AT&T Revenue Drops 4.5% and Crisis Impairs Outlook for 2020

AT&T Revenue Drops 4.5% and Crisis Impairs Outlook for 2020

(Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc. posted a 4.5% drop in revenue from a year ago and withdrew its forecast of 2% revenue growth for the year, saying it can’t provide a financial forecast for 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.The Covid-19 crisis hurt earnings by 5 cents a share in the first quarter and knocked $600 million off of revenue due to lower ad sales from canceled sports events like the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. But the U.S. stay-at-home orders, which started in mid-March, did help improve some of AT&T’s slumping consumer businesses.Homebound customers craving videoconferencing and cellular connections helped boost broadband and wireless numbers. AT&T added a total of 27,000 wireless subscribers, exceeding analysts’ prediction for a loss of 132,000. That number includes a loss of tablet customers, offset by 163,000 new mobile-phone customers. And demand for fiber broadband connections surged 34% as more people sought faster home internet access.AT&T shares...

Macy’s Seeks to Raise Up to $5 Billion in Debt – Report

Macy’s, Inc. (M) is reportedly seeking to raise as much as $5 billion in debt as it is struggling with depressed retail sales after government restrictions to contain the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of all of the department chain’s stores.According to the debt plan, the department chain will to use its inventory as collateral to raise $3 billion and real estate assets to raise $1 billion to $2 billion, CNBC reported.All of the department chain's 775 stores have been closed since March 18. Macy’s had also announced that it is suspending its quarterly dividend, drawing down on its credit line, freezing both hiring and spending, stopping capital spending, reducing receipts, and cancelling some orders and extending payment terms.This month, Macy’s said that its CFO and Executive Vice President Paula Price will leave the company adding more uncertainty as to how the department chain will navigate its cost-cutting plan and saving measures...

The Daily Biotech Pulse: Immunic To Develop COVID Treatment, Gilead Strikes IO Partnership

Here's a roundup of top developments in the biotech space over the last 24 hours.Scaling The Peaks (Biotech Stocks Hitting 52-week Highs April 21) * Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) * Arcturus Therapeutics Ltd (NASDAQ: ARCT) * Arvinas Inc (NASDAQ: ARVN) * Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL) * GenMark Diagnostics, Inc (NASDAQ: GNMK) * Keros Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: KROS) * Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals Ltd (NASDAQ: KNSA) * Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) * OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSUR) * Repro-Med Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: KRMD) * Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX)Down In The Dumps (Biotech Stocks Hitting 52-week Lows April 21) * Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: CYCC)(announced pricing of $20 million common stock offering) * Nabriva Therapeutics PLC - ADR (NASDAQ: NBRV) * Viveve Medical Inc (NASDAQ: VIVE)Stocks In Focus Novartis' Cell Therapy Gets Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation For Follicular Lymphoma Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) said the FDA granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation...

Gilead, oNKo-innate Look To Natural Killer Cells For New Cancer Treatment

Gilead Sciences (GILD) and its Kite unit have entered into a three-year cancer immunotherapy research collaboration with oNKo-innate. The goal: to discover and develop next-generation drug and engineered cell therapies focused on natural killer (NK) cells.Current cancer immunotherapy approaches primarily focus on T cell mediated anti-tumor immunity. Like T cells, NK cells are a class of lymphocytes (white blood cells) that play a critical role in the immune system. Both NK cells and T cells each have the potential to attack cancer cells, but each have different mechanisms for tumor cell killing.According to Gilead, appropriately activated and targeted NK cells may represent a differentiated approach that would be potentially complementary and synergistic with T cell mediated strategies.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but oNKo-innate will receive an upfront payment and potential additional payments based on achievement of certain milestones.Specifically, oNKo-innate will use genome-wide screening techniques and its proprietary technology...