Coventry Health Aetna buys the Wall Street Journal

(Reuters) - The U.S. insurer Aetna has signed an agreement to buy rival Coventry Health Care Inc. for $ 5.7 billion (4.6 billion euros) in shares and cash, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Aetna will pay 42.08 dollars per share Coventry, which represents a premium of 20.4% over the closing price on Friday, said the financial daily said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

If the transaction is confirmed, it will be the latest example acquisition in the healthcare industry in the United States, a sector undergoing consolidation. Sector companies seeking to expand their business to take advantage of institutional reform of the U.S. health care system.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the law on the health system promised by Barack Obama, which aims to extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans.

The acquisition of Aetna Coventry must help to go from 23% to 30% share of sales achieved in public health activities, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Aetna hopes that the acquisition will contribute positively to the tune of 45 cents per share in 2014 and its results up to 90 cents per share in 2015, writes the daily.

Aetna and Coventry were not available for comment.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the boards of Aetna and Coventry have approved the agreement, which must be formalized Monday.

In July, the health insurer WellPoint had said he wanted to buy Amerigroup Corp for 4.46 billion dollars.

Last October, it was atoned Cigna Corp., which HealthSpring for $ 3.8 billion.

Read More

The benefit of AIG $ 1.84 billion in Q2

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group (AIG) on Thursday posted a profit for the second quarter, thanks to its stake in Asian insurer AIA which helped offset a decline in the operating profit of the heart of activity.

After losing over 6% during a session catastrophic for Wall Street, the title took 3% in after-hours trading before finally changing around the balance.

Supported by a bailout of 182 billion dollars (129 billion euros) during the financial crisis by the U.S. Treasury, which still holds three-quarters of the group's titles, AIG has forgotten a net profit of 1.84 billion dollars, or one dollar per share, after a loss of $ 2.66 billion, or 19.57 dollars per share a year earlier.

Operating profit amounted to 69 cents against 92 cents expected by the consensus Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.

AIG earned $ 1.52 billion in fair value (fair value) through its participation in the Asian insurer AIA.

The U.S. insurer wished to keep its stake in AIA, which requires the group to dispose of certain assets.

AIG has retained 33% of its subsidiary AIA when lifted last year 17.9 billion dollars (12.8 billion euros) with an IPO in Hong Kong.

Read More

Morgan Stanley will eliminate 1,600 jobs

(Reuters) - Morgan Stanley announced Thursday the elimination of 1,600 jobs in the first quarter of 2012 to reduce costs in a difficult situation, a move that boosts the capacity to Wall Street.

This downsizing will affect all hierarchical levels and all geographic areas, said spokesman Mark Lake.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup have already announced their plans to cut thousands of jobs by the end of the year.

Morgan Stanley had limited layoffs to hundreds of under performing financial advisers this year, but now extends the cuts to the bank and trading.

The new job cuts represent less than 2% of the bank's September 30.

According to analysts, Morgan Stanley will publish a loss in the fourth quarter due to a special charge of $ 1.2 billion announced by the bank this week and linked to an amicable agreement with the mono line MBIA.

Even without this charge, the bank should have posted a quarterly profit of only 15 cents per share, predicts Richard Staite, an analyst at Atlantic Equities. At the same time last year, MS had a profit of 41 cents per share.

To 3:50 p.m. GMT, the action progressed Morgan Stanley 0.79%, outperforming the S & P financials (0.39%)

Read More

Wall Street: Caterpillar lowered its earnings estimates for 2015

Challenges decrypts the meeting of the day on Wall Street. Indexes fell Tuesday, dragged down by the construction industry and that of following the announcement of Caterpillar lowering its earnings estimates for 2015.

