US stock futures advanced in Wednesday’s pre-market trading after all three major indices closed lower yesterday following record highs earlier. The market sentiment on Tuesday was adversely impacted as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked efforts by Democrats to increase stimulus checks to several Americans hurt by the pandemic.
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Futures tied to the S&P 500, Dow Jones and tech-heavy Nasdaq were up 0.34%, 0.29% and 0.36%, respectively, in Wednesday’s early trading.
First on the vaccine front, shares of AstraZeneca (AZN) rose 1.8% pre-market after the U.K. became the first country to grant emergency use of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine. The company said that it was releasing its first doses today so that vaccinations may begin in early 2021. The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, has granted emergency authorization for the supply of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for the active immunization of individuals 18 years or older. The authorization recommends two doses administered with an interval of between four and 12 weeks.
Meanwhile, Pfizer (PFE) and its German partner, BioNTech (BNTX), won an order to supply an additional 100 million doses of their Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine to the European Union in 2021. With the latest order, Pfizer and BioNTech will supply a total of 300 million vaccine doses to the 27 European Union member states.
More in COVID news, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) announced encouraging initial data from its ongoing Phase 1/2/3 clinical trial of the antibody cocktail, casirivimab and imdevimab, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients requiring low-flow oxygen. Last month, the company’s antibody cocktail was granted the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization in high-risk patients with COVID-19, but who were not yet hospitalized.
In other news, Tesla (TSLA) has entered into a five-year deal with China’s Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co Ltd, under which, the latter will provide battery-grade lithium hydroxide to the electric vehicles pioneer. As per Reuters, a Shenzhen Stock Exchange filing revealed that the total contract value would be about $630-$880 million over 2021-25. Tesla already sources lithium for EV batteries from China’s Ganfeng Lithium.
Glacier Bancorp (GBCI) has declared a special cash dividend of $0.15 per share, which will be payable on Jan. 19 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 8. The company paid its regular quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share on Dec. 17, which translates to an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and reflects a dividend yield of 2.64%. Glacier Bancorp has declared 143 consecutive quarterly dividends and has hiked its dividend 46 times.
Finally, Osmotica Pharmaceuticals (OSMT) shares shed 27% pre-market as the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) regarding the company’s New Drug Application seeking approval for its Arbaclofen extended release tablets to treat spasticity resulting from multiple sclerosis. Notably, the CRL stated that the company did not provide adequate justification for the statistical analysis of the change from the starting point to Day 84 in TNmAS-MAL scores comparing Arbaclofen 40 mg to placebo, one of the co-primary endpoints.
The FDA also made a number of recommendations in its CRL, including conducting a new study to provide substantial evidence of Arbaclofen’s efficacy.
