Saudis Arabia, US On High Alert After Warning Of Imminent Iranian Attack; US Prepared To Respond

 With oil prices set to soar after the midterms as the SPR drain ends and markets no longer have desperate democrats to help fulfill their immediate energy needs, moments ago the WSJ unveiled another potential oil price powder keg, so to speak, when it reported that according to Saudi and U.S. officials, Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with the U.S. warning of an imminent attack from Iran on targets in the kingdom, putting the American military and others in the Middle East on an elevated alert level.

The report goes on to note that Iran is poised to carry out attacks on both the kingdom and Erbil, Iraq, in an effort to distract attention from domestic protests that have roiled the country since September.

In response to the warning, Saudi Arabia - which until recently was on the Biden admin "naughty list" after the crown prince snubbed Biden's demands for no OPEC+ output cut - the U.S. and several other neighboring states have raised the level of alert for their military forces, the officials said. They didn’t provide more details on the Saudi intelligence.

Separately, the White House National Security Council said it was concerned about the warnings and ready to respond if Iran carried out an attack.

“We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis,” said a National Security Council spokesperson. “We will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region.”

It wasn't exactly clear how attacking Saudi Arabia and launching a war with a far better armed opponent would "distract attention" from Iran's internal troubles, but what is very clear is that if Saudi Arabia wanted to send the oil price soaring, it wouldn't use another OPEC+ cut but would simply take production offline indefinitely; and if it can arrange Iran to help out... well, why not.

Iran has allegedly attacked northern Iraq with dozens of ballistic missiles and armed drones in recent weeks, one of which was shot down by a U.S. warplane as it headed toward the city of Erbil, where American troops are based. Tehran has publicly blamed Iranian Kurdish separatist groups based there for fomenting the unrest at home.

Iranian authorities have also publicly accused Saudi Arabia, along with the U.S. and Israel, of instigating the demonstrations.

While there is no indication at this point that this report is anything more than just Intel agency jawboning and propaganda, if it does in fact escalate into another Persian Gulf powderkeg, watch how high the price of oil will shoot to.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/saudis-arabia-us-high-alert-after-warning-imminent-iranian-attack-us-prepared-respond

OrthoPediatrics cuts 2022 guidance

 Full Year 2022 Financial Guidance

For full year 2022, the Company now expects its full year revenue to be in the range of $124 million to $125 million, updated from its previous guidance range of $127 million to $130 million, representing growth of 26% to 27% over 2021 revenue. The Company now expects its full year revenue, excluding recent acquisitions, to be in the range of $113 million to $114 million, representing growth of 15% to 16% over 2021 revenue. The guidance assumes roughly $11 million of combined revenue contribution from MD Ortho and Pega Medical. The Company also updated its annual set deployment to be in a range of $20 million to $24 million and continues to expect to generate several million dollars of adjusted EBITDA for full year 2022.

Conference Call

OrthoPediatrics will host a conference call on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results. Investors interested in listening to the conference call may do so by accessing a live and archived webcast of the event at www.orthopediatrics.com, on the Investors page in the Events & Presentations section. The webcast will be available for replay for at least 90 days after the event.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/orthopediatrics-corp-reports-third-quarter-200300570.html

Legend started at Outperform by Cowen

 https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=LEGN&ty=c&ta=1&p=d

Ecolab Q3 Adjusted EPS $1.30; Double-Digit Growth in Sales and Pricing; 'Expect Continued Improvement in Q4'

 "We have been preparing for what is now widely considered to be a more challenging macroeconomic environment, especially in Europe. As the war and energy crisis are having an increased short-term impact on demand and costs, we continue to expect earnings growth to progressively improve, but at a more moderate pace than previously anticipated. As part of our plans to mitigate the impact, we have launched a new initiative to reduce our overall cost structure and ensure optimum supply to our European customers. This, along with further pricing, new business and productivity gains, is expected to deliver a strong acceleration in operating income growth. This sequentially improving operating performance is expected to be offset by unfavorable impacts from currency translation and interest expense, resulting in fourth quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share approaching last year’s $1.28.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecolab-third-quarter-reported-diluted-120000107.html

Unity Bio Set to Launch Pivotal DME Study after Significant Data

 Shares of Unity Biotechnology surged in early trading Tuesday following the company’s release of Phase II data showing a single injection of its experimental drug provided visual improvements in patients with diabetic macular edema.  

A single injection of UBX1325 led to a statistically significant and clinically relevant improvement in Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) scores at 24 weeks compared to placebo, San-Fransisco-based Unity announced.

Beyond the visual improvement, treatment with UBX1325 also stabilized retinal structure in the eye at 24 weeks as measured by central subfield thickness. At the same time, placebo patients saw a significant worsening of retinal structure during the same period of time, the company reported.

Additionally, 59.4% of trial patients who were treated with UBX1325 did not require treatment from standard-of-care anti-VEGF for six months. Only 37.5% of placebo patients achieved that, the company noted.

Patients who participated in the Phase II BEHOLD study had been on anti-VEGF treatment for at least six months prior to enrollment into the study. The last anti-VEGF injection was delivered between three and six weeks prior to the start of the trial.

Based on these data, Unity intends to initiate a pivotal study in DME in the second half of 2023. Investors enthusiastically responded to the announcement. The stock climbed more than 18% since the start of trading.

In a conference call Tuesday, Chief Executive Anrivan Ghosh said the BEHOLD data showed a strong and meaningful improvement in trial patients treated with UBX1325.

“The 24-week data was an improvement over data seen at 12 and 18 weeks,” Ghosh said. “This provides evidence of a sustained benefit of treatment.”