Dow futures were up between 2am and 4am, oriented downward thereafter. After reaching 13,553 points to noon futures began to rebound. Indices, them gained ground in early trading. But after peaking at 13 620 points to 17h, the benchmark index of Wall Street began to decline, as well as other indices. The downturn has intensified during the last two hours of trading. In the end, the Dow ended down 101.37 points or 0.75% to 13 457.55 points. Among the biggest gainers in the index include Home Depot (0.56%), Pfizer (0.36%) and Johnson & Johson (0.46%). The biggest losers were Caterpillar (-4.25%), Hewlett-Packard (-2.91%) and Alcoa (-2.43%).
The S & P500 has yielded 15.30 points or 1.05% to 1 441.59 points. The Nasdaq fell 43.05 points or 1.36% to 3 117.73 points. The Russell 2000 dropped 1.42%.
Despite an increase in housing prices in the United States emerged above expectations and a strong improvement in U.S. consumer confidence, investors were not enthusiastic. Indeed, the downward revision of forecast profits by Caterpillar in 2015 weighed heavily on the market, particularly on the construction sector, the industry and the automobile were the biggest losers of the day . In addition, on Tuesday the President of the Philadelphia Fed, Charles Plosser (non-voting member of the FOMC) stated that QE3 will boost probably do not labor market and, more generally, growth in the United States. "To say that such action will have a substantial impact on the labor market and the speed of the recovery is likely to undermine the credibility of the Fed." This comment was certainly not encouraged operators. Thus, the downward pressure on Tuesday materialized after several sessions of hesitation.
The macroeconomic news
Housing prices in the U.S. rose in July for the sixth consecutive month, according to Case-Shiller survey released by Standard and Poor's. Housing prices for sale in the twenty largest cities in the country rose by 0.4% compared to the previous month, seasonally adjusted data. In June, they rose by 0.9% according to a new survey estimate, revised down by 0.1% compared to the published end of August. YoY, the S & P Case-Shiller index rose 1.2% in July, while analysts expected an increase of 0.8%.
The U.S. consumer confidence surged in September to a high of seven months, according to the monthly survey from the Conference Board. The index stood at 70.3 points this month, against 61.3 points in August (revised from 60.6 points), while analysts expected 63.0 points. The expectations index as well as the sentiment vis-à-vis the current situation progressed. Consumers express greater confidence in the labor market, with a decline in the index measuring the perceived difficulty in finding employment and improving the measuring perceived level of available jobs.
The confidence index measured by institutional investors State Street emerged declined to 86.9 points in September 2012, against 91 points for the month of August. The risk appetite of institutional is calmed, particularly in North America where the sub-index stood at 81.1 Regional points (-3.2 points). The Asian index has declined for his 5.6 points, to 87.6. Finally, the European index jumped 4 points to 105 points.
The real estate price index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency rose 0.2% in July from the previous month. However, the rise of June originally estimated at 0.7% was revised down to 0.6%. YoY, prices are up 3.7%.
The manufacturing index of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond emerged up against all expectations last month. This index is determined by data seasonally adjusted at 4 points, -9 points compared with the previous month and the consensus of -6 points.
Companies under the microscope
DR Horton (-1.36%), Lennar (-1.84%) and Toll Brothers (-1.77%) fell on Tuesday as Barclays downgraded its recommendation on three titles developers, not advising more of over-weighting in the portfolio. However, the British bank has raised its target price from $ 35 to $ 42 on Lennar and $ 36 to $ 41 on Toll Brothers.
Caterpillar (-4.25%) fell sharply on Tuesday as the group lowered its earnings estimates for 2015 due to the slowdown in the world. CAT now expects annual EPS in 2015 of between $ 12 and $ 18 against the previous range from $ 15 to $ 20. Recently other strategic companies like FedEx (-0.73%) and Norfolk Southern (-1.83%), have also lowered their earnings estimates for 2012 and 2013.
Tesla Motors plunged 9.78% as the electric car manufacturer has lowered its forecast of sales in the third quarter of 2012 due to delays in the production of its Model S sedan
Facebook (-2.45%) continued its descent today after falling 9% on Monday following an article in Barron's in which an influential newspaper analysts estimated that the title of the social network is still over-estimated and it is only $ 15.
Advanced Micro Devices (-5.2%) was largely in the red on Tuesday, reaching its lowest level in a year as FBR Capital lowered its price target on the title of $ 7.50 to $ 6. Other specialists chips, such as Texas Instruments (-2.96%) and Micron (-2.4%) also lost ground.
Research In Motion soared 4.68% today as the CEO of the Canadian group, Thorsten Heins said that the number of BlackBerry users has increased by 2 million in the last quarter, bringing to 80 millions around the world.
Staples (-4.45%) was in negative territory today as the American equivalent of Office Depot, announced that it accelerated the closure of some of its stores in Europe and the United States.
Walgreen rose 1.09% as an analyst at Goldman Sachs initiated monitoring as a recommendation to buy.
Barnes & Noble declined by 3.69% while the chain of bookstores in the United States has announced the launch of streaming and download videos for its Nook reading lights this fall.
Akamai Technologies jumped 0.25% as Cowen reiterated his view on the title, being over-performing.

Read More