6:01 pm MediciNova receives notice of allowance for new patent covering MN-029 from the European Patent Office (MNOV) :

• Once issued, the patent maturing from this allowed patent application is expected to expire no earlier than July 2032. The allowed claims cover the compound, pharmaceutical compositions and a method of treating certain cell proliferative diseases, including cancer, using MN-029 di-hydrochloride. MediciNova intends to use MN-029 di-hydrochloride in future development.

5:54 pm DNB Financial names William Hieb Interim CEO (DNBF) :

• Co announces that William Hieb, the company's president, has been appointed interim chief executive officer, following the death of William S. Latoff on Monday.
• The company also announced that James Thornton has been appointed interim chairperson of the Board of Directors, and that Mary D. Latoff has been elected as a director.
• Hieb has served as president of the company since 2005, and as chief risk and credit officer since 2011. He has also been a director of the company since 2005.
  

5:52 pm ClearOne's independent registered public accounting firm, Tanner completes re-audit of the co's consolidated financial statements; did not result in any adjustments or changes for FY14 (CLRO) :

• Co announces that its independent registered public accounting firm, Tanner has completed its re-audit of the Company's consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014. The Re-audit by Tanner did not result in any adjustments or changes to the Company's consolidated financial statements or related notes for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.
• Tanner has provided its unqualified opinion that the Company's consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of the Company and its subsidiaries, and their consolidated results of operations and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2014.
  

5:50 pm Ultralife acquires Accutronics for ~$11.0 mln (ULBI) :

• Co acquires all of the outstanding shares of Accutronics, independent designer and manufacturer of smart batteries for GBP 7.575 mln (~$11.0 mln) in cash, subject to customary working capital and net cash/debt adjustments.

5:40 pm Atmel lowers Q4 rev guidance on weaker than expected billings; sees Q4 EPS below consensus (ATML) :

• Co issues downside guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees EPS of $0.06 vs. $0.07 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; lowers Q4 (Dec) revs to $261-262 mln from $266-286 mln vs. $276.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be ~47.3 to 47.7%, at the midpoint of the original outlook of 47.0 to 48.0%
• The lower revenue was the result of weaker than expected billings, primarily in Asia, as distributors reduced inventory levels due to uncertainties associated with the company's ongoing acquisition process
• Briefing Note: Earlier today, ATML Board determined Microchip (MCHP) $8.15/share proposal as 'superior' to existing merger agreement with Dialog Semiconductor (DLGNF).

5:37 pm Scorpio Tankers will upsize credit facility to $132.5 mln (STNG) :

• In January 2016, the Company received a commitment to upsize its previously announced $87.0 mln credit facility with ING Bank to $132.5 mln. The facility will bear interest at LIBOR plus a margin of 1.95% per annum, and the proceeds will be used to partially finance the purchase of STI Lombard and refinance the existing indebtedness on an MR product tanker.

5:35 pm Boeing and SPEEA agree to contract extension (BA) :

• Co and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace announces a tentative agreement on a new six-year contract extension, following several weeks of discussions.
• SPEEA's Executive Board and Bargaining Unit Councils have endorsed the offer, which will be put up for a vote by the membership from Jan. 27 to Feb. 10, 2016 via mail-in ballots.

5:33 pm DHX Media enters into automatic share purchase plan (DHXM) :

• Co enters into an automatic share purchase plan with its broker in order to facilitate repurchases of its common voting shares and variable voting shares under its normal course issuer bid. On September 30, 2015, DHX announced that it had received approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange to make a normal course issuer bid to purchase up to 8,207,887 common voting shares and variable voting shares, representing 10 per cent of the Company's public float of 82,078,870 Shares as of September 25, 2015. The NCIB commenced on October 5, 2015 and will terminate no later than October 4, 2016.
• Under DHX's automatic share purchase plan, DHX's broker may repurchase Shares under the NCIB at any time including, without limitation, when DHX would ordinarily not be permitted to do so due to regulatory restrictions or self-imposed blackout periods pursuant to the Company's Insider Trading Policy.

5:19 pm Lantheus Holdings to divest Canadian radiopharmacy operations for $9 mln (LNTH) :

• Co announces the sale of its radiopharmacies and Gludef manufacturing and distribution business in Canada to Isologic Innovative Radiopharmaceuticals for $9.0 mln in cash, subject to certain purchase price adjustments.
• As part of the transaction, the Company and Isologic also entered into a long-term supply contract under which the Company will supply Isologic with the Company's products on commercial terms and under which Isologic has agreed to certain product purchase commitments.
  

5:15 pm Redwood Trust reports FHFA's final regulation is not expected to impact its ordinary course business and operations (RWT) :

• Co announces that the FHFA's final regulation is not expected to impact its ordinary course business and operations. Redwood Trust noted that other sources of financing are currently used to finance residential mortgage loans acquired for subsequent sale or securitization and that over the longer-term it would plan for the eventual maturity of RWT Financial's outstanding advances from the FHLB Chicago and explore additional sources of financing for held-for-investment residential loans. 
• Co currently believes the near-term impact of the FHFA's final regulation may be that RWT Financial may not be able to obtain additional advances or increases to its borrowing capacity from the FHLB Chicago, which may limit RWT Financial's ability to increase the size of its portfolio of residential mortgage loans and thereby may impact the ability to increase net interest income generated by RWT Financial's portfolio of held-for-investment loans.
• RWT Financial currently has borrowing capacity from the FHLB Chicago of $2.0 billion. As of January 12, 2016, RWT Financial had outstanding advances from the FHLB Chicago of $2.0 bln.

5:13 pm Ocwen Fincl discloses it paid down ~$7.6 mln of its senior secured term loan (OCN) :

• Co discloses following receipt of payments in connection with previously closed sales of mortgage servicing rights, Ocwen Financial Corporation paid down ~$7.6 mln of its senior secured term loan. Following the pay down, the Company has ~$390.9 mln outstanding under its senior secured term loan.

5:01 pm Hudbay Minerals sees FY16 CapEx of ~$300 mln; sees copper production growth of +12% in 2016 (HBM) :

• Copper, zinc and precious metals production in 2015 was within guidance ranges in both the Manitoba and South America Business Units, and reflects the successful ramp up of production at the Constancia and Lalor mines. 2015 copper, zinc and precious metals production in Manitoba increased year-over-year by 10%, 25% and 8%, respectively, due mainly to a full year of commercial production at the Lalor and Reed mines.
  
• In 2016, assuming the mid-point of the guidance ranges is achieved, total copper, zinc and precious metals production contained in concentrate, is forecast to increase 12%, 9% and 16%, respectively, over 2015 actual levels, reflecting Constancia's first full year at capacity.
• Capital expenditure guidance is approximately $300 million for 2016, a decrease of over 20% compared to 2015 guidance.
• During the fourth quarter of 2015, shipments of copper concentrate from the Constancia mine to the port in Matarani increased with improved trucking capacity, resulting in significant inventory drawdown. The approximate concentrate inventory levels in Peru, including the mine site and port inventories, decreased from 74,000 dry metric tonnes at the end of the third quarter, including 65,000 dmt at the mine.

4:52 pm Atlas Energy and Atlas Resource Partners (ARP) receive NYSE continued listing standards notice (ATLS) :

• Cos announce that the NYSE on January 7, 2016 and January 12, 2016, respectively, notified each of ATLS and ARP that it had fallen below the NYSE's continued listing standards relating to minimum average closing price of a security less than $1.00 over a consecutive 30-trading-day-period.
• To regain compliance, the Company and Partnership must achieve a closing $1.00 unit price on both the last trading day of any calendar month within the six-month cure period and at least $1.00 average unit price over the 30 trading days preceding the end of that month.
  

4:50 pm Banc of California receives approval for Trust division (BANC) :

• Co announces it has received approved from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to launch its Trust Division. The Bank's Trust Division will provide a range of services to family, charitable, corporate and institutional trust clients including trust accounts, fiduciary management and enhanced deposit products.

4:35 pm USA Truck appoints John Rogers as President and CEO officer effective Jan 14 (USAK) : Prior to joining USAK, Mr. Rogers was country manager for CSX Transportation's Mexican subsidiary CSX de Mexico.

4:35 pm Copa Holdings releases prelim December traffic, showing RPMs increased 2.8% Y/Y (CPA) :

• ASMs increased 2.9% Y/Y
• RPMs increased 2.8% Y/Y
• Load Factor of 75.9%, down 0.1% Y/Y

4:33 pm Eaton Vance reports AUM of $308 bln at end of December, down 1.3% from October (EV) :  

4:32 pm Swisher Hygiene notifies Nasdaq that it is withdrawing its request for a hearing before the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Pane and trading will be suspended on the open on January 15 (SWSH) :  

4:31 pm InterNAP confirms previously announced strategic alternatives exploration process is ongoing - mgmt will be available to comment on any developments during earnings conference call (INAP) : The process is ongoing, and management will be available to comment on any developments regarding the process, as appropriate, during the earnings conference call (February 18 at 4:30pm ET)

4:31 pm Vail Resorts Season-to-date lift ticket rev +19.4%; expects to exceed EBITDA guidance (MTN) :

Co reported ski season metrics are for our U.S. mountain resorts, excluding results from Perisher and the urban ski areas of Afton Alps and Mt. Brighton.

• Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue at the Company's U.S. mountain resorts, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, was up 19.4% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
• Season-to-date ancillary spending increased over prior year, with dining revenue up 14.3% and ski school revenue up 6.7% at the Company's U.S. mountain resorts. Additionally, retail/rental revenue for U.S. resort store locations was up 9.1% compared to the prior year season-to-date period. Season-to-date total skier visits for the Company's U.S. mountain resorts were up 11.1% compared to the prior year season-to-date period. 
• "Our results through the holiday period continue to give us confidence in the outlook for the remainder of the year and while most of the season is still in front of us, based on current trends and snow conditions continuing, we expect to exceed the Resort Reported EBITDA guidance range we issued in September and will provide more details on our forecast in our March 2016 earnings release."

4:27 pm Closing Market Summary: Indices Trade Lower on Growth Concerns (:WRAPX) :

The major averages ended their midweek session sharply lower with the tech-heavy Nasdaq (-3.4%) trailing the S&P 500 (-2.5%). Equity indices surrendered their opening gains amid continued growth concerns that also pressured crude oil from its overnight high. Including today's tumble, the benchmark index has surrendered 7.5% since the beginning of 2016 while the Nasdaq has slid 9.6%. 

Overnight, oil advanced from yesterday's low with better than expected December trade data from China contributing to the advance. China's trade report showed a surplus of $60.1 billion versus the expected $51.3 billion. Despite the beat, this represented the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year declines in exports. While this was not good enough to boost China's Shanghai Composite (-2.4%), it was sufficient in helping the battered commodity rally. 

At the beginning of our trading day, oil was up more than 3.0%, contributing to early strength in equities. The energy-component would lose momentum shortly after the open once the weekly EIA gasoline inventories showed a build of 8.438 million barrels. WTI crude showed a loss of 1.1% before ending its pit session unchanged at $30.43/bbl. On a related note, crude inventories rose 0.243 million barrels compared to an expected increase of 2.504 million barrels. 

Another reminder of the persistent growth concerns came from rail company CSX (CSX 22.35, -1.35), which issued lower 2016 guidance when it reported Q4 earnings after yesterday's close. The company cited global and industrial slow down trends that would affect their core business, leading to an expected decline in year-over-year earnings. The transports reeled from this guidance, evidenced by the 3.7% decline in the Dow Jones Transportation Average which is now down 10.5% on the year. Fellow rail company Norfolk Southern (NSC 71.44, -4.49) suffered a 5.9% decline while Avis (CAR 27.19, -2.11) posted the worst loss in the index, falling 7.2%. 

Sectors like, consumer discretionary (-3.4%), health care (-2.9%), technology (-2.8%), financials (-2.6%), and industrials (-2.3%) paced the retreat while utilities (UNCHF), telecom services (-1.1%), consumer staples (-1.7%), and energy (-1.8%) outperformed. 

Once again, today's retreat saw the biggest losses among names that enjoyed strength in 2015. To that point, discretionary component Netflix (NFLX 106.56, -10.02) sank 8.6% following a report from ITG Research which revised revenue estimates for the company, citing domestic subscriber weakness. Elsewhere in the space, Amazon (AMZN 581.81, -36.08) declined 5.8%. 

Switching to the technology space, large-cap constituents Facebook (FB 95.44, -3.93) and Alphabet (GOOGL 719.57, -25.77) showed relative weakness with respective declines of 4.0% and 3.5%. Fellow large-caps Microsoft (MSFT 51.64, -1.14) and Apple (AAPL 97.39, -2.57) fared better than the sector, but could not stay out of the red. Elsewhere in the space, the high-beta chipmakers underperformed, evidenced by the 3.1% decline in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.

Looking at the health care space, biotechnology showed relative weakness with a decline of 5.4% in the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 280.14, -16.06).

Treasuries ended their day near their highs with the yield on the 10-yr note lower by four basis points at 2.07%. 

Trading volume remained heavy with more than a billion shares changing hands at the NYSE floor once again. 

Today's economic data included the MBA Mortgage Index, the December Treasury Budget, and the Federal Reserve;s January Beige Book.

• The MBA Mortgage Index showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 21.3% in mortgage applications.
• The December Treasury Budget showed a deficit of $14.4 billion.
  • The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted, so the December deficit cannot be compared to the November deficit of $64.6 billion.
  • Total receipts in December were $349.6 billion while total outlays were $364.1 billion.
  • Receipts were $14.3 billion more than December 2014 receipts while total outlays were $30.6 billion more than December 2014.
  • The yearly deficit increased by $16.3 billion to $477.8 billion.

