7:06 pm Glaukos Correction: Co misses by $0.14, beats on revs (GKOS) : We earlier reported that the company missed on revenues. The prior comment has been deleted.

Co reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $1.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.14 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($1.16); revenues rose 60.0% year/year to $17.75 mln vs the $15.85 mln consensus.

• Gross margin for the second quarter of 2015 increased to approximately 82%, compared to approximately 79% in the same period in 2014.
  

6:31 pm National General announces pricing of 10 mln shares of common stock at $19 per share; also announces pricing of $100 mln of 7.625% subordinated notes due 2055 (NGHC) :  

6:23 pm FibroGen announces that Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation has published 'encouraging' Phase 2a safety and efficacy data for roxadustat for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (FGEN) : Co announces that Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation has published "encouraging" Phase 2a safety and efficacy data for roxadustat, an orally active potent hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI) for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (:CKD). In a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial that was conducted in non-dialysis subjects with anemia associated with stage 3 or 4 CKD, roxadustat produced dose-dependent increases in hemoglobin (Hb) within 14 to 25 days.

• Baseline characteristics for roxadustat and placebo groups were comparable. Roxadustat 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 mg/kg, increased Hb levels in a dose-related manner. Hb responder rates were dose dependent and ranged from 30 percent with roxadustat 0.7 mg/kg to 100 percent with roxadustat 2 mg/kg. The median time to response ranged from 42 days (1 mg/kg) to 14 days (2 mg/kg). Roxadustat transiently and moderately increased endogenous erythropoietin and reduced hepcidin levels. Adverse events were similar in the roxadustat and placebo groups.
  
• Most common adverse events associated with roxadustat were diarrhea (9.1%), headache (6.8%), back pain (4.5%), fatigue (4.5%) and hyperkalemia (4.5%).
  

6:20 pm Shake Shack prices 4 mln share secondary offering of common stock at $60 per share (SHAK) : Co announces the pricing of a secondary offering of 4,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock by certain of the Company's stockholders at a price of $60.00 per share. All of the shares in the offering were offered by the Selling Stockholders and the Company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of these shares by the Selling Stockholders. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as sole lead book-running manager in the offering.

6:15 pm Briggs & Stratton beats by $0.12, reports revs in-line; guides FY16 EPS below consensus, revs in-line (BGG) : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.51 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.39; revenues rose 8.5% year/year to $538.82 mln vs the $534.9 mln consensus. 

• During fiscal 2015, the Company repurchased approximately 2.4 million shares on the open market at an average price of $19.42 per share. As of June 28, 2015, the Company has remaining authorization to repurchase up to approximately $40 million of common stock with an expiration date of June 30, 2016.
  

Co issues guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $1.20-1.36 vs. $1.38 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs of $1.90-1.96 bln vs. $1.93 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

6:10 pm Green Plains announces 50% increase in quarterly dividend to $0.12 from $0.08 per share (GPRE) :  

6:07 pm Hoegh LNG Partners announces it has agreed to acquire the entity that owns the floating storage and regasification unit Hoegh Gallant for $370 mln; Management intends to recommend increase to cash distribution (HMLP) : Co announces it has agreed to acquire the entity that owns the floating storage and regasification unit ("FSRU") Hegh Gallant for a purchase price of $370 million from a subsidiary of Hegh LNG Holdings. The existing debt related to the Hegh Gallant is approximately $183 million and will continue to be outstanding. The Partnership estimates that the purchase of the Hegh Gallant will generate annual contracted revenues, net of operating expenses and taxes, of approximately $39 million to $41 million with respect to the period of the EgyptCo charter. As a result of the transaction, management of the Partnership intends to recommend to the Board that it consider an increase to $0.4125 per unit in the Partnership's quarterly cash distribution, an increase of approximately 22% from the current quarterly distribution of $0.3375 per unit, which would become effective for the distribution with respect to the quarter ending December 31, 2015.

FSRU Independence Update - Pursuant to the omnibus agreement, the Partnership also has a right to purchase from HLNG all or a portion of its interests in the FSRU Independence within 24 months after the acceptance of the vessel by her charterer, subject to reaching an agreement with HLNG regarding the purchase price and other terms of the transaction in accordance with the provisions of the omnibus agreement. The Partnership and HLNG continue to await the consent of the charterer as to the transaction.

Potential Restatement of Financial Statements / Indemnification - The Partnership also announced today that it is reviewing its accounting treatment for certain Indonesian withholding and value added tax payments for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, each quarter within the year ended December 31, 2014, the quarter ended December 31, 2013 and the quarter ended March 31, 2015.

6:04 pm Netease.com misses by $0.03, beats on revs; declares quarterly dividend of $0.44 per ADS (NTES) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $1.95 per ADS, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.98; revenues rose 63.7% year/year to $779.5 mln vs the $716.71 mln consensus.

• Gross profit margin for the online games business for the second quarter of 2015 was 69.3%, compared to 73.1% and 77.6% for the preceding quarter and the second quarter of 2014, respectively.
• The board of directors has approved a dividend of $0.44 per ADS for the second quarter of 2015, which is expected to be paid on September 4, 2015 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 28, 2015. Prior quarterly dividend was $0.39 per ADS.
  

5:55 pm Pieris Pharmaceuticals reports Q2 EPS of ($0.12) vs ($0.13) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, revs $160k vs $698k in prior year (PIRS) : The decrease in revenue was primarily due to reductions in milestone and research funding from collaboration projects. Cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2015 totalled $10.0 million as compared to $18.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2014. Co expects that its cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2015 plus the net proceeds of its July public offering, will be sufficient to fund the Company's operations, based on its current business plan, into 2017.

Pipeline Update:

• PRS-080 - Pieris completed dosing of healthy volunteers in a Phase I clinical trial for its anti-hepcidin Anticalin therapeutic protein designed to treat anemia in chronic kidney disease patients suffering from functional iron deficiency. In the study, no dose-limiting toxicities were observed and a maximum tolerated dose was not reached. The Company plans to present the forthcoming unblinded data at a scientific conference in the second half of 2015.
  
• RS-060 - Following its recent financing the Company has initiated IND-readiness activities, with first-in human studies forecasted to begin by the end of the first quarter of 2017 with a predicted completion date in the fourth quarter of 2017.
  
• PRS-300 - Pieris expects to complete drug candidate nomination for one program by the end of 2015, and prepare IND readiness studies for filing in 2017. Currently, the lead program PRS-343 is a CD137/HER2 bispecific, with multiple bispecific formats for this combination under preclinical evaluation.
  

5:50 pm Post prices offering of 5.85 mln shares of common stock at $60 per share (POST) : The size of the common stock offering was increased from $275.0 million in shares of the Company's common stock to $351.0 million in shares of the Company's common stock.

5:43 pm Eclipse Resources misses by $0.08, beats on revs (ECR) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.19 per share, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.11); revenues rose 141.0% year/year to $64.98 mln vs the $60.65 mln consensus. Rev figure excludes ~$9.47 mln of brokered natural gas and marketing revs.

• Second quarter of 2015 net production averaged 198.6 MMcfe/d, representing a 374% increase to average daily net production for the second quarter of 2014, a 24% sequential increase over average daily production for the first quarter 2015 and a 10% increase over the high end of the Company's previously issued average daily production guidance. Total production was 18,076.5 MMcfe.
  

Guidance

• Co sees Q3 average daily production of 205-215 MMcfe/d
• Co sees FY15 average daily production of 190-200 MMcfe/d, CapEx of $352 mln

5:38 pm Banco Santander Mexico announces proposed appointment of Mr. Marcos Martinez Gavica as Chairman of the Board and Mr. Hector Grisi Checa as CEO (BSMX) : Co announces that in light of the decision of Carlos Gomez y Gomez, Chairman of the Board of Directors, to retire as he turns 65, they have agreed to convene a meeting of their Boards of Directors on August 24th, 2015 to consider the proposals to appoint Mr. Marcos Martinez Gavica as Chairman of the Board and Mr. Hector Grisi Checa as Executive President and CEO, subject to applicable regulations.

• Mr. Marcos Martinez Gavica will be proposed as his successor as Chairman beginning January 1, 2016, having been Executive President and CEO of the Group and the Bank. 
• The Board will also consider the appointment of Mr. Hector Grisi Checa as new Executive President and CEO of the Group and the Bank, replacing Mr. Marcos Martinez Gavica from December 1, 2015.
  

5:32 pm Post announces pricing of $800 mln of 7.75% senior notes due 2024 at par, and $400 mln of 8.00% senior notes due 2025 at par (POST) :  

5:26 pm Ryerson beats by $0.38, misses on revs (RYI) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.53 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.38 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.15; revenues fell 9.8% year/year to $840.4 mln vs the $878.83 mln consensus.

• Gross margin was 19.7 percent for the second quarter of 2015, compared to 17.3 percent for the first quarter of 2015 and 16.6 percent in the year-ago period. Gross margin, excluding LIFO was 15.3 percent for the second quarter of 2015, compared to 15.9 percent for the first quarter of 2015 and 18.0 percent for the second quarter of 2014.
  

5:24 pm RealD announces that for July 2015, box office on RealD-enabled screens is estimated to be ~$348 mln ($175 mln domestic, $173 mln international) (RLD) :  

5:18 pm Encore Capital announces $50 mln share repurchase program (ECPG) :  

5:18 pm Flowers Foods beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; reaffirms FY15 EPS guidance, revs guidance (FLO) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.25 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues rose 1.8% year/year to $888.8 mln vs the $886.57 mln consensus.

Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $0.96-1.01 vs. $0.96 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $3.786-3.861 bln vs. $3.77 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

• "Looking ahead, we have significant momentum as we continue to execute our strategy. To grow sales and attract consumers, we intend to innovate our product portfolio and leverage our strong brands. To increase margins, we will improve efficiencies and reduce our costs. And finally, we continue to seek out strategic acquisition opportunities in order to expand our brand portfolio and geographic footprint."

5:05 pm Taseko Mines beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (TGB) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of CC$0.01 per share, excluding non-recurring items, CC$0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of (CC$0.00); revenues fell 3.7% year/year to CC$103.3 mln vs the CC$103.62 mln consensus.

• The Gibraltar Mine produced 39.8 million pounds of copper and 474 thousand pounds of molybdenum in the second quarter, a 40% and 18% increase, respectively, over first quarter 2015.
• Total sales for the quarter were 42.2 million pounds of copper and 391 thousand pounds of molybdenum
• "Concentrator throughput, head grade and recoveries all trended higher through Q2, with a corresponding decrease in site operating costs. We targeted site operating costs of roughly US$1.50-US$1.60 per pound by the end of 2015; however, through the efforts of our operations and maintenance teams, we have already achieved that level in May and June. This past quarter is a good indication of how we expect Gibraltar to perform on an on-going basis. Steady production has continued into the third quarter with ~14.5 mln pounds of copper production in July. Due to planned mill maintenance in Q3, throughput will be slightly reduced from the previous quarter, although we still expect to average design rates for the quarter."

5:03 pm Copa Holdings misses by $0.05, misses on revs (CPA) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.93 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.98; revenues fell 20.1% year/year to $538.35 mln vs the $559.42 mln consensus.

• For 2Q15, passenger traffic (RPMs) decreased 0.2% on a 5.8% capacity expansion. As a result, consolidated load factor came in at 72.9%, or 4.3 percentage points below 2Q14.
  
• Operating cost per available seat mile (CASM) decreased 14.7%, from 10.7 cents in 2Q14 to 9.1 cents in 2Q15, mainly due to lower jet fuel costs. CASM excluding fuel decreased 6.3% to 6.2 cents mainly due to lower sales related expenses and lower overhead expenses.
  
• For 2Q15, Copa Holdings reported consolidated on-time performance of 90.4% and a flight-completion factor of 99.7%.
  

4:56 pm ONEOK to sell $500 mln of senior notes (OKE) : ONEOK expects to use the net proceeds from this offering and cash on hand to purchase additional common units from ONEOK Partners, L.P. (OKS) in a private placement.

4:49 pm ONEOK Partners announced that it has agreed to sell ~21.5 mln of its common units representing limited partner interests at a price of $30.17 per unit to ONEOK (OKE) (OKS) :

• OKE is the parent company of ONEOK Partners GP, L.L.C., (General Partner), the sole general partner of ONEOK Partners. The common units will be sold to ONEOK, Inc. in a private placement.
• In addition, ONEOK Partners will concurrently sell approximately 3.3 million of its common units at a price of $30.17 per unit to funds managed by Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P. (Kayne Anderson). 

4:38 pm DHT announces an adjustment of the conversion price to $7.7453/share from $7.8925/share on its 4.5% Convertible Senior Notes, in relation to its recently declared dividend (DHT) :  

4:36 pm News Corp. beats by $0.02, misses on revs; announces strategic review of its Digital Education segment (NWSA) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.07 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.05; revenues fell 2.1% year/year to $2.14 bln vs the $2.18 bln consensus.

• The majority of the revenue decline reflects adverse foreign currency fluctuations and lower advertising revenues at the News and Information Services segment, partially offset by growth in the Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing segments, primarily as a result of the acquisitions of Move and Harlequin, respectively. Adjusted revenues were 1% lower than the corresponding prior year period. 
• Co determined it would cease actively marketing Amplify's Access products to new customers; however, it will continue to provide service and support to its existing customers. Additionally, the Company is reviewing strategic alternatives with respect to Amplify's remaining digital education businesses. This change in Amplify's strategy and related outlook resulted in a reduction in expected future cash flows for the business. As a result, the Company determined that the fair value of Amplify declined below its carrying value and recorded an impairment charge.
  

4:36 pm CDW announces a 10 mln share secondary offering of its common stock by selling stockholders, and its intention to repurchase 2 mln of those shares (CDW) : The selling stockholders are affiliates of Madison Dearborn Partners, affiliates of Providence Equity Partners, and certain members of management. Barclays Capital Inc. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. are acting as underwriters in the offering.

4:33 pm Middleby beats by $0.02, misses on revs (MIDD) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $1.02 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.00; revenues rose 2.7% year/year to $436.29 mln vs the $467.25 mln consensus.

• Total debt at the end of the second quarter amounted to $639.0 million as compared to $598.2 million at the end of the fiscal 2014. The net increase in debt includes acquisition related financing related to Desmon, Goldstein Eswood, Marsal, Thurne and Induc acquired during the second quarter.
  

4:30 pm Wave Systems announces the receipt of a NASDAQ notice of non-compliance, with regard to the exchange's $35 mln market value requirement (WAVX) : The Company has requested and been granted a hearing date relating to the bid price deficiency, at which hearing the Company will discuss its plans to evidence compliance with all applicable listing criteria, including its anticipated compliance with the Rule within the grace period provided by the Staff.

4:30 pm BG Medicine announces a public offering of Series A and Series B units (BGMD) : The co. announced that it intends to offer and sell equity securities in an underwritten public offering.   The Company is offering Series A units, consisting of common stock and warrants. The Company is also offering Series B units, in lieu of Series A units, to those purchasers whose purchase of additional Series A units in the offering would result in the purchaser beneficially owning more than 9.99% of the Company's outstanding common stock following the completion of the offering. The Series B units will consist of fully pre-funded warrants to purchase one share of common stock and warrants. The company expects to use net proceeds from the proposed offering for its support of the U.S. launch of the first automated test for galectin-3, support of its automated partners in the development and commercialization of additional automated tests for galectin-3, its proposed expansion of clinical claims and indications for galectin-3 testing, and other general corporate purposes

4:28 pm Luxoft Holding beats by $0.08, beats on revs; raises FY15 guidance, in-line (LXFT) :

• Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.53; revenues rose 31.9% year/year to $148.1 mln vs the $141.42 mln consensus; core verticals continued to produce healthy annual growth with financial services posting 38% growth, technology posting 59% growth, telecom posting 21% growth, and automotive and transport posting 24% growth.
• Co raises guidance for FY16, sees EPS to at least $2.55 from at least $2.52, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.66 Capital IQ Consensus; FY16 revs to at least $640.3 mln from at least $625 mln vs. $650.62 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  

4:22 pm Kingstone reports Q2 operating EPS $0.32 vs. $0.29 Capital IQ single est; written premiums +55% to $13.1 mln (KINS) :  

4:18 pm SunEdison signs a definitive agreement with Dominion (D) to establish a JV for Four Brothers, a 420 megawatt (MW) DC, or 320 megawatt AC, solar project in Utah (SUNE) : The co. announced they have signed a definitive agreement with Dominion (D), establishing a joint venture (:JV) for Four Brothers, a 420 megawatt (MW) DC, or 320 megawatt AC, solar project in Utah, developed by SunEdison.

