Microsoft Rises 4%

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) are climbing more than 4% Monday morning.

On Friday, Microsoft said it will sell its shareholding in AnyVision, an Israeli face recognition company after an audit on AnyVision was conducted by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at Covington & Burling.

Microsoft has made changes to its investment policies to end minority investments in companies that sell facial recognition technology, being a sensitive one.

Separately, On Sunday, the company said in a blog post that its cloud services in the regions where the social distancing is enforced during the coronavirus pandemic, have seen an increase of 775 percent. This increased demand includes Microsoft Teams, Xbox, Windows Virtual Desktop, and Power BI.

Windows virtual desktop usage has grown more than 3 times and government use of public Power BI to share COVID-19 dashboards with citizens has surged by 42 percent in a week.

Microsoft said, it has started tweaking its cloud services accordingly.

MSFT is currently trading at $156.05. It has traded in the range of $116.96- $190.70 in the past 52-weeks.

European Economics Preview: Eurozone Economic Confidence Data Due

Economic confidence data from euro area and consumer prices from Germany are due on Monday, headlining a busy day for the European economic news.

At 2.00 am ET, UK Nationwide Building Society is set to release house price data. Economists forecast house prices to rise 2.1 percent on year in March, slower than the 2.3 percent rise in February.

At 3.00 am ET, the Swiss KOF leading index is due. The reading is seen falling to 81.6 in March from 100.9 in February.

In the meantime, Spain’s statistical office INE releases flash consumer prices and retail sales data.

At 4.30 am ET, UK mortgage approvals data is due from the Bank of England. The number of mortgage approvals is forecast to fall to 68,210 in February from 70,890 in March.

At 5.00 am ET, the European Commission is set to publish monthly economic confidence survey results for March. Economists forecast the euro area economic confidence index to fall to 91.6 from 103.5 in February.

At 8.00 am ET, Destatis is scheduled to issue Germany’s flash consumer prices for March. Inflation is expected to slow to 1.3 percent from 1.7 percent in February.

Axsome’s Phase 3 Trial On Treatment Resistant Depression Fails To Meet Main Goal

Axsome Therapeutics Inc. (AXSM) said that the STRIDE-1 Phase 3 Trial did not reach statistical significance on the Week 6 primary endpoint on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale or MADRS. The trial evaluated the company’s AXS-05, an NMDA receptor antagonist with multimodal activity.

But, AXS-05 met key secondary endpoints in the trial by rapidly and statistically significantly improving symptoms of depression on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale or MADRS, as early as Week 1 and for the overall 6-week treatment period, as compared to the active comparator bupropion in patients with treatment resistant depression or TRD.

In Monday pre-market trade, AXSM is trading at $52.75, down $10.52 or 16.63 percent.

STRIDE-1 was a randomized, double-blind, active-controlled, multi-center, U.S. trial, in which 312 adult patients with confirmed TRD, who had failed two or three prior treatments, were randomized to treatment with either AXS-05 or 150 mg bupropion, twice daily for 6 weeks.

Axsome plans to initiate a second Phase 3 trial of AXS-05 in patients with treatment resistant depression in the third quarter of 2020.

Stock Alert: Owens & Minor Surges 54%

Shares of Owens & Minor Inc. (OMI) spiked more than 54 percent on Monday morning at $8.51.

Owens & Minor CEO Edward Pesicka told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday that the hospital supplier is expanding factory production of face masks, surgical gowns and other personal protective equipment due to the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, the Virginia-based company has started four daily shifts and plans to add a fifth shift.

“We are in the process of actually expanding capacity, but that’s going to take probably 5 to 6 months to make sure that you have the capability to expand that capacity,” Pesicka said in a “Mad Money” interview.

The shares have traded in a range of $2.43 to $8.75 in the past 52 weeks.

Stock Alert: Immunovant Spikes On Results Of Its IMVT-1401

Shares of clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Immunovant, Inc. (IMVT) are climbing more than 11% Monday morning after the company announced positive results from its ongoing phase II Proof-of-Concept Study of its lead drug candidate, IMVT-1401, proposed for the treatment of Thyroid Eye disease.

IMVT is currently trading at $15.04. It has traded in the range of $8.34- $18.69 in the past one week.

Stoney Creek man charged after weapon pointed at Hamilton Police

A 29-year-old Stoney Creek man is facing a list of charges after an incident on East Hamilton Mountain in which officers say someone fired a pellet gun at a Hamilton Police officer.

NY Fed accepts $1 billion in bids submitted at 28-day repo operation

BOSTON (Reuters) – The New York Federal Reserve said on Monday it accepted $1 billion in bids submitted by primary dealers in a 28-day repurchase agreement operation, a move intended to keep the federal funds rate within its target range.

Stock Alert: Carvana Up 8% ; Prices Stock Offering

Shares of Carvana Co. (CVNA), a leading e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars, are up more than 8% Monday morning.

The company today said it has priced the direct offering of 13.3 million shares of Class A Common Stock at $45.00, amounting gross proceeds to $600 million. The offering included investments of $25 million each from Ernest Garcia III, the company’s founder and CEO, and Ernest Garcia II, the company’s controlling shareholder. The offering is expected to close on or about April 1, 2020.

Last week, Carvana had announced that Ally Financial, its six year long partner, has agreed to increase its current loan purchase program to $2 billion. As per the deal, Ally will provide up to $2.0 billion, which is double the company’s existing available limit, for the purchase of finance receivables over the next 12 months.This had driven the stock up nearly 70% in two days.

CVNA is currently trading at $53.11. It has traded in the range of $22.16- $115.23 in the last 52-weeks.