Tomorrow, weekly initial claims (Briefing.com consensus 275k) and December import/export prices will be released at 8:30 ET.

• Russell 2000 -11.1% YTD
• Nasdaq -9.6% YTD
• S&P 500 -7.5%
• Dow Jones -7.3% 

4:18 pm GoPro lowers Q4 guidance; will cut workforce by ~7%; SVP of Entertainment Zander Lurie resigns, takes Board seat -- shares halted, will resume trading at 16:40 (GPRO) :

• Co lowers Q4 rev to $435 mln from $500-550 mln vs. $507.8 mln consensus.
  • Q4 revenue reflects lower than anticipated sales of its capture devices due to slower than expected sell through at retailers, particularly in the first half of the quarter. Fourth quarter revenue includes a $21 million reduction for price protection related charges resulting from the HERO4 Session repricing in December.
• Lowers non-GAAP gross margin to 34.5% and 35.5% from 45.5-46.5%.
• Over the past two years, GoPro's headcount has grown by more than 50% annually, to more than 1,500 employees at the end of 2015. To better align resources to key growth initiatives, GoPro has implemented a reduction in its workforce of ~7 percent. The Company estimates it will incur ~$5-10 mln of restructuring expenses in Q1.
• Zander Lurie has resigned from his role as Senior Vice President of GoPro Entertainment and has been appointed to serve on GoPro's board of directors.
• GPRO supplier: Ambarella (AMBA).

4:10 pm Manning & Napier Advisors reports AUM as of Dec 31 of $35.4 bln (MN) :

• Co announces that preliminary December 31, 2015 assets under management were $35.4 bln, which included $20.7 bln in separately managed accounts and $14.7 bln in mutual funds and collective investment trusts.

4:09 pm Aqua America sees FY16 EPS below consensus (WTR) :

• Co issues downside guidance for FY16 (Dec), sees EPS of $1.30-1.35 vs. $1.36 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; total customer base growth of 1.5-2.0%; Same-system operations and maintenance expenses increase of 1-2%; More than $350 mln in capital investments in 2016; more than $1.1 bln planned through 2018.

4:08 pm Antero Midstream Partners reports Q4 operations update; increases quarterly distribution to $0.22/unit from $0.205/unit (AM) :

• Low pressure gathering volumes Q4 averaged 1,124 MMcf/d, +52% y/y and an 8% q/q. Q4 high pressure gathering volumes averaged 1,195 MMcf/d, +32% y/y and a -2% q/q.
• Freshwater delivery volumes averaged 119,671 Bbl/d during the quarter, a 36% decrease y/y and 78% increase q/q. The year-over-year decrease in volumes was driven by the reduction in overall completion activities by Antero Resources including the deferral of 50 Marcellus completions on wells drilled during 2015.
• In conjunction with Antero Midstream's operations update, Antero Resources (AR) released Q4 operating results.

4:08 pm Antero Resources average net daily gas equivalent production was 1,497 MMcfe/d, an 18% increase over the prior year quarter and a 1% decrease sequentially (AR) :

• Average net daily liquids production (C3+ NGLs, ethane and oil) was 54,757 Bbl/d, an 80% increase over the prior year quarter and a 5% increase sequentially
• Antero's net daily production for Q4 of 2015 averaged 1,497 MMcfe/d, including 1,168 MMcf/d (78%) of natural gas, 49,006 Bbl/d (20%) of natural gas liquids ("NGLs"), including 2,179 Bbl/d of ethane, and 5,751 Bbl/d (2%) of oil
• In anticipation of the start-up of Mariner East II and Antero's corresponding ethane sales agreement with Borealis upon the Mariner East II in-service date, MarkWest installed a de-ethanizer at the Sherwood Complex in Doddridge County, West Virginia
• The de-ethanizer was commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2015 and Antero recovered ~10,000 Bbl/d of gross ethane for the month of December 2015
• The co plans to continue to recover ~10,000 Bbl/d of ethane during 2016. Once Mariner East II is placed in service, Antero intends to recover 11,500 Bbl/d of ethane to fulfill the Borealis contract at an expected premium price to Nymex natural gas.

4:07 pm Cepheid enters collaboration with AstraZeneca's (AZN) MedImmune and COMBACT (CPHD) :

The co announced a collaboration with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca (AZN), and COMBACTE, a European public/private partnership set up to promote the development of new drugs in the anti-infectives field, to develop a series of rapid diagnostic tests to identify Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) in respiratory secretions of mechanically ventilated patients. These tests will be used to help identify patients for MedImmune's MEDI4893 and MEDI3902 clinical programs, which are being conducted within the COMBACTE consortium to explore the use of biologics in preventing ventilator associated pneumonia (:VAP) infections in intensive-care-unit (:ICU) patients.

• As part of the collaboration, Cepheid has adapted its existing Xpert MRSA/SA skin and soft tissue infection (:SSTI) test cartridge for use in respiratory sample types for detection of patients with respiratory colonization with S. aureus and MRSA. This test is being used in ongoing clinical trials for MEDI4893. In addition, Cepheid has developed a new Xpert test cartridge to support the rapid identification of patients colonized with P. aeruginosa for patient enrollment in clinical trials for MEDI3902 starting early in 2016.

4:06 pm II-VI expands its 980 nm pump laser assembly lines with new facility and additional capacity in China (IIVI) :

• Expansion comes from a new facility in Calamba, Philippines and additional manufacturing capacity in Shenzhen, China.
• The manufacturing capacity increase in the Philippines and in China will begin contributing to II-VI's 980 nm pump laser production output this quarter and will be fully operational next quarter.

4:05 pm Jetblue Airways reports December prelim traffic, RPMs of 3.799 bln, increase of 11.3% y/y (JBLU) :

• RPMs of 3.8 bln, showing 11.3% increases Y/Y
• ASMs of 4.6 bln, showing 9.5% increases Y/Y
• Load Factor of 83%, 1.4% increase

4:05 pm Performance Sports has acquired the Easton Hockey business from Easton Hockey Holdings, Inc. (PSG) : Co announces that it has acquired the Easton Hockey business from Easton Hockey Holdings. The acquisition adds Easton Hockey to the co's existing Bauer Hockey business, including intellectual property assets that will add to the company's product lines under the EASTON and BAUER brands. In addition, the acquisition will provide the co with exclusive control of the EASTON brand in all sports other than cycling and archery.

3:53 pm AK Steel will increase current spot market base prices for all carbon flat-rolled steel products by $30 per ton, effective immediately with new orders (AKS) :  

3:30 pm Stock indices modestly extend push off lows new multi-month lows -- Dow -280, S&P -37, Nasdaq Comp -123 (:TECHX) : The Dow bounced as much as 125 points off its low.

3:01 pm Aeterna Zentaris recaps comments from JPMorgan conference; updated Zoptrex progress (AEZS) :

• Co provided an update regarding its progress with Zoptrex, noting that it recently received DSMB recommendation to continue the ZoptEC Phase 3 clinical program to completion following review of the final interim efficacy and safety data and that the compound met its Phase 2 Primary Endpoint in men with heavily pretreated castration- and Taxane-resistant prostate cancer in an investigator-sponsored study.
• Commenting on the development status of Zoptrex, Dr. Sachse stated, "ZoptEC is a fully enrolled Phase 3 study, which we expect to conclude in the second half of 2016. We believe that we are, therefore, a good bit ahead of many of the immune-oncology products that are in development. I would add that Zoptrex is a targeted cytotoxic therapy using a peptide as the targeting agent."

2:59 pm Earnings Calendar (:SUMRX) :

Today after the close look for the following companies to report:

• FUL, CLC, PSG

Tomorrow before the open look for the following companies to report:

• TSM, INFY, JPM, SJR, FRC, WNS

2:58 pm Energy Closing Prices (:COMDX) :

• FebruaryCrude Oil futures fell $0.01 (-0.03%)to $30.43/barrel
• FebruaryNatural Gas closed $0.01 higher(0.44%) at $2.27/MMBtu
• FebruaryRBOB Gasoline closed $0.03 lowerat $1.05/gallon
• FebruaryHeating oil futures closed $0.02 lowerat $0.9657/gallon

2:55 pm Agriculture Closing Prices (:COMDX) :

• Marchcorn closed $0.02 higher at $3.58/bushel
• Marchwheat closed $0.02 lower at $4.78/bushel
• Januarysoybeans closed $0.04 higherat $8.79/bushel
• Marchsugar closed $0.06 lowerat 14.05

2:37 pm Afternoon extension accelerated after Dow -342 joined the S&P -46 and Nasdaq Comp -150 at new weekly lows (:TECHX) : A support for the S&P has been probed in the 1890/1888 zone (session low 1890).

2:31 pm Dow -273 joins S&P -37 and Nasdaq Comp -129 below early week troughs (:TECHX) :  

2:20 pm Notable movers of interest (SCANX) :

The following are some of today's most notable movers of interest, categorized by market capitalization (large cap over $10 billion and mid cap between $2-10 billion) and ranked by % change (all stocks over 100K average daily volume).

Large Cap Gainers

• AEG (5.81 +7.3%): Provided a strategy update and its 2018 financial targets, launched EUR 400 mln buyback.
• CMG (428.65 +6.03%): Defended by various analysts ahead of today's presentation at the ICR conference.
• MET (43.27 +3.05%): Announced plans to pursue a separation of its US Retail business through either a spin-off, sale, or public offering

Large Cap Losers

• TSO (92.83 -11.29%): Refiners under notable pressure as the spread between Brent and WTI is eliminated with both currently trading at $30.25/bbl (VLO, MPC also lower).
• CSX (22.18 -6.41%): Beat Q4 consensus estimates by $0.02, missed on revs; sees FY16 down YoY, below consensus; expects volume declines in Q1 and FY16, and cautioned of uncertainty for the industrial economy, saying the first half of the year will be weak
• NFLX (108.19 -7.2%): ITG out cautious on Netflix this morning, citing concerns over domestic slow down in Q4.

Mid Cap Gainers

• QUNR (40.39 +5.84%): Ctrip.com (CTRP) announced it has agreed to make certain investments in several non-U.S. investment entities, confirming that its investment entities will acquire a significant minority stake of Qunar; Was upgraded at Credit Agricole.
• SJR (17.4 +5.71%): Agreed to sell its Shaw Media to Corus Entertainment for $2.65 bln.
• ATML (7.96 +3.65%): Announced that its Board has determined that Microchip's (MCHP) unsolicited $8.15/share proposal constitutes a "company superior proposal".

Mid Cap Losers

• NGLS (11.17 -17.01%): Downgraded to Accumulate from Buy at Seaport Global Securities.
• PAGP (7.32 -12.54%): Downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan, downgraded to Hold at Stifel.
• ACAD (23.9 -11.62%): Continued weakness from last week's equity offering as biotech underperforms.

2:19 pm S&P -36 and Dow -268 drift back near early week lows (:TECHX) : The small-/mid-cap indices and the Nasdaq 100/Comp have already set new lows for the week.

1:44 pm Apogee Enterpr raises quarterly cash dividend to $0.125/share, up from $0.11/share prior qtr; increases existing share repurchase authorization by 1 mln shares bringing total to ~1.4 mln shares (APOG) :  

1:34 pm Metals Closing Prices (:COMDX) :

• Februarygold ended today's session up $1.90 to $1087.1/oz
• Marchsilver closed today's session $0.39 higher(2.83%)at $14.15/oz
• Marchcopper closed $- higher(0.15%)at$1.96/oz

1:25 pm Amazon slides to a fresh low on the week as it probes the $600-level (AMZN) : Note the late-October bullish gap zone is in play along 595/596.

1:18 pm Natural Health Trends resumes trading; now up ~16% (NHTC) :  

1:13 pm Pfizer and California Institute for Biomedical Research to develop novel antibody-based therapeutic agents for the treatment of heart failure (PFE) :

Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer has the option to obtain an exclusive license to certain antibody-based therapeutic agents following Phase 1 clinical studies to be performed by Calibr on one such agent.

• The studies will include evaluation of safety and pharmacodynamics in healthy volunteers and patients with heart failure.
• If the option is exercised, Pfizer would be responsible for further development and commercialization of such potential products.
• In addition, the agreement grants Pfizer a right of first negotiation for additional therapeutic agents in development based on innovative platform technologies from Calibr.

1:13 pm Cadence Design and Arrow Electronics (ARW) announce collaboration (CDNS) :

Collaboration will bring integrated design tools to engineers, helping them accelerate the pace of new product development and get products to market faster and cheaper.

As part of the collaboration, the companies plan to allow engineers using the Cadence OrCAD suite of printed circuit board (:PCB) design tools to access Arrow's comprehensive online component and reference design data available through SiliconExpert.

1:11 pm Midday Market Summary: Oil and Growth Concerns Weigh on the Market (:WRAPX) :

At midday, the major indices trade near their recently established lows with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 1.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.9%) and S&P 500 (-1.0%) outperform slightly. The stock market began its day on an upbeat note following an overnight rally in oil, but has since retreated into negative territory. The rally attempt was abandoned after concerns regarding oil and global growth reemerged, weighing on the major indices. 

Overnight, WTI crude was able to advance as it was spurred on by better than expected trade data out of China. December's Trade Data showed a surplus of $60.1 billion versus the expected $51.3 billion. While this beat expectations, it still represented the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year declines in exports. Nevertheless, this was good enough for oil which extended its rally. At the start of the U.S. session, WTI crude was up more than 3.0% before it started to slide. Once the EIA weekly gasoline inventories showed a build of 8.438 million barrels, oil plummeted to its lowest point of the day. Currently, WTI crude trades higher by 0.4% after bouncing off its low.