• The project is now under construction and fully financed with an expected commercial operation date of mid-2016. The Four Brothers project is contracted under long-term power purchase agreements for 20 years with PacifiCorp (A-/A3), a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) Energy
• Under the terms of the JV, Dominion will invest approximately $500 mln to acquire 50 percent of the cash equity and 99 percent of the tax equity in Four Brothers, including funding of construction. SunEdison will contribute the remaining portion of the capital required to complete the project, which it has fully financed through a $150 million four-year term loan with Deutsche Bank. The total $650 million financing package fully funds the project for completion and long-term ownership. 
• Four Brothers generates ~$40 million dollars of unlevered cash available for distribution (CAFD) to Dominion and SunEdison. SunEdison's 50 percent interest in the Four Brothers project is on the Call Right Projects List for TerraForm Power (TERP)
  

4:17 pm Upland Software reports EBITDA above guidance, revs in-line; guides Q3 revs in-line; narrows FY15 rev; raises EBITDA (UPLD) :

• Reports Q2 (Jun) GAAP loss of $0.22 per share, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.19); revenues rose 9.3% year/year to $17.7 mln vs the $17.61 mln consensus.
• Adj. EBITDA $672K vs. $0-600K guidance
• Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $17.2-18.0 mln vs. $17.96 mln Capital IQ Consensus; adj. EBITDA $0.9-1.3 mln.
• Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, narrows FY15 revs to $68.6-71.6 mln vs. $71.32 mln Capital IQ Consensus; adj. EBITDA $3.4-4.4 mln from $2.3-4.3 mln.
  

4:17 pm KNOT Offshore Partners announces Board authorization for a ~667K common unit repurchase program: Co's general partner also authorizes the repurchase of an additional ~333K shares (KNOP) : Co announced today that the Partnership's board of directors has authorized the Partnership to repurchase up to 666,667 common units. The board of directors of KNOT Offshore Partners GP, has concurrently authorized the General Partner to purchase up to 333,333 common units of the Partnership.

4:17 pm Natera misses by $3.14, beats on revs; reaffirms FY15 revs guidance; reaffirms FY16 revs guidance (NTRA) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $3.58 per share, $3.14 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.44); revenues rose 25.8% year/year to $45.09 mln vs the $42.69 mln consensus.

• Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $175-190 mln vs. $176.62 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 
• Co reaffirms guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of $220-240 mln vs. $214.22 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  

4:17 pm Teladoc reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs above consensus; guides FY15 revs above consensus (TDOC) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.46 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.46); revenues rose 77.7% year/year to $18.3 mln vs the $17.06 mln consensus. Revenue from subscription access fees and visit fees was $15.1 million and $3.2 million, respectively, an increase of 70% and 127%, respectively. Total membership was 11.5 million, compared to 7.8 million, an increase of 48%.

• Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $19.0-19.5 mln vs. $17.97 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. EBITDA is expected to be in the range of a loss of $11.5 million to a loss of $12.0 million.
• Co issues upside guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $73.0-75.0 mln vs. $71.85 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. EBITDA is expected to be in the range of a loss of $50.0-52.0 mln.
  

4:16 pm Bristol-Myers announces FDA extends action date for supplemental Biologics License Application for Opdivo for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma (BMY) : Co announces that the FDA has extended the action date for the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Opdivo for the treatment of patients with previously untreated advanced melanoma. The company has taken the opportunity to submit additional data from the Opdivo clinical trial program to ensure the broadest data set, irrespective of BRAF status, was available for review. This submission constitutes a major amendment that will require additional time for review and the new FDA action date is November 27, 2015. 

4:16 pm Western Digital announces the retirement of Chairman Tom Pardun, with former Chairman Matthew Massengill appointed as his successor (WDC) : The co. announced that Chairman Tom Pardun, 71, will retire after 22 years of service on its board of directors, in compliance with the company's mandatory retirement-age policy for directors. Matthew Massengill, 54, a former chairman, president and chief executive officer of the company and a director since 2000, has been appointed to succeed Pardun as chairman. Len Lauer, 58, chairman and chief executive officer of Memjet and a Western Digital director since 2010, was named lead independent director of the WDC board. The changes will become effective at the company's next annual meeting of shareholders in November 2015. 

4:16 pm Closing Market Summary: Stocks Recover Opening Losses While Yuan Remains Active (:WRAPX) : The stock market ended the Wednesday session on a slightly higher note despite showing considerable weakness at the start of the trading day. The S&P 500 added 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) settled just ahead.

Equity indices faced selling pressure at the start after the overnight session featured another move to devalue China's yuan. Specifically, the People's Bank of China fixed the yuan 1.6% lower and then stepped in to support the currency late in the session. Following the intervention, the USD/CNY pair ended higher by 1.0% at 6.3870 while the continued tinkering with the exchange rate by the PBoC fueled a continuation of Tuesday's risk-off move across global markets.

The selling pressure persisted until the end of the European session with major equity indices across the old continent losing between 1.4% and 3.4%. Regional markets notched their session lows not long before the close, after Germany's Bild reported that the German government views the third Greek bailout package as insufficient. This was a noteworthy shift, considering just yesterday the market had believed the bailout agreement was all but complete. The eurogroup will attempt to extinguish the latest fire during a Friday meeting in Brussels.

Once equity markets in Europe closed, U.S. indices rallied steadily off their lows with the S&P 500 swiftly returning above its 200-day moving average (2,075). Thanks to the intraday recovery, seven sectors registered gains while three groups finished in the red, but above their early lows.

Most notably, the financial sector (-0.9%) finished well behind the broader market amid growing expectations the Fed may be inclined to delay its first rate hike past September due to the recent actions undertaken by the People's Bank of China. Sector heavyweights like Bank of America (BAC 17.52, -0.27), Citigroup (C 56.91, -0.73), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 67.24, -0.99) narrowed their losses by the close, but still surrendered between 1.3% and 1.5%.

Another clue that suggested the market may be shifting its rate-hike expectations was the weakness in the Dollar Index (96.24, -0.99), which fell 1.0%, returning to levels last seen in mid-July. On a related note, Treasuries surged overnight, but retreated throughout the day, ending with slight gains. As a result, the benchmark 10-yr yield slipped one basis point to 2.13% after testing the 2.05% level in early morning action.

Outside of financials, consumer discretionary (-0.4%) and telecom services (-0.5%) ended in the red with retailers pressuring the discretionary sector, evidenced by a 0.5% slide in SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 96.35, -0.51). On the earnings front, Fossil (FOSL 60.67, -1.44) lost 2.3% after missing revenue estimates and guiding fiscal-year 2015 earnings below analyst expectations.

On the upside, the energy sector (+1.9%) led the rebound while crude oil endured a volatile session, but settled higher by 0.3% at $43.23/bbl and continued climbing during electronic trading.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, technology (+0.5%) was largely responsible for the intraday rebound as the sector rallied behind Apple (AAPL 115.24, +1.75). The largest stock by market cap plunged 5.5% yesterday and opened lower by 3.5% today, but climbed to settle with a gain of 1.5%. In other tech names, there was plenty of strength among high-beta chipmakers with the PHLX Semiconductor Index climbing 0.6%. Cree (CREE 26.59, +1.39) was among the leaders, spiking 5.5% despite missing earnings estimates and reporting revenue in-line with its warning from June.

Similar to chipmakers, the high-beta biotech group outperformed during afternoon action, which contributed to the rebound. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 370.16, +2.99) climbed 0.8% while the broader health care sector tacked on 0.1%.

Today's session invited the strongest trading volume of the week with more than 910 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

On the economic front, the June Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed a decrease in openings to 5.249 million from 5.357 million while the Treasury Budget statement for June showed a deficit of $149.20 billion (Briefing.com consensus -$149.00 billion).

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 271K), July Retail Sales (consensus 0.5%), and July Import/Export Prices will be reported at 8:30 ET while the June Business Inventories report (expected 0.3%) will be released at 10:00 ET.

• Nasdaq Composite +6.1% YTD 
• S&P 500 +1.3% YTD 
• Russell 2000 +0.3% YTD 
• Dow Jones Industrial Average -2.4% YTD

4:12 pm CoLucid Pharmaceuticals misses by $0.82 (CLCD) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $1.17 per share, $0.82 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.35). 

• The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $79.7 million compared to $1.1 million for the second quarter of 2014. The company maintains its current guidance to have cash on hand to fund its two pivotal clinical trials of lasmiditan and operations through mid-2017.
  

4:11 pm Civitas Solutions misses by $0.13, beats on revs; narrows FY15 revs guidance, in-line (CIVI) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.04 per share, $0.13 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.17; revenues rose 10.3% year/year to $351.1 mln vs the $346.72 mln consensus.

• Co narrows guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $1.36-1.38 bln vs. $1.36 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, from $1.35-1.39 bln.
• Co is maintaining its guidance for Adjusted EBITDA with a range of $152-154 million.
  

4:11 pm Diamondback Energy launches a 2 mln share public offering of common stock (FANG) :

• Diamondback intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay a portion of the outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facility.
  

4:10 pm Cisco Systems beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 in-line (CSCO) :

• Reports Q4 (Jul) earnings of $0.59 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.56; revenues rose 3.9% year/year to $12.84 bln vs the $12.66 bln consensus. 
• Product revenue and service revenue each increased 4%. In terms of total revenue by geographic segment, Americas was up 7%, while both EMEA and APJC were flat. Product revenue growth was led by Collaboration and Data Center at 14% each. 
• Switching and NGN Routing grew by 2% and 3%, respectively. 
• On a non-GAAP basis, total gross margin and product gross margin were 62.1% and 61.0% respectively. The decrease in non-GAAP product gross margin as compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2015 was driven by pricing and product mix partially offset by productivity.
• Co issues in-line guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.55-0.57, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.56 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q1 revs of +2-4% to ~$12.49-12.73 bln vs. $12.56 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Non-GAAP gross margin 61-62%.
• Product Backlog -- was ~$5.1 billion at the end of fiscal 2015 as compared to ~$5.4 billion at the end of fiscal 2014.

4:09 pm Comcast's NBCUniversal invests $200 mln in Vox Media (CMCSA) : The co and Vox Media announced that NBCUniversal has agreed to make a $200 million equity investment in Vox Media, one of the world's largest and fastest growing digital media companies. The eight Vox Media brands are SB Nation, Polygon, The Verge, Vox.com, Eater, Racked, Curbed, and Re/code.

4:09 pm Juno Therapeutics misses by $0.03, beats on revs (JUNO) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.35 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.32); revenues $12.46 mln vs the $2.03 mln consensus.

• Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of June 30, 2015 were $313.4 million compared to $474.1 million as of December 31, 2014.
  
• The FDA cleared investigational new drug (IND) applications for JCAR015 and JCAR017 for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed/refractory (r/r) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and r/r B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (:NHL), respectively. The JCAR015 Phase 2 study will serve as Juno's U.S. registration trial in adult r/r ALL, and the Phase 1 JCAR017 trial is the backbone component of Juno's multi-pronged strategy in NHL. Juno expects both of these studies to begin this quarter.

Guidance: Co expects 2015 cash burn, excluding cash inflows or outflows from business development activities and the now-settled litigation, to be at the higher end of its guidance of between $125 million and $150 million.

4:09 pm CACI Intl beats by $0.48 on adjusted EPS, misses on revs; raises FY15 guidance (CACI) : Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $2.19 per share, $0.48 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.71; revenues fell 4.4% year/year to $865.5 mln vs the $874.37 mln consensus.

• Co issues raised guidance for FY15, raises EPS to $5.24-5.65 from $5.12-5.33 vs. $5.20 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; raises top end of FY15 revs to $3.3-3.5 bln from $3.3-3.35 bln vs. $3.32 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 
• "Our contract awards were $777 million in the fourth quarter of FY15, 11.3 percent higher than the $698 million of contract awards in the fourth quarter of FY14."

4:07 pm Meridian Interstate Bancorp adopts a stock repurchase program for up to 5% of its outstanding common stock (EBSB) :

• Co announced that it has adopted a stock repurchase program for up to 5% of its outstanding common stock, or 2,737,334 shares of its common stock. 
• This is co's first stock repurchase program since completing its mutual-to-stock conversion and related stock offering in July 2014.
  

4:06 pm STR Holdings receives noncompliance notice from NYSE for $1.00 stock price rule (STRI) :  

4:06 pm Horizon Technology Finance amends its syndicated revolving credit facility, adding $20 mln in additional capacity (HRZN) : The amendment increases the size of the Credit Facility to $70 million by adding a new $20 million commitment. The amendment also extends the period during which the Company may request advances from November 4, 2016 to August 12, 2018 and the date on which all outstanding advances under the Credit Facility are due and payable from November 4, 2018 to August 12, 2020. The Credit Facility continues to have an accordion feature which allows for an increase in the total loan commitment to $150 million.

4:06 pm Canadian Natl Rail President and CEO Claude Mongeau informs employees and stakeholders of health setback (CNI) : In a communication addressed to all CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) employees today (click here), Claude Mongeau, president and chief executive officer, advises that he will soon need to undergo surgery to remove a rare type of precancerous soft-tissue tumour located in the upper left part of his larynx. The medical treatment plan will call for a surgery towards the end of August or early in September, an expected month or so to heal properly, followed by around six weeks of targeted radiation therapy to completely cure the illness so the tumour does not recur in the future. While Mr. Mongeau intends to remain engaged with CN's business as president and CEO, Luc Jobin, executive vice-president and chief financial officer, will coordinate the CN leadership team and take direction from the company's board of directors until Mr. Mongeau can ?return to work later this fall.

4:06 pm Opexa Therapeutics reports Q2 EPS ($0.07) vs ($0.15) year ago; revs 136% y/y to $0.727 mln (no estimates); sufficient liquidity to continue its current operations into the fourth quarter of 2016 (OPXA) :

• Based on the current activities of the Company and projected burn, Opexa believes it has sufficient liquidity to continue its current operations into the fourth quarter of 2016. The Company expects this will support the completion and reporting of top line results for the Phase 2b Abili-T study of Tcelna in SPMS patients and the completion of the preclinical activities for OPX-212 in NMO, as well as supporting general operations of the Company.
• "Progress was made in our orphan program, OPX-212 in NMO during the second quarter. We are continuing with IND-enabling studies and process development steps that should prepare us for the submission of our IND by the end of this year."
  

4:06 pm Insulet misses by $0.16, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line; reaffirms FY15 revs guidance (PODD) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.27 per share, $0.16 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.11); revenues rose 5.0% year/year to $75.6 mln vs the $72.6 mln consensus.

• Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $82-85 mln vs. $83.54 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 
• Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $305-320 mln vs. $304.53 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  

4:05 pm Jetblue Airways reports July 2015 traffic metrics, showing an 8.9% increase in RPMs to ~4 bln from ~3.67 bln (JBLU) : RPMs were 3,998,899,000 for July, versus 3,673,398,000 in July 2014. Capacity (ASMs) also increased by 10.4% to 4,595,540,000

4:05 pm Manning & Napier Advisors reports July, 2015 prelim AUM of $41.7 billion, down from $43.1 billion M/M (MN) :

4:05 pm AllianceBernstein announces that prelim July AUM increased to $486 billion from $485 billion (AB) : Co stated that market appreciation more than offset modest total firmwide net outflows. By distribution channel, net flows were negative for Retail, flat for Institutions and slightly positive for Private Wealth.

4:04 pm MaxPoint Interactive beats by $0.07, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs in-line; guides FY15 revs in-line (MXPT) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.15 per share, $0.07 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.22); revenues rose 35.8% year/year to $34.5 mln vs the $22.04 mln consensus.

• Its total number of enterprise customers increased to 601 in the second quarter, up 59% from 378 for the second quarter of 2014.
  
