CVS Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: CVS), a major provider of pharmaceutical products and benefits, will buy huge insurance company Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) in a $69 billion deal. It will create the nation’s largest integrated health care delivery system.
Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) will increase its effort to buy rival Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM). According to Reuters:
Chipmaker Broadcom Ltd will take its first formal step on Monday toward a hostile bid to take over Qualcomm Inc, unveiling nominees whom Qualcomm shareholders can vote on to replace the U.S. semiconductor company’s board of directors, according to people familiar with the matter.
The move is unusually aggressive in an ownership battle between two companies.
An executive from McKinsey will take over one of the regional Federal Reserve president jobs. According to The Wall Street Journal:
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is expected to pick Thomas Barkin, a senior executive at McKinsey, to serve as its next president.
A group of economists believe growth of the U.S. economy will be stronger than they expected three months ago. A research report called the NABE December 2017 Outlook Survey showed:
The median forecasts for average annual inflation-adjusted gross domestic product growth (real GDP growth) are 2.2% for 2017 and 2.5% for 2018—compared with 2.2% and 2.4% in the September survey. On a fourth-quarter-to-fourth-quarter basis, real GDP growth is expected to be 2.5% in 2017 and 2.4% in 2018. The median forecast for fourth-quarter 2017 real GDP growth is 2.7%, higher than the September forecast of 2.5%.
The value of bitcoin set another record. According to CNBC:
In a massive rebound from a 20 percent plunge last week, bitcoin surged Sunday to a record high above $11,700.
The digital currency hit an all-time high of $11,773.83, up 8 percent on the day, according to CoinDesk. That’s 30.5 percent, or nearly $2,753, from a low of $9,021.85 hit Thursday.
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