The recent growth worries have been echoed by yesterday's quarterly results from CSX (CSX 22.20, -1.50). The rail company issued lower 2016 guidance, citing negative global and industrial trends that would affect their core railroad business. The transports have been hit the hardest by this news, evidenced by the 2.8% decline in the Dow Jones Transportation Average. Fellow railroad stocks Union Pacific (UNP 74.06, -2.21) and Norfolk Southern (NSC 71.30, -4.63) have also declined under this pressure with losses of 2.9% and 6.1%, respectively.

Rounding out the leaderboard, consumer discretionary (-1.6%), industrials (-1.2%), financials (-1.2%), health care (-1.1%), and materials (-1.0%) trail while utilities (+0.5%), telecom services (-0.2%), and consumer staples (-0.6%) lead.  

The consumer discretionary space has paced today's retreat. Group constituent, Netflix (NFLX 109.69, -6.90) has shown relative weakness following revised revenue expectation from ITG Research which cited lower domestic subscriber estimates. Elsewhere in the sector, large-cap Amazon (AMZN 600.89, -17.00) has declined 2.8%.

In the heavily-weighted technology space, sector large-caps Alphabet (GOOGL 734.44, -10.90) and Facebook (FB 98.12, -1.25) have paced the retreat in the broader sector with respective declines of 1.5% and 1.2%. Elsewhere in the space, fellow large-cap Microsoft (MSFT 52.78, +0.00) shows relative strength following an upgrade at Morgan Stanley while Apple (AAPL 99.95, -0.02) recently lost $100 price level.

Switching to Treasuries, the benchmark note has climbed into the green as the market turned lower. The 10-yr note sits just below its high with its yield down one basis point at 2.09%. 

Today's economic data included the MBA Mortgage Index, which showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 21.3% in mortgage applications. Later today, the Federal Reserve's January Beige Book and the December Treasury Budget will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.

1:09 pm Natural Health Trends announces it strongly refutes false allegations made against it by U.S. and Chinese parties; increases stock repurchase program from $15 million to $70 million (NHTC) :

• The Company believes that some Chinese accusers, working in tandem with parties making online posts, have been aggressively pressing the Beijing City government to conduct an investigation of Natural Health Trends. The Company's staff attorney and branch manager participated in a meeting with the Beijing Chaoyang District SAIC and the Public Security Bureau at Natural Health Trends' Beijing office on January 11, 2016. Two accusers were present, though they declined to exchange business cards with the Company's employees. The outcome of this meeting, which has been grossly mischaracterized in an online posting as a government "raid," was that the government authorities advised the Company and the accusers that there was insufficient evidence to warrant an investigation of Natural Health Trends. No office computers or other Company property has been removed from Natural Health Trends' offices by Chinese governmental authorities. In a separate event, on January 13, 2016, several public security officials of various districts in the Guangzhou city visited the Company's Guangzhou office as part of a routine examination. This is the office that is currently applying for a direct selling license.
  
• the Company's Board of Directors has authorized an increase in its previously announced stock repurchase program from $15 mln to $70 mln, $10 mln of which has already been completed

1:00 pm General Electric confirms it will move its headquarters to Boston (GE) :

There is no material financial impact to GE related to the cost of the move. Working with GE, Massachusetts and the City of Boston structured a package of incentives that provides benefits to the State and City, while also helping offset the costs of the relocation to GE. GE will sell its offices in Fairfield and at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City to further offset the cost of the move.

• The content of GE's headquarters will also change, with more emphasis on innovation. In Boston, GE will have roughly 800 people; 200 from corporate staff and 600 digital industrial product managers, designers and developers split between GE Digital, Current, robotics and Life Sciences. A GE Digital Foundry will be created for co-creation, incubation and product development with customers, startups and partners.
• A full move is expected to be completed in several steps by 2018.

12:51 pm Stock indices continue to grind to new lows -- S&P -18, Dow -144, Nasdaq Comp -65 (:TECHX) : For the fourth session in a row the S&P opened firmer but has been grinding lower. Intraday unless it can work back through an initial level at 1930/1931 it will remain vulnerable with the next short term level of note at 1914/1913.

12:44 pm Craft Brew Alliance and Ambev (ABEV) partner to bring Kona Brewing Co. to Brazil (BREW) :  

12:41 pm Nanometrics repeats Q4 guidance in slide presentation (NANO) :

• Co reaffirms guidance for Q4 (Dec), sees EPS of ($0.10) - $0.00 vs. ($0.05) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 (Dec) revs of $39-43 mln vs. $40.98 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.  Slide Presentation

12:30 pm Campbell Soup a notable stand-out this week as price lifts +7% towards fresh multi-year highs along $55-level (CPB) :  

12:30 pm Relative sector weakness (:TECHX) : Sectors that have underperformed in recent trade include: Rail, Airline JETS, Transports IYT (Dow Transports has set a new 52-wk low in 7 out of the last 8 days), Housing XHB, Biotech IBB, Industrial XLI, Casino BJK, Telecom IYZ.

12:21 pm Eaton Vance affirms $0.265/share quarterly dividend, announces Board authorization of an 8 mln share repurchase program (EV) : Today's authorization replaces the April 15, 2015 authorization under which the Company repurchased 7.0 million shares.

12:18 pm First Midwest Banc receives approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire NI Bancshares, deal expected to close this quarter (FMBI) :  

12:05 pm Currency Commentary: DXY Holding 99 (:SUMRX) :

• The Dollar Index is testing 99 for support after breaking above the level in early trade. The DXY has been holding steady since the December rate hike. The DXY has worked its way off the 97 level and continues to edge toward a test of the 100 psyche level. It has been relatively quiet on the macro front but we will get the latest Fed Beige Book notes this afternoon. This will give us some insight into the Fed's outlook on the economy ahead of the January meeting. Currently expectations are for the Fed to hold steady at the meeting and it is unlikely comments from the tan report will change that outlook.
• The euro held 1.08 support in early trade and rallied toward a test of 1.09 before eventually rolling over. Economic data from the region was weak this morning as the Industrial Production number fell 0.7% from the prior month compared to expectations for a 0.3% fall.
• The pound is showing some signs of stabilizing following a 4% decline over the past four weeks. The move comes ahead of tomorrow's Bank of England meeting. The meeting itself is not expected to provide any drastic change to the direction of the central bank. The move today suggest some short covering though ahead of potential headline risk.
• The yen was giving up some of its recent gains as there were signs of a bounce in risk assets. 118 will remain a key level for investors to watch as a potential read on risk assets.
• The Chinese yuan is  holding steady at 6.57 today. China saw some positive economic news as the Trade surplus came in higher than expected. Exports were up in yuan terms. Imports declined for the 14 straight month but there was an uptick in commodity demand. There is some comments that the uptick could have been due to front end loaded orders ahead of the Chinese New Year. Still the news was greeted as a positive as the big surplus may point to less of a devaluation risk by the government (BONDX, FOREX). 

12:02 pm Chubb: ACE (ACE) has received all regulatory approvals needed for closing its acquisition of Chubb; expected to close on January 14 (CB) : ACE will adopt the Chubb name upon closing and the company's stock will begin trading on the NYSE under the symbol CB on the first trading day following the closing

12:02 pm GlobalStar names David Kagan as President and Chief Operating Officer (GSAT) : Prior to joining Globalstar, Kagan was President of ITC Global, a global VSAT satellite services provider.

11:58 am European Markets Closing Prices (:SUMRX) : European markets are now closed; stock markets across Europe performed as follows:

• UK's FTSE:+0.5%
• Germany's DAX:-0.3%
• France's CAC:+0.3%
• Spain's IBEX:+0.2%
• Portugal's PSI:+0.2%
• Italy's MIB Index:+0.9%
• Irish Ovrl Index:-0.3%
• Greece ASE General Index: -0.8%

11:53 am Major averages edge to new session lows -- S&P -8, Dow -79, Nasdaq Comp -37 (:TECHX) : Note at 11:05 that the S&P needed to 1940 on a sustained basis or it would remain vulnerable intraday. It hit 1940.75 at 11:21 and has slipped back to a new session low in recent action (1929.73). Intraday support is at 1925/1923. On the upside initially now watching 1934.

11:52 am Tenneco: Notes from Co's presentation at Deutsche Bank 2016 Global Auto Industry Conference (TEN) :

Co restates expectations of total rev growth of 5%; outpacing industry by 2 percentage points. Key drivers include:

• Increasing regulation of criteria pollutant emissions.
• Increasing demand for advanced ride performance technology.
• Increasing demand for aftermarket products, especially in growing markets, such as China.

Co restates expectations of total revenue growth of 6-8% in 2017 and 7-9% in 2018, outpacing industry by 3-5 percentage points. They expect the pick-up in growth to be primarily driven by the amount of regulation increasing.

11:43 am AbbVie at JPM Conf. reaffirms double-digit adj EPS growth on average through 2020 (ABBV) :

2016 data readouts:

• Imbruvica: Potential for data in MCL, DLBCL, FL and MZL; timing dependent on event driven studies
• Venetoclax: Phase 2 data in iNHL and DLBCL
• Elagolix: Reporting top-line results from second P3 trial in endometriosis 1Q16
• ABT-414: Data from expansion arm of secondline GBM study
• Duvelisib: NHL data (:DYNAMO) & CLL data (:DUO)
• Next-Gen HCV: Begin to see Phase 3 data 2H16
• ALX-0061: Phase 2B data in RA in 2H16
• ABT-122: Mid-stage results in RA and PsA

11:15 am LendingTree (-18%) reverses and falls to seven month low after raising guidance last night (TREE) :  

11:05 am Limited slip for stock indices -- S&P -4, Dow -38, Nasdaq Comp -24 (:TECHX) : Like the previous three sessions the S&P opened firmer but failed to build on the move and drifted back into the red. It cut the bounce off yesterday's low to the opening high in half near 1932 and stabilized but unless it sustains a push back through 1940 it will remain vulnerable intraday (currently at 1934). Initial support below is at 1925/1923.

10:50 am Restaurant sector continues to display relative strength (:TECHX) : Noted at 10:24 that CMG was probing the high of yesterday's two year low bar at 420.79. It broke above with it reaching as high as 429.51 in recent action. PNRA is holding up relatively well over the last week as it remained above its 50 day sma. Thus far today it has been working up toward the upper end of its six day trade range at 191.60/191.95 (session high 191.55).

10:31 am Relative sector weakness (:TECHX) : Relative weakness in recent trade in Crude Oil USO, Oil Service OIH, Energy XLE, Bank KBE, Reg Bank KBE, Retail XRT, Rail, Coal KOL.

10:26 am Ford Motor: F now -2.89% quite weak this morning as price slips to new multi-month lows now seen @ 12.38 (F) :  

10:21 am Sector Summary: Industrials reverse opening gains after being pulled down by transportation stocks; CSX has cautious 2016 outlook (:SUMRX) :

Industrials are down slightly this morning (XLI -0.1%) as they are being pulled down by transportation stocks (IYT -0.9%). The broader market is also down 0.1% (SPY).

Earnings

CSX (CSX -4.8%) is trading at a 2.5 year low following Q4 results. The company beat Q4 EPS after lowering expectations at an industry conference last month. The company guided earnings lower in 2016 vs. flat consensus.

• CSX guided for volume declines in Q1 and FY16 after falling 2% in 2015; co sees a freight recession outside of the auto and housing submarkets.
• CSX is hopeful for an industrial recovery in 2H16.
• CEO Ward's view on M&A has not changed despite the challenging market; he reiterated that regulatory concerns outweigh the potential benefits.

News

• KBR (KBR +2.3%) acquired Chematur Engineering subsidiaries Ecoplanning, Plinke and Weatherly for $24.5 mln. Weatherly has 80 nitric acid plants worldwide and 30% market share of installed plants.
• Norfolk Southern (NSC -1.6) is consolidating its Virginia and Pocahontas divisions to form the new Pocahontas Division. This move is part of the Co's initiative to increase efficiency.
• FTI Consulting (FCN -0.5) CFO David M. Johnson will leave the Company on Feb 29; accepted a position as CFO of the International Rescue Committee, a non-governmental org that responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises.
• CBIZ (CBZ -0.5%) has sold its Wichita, Kansas financial services office to Swindoll, Janzen, Hawk & Loyd for an undisclosed sum.
• Star Bulk Carriers (SBLK +3.0%) provides insight on cash and debt in slides released on their site. Co has cash of $222 mln. Co has $897.3 mln in total debt and capital lease obligations.
• Energy Recovery (ERII +1.1%) announces $6 mln share repurchase program.
• Interface (TILE +0.9%) appoints Jay Gould as president and CEO.

Broker Calls

• Tyco (TYC +0.5%) upgraded to Neutral, Dover (DOV +0.9%) downgraded to Sell at UBS.
• American Superconductor (AMSC +4.5%) initiated with a Buy at Rodman & Renshaw. Target set at $10 as they see the grid business driven by increased market adoption of co's D-VAR, REG, and SPS offerings.
• Norfolk Southern (NSC -1.9%) added to Short-Term Buy List at Deutsche Bank.
• Middleby (MIDD +1.0%) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Macquarie.
• Illinois Tool (ITW +1.0%) resumed with a Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Rockwell Automation (ROK +0.7%) removed from Key Call List at UBS.
• Roadrunner Transportation (RRTS -7.2%) and Landstar System (LSTR -3.5%) both downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.
• Knight Transportation (KNX -2.6%) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.
• Canadian Natl Rail (CNI -0.7%) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity.
• TrueBlue (TBI -3.6%) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill.

10:20 am Stock indices unable to build on opening upticks and slip back into the red -- S&P -0.1, Dow -2, Nasdaq Comp -11 (:TECHX) : The S&P again tested first level resistance from The Technical Take in the 1948/1950 area (session high 1950) and paused.

