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The Morning Ledger: Walgreens, Humana Weigh Equity Stakes |
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For Walgreens, a closer connection with Humana could replicate expected benefits of the CVS-Aetna deal at a much lower cost than a takeover. PHOTO: CHARLES KRUPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Good day. Drugstore owner Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and health insurer Humana Inc. are in early talks to take equity stakes in each other, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Better together: The companies already have a partnership focused on serving seniors from two Walgreens locations and are having wide-ranging talks that also include the possibility of expanding that venture. The discussions come as health-industry players scramble to diversify, bulk up and insulate themselves against external threats, including from Amazon.com Inc., which purchased online pharmacy PillPack Inc. for $1 billion earlier this year.
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More for less?: Walgreens rival CVS Health Corp. last year announced a $69 billion deal to buy insurer Aetna Inc. For Walgreens, a closer connection to Humana could replicate the benefits of the CVS-Aetna tie-up at a much lower cost.
Back to basics: The partnership is a return to more old-school arrangements for Walgreens, which had bet big and lost on a new-age arrangement with Theranos Inc. The relationship ended in litigation, with Theranos later shuttering its operations and settling civil-fraud charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Stocks: The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.6% in early morning trade. On Wall Street, futures pointed to opening gains of 0.7% for the S&P 500 and 0.6% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A selloff Tuesday wiped out yearly gains for both indexes.
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Retail stocks: A parade of U.S. retail chains on Tuesday reported rising sales in the latest quarter, but shares of Target Corp., Kohl’s Corp. and other retailers were swept lower as part of a broader market decline.
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Bonds: The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to 3.081% compared with 3.050% Tuesday.
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Crude oil: Oil prices rebounded Wednesday after sinking deeper into a bear market Tuesday on concerns about oversupply. Brent was up 1.2% to $63.28 a barrel, after a 6.4% tumble in the previous session.
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The U.S. Commerce Department is scheduled to release data on monthly durable goods orders at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by WSJ predict that demand for long-lasting goods fell 2.6% in October from September.
U.S. existing home sales for October, due out at 10 a.m. ET, are expected to climb 0.8% from the prior month to 5.19 million.
Cheetah Mobile Inc., Deere & Co. and Metro Inc. are among the companies reporting earnings Wednesday.
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The French government, which holds a stake in Renault, pressed the car maker to appoint interim management. PHOTO: CHRISTOPHE MORIN/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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French car maker Renault SA’s next leader faces the challenging task of boosting corporate governance while steering a company that has been thrown into turmoil by the arrest of its chairman and chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, at a time of transformational change in the auto industry, reports CFO Journal's Nina Trentmann.
After a meeting late Tuesday, Renault’s board said it had named Thierry Bolloré, the company’s No. 2 executive, to serve as deputy CEO on a temporary basis. Philippe Lagayette, Renault’s lead independent director, was appointed as interim chairman, the company said.
Key to the management shift is the untethering of the chairman and the CEO positions that Mr. Ghosn held, analysts said. The accumulation of titles and power has created a corporate governance issue that his successors will have to address, said Philippe Houchois, an automotive analyst at Jefferies International Ltd.
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A customer at the Amazon 4-star store in New York City’s Soho area pays using the Amazon app. PHOTO: MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Amazon.com Inc. is gearing up to challenge Apple Inc. in the mobile-payments race. The e-commerce giant is working to persuade brick-and-mortar merchants to accept its Amazon Pay digital wallet
Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg pushed back against calls for him to step down as chairman and said he hoped to continue working with his longtime chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, in a TV interview.
European aerospace giant Airbus SE appointed a new chief financial officer and a new chief operating officer, completing a generational overhaul of its executive ranks as it struggles to build all the planes it has promised.
Nielsen Holdings PLC appointed David Kenny as chief executive as the ratings and data giant continues to review its strategic options amid activist pressure to either sell or spin off parts of its assets.
