February, 2017

• 15 February

  Cigna faces off with Anthem, escalating fight by ending deal

  

    Bloomberg Simmering tensions between Anthem Inc. and Cigna Corp. exploded as Cigna sued to end their $48 billion deal, and Anthem moments later said it would fight to keep the merger alive. The clash came just hours after the other US health insurance megadeal, a $37 billion tie-up between Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc., ended peacefully with the companies ...

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• 15 February

  AIG posts $3.04bn loss, adding to CEO’s woes

  

    Bloomberg American International Group Inc. posted its fourth loss in six quarters, burned again by higher-than-expected claims costs as Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock struggles to sustain profitability. The net loss widened to $3.04 billion, or $2.96 a share, from a $1.84 billion, or $1.50, a year earlier, the New York-based insurer said in a statement. The fourth quarter’s ...

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• 15 February

  As GDP soars 10%, Icelanders plan survival in ‘next collapse’

    Bloomberg Iceland’s history is of booms and busts. So as the inhabitants of a volcanic rock in the middle of the North Atlantic ocean roar back from their 2008 economic meltdown (this latest boom was fed by tourism and construction), the talk in the streets is of what shape the next crisis will take and when exactly it will ...

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• 15 February

  What did Michael Flynn tell the Russians?

  

    Michael Flynn’s real problem isn’t the Logan Act, an obscure and probably unenforceable 1799 statute that bars private meddling in foreign policy disputes. It’s whether President Trump’s national security adviser sought to hide from his colleagues and the nation a pre-inauguration discussion with the Russian government about sanctions that the Obama administration was imposing. “It’s far less significant if ...

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• 15 February

  Asia’s junk heart is at risk of a China cardiac arrest

  

    High-yield bonds have become the world’s hottest commodity as investors try to ride the global rally in stock markets. In Asia, however, that could mean dangerous times ahead. On Monday, Road King Infrastructure Ltd. raised $300 million selling dollar bonds to yield 7.95 percent. Preliminary price talk centered around the 8.625 percent mark but demand was so strong that ...

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• 15 February

  Trump and the dangers of radical tax reform

    President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have big plans for tax reform, and there’s something to be said for ambition. But the way they’re promoting their ideas suggests they don’t quite understand their consequences — and that raises larger questions about whether the plan could work at all. House Republicans have long proposed cutting the corporate tax ...

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• 15 February

  Michael Flynn Trump’s new nemesis

    The proverb ‘morning shows the day’ seems to be apt for Trump administration. It’s just little over three weeks and Team Trump is in disarray. The White House has become a jumble of lies, retractions and denials. First, Trump executive order barring travellers from seven Muslim majority countries and halting refugee program opened the Pandora box of confusion and ...

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• 15 February

  Greece’s euro membership looks vulnerable again

  

    Greece is caught in a spat between its major creditors. On one side is the International Monetary Fund, which says “significant debt relief” is needed. On the other are the euro zone institutions, insisting on a primary budget surplus of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product and no further relief. Something’s got to give — and it could be ...

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• 15 February

  Boeing analysts pumping the brakes have a point

  

    As Boeing Co.’s shares soar higher, the ranks of analysts who have a more earthbound outlook on the stock is growing. On Monday, Richard Safran of Buckingham Research became at least the third analyst covering the jumbo-jet maker to say the stock is more likely to fall than continue its climb. A trio doesn’t sound all that notable, but ...

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• 15 February

  Will Amazon revolutionize shipping?

  

    For consumers, Amazon’s made shipping easy: Just choose the desired delivery date for your goodies and click. For the manufacturers who have to get those products to you, however, shipping remains a troublesome, inefficient, stubbornly analog business. Your “one-click” often translates into multiple phone calls, emails, faxes and reams of paperwork — all coordinated by a knowledgeable and well-connected ...

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