10:19 am Church & Dwight -4% on a downgrade at Goldman has the stock approaching the $80-mark in early trade. (CHD) :  

10:14 am Amazon displays relative weakness -2.8% as it slumps towards its 4-day range lows back near the $600-level (AMZN) :  

10:07 am Microsoft gaps higher after upgrade thus far stalls shy of 20 ema and 50 sma at 54.19/54.47 -- session high 54.07 (MSFT) :  

10:05 am Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners has committed to acquire 58% of the outstanding common shares of Isagen S.A. from the Colombian government; ~ $2.2 bln (BEP) :

• Acquisition has expected closing date of January 26, 2016. 
• Brookfield Renewable will fund acquisition with $1.2 bln of available liquidity.
• Isagen is the third- largest power generation co in Colombia with an installed capacity of 3,032 MW.

10:03 am Coca-Cola announces multi-year partnership with Jordan Spieth (KO) :  

10:02 am Wi-LAN subsidiary enters into a license agreement with FEI Company (FEIC) for technology that provides image processing capabilities; terms not disclosed (WILN) :  

9:55 am The Eastern Company unanimously votes to declassify the Board and elect Directors by a majority vote (EML) : The declassification of the Board of Directors and the election of directors by a majority of the votes cast will become effective only upon the approval of the shareholders

9:55 am Netflix: NFLX now -4% drops to new session lows in recent trade, a notable under-performer following some negative broker comments (NFLX) :

• See 9:30 am ET NFLX

9:45 am Ligand Pharma enters into a worldwide license agreement with Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) that focuses on emerging health threats, as well as oncology, transplantation, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders (LGND) :

• Under the license, Emergent will use the OmniRat, OmniMouse and OmniFlic technologies to discover fully human mono- and bispecific antibodies.
• LGND will be eligible to receive annual access payments, fees on patent filings, potential milestone payments and royalties on future net sales of any antibodies discovered under the license.

9:45 am Relative sector strength (:TECHX) : Sectors that have provided underlying strength in early trade include: Solar TAN, Crude Oil USO, Steel SLX, Oil Service OIH, Home Const ITB, Paper, Energy XLE, Casino BJK (CZR, WYNN, MPEL, MGM, PENN, LVS), Silver SLV, Gold Miners GDX.

9:45 am Opening Market Summary: Major Indices Open Higher (:WRAPX) :

The major indices have opened their day in the green with the S&P 500 (+0.5%) pacing the tech-heavy Nasdaq (+0.5%).

On the leaderboard, commodity-sensitive energy (+1.7%) and materials (+0.8%) are out in front with technology (+0.7%), telecom services (+0.7%), and financials (+0.6%) following. On the flipside, consumer staples (-0.2%), consumer discretionary (UNCHF), and health care (+0.5%) round out the board. 

In the heavily-weighted technology sector, Microsoft (MSFT 53.87, +1.09) outperforms with an advance of 2.1% after receiving an upgrade at Morgan Stanley from 'Equal-Weight' to 'Overweight', citing an increasing and strong position in cloud market.

Switching to commodities, WTI crude has continued to rally into the open with oil higher by 3.9% at $31.60/bbl. 

Looking at Treasuries, the benchmark note trades lower with the yield on the 10-yr note higher by two basis points at 2.13%. 

9:41 am Firmer start for the stock indices once again -- S&P +10, Dow +69, Nasdaq Comp +25 (:TECHX) : The market pushed firmly high during early trade the previous three sessions but each paused within the first half hour. The S&P is currently flirting with first level resistance at 1948/1950 with a minor level above near 1962. An ability to build on the opening upswing would be a reflection of improved underlying health of the move than the previous three days.

9:39 am Siemens AG announces the FDA 510(k) clearance of the Sysmex CS-5100 System (SIEGY) :  

9:29 am Thinly traded Lightbridge will host business update conference call on Thursday, January 14 at 4pm ET to discuss corporate progress and other meaningful developments (LTBR) :  

9:24 am RFMD chip stocks set to open lower after Qualcomm (QCOM) signs competitive JV with Japanese TDK Corp (SWKS) : RFMD stocks: QRVO -8%, SWKS -4%, AVGO -1%, NXPI -1%. These companies are in the AAPL supply chain.

9:23 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Farmland Partners (FPI) entered into two additional ground lease agreements for photovoltaic solar power generation facilities on two of its South Carolina farms. The Agreements offer the right to lease up to an aggregate of approximately 979 acres that may be converted, at the tenant's cost, from farming operations to energy generation. Rent payments under the Agreements will begin upon the onset of construction of the solar energy generation systems on the respective farms.
• Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS) announced that PNC Bank (PNC) will add its home equity loans and lines of credit portfolio to Black Knight's LoanSphere MSP system over the next year. PNC signed a seven-year contract extension for MSPto help manage the servicing of its mortgage loans, which involves loan boarding, payment processing, escrow administration, default management and more.
• Blue Earth (BBLU) announced the Lenape II Solar project, a 4.732 MWdc PV generating facility located in Indianapolis has achieved commercial operation
• COPsync (COYN) announced that it now provides law enforcement professionals on the COPsync Network with real-time access to more than $10 million of outstanding Texas Class C misdemeanor warrants.
• CareCredit, from Synchrony Financial (SYF), announced personal care credit card is now accepted for prescriptions and general merchandise purchases in all of Rite Aid's (RAD) stores in the US.
• Emerson (EMR) and Carbon Holdings announced that Emerson Process Management has been selected to provide automation and reliability technologies and services for Carbon Holdings' Tahrir Petrochemicals Project at Ain Sokhna, Egypt. Emerson's initial scope of work is estimated at $150 million.
• AerCap Holdings (AER) executed the first placement of ten Boeing (BA) 737 MAX 8 aircraft from its order book. Leased to Travel Service, the aircraft are part of AerCap's order of 100 737 MAXs placed in June 2015 with deliveries starting in 2019.

9:21 am Equity One: Intu Properties prices its secondary offering for gross proceeds of ~$293.2 mln (EQY) :  

9:20 am Atwood Oceanics sees Q1 above consensus (ATW) :

• Co issues upside guidance for Q1 (Dec), sees EPS of $1.05-1.20 vs. $0.94 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 (Dec) revs of $300-310 mln vs. $292.65 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Co is evaluating a potential impairment adjustment to the valuation of the Atwood Falcon and its associated inventory of materials and supplies as the rig approaches its scheduled contract end date. This impairment, if implemented, is estimated to be approximately $50 mln to $70 mln.

9:19 am Microchip confirms Atmel (ATML) determination of MCHP's proposal being superior; notes merger expected to be immediately accretive (MCHP) : If Microchip and Atmel execute a merger agreement on the terms proposed by Microchip, the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Microchip's non-GAAP earnings per share following the closing of such transaction.

9:18 am Diamondback Energy upsizes offering size from 2.25 mln shares to 4 mln shares and prices offering for ~$226 mln in gross proceeds (FANG) :  

9:17 am S&P futures vs fair value: +7.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +15.00. (:WRAPX) :

The stock market is on track for a modestly higher open as S&P 500 futures trade eight points above fair value. 

Overnight, China's Shanghai composite sunk 2.4% despite better than expected December Trade Data which showed a surplus of $60.1 billion versus the expected $51.3 billion. The strong trade data was reflected both in exports and imports as exports rose 2.3% (ex -4.1%) and imports declined 4.0% (ex -8.0%). Elsewhere in China, the People's Bank of China has kept the yuan pinned near its recent high.

Meanwhile on the corporate front, MetLife (MET 45.14, +3.15) announced that it plans to pursue a separation of a substantial portion of its U.S. Retail segment. The means by which MetLife plans to divest itself of this portion of their business is still being considered, but the company has not ruled out a spin-off, public offering, or sale of this segment. The company trades higher by 7.5% in light of this development. 

Looking at commodities, oil has slipped from its pre-market high but has notched a 2.2% advance ahead of today's session. WTI crude currently trades at $31.10/bbl.

In economic news, the MBA Mortgage Index was released at 7:00 ET which reported a seasonally adjusted increase of 21.3% in mortgage applications. Later today, the Federal Reserve's January Beige Book and the December Treasury Budget will cross the wires at 14:00 ET. 

Switching to Treasuries, the benchmark note trades has moved off of its low with its yield higher by one basis points at 2.12%. 

9:16 am Five Prime Therapeutics confirms that the FDA has granted Orphan Drug Designation for FPA008 for the treatment of Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis (FPRX) :  

9:05 am RCI Hospitality announced that a subsidiary acquired the land and building in Manhattan where Rick's Cabaret New York is located (RICK) : Total consideration was $10.0 mln; co had been paying $1.2 mln in rent annually. 

9:04 am BOK Financial guides Q4 EPS below consensus due to impairment on loan to energy producer (BOKF) :

Co sees Q4 EPS $0.87-0.91 vs $1.10 Capital IQ Consensus.

• Co announces Q4 provision for credit losses $22.5 mln vs. $3.5-8.5 mln guidance.
• "A single borrower reported steeper than expected production declines and higher lease operating expenses, leading to an impairment on the loan. In addition, as we noted at the start of the commodities downturn in late 2014, we expected credit migration in the energy portfolio throughout the cycle and an increased risk of loss if commodity prices did not recover to a normalized level within one year. As we are now into the second year of the downturn, during the fourth quarter we continued to see credit grade migration and increased impairment in our energy portfolio. The combination of factors necessitated a higher level of provision expense."
• "Aside from the increased loan loss provision, fourth quarter results were softer than expected, largely due to lower fee income and expenses that were slightly above our forecasted range.

9:02 am Knowles sees Q4 revenue of approx $310 mln, Capital IQ consensus $299 mln (KN) :

• Revenue for the fourth quarter is expected to be approximately $310 million (Prior guidance $290-310 mln).
• Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be between 32-34% (Prior 31-34%).
• Adjusted EBIT margin is expected to be approximately 8-9% (Prior 7-9%).

Co will announce Q4 results on February 11, 2016 immediately after market close followed by a conference call at 3:30 p.m. Central Time.

9:01 am Koppers Holdings announced that it plans to substantially discontinue activities at its tar plant located in Clairton, Pennsylvania; co expects this action to result in pre-tax charges to earnings of $17 to $23 mln through the end of 2019 (KOP) :

• includes $7-10 mln of non-cash impairment charges in Q4 2015
• closure driven by shift of aluminum production to lower-cost energy regions of the world, and overcapacity 
• plans to ramp down production at the Clairton facility over the next six months as it transitions production to other Koppers-owned facilities in the U.S./Europe
• targeted date of mid-2016 for discontinuing activities at Clairton plant
• pre-tax savings related to discontinuing activities are estimated to be ~ $4 mln for the year ended December 31, 2016, eventual $14 mln annual run rate in 2017
• Expects $14 mln in fixed-cost savings from closure
• $40 mln revenue impact due to demand reduction

8:57 am S&P futures vs fair value: +9.80. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +20.30. (:WRAPX) :

The S&P 500 futures trade ten points above fair value. 

Equity markets across Asia ended the midweek session on a mostly upbeat note, but China's Shanghai Composite (-2.4%) failed to join the rebound, ending the day on its session low. The retreat in China occurred despite the release of better than expected trade numbers that showed a smaller than expected decrease in both imports and exports. As for the People's Bank of China, the central bank essentially held the yuan fix unchanged for the fourth consecutive day. On a related note, the overnight Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate fell to 8.31% after hitting 66.82% on Tuesday.

• In economic data:
  • China's December trade surplus expanded to $60.09 billion from $54.10 billion (expected surplus of $53.00 billion) as Imports fell 7.6% year-over-year (consensus -11.5%; last -8.7%) and Exports declined 1.4% (expected -8.0%; prior -6.8%)
  • Japan's M2 Money Stock +3.0% year-over-year (consensus 3.4%; previous 3.3%)
  • South Korea's December Unemployment Rate held at 3.4%, as expected

---Equity Markets---

• Japan's Nikkei spiked 2.9%, returning to Monday's levels. Every sector ended the day firmly in the green with technology (+3.6%), industrials (+3.3%), and consumer discretionary (+3.2%) in the lead. Yahoo Japan, Unitika, Okuma, TDK, Bridgestone, and NEC surged between 5.1% and 6.5%. On the flip side, Aeon was the lone decliner, slipping 0.6%.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.1% thanks to relative strength in energy and financial names. CNOOC and Petrochina posted respective gains of 3.0% and 1.4% while Bank of East Asia, HSBC Holdings, and Ping An Insurance climbed between 1.1% and 1.8%.
• China's Shanghai Composite lost 2.4%, widening its year-to-date decline to 16.7%. China Shipbuilding, Pacific Securities, and Shanghai Material Trading surrendered between 3.3% and 10.0%.

Major European indices hold solid gains across the board, but they have backed away from their early highs. On a separate note, the Spanish Parliament has begun a new session even though there is still no consensus regarding who will lead the governing body. To that point, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hopes to garner enough support to form a government by the end of the month. Spain's IBEX has essentially been immune to the political uncertainty, trading in-line with other regional indices.

• Economic data was limited:
  • Eurozone November Industrial Production -0.7% month-over-month (expected -0.3%; previous 0.8%); +1.1% year-over-year (consensus 1.3%; last 2.0%)
  • France's December CPI +0.2% month-over-month (expected 0.1%; prior -0.2%) and November Current Account deficit widened to EUR1.40 billion from EUR1.00 billion

---Equity Markets---

• France's CAC trades up 1.4% with energy-related names in the lead while financials also display strength. Technip and Total are both up near 2.8% while AXA, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, and BNP Paribas show gains between 1.2% and 2.5%. On the downside, Publicis Groupe has surrendered 0.6%.
• UK's FTSE has climbed 1.2% thanks in part to a rebound in mining names. Anglo American and Antofagasta are both up near 3.0%. Select financials have also contributed to today's strength with Aviva, Aberdeen Asset Management, and Admiral Group rising between 0.5% and 1.6%.
• Germany's DAX has climbed 1.0% with utilities in the lead. E.On and RWE have surged 5.2% and 4.2%, respectively, while Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank show respective gains of 1.6% and 1.2%. On the downside, Adidas has given up 0.7%.

