Moderna Inc on Thursday confirmed it plans to start a trial of 30,000 volunteers of its much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine in July as the company enters the final stage of testing. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech said the primary goal of the study would be to prevent symptomatic COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The key secondary goal would be prevention of severe disease, as defined by keeping people out of the hospital.

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Menlo Therapeutics Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MNLO): Menlo Therapeutics Inc., a pharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and…

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(Bloomberg Opinion) — Copper has been on a steady upward trend, charging into a bull market and toward $6,000 per metric ton. That’s going to be tough to sustain. China’s stimulus efforts are being felt most strongly in infrastructure and construction. They have been less marked in other metal-intensive corners of the market: consumer goods and exports, which are still waiting for Europe and the U.S. to rally. Meanwhile, disruptions to supply from Latin America’s unfolding coronavirus disaster haven’t been enough yet to offset annualized demand loss. What happens next will be determined by whether Chile, Peru and producers like Indonesia, home to the world’s second-largest copper mine, can do better at controlling the epidemic than resource-rich Brazil.An economic bellwether, copper crumpled earlier this year as the scale of the pandemic became clear, falling by late March to its lowest levels since late 2016. The metal has clawed most of that back and with no large market surpluses in sight, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is among brokers that have raised price forecasts. The comeback has been largely driven by China, which consumes half the world’s copper and has been steadily eating through stockpiles as industrial production restarts and building resumes. There’s plenty of encouraging evidence: Inventories, after soaring when the pandemic began, have tumbled back. Cancelled warrants, which represent metal earmarked for delivery and so suggest appetite for the physical commodity, have shot up since late May. Hiccups in mine activity are lending support. Shipments from Peru, which has seen perhaps the longest lockdown among top producers, are down by almost a fifth so far this year, according to UBS Group AG. Add in Covid- and price-related closures, project slowdowns and cuts to spending budgets, and the combination is telegraphing tight supply. Enthusiasm is visible among previously bearish money managers, who are turning bullish and adding to long positions.Is all of that enough to keep copper running high? Not necessarily. While consultancy Wood Mackenzie Ltd. estimates 2020 refined production will be down more than 1%, it expects refined consumption to contract by over 3%. The shape of China’s stimulus and recovery offers one reason for caution, as the effects of pent-up demand begin to fade. Take grid spending, usually a major driver of copper demand: After a contraction at the start of the year, investment has increased and the budget is expected to expand from a year earlier. Yet the emphasis is on ultra-high voltage electricity lines to cover long distances, which tend to use lighter aluminum. Production of consumer appliances like air conditioners is also still under pressure. Though better property and auto sales figures are encouraging, there was no significant real estate stimulus out of the recent National People’s Congress meeting. And measures to support the electric vehicle sector and its charging infrastructure may not be enough.More worrying is the weakness in the China’s exports, as seen in the May manufacturing purchasing managers’ index. About 30% of China’s apparent consumption of refined copper is actually exported, according to Cru Group, so extended lockdowns in India and elsewhere matter.It would be foolish to  underestimate China’s ability to throw money at the problem. Still, the bigger unknown for the coming weeks is how the coronavirus spreads in copper’s biggest producers. Peru has already seen exports drop but so far Chile, which accounts for about a third of global production, has continued to operate largely unscathed. That was easier when there were fewer cases in the wider population, but now the country is in the grip of a significant outbreak.Brazil, now with the second-highest case number in the world after the U.S., offers a cautionary tale. With case rates rising at and near mines, iron ore producer Vale SA has already been forced to suspend work at one complex, Itabira, and concerns are growing about the country’s north. Near its Carajas operations there, the local town of Parauapebas has 5,734 cases for a population of roughly 200,000.Indonesia is another worry, says Nick Pickens, copper research director at Wood Mackenzie, given the importance of the Freeport-McMoRan Inc.-operated Grasberg mine to additional supply into 2021. Reuters reported last month that the mine was now working with a skeletal team after a rise in coronavirus infections in the area, including in workers’ living quarters. That would add uncertainty further out, not least given the degree to which miners have cut capital expenditure, discretionary spending and care and maintenance, as Cru principal analyst Craig Lang points out. That leaves them less prepared if something goes wrong, and increases the risk of disruption. For now, though, it may take more to feed the bull run.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Clara Ferreira Marques is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities and environmental, social and governance issues. Previously, she was an associate editor for Reuters Breakingviews, and editor and correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, India, the U.K., Italy and Russia.