Page 24 - aruba-today-20170513

Saturday 13 May 2017 BUSINESS
A24

Anthem gives up Cigna bid, vows to fight on over damages

By TOM MURPHY Cigna sabotaged the ly breached” its obligation judge refused its request to Court review of the case.
AP Health Writer merger agreement and to get regulatory approval. extend a ban blocking Cig- Anthem had said a com-
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An- caused “massive damag- It plans to seek prompt na from pulling out of the bination with Cigna would
them has ended its soured, es” for Anthem, which pro- payment of a $1.85 billion deal. have helped the compa-
$48 billion bid to buy rival vides Blue Cross-Blue Shield termination fee and more The deal, announced in nies negotiate better pric-
Cigna, but the nation’s coverage in several states. than $13 billion in damages 2015, had already been re- es with pharmaceutical
second-largest health in- It said it plans to “vigorously from Anthem “for the harm jected by a federal judge companies, hospitals and
surer isn’t giving up a fight pursue” its claims against that it caused Cigna and its and an appeals court after doctor groups. But critics
over whether Cigna de- Cigna. shareholders.” antitrust regulators sued last argued that it would have
serves a termination fee for Bloomfield, Connecticut- Indianapolis-based An- summer to stop it. Anthem resulted in fewer choic-
the scrapped deal. based Cigna said in re- them announced its deci- Inc. said last week that es for health insurance
Anthem said Friday that sponse that Anthem “willful- sion a day after a Delaware it would seek a Supreme consumers.q

Losses at JC Penney double, sales slide, as do shares

below $5 per share, hitting dstrom and others. Ameri-
an all-time low. cans are spending money.
Revenue declined from They’re just not spending it
$2.81 billion, to $2.71 billion, at the department stores
which was worse than Wall that have been the cor-
Street had expected. nerstone of the shopping
For the three months end- experience in the U.S. for
ed April 29, Penney lost decades.
$180 million, or 58 cents Data released Friday by
per share. A year ago the the U.S. Commerce De-
Plano, Texas, company lost partment shows that Ameri-
$68 million, or 22 cents per cans stepped up spending
share. Stripping out cer- in April, but that money
tain items, earnings were went largely to auto deal-
6 cents per share. Analysts ers, online stores or places
polled by Zacks Invest- like hardware stores.
ment Research expected In the same period, sales at
a loss of 22 cents per share, department stores fell 0.2
though those estimates percent. In a category that
were revisited by analysts includes online retailers,
due to asset gains. sales grew of 1.4 percent,
Sales at stores open at the strongest of any group.
least a year dropped 3.5 The path through the new
Shoppers exit a J.C. Penney store in the Georgia Square Mall in Athens, Ga. J.C. Penney Company percent. Industry analysts retail landscape was made
Inc. reported earnings, Friday, May 12, 2017. watch that figure closely even more difficult for J.C.
(John Roark/Athens Banner-Herald via AP)
as a signal of a retailer’s Penney after its catastroph-
PLANO, Texas (AP) — Losses look. stores open at least a year, health because it excludes ic transformation several
at J.C Penney doubled in “Don’t be fooled by the which fell for the third con- the volatility of stores that years ago under a one-
the first quarter and sales bottom line beat; it was secutive quarter. were recently opened or time Apple executive.
at established stores fell entirely due to a real es- Shares of other retail- closed. Marvin Ellison took over
again, capping a terrible tate gain that we had not ers, which took a huge hit This week, Macy’s, Nord- as CEO in 2015. He has
week for retailers. included in our forecast, Thursday following dismal strom and Kohl’s posted brought major applianc-
Though the loss at first did wrote Citi analyst Paul reports from Macy’s and fading same-store sales es like washing machines
not appear as bad as Lejuez. Nordstrom, fell again after numbers as well. back to the stores and
many industry analysts had The direction for sales at stabilizing overnight. There is good news and is quickly expanding the
expected, many soured J.C. Penney was clear, J.C. Penney tumbled 7 per- bad news for retailers like number of Sephora beauty
on even that after a closer however, particularly at cent at the opening bell to J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Nor- shops in its stores.q
Consumer prices rebounded 0.2 percent on energy in April

By MATT OTT ous month. ment down to the lowest so that annual increases in rates, with three-quarter
Associated Press Core inflation, which ex- levels of the expansion, inflation are around 2 per- point increases since De-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Con- cludes the volatile food we expect that core infla- cent. After mostly lagging cember 2015. Analysts ex-
sumer prices rebounded and energy categories, tion will reverse course soon below that target since pect another hike in June.
moderately in April as en- rose 0.1 percent. Over the and start moving upward the 2007-2009 recession, Gas prices, which drove
ergy prices climbed back past 12 months, inflation is again,” said David Berson, inflation has accelerated down the energy category
up after a sharp decline in up 2.2 percent. Core prices chief economist at Nation- recently with the unem- last month, rose 1.2 percent
March. have risen 1.9 percent. wide Mutual Insurance. ployment rate falling to 4.4 after declining 6.2 percent
The Labor Department says It’s the first time the core in- However, Berson added percent and energy prices in March and 3 percent in
consumer prices rose 0.2 flation index has fallen be- that there was some risk rebounding. February.
percent after a 0.3 percent low 2 percent since Octo- that the weaker inflation of The Fed cut its key inter- Food prices rose 0.2 per-
drop in March, which was ber of 2015. the past two months was est rate to near zero in the cent, driven by the fresh
the biggest fall in more than “Given other recent eco- signaling a slowing econo- wake of the recession and vegetable category, which
two years. Energy prices nomic indicators show my. kept it there for seven years rose 5.1 percent, its biggest
rose 1.1 percent after tum- accelerating economic The Federal Reserve tries to boost the economy. It increase since February
bling 3.2 percent the previ- growth and unemploy- to manage the economy is now cautiously raising 2011.q