  
• Guidance: Co issues in-line guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $21.2-$23.2 mln vs. $23.20 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees Adjusted EBITDA of between $(3.5) million and $(2.5) million. 
  
  Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees FY15 revs of $86.7-$93.2 mln vs. $92.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees Adjusted EBITDA of between $(11.5) million and $(9.0) million.

4:03 pm Roundy's beats by $0.02, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS in-line, revs below consensus; guides FY15 EPS in-line, revs in-line (RNDY) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.02 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.04); revenues rose 5.9% year/year to $998.3 mln vs the $984.42 mln consensus. Same-store sales from continuing operations decreased 3.9%, which was due to a 4.9% decrease in the number of customer transactions, partially offset by a 1.0% increase in the average transaction size.

• Co issues mixed guidance for Q3, sees EPS of ($0.12)-($0.06) vs. ($0.07) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $975-985 mln vs. $999.67 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 
• Co issues guidance for FY15, sees EPS of ($0.17)-($0.06) vs. ($0.10) Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $3.95-3.99 bln vs. $4 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. 
  

4:03 pm SolarEdge Technologies beats by $0.09, beats on revs; guides Q3 revs above consensus (SEDG) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.31 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues rose 120.6% year/year to $98.4 mln vs the $95.15 mln consensus. GAAP gross margin of 28.7% for fiscal Q4 2015 and 25.2% for fiscal year 2015

• Co issues upside guidance for Q3, sees Q3 revs of $108-112 mln vs. $101.67 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  

4:02 pm Coupons.com names Jennifer Ceran as Chief Financial Officer, effective September 8, 2015 (COUP) : Co announces the appointment of Jennifer Ceran to the Coupons.com executive management team as Chief Financial Officer, effective September 8, 2015. Ceran comes to Coupons.com from Box (BOX) where she served as Vice President of Finance for the cloud-based, enterprise content management company.

4:02 pm Tokai Pharma reports Q2 EPS of ($0.40) vs ($0.54) estimate; Pivotal Phase 3 trial of Galeterone in AR-V7 positive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer on track for topline data by end of 2016 (TKAI) :

• Topline data from ARMOR3-SV are anticipated by the end of 2016. ARMOR3-SV has been initiated at 30 clinical centers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and regulatory approvals to begin the trial have been obtained in Belgium, France and Spain. A clinical trial assay that reliably detects the presence of AR-V7 in circulating tumor cells obtained from prostate cancer patients has been successfully developed by the Company's collaborator, QIAGEN (QGEN). Implementation of the assay and training at the global central laboratories remain ongoing, and the Company continues to expect screening of eligible patients to begin this quarter.
  

4:02 pm AMAG Pharma prices its $500 mln in Senior Notes due 2023 at 7.875% (AMAG) : Co intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to finance its previously announced acquisition of Cord Blood Registry, to refinance certain existing indebtedness, to pay various fees and expenses incurred in connection with the CBR acquisition and related financing transactions, and for general corporate purposes.

4:01 pm American Campus Communities announces the appointment of an acting Non-Executive Chairman of the Board (ACC) : The co. announced that the company's independent, non-executive Chairman of the Board, R.D. Burck, is temporarily relinquishing his chairman duties in order to focus on recovering from a recently-diagnosed illness. Mr. Burck will remain a member of the Board of Directors. Effective immediately, the Board has appointed Edward Lowenthal, a longstanding member of the Board and Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, to serve as the acting independent, non-executive Chairman of the Board during Mr. Burck's absence

4:00 pm LDR Hldg announces a public offering of common stock; size and terms not disclosed (LDRH) : Co intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for the continued expansion of its sales and marketing efforts in the United States and internationally, including its continued launch of Mobi-C in the United States, investments in research and development, potential acquisitions of complementary technologies, the repayment of  $18.2 million of debt and  working capital and other general corporate purposes.

3:49 pm Treasury Market Summary (BONDX) : Treasuries Reverse Gains to End Lower

• The U.S. Treasury market gave back early gains today as the equity markets went from deep losses to gains and the 10-year Treasury auction found little buying interest
• Yield Check:
• 2-yr: unch at 0.66%
• 5-yr: +3 bps to 1.51%
• 10-yr: unch at 2.14%
• 30-yr: +3 bps to 2.84%

• News:
• William Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, said that the Fed could raise rates in September
• He also said that monetary policy cannot solve problems of skills mismatches
• June JOLTS - Job Openings were 5.294 mln, down from the prior reading of 5.357 mln
  
• The MBA Mortgage Index for the week ending 8/8 rose 0.1% versus +4.7% in the prior week
  
• The $24 billion 10-year note auction was met with lackluster demand, sporting a 0.7 bp tail and the lowest bid-to-cover ratio since 2009
• High Yield: 2.115%
• Bid-to-cover: 2.40
• Indirect bid: 60.1%
• Direct bid: 5.8%
• The Treasury Budget showed a deficit of $149.2 bln in July, up from a deficit of $94.6 bln in July 2014. The Treasury data are not seasonally adjusted, and the July deficit cannot be compared to the $50.5 bln surplus in May

• Commodities:
• WTI crude: +0.74% to $43.40/bbl.
• Gold: +1.35% to $1,122.60Copper: +0.73% to $2.35/lb.

• Currencies:
• EUR/USD: +1.13% to $1.1168
• USD/JPY: -0.68% to 124.21

• Data Out Thursday:
• Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending 8/08 and Continuing Jobless Claims for the week 8/01 (08:30 ET)
• July Retail Sales and Retail Sales ex-auto (08:30 ET)
• July Export Price ex-ag and Import Prices ex-oil (08:30 ET)
• June Business Inventories (10:00 ET)
• Natural Gas Inventories for the week ending 8/08)
• Treasury Auction:
• $16 bln 30-year bond auction (results at 13:00 ET)

3:41 pm Earnings Calendar (:SUMRX) : Today after the close look for the following companies to report:

• CSCO, NWSA, RNDY, FLO, RYI, CACI, NTES, CPA, BGG, MIDD, CIVI, LXFT, TGB, SEDG, PODD, SPKE, ECR, AMPH, MDLY, UPLD, GKOS, JUNO, XNET

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

• KSS, AAP, COTY, VSTO, TRCO, GK, CRNT, STOR, PFNX

3:36 pm Dow +16 climbs nearly 300 points off its low, S&P +3 back near multi-month range mid-point after probe of the lower end this morning (:TECHX) :  

3:31 pm Major averages reach positive ground in recent trade -- Dow +14, S&P +3.7, Nasdaq Comp +13 (:TECHX) :  

2:57 pm Currency Market Summary (:FOREX) : Dollar Gets Whacked

• The U.S. Dollar Index fell 1.03% to 96.28 as investors anticipated a slower pace of interest rate policy normalization from the Fed. Since the Chinese government began to let market forces determine the value of the yuan, the Chinese currency has fallen 3.5% and the probability of a Fed hike at the September meeting has declined to 38%
• EUR/USD: +1.06% to $1.1161
• The German government is exploring the option of the EU indemnifying the IMF against potential losses from the Greek bailout in exchange for the IMF backtracking on its insistence for extensive debt relief
• GBP/USD: +0.17% to $1.5604
• The UK's Average Earnings Index (including bonuses) rose 2.4%, missing expectations and trailing the 3.2% growth in May
• The unemployment rate remained to 5.6%, in line with expectations
• USD/JPY: -0.67% to 124.23
• In Japan, Industrial Production grew a better-than-expected 1.1% m/m in June versus 0.8% growth in May
• The Tertiary Industry Activity Index rose 0.3% m/m versus a 0.7% decline in May
• USD/CHF: -1.38% to 0.9746
• ZEW Expectations for the Swiss economy jumped to 5.9 in August from -5.4 in July
• USD/CAD: -0.76% to 1.3001
• AUD/USD: +0.72% to $0.7365
• Australia's Westpac Consumer Sentiment rose 7.8% in August versus a fall of 3.2% in the prior reading
• The Wage Price Index rose 0.6% q/q in Q2, in line with expectations and better than the 0.5% from Q1
• NZD/USD: +0.86% to$ 0.6614
  

2:53 pm Preformed Line Products announces Board approval for a 238K share repurchase plan (PLPC) :  

2:39 pm Citizens Financial Group reaches settlements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the OCC and the FDIC in connection with its handling of deposits between 2008-2013 (CFG) : Co stated: "Like many other peer banks, Citizens employed certain practices to ensure the next-day crediting of deposits in situations when deposit slips contained mathematical errors. However, these past practices and disclosures, principally prior to early 2011, could have been better."

• As part of the settlement, in addition to customer remediation, the company also agreed to pay fines totaling $20.5 million to the CFPB, the OCC and the FDIC.
  

2:35 pm Huntsman re-affirms its strategic initiatives, regarding cash flow and separation of its Pigments and Additives business (HUN) : Co stated:

• "We continue to expect that cash flow will improve ~$300 million in 2016. We also remain committed to a separation of the Pigments and Additives business by the end of 2016 and are actively exploring additional possibilities outside of an initial public offering that may be completed sooner to enhance greater shareholder value."

2:21 pm Reinsurance Group of America acquires underwriting services provider Elite Sales Processing; terms not disclosed (RGA) :  

2:12 pm Mylan Labs announces that proxy advisory firm Egan-Jones has published a report supporting its acquisition of Perrigo (PRGO) (MYL) :  

2:00 pm General Dynamics awarded a contract by the Air Force Material Command to deliver enterprise IT services; single award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract has a potential value of $881 mln over eight years (GD) :  

1:51 pm Turnaround extended with Nasdaq 100 flirting with the flat line -- Dow -82, S&P -8, Nasdaq Comp -11 (:TECHX) :  

1:23 pm Stock indices continue solid recovery rally -- Dow -104 has bounced as much as 175 points off its low, S&P -11, Nasdaq Comp -24 (:TECHX) :  

1:22 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

• FIS (70.11 +7.75%): Announced it would acquire software maker SunGard for ~$9.1 bln.
• CF (61.31 +7.62%): Formed a strategic venture with CHS (CHSCP) in which CHS will purchase a minority equity position in CF's Industries Nitrogen subsidiary for $2.8 bln.
• EOG (79.24 +2.51%): Oil & gas names catching a bid as crude oil stabilizes, energy top performing sector on the day (OXY, APA, XEC, PAGP, NBL among many outperforming).

Large Cap Losers

• JD (26.13 -6.75%): Extension of weakness in U.S. listed Chinese names amid China's continued intervention in the value of its currency; Alibaba (BABA) earnings also weighing (CTRP, BIDU also lower).
• YHOO (34.13 -5.29%): Lower in conjunction Alibaba's (BABA) Q1 earnings report and its resulting share sell-off
• UN (43.75 -4.81%): Downgraded to Sell at Goldman.

Mid Cap Gainers

• W (49.55 +29.81%): Reported Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.15 per share, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.29); revenues rose 66.5% year/year to $491.8 mln vs the $438.48 mln consensus; Guided Q3 revs above consensus.
• TAHO (9.85 +9.57%): Reported Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.12; revenues rose 27.8% year/year to $133.8 mln vs the $141.93 mln consensus; reaffirmed FY15 production guidance.
• CREE (27.49 +9.08%): Missed Q4 consensus EPS estimates by $0.16, reported revs in-line with June warning; guided Q1 in-line.

Mid Cap Losers

• GIII (64.39 -9.39%): Underperforming following Macy's (M) Q2 report.
• ACM (28.36 -7.28%): Missed Q3 consensus EPS estimates by $0.13, missed on revs; lowered FY15 EPS guidance.
• INCR (44.63 -7.41%): Priced its offering of 8 mln shares of its Class A common stock by selling shareholders.

1:06 pm Auction Out (BONDX) : Treasury Auction Preview

• $24 billion 10-year note auction
• Auction results:
• High yield: 2.115%
• Bid-to-cover: 2.40
• Indirect bid: 60.1%
• Direct bid: 5.8%
• Prior 12-auction average results:
• High yield: 2.24%
• Bid-to-cover: 2.69
• Indirect bid: 53.8%
• Direct bid: 11.8%

1:01 pm Midday Market Summary: Financials Weigh (:WRAPX) : The major averages trade in the red at midday, but they have recovered nearly half of their early losses. The S&P 500 remains lower by 0.8% while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.9%) underperforms.

Equity indices have faced selling pressure since the start after the overnight session featured another move to devalue China's yuan. To that point, the People's Bank of China fixed the yuan 1.6% lower and then stepped in to support the currency late in the session, resulting in a 1.0% increase in USD/CNY that sent the pair to 6.3870.

The continued tinkering with the exchange rate by the PBoC has fueled a continuation of yesterday's risk-off move. Major equity indices across Europe lost between 1.4% and 3.4%, notching session lows after Greece-related developments added to the macroeconomic concerns. Specifically, Germany's Bild reported that the German government views the third Greek bailout package as insufficient. This represents a change from yesterday when the market had believed the bailout agreement was all but complete.

Eight of ten sectors trade in negative territory at midday while energy (+0.9%) and utilities (+1.2%) outperform. The energy sector is rebounding from recent weakness as crude oil tries to stay above its flat line. Currently, the energy component is higher by 0.2% at $43.17/bbl after sliding from an early morning high near $43.75/bbl.

For its part, the countercyclical utilities sector has benefited from strength in the Treasury market that has sent the 10-yr yield lower by three basis points to 2.11%. Furthermore, the strength in Treasuries could be indicative of slowly-shifting rate-hike expectations among market participants. That view is bolstered by the fact that financials (-1.7%) underperform with the likes of Bank of America (BAC 17.27, -0.52), Citigroup (C 56.36, -1.28), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 66.38, -1.86) down between 2.2% and 2.9%.

Elsewhere among influential sectors, technology (-0.6%) has climbed ahead of the broader market after showing relative weakness earlier. The sector's rebound has been supported by shares of Apple (AAPL 114.31, +0.82) as the tech heavyweight reversed from an earlier to loss to its current gain of 0.6%.

Economic data released this morning was limited to the June Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, which showed a decrease in openings to 5.249 million from 5.357 million.

The Treasury Budget for July (Briefing.com consensus -$149.00 billion) will be reported at 14:00 ET.

12:56 pm Briggs & Stratton increases quarterly dividend to $0.135/share from $0.125/share (BGG) :  Co is scheduled to report its Q4 results after the close tonight

12:49 pm Solid recovery extension for market averages -- Dow -150, S&P -16, Nasdaq Comp -46 (:TECHX) : Thus far the S&P has been able to recoup roughly half of today's morning decline and the 50% retrace of the decline off yesterday's bounce high at 2068/2069 (rebound high 2069). 

12:45 pm Dynatronics announces its patent for 'Systems and Methods for Providing a Thermo-electro-stimulation Probe Device' has been granted by the USPTO (DYNT) :  

12:41 pm Service Corp adds $385 mln to share repurchase program, increases quarterly dividend to $0.12/share from $0.10/share (SCI) :  

12:31 pm Intraday relative sector strength (:TECHX) : Sectors that have outperformed the S&P on the move off its moring low include: Semi SMH, Rail, Coal KOL, Energy XLE, Oil Service OIH.

12:29 pm New recovery highs for S&P -21 and Dow -188 -- Nasdaq Comp -60 is slightly under its rebound high (:TECHX) :  

12:27 pm Cree impressive turnaround off early low (CREE) : The stock was hit hard in reaction to disappointing earnings with it establishing a new multi-year low off the open (23.36),  The turnaround today, roughly 14.5%, has breached its July/August trading range highs leaving it back near its 50 ema/sma at 26.83/26.91 (session high 26.80). 

12:04 pm American Electric names Stephan T. Haynes SVP - Strategic Initiatives and Chief Risk Officer effective Aug. 3 (AEP) : Haynes was promoted from vice president - Strategic Initiatives and Chief Risk Officer, a position he has held since January 2008.

12:04 pm Wells Fargo announced that Michael Heid, executive vice president and head of Wells Fargo Home Lending will retire (WFC) :

• Effective Oct. 1, 2015, Franklin Codel, executive vice president and currently head of Mortgage Production, will succeed Heid as head of Wells Fargo Home Lending.
  

