Anthem Inc. Chief Executive Officer Joseph Swedish on Wednesday laid out a list of short-term changes designed to stabilize the market as the new Republican administration and Congress seek to change Obamacare. Swedish said the changes, including tighter enrollment rules on the exchanges, are needed as the company determines to what extent it will participate in the exchanges in 2018.
Category: Insurance
Iconix Brand Group Looks to Dump Charlie Brown, Good Grief
MetLife dumped the Peanuts characters from its ad campaigns this year. Now Iconix Brand Group is considering selling its majority stake in the company behind Charlie Brown’s gang.
Credit Suisse Said to Consider Dublin Expansion as Brexit Nears
Credit Suisse Group AG is exploring options for expanding in Dublin, as the U.K. moves closer to exiting the European Union, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Irish capital is emerging as a favored location for the bank’s so-called back-office jobs, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because a final decision hasn’t been made.
Federal judge swats Aetna-Humana insurer combo
A federal judge has rejected health insurer Aetna’s plan to buy rival Humana Inc. for about $34 billion and become a major player in the market for Medicare Advantage coverage. U.S. District Judge John Bates says in an opinion filed Monday that he largely agrees with federal regulators who contended that such a combination would hurt competition.
Aetna And Humana Stock Each Drop 2% In Heavy Volume After Federal Judge Blocks Merger
Aetna Inc. shares dropped 2.4% and Humana Inc. shares dropped 2.0% in heavy volume during midday trade Monday after The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported that a federal judge had blocked their merger on antitrust grounds. The federal judge’s Monday decision said the DOJ had successfully argued that the deal could hurt consumers with Medicare Advantage plans, according to the WSJ.
Analysts’ Actions — CSX, Dish, Qualcomm, Verizon and More
Here are Monday’s top research calls, including upgrades for CSX and Dish Network, and downgrades for Qualcomm and Verizon. was upgraded to overweight at Barclays.
AIG to Pay Berkshire $9.8 Billion in Insurance Transfer Deal
American International Group Inc. agreed to pay $9.8 billion to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to take on long-term risks from commercial policies written in prior years. The reinsurance deal covers 80 percent of the risks on certain U.S. policies from 2015 and earlier, representing reserves of about $34 billion as of Jan. 1, 2016, New York-based AIG said Friday in a statement.
Credit Suisse Tops Market in Zurich After Final $5.3 Billion Mortgage Settlement with DoJ
Credit Suisse Group shares gained Thursday after the investment bank followed rival Deutsche Bank in finalizing a multi-billion dollar mortgage bond settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. Credit Suisse Group shares rose to the top of the leaderboard in Zurich Thursday after the investment bank followed its German rival, Deutsche Bank AG , in finalizing its multi-billion dollar mortgage bond settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dow Analyst Moves: CAT
The latest tally of analyst opinions from the major brokerage houses shows that among the 30 stocks making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Caterpillar is the #27 analyst pick.
Wells Fargo Reports a Rare Disappointing Quarter
Net income at the nation’s third biggest bank by assets fell in the fourth quarter of last year to $4.9 billion, down from $5.2 billion in the year-ago period. Wells Fargo’s downbeat earnings come amid a swell in profits at other banks.
Long-Short Hedge Funds Are Ditching the Shorts to Focus on Longs
What happens when you take the “short” out of a long-short trading strategy? Some hedge funds are about to find out. Equity long-short fund managers, the biggest category in hedge funds, hold the fewest bearish stock bets on record, data compiled by Credit Suisse Group AG show.
Video-Game Tech Digging Real Dirt for Caterpillar, Komatsu
In Chicago, not far from Lake Michigan, the driver of a Caterpillar Inc. bulldozer looked left, right and forward to maneuver the 230,000-pound machine through a desert obstacle course of sand mounds and old tires. But for all his effort, he didn’t go anywhere.
Credit Suisse May Not Need IPO to Bulk Up Buffers, Herro Says
Credit Suisse Group AG may not need to sell stock in its Swiss unit to raise capital after the bank resolved a major legal issue, according to Harris Associates, one of its biggest investors. The bank announced in December that it would pay more than $5 billion to end a years-long U.S. investigation into the role of its mortgage securities business in the 2008 financial crisis.
Fairfax Said in Talks With OMERS to Back $4.9 Billion Takeover
Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is in talks with the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System to see if the pension fund will help finance his $4.9 billion takeover of Allied World Assurance Co., according to a person familiar with the discussions. OMERS could take a minority stake in Zug, Switzerland-based Allied, and there have also been talks with other potential backers, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing a confidential matter.
Credit Suisse Moves to Block Jefferies Bid to Hire Bankers
Credit Suisse Group AG is seeking to thwart an attempt by Jefferies Group LLC to lure away a group of senior bankers. Five of eight Credit Suisse bankers who had been in talks to join Jefferies have instead agreed to stay on, according to a spokeswoman for the Swiss lender.
6 Tax Deductions Homeowners Won’t Want to Miss
Though there are plenty of good reasons to buy a home, owning property can be a costly prospect. From maintenance to insurance to real estate taxes, there are numerous costs that come with buying a home.
Better Buy: Berkshire Hathaway vs. GE
However, Berkshire has soared 22% in 2016, and thus, is naturally less attractive than it was at this time last year. With that in mind, let’s take a look at Berkshire as compared to another stock I have my eye on right now, General Electric Aside from having Warren Buffett, the greatest long-term investor of all time, at the helm, there are plenty of good reasons to like Berkshire over the long run, no matter who is at the CEO’s desk.