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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(Bloomberg) — A massive wave of corporate distress is pitting beleaguered companies against their lenders in brawls that are shaping up to be nastier than ever before.Desperate firms and their private equity owners are seeking to take advantage of years of weakening creditor protections to help cut obligations and raise cash after the coronavirus outbreak brought businesses to a standstill. Be it via allowances written into borrowing documents when times were good or simply loopholes in deal terms, they’re siphoning collateral and transferring assets while pushing deeply discounted debt swaps onto investors, who risk seeing the value of their bonds and loans plunge if they don’t go along.Still, money managers aren’t just rolling over. Credit powerhouses like GSO Capital Partners, BlackRock Inc. and HPS Investment Partners have lined up scores of lawyers and financial advisers to defend their interests, often finding themselves at odds with one another as they fight for the biggest piece of a shrinking pie. As the gloves come off, industry veterans say tensions are as high as they’ve ever seen.“You have more and more aggressive people holding this stuff and private equity firms have gamed every nook of credit agreements,” said Dan Zwirn, chief executive officer of Arena Investors, which manages $1.4 billion. “As people get desperate, there are going to be a lot more of these.”The conflicts underscore how the legacy of the last crisis is being felt as the current one unfolds. The Federal Reserve’s relentless interest-rate cutting and quantitative easing spurred a surge in demand for higher-yielding assets, helping risky companies sell debt with fewer lender safeguards. Now, amid a fresh bout of economic pain, the effects of those policies are coming to bear.One such fight is currently playing out between Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and its creditors.The company through a subsidiary sold $1.8 billion of unsecured notes last year to fund the acquisition of Walt Disney Co.’s regional sports networks. Those securities have plunged as the pandemic left stations with no professional sporting events to televise.Relatively loose provisions in the bond documents have emboldened Sinclair to pursue a debt exchange which would see holders take a 40% haircut and swap into debt secured by the company’s assets.Lenders late last month balked at the terms, and a group led by Shenkman Capital Management organized to block the exchange. The response from Sinclair was ominous: the company said it was weighing other options including a possible maneuver that would shift company collateral out of creditor reach if the exchange offer was not successful.The potential moves were “threats” that appeared designed to pressure lenders, according to Covenant Review, which called the outstanding bond’s safeguards among the weakest it had ever seen.“Issuers are being more aggressive in the way they are going about debt exchanges; they’re looking for additional ways to coerce bondholders that haven’t been interested in participating,” said Scott Josefsberg, an analyst at the debt research firm. “But investors are putting up a fight so far.”Sinclair had imposed a June 9 deadline for the exchange.A representative for the broadcaster had no immediate comment, while Shenkman declined to comment beyond confirming its role leading the creditor group.Sinclair’s exchange offer was hardly the only one to provoke the ire of investors in recent weeks.SM Energy Co.’s efforts to get creditors to swap their bonds into new securities at 50% to 65% of face value have faced significant pushback. With only about 10% of note holders agreeing to tender last month, the oil and gas driller struck a separate agreement with a group of creditors led by BlackRock.The side deal was designed to backstop the exchange, and the BlackRock-led group got better terms for swapping its debt versus what was offered to other creditors. The move infuriated other lenders, who organized with law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges to oppose the deal.Bondholders that accept the exchange must agree to eliminate almost all restrictive covenants on the existing debt, which would hurt anyone who doesn’t participate. The deadline for the tender has been extended to June 12.SM Energy, BlackRock and Weil Gotshal & Manges didn’t respond to requests seeking comment.Revlon ClashAnalysts have been warning investors for years that weakening protections would ultimately have costs as investors ceded more and more ground to borrowers. Yet despite the recent surge in corporate stress, a Moody’s Investors Service gauge of bond covenant quality remained near the weakest on record in April. A similar tracker for loans reached its lowest ever in the fourth quarter, the most recent data available.Lender safeguards played a major role in Revlon Inc.’s contentious $1.8 billion debt overhaul last month.Creditors including Brigade Capital Management and HPS had organized to block the company’s refinancing plan because it allowed the firm to siphon off collateral and use it to back new debt. Supporters of the plan included Ares Management Corp. and Angelo Gordon & Co.The deal needed more than 50% of the holders signed on to close. At first, opposing lenders held a blocking position with a majority of the outstanding loan amount opting out. But Revlon secured a new $65 million revolving credit facility from the supportive lenders — which the company says was permitted under its covenants — ultimately giving it enough backing to push the deal through.Some lenders continue to contest the transaction, arguing that Revlon needed the majority of debt holders of every tranche to agree, and maintaining that the company breached covenants when it moved certain intellectual property to secure a $200 million loan last year, according to people with knowledge of the matter.Still any creditors that chose not to participate in the refinancing were demoted from having a first-priority claim on company assets to a third-lien claim.