12:02 pm Box announces Jeetu Patel as SVP of Platform and Chief Strategy Officer (BOX) : Patel was most recently with EMC (EMC), where he was General Manager and Chief Executive of the company's Syncplicity business unit.

12:01 pm Cheviot Finl elects James E. Williamson as Chairman of the Board (CHEV) :  

11:53 am European Markets Closing Prices (:SUMRX) : European markets are now closed; stock markets across Europe performed as follows:

• UK's FTSE:-1.4%
• Germany's DAX:-3.3%
• France's CAC:-3.4%
• Spain's IBEX:-2.4%
• Portugal's PSI:-1.1%
• Italy's MIB Index:-3.0%
• Irish Ovrl Index:-2.7%
• Greece ASE General Index: -1.9%

11:53 am Stocks/ETFs that traded to new 52 week highs/lows this session - New lows (358) outpacing new highs (33) (:SCANX) : Stocks that traded to 52 week highs: ABMD, ACFC, ALDW, ALJ, ASBB, ATRI, BKFS, BZC, CONE, DHI, ELNK, FIS, HCKT, HFC, INGN, LGIH, MLVF, NDRM, NTI, PBF, PEBK, PFIN, PGND, PLL, PLPM, SKYW, TREE, TSE, UFAB, USCR, VLO, W, WFBI

Stocks that traded to 52 week lows: AA, AAIT, AAVL, AAXJ, ABEV, ABGB, ABUS, ACTX, ACV, ADAT, ADRE, AGM, AI, AMH, AMSC, AMTG, AOSL, APF, APOL, APP, ARCO, ARDC, ARGS, ARMF, ARWR, ASCMA, ASX, ATHM, ATI, AVH, AWF, AXJS, AXLL, BABA, BAP, BBD, BBDO, BCA, BDC, BEN, BG, BGB, BGH, BGX, BIDU, BIND, BITA, BKD, BKE, BLCM, BLW, BLX, BOI, BPI, BSM, BTH, BWA, CALA, CANF, CATB, CBD, CBT, CCD, CEE, CET, CG, CH, CHI, CHN, CHY, CIBR, CIK, CIO, CJES, CLDN, CMLS, CMRE, CNAT, CNCO, CNIT, CNXC, COHU, CPA, CPL, CPN, CPPL, CPSI, CRD.B, CRDS, CREE, CSII, CSLT, CSPI, CSX, CTRE, CXW, CYD, CZZ, DAR, DCIX, DDS, DEJ, DGRE, DHF, DLB, DNI, DPW, DQ, DRYS, DSCI, DTEA, DV, DXKW, DXPE, EAD, EBR, EDD, EDF, EDI, EEMA, EEML, EFF, EGAS, EGIF, EMCG, EMES, EMF, EMIF, EMR, ENI, ENPH, ENRJ, ENSV, ENVA, EOC, EOD, EPIQ, ERC, ESL, EVDY, EVK, EVV, EXAC, EXAR, FAV, FBP, FBZ, FCX, FDML, FENG, FEO, FHY, FOF, FOSL, FRPT, FSD, FTAI, FTF, FTW, FUR, GASS, GDF, GEO, GHI, GIM, GLBL, GLBS, GLRE, GLT, GMT, GNRC, GRAM, GRMN, GRPN, GRR, GSM, GTLS, HCOM, HGSH, HHY, HIO, HLX, HPQ, HSGX, HUN, HWCC, HYB, HYI, HYT, IAE, IAF, ICA, IEP, IF, IGD, IHD, IID, INB, INTX, INVN, IO, ITUB, IVH, IVR, IVTY, JFR, JGH, JHY, JLS, JMG, JRO, JSD, JW.A, KCAP, KCG, KEX, KF, KMM, KNDI, KOF, KOPN, KST, KVHI, LDF, LGI, LHO, LITB, LMNR, LNKD, LOCO, LOR, LXK, MCF, MCRN, MDLY, MDVX, MFRI, MGT, MHY, MIL, MM, MMYT, MOBL, MOV, MPW, MRIN, MSF, MSP, MUSA, MXE, MXF, NAVI, NCS, NEP, NFJ, NHS, NIHD, NK, NLST, NRF, NRG, NSC, NSL, NTRA, NWSA, NYLD, OAKS, OCAT, OFG, ONDK, ONE, OTIV, OXGN, PACB, PCF, PCN, PFL, PFN, PHI, PHMD, PIM, PKO, PMCS, PPHM, PRTY, PSG, PSIX, PSUN, PTR, QCLN, QTWW, RADA, RESI, REXI, RL, RNWK, SAH, SBS, SCD, SFM, SFXE, SGF, SGM, SGMO, SGNT, SID, SJR, SLTC, SMT, SMTC, SNHY, SNR, SODA, SORL, SSTK, STAR, STML, SUNE, SVVC, SYMC, SZC, TFM, TG, TIPT, TIVO, TPUB, TROX, TRST, TSU, TTF, TTM, TUP, TWN, TWO, UBIO, UIS, UTIW, UTX, VEDL, VGGL, VIAV, VIDI, VIV, VLT, VTVT, VVUS, WBK, WCC, WFM, WG, WLFC, WSR, XONE, YHOO, YLCO, YNDX, ZA, ZFC

ETFs that traded to 52 week highs: none

ETFs that traded to 52 week lows: AFK, CHN, ECH, EEB, EPP, EPU, EWA, EWM, EWS, EWT, EWY, EWZ, HYG, IDX, ILF, JNK, PBW, PHO, REMX, SEA, TAN, THD, VWO

11:35 am New Supply (BONDX) : Treasury Auction Preview

• $24 billion 10-year note auction (Results at 13:00 ET)
• Prior auction results:
• High yield: 2.225%
• Bid-to-cover: 2.72
• Indirect bid: 58.1%
• Direct bid: 12.1%
• Prior 12-auction average results:
• High yield: 2.24%
• Bid-to-cover: 2.69
• Indirect bid: 53.8%
• Direct bid: 11.8%

11:19 am Everest Re declares a shareholder dividend of $0.95/share, to shareholders of record as of August 26, 2015 (RE) :  

11:19 am Currency Commentary: China continues to rattle markets (:SUMRX) :

• The Dollar Index has been chopped lower and is now testing its 50-sma (96.27) and 100-sma (96.38) area. The DXY is being offered as global developments, particularly around the China devaluation, are raising expectations that the Fed will not be able to raise rates in the September meeting. There are only five weeks until that meeting and the environment remains cautious at best. Economic data remains steady with the JOLTs report this morning missing expectations by a small amount but not enough to raise a red flag. 
• The euro continues to see a bid as the dollar dips lower. The euro was able to break above an important downward trend line which has likely set off some short covering as well. The markets continue to watch Greece but that has clearly been moved to the back pages in light of the dollar move. All signs are pointing to the two sides working towards a deal ahead of the August 20 ECB payment the country owes. The 200 sma (1.1380) will start to work its way on traders radars if current trends persist. 
• The pound is working its way above the 200 sma and is testing some key resistance levels at the 1.57 area. A break above would set sterling on a move toward the mutli-month highs of 1.60. But it still faces significant resistance that it must cross in the coming sessions.
• The yen has been able to find a bid in the risk off environment as it pushes back into the 123 area. Yen is testing its 50-sma for resistance. Industrial Production came in higher than expected which is also easing some thoughts that the country may look to add stimulus in the coming months. 
• The Chinese yuan remains the big story in markets. For the second day in a row the PBoC implemented its new fixing mechanism that saw the yuan fall once again against the dollar. The yuan has now seen its biggest two day drop since 1994. The yuan was trading at 6.20 on Monday morning but the dollar cross fell to as low as 6.44 in early trade before the country intervened to buy the currency. The question for markets is if this is a move by the central bank in order to allow for a more free trading currency. Or if this is a deliberate step to devalue the currency. Either way this is a significant change in policy that has the markets moving toward safe havens until they can get a better handle on the situation and its implications for other asset classes (BONDX, FOREX).
  

11:02 am Leggett & Platt raises its quarterly dividend by 3.2% to $0.32/share from $0.31/share (LEG) :  

10:59 am New session lows for Nasdaq 100/Comp, thus far small-/mid-caps and the Dow -245 and S&P -28 are holding above their morning lows (:TECHX) :  

10:51 am Floor Talk (:TALKX) : The major indices in the U.S. and equity markets around the globe have incurred some notable selling interest today.  The proximate cause for the broad-based weakness is the continued drop in the Chinese yuan and worries that it will trigger competitive devaluations.  The issue runs deeper than that though.  What's running beneath the surface of today's trade is the growing belief that the FOMC will not raise the fed funds rate at its September meeting.  That belief is manifesting itself in the following ways:

• Buying interest at the front of the yield curve
• Notable underperformance of the banking stocks, evidenced by the 1.9% decline in the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF 24.72, -0.49) and the 2.6% decline in the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE 35.20, -0.93)
• The 1.2% decline in the U.S. Dollar Index, which stems from a strong move today by the euro and the yen against the greenback
• The outperformance of the S&P 500 utilities sector (+1.3%)

In the past, the stock market has typically responded enthusiastically to the idea that the FOMC will keep the policy rate at the zero bound for longer.  That reaction has been tabled today, however, on the growing understanding that the lack of a rate hike by the FOMC at this juncture would stem from economic activity not living up to expectations.  That is becoming increasingly problematic for the market, which is running out of patience as it also continues to run with a premium earnings multiple.

In effect, valuation concerns have taken over on the budding recognition that earnings estimates are apt to be revised lower.  What that also suggests is that the market is becoming more demanding of the economic data and the Federal Reserve, such that it no longer gets a kick out of the thought that weak data means policy rates at the zero bound for longer.  That thought instead is becoming more like a kick in a full stomach.

This problematic position for the stock market was highlighted by Briefing.com's Chief Market Analyst, Patrick J. O'Hare, in The Big Picture column published last Friday, .

10:28 am S&P -30 is currently the best performing index with it down as much as 1.4% (:TECHX) : It has recently probed a congestive support zone at 2052/2050 (session low 2052).

10:14 am S&P -25 back to flat line for the year at 2058 (SPY) :  

10:13 am New lows in unison for major averages -- Dow -232, S&P -25, Nasdaq Comp -68 (:TECHX) : Relative weakness in recent trade (underperforming the S&P) include: Housing XHB, Bank KBE, Reg Bank KRE, Finance XLF, Retail XRT, Steel SLX, Discretionary XLY, Airline, Transports IYT, Casino.

10:05 am New lows for Dow -201 and S&P -20 in recent trade but Nasdaq Comp/10 have not confirmed the move (:TECHX) : Have seen some relative sector strength in recent action in Biotech IBB, Pharma PPH, Health XLV, Medical Supplies, Utility XLU.

10:01 am Lockheed Martin is awarded a contract to secure western US region airports & ports through July 2020 (LMT) : The Transportation Security Administration has selected the company for the Transportation Security Equipment Deployment Services contract for all TSA deployments of security capabilities in the Western Region. The period of performance is July 2015 through July 2020 and is part of an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a $450 million ceiling for work across the three U.S. geographic regions

9:57 am Wayfair (+16%) hit new all time high following beat and raise report (W) : W is up 17% after co beat Q2 estimates and guided for Q3 revs above consensus.

• On call co guided for $490-525 mln vs $462.73 mln Capital IQ Consensus, with direct retail rev of $445-475 mln (+56-66%) and EBITDA margin -2.5 to -3%. Co will continue to invest in the business.
  

9:56 am EXFO is awarded a multi-million dollar order from an Asia-Pacific government, for a fiber monitoring system that will monitor an IP/MPLS network; recognition of revenue expected in FY16 (EXFO) :  

9:51 am Minimal recovery attempt after firmly negative start with indices notching new lows. -- Dow -205, S&P -21, Nasdaq Comp -62 (:TECHX) :  

9:43 am Opening Market Summary: Influential Sectors Pace Opening Retreat (:WRAPX) : The stock market began the trading day under broad selling pressure with the S&P 500 (-0.9%) sliding below its 200-day moving average (2075) with eight sectors taking part in the retreat while energy (+0.6%) and utilities (+0.3%) outperform.

On the downside, four of the eight decliners show losses of 1.0% or more with top-weighted technology (-1.1%), financials (-1.4%), and consumer discretionary (-1.4%) leading the retreat. Those sectors deserve close attention as the morning continues, considering they account for nearly 50.0% of the entire market.

The early selling interest has been far-reaching with declining issues outpacing advancers by a 3:1 margin.

Elsewhere, Treasuries have been dripping lower from their early morning highs with the 10-yr yield now down two basis points at 2.12%.

9:40 am Dr. Reddy's announces the launch of Pramipexole dihydrochloride extended-release tablets in the US, as a generic for Mirapex ER (RDY) :  

9:38 am S&P breaks to new low for the week (SPY) : Aggressive slide in early trade sets new low for the week and probes the 2063/2061 zone (late July reaction low/200 ema) -- session low 2063.

9:36 am Firmly negative start to hump day -- Dow -190, S&P -19, Nasdaq Comp -53 (:TECHX) : The weakest performing groups in early action include: Social Media SOCL, Semi SMH, Retail XRT, Coal KOL, Casino, Telecom IYZ, Finance XLF.

9:33 am Early relative sector strength (:TECHX) : Sectors outperforming during the early market slide include: Gold Miners GDX +2.7%, Gold GLD +0.8%, Silver SLV +0.8%, Crude Oil USO +0.2%, Utility XLU +0.1%.

9:29 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Perry Ellis International (PERY) announced that it has entered into license agreements with Itochu Prominent for men's dress shirts under the Perry Ellis trademark and for men's dress shirts and tailored clothing under the Original Penguin trademark in the U.S. and Canada
• Nimble Storage (NMBL) announced that Leonard Iventosch has joined the company's executive leadership team as vice president of worldwide channels
• Constellation, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (EXC) and Bloom Energy announced an agreement to develop 40 MW of Bloom Energy fuel cell projects for commercial and public sector customers in California, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York
• UOP LLC, a Honeywell (HON) company, announced that Shandong Chambroad Holding has become the first company in China to commission a combined C3/C4 dehydrogenation unit to meet demand in Asia for plastics, high-octane gasoline and synthetic rubber
• Sociedad Qumica y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) reported that the Company performed an inspection of the railway line that runs between Coya Sur and Tocopilla, following the storms that affected the area over the weekend. Preliminary findings indicate that some areas have been damaged, which is why the train is not currently operating. Detailed studies will be carried out to determine the next steps. SQM estimates that scheduled shipments should not be impacted
  
• Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (GILT) announced that it is entering into a partnership with Space Star Technology Co, in which SSTC and Gilat will jointly provide the satellite communications network for ChinaSat 16, the first Ka HTS multi-spot-beam satellite in China
  

9:15 am Confier Holdings (Nasdaq: CNFR), which was expected to begin trading today but was pushed back until tomorrow reduces the terms of its IPO by 33% in an amended prospectus (:IPOXX) : The co disclosed that it is now offering 3.1 mln shares, vs. prior plans to offer 4.6 mln shares. The expected price range remained the same, of between $11.00-$13.00

9:13 am S&P futures vs fair value: -16.30. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -31.20. (:WRAPX) : The stock market is on track for a lower open as S&P 500 futures trade 16 points below fair value after an overnight session that featured another sharp move in China's yuan, which sent the currency lower by 1.0% against the dollar to 6.3870.

With the yuan back to levels last seen in October 2012, global investors have employed caution. As a result, key markets across Europe are down between 1.2% (UK) and 2.5% (France) on top of yesterday's losses.

Domestically, S&P 500 futures have erased roughly half of their initial decline while Treasuries have backed away from their highs, but the 10-yr note continues trading in the green with its yield down three basis points at 2.11%.

Also of note, the Dollar Index (96.36, -0.88) has marched lower as currency traders show increasing doubt that the Federal Reserve will be ready to raise rates in September given the implications of the yuan devaluation.

On the corporate front, Alibaba Group (BABA 72.70, -4.64) is on track to open lower by 6.1% in reaction to a one-cent beat on below-consensus revenue. That said, the company announced a $4 billion share buyback. Meanwhile, Fossil (FOSL 57.02, -5.09) is down 8.2% in pre-market after missing revenue estimates and guiding fiscal-year 2015 earnings below analyst expectations.

