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☆ Futures slip ahead of Fed meet; U.S. debt ceiling jitters dent mood
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S. central bank is expected to deliver a 25 basis-point interest rate increase on Wednesday and then hold rates steady for the rest of 2023, according to economists in a Reuters poll. However, with inflation running well over the central bank's 2% target and a still-strong labor market mean chances of rate cuts seem less likely. Denting sentiment, Australia's central bank raised its cash rate by 25 basis points when traders were expecting an extended pause, citing too high inflation and warning of even higher rates. ET, Dow e-minis were down 72 points, or 0.21%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 7 points, or 0.17%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 1 points, or 0.01%. Educational services company Chegg (CHGG.N) slumped 44.7% on a downbeat second-quarter revenue forecast on increasing competition from ChatGPT.

☆ Key Fed meeting and jobs data are ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

In the spotlight are the Federal Reserve’s May meeting and the April jobs report. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will likely face questions about credit conditions, in addition to the central bank’s inflation strategy. What’s at stake with the April jobs report: Economists expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April jobs print to show slower employment growth last month and a rising unemployment rate. Wednesday: Federal Reserve interest rate decision, Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference and April ADP private payroll report. Friday: April jobs report and March consumer credit.

☆ Earnings playbook: The second half of the season kicks off with Apple, Ford and a pharma giant
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

What history shows: Data from Bespoke Investment Group shows Pfizer beats earnings expectations 87% of the time. Ford Motor is set to report earnings after the close, followed by a call at 5 p.m. What history shows: Ford earnings outperform earnings expectations 69% of the time, per Bespoke. AMD is set to report earnings after the close, with management scheduled to hold a conference call at 5 p.m. Friday Warner Bros Discovery is set to report earnings before the open, followed by a conference call at 8 a.m.

☆ A solid start to earnings season will be put to the test in the week ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

The biggest week of this earnings season showed us that things aren't as bad as many feared. The week ahead of earnings, including several more Club names, should tell us more. The results are always important, but it's the guidance and management commentary we will really hone in on to better understand the path ahead. In Amazon's case, a solid first quarter for its AWS cloud business was overshadowed by management seeing a material slowdown in April. ET: Nonfarm Payrolls Looking back It was the biggest week of this earnings season for the Club as several of our mega-cap holdings and industry bellwethers reported results.

Its peak sales forecast is of more than $2 billion annually together from the maternal vaccine and an RSV shot for older adults. The case highlights how equitable global access will require better advance planning by drugmakers, governments and health organizations, health officials say. "They could have tried sooner," said Erin Sparrow, WHO's technical officer for the RSV vaccine, referring to Pfizer. Pfizer has yet to take a number of steps needed to make the vaccine available in developing countries, according to global health officials and the company. She still expects it to be several years before the RSV vaccine is launched in lower-income countries.

☆ US FDA approves Pfizer's next-generation pneumococcal vaccine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) next-generation vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease in children aged six weeks to 17 years, the company said late on Thursday. The vaccine, Prevnar 20, offers more protection against the disease versus the company's widely-used Prevnar 13 vaccine, by targeting seven more serotypes of the streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria that causes those infections. The pneumococcal disease can lead to infections in several parts of the body including the lungs, where they can cause pneumonia. The approval is based on results from mid-stage and late-stage studies that showed the vaccine's safety and tolerability was similar to Prevnar 13. Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu SahuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bristol Myers posts lower Q1 sales as Revlimid falls
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Michael Erman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 27 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY.N) on Thursday said its first-quarter sales fell from last year, hurt by generic competition for its cancer drug Revlimid. The drugmaker also announced on Wednesday evening that its Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Caforio plans to step down from the role in November, to be replaced by the company's current Chief Commercialization Officer Chris Boerner. Analysts, on average, expected sales of $11.49 billion in the quarter, according to Refinitiv data. Bristol Myers said it earned around $2.05 a share in the quarter, excluding one-time items. Sales of Revlimid, which began facing generic competition last year, fell to $1.75 billion in the quarter, down 37% from $2.8 billion last year.