“Revlon is strengthening its balance sheet and increasing liquidity to better deal with the issues at hand, including Covid-19,” Chief Financial Officer Victoria Dolan said in a statement to Bloomberg. “This group of objecting lenders is trying to block that. We are confident that we will overcome this effort to hurt our company.”Representatives for Brigade, HPS, Ares and Angelo Gordon declined to comment.Transactions involving collateral transfers have been among the most fiercely contested between creditors and private equity firms scrambling to protect their investments.Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. last month became locked in a fight with lenders of global bookings operator Travelport, which Elliott bought last year with Siris Capital Group. The owners shifted intellectual property estimated to be worth more than $1 billion to an unrestricted subsidiary — putting it out of reach of the creditors — to help it raise cash.Lenders led by GSO demanded that Travelport unwind the transaction for violating indenture agreements, and declared the step a default. The owners, who argue it was permitted, told them they would reverse the asset transfer if the creditors provided roughly $500 million of new financing and rolled up some existing debt holdings at a discount.The dispute has gotten so heated, Bank of America Corp. last month surrendered its role as administrator of Travelport’s loan to avoid taking a side in the feud, while Kirkland & Ellis recently resigned as the company’s legal representation, according to people familiar with the matter.With the sides at loggerheads, the private equity owners supplied the financing themselves in a loan backed by the disputed collateral, a move that’s likely to further inflame the situation.Representatives for Travelport, Elliott, Siris, GSO and Bank of America declined to comment, while Kirkland & Ellis didn’t have an immediate comment.‘Fight Like Dogs’Industry veterans say creditors should no longer be surprised when private equity sponsors use asset transfers, spinoffs, carve outs and other such moves following a number of high profile and hotly contested maneuvers in recent years.“Anyone professing to be shocked by it probably hasn’t been around very long,” said Philip Brendel a senior credit analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.Yet with creditors so far showing little appetite to push for stronger covenants in borrowing documents, market watchers warn to expect more brawls in the months and years ahead.“Rates were suppressed long after they should have been; it drove yield hunger and a non-bank explosion that created misalignments,” Arena Investors’ Zwirn said. “Now they’re learning once again, there are consequences. We are at just the beginning of this thing. They’re going to fight like dogs to avoid those consequences.”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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(Bloomberg) — A second wave of coronavirus cases is emerging in the U.S., raising alarms as new infections push the overall count past 2 million Americans.Texas on Wednesday reported 2,504 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day total since the pandemic emerged.A month into its reopening, Florida this week reported 8,553 new cases — the most of any seven-day period.California’s hospitalizations are at their highest since May 13 and have risen in nine of the past 10 days.A fresh onslaught of the novel coronavirus is bringing challenges for residents and the economy in pockets across the U.S. The localized surges have raised concerns among experts even as the nation’s overall case count early this week rose just under 1%, the smallest increase since March.“There is a new wave coming in parts of the country,” said Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “It’s small and it’s distant so far, but it’s coming.”Though the outbreaks come weeks into state reopenings, it’s not clear that they’re linked to increased economic activity. And health experts say it’s still too soon to tell whether the massive protests against police brutality that have erupted in the past two weeks have led to more infections.In Georgia, where hair salons, tattoo parlors and gyms have been operating for a month and a half, case numbers have plateaued, flummoxing experts.Puzzling differences show up even within states. In California, which imposed a stay-at-home order in late March, San Francisco saw zero cases for three consecutive days this week, while Los Angeles County reported well over half of the state’s new cases. The White House Coronavirus Task Force has yet to see any relationship between reopening and increased cases of Covid-19, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on a podcast.But in some states, rising numbers outpace increases in testing, raising concerns about whether the virus can be controlled. It will take a couple of weeks to know, Toner said, but by then “it’s going to be pretty late” to respond.QuickTake: Where Are We in Quest for Coronavirus Drugs, Vaccine?Since the pandemic initially swept the U.S. starting early this year, 2 million people have been infected and more than 112,000 have died.After a national shutdown that arrested the spread, rising illness had been expected as restrictions loosened. The trend has been observed across 22 states in recent weeks, though many increases are steady but slow.In New York, the state hardest hit by Covid-19, Governor Andrew Cuomo only recently started reopening by region. New York City, the epicenter, began the first of four phases Monday.