9:06 am Investment Tech reaches final settlement with the SEC in connection with a proprietary trading pilot program that operated for 16 months in 2010 through mid-2011 (ITG) : According to the terms of the settlement, ITG will pay disgorgement of $2,081,304, prejudgment interest of $256,532, and a civil penalty of $18,000,000.

9:06 am Medical Properties Trust's operating partnership, MPT Operating Partnership, prices its EUR 500 million offering of senior notes due 2022 at 4% (MPW) :  

9:05 am Mylan Labs says that proxy firm Glass Lewis recommends shareholders vote for its proposed acquisition of Perrigo (PRGO) citing attractive run-rate synergies among other points (MYL) :  

9:01 am BAE Systems awarded contract to overhaul and upgrade Mk 45 systems on U.S. Navy Destroyer Class ships; initial contract is ~$80 mln with an option that could expand the full value of the contract to $130 mln (BAESY) :  

9:01 am Air Industries Group reaches an agreement in principle to acquire Compac Development Corporation; terms not disclosed (AIRI) : Compac specializes in the manufacture of RFI/EMI shielded enclosures for electronic components. Co stated: "This is more than a financially accretive acquisition; we are excited about what Compac's capabilities bring to our Aerostructures and Electronics segment."

9:00 am S&P futures vs fair value: -13.40. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -28.30. (:WRAPX) : The S&P 500 futures trade 13 points below fair value.

It was a sea of red across the Asia-Pacific region as equity markets remained on the defensive following another big jolt of weakness in the yuan that perpetuated Tuesday's concerns about competitive devaluation. A batch of weaker than expected data out of China didn't help matters globally as that perpetuated concerns about the country's economic slowdown and end demand in general.

• In economic data: 
  • China's July Industrial Production +6.0% year-over-year (expected +6.6%; prior +6.8%), July Fixed Asset Investment +11.2% year-over-year (expected +11.5%; prior +11.4%), and July Retail Sales +10.5% year-over-year (expected +10.6%; prior +10.6%) 
  • Japan's June Industrial Production +1.1% month-over-month (expected +0.8%; prior +0.8%), June Capacity Utilization +0.7% month-over-month (prior -3.0%), and Tertiary Industry Activity Index +0.3% month-over-month (expected +0.1%; prior -0.7%). Separately, July CGPI -0.2% month-over-month (expected -0.1%; prior -0.2%); -3.0% year-over-year (expected -2.9%; prior -2.4%) 
  • South Korea's July Unemployment Rate 3.7% (expected 3.9%; prior 3.9%) and August M2 Money Supply +9.7% (prior +9.5%) 
  • Australia's August Westpac Consumer Sentiment 7.8% (prior -3.2%) while Q2 Wage Price Index +0.6% quarter-over-quarter (expected +0.6%; prior +0.5%); +2.3% year-over-year (expected +2.3%; prior +2.3%) 

------

• Japan's Nikkei declined 1.6%, led lower by the industrials (-2.0%), materials (-2.0%), technology (-2.0%), and consumer staples (-1.9%) sectors. The biggest laggards were JFE Holdings (-7.1%), SCREEN Holdings (-6.5%), and Kobe Steel (-6.1%). Unitika (+7.7%), Pioneer Corp (+5.3%), and Furukawa (+2.9%) topped the list of winners. Out of the 225 index members, 33 ended higher, 189 finished lower, and 3 were unchanged. 
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 2.4% in a trend-down day. Property stocks comprised a notable point of weakness. China Overseas Land & Investment (-8.3%), China Resources Land (-8.0%), and BOC Hong Kong Holdings (-7.8%) were the worst-performing issues. Li & Fung (+2.8%) and CLP Holdings (+1.3%) were the only stocks to gain in excess of 1.0%. Out of the 50 index members, 5 ended higher, 42 finished lower, and 3 were unchanged. 
• China's Shanghai Composite declined 1.1% after succumbing to a bout of selling interest in the last hour of trading. The weakness followed weaker than expected results for the July industrial production, fixed asset investment, and retail sales reports that fed concerns about the economic slowdown in China. Losses were held in check most likely by the assumption that the soft data increase the likelihood of additional policy stimulus. 

Major European indices trade lower across the board with France's CAC (-2.5%) leading the slide. Elsewhere, Germany's government is reportedly looking at ways that would enable the eurozone to guarantee Greece's obligations to the International Monetary Fund, thus eliminating the need for debt relief that has been requested by the IMF.

• Economic data was limited: 
  • Eurozone June Industrial Production -0.4% month-over-month (expected -0.2%; prior -0.4%); +1.2% year-over-year (consensus 1.5%; last 1.6%) 
  • UK's June Average Earnings Index + Bonus +2.4% year-over-year (consensus 2.8%; prior 3.2%) while July Claimant Count -4,900 (expected +1,500; prior +200). Separately, the Unemployment Rate held at 5.6%, as expected 
  • France's June Current Account surplus expanded to EUR1.00 billion from EUR200 million, as expected 
  • Italy's June trade surplus narrowed to EUR2.81 billion from EUR4.14 billion (expected surplus of EUR3.98 billion) 
  • Swiss August ZEW Expectations increased to 5.9 from -5.4 

------

• UK's FTSE is lower by 1.2% with more than 90% of its components trading in the red. Miner Glencore is the weakest performer, down 5.8%, while consumer names also lag with Unilever, Burberry, Tesco, Morrison Supermarkets, and J Sainsbury showing losses between 2.0% and 4.1%. On the upside, BP has climbed 0.4%. 
• Germany's DAX trades down 2.4% amid broad weakness. Exporters paced yesterday's tumble and the same names are back among today's laggards with BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen down between 2.6% and 4.0%. 
• In France, the CAC has given up 2.5% amid losses in all 40 components. Similar to Germany, exporters underperform with Airbus, Peugeot, Louis Vuitton, and L'Oreal down between 3.7% and 4.0%.

9:00 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Jellyvision, the company behind the ALEX employee communication platform and Castlight Health (CSLT), announced a new partnership. Through the new partnership, Castlight will offer ALEX on its EHC platform to all mutual customers
• Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT) announced the formation of a Strategic & Scientific Advisory Board, and appointed Louis Kunkel, PhD, Beverly Davidson, PhD, and Jeffrey Chamberlain, PhD to the Board
• ZBB Energy Corporation (ZBB) announced an order for its Matrix Energy Management and Agile Hybrid Energy Storage systems, to be incorporated into the Microgrid South Campus of Open Access Technology International in Bloomington, Minnesota
• CGI (GIB) announced the award of a 5-year contract from Connect for Health Colorado for services that will improve call center performance, provide ongoing system maintenance and upgrades, and allow development of an online portal for health insurance brokers
• Amedica Corporation (AMDA) announced that the Agncia Nacional de Vigilncia Sanitria has cleared its first generation Valeo silicon nitride interbody fusion devices and instrument sets for use in Brazil

8:40 am Hewlett-Packard announces expected Board lineup for both Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP ahead of split (HPQ) : As the co prepares to separate into two industry-leading companies on November 1, 2015, it introduced the expected members of the boards of directors for both Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. Each board will include members of the current HP board, as well as several new directors chosen after a review of personal and professional qualifications

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise will be led by current HP chief executive officer Meg Whitman. HP Inc. will be led Dion Weisler, who currently runs the Printing and Personal Systems Group at HP. In addition, current Board member James Skinner has announced that he has resigned from the Board, effective upon completion of the separation, due to the increased workload of his new role as Executive Chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)
• For Hewlett Packard Enterprise: 
• The board of directors of Hewlett Packard Enterprise will be chaired by Pat Russo, who joined the HP board in 2011 and currently serves as its lead independent director. 
  
• The Hewlett Packard Enterprise board of directors is expected to include: Dan Ammann, President, General Motors (GM), Marc Andreessen, Co-founder, AH Capital Management, Michael J. Angelakis, Senior Advisor to the Executive Management Committee, Comcast Corporation (CMCSA); former Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, Comcast Corporation, Leslie A. Brun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sarr Group, Pamela Carter, former President, Cummins (CMI) Distribution, Klaus Kleinfeld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Alcoa (AA), Raymond J. Lane, Partner Emeritus, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Ann M. Livermore, former Executive Vice President, HP Enterprise Business, Raymond E. Ozzie, Chief Executive Officer, Talko, Gary M. Reiner, Operating Partner, General Atlantic, Lip-Bu Tan, Chairman, Walden International; President and Chief Executive Officer, Cadence Design Systems (CDNS), Meg Whitman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, HP
  
• For HP:
• Meg Whitman will chair the board of directors for HP Inc. 
• The HP Inc. board of directors is expected to include: Shumeet Banerji, Founder, Condorcet, LP; former Chief Executive Officer, Booz & Company (BAH), Carl Bass, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Autodesk (ADSK), Robert R. Bennett, Managing Director, Hilltop Investments (HTH); former President and Chief Executive Officer, Liberty Media (LMCA), Charles V. "Chip" Bergh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Levi Strauss & Co., Stacy Brown-Philpot, Chief Operating Officer, TaskRabbit, Stephanie A. Burns, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dow Corning Corporation, Mary Anne Citrino, Senior Advisor, Blackstone (BX), Rajiv Gupta, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rohm and Haas Company, Stacey Mobley, former Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer
  and General Counsel, DuPont (DD), Subra Suresh, President, Carnegie Mellon University, Dion Weisler, Executive Vice President, HP

8:34 am European Markets Update: FTSE -1.1%, DAX -2.3%, CAC -2.4% (:SUMRX) : Major European indices trade lower across the board with France's CAC (-2.4%) leading the slide. Elsewhere, Germany's government is reportedly looking at ways that would enable the eurozone to guarantee Greece's obligations to the International Monetary Fund, thus eliminating the need for debt relief that has been requested by the IMF.

• Economic data was limited: 
• Eurozone June Industrial Production -0.4% month-over-month (expected -0.2%; prior -0.4%); +1.2% year-over-year (consensus 1.5%; last 1.6%) 
• UK's June Average Earnings Index + Bonus +2.4% year-over-year (consensus 2.8%; prior 3.2%) while July Claimant Count -4,900 (expected +1,500; prior +200). Separately, the Unemployment Rate held at 5.6%, as expected 
• France's June Current Account surplus expanded to EUR1.00 billion from EUR200 million, as expected 
• Italy's June trade surplus narrowed to EUR2.81 billion from EUR4.14 billion (expected surplus of EUR3.98 billion) 
• Swiss August ZEW Expectations increased to 5.9 from -5.4 

------

• UK's FTSE is lower by 1.1% with more than 90% of its components trading in the red. Miner Glencore is the weakest performer, down 5.8%, while consumer names also lag with Unilever, Burberry, Tesco, Morrison Supermarkets, and J Sainsbury showing losses between 2.0% and 4.1%. On the upside, BP has climbed 0.4%. 
• Germany's DAX trades down 2.3% amid broad weakness. Exporters paced yesterday's tumble and the same names are back among today's laggards with BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen down between 2.6% and 4.0%. 
• In France, the CAC has given up 2.4% amid losses in all 40 components. Similar to Germany, exporters underperform with Airbus, Peugeot, Louis Vuitton, and L'Oreal down between 3.7% and 4.0%.
  

8:32 am Nova Lifestyle reports Q2 adj EPS of $0.07 vs $0.06 year ago; revs 12.7% to $29.2 mln (no estimates). (NVFY) : Gross margin as a percent of net sales was 18% compared to 19% in the same period in 2014. "We continue to maintain a strong financial position during a period of robust expansion. Our recent financing simplified our capital structure, and we remain focused on properly utilizing our capital to grow in a sustainable manner, improving our receivables, and maintaining a lean operating infrastructure. We made progress in this regard during the second quarter and expect continued improvements throughout the second half of 2015."

8:31 am Solar3D to acquire Elite Solar for $7.15 mln (SLTD) : Co has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of Elite Solar, a Durham, California-based solar systems provider. Elite Solar designs and installs photovoltaic systems for residential, commercial, agricultural and municipal customers.

• Elite Solar's revenue for 2015 is expected to approach $20 million, an increase of 140% over the 2014 figure. Elite Solar also expects EBITDA to be $2.2 million in 2015. 
• Solar3D will pay $7.15 million for the company, with $2.5 million to be paid in cash and $4.65 million in common stock. The purchase agreement calls for additional consideration should certain sales and EBITDA milestones are met. 
• The transaction is expected to close on or before November 1, 2015.
  

8:31 am Dr Pepper Snapple confirms it has made an equity investment of $20 mln in BA Sports Nutrition, the owner of BODYARMOR SuperDrink; will get 11.7% stake (DPS) : The terms of the BODYARMOR transaction will not have a material impact on DPS's financial statements.

8:30 am AbbVie's confirms its Phase 2 study of Venetoclax in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia meets its primary endpoint (ABBV) :  

8:30 am S&P futures vs fair value: -13.60. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -32.10. (:WRAPX) : U.S. equity futures remain under pressure, but they have been climbing off their lows throughout the morning. The S&P 500 futures notched their lows around 5:00 ET and hovered near those levels for about an hour before recovering 12 points over the past two hours.

Similarly, U.S. Treasuries also marked their highs during early morning action before slipping from their highs. Still, the 10-yr note continues holding a solid gain with its yield down four basis points at 2.10% after dipping below 2.05% earlier this morning.

8:30 am UQM Technologies announced that Zenith Motors has received increased customer orders for Zenith delivery vehicles that are powered by the UQM PowerPhase Pro 135 technology (UQM) :  

8:30 am Roche Hldg announces Phase II M13-982 study of Venetocla; study met its primary endpoint & no unexpected safety signals were reported (RHHBY) :

• Co announces positive results from the Phase II M13-982 study of venetoclax, an investigational medicine being developed in partnership with AbbVie. The study met its primary endpoint, showing that venetoclax monotherapy resulted in a clinically meaningful reduction in the number of cancer cells in a pre-defined proportion of people with previously treated (relapsed or refractory) chronic lymphocytic leukemia harboring the 17p deletion. No unexpected safety signals were reported for venetoclax. 
• Data from the pivotal M13-982 study will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting. AbbVie plans to submit these data to the FDA, European Medicines Agency and other health authorities around the world for approval consideration.

8:29 am CAE beats by $0.01, misses on revs (CAE) : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of CAD $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, CAD $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of CAD $0.18; revenues rose 5.9% year/year to CAD $557 mln vs the CAD $571.14 mln consensus. 

• Outlook: The Company's outlook for growth and operating margins remains consistent with that given at the end of the last fiscal year. CAE continues to expect growth in fiscal 2016 across all business segments, with a stronger second half of the fiscal year. In Civil, the Company expects annual operating margins to improve from the 16.3% level reached last year on higher training utilization, and to have FFS unit sales in the range of the fiscal 2015 number. 
• Quarterly dividend increase by half a cent to 7.5 cents per share effective September 30, 2015
  

8:28 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• Norsat International (NSAT) announced that its Land Mobile Radio division Sinclair Technologies, has begun shipments of its SE41x series of wideband enclosed dipole antennas
• Taboola announced a three-year, exclusive partnership with Ziff Davis, a unit of j2 Global (JCOM), whereby Taboola's personalized content recommendations will be integrated into Ziff Davis' portfolio of desktop and mobile websites
• ANI Pharmaceuticals (ANIP) completed an agreement with IDT Australia to commercialize up to 18 previously marketed US generic drug products. ANI paid IDT $1.0 million for exclusive rights to commercialize the products in the North American market. ANI will share in a percentage of net profits upon commercialization, which percentage was not disclosed
• The U.S. Navy extended Raytheon's (RTN) Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract on the Joint Precision Approach Landing Systems program, with a contract valued at ~$52 mln
• The J.G. Wentworth Company (JGW) announced the availability of its first prepaid product, the J.G. Wentworth Cash Now Visa Prepaid Card
  
• CDW (CDW) announced that Neil Fairfield has been named vice president and controller and principal accounting officer

8:27 am Scorpio Tankers reports an update on its share repurchase program and takes delivery of two LR2 product tankers (STNG) : Co reported that it has $227.6 million remaining under its securities buyback program. The company also took delivery of two LR2 product tankers in August 2015:

• The STI Lombard was delivered from Daehan Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. under the previously announced bareboat charter-in agreement for $10,000 per day. Upon delivery, this vessel began a voyage for 45 days at $45,000 per day. 
• The STI Kingsway was delivered from Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. Upon delivery, this vessel began a voyage for 46 days at $45,000 per day.
  

