything from online media to payments and cloud computing.Alibaba has lost more than $40 billion of market value since the coronavirus first erupted in January, and now has to grapple with not just an uncertain global economic environment but also any potential fallout from U.S.-Chinese financial tensions. On Friday, executives sought to assuage concerns about a U.S. bill that mandates much closer accounting scrutiny of U.S.-listed Chinese companies and may bar them from American bourses.Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu said Alibaba’s financial statements have been consistently prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP accounting measures and were beyond reproach. “The integrity of Alibaba’s financial statements speak for itself, we have been an SEC filer since 2014 and hold ourselves to the highest standard,” she told analysts on a conference call. “We will endeavor to comply with any legislation whose aim is to protect and bring transparency to investors who buy securities on U.S. stock exchanges.”The bigger short-term challenge is in reviving growth: Alibaba’s bread-and-butter customer management or marketing business grew just 3% in the March quarter. Much of that stems from weaker consumer sentiment during the coronavirus-stricken quarter, when total Chinese e-commerce rose just 5.9% or at less than a third of 2019’s pace, according to government data.Rival PDD posted a revenue rise of 44% on Friday, down sharply from 91% in the previous quarter, although that still beat expectations. Its sales and marketing expenses jumped 49%.Alibaba’s net income was 3.2 billion yuan, down 88% from a year ago when it booked an 18.7 billion yuan one-time gain on investments. In February, Alibaba declared a waiver of some service fees for merchants struggling financially during the outbreak on its main direct-to-consumer Tmall platform. In April, the company rolled out a new 10-billion-yuan subsidy program for Tmall users to buy electronics, encroaching on JD.com Inc.’s traditional turf. These initiatives may further compress margins for the June quarter.“The challenging part is for them to achieve the same amount of growth this year,” said Steven Zhu, a Shanghai-based analyst with Pacific Epoch. “Just because they are too big, for the same amount of growth, they need to spend much more effort.”But executives were confident in a gradual e-commerce recovery over the year. Beyond its main business, younger divisions such as its cloud computing arm should buoy its bottom line. That division’s revenue jumped 58% in the quarter.“Despite a challenging quarter due to reduced economic activities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, we achieved our annual revenue guidance,” Wu said in a statement. “Although the pandemic negatively impacted most of our domestic core commerce businesses starting in late January, we have seen a steady recovery since March.”What Bloomberg Intelligence SaysThe company’s businesses most impacted by merchant and logistic disruptions are also its most lucrative, such as retail marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, while faster-growing segments like cloud computing and digital entertainment don’t contribute to profit. Subsidies for users and merchants will add to costs. Alibaba may provide an improved growth outlook for the June quarter given the retreat of the pandemic in China, but the recovery could be gradual as consumption sentiment remains weak.\- Vey-Sern Ling and Tiffany Tam, analystsClick here for the research.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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Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE), while announcing its Q2 2020 results, said it would temporarily slash salaries and carry out job cuts. What Happened As sales decline due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, HPE, the maker of business technology hardware and software, will institute measures to effect a turnaround.The company's overhaul plan is expected to save it $1 billion by 2022.The salary cuts would mostly affect senior executives and will take place between July 1 and October 31, 2020. "We are going to cut salaries, that's not an easy thing to do," said HPE CEO Antonio Neri during a conference call with analysts. He added, "I don't take that lightly."No specifics on job cuts have been forthcoming from HPE, but a company spokesperson told Fortune that HPE would be "working through the details in the next couple months as we evaluate the various areas where we can drive savings."Why It Matters According to Fortune, HPE on its own and also as a part of the Hewlett Packard conglomerate, has laid off thousands of workers as a changing technology landscape means a fall in demand for servers and computer storage devices.In the previous quarter, HPE sales fell 16% on a year-over-year basis to $6 billion. The CEO attributed the decline to the disruption in the supply chain, causing the inability of HPE to ship products rapidly. He said, "We ship three servers every minute, so when the supply chain stops, it's pretty significant."Neri also said that shelter-in-place orders have made it difficult for HPE employees to install supercomputers at customer premises, which significantly affected the revenue. The CEO expressed some optimism for the future saying, "China is pretty much back to normal." This would mitigate some of the disruptions to the company's supply chain.HP Price Action HPE shares traded 5.41% lower at $9.80 in the after-hours session on Thursday. The shares had closed the regular session 0.78% higher at $10.36.Image Credit: Wikimedia.See more from Benzinga * Trump Wants To Attend SpaceX Launch Of Astronauts Into Space, Jokes He Would Like To Put Reporters Into The Rocket * IBM's Announces Company-Wide Job Cuts As New CEO Attempts Restructuring * China's Failure To Set Growth Target For 2020, Rising Geopolitical Tensions Lead To Drop In Oil Prices(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Dividend paying stocks like Momo Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO) tend to be popular with investors, and for good reason – some…

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Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi, Alexis Christoforous, and Anjalee Khemlani discuss the latest coronavirus news and the race for a vaccine.