Lowe’s Cos. plans to exit its retail businesses in Mexico and shed two of its lower-performing home-improvement businesses in a bid to refocus its core operations and help it compete with rival Home Depot Inc.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX raised $250 million from its first-ever high-yield loan sale, shrinking the size of the loan by $500 million after the company encountered a mixed reception from investors and worsening credit-market conditions.
Campbell Soup Co. said its plan to refocus on its namesake business helped decelerate declines in its U.S. soup sales, but it will take until at least next year to return to growth.
Chinese companies have bought back record amounts of stock this year, helping offset souring market sentiment caused by trade tensions and economic weakness.
Company loans in Italy are becoming more costly after a lofty government spending prompted higher rates on Italian bonds, which is in turn raising banks' borrowing costs.
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FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams in October. PHOTO: ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
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The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposed easing rules for small banks as part of a broader Trump administration effort to loosen restrictions put in place after the financial crisis.
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The European Union agreed to establish a framework for screening foreign investments in an attempt to safeguard strategic EU assets following a Chinese buying spree, though questions remain about the rules’ effectiveness.
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Preliminary findings of an internal review by Deutsche Bank AG of its role in a massive money-laundering scandal at Danske Bank suggest the German lender handled about $150 billion of the total amount of potentially suspicious transactions tied to Danske.
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Offshore oil-rig operator Vantage Drilling International Co. agreed to disgorge $5 million in a settlement with U.S. regulators related to a corruption probe in Brazil involving Petróleo Brasileiro SA.
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Cafe Chain Audit Comes Under Regulatory Scrutiny |
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The Financial Reporting Council has launched an investigation into the audit of the financial statements of cafe chain Patisserie Holdings PLC for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, writes Ms. Trentmann.
The investigation into Grant Thornton UK LLP's audit will be conducted by the Audit Enforcement Procedure, the U.K. regulator for reporting, accounting and audit said in a statement.
The probe comes after the company's announcement in October that it had discovered accounting regularities, resulting in the departure of former Chief Financial Officer Chris Marsh and an emergency fundraising from shareholders to keep the company afloat.
The FRC is also investigating the preparation and approval of financial statements of Patisserie Holdings by Mr. Marsh, the regulator said.
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Contractors build wall frames during construction of a new home in Walnut, Ill., in August. PHOTO: DANIEL ACKER/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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U.S. housing starts rose 1.5% last month on a bounceback in multifamily building, but underlying figures signal weakness in the construction pipeline.
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Governments around the world must prepare spending plans that they can roll out quickly should the global economy slow sharply, given that central banks have largely run out of ammunition to fight a slowdown, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.
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Inflation shrinks the tax cuts. The apparent impact of the 2017 tax overhaul is likely to shrink thanks to changes in the way the Internal Revenue Service calculates inflation.
A familiar new face at Senate Finance. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who has headed the Senate Judiciary Committee, is expected to take over the chamber’s tax-writing Finance Committee, where he was the top GOP member from 2001 to 2011.
Writing off a college-sports deduction. College sports fans making donations to secure game seats used to be able to deduct much of the cost. No longer.
“Like pigs following cows through a cornfield.” Raymond Plank, a blunt-talking U.S. Army Air Corps veteran who died on Nov. 8 at 96, co-founded Apache Corp. as a tax-avoidance strategy and built it into an oil and gas giant.
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Lowe’s Cos., the Mooresville, N.C. home improvement retailer, said it brought forward the start date of Chief Financial Officer David Denton. He started on Monday.
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Mr. Denton, who joined the retailer’s earnings call Tuesday, succeeds Tiffany Mason, who has been serving as interim CFO. She resumed her role as senior vice president of corporate finance and treasurer on Monday. Lowe’s announced Mr. Denton’s appointment in August.
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Holiday Schedule for The Morning Ledger |
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The Morning Ledger will not be published Thursday and Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. We will resume publication of the newsletter on Monday.
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