Fairfax Wins Central Bank’s Approval to Take Over Indian Lender
Value investor Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. won regulatory approval to buy 51 percent of Catholic Syrian Bank Ltd., marking the first time India’s central bank is allowing a foreign investor to purchase a majority stake in a domestic lender. Catholic Syrian, based in Thrissur in south India’s Kerala state, received notification of the approval Thursday from the Reserve Bank of India, director T.S. Anantharaman said in a phone interview.
European Lenders Limp Into 2017 After $12.5 Billion Settlements
Relief that Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG cleared legal hurdles is likely to soon give way to concern over a bigger problem: European lenders are still struggling to make money. While the combined $12.5 billion in settlements the two agreed to pay to resolve U.S. investigations into sales of toxic debt put one dispute behind them, they also highlighted how handicapped their businesses are in generating increased profits — nowhere more than in Italy, which agreed overnight to pump 20 billion euros into its banks.
Fairfax Seeking $1 Billion in IPO for Africa Investments
Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., the Canadian insurer that made its largest acquisition this week, is selling shares in an initial public offering for a fund that will make investments in Africa. The company is seeking to raise as much as $1 billion from the sale, people familiar with the matter said.
CEO’s Winning Gamble May Keep Scrooge From Deutsche Bank Bonuses
Deutsche Bank AG employees may owe their cash bonuses for 2016, however modest, to a last-minute bargain by Chief Executive Officer John Cryan. The beleaguered German bank, long embroiled in negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department, was inching closer in recent weeks to a resolution over its sale of defective residential mortgage-backed securities that fueled the financial crisis.
Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse Settle U.S. Subprime Probes
Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG agreed to pay a combined $12.5 billion to resolve U.S. investigations into sales of the toxic debt that fueled the financial crisis, putting behind them a major dispute that undermined confidence in the banks and raised questions about their turnarounds. Deutsche Bank will pay $7.2 billion and take a $1.2 billion pretax charge this quarter, while Credit Suisse agreed to a $5.3 billion deal and will recognize a $2 billion hit to earnings, the banks said in separate statements early Friday.
A Sudden Burst of Activity on Mortgage Litigation
In the span of just 12 hours, three U.S. enforcement matters left over from the financial crisis made significant progress: Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG separately announced that they would pay a combined $12.5 billion to resolve U.S. investigations into their sales of toxic mortgage debt, whereas Barclays Plc chose to roll the dice and let the Justice Department file a fraud lawsuit over its debt sales. Before these latest two deals, the U.S. investigations had already yielded more than $46 billion from six U.S. financial institutions.
Credit Suisse Said Planning About 900 Swiss Job Cuts Next Year
Credit Suisse Group AG is accelerating job cuts in its home market to lift profitability as it gears up for a partial sale of the Swiss division, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The bank plans to eliminate about 900 positions in Switzerland next year, possibly enabling it to achieve — perhaps even surpass — its target a year earlier than expected, said the people, who declined to be named as they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter.
Credit Suisse Nearing U.S. Mortgage Settlement, Reuters Says
Credit Suisse Group AG may reach an agreement as soon as this week to settle a U.S. investigation into its handling of mortgage-linked securities before the 2008 financial crisis, Reuters reported. Switzerland’s second-largest bank is confident it can reach a resolution for less than the $5 billion to $7 billion that the Department of Justice has demanded, the publication quoted an unidentified person familiar with the talks as saying, without specifying when that request was made.
Credit Suisse Nearing U.S. Mortgage Settlement, Reuters Reports
Credit Suisse Group AG may reach an agreement as soon as this week to settle a U.S. investigation into its handling of mortgage-linked securities before the 2008 financial crisis, Reuters reported. Switzerland’s second-largest bank is confident it can reach a resolution for less than the $5 billion to $7 billion that the Department of Justice has demanded, the publication quoted an unidentified person familiar with the talks as saying, without specifying when that request was made.
Watsa Says Trump Era Time to Go on Offense With $4.9 Billion Bet
Prem Watsa, the Canadian investor who just agreed to buy a Swiss company in his largest deal, called the $4.9 billion agreement a bet on U.S. growth under President-elect Donald Trump. The purchase of Allied World Assurance Co.
Watsa’s Fairfax Agrees to Buy Allied World for $4.9 Billion
Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy insurer Allied World Assurance Co. for $4.9 billion in cash and stock in Chief Executive Officer Prem Watsa’s largest purchase.
Top Yen Analysts Discuss Bull-Versus-Bear Outlook for 2017: Q&A
Japan’s currency went on a roller-coaster ride this year, soaring against the dollar for much of 2016 then sliding back down. When it comes to the outlook for 2017, it turns out the market’s top two analysts have views that could hardly be further apart.
Anthem-Cigna Deal Cast by U.S. as Risk to Patients, Providers
Anthem Inc. and the U.S. Justice Department extended their clash over whether the insurer’s planned takeover of rival Cigna Corp. will raise costs, as government witnesses testified Friday that the deal will harm health-care providers and patients. Frank Gorse, a vice president at Patient First, which operates urgent-care centers in the Mid-Atlantic region, said he’s concerned the merger will squeeze providers due to Anthem’s lower payouts, harming patient services.
Citi Revives Popular Leveraged Oil ETNs Credit Suisse Killed
Citigroup Inc. rolled out a couple of risky triple-leveraged exchange-traded notes tied to oil on Friday after Credit Suisse Group AG delisted two eerily similar ETNs. The notes had gained attention earlier in the year as oil prices plummeted and investors, particularly millennials, starting pouring cash into them.