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - GSK (GSK.L) began 2023 with a quarterly performance that beat analyst expectations and extended a series of positive results following strong sales of its roster of vaccines as well as HIV and respiratory medicines. Investors are also concerned about the company's long-term prospects, given the pending loss of patent protection of one of GSK's HIV compounds and setbacks in its marketed oncology portfolio. GSK is also relying in part on its potential blockbuster vaccine for RSV, which leads to thousands of hospitalisations and deaths each year. It anticipates launching the vaccine later this year in the U.S. and Europe, pending regulatory approval, as does rival Pfizer (PFE.N). ($1 = 0.8039 pounds)Reporting by Maggie Fick and Natalie Grover in London, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ GSK beats first-quarter profit, revenue estimates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - GSK (GSK.L) on Wednesday beat expectations for its first-quarter revenue and profit, helped by sales of its blockbuster shingles vaccine Shingrix. The London-listed drugmaker reported adjusted profit of 37 pence per share on revenue of about 7 billion pounds ($8.70 billion). Analysts were expecting 33.2 pence per share on revenue of about 6.5 billion pounds, according to company-compiled consensus estimates. In February, GSK predicted sales growth would increase by 6% to 8% and adjusted operating profit to increase by 10% to 12%, at constant exchange rates in 2023, versus 2022. GSK is also leaning in part on its vaccine for RSV, which leads to thousands of hospitalisations and deaths each year.

☆ Final Trades: JNJ, PFE, AMZN & DGX
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Melissa Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailFinal Trades: JNJ, PFE, AMZN & DGXThe final trades of the day with CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - Use of the drug misoprostol on its own to terminate pregnancies is on the rise in the United States as providers seek a preemptive alternative while a ban on abortion pill mifepristone is being considered in court. Misoprostol is already part of the only medication abortion protocol approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but only when taken in combination with mifepristone. The drug, which the FDA first approved in 1988 for gastric ulcers, is often prescribed off-label to treat miscarriages or induce abortions. "If providers are forced to stop providing mifepristone, misoprostol alone is also safe and effective," said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, a public health professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Because misoprostol is approved for medication abortion in the United States as part of the two-drug combination, prescribing it alone to terminate pregnancies would also be considered off-label.

☆ US CDC signs off on second Omicron-updated COVID booster for older adults
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 19 (Reuters) - Older people and those with weakened immune systems may get a second dose of Omicron-targeting COVID-19 vaccines, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday. The agency's decision after its advisory committee's meeting aligns it with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's authorization on Tuesday for a second dose of Omicron-updated booster for the specified high-risk population. Adults aged 65 years and older can take a second dose of the updated vaccine, the CDC said, while people who are immunocompromised can get additional doses. It also said the original COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be recommended for use in the United States. Monovalent COVID-19 vaccines from Novavax (NVAX.O) or Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) Janssen were not affected by the changes made today, the agency said.

[1/2] Sanofi logo at the company's headquarters during the annual results news conference in Paris, France, February 4, 2022. Sanofi in 2009 acquired the rights to Auvi-Q, an epinephrine auto-injector intended to compete with EpiPen. Injection of epinephrine is used to treat serious and sometimes life-threatening allergic reactions to foods, medications, bee stings and other causes. Circuit Court of Appeals last July agreed, noting that the exclusive contracts in question were "a normal competitive tool within the epinephrine auto-injector industry." The 10th Circuit added that Sanofi could have competed on those terms, but instead chose initially to market Auvi-Q as a more expensive, premium product.

☆ Pfizer signs strategic cooperation pact with China's Sinopharm
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 13 (Reuters) - Pfizer (PFE.N) said on Thursday it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China's Sinopharm Group (1099.HK), and plans to seek approval to market 12 innovative drugs in China through 2025. Sinopharm's president Liu Yong said during the signing event in Shanghai on Wednesday that the cooperation will involve accelerating the delivery of Pfizer's new drugs to patients, according to a statement from Pfizer. Reporting by Brenda Goh, Meg Shen and Ethan Wang; Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Novavax cut $50 million in costs, plans to slash more, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Patrick Wingrove | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Novavax Inc (NVAX.O) cut about $50 million in costs in the first quarter of 2023 and plans to slash more, Chief Executive John Jacobs said in an interview on Wednesday. “We’re looking at everything from buildings, leases, land, headcount, and contractors, every aspect of our company and the way we work,” he told Reuters. Jacobs said Novavax would seek funding for its COVID/influenza combination shot, including a potential partnership, depending on whether the upcoming data is positive. The CEO added that the company did not expect to launch its individual flu vaccine this year, and will focus on the COVID vaccine. Global regulators expect vaccination campaigns to be conducted once a year, similar to annual flu inoculations.

[1/4] A pack of birth control pills is displayed in this illustration picture taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 11, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah Beier/IllustrationApril 10 (Reuters) - Over 300 biotech and pharmaceutical industry executives, including Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) CEO Albert Bourla, signed an open letter on Monday calling for reversal of a federal judge's decision to suspend sales of the abortion pill mifepristone. Last week's ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk undermines the FDA's authority, the letter's authors wrote, adding that it ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent. The ruling could open the possibility to the banning of vaccines and contraception for women, said Levin. "It's the single worst threat to the industry in over 50 years."