8:54 am Filings, Offerings and Pricings (:PRICE) :

Filings:

• BGC Partners (BGCP) files ~23.48 mln shares of Class A common stock to stockholders in connection with the acquisition of the remaining minority interest in GFI Group Inc (GFIG)

Offerings:

• Intu Properties commences a secondary offering where it will sell ~11.3 mln shares of Equity One (EQY) common stock
• Diamondback Energy (FANG) launches 2.25 mln share public offering of common stock

Pricings:

• Apricus Biosciences (APRI 0.88) prices a $10 mln registered direct offering through the sale of 11,363,640 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase up to 5,681,818  shares of common stock at an offering price of $0.88

8:48 am Bombardier Business Aircraft continues to restructure; announces termination of select sales representative and distribution agreements as well as restructuring customer commercial agreements (BDRBF) :

• Bombardier Business Aircraft continues to restructure and enhance its business model to improve long-term profitability. To that end, the business segment has completed initiatives to increase the number of direct-to-market channels, including termination of third-party sales representative and distribution agreements, as well as the restructuring of customer commercial agreements. As a result of these agreements, Bombardier will incur pre-tax special charges of $278 mln in the fourth quarter of 2015, of which approximately $145 mln is non-cash. Of the cash impact, ~$50 mln was disbursed in Q4 2015 and the balance will be paid in 2016.
• Bombardier Business Aircraft has also completed a restructuring of certain customer commercial agreements. These agreements resulted in the cancellation of 24 firm orders, which had an aggregate value of $1.75 bln at 2015 list prices, with an additional cancellation of 30 optional orders. Bombardier expects to sell these positions at improved margins.
• As a result of a change in Bombardier's strategic approach to aircraft sales, Bombardier and TAG Aeronautics have amicably elected to end their contractual agreements. This concludes nearly 40 years in which TAG Aeronautics served as Bombardier's exclusive sales representative and distributor for new Challenger and Global series aircraft in 21 Middle Eastern and North African countries. With this strategic shift, Bombardier will be positioned to assume all sales activities previously held by TAG Aeronautics.

8:33 am XTL Biopharma has reached agreement with CyDex Pharmaceuticals for the use and supply of Captisol in the formulation of its lead drug, hCDR1 (XTLB) :

Co reaches agreement with CyDex Pharma for the use and supply of Captisol in the formulation of its lead drug, hCDR1, for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (:SLE). Co believes this will advance much of the chemistry manufacturing and control activities required prior to IND approval.

"With our progress on the production of the drug product and an FDA response to our proposed study design expected in early 2016, we are positioning ourselves to initiate the trial in the second half of 2016. We believe that hCDR1 has the potential to be a 'first in class' and 'best in class' drug in an area with a significant unmet medical need. There is currently no effective solution for SLE in the market and the competitive pipeline is remarkably weak."

8:33 am Finjan announced that it closed 2015 having signed three licensees approaching $5 mln in revenue compared to $4.96 Capital IQ Consensus est (FNJN) :

• Importantly, licensing momentum accelerated in Q4 and allowed Finjan to enter 2016 with an additional $5 mln in licensing fees under contract to be received in 2016
• Financial Highlights Ended 2015 with ~$5 mln in licensing revenue and $6 mln in cash
• Closed Q4 of 2015 with nearly $4 mln in licensing revenue Entered 2016 with ~$5 mln in license fees under contract to be received in 2016

8:33 am Atmel Board determines Microchip (MCHP) $8.15/share proposal as 'superior' to existing merger agreement with Dialog Semiconductor (DLGNF) (ATML) :

• The binding Microchip agreement provides for Microchip's acquisition of all outstanding shares of Atmel common stock at a purchase price of $8.15 per share, consisting of $7.00 in cash and a fraction of a share of Microchip common stock having a value of $1.15, based on a ten-day average of the closing price of Microchip's common stock measured as of the day before the closing of the proposed transaction (with cash being substituted for Microchip common stock to the extent that the aggregate number of shares of Microchip stock issued in exchange for Atmel stock would exceed 13 mln shares).
• On January 12, 2016, Atmel notified Dialog that Atmel's Board intends to terminate the Dialog merger agreement and enter into a definitive merger agreement with Microchip in the binding form delivered to Atmel. Consistent with the Dialog merger agreement, Atmel's board will consider in good faith any changes to the Dialog mergeragreement or other arrangements that Dialog may offer in writing and would be legally binding upon Dialog by January 19, 2016.
• Microchip's offer will remain open and binding until 10:00 PM California time on Tuesday, January 19, 2016. If Atmel terminates the Dialog merger agreement, it will be required to pay a termination fee in the amount of $137,300,000 to Dialog. There can be no assurance that Atmel will terminate the Dialog merger agreement or enter into the Microchip merger agreement.

8:32 am Borg Warner sees FY16 $3.11-3.32 vs $3.41 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revs $8.89-9.28 bln vs. $9.25 bln consensus; sets 3 year gols (BWA) :

Three-Year Net New Business

• Expects net new business to drive a compound annual growth rate of 4-6% from 2015 through 2018:
• Asia, the Americas and Europe are expected to account for approximately 44%, 38% and 18% of the total over the three-year period, respectively.

Full Year 2016 Guidance

• Net sales growth of 13.2% to 18.3% compared with the midpoint of 2015 net sales guidance of $7,848 million (Approx $8.88-9.284 bln, Capital IQ consensus $7.85 bln, which may not be comparable).
• Foreign currencies are expected to lower sales by $177 million to $59 million, or -2.3% to -0.8% (Approx 
• The Remy acquisition is expected to increase sales by $1,020 million to $1,060 million, or 13.0% to 13.5%. Excluding the impact of weaker foreign currencies and the Remy acquisition, net sales growth is expected to be 2.5% to 5.5%.
• Net earnings of $3.11 to $3.32 per diluted share, Capital IQ consensus $2.98.

First Quarter 2016 Guidance

• Net sales growth of 8.3% to 13.3% compared with first quarter 2015 net sales of $1,984 million (Approx $2.14-2.24 bln, Capital IQ consensus $1.95 bln which may not be comparable)
• Foreign currencies are expected to lower sales by $76 million to $47 million, or -3.8% to -2.4%.
• The Remy acquisition is expected to increase sales by $247 million to $257 million, or 12.4% to 13.0%. Excluding the impact of weaker foreign currencies and the Remy acquisition, net sales growth is expected to be -0.3% to 2.7%.
• Net earnings of $0.75 to $0.79 per diluted share, Capital IQ consensus $0.72.

8:32 am Tenneco sees 2016 revenue growth of +5%, excluding currency impact, in-line with current consensus expectations (TEN) :

• Co sees 2016 revenue growth of +5%, excluding currency impact, in-line with current consensus expectations for 5% revenue growth; TEN expects to outgrow global industry production by 2 percentage points. The company's revenue growth estimate for 2016 assumes an overall 3% production increase in industries Tenneco serves globally.
• In 2017 and 2018, Tenneco expects revenue growth to accelerate and outpace industry production by 3 to 5 percentage points each year as new light vehicle emissions regulations begin to phase-in in North America and Europe. These estimates also exclude the impact of currency.

8:32 am Interface appoints Jay Gould as president and CEO (TILE) : Gould joined TILE as COO in Jan 2015. Before joining Interface, Gould was CEO of American Standard Brands.

8:31 am LaSalle Hotel sees Q4 RevPar below prior guidance (LHO) :

• Sees Q4 RevPar to be approx flat (Prior guidance was +1-3%);
• Sees Adjusted EBITDA in the range ogf $89-90 mln (Prior guidance $90.5-93.0 mln).

8:31 am Esperion Therapeutics announced the start of a global Phase 3 long-term safety and tolerability study of bempedoic acid in patients with hyperlipidemia (ESPR) : Co announces the start of a global Phase 3 long-term safety and tolerability study of bempedoic acid in patients with hyperlipidemia whose LDL-C is not adequately controlled with low- and moderate-dose statins.

• This study will enable the company to understand the 52 week safety profile of bempedoic acid, and top-line results are expected in 4Q17.
• The study is a Phase 3 randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating 180 mg of bempedoic acid versus placebo in 900 patients with hyperlipidemia at high cardiovascular disease risk and whose LDL-C is not adequately controlled with maximally tolerated lipid-modifying therapy.
• The study will enroll patients at approximately 125 sites in the U.S., Canada and the European Union. The primary objective is to assess safety and tolerability of patients treated with bempedoic acid for 52 weeks.
• Secondary objectives include assessing the effects of bempedoic acid on other lipid and cardiometabolic risk markers, including LDL-C and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.
  

8:31 am Capstone Turbine received order for two C1000 microturbines to provide clean power for offshore oil company operating in South China Sea; expected to be commissioned in mid-2016 (CPST) :  

8:30 am Intuitive Surgical guides Q4 rev above consensus; sees da vinci procedures up 9-12% in 2016 after growing 14% in 2015 (ISRG) :

Company expects revenue for Q4 of ~$677 mln vs. the $649.2 mln consensus, an increase of ~12% YoY.

• Preliminary fourth quarter 2015 instrument and accessory revenue increased ~16% to ~$326 million compared with $281 million for the fourth quarter of 2014. Preliminary fourth quarter 2015 da Vinci Surgical Systems revenue increased ~8% to ~$231 million from $214 million for the fourth quarter of 2014. Preliminary fourth quarter 2015 service revenue of $120 million increased ~9% compared with $110 million in the fourth quarter of 2014.
• da Vinci procedures increased ~15% YoY in Q4.

The Company expects total da Vinci procedures to grow ~9% to 12% in 2016.

8:29 am S&P futures vs fair value: +8.80. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +20.80. (:WRAPX) :

As pre-market trading continues, S&P futures currently trade nine points above fair value. 

In specific company news, LendingTree (TREE 90.50, +3.87) trades higher by 4.5% after the company raised its FY 2015 revenue guidance. The company also raised its guidance on Adjusted EBITDA to $38.8-$39.8 million from $38.3-38.8 million. On a related note, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index was released this morning, which showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 21.3% in mortgage applications. 

Switching to commodities, WTI crude has climbed overnight ahead of the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly report on oil supplied at 10:30 ET. Oil trades higher by 3.0% at $31.34/bbl.

Elsewhere in economic news, the Federal Reserve's January Beige Book and the December Treasury Budget will both be released at 14:00 ET

Treasuries trade near their lows with the yield on the benchmark note higher by three basis points at 2.13%. 

8:28 am Gapping down (SCANX) : Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: MFLX -16.8%, F -2.8%, (Ford Motor sees record 2015 adj. pre-tax profit at the high end of guidance, with 2016 adj. profit equal to or higher; announces $0.25 special dividend), TSCO -2.7%, CSX -1.9%, FANG -1.3%, STJ -0.4%


Other news: FXCM -14.5% (FXCM reports December and Q4 metrics; Says ongoing sales process may not be completed in Q1 as previously indicated), HQCL -2.4% (sells a portfolio of three operating PV power plants in the UK for ~$90 mln plus working capital to the NextEnergy Solar Fund), EQY -1.7% (commences a public offering where it will sell ~11.3 mln shares of co common stock ), FANG -0.9% (guides Q4 2015 production and FY16 production; announces 2.25 mln common stock offering)

Analyst comments: LYG -2.7% (downgraded to Underperform at Exane BNP Paribas), AXP -1.4% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman), CONN -1% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel)

8:27 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Cardiome Pharma (CRME) filed a Marketing Authorization Application with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's FDA seeking approval of intravenous vernakalant for the rapid conversion of recent onset atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm in adults with AF for up to 7 days and in patients who have had AF for up to 3 days following cardiac surgery. Co anticipates the authorization review to be completed in the second half of 2017.
  
• DICK'S Sporting Goods (DKS) and First Insight announced a multi-year partnership agreement. First Insight's solution enables DICK'S to consumer-test branded and private label products in multiple categories, including sports equipment, apparel, footwear and accessories.
• Organovo Holdings (ONVO) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Samsara Sciences, has launched commercial operations. Samsara is expected to serve as a key source of primary human liver cells for Organovo's needs in the preclinical safety and therapeutic tissues markets.
• Pitney Bowes (PBI) announced the first large-scale advertising initiative for the brand in more than 20 years. The multi-channel campaign includes :30 and :60-second TV spots, online video, digital marketing, branded content, social amplification and a web experience featuring technology solutions and Pitney Bowes clients.
• Masimo (MASI) announced that Watauga Medical Center in Boone is the first hospital in North Carolina to install Masimo Patient SafetyNet and Radius-7
• Intrexon (XON) will present an update on projected milestones for the Company and its health sector collaborators in 2016 at the JPM Healthcare Conference at 8:30 AM PT in San Francisco
• DelMar Pharma (DMPI) entered into a collaboration with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to accelerate the clinical development of DelMar's lead anti-cancer candidate, VAL-083, for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme. MD Anderson will initiate a new Phase II clinical study with VAL-083 in patients with GBM at first recurrence/progression, prior to Avastin exposure. DelMar also plans to continue ongoing pre-clinical research related to VAL-083's unique mechanism of action with researchers at MD Anderson.
• Chimera Investment (CIM) issued a statement regarding FHFA Final Rule Amending Regulation on Federal Home Loan Bank Membership, saying that the new rule is not unexpected and does not impact its current investment portfolio or its potential to create long-term shareholder value. The Company's captive insurance company was accepted as a member of the FHLB in September 2015 after the FHFA announced it was considering the new rule. The Company has managed its funding to take into account implementation of the rule. As of December 31, 2015, the Company had no outstanding advances or funding with the FHLB.