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Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) investors will be delighted, with the company turning in some strong numbers with its latest…

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Here's a roundup of top developments in the biotech space over the last 24 hours.Scaling The Peaks (Biotech Stocks Hitting 52-week Highs May 21) * ADC Therapeutics SA (NYSE: ADCT) (IPOed May 15) * Allogene Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ALLO) * AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) ( announced $1 billion BARDA funding for coronavirus vaccine program) * Biondvax Pharmaceuticals Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ: BVXV) * Cellectis SA (NASDAQ: CLLS) * ChemoCentryx Inc (NASDAQ: CCXI) * Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: CRBP) * Cue Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ: CUE) * Fate Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: FATE) * Harpoon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: HARP) * Horizon Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ: HZNP) * Intellia Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: NTLA) * Kamada Ltd. (NASDAQ: KMDA) * Minerva Neurosciences Inc (NASDAQ: NERV) * Ovid Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OVID) * Passage Bio Inc (NASDAQ: PASG)(FDA granted Rare Pediatric Disease designation to its gene therapy PBGM01 broadly for the treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis) * Soleno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SLNO) * Surface Oncology Inc (NASDAQ: SURF)Down In The Dumps (Biotech Stocks Hitting 52-week Lows May 21) * Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKRX) (filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy) * Digirad Corporation (NASDAQ: DRAD) * Genfit SA (NASDAQ: GNFT)Related Link: These 6 Coronavirus Vaccine Candidates Are The Likeliest To Succeed, Says Morgan StanleyStocks In Focus Aquestive's Partnered Parkinson's Drug Gets FDA Nod Aquestive Therapeutics Inc's (NASDAQ: AQST) development partner Sunovion announced FDA approval for Kynmobi sublingual film – APL-130277 – for the acute, intermittent treatment of OFF episodes in patients with Parkinson's disease. The drug is expected to be available in the U.S. pharmacies in September.Following the approval, Aquestive said it plans to monetize its PharmFilm based therapies."We continue to expect that we will receive between $50 to $100 million of non-dilutive capital from the monetization, in one or a series of transactions," the company said.The stock rose 5.2% to $6.47 in after-hours trading.Syndax's Lead Breast Cancer Drug Flunks Late-stage Study Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SNDX) said a late-stage study that evaluated its investigational compound entinostat along with exemestane in patients with HR+, HER2- breast cancer who have progressed on a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor did not achieve the primary endpoint of demonstrating a statistically significant overall survival benefit over hormone therapy alone.The study was conducted by ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group and sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.The stock slumped 19.41% to $16.52 in after-hours trading.Tiziana To Spin-off Its Personalized Medicines Businesses TIZIANA LF SCIE/S ADR (NASDAQ: TLSA) said it intends to demerge its StemPrintER and SPARE genomics-based personalized medicine businesses into a separate company and effect a capital reduction to facilitate the spin-out and listing of StemPrintER as an independent entity.Amarin To Support Pilot Study Of Vascepa In Treating COVID-19 Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ: AMRN) said it supports a clinical trial to investigate the effects of its Vascepa on inflammatory biomarkers and other patient outcomes in individuals with COVID-19. The trial is sponsored by the Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, the company said.Separately, generic pharma company Hikma Pharmaceuticals announced its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. has received FDA approval for its generic equivalent to Vascepa.In pre-market trading Friday, Amarin stock was adding 3.85% to $7.56.Navidea Reports Positive Mid-stage Results For Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NYSE: NAVB) announced positive preliminary results from the second interim analysis of its ongoing NAV3-31 Phase 2B study"Analysis demonstrates that these interim data further corroborate Navidea's hypotheses that Tc99m tilmanocept imaging can provide robust, quantitative imaging in healthy controls and in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis, and that this imaging can provide an early indicator of treatment efficacy in patients with active RA," the company said.The stock was seen skyrocketing 65.35% to $2.10 in pre-market trading.Roche Buys Gene Sequencing Tech Company Roche Holdings AG (OTC: RHHBY) announced acquisition of Stratos Genomics, an early-stage sequencing technology company to advance the development of its nanopore sequencer.The company did not disclose the financial terms of the dealTetraphase Deems Melinta's Latest All-Cash Offer As Superior, Notifies AcelRx Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: TTPH), which has been pursued by multiple companies, said its board has determined that the latest proposal from Melinta Therapeutics, Inc. is a "Superior Offer."'Melinta has offered $27 million in cash, plus an additional $12.5 million in cash potentially payable under contingent value rights to be issued in the proposed acquisition.View more earnings on IBBTetraphase, which agreed to a deal to be bought byAcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ACRX), said it has informed about its determination concerning the Melinta offer and given AcelRx time until May 29 to either terminate the merger or revise the terms of the merger.Incidentally, La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company (NASDAQ: LJPC) had also tabled an offer for Tetraphase.In pre-market trading, AcelRx shares were adding 2.74% to $1.50.Amag Divests Intrarosa For Upto $125M AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG) said