Alimera Sciences Continues Bullish Trend

Alimera Sciences, Inc. (ALIM) shares are adding more than 22 percent on Friday morning trade, continuing a bullish trend since November 2. There were no corporate announcements on the day to impact the stock movement.

Currently, shares are at $5.50, up 22.22 percent from the previous close of $4.50 on a volume of 608,033. For the 52-week period, the shares have traded in a range of $3.94-$12.25 on average volume of 53,264.

Blue Origin Loses Lawsuit Against NASA Over SpaceX Lunar Contract

Jeff Bezos’s space expedition company Blue Origin has lost its lawsuit against NASA over a $2.9 billion astronaut lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled against Blue Origin in its lawsuit against NASA. In his ruling, Federal judge Richard Hertling sided with the defense.

Responding to the verdict, Bezos tweeted, “Not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract.”

Meanwhile, NASA said the work with SpaceX will now resume as soon as possible. The agency added that there will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence at the Moon under the agency’s Artemis program.

NASA had awarded its lunar lander contract under its Artemis program to SpaceX back in April. The agency initially had said the contract would go to two of the three applicants, namely, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Dynetics, but due to a fund crunch, the contract went to SpaceX who had a $2.9 billion offer compared to Blue Origin’s $5.9 billion.

Following this, Blue Origin in August sued NASA for awarding the contract to SpaceX. The lawsuit highlighted the important safety issues with the Human Landing System procurement process that must still be addressed.

The expedition is set to mark the United States’ first human landing since 1972. As per the contract, there would be two landings, one unmanned, and one manned.

Grid Dynamics Holdings Stock Jumps 20% On Q3 Results, Outlook

Shares of Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc. (GDYN) are surging over 20% on Friday morning driven by its third-quarter results, as adjusted earnings and revenues trumped Street view. The company also issued a strong revenue outlook for the fourth quarter and full year 2021.

GDYN is currently trading at $35.17, up $5.94 or 20.34%, on the Nasdaq.

Grid Dynamics reported third-quarter loss of $635 thousand or $0.01 per share, narrower than last year’s $1.1 million or $0.02 per share. On an adjusted basis, profit was $7.9 million or $0.11 per share, up from $2.5 million or $0.05 per share last year. Revenues for the quarter soared to $57.9 million from $26.3 million last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.08 per share on revenues of $50.91 million.

Looking forward, the company expects fourth-quarter revenues of $58.0 million to $59.0 million, and full-year revenues of $202.0 million to $203.0 million. Analysts currently estimate revenues of $52.3 million and $190.05 million for the fourth quarter and full year 2021.

Republican Glenn Youngkin Wins Virginia Gubernatorial Race

In a major political upset, Republican Glenn Youngkin won the gubernatorial election in Virginia.

Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe conceded defeat on Wednesday morning.

With almost all the votes counted, Youngkin was 2.1 points ahead of the current Virginia governor.

The embarrassing result for Democrats is seen as a political setback for President Joe Biden, who won by a convincing 10 points in the state in the presidential election last year.

The Virginia gubernatorial race was seen as a referendum on Biden’s presidency nearly one-year after the presidential election.

A Republican Party financier, Youngkin resigned as CEO of the private-equity firm The Carlyle Group last year to make his first run for political office.

During the campaign, the 54-year-old businessman-turned politician had promised to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. He also vowed to push back against certain Covid-19 mandates and restrictions and advocate for a low tax and small government agenda within the state of Virginia during his term in office.

In New Jersey, Democratic governor Phil Murphy was locked in a tight race with Republican Jack Ciattarelli with 88 percent of votes reported.

The election is too close to call as narrow lead is criss-crossing as counting progresses.

Democratic Party’s Eric Adams won New York City’s mayoral election, while Democrat Ed Gainey was elected as the first black mayor of Pittsburgh.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Gains More Than 6%

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) are rising on Friday morning trade continuing a bullish trend. Shares are currently at a 3-month high.

Thursday the company had announced that it filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 4 trademarks that its loyal customers easily recognize.

“The reason for a company to trademark anything is to protect them so competitors cannot steal creative ideas, names, or symbols from other businesses,” the company said in a blog.

RCL shares are currently trading at $94.80, up 6.84 percent from the previous close of $88.73 on a volume of 3,712,164. The shares have traded in a range of $93.39-$98.03 on average volume of 3,362,820.

Indonesia Economy Expands At Slower Pace In Q3

Indonesia’s economic growth eased in the third quarter as strict restrictions to contain the spread of the COVID-19 dampened household consumption, Statistics Indonesia reported Friday.

Gross domestic product expanded 3.51 percent on a yearly basis, after rising 7.07 percent in the second quarter. This was also weaker than the expected growth of 3.76 percent.

Nonetheless, the economy expanded for the second consecutive quarter.

On a sequential basis, the economy grew 1.55 percent, which was also slower than the economists’ forecast of 1.8 percent.

On the expenditure-side, exports logged the biggest annual growth of 29.16 percent. At the same time, imports were up 30.11 percent.

Household consumption rose only 1.03 percent and government consumption by 0.66 percent. Investment rose 3.74 percent.

With restrictions being relaxed and virus cases now very low, the economy is expected to bounce back strongly in the final quarter, Gareth Leather, an economist at Capital Economics, said. That said, any tightening of monetary policy is still a long way off.

The economist forecast strong GDP growth of around 4 percent sequentially in the fourth quarter.

At the October policy meeting, Bank Indonesia had retained its key interest rate at 3.50 percent.

The central bank forecast the economic growth to continue to improve until the fourth quarter so that the whole of 2021 will remain within the range of Bank Indonesia’s projection at 3.5 percent-4.3 percent.