8:26 am Gapping up (SCANX) : Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: HLTH +32.1%, ARO +17.7%, (Aeropostale announces new cost reduction program; reiterates Q4 guidance for EPS of ($0.17)-(0.04) vs. ($0.12) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate), TREE +4.5%, ACST +4.5%, GM +4.4%, YUM +2.6%, ( discloses China December comps +1%), IRG +2%, (Ignite Restaurant announces Q4 prelim sales at $93.3 mln vs. $91.0 Capital IQ Consensus Est; Comparable Sales -2.9%), SYK +1.5%, PRGS +1.1%, SVU +1%, NEPT +0.8%

M&A news: CYBR +11.1% (Check Point Software (CHKP) in early-stage talks to acquire Cyber Ark, according to Haaretz),ORAN +0.9% (to acquire Airtel's subsidiaries in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone)

Select metals/mining stocks trading higher: HMY +5.2%, X +4.9%, VALE +3.8%, RIO +3.6%, FCX +2.9%, MT +2.3%, BHP +1.8%, AA +1.5%

Select oil/gas related names showing strength: ETE +3.8%, WLL +3.5%, BP +2.1%, OAS +2%, RDS.A +0.9%, XOM +0.7%, PBR +0.6%

Other news: TTNP +33.3% (Titan Pharma and Braeburn Pharmaceuticals receive FDA recommendation for Probuphine),BIOL +10.9% (enters into a development and distribution agreement with IPG Photonics Corporation's (IPGP) medical laser division),MET +8.4% (MetLife plans to pursue the separation such as public offering, spin-off, or sale of a substantial portion of its U.S. Retail segment ),QUNR +7.5% (Ctrip.com announced it has agreed to make certain investments; investment entities will acquire a significant minority stake of Qunar Cayman Islands),ARNA +5.7% (Arena Pharm and Boehringer Ingelheim to conduct joint research to identify drug candidates targeting an undisclosed G protein-coupled receptor),NAT +5.1% (increases quarterly dividend to $0.43/share from $0.38/share),EURN +4.5% (modestly rebounding after recent decline),FEYE +4.2% (in symp with CYBR),SALT +4% (reports Scorpio Services Holding has purchased 338,436 common shares at an average price of $4.64 per share previous announcement on Oct 1, 2015),ARTX +3.6% (announced that its Training and Simulation Division has received $7.4 mln in new awards and contract modifications),AIG +3.1% (in symp with MET),SHPG +2.1% (cont strength),DKS +1.9% (The UK's Sports Direct discloses stakes in Dick's and Iconix Brand Group (ICON)),ERII +1.7% (announces $6 mln share repurchase program)

Analyst comments: LNG +3.8% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup),PHM +2.2% (upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan),MSFT +1.8% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley),QCOM +1.5% (upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna)

8:25 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• IsoRay (ISR) announced a peer-reviewed publication of the results of a retrospective study on the cost effectiveness of Cesuim-131 in combination with surgical resection for metastatic brain tumors. Parts of the manuscript were presented at a meeting of the Society for Neuro-Oncology in 2012. "The cost-effectiveness of surgical resection and cesium-131 intraoperative brachytherapy versus surgical resection and stereotactic radiosurgery in the treatment of metastatic brain tumors " was published online on January 2, 2016, in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology. The study concluded that surgical resection plus Cesium-131 is a more cost effective alternative to surgical resection and stereotactic radiosurgery, with direct hospital costs of treatment of $19,271 for S + Cs-131 and $44,219 for S + SRS.
• Medtronic (MDT) announced U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance and U.S. launch of the OsteoCool RF Ablation System
• Foundation Medicine (FMI) announced a three-way collaboration with Horizon Healthcare Services and Clinical Outcomes Tracking and Analysis to make advancements to the healthcare system in the treatment of patients with metastatic, non-small cell lung cancer. The organizations initiated a prospective clinical study measuring changes in survival benefit and total cost savings achieved among patients with previously untreated metastatic NSCLC who undergo comprehensive genomic profiling with FoundationOne.
• GTx (GTXI) initiated Phase 2 clinical trial to treat postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence; anticipates having top-line results in 2016.
• Ionis Pharma (IONS) announced that GSK (GSK) has initiated a Phase 1 study of IONIS-HBV-LRx. Co earned a $1.5 mln milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline related to the initiation of this study. GSK plans to initiate a Phase 2 study on IONIS-HBVRx in patients with HBV infection and to complete the Phase 1 study on IONIS-HBV-LRx in 2016.

8:20 am Hillenbrand: Reaffirms 2016 guidance in presentation in 8-K; Sees 2016 revenue growth of 2-4% in constant currency; Adjusted EPS in the range of $2.10-2.25, Capital IQ consensus $2.14 (HI) :  

8:08 am Jones Energy commences exchange offer for any and all of their $250 mln outstanding principal amount of 9.25% Senior Notes due 2023 for an equal amount of new 9.25% Senior Notes due 2023 (JONE) :  

8:05 am Kite Pharma subsidiary has entered into a research and license agreement with Leiden University Medical Center to identify and develop TCR product candidates targeting solid tumors that are associated with the HPV type 16 infection (KITE) : Kite will receive an exclusive option to license multiple TCR gene sequences for the development and commercialization of product candidates.

8:04 am S&P futures vs fair value: +3.00. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +12.10. (:WRAPX) :

U.S. equity futures trade in the green, but they have slid from their overnight highs with the S&P 500 futures remaining three points above fair value.

In Treasuries, the benchmark note currently sits near its pre-market low with its yield higher by two basis points at 2.12%.

On the economic front, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index was reported at 7:00 ET, showing a seasonally adjusted increase of 21.3% in mortgage applications.

The Federal Reserve's January Beige Book and the December Treasury Budget will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.

In U.S. corporate news of note:

• General Electric (GE 28.72, +0.07): +0.2% after the company announced that it plans to cut 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years
• Yum! Brands (YUM 71.60, +2.03): +2.9% following a report by the company showing same-store sales growth of 2.0% in the China division
• LendingTree (TREE 90.50, +3.87): +4.5% after the company raised its FY 2015 revenue guidance from $244-247 million to $252.5-253.5 million
• Lloyd's Banking Group (LYG 3.97, -0.11): -2.7% in reaction to a downgrade from Exane BNP Paribas to 'Underperform' from 'Neutral'

Reviewing overnight developments:

• Asian markets ended on a mostly higher note. Japan's Nikkei +2.9%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng +1.1%, and China's Shanghai Composite -2.4%. 
  • In economic data:
    • China's December trade surplus expanded to $60.09 billion from $54.10 billion (expected surplus of $53.00 billion) as Imports fell 7.6% year-over-year (consensus -11.5%; last -8.7%) and Exports declined 1.4% (expected -8.0%; prior -6.8%)
    • Japan's M2 Money Stock +3.0% year-over-year (consensus 3.4%; previous 3.3%)
    • South Korea's December Unemployment Rate held at 3.4%, as expected
  • In news:
    • The People's Bank of China held the yuan relatively unchanged for the fourth consecutive day
    • Hong Kong's Interbank Offered Rate fell to 8.31% from 66.82% on Tuesday

• European indices sport solid gains with France's CAC +1.4%, the U.K.'s FTSE +1.0%, and Germany's DAX +0.9%. 
  • Economic data was limited:
    • Eurozone November Industrial Production -0.7% month-over-month (expected -0.3%; previous 0.8%); +1.1% year-over-year (consensus 1.3%; last 2.0%)
    • France's December CPI +0.2% month-over-month (expected 0.1%; prior -0.2%) and November Current Account deficit widened to EUR1.40 billion from EUR1.00 billion
  • In news:
    • The Spanish Parliament began their session where Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hopes to garner enough support to form a government by the end of the month.

8:03 am Timberline Resources appoints Steven Osterberg as new CEO; Discussions continue on stregic alternatives between the co and various parties to finance continued advancement of the co's core projects (TLR) :  

8:03 am Legg Mason reported preliminary December AUM of $671.5 bln vs $709.1 mln year ago and $672.1 at September end (LM) : This month's AUM included preliminary long-term net outflows of $3.9 bln, consisting of fixed income outflows of $1.5 bln and equity outflows of $2.4 bln. Liquidity outflows were $8.7 bln and this month's AUM included $0.4 bln in positive foreign exchange impact.

8:02 am Supervalu reports EPS in-line (SVU) :

• Reports Q3 (Nov) earnings of $0.16 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.16; revenues fell 2.8% year/year to $4.11 bln vs the $4.16 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• "Although third quarter adjusted EBITDA was in-line with our operating plan, we continue to operate in a challenging environment," said President and CEO Sam Duncan. "Improving sales is a primary focus as we look to complete the fiscal year."
• Save-A-Lot network identical store sales were -3.4%. Retail Food identical store sales were -2.6%. Total net sales within the Independent Business segment wer -3.5%.

8:02 am General Motors raises FY16 EPS guidance; FY15 on track; raises quarterly dividend 6% to $0.38; adds $4 bln to buyback (GM) :

• Co raises FY16 EPS to $5.25-5.75 vs $5.32 Capital IQ Consensus; sees improved EBIT, margin, adj. auto FCF. The company's 2016 outlook is based on a strong product launch cadence, growth in adjacent businesses, continued emphasis on driving core efficiencies across the enterprise, and expected modest global industry growth.
• On-track to deliver double-digit growth in EBIT-adjusted and EPS-adjusted in calendar year 2015. Achieved its targeted 10-percent EBIT-adjusted margin in North America -- one year ahead of plan. Since announcing the initial share repurchase program in March 2015, the company repurchased 70 percent of the authorized program through the end of 2015, or $3.5 billion.
• Co raises quarterly dividend 6% to $0.38/share.
• Co increases buyback $4bln to $9 bln.
• Co said continued execution of its plan should keep GM on track to achieve 9- to 10-percent EBIT-adjusted margin by early next decade.
• GM also outlined several actions designed to improve the company's capital efficiency, resulting in a significant reduction in longer-term capital expenditures. GM continues to expect capital expenditures of 5- to 5.5-percent of revenues in the near-term.

8:02 am Energy Recovery announces $6 mln share repurchase program (ERII) :

• Announced today that its Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program that authorizes the company to purchase up to $6 million of the company's outstanding common stock
• CEO Joel Gay states, "current pps represents significant value"
• Purchases of shares of common stock may be made in the open market, or in privately negotiated transactions
• The timing/amounts of any purchases will be based on market conditions and other factors including price, regulatory requirements, and capital availability
• Current O/S is 52 million

8:01 am Cellular Biomedicine announces positive 48-week clinical data from the Phase IIb trial of its human adipose-derived mesenchymal progenitor cell therapy ReJoin for Knee Osteoarthritis (CBMG) :

The Company continues to be encouraged by the latest data from its ReJoin trials. Objective measurement of cartilage volume by 3D SPGR quantitative magnetic resonance imaging indicated significant increase of cartilage volume following ReJoin therapy, as opposed to further cartilage deterioration normally found in untreated patients. The Company believes that the opportunity for patients to regenerate their damaged knee cartilage and improve the long-term quality of life using their own stem cells could be more preferable than undergoing drug treatment with adverse side effects or painful and invasive knee replacement surgery or other invasive surgical procedures. The positive preliminary results from these trials bring the Company closer to commercialization of ReJoin therapy in China, where there are more than 57 million KOA patients with no approved KOA treatment for structure modification available.

• The 48-week end of study data of 53 patients shows the primary and secondary endpoints of ReJoin therapy group having all improved significantly compared to their baseline, which has confirmed some of the Company's Phase I/IIa results

8:01 am St. Jude Medical guides Q4 EPS in-line with consensus, slightly raises lower end of prior guidance range; guides Q4 revs slightly below consensus (STJ) :

Co narrows Q4 adjusted EPS guidance to $1.01-$1.02 from prior guidance of $1.00-$1.02 vs vs CapialIQ consensus of $1.01. Co expects to report Q4 revenue of approximately $1.447 bln, slightly below consensus of $1.478 bln.

• "We continue to execute our innovation-based growth strategy and made good progress during the fourth quarter in our areas of focus. The pressures to our business that we communicated heading into the quarter were partially offset by continued growth in atrial fibrillation and neuromodulation as well as strong sales from the recent Thoratec acquisition."

8:01 am Crystal Rock Holdings promotes David Jurasek as new CFO effective immediately (CRVP) :

• Promoted internally from Vice President of Finance

8:00 am Arcadia Biosciences CEO to take short-term medical leave; anticipated that he will return to his normal duties after clearance from his ph (RKDA) : Co announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Rey will be taking a short-term medical leave of absence from the company. He is undergoing an elective medical procedure to install a stent in a coronary artery. A full recovery is expected, and it is anticipated that he will return to his normal duties after clearance from his physician. Arcadia board member Mark Wong will serve as acting president and CEO during Mr. Rey's medical leave.