it has completed the sale of its rights to Intrarosa to Millicent Pharma Limited, for up to $125 million, including upfront fixed consideration of $20 million and contingent, sales-based milestone payments of up to $105 million.The company said the sale is consistent with its previously announced strategic decision to divest its women's health assets. It also said it remains committed to the divestiture of Vyleesi and associated expense reductions as previously announced.Offerings ContraFect Corp Stock (NASDAQ: CFRX) said it has priced its underwritten public offering of 11.8 million shares of its common stock and related warrants to purchase 8.85 million shares. The gross proceeds from the public offering will be approximately $52.5 million, it said. All shares in the public offering are to be sold by ContraFect.In premarket trading Friday, the stock was slipping 11.87% to $4.75.Hoth Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: HOTH) priced its underwritten public offering of 1.82 million shares of common stock at $2.75 per share, for raising gross proceeds of $5 million. The offering is expected to close on or about May 27.The stock was slipping 5.36% to $3 in premarket trading Friday.Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: DVAX) priced its previously announced underwritten public offering of 14 million shares of its common stock at $5 per share. The gross proceeds to Dynavax from the offering are expected to be approximately $70. The offering is expected to close on or about May 27.The stock was retreating 10.25% to $5.08 in premarket trading Friday.PPD Inc (NASDAQ: PPD) said it upsized and finalized the terms of the offering of $500 million aggregate principal amount of 4.625% senior notes due 2025 and $700 million aggregate principal amount 5.000% senior notes due 2028. The aggregate principal amount of the notes to be issued in the offering was increased to $1.2 billion from the previously announced $700 million, the company said.In premarket trading Friday, the stock was adding 1.23% to $28.Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) said it intends to offer and sell shares of its common stock and accompanying warrants to purchase shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. All the securities earmarked for the offering are being sold by the company.The stock was slipping 20.92% to $1.55 in pre-market trading.On The Radar Clinical Readouts Atara Biotherapeutics Inc's (NASDAQ: ATRA) abstract on the Phase 1 data for ATA188 in multiple sclerosis, regarding its European Academy for Neurology presentation, will be made available online at 12:30 pm ET.Earnings Teligent Inc (NEW JERSEY) (NASDAQ: TLGT)IPO Inari Medical, a medical device company, priced its upsized initial public offering of 8.203 million shares of its common stock at $19.00 per share, for total gross proceeds of approximately $156 million. The company had earlier planned for a 7.33-million stock offering, with an estimated price of $17-$18 per share. The shares are to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol NARI.See more from Benzinga * The Daily Biotech Pulse: Mixed Filgotinib Readout For Gilead-Galapagos, Akorn To File For Chapter 11, D-Day For Aquestive * The Daily Biotech Pulse: Aldeyra Jumps Into COVID-19 Drug Fray, FDA Nod For Myriad's Companion Diagnostic Test * The Daily Biotech Pulse: FDA Nod For Roche, Arbutus Releases Positive Readout For HBV Therapy, Moderna Announces .34B Common Stock Offering(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Qualcomm (QCOM) is positioned close to the eye of the macro storm. A heavy reliance on China and uncertainty concerning near-term smartphone supply and demand dynamics have contributed to a difficult 2020 for QCOM, with shares down 12% year-to-date. However, despite renewed tensions between the U.S. and China, Qualcomm could actually benefit from the worrying developments, so says Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley. The recent Department of Commerce ban on Huawei, preventing it from purchasing semiconductors from U.S. companies, has ignited fears of retaliatory moves against companies such as Apple and Qualcomm. That being said, Qualcomm’s management noted Huawei is not a significant customer. In fact, Walkley argues the move could be good for the chipmaker. “We view any Huawei smartphone share losses, which are likely with it not gaining access to Android software, as a benefit to Qualcomm as its leading QCT customers such as OPPO and Vivo are likely to gain market share from Huawei,” said the 5-star analyst. While there’s a risk of a Chinese retaliation, Walkley notes that a large number of Chinese OEMs are dependent on Qualcomm in order to compete with tech giant Huawei. And with ambitions to sell more global smartphones, Qualcomm is the “primary to only choice in certain markets for these OEMs to have working products.” Furthermore, Walkley believes Chinese semiconductor company HiSilicon (owned by Huawei) cannot currently sell its modems to Qualcomm’s Chinese OEM customer base. If trade tensions negatively impact Huawei’s HiSilicon business, Qualcomm could benefit as Huawei loses both market share and the “ability to eventually compete in the merchant market,” if HiSilicon is stopped from making innovative chipsets at TSMC. Walkley summarized, “While the escalating China and U.S. relations is a concern to monitor and likely adds to the delays for Qualcomm in reaching an agreement with Huawei, we believe Qualcomm could come out as a net beneficiary if Huawei is adversely impacted since Huawei doesn’t use material volumes of Qualcomm chipsets and does not pay royalties currently.” Bearing this in mind, the 5-star analyst rates QCOM a Buy and has a $102 price target on the shares. There’s upside of 31% should the target be met in the coming months. (To watch Walkley’s track record, click here) The analyst community remains cautiously optimistic when considering Qualcomm’s prospects. A Moderate Buy consensus rating is based on a mix of 8 Buys, 7 Holds and 2 Sells. The average price target hits $86.86 and implies possible gains in the shape of 11%. (See Qualcomm stock analysis on TipRanks)

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