“We know as a fact that reopening other states, we’re seeing significant problems,” Cuomo said Tuesday. “Just because you reopen does not mean you will have a spike, but if you are not smart, you can have a spike.”Experts see evidence of a second wave building in Arizona, Texas, Florida and California. Arizona “sticks out like a sore thumb in terms of a major problem,” said Jeffrey Morris, director of the division of biostatistics at University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.Arizona SpikeArizona’s daily tally of new cases has abruptly spiked in the last two weeks, hitting an all-time high of 1,187 on June 2.This week, its Department of Health Services urged hospitals to activate emergency plans. Director Cara Christ, told a Phoenix television station that she was concerned about the rising case count and percentage of people tested who are found to be positive.Valleywise Health, the public hospital system in Phoenix, has seen an increase in Covid-19 cases during the past two weeks. It’s expanded its intensive-care capacity and those beds are 87% full, about half with Covid patients, according to Michael White, the chief medical officer.White said Valleywise has adequate protective gear for staff, but hospitals aren’t getting their entire orders. A surge in Covid cases could put that supply under stress, he said.The increase in transmission follows steps to resume business and public life.“Within Phoenix, we’ve been more relaxed than I’ve seen in some of the other parts of the country,” White said, with some people disregarding advice to wear masks and maintain six feet of distance from others. “People are coming together in environments where social distancing is challenging.”Texas on Wednesday reported a 4.7% jump in hospitalizations to 2,153, the fourth consecutive daily increase. The latest figures showing an escalation came as Governor Greg Abbott tweeted a public service announcement featuring baseball legend Nolan Ryan urging Texans to wash their hands and to not be “a knucklehead.”Abbott was criticized for an aggressive reopening last month. Mobile-phone data show activity by residents is rebounding toward pre-Covid levels, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s PolicyLab.That could reflect a perception that the virus wasn’t “ever a big threat,” said Morris, who recently moved to Philadelphia after 20 years in Houston.Florida’s health department said in a statement that it attributes the increase in cases to “greatly expanded efforts in testing,” and noted that overall positivity rates remain low, at about 5.5%.Bucking the trend is Georgia, which was the first U.S. state to reopen. Covid cases there have plateaued. Despite local outbreaks in the state, “their sea levels did not rise,” said David Rubin, director of the PolicyLab, which has been modeling the virus’ spread. “They’ve kind of held this fragile equilibrium.”Creeping InCalifornia was the earliest state to shut down its economy over the coronavirus, after one of the nation’s first outbreaks in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been slower than most to reopen.Even so, the state has also seen the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 rebound in the past two weeks, as commerce accelerates. Case counts are climbing too, although officials attribute that to increased testing and say it’s a sign of preparation.In part, rising numbers represent the virus spreading into places that largely avoided the first round of infections, including rural Imperial County in California’s southeastern desert. Yet the contagion remains present in places that bore the brunt of the first wave, including Los Angeles County. Hospitalizations there are lower than at the start of May, but deaths remain stubbornly high, with 500 in the past week alone.Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County public health director, said the region has likely not seen the end of the first wave. And despite concerns about infections coming out of mass demonstrations in the sprawling city, she thinks the reopening of the economy will have a bigger impact.“We’re not at the tail end of anything,” Ferrer said. “We never had a huge peak. We’ve kind of been within this band. We’re not in decline, we’re kind of holding our own in ways that protect the health-care system.” But, she added, “go to Venice and see the crowds, and you’ll understand why I have concerns.”Another OnslaughtThe U.S. has long been bracing for another wave, but future outbreaks are likely to take a different shape. Social distancing and mask-wearing, as well as careful behavior by individuals, are likely to have staying power even as economies reopen.Experts are steeling for autumn, when changes in weather and back-to-school plans could have damaging repercussions.“The second wave isn’t going to mirror the first wave exactly,” said Lance Waller, a professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. “It’s not snapping back to exactly the same thing as before, because we’re not exactly the way we were before.”Daniel Lucey, a fellow at the Infectious Diseases Society of America, compared the virus’ new paradigm with a day at the beach: The U.S. has been bracing for another “high tide” like the one that engulfed New York City. Today is a low tide, but “the waves are always coming in.”(Adds cases reaching 2 million in headline and first paragraph)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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Top news and what to watch in the markets on Thursday, June 11, 2020.