7:52 am Arotech's Training and Simulation Division has received $7.4 mln in new awards and contract modifications (ARTX) :  

7:49 am Multi-Fineline expects Q4 sales of ~$169 mln, slightly below the Co's guidance range, vs. $188.8 mln Capital IQ Consensus Est; expects Q1 to decline 30% sequentially (MFLX) :

• Gross margin during Q4 2015 is expected to be ~11.3-11.8%, within the Co's guidance range
• MFLEX expects to provide its complete financial results and business outlook in its earnings release and conference call on Feb 4, 2016.
• Co said, "Our Q4 sales results were impacted by softness in our smartphone segment. Notwithstanding the lower than anticipated demand, we had solid operational performance and proactively controlled our costs, and expect our sixth consecutive quarter of strong profitability. We also successfully managed our working capital, generating strong operating cash flows of ~$51 mlm, and growing our cash balance to $214 mln, an all-time record for MFLEX."
• Looking ahead to Q1 2016, which is typically its seasonally slower period, the co expect revenue to decline ~30% sequentially
• "Although we will continue to work on cost improvements, we also anticipate a sequential decline in gross margin based on the lower anticipated revenues and overhead absorption, resulting in approx. break-even or slightly negative net earnings for Q1 2016.
  • Briefing.com note: If Q4 revenue comes in around the guidance noted above, the Q1 revenue guidance would come in well below current expectations, given the expected 30% sequential decline.
• "Looking further ahead, we anticipate a rebound in net sales in the second half of 2016, which we believe will drive meaningful YoY sales growth for full year 2016."

7:30 am American Axle reaffirms FY15 guidance, sees FY16 revs below consensus at Deutsche Bank auto Conf. (AXL) :

• Reaffirms FY15 EBITDA margin 14.5-14.75%; rev $3.9 bln vs. $3.93 bln consensusl FCF $185-190 mln.
• Co sees FY16 EBITDA margin 14.5-14.75%, rev $4 bln vs. $4.17 bln consensus; FCF $120-140 mln.
• AAM's backlog of new and incremental business launching from 2016 - 2018 is estimated at ~$725 million in future annual sales. AAM expects the launch cadence of the three-year backlog to be ~$225 million in 2016, $375 million in 2017 and $125 million in 2018.
  • ~60% of AAM's new and incremental business backlog for 2016 - 2018 is for customers other than GM.

7:29 am Engility (EGL), Leidos (LDOS), and SAIC (SAIC) among several companies awarded a $900 mln task order contract for logistics and service support to the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (EGL) :  

7:21 am European Markets Update: CAC +1.4%, FTSE +1.1%, DAX +1.0% (:SUMRX) :

Major European indices hold solid gains across the board, but they have backed away from their early highs. On a separate note, the Spanish Parliament has begun a new session even though there is still no consensus regarding who will lead the governing body. To that point, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hopes to garner enough support to form a government by the end of the month. Spain's IBEX has essentially been immune to the political uncertainty, trading in-line with other regional indices.

• Economic data was limited:
  • Eurozone November Industrial Production -0.7% month-over-month (expected -0.3%; previous 0.8%); +1.1% year-over-year (consensus 1.3%; last 2.0%)
  • France's December CPI +0.2% month-over-month (expected 0.1%; prior -0.2%) and November Current Account deficit widened to EUR1.40 billion from EUR1.00 billion

---Equity Markets---

• France's CAC trades up 1.4% with energy-related names in the lead while financials also display strength. Technip and Total are both up near 2.8% while AXA, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, and BNP Paribas show gains between 1.2% and 2.5%. On the downside, Publicis Groupe has surrendered 0.6%.
• UK's FTSE has climbed 1.1% thanks in part to a rebound in mining names. Anglo American and Antofagasta are both up near 3.0%. Select financials have also contributed to today's strength with Aviva, Aberdeen Asset Management, and Admiral Group rising between 0.5% and 1.6%.
• Germany's DAX has climbed 1.0% with utilities in the lead. E.On and RWE have surged 5.2% and 4.2%, respectively, while Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank show respective gains of 1.6% and 1.2%. On the downside, Adidas has given up 0.7%.

7:15 am Garmin acquires PulsedLight; terms not disclosed (GRMN) : PulsedLight is a privately-held designer of optical distance measurement technology located in Bend, Oregon.

7:11 am Corus Entertainment also reported Q1 results with adj EPS C$0.49 on consolidated revenues + 1% to C$228.3 mln (CJREF) : Note: Corus Entertainment confirmed plans to acquire Shaw Media from Shaw Communications (SJR) -- see 7:02

7:07 am Galena Biopharma provides 2016 outlook; expects readout of NeuVaxPhase 3 PRESENT interim safety and futility analysis in Q2 (GALE) :

• Co anticipates the readout of its NeuVax Phase 3 PRESENT interim safety and futility analysis in Q2 and the launch of a randomized, Phase 2b trial for GALE-301/302 in the second half of the year.
• Ongoing, anticipated cash burn including current and planned clinical trials is expected to be b/t $11-13 mln per quarter, we will also have non-recurring expenses as a result of the previously announced commercial divesture and settlement of the outstanding litigation.
• Co expects to initiate a Phase 2 trial in patients with Ductal Carcinoma in Situ in Q1
• Co plans to publish the final Phase 2 report on GALE-401 and confirm the 505(b)2 pathway with the FDA in the second half of the year.

7:04 am hanwha Q sells a portfolio of three operating PV power plants in the UK for ~$90 mln plus working capital to the next energy solar fund (HQCL) :

• Announced that it has signed/closed a share purchase agreement to sell a portfolio of three operating PV power plants in the UK
• The projects were sold for a total amount of GBP 61.7 mln (US 90 mln) plus working capital to the London listed NextEnergy Solar Fund
• The Portfolio is fully financed with non-recourse loans totaling GBP 45.4 million provided by Bayerische Landesbank, the financing will remain in place until 2032

7:02 am Shaw Comms: Corus Entertainment to acquire Shaw Media from Shaw Communications for $2.65 bln to be paid through combination of cash and Corus Class B (SJR) :

• The transaction will give Corus Entertainment (CJREF) ownership of Shaw Media's brands including 45 specialty television channels, 39 radio stations, digital assets, the content studio, Nelvana, and 15 conventional television stations. On a fiscal 2015 basis, Corus and Shaw Media combined generated ~$1.9 bln in revenue, ~$619 mln in adjusted EBITDA and ~$430 mln of free cash flow. The transaction is expected to generate $40-$50 mln of annual cost synergies to be realized within 24 months, in addition to significant revenue synergies.
• Under the terms of the transaction, Corus has agreed to acquire 100% of Shaw Media for a total purchase price of $2.65 bln, representing a multiple of ~7.7x FY2015 consolidated reported adjusted EBITDA. Upon closing of the transaction, SCI will receive ~$1.85 bln in cash and ~71 mln Corus Class B Shares at $11.21 per share, which is based on current volume weighted average trading prices on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Pro forma the acquisition, including completion of the potential subscription receipt offering, SCI will own ~39% of Corus' total issued equity, including Class A and B Shares. SCI has agreed to hold and not sell any of its Corus Class B Shares for the first 12 months following closing. This holding restriction will expire with respect to one-third of the shares on each of the 12, 18 and 24 month anniversaries of closing.
• In addition, as a further sign of its support for the combined company, SCI has agreed to have 100% of its Corus Class B Shares, which are subject to the Lock-Up, participate in Corus' dividend reinvestment plan until at least August 31, 2017, so that the dividends payable on those shares will be paid with additional Corus Class B Shares. This not only signals SCI's on-going support for the company but also provides Corus additional cash flow that can be used to repay debt or be re-invested in the business.
• This transaction is subject to approval by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission. It is also subject to approval by Corus' minority shareholders, at a special meeting of shareholders expected to occur in March 2016. Anticipated to close in the third quarter of fiscal 2016.

7:02 am Magna sees FY16 revs $34.6-36.3 bln vs $35.13 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate (MGA) : Assuming that foreign exchange rates for the most common currencies in which they conduct business relative to their U.S. dollar reporting currency will approximate year end 2015 rates. Co sees 18 mln light vehicle production in North America, 20.9 mln in Europe.

7:02 am Asian Markets Close: Nikkei +2.9%, Hang Seng +1.1%, Shanghai -2.4% (:SUMRX) :

Equity markets across Asia ended the midweek session on a mostly upbeat note, but China's Shanghai Composite (-2.4%) failed to join the rebound, ending the day on its session low. The retreat in China occurred despite the release of better than expected trade numbers that showed a smaller than expected decrease in both imports and exports. As for the People's Bank of China, the central bank essentially held the yuan fix unchanged for the fourth consecutive day. On a related note, the overnight Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate fell to 8.31% after hitting 66.82% on Tuesday.

• In economic data:
  • China's December trade surplus expanded to $60.09 billion from $54.10 billion (expected surplus of $53.00 billion) as Imports fell 7.6% year-over-year (consensus -11.5%; last -8.7%) and Exports declined 1.4% (expected -8.0%; prior -6.8%)
  • Japan's M2 Money Stock +3.0% year-over-year (consensus 3.4%; previous 3.3%)
  • South Korea's December Unemployment Rate held at 3.4%, as expected

---Equity Markets---

• Japan's Nikkei spiked 2.9%, returning to Monday's levels. Every sector ended the day firmly in the green with technology (+3.6%), industrials (+3.3%), and consumer discretionary (+3.2%) in the lead. Yahoo Japan, Unitika, Okuma, TDK, Bridgestone, and NEC surged between 5.1% and 6.5%. On the flip side, Aeon was the lone decliner, slipping 0.6%.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.1% thanks to relative strength in energy and financial names. CNOOC and Petrochina posted respective gains of 3.0% and 1.4% while Bank of East Asia, HSBC Holdings, and Ping An Insurance climbed between 1.1% and 1.8%.
• China's Shanghai Composite lost 2.4%, widening its year-to-date decline to 16.7%. China Shipbuilding, Pacific Securities, and Shanghai Material Trading surrendered between 3.3% and 10.0%.
• India's Sensex added 0.7% with roughly half of its components posting gains. Reliance Industries, Infosys, and Tata Motors led the way, spiking between 2.7% and 3.1%. Meanwhile, financials AXIS Bank, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank added between 0.1% and 0.8%.

---FX---

• USDJPY +0.4% to 118.16
• USDCNY UNCH at 6.5750
• USDINR -0.1% to 66.83

7:01 am Catalent announces Research Collaboration with Roche (RHHBY) on SMARTag; has the potential to receive up to $618 mln in development and commercial milestones (CTLT) :

• Co announced a research collaboration with Roche (RHHBY) to develop next-generation molecules coupling different therapeutic modalities using Catalent's proprietary SMARTag technology.
• Roche will pay Catalent an up-front fee of $1 mln and provide additional research funding during the initial phase of the collaboration
• Catalent has the potential to receive up to $618 mln in development and commercial milestones, plus royalties on net sales of products, if Roche pursues commercial licenses and all options are exercised.

7:01 am Plug Power to host conference call and webcast on January 28 at 10am ET to provide January business update (PLUG) :  

7:01 am Apricus Biosciences announces a $10 mln registered direct offering with certain investors including Sarissa Capital and Aspire Capital (APRI) : The co announced that it has entered into definitive agreements with certain institutional investors, including existing investors Sarissa Capital and Aspire Capital, in a registered direct offering of 11,363,640 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase up to 5,681,818 shares of common stock. The shares and warrants are being sold in combination, consisting of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase .50 of a share of common stock, at an offering price of $0.88 for expected gross proceeds of approximately $10 million. The warrants will become exercisable commencing six months and one day from the date of issuance, expire seven years after the date of issuance and have an exercise price of $0.88 per share.

7:00 am Beneficial Mutual Bancorp adopted a stock repurchase program for up to 10% of its outstanding common stock, or 8,291,859 shares (BNCL) : This is Beneficial's first stock repurchase program since completing its mutual-to-stock conversion and related stock offering in January 2015.

6:52 am KBR acquires chematur engineering subsidiaries ecoplanning, plinke and weatherly for $24.5 mln (KBR) :

• Acquiring Weatherly, Plinke GmbH, and Chematur Ecoplanning from Chemature Tech
• Transaction subject to working capital adj.
• Positions company to take advantage of fertilizer technologies and life cycle services offerings
• Weatherly has 80 nitric acid plants worldwide, boasts 30% market share of installed plants

6:48 am PFSWeb raises 2015 guidance; reaffirms 2016 guidance (PFSW) :

• Co now expects 2015 service fee equivalent revenue to range between $183-187 mln, +32%-35% from 2014 and an increase from the previous 2015 guidance range of $180-186 mln.
• Co now expects 2015 adjusted EBITDA to range between $19.3-20.7 mln, representing a 41% to 51% increase over 2014 and an increase from the previous 2015 guidance range of $18.5-20.5 mln.
• Co reaffirms previously issued 2016 guidance, targeting 2016 service fee equivalent revenue to range between $220-230 mln, and adjusted EBITDA to range between $23-25 mln.
• "In general, we believe many of our direct-to-consumer clients experienced year-over-year growth in their gross merchandise revenue during the holiday season in-line or above eCommerce analyst expectations. This strong growth and our high level of client satisfaction demonstrate the value we provide in delivering a superior online shopping experience, especially during this critical time of year."

6:47 am Orange to acquire Airtel's subsidiaries in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone (ORAN) :

• Orange and Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV have signed an agreement to Orange's acquisition of Airtel's operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. Orange will acquire 100% of the two companies' share capital. The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 mln euros. These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange's subsidiaries in the Cte d'Ivoire and Senegal. The outlay for Orange for these transactions will be based on the financials of Airtel's two subsidiaries for the year ended March 31, 2016 and will represent the equivalent of 7.9 times Airtel's EBITDA in these two countries at this time.
• The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities.

6:45 am JMP Group increases share repurchase program by an additional 1 mln shares (JMP) : As a result, as of the close of the market on January 12, a total of 1,135,630 common shares were eligible for repurchase through December 31, 2016.

