6:54 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Columbia Pipeline Group (CPGX) and Columbia Pipeline Partners LP (CPPL) announced that their subsidiary, Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC, has placed the East Side Expansion Project in service.
• DynaEnergetics, a business of Dynamic Materials Corporation (BOOM) announced it has entered into a Principal Partner Agreement with Weatherford International plc (WFT). Under the agreement, Weatherford becomes the first oilfield service company to deploy DynaEnergetics' DynaStage product, a factory-assembled well perforating system

6:52 am Teekay Offshore declares dividend of $0.56 (increased 4% from prior quarter) for quarter ended 9/30/15. (TOO) : The cash distribution is payable on November 13, 2015 to all unitholders of record on October 13, 2015. Co cited the increase was as a result of recent acquisition of the Petrojarl Knarr FPSO.

6:48 am J. C. Penney announces actions expected to reduce the benefit obligation of its qualified pension plan; transactions expected to reduce $5 bln U.S. pension obligation by 25-25% (JCP) :

The co announced actions that are expected to 'significantly' reduce the benefit obligation of itsqualified pension plan without requiring any cash contribution fromthe Company. JCPenney recently completed a lump-sum offer for selectparticipants in the Plan, and it has also entered into an agreement with ThePrudential Insurance Company of America to purchase a groupannuity contract that will settle a substantial portion of JCPenney's remainingretiree pension benefit obligations.

• After the closing of these transactions,which is anticipated later this year, the Plan is expected to remain over-fundedon both accounting and ERISA bases, and the Company expects that it will not berequired to make cash contributions to the Plan for the foreseeable future.
• Approximately 12,000 retirees and surviving beneficiaries elected to receivevoluntary lump-sum payments to settle the Plan's pension obligation to them. The actions announced today should reduce the pension obligation by 25-35% andthe number of participants in the Plan by 25-35%.

6:45 am Forestar announces that CFO Christopher Nines stepped down from his position on Sep. 30, 2015; names EVP Charles Jehl as CFO (FOR) : The Board of Directors has named Charles D. Jehl, Executive Vice President-Oil & Gas, as Chief Financial Officer. Jehl served as Forestar's Chief Accounting Officer from 2006 to 2013, and prior to joining Forestar was Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Guaranty Insurance Services, Inc.

6:32 am Bombardier signs an agreement with CityJet for 16 CRJ series aircraft, valued at ~$369 mln (BDRBF) :

Co welcomed Dublin-based CityJet to the CRJ Series family of aircraft operators following confirmation that it will operate CRJ900 aircraft in the network of Sweden's Scandinavian Airlines. CityJet will acquire the aircraft from a customer that signed a firm purchase agreement for eight CRJ900 aircraft and took options on an additional six.

• Based on the list price of the CRJ900 aircraft, the firm agreement signed by Bombardier and its customer is valued at ~$369 million. The value could increase to $651 million if all options are exercised.

6:32 am Applied Industrial acquires S. G. Morris Co.; terms undisclosed (AIT) :  SGM provides fluid power, motion control, and lubrication solutions

6:31 am AutoNation reports retail new vehicle unit sales of 29,046 in September 2015, +21% Y/Y (AN) :

• Co announced that it reported to automotive manufacturers, based on their respective sales transaction reporting standards, retail sales of 29,046 new vehicles in September 2015, an increase of 21% as compared to September 2014.
• On a same-store basis, reported retail new vehicle unit sales in September 2015 increased 18% as compared to September 2014.
• Co reported retail new vehicle unit sales in the third quarter of 2015 were 89,953, an increase of 7% as compared to the third quarter of 2014.

6:30 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Acacia Research Corporation (ACTG) announced that its LifePort Sciences LLC and LifeScreen Sciences LLC subsidiaries have entered into a settlement and patent license agreement with C.R. Bard, Inc. and Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. The agreement resolves litigation that was pending in the US District Court of New Jersey and the USDistrict Court for the District of Delaware.
• This week mine staff of Timmins Gold (TGD) spotted a 2m tear in the liner of the new leach pads at its San Francisco open pit, heap leach gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. The area adjacent to the tear had just been placed under leach and a small amount of the leach fluids flowed over the area of the tear. Co immediately reported the incident to PROFEPA, the Mexican environmental agency, which has since inspected the area. Co believes that the clay barrier built beneath the liner caught any fluids that flowed over the area of the tear. Co is in the process of replacing the clay and fixing the tear and expects to shortly receive the approval of PROFEPA to resume irrigation in that area.

6:26 am Wowo Co-CEO Jianguang Wu tenders his resignation effective September 30 (WOWO) : The co states that the resignation was due to personal reasons and not the result of any disagreement. Wu will continue to act as the director of the Company.

The Company also announced that on September 28, 2015, Yongming Zhang tendered his resignation as a member of the board of directors of the Company, effective on September 28, 2015.

6:24 am Cellceutix retains legal advisors to investigate, address and defend against the recent filing of what it considers to be a frivolous and baseless lawsuit (CTIX) :  

6:16 am Civitas Solutions prices its downsized offering of 2 mln shares on behalf of selling shareholders at $21.50/share (CIVI) : Offering was downsized from earlier plans for the selling shareholders to sell 3 mln shares

6:00 am China Zenix Auto International regains compliance with the NYSE minimum price bid rule (ZX) :  

5:48 am S&P futures vs fair value: +8.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +26.30. :

5:48 am European Markets : FTSE...6151.60...+79.10...+1.30%.  DAX...9623.08...+113.80...+1.20%.

5:48 am Asian Markets : Nikkei...17725.13...+2.70...+0.00%.  Hang Seng...21506.09...+659.80...+3.20%.

5:46 am Riverview Bancorp, Inc. increases quarterly dividend to $0.015/share from $0.0125/share (RVSB) :  

4:11 am Realty Income prices 10,000,000 shares of common stock at $46.88 per share (O) :  

4:08 am DISH Network issues statement updating AWS-3 Spectrum; Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless are expected to be granted licenses (DISH) :

Co issued the following statement: 

• "Today, the two entities in which DISH invested with respect to the AWS-3 auction -- Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless -- entered into a series of arrangements in connection with which the FCC will retain certain licenses for which Northstar and SNR were the winning bidders, and the FCC will apply funds already on deposit and newly-loaned funds from a subsidiary of DISH toward the payment of the gross winning bids for the remaining licenses, which cover approximately 6.6 billion MHz-POPs..."
  

3:51 am Novartis unit Sandoz receives FDA submission acceptance for its proposed biosimilar etanercept (NVS) :

Sandoz, a Novartis company and the global leader in biosimilars, announced today that the FDA has accepted its Biologics License Application under the 351 (k) pathway for its proposed biosimilar to Amgen's US-licensed Enbrel - a tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitor.

• Sandoz believes that the two pivotal clinical studies; a pharmacokinetic study in healthy volunteers and a confirmatory safety and efficacy study in patients with chronic plaque-type psoriasis, will provide confirmation of similarity to the reference product established in prior analytical comparability investigations.

3:04 am Immune Pharma secures $3 mln tranche from Discover Growth Fund (IMNP) :

Immune Pharmaceuticals announced that it has received an additional $3 million in gross proceeds from Discover Growth Fund pursuant prior agreement previously disclosed.

• This financing was in addition to the gross proceeds of $9 million already received from Discover at the same $2.50 conversion price and terms and the $4.5 million from Hercules Technology Growth Capital.
• The additional $3 million from Discover was received upon an effective "resale" registration statement pertaining to the Series D Preferred and stockholders approval on Friday, September 25, 2015.