8:19 am European Yields (BONDX) : Schatz Yield Hits Record Low

• The flight to quality induced by China's quasi-flotation of the yuan on Tuesday has sent the 2-year German Schatz yield to a record low of -0.29%
• Albert Edwards, the permanently bearish strategist at Societe Generale, is saying that investors "should prepare for a tidal wave of deflation from Asia," which would tend to push yields lower in the West
• While the focus of global markets remains centered on the Chinese currency, Greece does have to make a 3.2 bln euro payment to the IMF on August 20th
• There are indications that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is favoring a bridge loan for Greece to make this payment rather than finalizing the whole bailout before next Thursday, according to Ekathimerini, the Greek newspaper
• The German government is also said to be exploring the option of the EU indemnifying the IMF against potential losses from the new bailout in exchange for the IMF backtracking on its insistence for extensive debt relief, according to Reuters
• The UK's Average Earnings Index (including bonuses) rose 2.4%, missing expectations and trailing the 3.2% growth in May
• The unemployment rate remained at 5.6%, in line with expectations
• Industrial Production in the eurozone fell 0.4% in June, worse than the market had expected
• Germany auctioned off 10-year Bunds, garnering a yield of 0.610%
• Yield Check:
• France, 10-yr OAT: -1 bp to 0.92%
• Germany, 10-yr Bund: -2 bps to 0.62%
• Greece, 10-yr note: +3 bps to 10.10%
• Italy, 10-yr BTP: -1 bp to 1.77%
• Portugal, 10-yr note: +1 bp to 2.34%
• Spain, 10-yr ODE: unch at 1.91%
• U.K., 10-yr Gilt: -3 bps to 1.81%
• The 10-yr Gilt yield touched an intraday low of 1.75%, its lowest level since April

8:16 am Gapping down (:SCANX) : Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance: FOSL -10.5%, FRPT -8.9%, CLDN -6.3%, BABA -5.4%, CDTX -4.7%, CREE -3%, M -3%, VIAV -2.6%, (i appoints Richard Belluzzo as interim President and CEO, effective immediately), T -1.7%, MYGN -1.1%, TAHO -1.1%, CYBR -0.7%, FTAI -0.7%

Select China related names showing weakness: HSBC -3.4%, BITA -2.8%, JMEI -2.6%, BIDU -2.5%, CTRP -2.5%, CMCM -2.2%, JD -1.9%

Select metals stocks trading lower: MT -2.5%, X -2.5%, BHP -2.4%, FCX -2.3%

Other news: APP -14.2% (disclosed it does not currently expect that it will have sufficient financing commitments to meet funding requirements for the next twelve months without raising additional capital and/or entering into some other financing transaction or agreement), INCR -6.7% (priced secondary offering of 8 mln shares of its Class A common stock by on behalf of selling shareholders; actual price not disclosed), CLDN -6.3% (co disclosed it received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice related to trading the co's common stock; co also reported earnings), CYRN -5% (upsized underwritten public offering of 6,666,666 common shares at $1.65/share), YHOO -3.5% (in symp with BABA (earnings)), ECR -2.2% (filed for $500 mln mixed securities shelf offering), AXTA -1.7% (prices secondary offering of 30,000,000 of its common shares at $29.75 per share), GE -0.8% (General Electric announces it will Sell its Healthcare Financial Services U.S. Lending Business to Capital One (COF) for ~$9 billion; expected closure in 4Q15), LNG -0.7% (entered into a sales agreement for the delivery of 100 mln MMBtus of natural gas, with Electricite de France (ECIFY), agreement extends through 2018), EZPW -0.7% (filed to delay Form 10-Q filing)

Analyst comments: LGCY -0.9% (downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer)

8:12 am Macy's misses by $0.12, misses on revs; lowers FY16 guidance; co will start selling on Alibaba's Tmall; sells part of Brooklyn store to Tishman Speyer (M) :

• Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.64 per share, $0.12 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.76; revenues fell 2.6% year/year to $6.1 bln vs the $6.22 bln consensus. 
• Comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis were down by 1.5% in Q2 vs. slightly positive guidance. On an owned basis, second quarter comparable sales declined by 2.1 percent.
• Co lowers guidance for FY16
• Reaffirms FY16 EPS of $4.70-4.80, as a result of the expected $250 million gain on the sale of real estate in downtown Brooklyn, which was not factored into previous calculations (lowering adj. EPS), not comparable to $4.63 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; 
• Lowers FY16 revs to -1% to ~$27.8 bln (from +1%) vs. $28.26 bln Capital IQ Consensus. 
• Primarily based on weaker-than-expected sales performance in the first half, the company is reducing its full-year 2015 guidance for comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis to be ~flat, compared with previous guidance for growth of ~2 percent. Comparable sales on an owned basis will be ~50 basis points lower than on an owned plus licensed basis. 
• Macy's separately announced it has formed a free-standing JV with Hong Kong-based Fung Retailing Limited to explore retailing in China; plans to begin selling in China in late 2015 through an e-commerce presence on Alibaba Group's Tmall Global. 
• Co signed a real estate purchase and sale agreement with Tishman Speyer -- Macy's will receive $170 million in cash from Tishman Speyer for its Brooklyn real estate assets and will receive an additional $100 million over the next three years. Macy's will continue to own and operate the first four floors and lower level of its existing nine-story Fulton Street retail store, which will be reconfigured and remodeled. Tishman Speyer will purchase the portion of the site that Macy's will not retain, which it will develop.
  

8:10 am AT&T follow-up; T provides update following DTV Acquisition (T) : T provides update following DTV acquisition. AT&T continues to expect $2.5 billion or better annual run-rate cost synergies from the DIRECTV transaction by 2018.

• Co now sees FY15 (Dec) EPS of $2.62-2.68 vs. $2.59 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees FY15 consolidated revenues up double-digits.
• For 2016-2018, financial guidance includes: 
• Consolidated revenue growth in line with GDP growth or better 
• Adjusted EPS growth in mid single-digit range or better
• Improving free cash flow with a free cash flow dividend payout ratio in the 70s percent range.
• Co is hosting a financial analyst conference today to discuss the company's strategies and plans.

8:10 am Gapping up (:SCANX) : Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance: EVDY +14.3%, HTM +13%, ZFGN +10%, W +6.6%, EZCH +6.5%, LUNA +5.2%, SMED +5.2%, CBLI +4.1%, TIK +3.8%, INGN +3.7%, VCEL +3.1%, FOGO +2.5%, CDXS +0.7%, MRKT +0.7%, VWR +0.6%, TPVG +0.5%, HIIQ +0.5%, CSC +0.5%

M&A news: CDK +9.2% (reports it is exploring a sale)

Select metals/mining stocks trading higher: SA +4.2%, EGO +3.7%, KGC +2.4%, ABX +2%, GFI +1.8%, PAAS +1.8%, GG +1.7%, NEM +1.3%, GDX +1%, GOLD +0.8%, AU +0.8%

Other news: AQXP +6.6% (cont strength),ATLS +4.2% (Leon Cooperman (Omega Advisors) disclosed 20.04% active stake in 13D filing),CLBS +2.2% (co's President/CFO disclosed purchase of 81000 shares, worth total of $100.2K),SUNE +2% (SunEdison and TerraForm Power (TERP) announce the syndication of a $280 million),PSTI +1.4% (receives safety clearance in Japan for PLX-PAD cells use in clinical trials),AL +1.3% (announced pricing of public offering of $500 mln of 2.625% unsecured senior notes due 2018)

Analyst comments: GOOGL +0.9% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley),TGTX +0.9% (resumed with a Buy at H.C. Wainwright)

8:08 am Wireless Telecom Group reports Q2 EPS of $0.00 vs $0.03 year ago; revs -21.2% y/y to $8.2 mln (no estimates) (WTT) :

• Non-GAAP normalized EBITDA for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 was $349,000, compared to $1,450,000 for the same period in 2014.
  

8:04 am Two River Bancorp approved to transfer listing from Nasdaq Capital Market to the Nasdaq Global Market, effective today (TRCB) :  

8:03 am Centene announces CFO William Sheffel's intent to retire, and appointment of Jeffrey Schwaneke upon Sheffel's retirement (CNC) : It is Sheffel's intent to step down in February after the filing of the Form 10-K, or when the Health Net transaction is completed, whichever is later. Schwaneke is currently a Senior Vice President, and the Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of the company

8:02 am BioPharmX appoints Greg Kitchener as its CFO (BPMX) : Mr. Kitchener most recently served as vice president of finance at Cepheid, a publicly traded healthcare company, where he focused on corporate planning and analysis, treasury, raising capital, and supporting a nationally recognized investor relations program.

8:02 am Werner Enterprises announces management changes, C.L. Werner was elected Chairman and Gary Werner was elected Vice Chairman, after Gary stepped down as Chairman (WERN) :

• Co announced the following management changes after its Board of Directors meeting yesterday. 
• C.L. Werner was elected Chairman and Gary Werner was elected Vice Chairman, after Gary stepped down as Chairman to spend more time with his family.
• Gary will continue with the company as Vice Chairman; Greg Werner will remain CEO and relinquished the position of Vice Chairman.
• C.L., Gary and Greg will continue to serve on the company's Board of Directors.
  

8:02 am Shell Midstream Partners beats by $0.01, beats on revs (SHLX) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.22 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.21; revenues rose 32.7% year/year to $57.6 mln vs the $56.51 mln consensus.

• "It has only been ten months since Shell Midstream Partners held its initial public offering, and as promised we completed two acquisitions to further strengthen our portfolio and we intend to keep the momentum going," said John Hollowell, Chief Executive Officer of Shell Midstream Partners. "We are well on our way to delivering top tier distribution growth, including an expected third drop down by the end of the year."
  

8:01 am Teva Pharma announces that the New Drug Application for SD-809 has been accepted by the FDA for the treatment of chorea associated with Huntington disease (TEVA) : The NDA filing is based on positive results from two Phase-III studies, FIRST-HD and ARC-HD.

8:01 am Immune Design enters into a clinical trial collaboration with Genentech, a member of Roche (RHHBY), to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Immune Design's CMB305 cancer candidate (IMDZ) : Co has entered into a clinical trial collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (RHHBY), to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Immune Design's CMB305 cancer immunotherapy product candidate combined with the investigational cancer immunotherapy atezolizumab in a randomized Phase 2 trial in patients with soft tissue sarcoma.

• The randomized, open label Phase 2 trial will evaluate CMB305 and atezolizumab in patients with locally advanced, relapsed, or metastatic synovial sarcoma or myxoid/round-cell liposarcoma, two types of sarcoma that tend to express NY-ESO-1 broadly.
  

7:59 am On the Wires (:WIRES) :

• BioDelivery Sciences International (BDSI) announce that is has appointed Scott Plesha as Senior Vice President of Sales
• Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. (EBIO) announced dose administration for the first patients in a Phase 3 study of EBI-005 for the treatment of moderate to severe allergic conjunctivitis
• Ceres, Inc. (CERE) has been awarded a U.S. patent for its iCODE multi-gene trait development system. The company indicated that the patent award is a key milestone in its plan to further develop and license this technology to other crop companies and organizations

7:58 am S&P futures vs fair value: -14.10. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -31.80. (:WRAPX) : U.S. equity futures have faced overnight selling pressure after the People's Bank of China devalued the yuan for the second consecutive day, sending the USD/CNY pair higher by 1.0% to 6.3870. Just like yesterday, the news has weighed on global equity markets with S&P 500 futures trading 14 points below fair value at this juncture.

Treasuries have rallied, but they trade a bit below their highs with the 10-yr yield down three basis points at 2.11%.

The weekly MBA Mortgage Index ticked up 0.1% to follow last week's 4.7% spike.

A couple more data points will be reported today with the June Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey set to be released at 10:00 ET while the Treasury Budget for July (Briefing.com consensus -$149.00 billion) will be reported at 14:00 ET.

In U.S. corporate news of note:

• Alibaba Group (BABA 73.51, -3.83): -5.0% in reaction to a one-cent beat on below-consensus revenue. In addition, the company announced a $4 billion share buyback. 
• Fossil (FOSL 56.80, -5.31): -8.6% after missing revenue estimates and guiding fiscal-year 2015 earnings below analyst expectations. 

Reviewing overnight developments:

• Asian markets ended lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng -2.4%, China's Shanghai Composite -1.1%, and Japan's Nikkei -1.6% 
  • In economic data: 
    • China's July Industrial Production +6.0% year-over-year (expected +6.6%; prior +6.8%), July Fixed Asset Investment +11.2% year-over-year (expected +11.5%; prior +11.4%), and July Retail Sales +10.5% year-over-year (expected +10.6%; prior +10.6%) 
    • Japan's June Industrial Production +1.1% month-over-month (expected +0.8%; prior +0.8%), June Capacity Utilization +0.7% month-over-month (prior -3.0%), and Tertiary Industry Activity Index +0.3% month-over-month (expected +0.1%; prior -0.7%). Separately, July CGPI -0.2% month-over-month (expected -0.1%; prior -0.2%); -3.0% year-over-year (expected -2.9%; prior -2.4%) 
    • South Korea's July Unemployment Rate 3.7% (expected 3.9%; prior 3.9%) and August M2 Money Supply +9.7% (prior +9.5%) 
    • Australia's August Westpac Consumer Sentiment 7.8% (prior -3.2%) while Q2 Wage Price Index +0.6% quarter-over-quarter (expected +0.6%; prior +0.5%); +2.3% year-over-year (expected +2.3%; prior +2.3%) 
  • In news: 
    • China's second consecutive devaluation of the yuan represented the lowest fix since October 2012 and took place shortly before the release of aforementioned economic data that missed expectations

• Major European indices trade lower across the board. UK's FTSE -1.2%, Germany's DAX -2.3%, and France's CAC -2.5%. Elsewhere, Italy's MIB -2.2% and Spain's IBEX -1.7% 
  • Economic data was limited: 
    • Eurozone June Industrial Production -0.4% month-over-month (expected -0.2%; prior -0.4%); +1.2% year-over-year (consensus 1.5%; last 1.6%) 
    • UK's June Average Earnings Index + Bonus +2.4% year-over-year (consensus 2.8%; prior 3.2%) while July Claimant Count -4,900 (expected +1,500; prior +200). Separately, the Unemployment Rate held at 5.6%, as expected 
    • France's June Current Account surplus expanded to EUR1.00 billion from EUR200 million, as expected 
    • Italy's June trade surplus narrowed to EUR2.81 billion from EUR4.14 billion (expected surplus of EUR3.98 billion) 
    • Swiss August ZEW Expectations increased to 5.9 from -5.4 
  • Among news of note: 
    • The German government is reportedly looking at ways that would enable the eurozone to guarantee Greece's obligations to the International Monetary Fund, thus eliminating the need for debt relief that has been requested by the IMF

7:51 am EZchip beats by $0.08, reports revs in-line; NPS-400 remains on tack; announces five new tier-1 design wins (EZCH) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.34 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.26; revenues rose 28.1% year/year to $28.3 mln vs the $28.03 mln consensus. 