6:42 am FANG guides Q4 2015 production and FY16 production; announces 2.25 mln common stock offering (FANG) :

• Co expects Q4 2015 production to be between 36.0 Mboe/d and 38.0 Mboe/d, which would place FY15 production above the 31.0 Mboe/d to 32.0 Mboe/d guidance range for 2015. Increased production in the Q4 is due to the continued strength of Diamondback's operated completed wells as well as the completion of more non-operated wells than anticipated. The Company anticipates 2015 lease operating expenses ("LOE") will be at the low end of the $7.00/boe to $8.00/boe guidance range as a result of Q4 2015 LOE that is expected to be between $5.50/boe and $6.00/boe.
• Co expects full FY16 production of 34.0 Mboe/d to 38.0 Mboe/d. During 2016, the Company plans to complete 50 to 70 gross horizontal wells with total capital spend of $280 to $375 million from a two to three rig program. The Company continues to lower well costs and reduce expenses. Leading edge well costs are trending between $5.0 to $5.5 million for a 7,500 foot lateral horizontal well and $6.5 to $7.0 million for a 10,000 foot lateral. Additionally, Diamondback expects to drill and complete a few 12,500 foot laterals to continue to focus on capital efficiency. LOE for 2016 is expected to range between $6.00/boe and $7.00/boe, down from the $7.00/boe to $8.00/boe guidance range in 2015, as the Company continues to implement its best-in-class operational focus to the properties it acquired in 2015.
• Co launched an underwritten public offering of 2.25 mln shares of its common stock, subject to market and other conditions. Intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay the outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facility, with the remaining net proceeds to be used to fund a portion of its exploration and development activities and for general corporate purposes, which may include leasehold interest and property acquisitions and working capital.

6:32 am Amaya paid 5.9 mln for final settlement in previously disclosed Italian tax dispute (AYA) :

• Resolves a previously disclosed tax dispute in which Italian authorities estimated that approximately 85 million were owed by a subsidiary of Amaya related to its Italian operations under the PokerStars brand for the 2009 through 2014 tax years. The agreement represents a final settlement of the matter and the payment includes all amounts owing to Italian authorities for the periods at issue. In addition, as part of the settlement the subsidiary does not owe any additional taxes for the 2014 tax year.
• The entire settlement amount and related expenses have been paid from the escrow fund established under the merger agreement governing Amaya's acquisition of the PokerStars.

6:27 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• ORBOTECH (ORBK) received an order for seven Emerald UV Laser Drilling systems from a leading Japanese manufacturer of ceramic-based electronic components and solutions
• Athersys (ATHX) announced the recent publication of an article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Neuroinflammation that provides further evidence that multipotent adult progenitor cells or MultiStem cell therapy, has the potential to provide benefit following hypoxic ischemia, an injury caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain before or during birth and a leading cause of cerebral palsy. The article also describes the biological mechanisms through which this cell therapy delivers benefit. These findings are consistent with previous findings in related areas, such as ischemic stroke, and add to the scientific foundation supporting MultiStem cell therapy for the treatment of acute neurological injuries.
• ZAZOO, a business unit of Net 1 UEPS Technologies (UEPS) has partnered with Oxigen Services India Pvt. Ltd to seamlessly integrate its Mobile Virtual Card technology to power Visa Prepaid into Oxigen Wallet in association with RBL Bank as sponsor bank and co-branding partner.

6:23 am Nobilis Health beats by $0.10, beats on revs; completes previously announced financial restatement (HLTH) :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.14 per share, $0.10 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.04; revenues rose 205.2% year/year to $52.5 mln vs the $50.1 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Total cases for the three months ended Sept 30, 2015 were 4,418, representing an increase of 2,769 cases or 168% from 1,649 cases in the prior corresponding 2014 period.
• Nobilis also announced that it has completed the Restatement Reports, which are in line with the information contained in its press release dated January 5, 2016. Restatement Reports are being filed in conjunction with the Form 10-Q for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015.

6:11 am Nordic American Tanker increases quarterly dividend to $0.43/share from $0.38/share (NAT) :  

6:05 am McEwen Mining reports gold production rose 22% YoY (MUX) :

Co announces record annual production in 2015, fourth quarter production results, and the outlook for 2016.

• 22% increase in production year-over-year to 154,529 gold equivalent ounces in 2015.
• New pro-business government elected in Argentina, positive policy changes already enacted.
• 4.2 grams per tonne (gpt) average crushed gold grade at El Gallo Mine in Q4 2015 vs. 2.3 gpt in Q3 2015.
• Outlook: Production guidance of 141,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2016.

6:01 am Vitamin Shoppe announces Board changes, intends to add two new independent directors over the next 60 to 90 days (VSI) :

The co announced a number of enhancements to its board of directors, consistent with its corporate governance practices. The board will rotate the role of lead director for the second time since the Company's October 28, 2009 initial public offering. David Edwab, who served as lead director since April 2011, has stepped down from that role and John Bowlin, who became a member of the Vitamin Shoppe board in October 2014, will now serve as lead director.

• Separately, the board intends to add two new independent directors over the next 60 to 90 days. The Vitamin Shoppe will identify one candidate and Carlson Capital, one of the Vitamin Shoppe's largest shareholders, will propose another candidate (subject to acceptability to the board of directors), under an agreement reached between the Vitamin Shoppe and Carlson Capital. Immediately following the 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, it is expected that the board will return to its current size.

5:58 am S&P futures vs fair value: +7.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +20.50. :

5:58 am European Markets : FTSE...6000.78...+71.50...+1.20%.  DAX...10115.13...+129.70...+1.30%.

5:58 am Asian Markets : Nikkei...17716...+497.00...+2.90%.  Hang Seng...19935...+223.10...+1.10%.

5:57 am Shanghai... -2.42% (FXI) :  

5:57 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Xura (MESG) announced its partnership with Wikot, a digital marketing agency.
• OSIsoft, a global leader enabling operational intelligence, today announced the signing of a global reseller agreement with SAP (SAP). As part of the agreement, SAP will resell the OSIsoft solution as the SAP HANA IoT Connector by OSIsoft.
• Magic Software Enterprises (MGIC) announced that Segafredo Zanetti France, a major subsidiary of coffee giant, Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group, has deployed a mobile direct store delivery app powered by Magic's Enterprise Mobility Solution.
• Ericsson (ERIC) partners with Far EasTone, one of Taiwan's tier-one operators, for a pre-commercial software-defined infrastructure trial. Adopting Ericsson HDS 8000 solution, the co-development will enable Far EasTone to optimize its datacenter operations through increased utilization, and build a competitive public cloud infrastructure.
• TestPlant announced that The Carlyle Group (CG) has acquired a majority shareholding in the company. Carlyle is investing in partnership with the existing management team, which will continue to build and support the innovative test solutions that have led to the company increasing its revenues ten-fold over the past five years.
• Hortonworks (HDP) announced that Arkena is using Hortonworks Data Platform to provide its media customers with an advanced analytics platform to deliver content to OTT customers through its content delivery network. The Apache Hadoop-powered platform enables Arkena to better serve customers' needs for real-time data analysis

4:51 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Emerald Oil (EOX) and two of its wholly owned subsidiaries closed the sale of a portion of the Company's undeveloped leaseholds in Montana and North Dakota, consisting of approximately 9,750 net acres, as well as certain production from non-operated wells, for $9.75 million. The Company used all proceeds to repay outstanding borrowings under the Company's revolving credit facility. 
• Brown & Brown (BRO) and the principals of BayRisk Insurance Brokers announced that Brown & Brown Insurance Services of California, a subsidiary of BRO has acquired certain assets of BayRisk. BayRisk provides a wide range of property and casualty insurance products and services, including specialty programs for mobile food service vendors, restaurants, technology companies, apartments and recreational marine, to clients throughout California. The company has annual revenues of approximately $2.5 million.
• Qualcomm (QCOM) and TDK Corporation announced an agreement to form a joint venture to enable delivery of RF front-end modules and RF filters into fully integrated systems for mobile devices and fast-growing business segments, such as Internet of Things, drones, robotics, automotive applications and more, under the name RF360 Holdings Singapore
  

4:02 am Gold Standard Ventures reports new drilling finds key west-northwest extension to higher grade within Lower Breccia Zone (GSV) :

Co announced assay results from three core holes at the North Bullion deposit on its 100%-owned/controlled Railroad-Pinion Project in Nevada's Carlin Trend.

• Two of three holes returned significant intercepts that expand the gold mineralization to the northwest.
• Results are highlighted by 12.4m of 3.53 grams gold per tonne (g Au/t) within a thicker interval of 74.4m of 1.68 g Au/t in hole RR13-13.

4:00 am AEGON N.V. provides strategy update and 2018 financial targets; launches EUR400 mln buyback (AEG) :

Co announced targets for a group return on equity of 10% by 2018 supported by:

• Reducing annual operating expenses by EUR 200 million by the end of 2018
• Additional investments in digital capabilities and expertise of EUR 50 million per annum above the current level to further support the organic growth of the business
• Aligning accounting policies with inforce management, specifically related to UK deferred acquisition costs and accounting for reinsurance contracts as part of business exits.
• The retrospective adoption of these accounting changes as of January 1, 2016, is expected to decrease shareholders' equity by EUR 1.3 billion increase underlying earnings before tax by approximately EUR 20 million in 2016

Capital and cashflow - Aegon's solid capital position and cash flow generation provide the foundation to accelerate capital returns to shareholders. Today's main announcements on capital and cashflow are:

• Group Solvency II ratio as of December 31, 2015, of ~160% - in the upper-end of the 140-170% target range
• Capital returns to shareholders of over EUR 2 billion in the period 2016-2018 dividend pay-out ratio of 50% of free cash flows by 2018
• Aegon announced will repurchase EUR 400 million worth of common shares in 2016, of which a first tranche of EUR 200 million will be repurchased before March 31, 2016.
• Dividend: Proposal to increase the 2015 final dividend per share to EUR 0.13 bringing the total 2015 dividend per share to EUR 0.25, a 9% increase over the 2014 dividend

3:54 am CGG launches ~EUR350 mln rights offering (CGG) :

CGG launches a capital increase via an offering of preferential subscription rights to existing shareholders, for a gross amount of ~350 million.

• The net proceeds of the issuance will be used to reinforce the shareholders' equity of CGG and improve its liquidity as it finances its Transformation Plan.
• The net proceeds will therefore be used principally to cover the shortfall in the consolidated net working capital of CGG of approximately $175 million for 2016 and, secondly, to finance its activities, which will permit CGG to reduce its reliance on drawings under the Group's revolving credit facilities.

3:52 am Gilead Sciences and Galapagos receive FTC clearance to close global partnership on Filgotinib (GILD) :

Galapagos NV (GLPG) and Gilead Sciences (GILD) announced that the Federal Trade Commission provided early termination of the waiting period for the global partnership agreement on filgotinib. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month.

• Upon closing, Galapagos will receive an upfront license fee of $300 million and Gilead will make a $425 million equity investment in Galapagos by subscribing for shares at a price of 58 per share. After the issuance of the shares, Gilead will own ~15% of the outstanding share capital of Galapagos, depending on the $/ exchange rate at closing.

3:48 am Public Storage prices 11 mln depositary shares at $25.00 per depositary share (5.40% Cumulative Preferred Shares of Beneficial Interest, Series B) (PSA) :  

3:46 am Titan Pharma and Braeburn Pharmaceuticals receive FDA recommendation for Probuphine (TTNP) :

Titan Pharmaceuticals and partner Braeburn Pharmaceuticals announced that the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the FDA voted 12 to 5 in favor of approving Probuphine, the first long-acting, subdermal buprenorphine implant for the maintenance treatment of opioid addiction, in stable patients receiving 8mg or less per day of buprenorphine.

• The Committee's vote followed presentation and discussion of data regarding Probuphine's efficacy, safety, and risk-benefit profile.
• The New Drug Application (:NDA) for Probuphine was resubmitted to the FDA in August 2015, and accepted by the FDA in September 2015.
• A target agency action date has been set for February 27, 2016.

3:44 am Kayne Anderson redeems $30 mln redemption of its Series E MRP shares (KYN) :

• Holders of record as of January 15, 2016 of the Series E MRP Shares will receive the regular monthly dividend payment amount on February 1, 2016. On February 12, 2016, holders will receive the liquidation preference per share of $25.00, plus accumulated but unpaid dividends.

3:42 am Arch Coal (:ACIIQ) confirms interim approval of $275 mln in DIP financing; mining operations and customer shipments to continue in the ordinary course (:ACI) :  

3:34 am W.R. Grace to offer $525.0 mln aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2023 (GRA) :  

3:33 am W.R. Grace's Board approves plan to separate Grace's Construction Products segment and Darex Packaging Technologies business to form GCP Applied Technologies (GRA) : The planned separation, which is expected to be generally tax-free to Grace's U.S. shareholders, is expected to be completed on Feb. 3, 2016.

3:32 am Penn Virginia commences NYSE delisting; expected to trade on OTC Pink sheets (:PVA) : Penn Virginia announced that it received notification from the NYSE that the NYSE had determined to commence proceedings to delist the Company's common stock as a result of the NYSE's determination that the Company's common stock was no longer suitable for listing on the NYSE based on "abnormally low" price levels. The NYSE also suspended trading in the Company's common stock effective immediately.

3:30 am Rubicon Minerals intends to delist from NYSE; common shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (RBY) : Co expects that the common shares will continue to be quoted on the U.S. over-the-counter markets following the delisting on the OTC Pink under the ticker symbol "RBYCF", which is operated by OTC Markets Group.

3:28 am Scorpio Bulkers reports Scorpio Services Holding has purchased 338,436 common shares at an average price of $4.64 per share previous announcement on Oct 1, 2015 (SALT) :