Author: starbpo

Novo Nordisk says that the high prices of its best-selling weight-loss drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic, are due to middlemen in the U.S. healthcare system. This comes after U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders started an investigation into the drugs. The Danish drug company told the Senator for Vermont in a letter that it only keeps 60% of the list price for both drugs and gives the rest to middlemen. The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labour, and Pensions (HELP) committee, which Sanders chairs, has started an investigation into the two drugs’ high list prices. Novo Nordisk’s letter comes after the investigation. Novo Nordisk…

American Airlines Group Inc. late Tuesday slashed its guidance for the current quarter, roughly one month after offering an upbeat take for the three-month period, which includes the height of summer air travel in the U.S. American said it expects it will report second-quarter adjusted earnings of about $1 to $1.15 a share. That compares to a late April guidance of adjusted EPS between $1.15 and $1.45 for the quarter. The air carrier did not detail a reason for the lowered guidance. FactSet consensus calls for adjusted earnings of $1.30 a share. American also said its chief commercial officer, Vasu…

During the extended session on Tuesday, Robinhood Markets Inc. stock went up 4% after the online broker said its board had approved a $1 billion programme to buy back shares. Robinhood HOOD, -0.20% said the programme doesn’t have an end date yet, but it will likely last for two to three years to start in the third quarter. Robinhood reported first-quarter results earlier this month that were much better than what Wall Street expected. The company said it took business from competing brokerages and gained paying subscribers. The S&P 500 index SPX has gone up about 11% so far this…

Li Zhong, who sells traditional Chinese medicine and is 58 years old, won’t worry about his pension when he retires in two years. He’s scared about his daughter. He got a mortgage not long ago to help her buy a house in a suburb of Shanghai. China’s housing bubble burst in 2021, and now prices are the lowest they’ve been in years. This is a great time to buy, but it’s terrible for people who bought years ago, and it’s a huge drag on the economy. Statistics from the government show that about 70% of Chinese households’ wealth is locked…

The oil company Hess Corp. said late Tuesday that shareholders voted in favour of Chevron Corp.’s plan to buy the company for $53 billion. Chevron CVX, +0.82% announced its plan to buy Exxon Mobil XOM, +1.27% in October, but the deal has hit some snags recently. Exxon Mobil threatened to kill the deal by increasing its stake in an oil project in Guyana, and some Democrats in Congress have asked regulators to ‘pump the brakes’ on the deal, saying it could cause petrol prices to rise. Hess HES, +0.44% said that at a special meeting on Tuesday, most of the…

It is said that ConocoPhillips is almost ready to make an all-stock deal to buy Marathon Oil Corp. This will end years of consolidation among the big players in the industry. That’s what Danilo Onorino, the portfolio manager of the Swiss-based Dogma Renovatio Equity Fund, says. He has been predicting oil deals since 2020, when the industry was still trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic. “The consolidation comes after the COVID period,” he said. “That was the last spark of the energy transition.” “The energy transition will become more common over time,” Onorino said. “The oil and…

As summer and the midpoint of the year approach, investors are noticing that sticking with stocks seems to be paying off. Clare Hart, recognized as Morningstar’s “outstanding portfolio manager” of 2024, advises maintaining a consistent strategy. She is concluding nearly 20 years as the lead manager of JPMorgan’s Equity Income Fund OIEIX, which has achieved an annualized gain of 9.4% since 2004, surpassing Morningstar’s large value category by over a percentage point. Hart’s fund selects stocks based on three criteria: quality, reasonable valuation, and dividend payments. They also favor companies with reliable management, strong industry positions, and robust structures. In…

U.S. Cellular Corp. and its parent company, Telephone and Data Systems Inc., announced on Tuesday that T-Mobile U.S. Inc. will acquire UScellular’s wireless operations and some spectrum assets for $4.4 billion, including about $2 billion in debt. As part of this agreement, T-Mobile will sign a new license for at least 2,015 telecommunications towers owned by U.S. Cellular and extend leases on about 600 towers where T-Mobile is already a tenant. UScellular customers will not experience any service interruptions and can switch to T-Mobile’s cheaper equivalent plans without any fees. U.S. Cellular’s stock rose 1.3% in morning trading but dropped…

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari stated in an interview on Tuesday that he would need to see “many months” of low inflation in the U.S. before considering an interest rate cut. “We need many more months of positive inflation data to feel confident it’s the right time to reduce rates,” Kashkari told CNBC. He is scheduled to give a speech later that day. Tim Duy, chief U.S. economist at SGH Macro Advisers, mentioned that the earliest the Fed might cut rates would be September, unless there’s an unexpected significant slowdown in the labor market. However, Fed Governor Christopher Waller…

UBS has adjusted its S&P 500 index target, surpassing a previous forecast by another division within the same bank that had updated its outlook just last week. Strategists at UBS, led by Jonathan Golub, increased their S&P 500 target to 5,600 from 5,400, citing improved earnings expectations. On Friday, the S&P 500 SPX closed at 5,304.72, marking an 11% gain for the year. “At the end of the first quarter, before the start of the earnings season, consensus estimates predicted [earnings per share] growth of 4.1%. However, it now seems growth will reach 10.6%,” they explained. Though earnings forecasts usually…