Egypt sells $975.4 million in one-year T-bills at average yield of 3.495%

CAIRO, May 4 (Reuters) – Egypt sold $975.4 million in one-year, dollar-denominated treasury bills on Monday, the central bank said.

The average yield was 3.495%, the bank said. (Reporting by Amina Ismail; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Lego Group Adds Former Disney/ABC Executive Anne Sweeney To Its Board

Anne Sweeney, who had a long run at Disney and sits on Netflix’s board of directors, has joined the board of the Lego Group.

The company announced the addition Monday, saying Sweeney is replacing Kåre Schultz, CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.

In addition to Lego and Netflix, Sweeney serves on the board of trustees of the Mayo Clinic. She is a Deans Distinguished Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Before stepping down in 2015, Sweeney was co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group.

“Anne brings key strategic competencies within family ownership, entertainment and digitalisation with her from an impressive career,” Lego board chairman Thomas Kirk Kristiansen said. “I am looking very much forward to be working with Anne Sweeney on the board.”

Last month, Deadline broke the news of a five-year partnership between Lego and Universal for the development, production and theatrical distribution of films combining original ideas with Lego’s building blocks. A deal with Universal Music Group followed. Warner Bros. had hit paydirt a few years ago with The Lego Movie and other installments.

Lego has been boosting its Hollywood profile of late, building on decades of history as a licensee of major-studio properties from Star Wars to Harry Potter. Fox has recently gotten solid ratings from Lego Masters, a rookie unscripted series.

European Economics Preview: Eurozone Final Factory PMI Data Due

Final Purchasing Managers’ survey and investor confidence from euro area are due on Monday, headlining a busy day for the European economic news.

At 3.00 am ET, consumer and producer prices and manufacturing PMI figures are due from Turkey. Inflation is forecast to slow to 10.88 percent in April from 11.86 percent in March.

In the meantime, manufacturing PMI results are due from Poland and Hungary.

At 3.15 am ET, IHS Markit publishes Spain’s factory PMI data. Economists forecast the index to fall to 34.0 in April from 45.7 in March.

At 3.45 am ET, Italy’s manufacturing PMI results are due. The factory PMI is seen at 30.0 in April versus 40.3 in March.

Thereafter, final PMI survey results are due from France and Germany at 3.50 am and 3.55 am ET, respectively.

At 4.00 am ET, Eurozone manufacturing PMI data is due. The final reading is seen at 33.6 in April, unchanged from flash estimate and down from 44.5 in March.

Half an hour later, Eurozone Sentix investor confidence survey data is due. Economists forecast the index to rise to -33.5 in May from -42.9 in April.

Junshi, Eli Lilly Agree To Co-develop JS016 Antibodies Against COVID-19

Junshi Biosciences, a China-based biopharmaceutical company, and Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) have entered into an agreement to co-develop therapeutic antibodies for the potential prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Junshi SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies, or JS016, is a recombinant fully human monoclonal neutralizing antibody that is specific to the SARS-CoV-2 surface spike protein receptor binding domain. It is jointly developed by Junshi Biosciences and Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Science.

The company plans to begin the IND application submission in China as soon as possible. Junshi Biosciences and Lilly aim to submit an IND application and initiate clinical studies in the U.S. in the second quarter of the year. Lilly will receive an exclusive license to conduct clinical development, manufacturing and distribution of products outside of Greater China. Junshi Biosciences will maintain all rights in Greater China.

Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief scientific officer, said: “The data generated by Junshi Biosciences suggest the lead antibody may have appropriate properties to support testing its therapeutic use in patients as well as exploring its potential for preventing infection in at-risk individuals. We look forward to partnering with Junshi Biosciences to quickly begin testing this potential new therapy in clinical trials.”

Stock Alert: PG&E Corp. Rises 4%

Shares of PG&E Corp (PCG) are rising more than 4 percent or $0.43 in Monday’s morning trade at $10.57. The stock has traded in a range of $3.55 to $25.19 in the past 52 weeks.

PG&E Corp., through its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, engages in the sale and delivery of electricity and natural gas to customers in northern and central California.

Friday, PG&E Corp. reported first-quarter net earnings that more than doubled to $371 million or $0.57 per share from $136 million or $0.25 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.89 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.02 per share. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the quarter grew 7.5 percent to $4.31 billion from $4.01 billion last year.

PG&E Corp. also said it is continuing to make substantial progress in reorganization cases under Chapter 11 and remains on track for Bankruptcy Court confirmation of its plan of reorganization by June 30, 2020. The company noted this will allow it to participate in California’s new go-forward wildfire fund.

U.S. Construction Spending Unexpectedly Climbs 0.9% In March

A report released by the Commerce Department on Friday showed an unexpected increase in U.S. construction spending in the month of March.

The Commerce Department said construction spending climbed by 0.9 percent to an annual rate of $1.361 trillion in March after tumbling by 2.5 percent to a revised $1.348 trillion in February.

The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected construction spending to plunge by 3.5 percent compared to the 1.3 percent slump originally reported for the previous month.

The unexpected rebound in construction spending came as spending on private construction rose by 0.7 percent to an annual rate of $1.013 trillion in March.

Spending on residential construction jumped by 2.3 percent to a rate of $550.3 billion, more than offsetting a 1.3 percent slump in spending on non-residential construction to a rate of $462.3 billion.

The report said spending on public construction also jumped by 1.6 percent to a rate of $348.0 billion, partly reflecting a 4.6 percent spike in spending on highway construction to a rate of $108.3 billion.