(Bloomberg) — China will impose unspecified sanctions on defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. after the U.S. approved a possible $620 million deal to supply missile parts to Taiwan, marking the latest in a volley of punitive actions by the superpowers as relations grow colder.“China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. “We will impose sanctions on the main contractor of this arms sale, Lockheed Martin,” he said, without elaborating on what form the sanctions may take.The move comes as tensions grow between the U.S. and China on a number of fronts, from the trade war and territorial claims in the South China Sea to the coronavirus pandemic and new security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong. Zhao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, called on the U.S. to cut military ties with Taiwan — which China considers part of its territory — to avoid “further harm to bilateral relations.”“It’s tit-for-tat between the two countries,” said Shukor Yusok, founder of aviation consultancy Endau Analytics in Malaysia. “The impact this time is going to be small, but it could be the start of more to come.”U.S. arms manufacturers face strict limitations on what kind of business they can do with countries deemed by Washington to be strategic rivals, such as China. Lockheed generated 9.7% of its revenue in the Asia-Pacific region last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, though that’s not broken down by individual countries.Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., which is owned by Lockheed, has a joint venture called Shanghai Sikorsky Aircraft Co. that does business with aviation companies and government-backed enterprises.“It’s a futile exercise that will have no direct effect on Lockheed Martin given that they aren’t allowed to sell anything to China,” said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Agency Partners in London. “China may have a go at disrupting supplies, but that will only further accelerate the U.S. attempts at autarky.”Last week, the U.S. sanctioned a top member of China’s ruling Communist Party and three other officials over alleged abuses in the western province of Xinjiang. Then, on Monday, the Foreign Ministry announced unspecified sanctions against U.S. officials, including Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, after the Trump administration levied penalties on Chen Quanguo, who sits on the Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo.China previously threatened to sanction U.S. companies, including General Dynamics Corp. and Honeywell International Inc., on numerous occasions over arms sales to Taiwan. It also threatened to blacklist FedEx Corp., while Ford Motor Co.’s main joint venture partner in China was fined 162.8 million yuan ($23.6 million) last year, days after the U.S. put a ban on doing business with Huawei Technologies Co.Huawei is one of several Chinese technology companies in the sights of the Trump administration, which also is seeking to bar the telecommunications giant from advanced 5G wireless trials in countries such as the U.K and India.“This is completely just a countermeasure in response to the U.S. taking a more destructive approach to Taiwan and Hong Kong issues, and escalating long-arm jurisdiction,” said Tian Feilong, associate professor with the Law School of Beihang University.China and its state media have alluded to further action against U.S. companies, but the sanctions against Lockheed are a concrete move, signaling Beijing is willing to intensify its pushback as the U.S. criticizes it on political fronts like Hong Kong and the South China Sea.“It further confirms how we expect the Chinese government to behave in terms of international relationships,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London. “There will be a lot of ‘you are either with us or against us,’ so companies will be forced to choose.”While China has often invoked the threat of putting U.S. companies on a blacklist — or list of “unreliable entities” — in response to various actions by the Trump administration over the past year, it has yet to name any, at least publicly.The U.S. last week also approved a military sale to Japan of 105 of Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and related equipment for an estimated price of $23.1 billion.(Updates with more Foreign Ministry comment starting in second 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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The 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 […]
Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock is up by a considerable 19% over the past three months. Given that the market rewards…
“Despite some recent positive macroeconomic data and significant, decisive government action, we still face much uncertainty regarding the future path of the economy,” Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said. Dimon also said the bank will continue to pay dividend unless “the economic situation deteriorates materially and significantly”.
Delta Air Lines on Tuesday reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of $3.9 billion in the second quarter, as the COVID-19 pandemic that’s hammered the airline industry ravaged the company’s revenue.
BigCommerce on Monday announced it has filed for an initial public offering with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.The e-commerce software-as-a-service provider put $100 million as a placeholder amount to be raised in the IPO in the SEC filing, as is standard practice. It didn't share a pricing range for its stock, and companies typically replace the placeholder amount in further filings.The Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) competitor said it will list its share at the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker "BIGC."Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) are serving as lead book-running managers for the IPO. Other underwriters include Jefferies Group LLC and KeyCorp's (NYSE: KEY) KeyBanc Capital Markets.BigCommerce has raised $219.2 million in seven funding rounds to date, according to data from Crunchbase.Some of the Austin-based company's backers include Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and SoftBank Group Corp. (OTC: SFTBY).Image: BigCommerceSee more from Benzinga * Australia's University Of Queensland Starts COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trials * US Secret Service Purchased Blockchain Analytics Software From Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase * Qualcomm To Invest M In India's Jio Platforms, Joining Facebook, Intel As Stakeholders(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Shares in Aldeyra Therapeutics (ALDX) are climbing 10% in Tuesday’s pre-market trading following a SEC filing showing that Joseph Edelman’s Perceptive Advisors now holds a 19.1% in the company.According to the filing, Perceptive snapped up 3.2 million shares at an average price of $4.25 on Thursday, taking its indirect beneficial ownership to a total of 6,285,458 shares.The New York-based hedge fund firm has $5 billion under management, and was founded by Edelman in 1999 to focus on investing in biotech stocks. Edelman now has a net worth of $1.2 billion.Shares in Aldeyra are down 11% year-to-date, but analysts have a bullish Strong Buy consensus on the stock with 4 recent buy ratings. The average analyst price target stands at $27 (470% upside potential). (See ALDX stock analysis on TipRanks)On July 7, Aldeyra announced development plans for dry eye disease, which will include two pivotal studies focused on investigating RASP as an objective-sign endpoint for dry eye disease (DED).Reproxalap, the company’s lead clinical candidate, is a novel small molecule RASP inhibitor that covalently binds free aldehydes and diminishes excessive RASP levels.“In addition to an increased likelihood of FDA approval, the development path could be expedited from the ability to demonstrate RASP in potentially smaller and shorter studies” commented Oppenheimer’s Justin Kim following the announcement.He is now seeing with greater clarity reproxalap’s potential to be on the market in 2022 and the shift in emphasis on catalysts for the stock as it approaches a potential first commercialization. “Ahead of a richer and now nearer-term catalyst setup, we stay bullish” the analyst concluded. He reiterated a buy rating on the stock and $15 price target (219% upside potential).Related News: Equillium Explodes 260% On Positive Covid-19 Results; India Approval Gilead Reveals Covid-19 Treatment Remdesivir Reduces Mortality Risk Moderna Inks Deal With Rovi To Supply Potential Covid-19 Vaccine Outside US More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Pepsi Delivers Relatively Strong Q2; RBC Says One Of Top Large-Cap Ideas * Microsoft To Spin-Off Xiaoice, China’s Teenage Chatbot * Mohawk Drops 5% In Extended Trading Amid Lawsuit For Improperly Boosting Sales, Margins * Boeing Nabs $23B US Air Force Contract; First Fighter Jet Order Now In
Roche has struck a $1.7 billion cancer drug pact with Blueprint Medicines, it said on Tuesday, as advances in genetic testing for rare mutations drive lucrative deals for expensive treatments. The Swiss drugmaker will pay $675 million in cash and make a $100 million equity investment in Blueprint for rights to pralsetinib, which could gain U.S. approval against so-called RET-altered non-small cell lung cancer in November. U.S. company Blueprint, which has been working with Roche since 2016, could also receive up to $927 million in milestone payments, plus royalties on sales outside the United States, Roche said in a statement.
With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 42x boohoo group plc (LON:BOO) may be sending very bearish signals at the…