Futures Rise After Dow Snaps 3-Session Winning Streak; Cisco Systems, AppLovin Shares Sink After Earnings

There’s a Legendary—and Valuable—Baseball Card Out There. The Hunt for Mickey Mantle Is On

FROM 40 minutes ago

Perhaps one of your grandparents once opened a pack of baseball cards—and got the legendary Mickey Mantle that would someday be a collectible legend. Now, in a way, you can too.

Topps, the trading-card company owned by Fanatics Inc., this week said a single pack from its new “Topps Series 1” baseball set will include a card that can be redeemed for a 1952 Mickey Mantle, viewed as the Holy Grail of the card-collecting game. A well-maintained version sold in 2022 for more than $12 million; most are worth substantially less, though recent auction data indicates that even in comparatively poor condition they can go for tens of thousands of dollars.

The set, which became available Wednesday, marks the 75th anniversary of baseball cards from Topps, founded as a candy company in 1938. The inclusion of a chance of a Mantle is a nod to history and sentiment—and an acknowledgement that much of the excitement around trading cards these days comes less from gathering up cardboard depicting your favorite players than from the “chase” of rare or even unique collectibles, which can spike collector demand until they are found and spur subsequent bidding wars.

“Before anyone panics, the literal card will not be placed in a pack,” Topps said on social media yesterday. “To preserve its condition, one lucky collector will find a redemption card that can be redeemed for the historic original.” (The post did not specify the condition of the card.)

Read the full article here.

–David Marino-Nachison

Novocure Stock Surges on FDA Approval for Pancreatic Cancer Treatment

FROM 1 hr 32 min ago

Novocure (NVCR) shares soared 25% before the bell Thursday, a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its Optune Pax treatment for locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

The Switzerland-based firm said that Optune Pax “is the first treatment to be FDA approved in nearly 30 years for locally advanced pancreatic cancer.” Novocure added that it “is a wearable medical device that delivers Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), alternating electric fields that disrupt cancer cell replication to cause cell death,” which is a new approach to treating pancreatic tumors.

“Systemic therapies have shown poor bioavailability in pancreatic tumors, limiting their effectiveness,” Novocure CEO Frank Leonard said. “Optune Pax is a fundamentally different treatment, utilizing a biophysical approach that targets the unique electrical properties of cancer cell.”

Novocure shares entered the day having lost more than half of their value over the past 12 months.

Stock Futures Point Higher After Dow Pulls Back From Record

FROM 2 hr 2 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.3% higher.

S&P 500 futures also pointed up 0.3%.

Nasdaq 100 futures also rose 0.3%.