Ghosh said the drug was safe and tolerable. There was no evidence of intra-ocular inflammation.

Because of its novel mechanism of action, UBX1325 could benefit patients as both a monotherapy or in combination with anti-VEGF drugs, he said.

“Based on the results of this study, we believe UBX1325 could lead to significant vision gain while reducing treatment burden for patients,” he said. “The durable effect we’ve now observed through six months following just a single injection of UBX1325 suggests it could represent a longer-lasting, disease-modifying treatment option for patients.”

Arshad M. Khanani, director of clinical research at Sierra Eye Associates and study investigator, called the Phase II data “impressive.”

On the call, he said the 7.6-letter gain from baseline in BCVA is of significant importance.

Such visual improvement can allow DME patients to regain some independence, Khanani said. As an example, some patients who may not have been allowed to drive due to disease-related loss of vision could now have the opportunity to get behind the wheel again due to those improvements.

Long-term safety (48 weeks) and efficacy data from the BEHOLD study in DME is expected in the second quarter of 2023.

https://www.biospace.com/article/unity-biotechnology-surges-following-positive-phase-ii-dme-study/

UN Team Is Inspecting Ukrainian Sites For Traces Of Alleged 'Dirty Bomb'

 The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi on Tuesday confirmed that a team of weapons inspectors is on the ground in Ukraine examining sites that Russia recently named in connection to an alleged Ukrainian 'dirty bomb' plot.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia submitted a formal letter to other UN Security Council members last week which charged Ukraine’s nuclear research facility and mining company was creating a bomb with radioactive material on orders from President Zelensky himself. Russia's state news agency, RIA, had named the two sites as the Eastern Mineral Enrichment Plant in the central Dnipropetrovsk region and the Institute for Nuclear Research in Kiev.

The letter alleged that Ukrainian technicians "received direct orders from Zelenskyy’s regime to develop such a dirty bomb." Kiev and its Western backers quickly condemned the claims as "transparently false". 

According to the IAEA's Grossi, "inspections had begun at two locations in Ukraine and would soon be completed. The inspections had been requested by Kyiv in the wake of the Russian allegations," according to The Associated Press.  

The UN agency had on Sunday described the mission as follows: "The purpose of the safeguards visits is to detect any possible undeclared nuclear activities and material."

The inspectors reportedly haven't found anything, and the UN agency additionally briefed reporters on the following: 

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the investigated sites "are under IAEA safeguards and have been visited regularly by IAEA inspectors," whose mission is detecting undeclared nuclear activities and materials related to the development of dirty bombs.

"The IAEA inspected one of the two locations a month ago and no undeclared nuclear activities or materials were found there," the agency said in a statement Monday.

Last month Russia began alleging that a 'dirty bomb' detonation, which would spread radioactive waste and potentially contaminate large urban areas, was being prepared by Ukrainian forces so that such a mass casualty WMD incident could be blamed on Moscow, in order to justify greater Western intervention.

The US last week pointed the finger at Moscow for allegedly preparing a 'false flag' event in Ukraine...

Amid the false flag claims France ominously warned days ago that the crisis is "trending towards uncontrollable escalation" and urged the warring sides to find a diplomatic opening for peace talks. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/un-team-inspecting-ukrainian-sites-traces-alleged-dirty-bomb

Is a meat recession coming?

 Online meat delivery company Good Ranchers warned consumers on social media that "a meat recession is knocking and supply is about to be tight" as cattle herd continues to shrink. 

"The cattle herd has shrunk due to droughts," Good Ranchers wrote on its Instagram account. "Our total meat supply for the coming year is down significantly. This is one of the main reasons a meat recession is coming."

Walter Kunisch, senior commodities strategist at Hilltop Securities, agreed, telling FOX Business that U.S. beef cattle supplies will continue to contract throughout 2023, further pushing up beef prices for consumers "well the first half of 2024."

"We believe that an acute and protracted drought in the southwest U.S. is responsible for increased culling of beef cattle which is leaving the U.S. structurally short beef cattle and beef supplies," Kunish told FOX Business. 

According to The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number of castle moving from pasture into a feedlot to be conditioned for slaughter in September fell 4% nationwide year-over-year. In certain areas, such as Kansas, it was as high as 11%. 

The issue is that this drought has been lingering in key U.S. cattle producing states in the Southwest such as Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas since 2021, according to Kunish. 

"There's been an acute drought in those states for really the better part of 2022," he said, adding that there hasn't been much relief, either. 

Areas such as Texas, and the panhandle which is western Oklahoma and southwest Kansas, in particular have not experienced material precipitation since September 2021, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. 

As a result, the availability of pasture has contracted, he added. 

"That drought has been so prolonged, the opportunities to graze or for ranchers to put cattle in the pasture has sharply declined," which is forcing ranchers to put cattle into feedlots at a faster pace, Kunisch said. 

On top of that, breeders are also culling more unbred female cattle at a faster pace, which effectively reduces the supply of future animals for slaughter, according to Kunisch. 

"Those future breeding animals have been liquidated," he said.

Unfortunately, even when the drought begins to mitigate and pasture conditions improve, "those ranchers will start to retain female animals for breeding, to increase their breeding stock." 

This means supplies will become even tighter as those ranchers start to rebuild their breeding herd. It takes roughly 19 to 24 months from when a rancher decides to use a female for breading to when its offspring are ready to be slaughtered. 

That coupled with the higher cost of certain commodities, such as corn and wheat as well as operating costs, such as fuel and labor charges, is creating "persistent higher cattle prices, which can lead to higher beef prices," Kunisch said. 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/meat-recession-coming