Trillium up 50% premarket on Gilead takeout of Forty Seven

Trillium Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TRIL) jumps 50% premarket on average volume in concert with Forty Seven (+62%) on the heels of Gilead’s $4.9B bid for the latter.

FTSV’s lead candidate is anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody magrolimab, in development for acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.

TRIL’s lead drug is TTI-621, also a CD47 inhibitor, in development for solid tumors and mycosis fungoides (type of cutaneous T cell lymphoma).

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3547358-trillium-up-50-premarket-on-gilead-takeout-of-forty-seven

Co-Diagnostics up 59% premarket on availability of COVID-19 test

Co-Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CODX) is poised to add to its torrid pace with its announcement that its coronavirus virus test kits are now available for purchase by CLIA-certified laboratories who have yet to complete their Emergency Use Authorization submissions with the FDA. Previously, labs had to wait for agency sign-off before ordering.

Shares up 59% premarket on robust volume. If the premarket price holds, shares will be up 20-fold since mid-January.

COVID-19-related tickers and premarket movement: AHPI (+21%), CEMI (+10%), IBIO (+42%), LAKE (+11%), VXRT (+15%), INO (+5%), NVAX (+9%), BCRX (+3%), COCP (+24%), MRNA (+3%), NNVC (+5%), REGN (+3%), GILD (+1%), JNJ (-1%), OPGN (+15%)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3547333-co-diagnostics-up-59-premarket-on-availability-of-covidminus-19-test

Gilead takes out Forty Seven for $4.9B

Immuno-oncology therapy developer Forty Seven (NASDAQ:FTSV) jumps 62% premarket on average volume in reaction to Gilead Sciences’ (NASDAQ:GILD) $95.50 per share cash offer representing a total transaction value of ~$4.9B.

The deal should close next quarter.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3547352-gilead-takes-out-forty-seven-for-4_9b

Dominican Republic, France report Caribbean virus cases

Health officials in the Dominican Republic and France on Sunday reported the first confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the tourist-rich Caribbean, while British cruise ship passengers who had been trapped at sea due to virus fears were finally set to come home.

Dominican Public Health Minister Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas said a 62-year-old Italian man had arrived in the country on Feb. 22 without showing symptoms. He was being treated in isolation at a military hospital and “has not shown serious complications.”

France, meanwhile, reported three cases on the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, the first in one of France’s overseas territories.

The announcements came shortly before the Braemar cruise ship, which had been denied entry to the Dominican Republic due to the virus fears, at last found a place to dock — the Dutch territory of St. Maarten.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/live-blog/coronavirus-updates-live-countries-prepare-outbreak-spreads-n1143556/ncrd1146691#liveBlogHeader

Asian stock markets reverse losses on global policy stimulus hopes

Asian shares steadied from early losses on Monday as investors placed their hopes on a coordinated global monetary policy response to weather the damaging economic impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

Pandemic fears pushed markets off a precipice last week, wiping more than $5 trillion from global share value as stocks cratered to their steepest slump in more than a decade.
The sheer scale of losses prompted financial markets to price in policy responses from the U.S. Federal Reserve to the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Futures now imply a full 50 basis point cut by the Fed in March <0#FF:> while Australian markets <0#YIB:>are pricing in a quarter-point cut at the RBA’s Tuesday meeting.
Also helping calm market nerves, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday the central bank would take necessary steps to stabilise financial markets. [
In equities, Chinese shares opened higher with the blue-chip index .CSI300 up 1.5%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS advanced 0.4%, turning around from a loss of about 0.3% earlier in the day.
E-minis for the S&P500 ESc1, which were down more than 1% at one point, were last up 0.3% while Japan’s Nikkei .N225, which opened 1.3% lower at a six month trough, climbed 0.4%.
Australia’s S&P ASX/200 , which had tumbled 3%, was last off 1.8%.

Benchmark U.S. 10-Year Treasuries hit a fresh record low of 1.0750% US10YT=RR.
Despite some stability in the market, analysts still expect volatility to persist.
“Any signs that new cases are beginning to taper could be seen as a positive catalyst for the market especially given that some of the market complacency has reduced with equity valuations much lower vs few weeks ago,” Nomura analysts wrote in a note.
“In the very near term until 1Q reporting results, we expect Asian equities may remain quite volatile,” they added.
“However, on a medium term basis we believe the risk-reward is now getting favourable, assuming the virus does not take the form of a virulent global pandemic.”
Leaders in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas rolled out bans on big gatherings and stricter travel restrictions over the weekend as cases of the new coronavirus spread.
The epidemic, which began in China, has killed almost 3,000 people worldwide as authorities race to contain infections in Iran, Italy, South Korea and the United States.
Both official and private surveys, released on Saturday and Monday respectively, showed China’s factory activity collapsing to its worst levels on record as the virus crippled broad areas of the economy.
“It is now highly probable that the coronavirus will spread globally,” Citi analysts said in a note.

“Financial markets may over-react until they have visibility on the actual impact.”
Investor panic last week sent bonds soaring and stocks plunging. The S&P 500 index .SPX fell 11.5%, only its fifth double-digit weekly percentage drop since 1940. [.N]
On Monday, oil extended losses before steadying on expectations OPEC may cut production. [O/R]
Brent crude last traded at $50.41 per barrel LCOc1 and U.S. crude CLc1 at $45.30 per barrel.
In currencies, investors sought shelter in the Japanese yen, which jumped to a 20-week high on the dollar in tandem with the massive shift in money markets to price U.S. rate cuts. [FRX/]
All of this leaves just about every major asset class on edge and few analysts sounding optimistic.
“So it was right not to ‘buy the dip,’” said Michael Every, Rabobank’s senior strategist for the Asia-Pacific.
The yen was last up 0.1% at 107.98.
The Aussie AUD=D3 huddled near an 11-year low at $0.6527, while the New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 slipped 0.1% to $6238.
The euro EUR=D3 was up 0.3% at $1.1054.

