Market Currents

• Today - Monday, December 21, 2009

• 14:51 PM Stocks are enjoying a healthy rally in more ways than one: Healthcare issues are leading sectors today. While the Senate bill that advanced early this morning toughens restrictions on insurers, it's also likely to bring more customers (video, 0:51) as coverage is extended. [[UNH]] +1.7%. [[WLP]] +2.6%. [[CI]] +4%. [[AET]] +4.4%. [[HUM]] +3.5%. Comment!

• Tuesday, November 3, 2009

• 13:06 PM Senate probe finds U.S. health insurers (AET, CI, CVH, HUM, UNH, WLP) are spending considerably less of their premiums on medical care than official industry estimates - an average of $0.70/dollar instead of the $0.87 cited by AHIP. The report also singles out Cigna for mislabeling $5B worth of clients. Sen. Jay Rockefeller: "While health-care costs are spiraling upwards, consumers are paying more and getting less, and the health insurance industry doesn't want anyone to know what they are up to." 9 Comments

• Monday, November 2, 2009

• 07:35 AM Humana (HUM): Q3 EPS of $1.78 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $7.72B (+8%) in-line. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable pre-market earnings: CLX, CSE, CTB, DF, F, HUM, L, SYY Comment!

• Thursday, October 22, 2009

• 15:52 PM Health insurer stocks spike again, on news that critical health-reform swing vote Olympia Snowe says she won't support immediately creating a public insurance option. WellPoint (WLP) +1.9%; UnitedHealth (UNH) +2.6%; Aetna (AET) +1.2%; Humana (HUM) +2.1%; Cigna (CI) +2.9%. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, October 13, 2009

• 15:58 PM Health insurer shares have tanked further after the Senate Finance Committee approves the Baucus healthcare bill 14-9. Aetna (AET) down 3.3%; UnitedHealth (UNH) down 3.6%; WellPoint (WLP) down 0.5%; Humana (HUM) down 1.1%; Cigna (CI) down 3.1%. Comment!

• Thursday, October 8, 2009

• 13:37 PM Health insurer stocks are suffering today after the Senate's reform bill gets a boost from a Congressional Budget Office report saying the bill would cut the budget deficit by $81B over 10 years. Wellpoint (WLP) -7.1%, UnitedHealth (UNH) -4.7%, Aetna (AET) -5%, Humana (HUM) -5.4%, Cigna (CI) -4%. (CBO letter to Baucus, .pdf) 2 Comments

• Tuesday, September 29, 2009

• 15:26 PM Managed-care stocks spiked up after a Senate committee rejected a public health insurance option amendment, but have since given back some gains. Now: Aetna (AET) down 1.7%; Humana (HUM) up 2%; UnitedHealth (UNH) up 0.9%; WellPoint (WLP) down 0.7%. Comment!

• Thursday, September 10, 2009

• 13:28 PM Stocks of healthcare insurers Cigna (CI +4.3%), HealthNet (HNT +4.2%) and Humana (HUM +3%) posting strong gains today as analysts say that Obama's speech and remarks from Congressional leaders broke no new ground and suggest that reform will be incremental. Comment!

• Thursday, August 13, 2009

• 08:53 AM Bank of America (BAC) +4% premarket after hedge fund manager John Paulson disclosed a $2.2B position late yesterday. Other new positions include Sun Microsystems (JAVA) (74M shares); Regions Financial (RF) (35M); Marshall & Ilsley (MI) (12M); Humana (HUM) (5M); and Goldman Sachs (GS) (2M). Comment!

• Monday, August 3, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: AXL +15%. INO +12%. ONTY +11%. VHC +11%. BIF +9%. SVA +9%. DAN +9%. KFN +9%. VICL +8%. RBS +7%. F +7%. HUM +7%. NVAX +6%. BCS +6%. SOL +6%. HBC +6%. ERX +6%. ZQK +6%. RCL +5%. TGB +5%. FRO +5%. NXG +5%. WEN +5%. UBS +5%. EBAY +5%. FIG +5%. AKS +5%. FITB +5%. ALU +4%. TSN +4%. YGE +4%. AIB +4%. MT +4%. KEY +4%. STP +4%. FCX +4%. ELN +4%.
  Losers: HURN -73%. SVNT -25%. Comment!
• 06:31 AM Humana (HUM): Q2 EPS of $1.67 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $7.6B (+7.5%) vs. $7.8B. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Monday's open: CLX, FE, HUM, JRCC, L, MGM, MRO, NNN, RRI, TAP, TSN Comment!

• Tuesday, July 14, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: NOVN +22%. CIT +19%. AIB +10%. SQNM +8%. AIG +5%. ADY +5%. FCS +5%.
  Losers: HNT -20%. TTWO -11%. HUM -8%. AGNC -4%. 2 Comments
• 08:18 AM The Department of Defense awards billion-dollar health-care contracts to Aetna (AET) and UnitedHealth (UNH), who will take over from rivals Health Net (HNT) and Humana (HUM). Health Net and Humana may protest the decision. Comment!

• Monday, April 27, 2009

• 09:02 AM Premarket gainers on swine-flu speculation: NVAX +133%. SVA +63%. BCRX +58%. AVII +35%. VICL +32%. QDEL +26%. HGSI +19%. RAD +15%. CRXL +7%. BLUD +7%. HUM +6%. BAX +4%. GSK +4%. THC +4%. GILD +4%. 1 Comment