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Shares in Sorrento (SRNE) are rallying 17% in Thursday’s pre-market trading after the company announced that an Application for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is under review at the US FDA for is Covid-19 diagnostic test kit.Its COVI-TRACK in vitro diagnostic test kit enables the independent detection of IgG and IgM antibodies in sera of patients exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.The rapid antibody test allows for results to be available in eight minutes or less. It reveals whether someone has been exposed to or potentially had coronavirus, and subsequently created antibodies to combat the infection.Analytical validation was performed by testing sample cohorts from healthy donors and confirmed positive COVID-19 patient samples by RT-PCR testing, and the assay demonstrated a specificity greater than 97% and diagnostic sensitivity of greater than 94%.Upon issuance of an EUA, the COVI-TRACK test will be available for distribution to clinical testing sites nationwide, says Sorrento.The company has already secured manufacturing capacity to support the production of up to five million test kits per month.Shares in Sorrento are currently trading up 35% on a year-to-date basis, and analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus on the stock’s outlook. The $24 average analyst price target indicates significant upside potential from current levels. (See SRNE stock analysis on TipRanks).Last week, Sorrento disclosed that in preclinical trials, the company’s monoclonal antibody (MaB), STI-4938, code named COVIDTRAP, inhibited SARS-CoV-2 viral infection in vitro.Sorrento has another antibody in development, STI-1499 (COVI-SHIELD), which also recently demonstrated promising in vitro results as it was able to completely block the SARS-CoV-2 virus.While it is still early on for both antibodies, H.C. Wainwright analyst Ram Selvaraju is encouraged by the additional positive results. “Together with Sorrento’s previously announced preclinical neutralizing antibody candidate, STI-1499, COVIDTRAP may provide a potent antidote against COVID-19,” the analyst said.Related News: 5 Promising Covid-19 Vaccines Picked For Trump’s Operation Warp Speed What Would a Merger Mean for Gilead? Top Analyst Weighs In Soleno Plunging 48% In Pre-Market On Obesity Study Failure More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Boeing’s $44 Billion Tanker Decision Delayed By Four Years – Report * Just Eat Takeaway.com To Snap Up Grubhub For $7.3 Billion * Starbucks Expects $3.2 Billion Revenue Loss In Q3 Due To Covid-19  * J&J; Brings Human Trial Start Of Its Covid-19 Vaccine Forward To July

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Boeing Co. (BA) is facing another setback as the U.S. Air Force has delayed by four years a decision on whether its $44 billion KC-46 tanker program should be approved for full-rate production.According to a Bloomberg report, the U.S. Air Force will announce a decision in July to September of 2024. It was previously planned for this September.The decision comes as Boeing, who is the contractor of the program since 2011, is trying to show it has fixed the flawed camera system used for the plane’s midair refueling mission.The Pentagon’s testing office seeks to postpone completion of ongoing combat testing and a final evaluation report until Boeing produces an improved, production-ready version of the “Remote Vision System”.At the same time, the Air Force said the delayed decision won’t affect orders to Chicago-based Boeing, which has already delivered the first 33 KC-46 tankers with the flawed system. The planemaker is set to produce 179 KC-46s under the program contract.Declaring a full-rate production is supposed to be a Pentagon stamp of approval that the system has demonstrated its combat effectiveness and that it can be efficiently produced and maintained.The news comes as Boeing reported this week that aircraft deliveries continued to decline in May, while order cancellations increased due to the travel restrictions tied to the coronavirus pandemic, which have throttled commercial jet demand.The travel demand freeze resulted in a deep cut in the number of commercial jets and services Boeing customers need over the next few years. As such, global airlines suffering billions of dollars in losses have been seeking to cancel or delay some of the orders they have with Boeing.COVID-19 has hit the planemaker very hard, with shares still down almost 40% since the beginning of the year. The stock is down 7.5% to $188.07 in today’s pre-market trading after dropping 6% on Wednesday.Wall Street analysts are cautiously optimistic on the stock. Nine Buys, 11 Holds, and 1 Sell rating give Boeing a Moderate Buy analyst consensus, with the $177.89 average analyst price target reflecting 13% downside potential in the shares over the coming year. (See Boeing stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Global Airlines Are Set To Lose $84.3 Billion In 2020, IATA Says Boeing’s Aircraft Deliveries Drop In May As Cancellations Rise Airbus Gets No New Aircraft Orders In May Amid Aviation Crisis More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Sorrento Soars 17% In Pre-Market On Covid-19 Test Application * Just Eat Takeaway.com To Snap Up Grubhub For $7.3 Billion * Starbucks Expects $3.2 Billion Revenue Loss In Q3 Due To Covid-19  * J&J; Brings Human Trial Start Of Its Covid-19 Vaccine Forward To July

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