That left the dollar index =USD a shade weaker at 97.911.
A further set of manufacturing surveys from around the world due later on Monday will provide investors more detail on the virus’ impact on the global economy.
Later in the week, central bank meetings in Australia, on Tuesday, and Canada, on Wednesday, will be closely watched.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/asian-stock-markets-reverse-losses-on-global-policy-stimulus-hopes-idUSKBN20O2GA

Nigeria contacts 100 people who may have been exposed to coronavirus patient

Nigerian authorities have contacted around 100 people who may have been exposed to an Italian man who is the country’s first coronavirus patient, a Lagos state official said on Sunday, in a bid to stop an outbreak in Africa’s most populous country.

The case, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, has prompted fears the virus could spread quickly in Lagos. The densely populated commercial capital of 20 million people is the biggest city in a country of some 200 million inhabitants.
Health experts are concerned about an outbreak in a region where health systems are already overburdened with cases of malaria, measles, Ebola and other infectious diseases.
The Italian man arrived in Lagos on Feb. 24 from Milan on a Turkish Airlines flight that had a connection in Istanbul. The following day he traveled to neighboring Ogun state and was in the country for almost two full days before being isolated.
Asked in a telephone interview about the number of people Nigerian authorities had been in touch with who may have had contact with the man, Lagos state Health Commissioner Akin Abayomi said: “It is around 100 people but that number is increasing every minute.”
The patient works as a vendor for cement company Lafarge Africa Plc (WAPCO.LG) in the southwestern state of Ogun.
“The number is going up all the time as we find people who were on the flight. We found people who were on the journey to Ogun, in contact with him at the factory and people at the hotel,” Abayomi said.
Health Minister Osagie Ehanire, speaking on Nigerian TV, said the man was responding to treatment and seemed to be “on the way to recovery”.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, in a statement issued late on Sunday, called for calm.
“President Buhari urges Nigerians not to panic about the news of this first case of Covid-19 in our country, as undue alarm would do us more harm than good,” said the statement.
Lafarge issued a statement on Sunday in which it said its cement production lines remained open. It said 39 people who were in direct contact with the man had been quarantined.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-nigeria-idUSKBN20O1UZ

Negative U.S. Yields Are in Sight as Virus Spurs Recession Bets

The swirl of fresh coronavirus cases and signs of the severity of the hit on the global economy have seasoned strategists warning that U.S. growth could come to a halt this year and some Treasury yields may drop below zero — possibly as early as this week.
The warnings come as a rout in equities and rate-cut expectations sent long-term Treasury yields to unprecedented lows last week. Over the weekend, China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index plunged to the lowest on record amid a surge in coronavirus cases and new fatalities — including the first in the U.S. — around the world.

Rates derivatives traders were already putting on wagers last week targeting the Federal Reserve slashing rates to zero by mid-year. These bets are now likely to intensify as some investors now see the risk of the U.S. economy screeching to a halt or even slipping into a recession by the end of the year. Scott Minerd, the chief investment officer of Guggenheim Partners, said such expectations will push U.S. Treasury yields below zero for the first time.
“The shorter-term securities are going to be negative,” said Minerd who oversees about $215 billion. “This could happen this week.” He said the 10-year Treasury note yield could drop to as low as zero though it would be hard to drop below that.

“Even if you have the 10-year note yield at 25 basis points, you are going to have the majority of the curve at negative rates,” he said.
The stock of global negative-yielding investment-grade debt has jumped back up to over $14 trillion from just under $11 trillion in mid-January. However, most of that is concentrated in Europe where the European Central Bank has slashed its benchmark rate below zero. Negative rates have been long seen as an anathema in the U.S.

With the economic impact of the virus outbreak rippling from China to Europe and the Americas, a slew of Wall Street economists have turned more pessimistic and penciled in Fed rate cuts. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s economists on Sunday bumped up how much they expect the Fed to ease in 2020, after adjusting their forecast just last week. They now expect the Fed will cut rates 50 basis points this month, followed by another 50 basis points of easing sometime in the second quarter, Goldman’s Jan Hatzius and Daan Struyven wrote in a note. On Friday, they predicted a 25 basis point cut at the March Fed policy meeting followed by 50 additional basis points in cuts through June.
The 2-year Treasury note yield ended last week at 0.91% in one of its most precipitous declines in the past decade as rates traders ramped up expectations for a rate cut at the March 17-18 policy meeting. Fed chairman Jerome Powell said in rare unschedued remarks Friday that the Fed would act if needed. Since then, the U.S. reported its first related fatality and Washington’s governor declared a state of emergency.

“It’s hard to imagine that the global recession of 2020 hasn’t already commenced,” said Jack Malvey, a debt veteran and former chief global fixed-income strategist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. “A decent part of the U.S. yield curve should end up in negative territory. The question really is only how far out the curve,” said Malvey, who is now counselor at the Center for Financial Stability Inc. He predicted negative rates are likely at least in the 3-year maturity point.

Skittish investors are also continuing with their flight into haven currencies. The Japanese yen surged in early Asia trading versus the greenback to an almost five-month high. That added to gains of over nearly 3.5% last week for the yen. The Australian and New Zealand dollars slid with Australia also reporting its first death from the virus.
“The news about the virus getting worse is destabilizing for markets,” said Shaun Osborne, chief foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of Nova Scotia. “There is probably a bit more of a shake-out to come overall. Yields should fall further and the haven currencies to keep appreciating.”
https://www.bloomberg.com//news/articles/2020-03-01/negative-u-s-yields-are-in-sight-as-virus-spurs-recession-bets