☆ RSV cases in US show signs of return to pre-pandemic seasonality - CDC
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 6 (Reuters) - Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) circulation is showing signs of return to pre-pandemic seasonality in the U.S. after two years of irregular onsets and peaks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday. Typically, cases of RSV virus that can cause severe illness or death in the very young and old rose in October before waning in April. The varying timing could be challenging for drugmakers racing to get their RSV vaccines to the market. In both pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, RSV cases began to surge earlier in Florida and the Southeast and later in regions further north and west, the researchers said. "Policy makers should consider RSV seasonality when making recommendations about the timing of studies and administration of new immunization and other RSV prevention products," the report said.

☆ Final Trades: PFE, QQQ, TSLQ & GOLD
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Melissa Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailFinal Trades: PFE, QQQ, TSLQ & GOLDThe final trades of the day. With CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders.

☆ Exclusive: Elon Musk plans China visit, seeks meeting with premier
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, March 31 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk is making plans to visit China as early as April and is seeking a meeting with China's Premier Li Qiang, two people with knowledge of planning for the trip told Reuters. The exact timing of the visit is subject to Li Qiang's availability, one of the sources said. China is Tesla's second-largest market after the United States and its Shanghai plant is the electric carmaker's largest production hub. A visit by Musk would mark his first visit to China since the COVID-19 pandemic and since Xi Jinping secured a third term as China's president. The sources did not say what Musk intends to discuss with Li or do in China.

And that has the impact of postponing some announcements," said Anu Aiyengar, global head of M&A at JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N). M&A volumes dropped 44% to $282.7 billion in the U.S. and 70% to $81.87 billion in Europe. Reuters Graphics"Having a well-functioning financing market is a critical ingredient for M&A. Global M&A volumes in Q1 2023LACK OF CONFIDENCEThe depressed market valuations also presented an opportunity for prominent activist investors to launch new proxy fights, with dealmakers anticipating a boost to M&A volumes from activist campaigns in the coming quarters. "Inflationary pressures aren't subsiding as fast as people expected; there's still a lot of geopolitical tensions, and in a lot of ways, the disruption in the financing market is intensifying," Langston said.

March 30 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas on Thursday blocked Obamacare's mandate that health insurance plans cover pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP) and other preventive care including cancer and diabetes screenings. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, said the PrEP mandate violated a federal religious freedom law and that the other preventive care mandates were based on recommendations by an illegally appointed task force. The ruling was a victory for conservative businesses and individuals that sued to challenge the mandates in 2020. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Obamacare, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Mark PorterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ J&J bows out of RSV vaccine race after scrapping trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

J&J made the decision in order to "to focus on medicines with the greatest potential benefit to patients," the company said on Wednesday. J&J started the study following positive results from a mid-stage trial, which showed the vaccine was 80% effective in protecting against lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV. Pfizer and GSK are running a tight race to tap into the RSV vaccine market, which is estimated to be more than $5 billion and could exceed $10 billion by 2030, according to analysts. There is currently no approved vaccine to prevent lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in older adults. It is responsible for 14,000 deaths in adults aged 65 and older annually in the United States, according to government data.

☆ Exclusive: ICU Medical to compete against GE Healthcare for Medtronic units -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( David Carnevali | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GE Healthcare and private equity firms Carlyle Group Inc (CG.O) and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), which have been pursuing rival offers separately, are also through to the second round, the sources added. Carlyle is bidding through its newly formed healthcare investment platform Atmas Health, according to one of the sources. Medtronic has been taking offers for its patient monitoring and respiratory interventions businesses even as it presses on with preparations to spin them off to its shareholders. ICU Medical, GE Healthcare, Carlyle and CD&R declined to comment. The patient monitoring technology portfolio includes Nellcor pulse oximetry and BIS brain monitoring, while the respiratory interventions business comprises ventilators and breathing systems.

☆ Chinese commerce minister in talks with Apple boss Tim Cook
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, March 27 (Reuters) - Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao met Apple (AAPL.O) CEO Tim Cook on Monday and exchanged views on the company's development in China, the commerce ministry said. The two talked about stabilising industrial and supply chains, the ministry said, adding that Wang told Cook China is willing to provide a good environment and services for foreign companies including Apple. Cook was in Beijing over the weekend to attend the government-organised China Development Forum. Wang told Cook that China unswervingly promotes a high-level opening-up of rules, regulations, management, standards and other systems, the ministry added. Reporting by Beijing newsroom Writing by Bernard Orr Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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