• "NPS-400 remains on track to tape-out this month with customer samples expected in the fourth quarter of 2015. Interest in NPS remains elevated, and we are very pleased to report five Tier-1 design wins in our new target markets for white boxes and data centers, as well as in our traditional carrier router markets, to commence following sample availability."
• "We are seeing changes in the competitive landscape for high-end merchant NPUs, which we believe could lead to a significant strengthening of our market leading position. To the best of our knowledge, there is no NPU-based roadmap within other merchant silicon vendors. This could position EZchip to become the only high-end merchant NPU vendor in the market able to satisfy the growing demand from both traditional networking vendors as well as from new white box customers,"
  

7:41 am Overnight Treasury Summary (BONDX) : Treasuries Rally on Risk Aversion

• The 30-year Treasury yield hit a 3-month low overnight as overseas markets continued to digest China's new currency regime. On Tuesday, the government there began to allow market forces to determine the yuan's exchange rate, which set off an immediate devaluation and the Chinese currency now stands down over 3.5% against the dollar from its level last week. Investors are concerned that China will continue to devalue to stimulate its economy and thereby retard growth in the rest of the world
• Yield Check:
• 2-yr: -2 bps to 0.66%
• 5-yr: -4 bps to 1.49%
• 10-yr: -3 bps to 2.11%
• 30-yr: -3 bps to 2.78%

• International News:
• The IMF has indicated that China's move towards greater exchange rate flexibility will increase the chance of it being included in the institution's SDR (special drawing rights) basket 
• Industrial Production in China grew 6.0% in the year to July, worse than expectations and the prior month's reading of +6.8%
• Fixed Asset Investment grew a less-than-expected 6.0% in July versus 6.8% growth in June
• In Japan, Industrial Production grew a better-than-expected 1.1% m/m in June versus 0.8% growth in May
• The Tertiary Industry Activity Index rose 0.3% m/m versus a 0.7% decline in May
  
• Back in Greece, the German government is exploring the option of the EU indemnifying the IMF against potential losses from the new bailout in exchange for the IMF backtracking on its insistence for extensive debt relief
• The UK's Average Earnings Index (including bonuses) rose 2.4%, missing expectations and trailing the 3.2% growth in May
  
• The unemployment rate remained at 5.6%, in line with expectations
• Industrial Production in the eurozone fell 0.4% in June, worse than the market had expected

• Data Out Today:
• MBA Mortgage Index for the week ending 8/08: Actual +0.1%, Prior +4.7%
• June JOLTS -- Job Openings (10:00 ET)
• Crude Inventories for the week ending 8/08 (10:30 ET)
• July Treasury Budget (14:00 ET)
• Fed Speaker:
• NY Fed President Dudley (FOMC voter) (08:30 ET)
• Treasury Auction:
• $24 bln 10-year note auction (results at 13:00 ET)

7:36 am Enzymotec beats by $0.06, beats on revs; raises FY15 EPS, in-line, raises revs guidance, in-line (ENZY) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.11 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.05; revenues rose 50.6% year/year to $13.4 mln vs the $12.39 mln consensus.

• Co raises guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $0.28-0.36, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.29 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, up from $0.21-0.34; raises FY15 revs guidance of $53-59 mln vs. $53.38 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, up from $52-60 mln.
  

7:33 am Daqo New Energy proposes to restructure its Xinjiang Daqo New Energy subsidiary, and is exploring the idea of listing Xinjiang Daqo separately on an emerging OTC market in China (DQ) : Pursuant to the restructuring plan, which has been approved by the board of directors of the Company and its audit committee, Xinjiang Daqo Investment Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daqo Group Co, an affiliate of the Company, will subscribe for newly issued equity interest of Xinjiang Daqo representing 1% of the total outstanding equity interest of Xinjiang Daqo.

• After the restructuring, the Company will hold 99% of the outstanding equity interest of Xinjiang Daqo. The restructuring is aimed at meeting the PRC legal requirement that a company to be listed on the New Third Board shall be in the form of a limited company by shares with at least two shareholders
  

7:32 am Proteon Therapeutics initiates a second Phase 3 clinical study of its Vonapanitase product candidate (PRTO) : Co announced that the first patient has been treated in a second Phase 3 clinical study of investigational vonapanitase, the company's lead product candidate.

• The second Phase 3 study complements the first Phase 3 study, which was initiated in July 2014 and is expected to complete enrollment by the end of 2015.
• Both Phase 3 studies are evaluating the safety and efficacy of a single treatment of vonapanitase in patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing surgical creation of a radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis
  

7:32 am Imprimis Pharmaceuticals signs license agreement to bring proprietary compounded ophthalmic formulations to ophthalmologists in Canada (IMMY) :

• Co announced that it has entered into a license agreement with Advanced Dosage Forms ("Advanced Dosage") to expand Imprimis' proprietary ophthalmic injectable and combination topical compounded formulations into Canada.
• Under the agreement, the licensee has the rights to formulate, market and sell these formulations across Canada. Marketing permissions under the successful existing educational campaign brands developed by Imprimis, Go Dropless and LessDrops, are also part of the agreement.
• The license agreement includes an initial cash license fee, and a per-unit royalty of the greater of $50, or 20% of the gross purchase price paid to Advanced Dosage.
• The non-exclusive agreement requires certain diligence requirements on the part of Advanced Dosage and provides for the conversion of the license to an exclusive license on or before December 31, 2015, based upon the achievement of certain terms and conditions.

7:32 am CYREN prices its upsized underwritten public offering of 6,666,666 common shares at $1.65/share (CYRN) : Co intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including research and development, sales and marketing and working capital. The offering was upsized from an expected $10 mln in gross proceeds, to $11 mln.

7:31 am Avinger will file a submission today with the FDA for 510(k) clearance to market its Pantheris image-guided atherectomy device for the treatment of patients with peripheral arterial disease (:PAD) (AVGR) : "Based on the six-month data collected to date and in collaboration with FDA, we are allowed to submit our 510(k) application earlier than anticipated. We are hopeful this early filing will lead to clearance for Pantheris in the U.S. by year-end, which would enable a U.S. launch of Pantheris in early 2016."

7:31 am CF Industries and CHS (CHSCP) form strategic venture, CHS to purchase minority equity position in CF Industries Nitrogen, LLC for $2.8 bln (CF) : The co's announced that they have agreed to enter into a strategic venture. CHS (CHSCP) will make an equity investment in a wholly owned CF subsidiary and also enter into a supply agreement. Under the supply agreement, CHS will be entitled to purchase annually up to a total of 1.7 million tons of UAN and urea at market prices. CHS will purchase a minority equity interest in CF Industries Nitrogen, LLC for $2.8 billion and be entitled to semi-annual profit distributions from CF Nitrogen.

• CF Nitrogen currently owns three production facilities in the United States: Donaldsonville, Louisiana; Port Neal, Iowa; and Yazoo City, Mississippi. CF also expects to contribute its Woodward, Oklahoma, plant to the LLC prior to the transaction closing. CF will continue to manage and operate all production facilities. 
• Once the capacity expansion projects are completed at Donaldsonville and Port Neal, CF will have total production of 18.9 million product tons, not including the new capacity from the business combination with OCI N.V. Of that total 18.9 million tons, CHS will have the right to purchase up to 1.7 million tons, or about 8.9 percent of CF Industries' total production capacity. CHS, a major CF customer and knowledgeable industry leader, is making a $2.8 billion investment for approximately 8.9 percent of CF's total system capacity. 
• CF Nitrogen will sell annually to CHS up to 1.1 million tons of granular urea and 580,000 tons of UAN, at market prices. The 1.7 million tons available under the supply agreement have an average gross margin that reflects the average gross margin across the entire CF system.

7:30 am Kelly Services awarded a three year, $585 mln contract with the National Institutes of Health (KELYA) :

• Co announced a three year, $585 mln contract with the National Institutes of Health (:NIH). 
• The contract will provide scientific, technical and other professional support services to all of the 27 NIH Institutes and Centers.
  

7:30 am Hongli Clean Energy announces a 10 year lease, for a facility to produce syngas; lease payment will be $1.6 mln annually (:CETC) :  

7:30 am FLIR Systems names Amit Singhi as CFO, replacing interim CFO Dave Muessle (FLIR) : Co announced that Amit Singhi has joined the Company as Senior Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer, replacing interim CFO Dave Muessle, who will remain Vice President, Corporate Controller and Principal Accounting Officer. Previously, Mr. Singhi was CFO of Ford South America.

7:22 am ARAMARK Holdings reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; reaffirms FY15 EPS guidance (ARMK) :

• Reports Q3 (Jun) earnings of $0.29 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.29; revenues fell 3.7% year/year to $3.49 bln vs the $3.49 bln consensus; flat organic sales.
• Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $1.50-1.60, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.51 Capital IQ Consensus; at current currency exchange rates, the impact on both sales and adjusted operating income remains a reduction of ~3%.
  

7:13 am InterCloud Systems reports Q2 EPS of ($0.69) vs. ($0.96) in prior year; revs rose 25% YoY to $22.2 mln - no estimates (ICLD) : Gross Profit increased 17% year-over-year to $6.6 million.

7:11 am SunOpta misses by $0.03, misses on revs; will acquire assets of Niagara Natural Fruit Snack; terms not disclosed (STKL) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.11; revenues fell 6.2% year/year to $307.3 mln vs the $333.09 mln consensus. 

• EBITDA of $15.3 million, or 5.0% of revenues, versus $22.2 million, or 6.8% of revenues, in the prior year.
  
• Co also announces it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Niagara Natural Fruit Snack Company. The acquisition closed contemporaneously with the execution of the definitive agreement. Based in the Niagara Region in Ontario, Canada, Niagara Natural is expected to generate ~CDN $10 mln in revenue in 2015.
  

7:08 am AdCare Health Systems reports Q2 results; Transition nears completion with signed agreements for all 40 facilities; provides post-transition financial guidance (ADK) :

• Co reports Q2 EPS ($0.17) vs ($0.43) year ago; revs 15.9% y/y to $23.3 mln (no estimates). 
• Co expects that 2015 dividends will be considered a return of capital for federal income tax purposes. Co entered into agreements for all 40 of the healthcare facilities it owned, operated or managed before the transition commenced. Of these, 32 facilities have been transferred to third-party operators, or are under management agreements with indefinite terms, and one has been sold. Transfer of operations of six facilities remains in progress, and one facility is expected to be sold during the fourth quarter. 
• Post-transition Financial Guidance - Once operations for the remaining six properties have been transitioned to third-party operators, and the company closes on the sale of a property in Oklahoma, the company expects: Annual Revenue between $30.0 and $30.8 mln. Annual Rent expense of approximately $8.0 mln. Annual General and Administrative expense between $4.5 and $4.8 mln. Annual Adjusted FFO per share between $0.25 and $0.30.
  

7:07 am SunEdison and TerraForm Power (TERP) announce the syndication of a $280 million, 7 year term loan facility of TerraForm Private Warehouse (SUNE) : TerraForm Private Warehouse was formed by SunEdison to hold 521 MW of acquired operating assets from Atlantic Power for a maximum period of 7 years. TerraForm Private Warehouse was formed by SunEdison to hold 521 MW of acquired operating assets from Atlantic Power for a maximum period of 7 years.

7:06 am Alibaba beats by $0.01, misses on revs; announces $4 bln buyback (BABA) : Reports Q1 (Jun) earnings of $0.59 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.58; rev +28% to $3.265 bln vs. $3.376 bln consensus. Ex-the effect of the suspended online lottery business and the SME loan business we transferred to Ant Financial, revenue would have increased by 36% year-over-year

• GMV transacted on our China retail marketplaces was RMB673 billion (US$109 billion), an increase of 34% year-over-year. Excluding the effect of the suspended lottery business, GMV would have increased by 36% year-over-year. 
• Mobile GMV reached RMB371 billion (US$60 billion), an increase of 125% year-over-year, and accounted for 55% of total GMV transacted on our China retail marketplaces; mobile revenue was RMB7,987 million (US$1,288 million), exceeding 50% of our total China commerce retail revenue for the first time. 
• Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program in an aggregate amount of up to US$4 billion over a period of two years, primarily to offset dilution, for example, from our share-based compensation programs.
  

7:05 am Asian Markets Close: Japan's Nikkei -1.6%; Hong Kong's Hang Seng -2.4%; China's Shanghai Composite -1.1% (:SUMRX) : It was a sea of red across the Asia-Pacific region as equity markets remained on the defensive following another big jolt of weakness in the yuan that perpetuated Tuesday's concerns about competitive devaluation. A batch of weaker than expected data out of China didn't help matters globally as that perpetuated concerns about the country's economic slowdown and end demand in general.

Economic data

• China
• July Industrial Production +6.0% year-over-year (expected +6.6%; prior +6.8%)
• July Fixed Asset Investment +11.2% year-over-year (expected +11.5%; prior +11.4%)
• July Retail Sales +10.5% year-over-year (expected +10.6%; prior +10.6%)
• Japan
• June Industrial Production +1.1% month-over-month (expected +0.8%; prior +0.8%)
• June Capacity Utilization +0.7% month-over-month (prior -3.0%)
• Tertiary Industry Activity Index +0.3% month-over-month (expected +0.1%; prior -0.7%)
• July CGPI -0.2% month-over-month (expected -0.1%; prior -0.2%); -3.0% year-over-year (expected -2.9%; prior -2.4%)
• South Korea
• July Unemployment Rate 3.7% (expected 3.9%; prior 3.9%)
• August M2 Money Supply +9.7% (prior +9.5%)
• Australia
• August Westpac Consumer Sentiment 7.8% (prior -3.2%)
• Q2 Wage Price Index +0.6% quarter-over-quarter (expected +0.6%; prior +0.5%); +2.3% year-over-year (expected +2.3%; prior +2.3%)

Equity Markets

• Japan's Nikkei declined 1.6%, led lower by the industrials (-2.0%), materials (-2.0%), technology (-2.0%), and consumer staples (-1.9%) sectors. The biggest laggards were JFE Holdings (-7.1%), SCREEN Holdings (-6.5%), and Kobe Steel (-6.1%). Unitika (+7.7%), Pioneer Corp (+5.3%), and Furukawa (+2.9%) topped the list of winners. Out of the 225 index members, 33 ended higher, 189 finished lower, and 3 were unchanged.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 2.4% in a trend-down day. Property stocks comprised a notable point of weakness. China Overseas Land & Investment (-8.3%), China Resources Land (-8.0%), and BOC Hong Kong Holdings (-7.8%) were the worst-performing issues. Li & Fung (+2.8%) and CLP Holdings (+1.3%) were the only stocks to gain in excess of 1.0%. Out of the 50 index members, 5 ended higher, 42 finished lower, and 3 were unchanged.
• China's Shanghai Composite declined 1.1% after succumbing to a bout of selling interest in the last hour of trading. The weakness followed weaker than expected results for the July industrial production, fixed asset investment, and retail sales reports that fed concerns about the economic slowdown in China. Losses were held in check most likely by the assumption that the soft data increase the likelihood of additional policy stimulus.
• India's Sensex declined 1.3% and finished near its lows for the day. The materials (-3.1%), energy (-2.8%), and financials (-2.5%) sectors were the weakest links. Vedanta (-7.9%), Hindalco Industries (-7.1%), and Coal India (-5.1%) paced declining issues while Sun Pharmaceuticals (+3.0%), Infosys (+2.9%), and Tata Consultancy Services (+2.5%) led a small group of winners. Out of the 30 index members, 8 ended higher and 22 finished lower.
• Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.7%, dragged lower by losses in the information technology (-7.3%), metals & mining (-4.0%), and resources (-3.9%) sectors. Out of the 200 index members, 29 ended higher, 162 finished lower, and 9 were unchanged.
• Regional advancers: None
• Regional decliners: South Korea -0.6%, Taiwan -1.3%, Malaysia -1.6%, Indonesia -3.1%, Singapore -2.9%, Vietnam -1.4%, Philippines -1.0%
• Closed for holiday: Thailand (H.M. The Queen Birthday)

FX

• USD/CNY +1.0% at 6.3858
• USD/INR +0.9% at 64.7612
• USD/JPY -0.6% at 124.42
  

7:05 am Markit beats by $0.01, beats on revs (MRKT) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.36 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.35; revenues rose 3.2% year/year to $273.1 mln vs the $269.63 mln consensus. 

• Q2 Adjusted EBITDA of $120.9 mln, increased by $0.9 mln, or 0.8%, from $120.0 mln last year.
• Co also announced it will acquire financial services firm CoreOne Technologies for $200 mln in cash (see 6:51)
  

7:02 am Fidelity Nat'l Info to acquire SunGard for ~$9.1 bln, combined company will have over $9.2 bln in annual revenues (FIS) : The co announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Wayne, Pennsylvania-based SunGard. SunGard is one of the world's leading financial software companies, with annual revenue of $2.8 billion. The company's 13,000 employees provide solutions for financial services, the public sector and education.

