Plus, the Fed’s Kaplan said higher interest rates could come next year, Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy messaging platform Discord for more than $10 billion, and Cineworld said its Regal Cinema chain will reopen 500 U.S. locations on April 2.
Stocks were mixed at the open on Tuesday with the Dow dropped 39 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 slid less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq traded just above the flatline.
AstraZeneca shares are down more than 3% this morning after a U.S. health agency said that the company may have included outdated information in trial results for its COVID-19 vaccine, casting a shadow over efficacy rates published yesterday. The Data Safety Monitoring Board “expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,” the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a statement. “We urge the company to work with the DSMB to review the efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible.” AstraZeneca said in a statement, “We will immediately engage with the independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) to share our primary analysis with the most up to date efficacy data. We intend to issue results of the primary analysis within 48 hours.”
Higher Interest rates could come in 2022. That’s according to Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan, who said he is among the policy makers estimating the central bank will have to raise interest rates next year. “There were some dots starting increases in 2022,” Kaplan said in an interview with CNBC, referring to the Fed’s dot plot, which it uses to signal its outlook for the path of interest rates. “And, you know, I’m one of those dots. Yes, absolutely.” As the Fed makes progress towards its dual-mandate of full employment and inflation goals, Kaplan said he will be “an advocate of beginning the process of removing some extraordinary monetary measures, and doing it sooner rather than later. But I need to see outcomes, not just not just a strong forecast.”
Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy messaging platform Discord for more than $10 billion. According to a report from Bloomberg, Discord has been in talks with potential buyers and Microsoft is in the running, though no deal is imminent, people familiar with the matter said. One person said Discord is more likely to go public than sell itself. Discord is best known for its free service that lets gamers communicate by video, voice, and text, and people stuck at home during the pandemic have increasingly used its platform for activities ranging from study groups, to dance classes, and book clubs and other virtual gatherings. The platform has more than 100 million monthly active users and has raised $479.3 million in venture capital from investors including Index Ventures, Greenoaks Capital, IVP, and Spark Capital, among others. “Microsoft possibly acquiring Discord makes a lot of sense as it continues to reshape its gaming business more toward software and services,” said Matthew Kanterman, analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence. “There’s a big opportunity to bundle Discord’s premium offering, Nitro, into the Game Pass service to drive more subscriptions from the last reported 18 million.”
Cineworld said its Regal Cinemas movie theater chain will reopen around 500 locations in the U.S. on April 2 at limited capacity based on local guidelines. In its first weekend open in more than 6 months, Regal Cinemas will showcase Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla vs. Kong,” with “Mortal Kombat” opening at its theaters on April 16. Cineworld also announced a new multi-year deal for Warner Bros films that dramatically shortens the time before theaters have to cede movies to home viewers, showing the rising strength of streaming services. “This cements an industry wide shortening of he window, a negative for exhibitors and reflecting of increased” risk from streaming and video-on-demand providers, Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note. Similar deals are expected to follow, with Universal Studios already demanding shorter release windows from Cineworld’s peers.
And Penn National Gaming CEO Jay Snowden said the company is seeing a strong recovery as COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, making people more comfortable to return to casinos. “What we’re seeing right now in the business… is revenues and volumes that I haven’t seen in years. The month of March has been incredible,” Snowden said in an interview with CNBC. “We saw really high spend per visit when people came, but the visitation was still way down year over year because those that were 65-plus years old weren’t coming back. What we’re seeing now is the spend per visit was still much higher than it was pre-COVID, but visitation levels now in the month of March look a lot like they did in 2019, so you have those two things working together. We had one of the biggest weekends this last weekend that we have seen in years.”
Stocks We’re Watching
CTI BioPharma Corp (NASDAQ: CTIC): CTI BioPharma shares rose as much as 29% yesterday after the company announced that Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, as published results from a Phase 1 study of pacritinib, an investigational oral kinase inhibitor with specificity for JAK2, for the prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). This Phase 1 clinical trial is the first study to demonstrate that combining pacritinib, a selective JAK2 inhibitor, with sirolimus-based GVHD prophylaxis may produce lower rates of acute GVHD compared to the reported rates for sirolimus and tacrolimus alone,” said Adam. R. Craig, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of CTI BioPharma. “We are encouraged by these data and look forward to further evaluating pacritinib in preventing GVHD in the on-going Phase 2 clinical trial and continuing to highlight the potential for the expanded use of pacritinib.”