Alkermes Announces Orphan Drug Designation For Nemvaleukin Alfa – Quick Facts

Alkermes plc (ALKS), a global biopharmaceutical company developing medicines in the fields of neuroscience and oncology, said nemvaleukin alfa, its investigational engineered interleukin-2 variant immunotherapy, has been granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of mucosal melanoma by the FDA.

Jessicca Rege, Vice President, Head of Oncology at Alkermes, said: “The accumulating data from the nemvaleukin program have continued to support the clinical profile we anticipated in targeting the IL-2 pathway, and we look forward to continuing our momentum with the ARTISTRY development program this year.”

ARTISTRY is an Alkermes-sponsored clinical development program evaluating nemvaleukin in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Myers Industries Guides FY21 Below Estimates- Quick Facts

While reporting financial results for the fourth quarter on Thursday, polymer products maker Myers Industries, Inc. (MYE) initiated its earnings, adjusted earnings and revenue growth guidance for the full year 2021.

For fiscal 2021, the company now projects earnings in a range of $0.88 to $1.03 per share and adjusted earnings in a range of $0.90 to $1.05 per share on revenue growth in the mid-to-high 20 percent range, including impact of the Elkhart acquisition.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $1.14 per share on a revenue growth of 21.80 percent to $611.31 million for the year. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

JD.com Q4 Adj. Profit Rises; Revenue Up 31.4%

JD.com, Inc. (JD) reported fourth quarter non-GAAP net income per ADS of RMB 1.49, compared to RMB 0.54, prior year. Non-GAAP EBITDA was RMB 2.7 billion compared to RMB 2.0 billion, prior year.

For the fourth quarter of 2020, JD.com reported net revenues of RMB 224.3 billion, a 31.4% increase from prior year. Net product revenues increased by 28.4%, while net service revenues increased by 53.2%.

Annual active customer accounts rose by 30.3% to 471.9 million in 2020 from 362.0 million in 2019.

Akerna To Acquire Viridian Sciences – Quick Facts

Akerna (KERN) has signed an agreement to acquire Viridian Sciences, a cannabis business management software system built on SAP Business One. Akerna expects the all-stock deal accretive to revenue and earnings and to contribute positive cash flow. Akerna noted that the acquisition of Viridian establishes the company as the only cannabis-compliant SAP Business One offering.

Viridian Sciences is a fully integrated cannabis business management software system built on SAP Business One. Viridian’s 30+ clients will gain access to Akerna’s Compliance Gateway, feature-rich reporting, and the recently launched MJ Retail app.

Dad says he has no regrets for lying that he was a carer to jump vaccine queue

Another 712,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week

ADP chief economist: Most recent job gains came from restaurants, bars

ADP chief economist Nela Richardson discusses the latest jobs report, productivity, businesses reopening and rising interest rates.

The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits declined last week as coronavirus caseloads drop nationwide and many states rolled back restrictions on business activity.

Figures released Thursday by the Labor Department show that 712,000 Americans filed first-time jobless claims in the week ended March 6, lower than the 725,000 forecast by Refinitiv economists.

Weekly jobless claims have remained stubbornly high for months, hovering around four times the typical pre-crisis level, although it's well below the peak of almost 7 million that was reached when stay-at-home orders were first issued a year ago in March.

There are roughly 9.5 million fewer jobs than there were last year in February before the crisis began.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

U.S. Factory Orders Jump More Than Expected In January

Partly reflecting a spike in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a bigger than expected increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the month of January.

The Commerce Department said factory orders surged up by 2.6 percent after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.6 percent in December.

Economists had expected factory orders to advance by 2.1 percent compared to the 1.1 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The report said orders for durable goods shot up by 3.4 percent in January, led by the 7.7 percent spike in orders for transportation equipment. Orders for non-defense aircraft and parts soared by 389.9 percent.

Orders for non-durable goods also showed a notable increase, jumping by 1.9 percent in January following a 2.0 percent surge in December.

The Commerce Department also said shipments of manufactured goods climbed by 1.9 percent in January following a 2.1 percent increase in December.

Inventories of manufactured goods showed a more modest increase, inching up by 0.1 percent in January after rising by 0.3 percent in December.

The inventories-to-shipments ratio subsequently dipped to 1.36 in January from 1.38 in the previous month.