• Under the terms of the agreement, FIS will acquire 100 percent of the equity of SunGard. FIS will issue a combination of cash and stock valuing the company at an unaffected enterprise value of $9.1 billion, including the assumption of SunGard debt, which FIS expects to refinance. The combined company will have over $9.2 billion in annual revenues. FIS and SunGard have complementary technology
  
• The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. FIS expects the transaction to close during the fourth quarter.
  
• The announcement confirms a late July Bloomberg report that the two were in exclusive talks regarding a deal

7:01 am Wayfair beats by $0.14, beats on revs (W) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.15 per share, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.29); revenues rose 66.5% year/year to $491.8 mln vs the $438.48 mln consensus. The number of active customers in our Direct Retail business reached 4.0 million as of June 30, 2015, up 53.5% year over year

7:01 am Fortuna Silver Mines announces an exploration update for its San Jose Mine (FSM) :

• Co stated: "Step-out drilling has been carried out on wide-spaced drill holes over an approximate 500 meter interval extending to the north from the limit of the currently estimated Mineral Resources at Trinidad North. While the mineralized intercepts within this zone are generally narrow, the presence of high-grade silver-gold mineralization in a number of drill holes is a positive indication that the Trinidad vein system remains prospective for the discovery of additional ore shoots as exploration proceeds to the north. 
• Of particular significance are the results of drill hole SJOM-469A, our furthest north drill hole completed to-date, which intercepted multiple lower grade intercepts in the drill interval from 509 m to 600 m in addition to the high grade intercept of 2,473 g/t Ag Eq from 526.80 to 527.20 m. 
• Drill holes SJOM-455 and SJOM-469A also intercepted low grade mineralization near their respective collars"
  

7:00 am Dyax provides an update on its DX-2930 clinical and commercial supply initiatives, commencing key manufacturing activities; company is on track to initiate its Phase 3 trial this year (DYAX) : Co provided an update regarding its ongoing manufacturing initiatives for DX-2930. In preparation for commercial-scale production, the company's manufacturing partner Rentschler has commenced characterization and validation of the DX-2930 manufacturing processes. In addition, Rentschler will also support Dyax in the preparation of its submissions to regulatory authorities for marketing approval of the product. If DX-2930 is approved, Rentschler will be responsible for producing commercial supply.

• Co stated: "We look forward to initiating the Phase 3 trial for DX-2930 in HAE patients during the latter part of this year, and we expect that supportive results from this study will be the basis for our BLA submission to the FDA for marketing authorization."
  

7:00 am Premier acquires Healthcare Insights, LLC for $65 mln in cash; expected to be modestly accretive to Premier's fiscal 2016 revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA (PINC) : Healthcare Insights is a privately-held, integrated financial management software developer that provides hospitals and healthcare systems with budgeting, forecasting, labor productivity and cost analytic capabilities.

• The Healthcare Insights acquisition, which was effective July 31, is currently projected to be modestly accretive to Premier's fiscal 2016 revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA. Expected revenue and adjusted EBITDA contributions from the acquisition will be incorporated into Premier's fiscal year 2016 guidance, which is scheduled to be announced on August 24, when the company reports fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 financial results.
  

6:59 am Sharps Compliance beats Q4 estimates (SMED) : Q4 EPS $0.08 vs $0.02 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; revs $9.0 mln vs $8.31 mln Capital IQ Consensus

• "We believe we'll see continued organic growth in existing markets and strengthening sales of our new unused medication management solutions. We have completed the integration of Alpha Bio/Med and are in the process of launching our route-based pick-up service in Texas. With this, we have enhanced our service offerings to include customized, full service medical waste management solutions to continue to grow our market share across all of our markets and service the needs of our customers. We continue to evaluate strategic acquisition opportunities that we believe would further our strategic growth plans."
  

6:51 am Markit acquires financial services firm CoreOne Technologies for $200 mln in cash; transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to adjusted EPS upon completion (MRKT) : Co has agreed to acquire CoreOne Technologies, a global leading provider of regulatory reporting, index management, data management and prime brokerage services to financial institutions.

• The total consideration payable is ~$200 million and will be funded using cash and Markit's credit facility. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, and is expected to be immediately accretive to adjusted earnings per share upon completion
  

6:44 am Histogenics misses by $0.07; enrolling patients in NeoCart Phase 3 trial (HSGX) : Reports Q2 (Jun) loss of $0.58 per share, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.51). 

• Histogenics continued to enroll patients in the NeoCart Phase 3 trial with completion of enrollment targeted by the end of the second quarter of 2016. Several enrollment optimization initiatives in the second quarter were completed, with new investigators joining the trial, expanding eligibility to include Kaiser Permanente patients in California, and the launch of targeted local recruiting campaigns to support the Phase 3 trial investigators. 
• "We continued to make steady enrollment progress in our NeoCart trial, and in our collaboration with Intrexon (XON), where our partnership has generated some exciting early technical results."
  

6:41 am SAGE Therapeutics reports Q2 results; Phase 3 SAGE-547 for SRSE progressing (SAGE) :

• Q2 EPS ($0.90) vs ($0.68) Capital IQ Consensus. 
• The STATUS Trial, a global, Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of SAGE-547 for the treatment of patients with SRSE, is now open for enrollment. SAGE also announced it has reached agreement with the FDA under a Special Protocol Assessment on the trial design, endpoints and statistical approach of the Phase 3 STATUS Trial. 
• SAGE reiterates its expectation that its cash and cash equivalents on hand as of the date hereof will be sufficient to fund its operations through mid-2017.
  

6:36 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Janssen Biotech, a Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) unit announced an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Alligator Bioscience AB for ADC-1013, an immuno-oncology agent currently in Phase 1 clinical studies. Alligator Bioscience will receive an upfront payment plus additional milestone payments contingent upon reaching certain pre-determined development, regulatory and commercial milestones. Alligator Bioscience will complete the current Phase 1 dose escalation study and Janssen will be responsible for all subsequent development of ADC-1013, including research, development, manufacturing, regulatory and commercialization activities. In a separate transaction, Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc. will subscribe for new shares of Alligator stock.
• Balchem (BCPC) announced that, effective September 1, 2015, former President and Chief Executive Officer and current Executive Chairman, Dino A. Rossi, will transition into service solely as the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company. The Company appointed Theodore Harris as its new President and Chief Executive Officer effective April 28, 2015, at which time Mr. Rossi was appointed Executive Chairman to help guide the Company through the transition period.
• Aqua Metals (AQMS) disclosed that on August 5, 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, or USDA, issued a conditional commitment to provide a guarantee of up to 90% of the principal amount of a commercial loan that it might acquire from a third party commercial lender. The co has no agreements or understandings at this time with any third party commercial lenders about any such commercial loan. The co will have to obtain a commitment from a third party commercial lender for such commercial loan and negotiate the terms within the constraints of the offered USDA guarantee. 
• Cognizant (CTSH) announced that the New England Healthcare Exchange Network, has selected Cognizant and its subsidiary TriZetto to digitally transform and manage its technology infrastructure. As part of a multi-year agreement, Cognizant will combine its consulting, IT and business process as-a-service capabilities with TriZetto's technology products.
• BAE Systems (BAESY) announced a further reduction in the workforce at its Williamstown shipyard. The loss of an additional 125 positions will take effect during September / October and is the result of a continuing decline in work as existing projects near completion
• ChromaDex (CDXC) announced that Scientific Advisory Board member Charles Brenner, PhD presented data today revealing the discovery of unexpected and sensitive biomarker of effectively increasing NAD+ metabolism with nicotinamide riboside. A provisional patent on the discovery has been filed.
• Centene (CNC) and Health Net (HNT) announced early termination of the waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, in connection with their merger agreement. Centene continues to expect that the transaction will close by early 2016, subject to approval by Centene and Health Net shareholders, approvals by relevant state insurance and health care regulators, and other customary closing conditions.
• InterOil (IOC) advised the Wahoo-1 sidetrack operations have not intersected a carbonate reservoir and the company intends to plug and abandon the well. The wildcat exploration well in PPL 474 was a significant step-out from the successful Elk-Antelope gas hub in PRL 15, 170km to the north-west. Sidetrack operations reached a final measured depth of 1,589 meters (5,213 feet).

6:36 am Applied Industrial misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line; guides FY16 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (AIT) :

• Reports Q4 (Jun) earnings of $0.70 per share, $0.02 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.72; revenues rose 3.5% year/year to $677.5 mln vs the $682.54 mln consensus. 
• The overall sales increase for the quarter reflects a 6.5% increase from acquisition related volume, offset by a negative 2.4% foreign currency translation impact and a 0.6% decrease in our core underlying operations.
• Co issues guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $2.80-3.05 vs. $3.01 Capital IQ Consensus; sees FY16 revs of -2 to +1% to ~$2.72-2.81 bln vs. $2.83 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.  
• "We will be active with acquisitions throughout the fiscal year, and we are confident that Applied is well-positioned to serve our customers and generate shareholder value."

6:32 am Concord Medical Services acquires additional ownership interest of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Proton Therapy Center (CCM) : The purchase price of the all-cash transaction was not disclosed.  Concord Medical purchased the interest from an existing owner of the general partner, and the transaction does not affect MD Anderson's majority ownership in the Proton Therapy Center. 

• With the closing, Concord Medical is now the controlling shareholder of PTC-Houston Management, LP (:PTCHM), the general partner of the center, and will consolidate its financial results beginning in Q3 of 2015.  Concord Medical will remain the second largest shareholder of the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center, with MD Anderson retaining its 51% majority interest.
  

6:10 am Atento reports EPS in-line, beats on revs; reaffirms guidance (ATTO) : Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.21 per share, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.21; revenues fell 12.9% year/year to $515.7 mln vs the $505.91 mln consensus.

Fiscal 2015 Outlook reaffirmed

• The Company reaffirms its previously disclosed guidance for fiscal 2015 which includes 6-9% growth in constant currency revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin in the range of 13-13.5%. 
  

6:06 am VWR Corp beats by $0.01, beats on revs; reaffirms FY15 EPS guidance, revs guidance (VWR) : Reports Q2 (Jun) adj earnings of $0.34 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.33; revenues fell 1.9% year/year to $1.08 bln vs the $1.07 bln consensus. Adjusted EBITDA was $110.4 mln, up $5.1 mln compared to the second quarter of 2014.

• Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $1.42-1.50 vs. $1.46 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $4.24-4.31 bln vs. $4.29 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 adjusted EBITDA of $456-463 mln.
  

6:05 am United Online to sell its Classmates Inc. subsidiary for $30 mln; updates Q3, FY15 guidance accordingly (UNTD) : The co announced that it has completed the sale of all of the stock of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Classmates, Inc., to Intelius Holdings, Inc. for $30 million cash, subject to a post-closing working capital adjustment.

• Co now sees Q3 revs of $34-37 mln (revised from $48.5-51.5 mln) which no longer compares to the $50.24 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate
• Co now sees FY15 revs of $149-154 mln (revised from $203-208 mln) which no longer compares to the $205.83 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate
  

6:02 am China Information Tech selected to install 922 cloud-based media elevator terminals in Huizhou City for RMB 1.9 mln up front payment and recurring service fees (CNIT) : The terminals are expected to be installed by the end of 2015

6:00 am Basic Energy Services reports July operating data, showing a well servicing rig count of 421 (BAS) : Well servicing rig hours for the month were 55,400 producing a rig utilization rate of 52%, compared to 55% and 69% in June 2015 and July 2014, respectively. During the month, Basic's fluid service truck count decreased by five to 1,007

5:49 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Advantest (ATE) has entered a strategic partnership with Universal Scientific Industrial, a member of the ASE Group of companies, to offer the first dedicated outsourced assembly and test services to the fast-growing market for solid-state drives. 
• ADTRAN (ADTN) announced it is fulfilling its Future Network State vision with the inclusion of portfolio-wide enhancements based on both software defined networking and network function virtualization open architectures. 
• LeapFrog Enterprises (LF) announced its new LeapTV fall game lineup featuring popular characters and a new $99 price point for the educational gaming system made for young kids.
  

5:48 am S&P futures vs fair value: -21.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -47.10. :

5:48 am Global Blood Therapeutics (Nasdaq: GBT) priced its 6 mln share IPO at $20.00/share, above the expected $16.00-$18.00 range (GBT) :  

5:48 am European Markets : FTSE...6568.51...-95.90...-1.40%.  DAX...11026.58...-267.10...-2.40%.

5:48 am Asian Markets : Nikkei...20392.77...-328.00...-1.60%.  Hang Seng...23916.02...-582.20...-2.40%.

5:31 am Pearson Plc agrees to sell 50% stake in The Economist Group (PSO) : Co announced it has agreed to sell its 50% stake in The Economist Group for 469 million, payable in cash.

• EXOR S.p.A. (EXOSF) has agreed to purchase 27.8% of The Economist Group's Ordinary shares for consideration of 227.5 million and all of the B special shares for consideration of 59.5 million from Pearson. Pearson's remaining Ordinary shares will be repurchased by The Economist Group for a total consideration of 182 million.
  

5:08 am CEMEX S.A. to divest its Croatia operations (CX) : Co announced that it has signed an agreement for the sale of its operations in Croatia, including its assets in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, to Duna-Drva Cement for approximately 230.9 million.

• The assets being sold mainly consist of 3 cement plants (approximately 1.66 million tons of cement sold in 2014), 2 aggregate quarries (approximately 0.16 million metric tons of aggregates sold in 2014) and 7 ready-mix plants (approximately 0.25 million cubic meters of ready mix sold in 2014). CEMEX's operations in Croatia, including Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, had net sales of ~$138 million in 2014. 
  

4:06 am Pluristem Therapeutics receives safety clearance in Japan for PLX-PAD cells use in clinical trials (PSTI) : Co announced that Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency has cleared the Company's PLX-PAD cells for use in clinical trials in Japan.

• This clearance is required in order to apply for approval to conduct a Phase II study of PLX-PAD in critical limb ischemia through Japan's accelerated regulatory pathway for regenerative medicine. 
• This regulatory pathway generally allows for conditional, time-limited marketing approval after a single successful Phase II trial.
  

3:19 am Medical Properties Trust prices Offering of 500 Million of Senior Notes Due 2022 (MPW) :  

2:46 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• Cypress Semiconductor (CY) and THine Electronics introduced the industry's fastest* USB 3.0 camera reference design kit with 13-megapixel resolution at 21 frames per second. 
• Studio City International Holdings Limited, a joint venture in which Melco Crown Entertainment (MPEL) owns a 60% interest announced that the cinematic-inspired entertainment resort Studio City remains on track to open as scheduled on October 27, 2015. 
• Ford (F) announced production of the F-650/F-750 medium-duty trucks roll off the line for the first time in the United States. Production of the trucks at Ohio Assembly Plant, previously built in Mexico, helps secure more than 1,000 hourly UAW jobs and a $168 million plant investment in the United States.
  

2:00 am On The Wires (:WIRES) :

• NetSuite (N) announced that Refresh Renovations, New Zealand's largest home renovation building specialists, has gone live on NetSuite OneWorld as its cloud-based business management suite to manage its head office call centre and 35 individually-owned franchised subsidiaries in New Zealand and Australia. 
• Whitestone REIT (WSR) announced that leased occupancy at its Village Square at Dana Park property is at 93% with the signing of five new tenants.
  

1:26 am Silver Standard acquires Valmy Property at Marigold for $11.5 mln from Newmont Mining (NEM) (SSRI) : Silver Standard Resources (SSRI) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 2,844 hectares contiguous with our Marigold mine in Nevada for $11.5 million from Newmont Mining (NEM).
Transaction Highlights

• Silver Standard will acquire 100% of Newmont's interest in a prospective land package contiguous with the Marigold mine with 196,000 ounces of historical gold production, under the terms of the Agreement.
• Potential to develop Mineral Resources at the Valmy and MUD deposits as well as test extensions to Marigold's Basalt pit mineralization
  

1:11 am Axalta Coating Systems prices secondary offering of 30,000,000 of its common shares at $29.75 per share (AXTA) :