The FDA granted Novartis orphan status for spartalizumab, its treatment of of stage IIB-IV melanoma. Reference Link

In response to market activity following the disclosure of a goodwill impairment related to DuPont's agriculture business, DowDuPont stated that the impairment is non-cash, reflects the effect of previously reported market conditions, and has no impact on its previously announced financial guidance for the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont for FY18. The company previously announced that it expects FY18 results for its Agriculture Division to reflect flat net sales and a mid-single digits percent increase in operating EBITDA.

RLH Corporation announced that its CFO, Douglas Ludwig, has tendered his resignation effective immediately due to personal health reasons. The company's Chief Accounting Officer, Nate Troup, will serve as Principal Financial Officer while the company conducts its search for a replacement.

Director of IDACORP declared a common stock dividend of 63c per share, payable November 30, 2018 to holders of record at the close of business on November 5, 2018.

S&P Dow Jones Indices will make the following changes to the S&P SmallCap 600 effective at the open of trading on Tuesday, October 23: Flagstar Bancorp (FBC) will replace SUPERVALU (SVU) in the S&P SmallCap 600. S&P MidCap 400 constituent United Natural Foods (UNFI) is acquiring SUPERVALU in a deal expected to close on October 22 pending final conditions. TechTarget (TTGT) will replace Perry Ellis International (PERY) in the S&P SmallCap 600. Perry Ellis International is being taken private in a deal expected to close soon pending final conditions.

The cash dividend will be paid on December 3, 2018, to shareholders of record on November 5, 2018.

On October 18, 2018, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, a subsidiary of DowDuPont, announced that it would recognize non-cash impairment charges associated with DuPont's agriculture reporting unit in the quarter ended September 30, 2018, of about $4.5B for goodwill and $0.1B for other assets. DowDuPont's results of operations and financial statements for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, will not be impacted by DuPont's expected $4.5B goodwill impairment charge, as the fair value of DowDuPont's agriculture reporting unit, (comprised of the respective consolidated agriculture reporting units of DowDuPont's principal subsidiaries, DuPont and The Dow Chemical Company), continues to exceed its carrying value at September 30, 2018.

Liquidity has increased 14% despite over $450 million in closed M&A transactions. Cash interest expense is expected to decrease over 13%. Fourth quarter production is expected to increase 58% over second quarter levels, as a result of additions from recent acquisitions and organic growth, a 19% increase on a per share basis. Higher production should drive free cash flow in the fourth quarter and beyond, reducing future interest expense further.

Shire announced that the FDA Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee voted unanimously 10 to 0 that the risk-benefit profile of prucalopride supports the approval of this New Drug Application. The FDA will take the advisory committee's recommendation into consideration when the agency makes a final determination. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act PDUFA action date for prucalopride is December 21, 2018. The advisory committee also voted unanimously 10 to 0 that the potential risk of cardiovascular adverse events with the use of prucalopride in adults with CIC has been adequately addressed by Shire. Prucalopride, a serotonin type 4 receptor agonist, is a gastrointestinal prokinetic agent that stimulates colonic peristalsis, increasing bowel motility. Drugs similar to prucalopride have been associated with adverse cardiovascular events in the past. Prucalopride has been studied in more than 90 clinical trials worldwide over the last 20 years, including six key studies by which the advisory committee made its recommendation today. The advisory committee reviewed data included in the prucalopride NDA, specifically five main Phase 3 and one Phase 4 double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. An integrated analysis of these six main randomized, controlled clinical trials evaluated the global efficacy and safety of prucalopride 2 mg daily in men and women with chronic constipation; study designs across the trials were similar. Overall, there were 2,484 adult patients included in the integrated efficacy analysis and 2,552 adult patients included in the integrated safety analysis; all patients included received prucalopride less than or equal to 2 mg daily or placebo. There are an estimated 35M adults in the U.S. with chronic idiopathic constipation.

Accenture Federal Services (ACN), AT&T Government Solutions (T), CACI Technologies (CACI), HII Mission Driven Innovative Solutions (HII), Comtech Mobile Datacom (CMTL), IBM (IBM), Jacobs Technology (JEC),Kforce Government Solutions (KFRC), L-3 Communications Integrated Systems (LLL), Leidos (LDOS), Northrop Grumman Systems (NOC), Raytheon (RTN), KEYW (KEYW) and VSE Corp. (VSEC) will compete for each order of the $37.4B hybrid contract to provide knowledge based professional engineering support services for programs with command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, or C4ISR, related requirements. Bids were solicited via the internet with 388 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 14 2022. U.S. Army Contracting Command is the contracting activity.