"US economy grew at 3% rate in 3rd quarter, despite storms" by Natalie Kitroeff and Jim Tankersley New York Times October 27, 2017
In a show of resilience, the US economy grew at a solid pace in the latest quarter despite the impact of the hurricanes in Texas and Florida.
The nation’s gross domestic product, a key indicator of economic strength, expanded at an annual rate of 3 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The strong numbers could buoy President Trump and congressional Republicans as they continue their push to cut tax rates and overhaul the tax code.
Economists initially expected that hurricanes Harvey and Irma would deal a blow to the country’s steady growth but became more optimistic in recent weeks.
Or we are all being lied to for political and other rea$ons.
The destruction wrought by the storms was outweighed by the continued spending of consumers and businesses. The job market is lively, and the stock market has rallied to record highs. Chief executives and consumers are more confident than they have been in more than a decade, recent surveys show.
It's still lagging in the mid-60s regarding adults who want work, but please don't let that spoil the swilling narrative.
“There are no real headwinds to growth for the first time since the expansion began,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “We are at full employment, and we are in full swing. Let the good times roll.”
Yeah, some of the biggest companies in the world had their best day in years Friday.
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Now let's roll out the barrel:
"Profit soars at Exxon and Chevron on higher oil prices" by David Koenig AP Business Writer October 27, 2017
DALLAS — Buoyed by higher oil prices, profits are soaring at Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
Exxon said Friday that it earned nearly $4 billion in the third quarter, and Chevron made $2 billion. Both were about 50 percent higher than the same quarter last year.
When the year is done, analysts expect both companies to far surpass their 2016 results and keep on earning big profits next year. The relatively small profits that followed the crash in crude prices appear to be in their rearview mirror.
Please pardon me regarding the mixed messages.
‘‘We’re a pretty resilient bunch in this business,’’ Chevron CEO John Watson said on a call with analysts.....
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"Bezos seizes title of world’s richest person after Amazon soars" by Tom Metcalf Bloomberg News October 27, 2017
A post-earnings surge in Amazon.com Inc. shares Friday pushed Jeff Bezos to the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time, vaulting him ahead of Bill Gates who had held the top spot as the richest person on Earth for more than four years.
The founder and chief executive officer of the retail juggernaut added $10.3 billion to his net worth as Amazon shares rose 13 percent, the most in 2½ years, a day after the company reported quarterly sales and profit that surpassed analysts’ estimates. His wealth briefly eclipsed that of Gates, the Microsoft Corp. cofounder, on an intraday basis on July 27, but Amazon shares ended that day lower, leaving Bezos at No. 2.
At the close of US markets Friday, Bezos had a net worth of $93.8 billion, $5.1 billion ahead of Gates on the Bloomberg index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. Gates, 61, had been the world’s richest person since 2013.....
I'm surprised they did not mention that the world's richest man also owns the Washington Post.
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Must be a good life, huh?
Meanwhile, we all gotta go to work.
Money is like a drug:
"CVS plots a blockbuster deal as Amazon looms over pharmacy business" by Janelle Nanos Globe Staff October 27, 2017
You might call it a $66 billion insurance policy.
CVS Health is reportedly in talks to buy health insurer Aetna Inc., an attempt by the Woonsocket, R.I., drugstore giant to insulate itself from tectonic shifts in the health care market.
It also would serve as a preemptive strike against Amazon.com Inc., which is widely expected to start its own pharmacy business.
“The likely Amazon entry into retail pharmacy is a major threat to CVS, on top of already dwindling front store sales,” Ana Gupte, a health care analyst with Boston-based Leerink Partners, said in a research report.
News of CVS’s interest in Aetna broke Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the companies were discussing a deal in which CVS would pay $200 per share for one of the nation’s biggest health insurers. There is no guarantee the acquisition will come to fruition, the Journal said.
Buying Aetna wouldn’t necessarily be a play to bring more customers through its doors, as CVS only makes 12 percent of its revenue from retail sales, and those numbers have been declining, said Brian Owens, an analyst with Boston-based Kantar Retail. Rather, the majority of its $177 billion annual revenue is derived from its Caremark pharmacy-benefits management arm, which acts as a middleman between insurers and businesses, negotiating prices for drugs.
An Aetna acquisition would enable CVS to access reams of customer data and help strengthen its negotiating power with drugmakers.
“It’s bringing more of a holistic solution and more people in their network,” Owens said. “If they acquire Aetna they pretty much have all the data on you.”
It also puts the company in a stronger position as it faces increased competition from Walgreens, which is buying more than 2,000 Rite-Aid stores to add to its 13,200 outlets worldwide. Walgreens is closing some 600 other Rite-Aid locations to satisfy government antitrust concerns, a move that suggests CVS couldn’t greatly expand its 9,700 stores without similarly drawing government scrutiny.
Everyone in the drugstore industry is bracing for an Amazon arrival. The Seattle-based tech giant recently made a number of high-profile hires from within the pharmacy industry, and according to a review of records by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has acquired wholesale pharmacy licenses in Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, and Tennessee. Another license is currently pending in Maine.
How Amazon’s wholesale licenses might actually be used in the drug-delivery space has many in the industry speculating.
They have the key to your home.
Amazon could use its fulfillment infrastructure to partner with existing retail pharmacies to expedite deliveries and increase mail order sales, said Owen. In 2016, only $106 billion of the $465 billion total US prescription sales were through mail order, according to Morgan Stanley.
“Amazon’s technological capabilities, vast fulfillment network, and high shopper penetration may be particularly attractive to pharmacies that want to enhance their convenience proposition and reach shoppers where they are today,” he said. They could also seek to partner directly with a drug wholesaler to drive down costs. Walgreens executed a similar deal when it partnered with Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2015.
OMG!!
See:
Feds charge former Valeant and Philidor execs with fraud
Valeant sells $2.1 billion in assets to ease debt burden
CVS Health sued over ‘clawbacks’ of prescription drug copays
Yes, 'twas a valeant effort, and they are doing much better now.
And in what might be the biggest direct threat to CVS, Amazon might also move to create its own pharmacy-benefits arm. According to Pembroke Consulting, the three biggest US drug benefit managers are CVS, Express Scripts, and OptumRx, which is part of insurer United Health Group Inc. Together they process about 78 percent of the nation’s prescriptions. Amazon’s move into the space would align with its common motive to drive down prices for consumers, Owen said, and move it into a highly profitable component of the health care industry.....
In an attempt to monopolize the market like the robber barons of the late 19th century. You undercut the competition and drive them out of business even if you initially sell at a loss because of the size advantage and capital at your disposal.
Now if you would please rise for our national anthem.
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Well, all good things must come to an end.
Sorry.
