DaVita’s stock tumbles to lead S&P 500 losers after scathing SIRF report

Shares of DaVita Inc. tumbled 7.0% in midday trade Friday to pace the S&P 500 decliners, after a Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation (SIRF) report questioned how the medical care services provider received about half its operating profits from the non-profit American Kidney Fund, and the enormous premium received on some dialysis treatments. The report comes after DaVita Chief Executive Kent Thiry avoided answering an analyst’s question on how much revenue DaVita generates from dialysis patients whose insurance premiums are paid by the AKF’s health insurance payment program. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Separately, shares of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. , which is DaVita’s largest shareholder with 38.6 million shares, or 20% of the shares outstanding, slumped 0.8% in midday trade. DaVita’s stock has lost 12.5% over the past three months, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has gained 0.8% and the S&P 500 has climbed 2.6%.

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SEC fines pharmaceutical company $4.1 million for misleading performance metric

The Securities and Exchange Commission settled fraud charges on Friday against Massachusetts-based Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, now a subsidiary of Novelion Therapeutics , for allegedly exaggerated how many new patients actually filled prescriptions for an expensive drug that was its sole source of revenue. Aegerion Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay a $4.1 million penalty to settle the charges, without admitting or denying the allegations, that it misled investors on multiple occasions in 2013 by saying the number of unfilled prescriptions for Juxtapid was not material and the “vast majority” of patients receiving prescriptions ultimately purchased the drug. Juxtapid is used to treat a rare and potentially life-threatening genetic condition that causes extremely high cholesterol and was priced at approximately $250,000 to $300,000 annually per patient in 2013 and 2014. The SEC’s complaint alleges that it only around 50% of prescriptions resulted in actual drug purchases. Aegerion did not disclose to investors that the conversion rate was actually in the range of 50 to 60% until Oct. 2014. The SEC’s investigation is continuing with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Baker Hughes data show U.S. oil-rig count down a third-straight week

Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil fell for a third week in a row, down 5 to 744 this week. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, declined by 1 to 935, according to Baker Hughes. November West Texas Intermediate crude was down 7 cents, or 0.1%, from Thursday at $50.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, little changed from the level it traded at before the data.

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Acquisitions Might Be Factor in Equifax Data Hack

Aggressive growth through a string of acquisitions might have been a big factor in the data breach disclosed last month by Equifax Corp.

After former General Electric executive Richard Smith became Equifax’s chief executive officer in 2005, he quickly embarked on a plan to rev up growth.

This included 14 acquisitions that have been completed since 2009 — including that of employment data provider Talx Corp. in 2007.


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From:: Financing

Fed’s George wants to put QE ‘in a box,’ never to be reopened

Kansas City Fed President Esther George said Friday she hoped the central bank would put its “quantitative easing” bond-buying program “in a box” and not used again, according to a report by Reuters. In a speech in Oklahoma City, George said she was pleased with the muted reaction in the market to the Fed decision Wednesday to start the plan to allow assets to run off the balance sheet. George, who will not be a voting member of the Fed policy committee until 2019, said the recent spate of low inflation readings is no reason for the Fed to delay further interest rate hikes.

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Apple, UnitedHealth stocks slash 50 points from Dow industrials in midday trade

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was under pressure Friday afternoon, weighed by selling in shares of Apple Inc. and UnitedHealth. The Dow components, the worst blue-chip performers, were exacting a combined 50-point toll on the Dow in midday trading. UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s shares alone were dragging the benchmark down about 30 points, with shares trading $4.24, or 2.2% lower. Meanwhile, Apple Inc. was trading 1.7% lower, or $2.59, and on pace for its worst weekly decline, down 5.5%, during the week of one of its iPhone product updates. A $1 move in any one of the Dow’s 30 components is equal to a 6.89-point swing. Most recently, the Dow was down 34 points, or 0.2%, at 22,324. Overall, the market was flipping between advances and declines as investors wrestled with North Korea’s threat to detonate a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean this weekend. The S&P 500 index was down 0.1% at 2,497, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was trading 0.1% lower at 6,415.

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BofA Could Avoid Massive Foreclosure Judgment

Bank of America Corp. has reached a settlement with a California couple in a wrongful foreclosure action for far less than a massive judgment imposed earlier this year.

Back in March, a bankruptcy judge ordered the Charlotte, North Carolina-based organization to pay a $46 million judgment for a wrongful foreclosure.

BofA reportedly told the borrowers in 2009 to default on their mortgage so that they could get a loan modification. But after the borrowers defaulted, the bank foreclosed on the property.


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From:: Financing

U.S. Steel’s stock drops, as steel prices poised to fall after Trump attack on imports

Shares of U.S. Steel Corp. sank 3.8% in morning trade Friday toward a one-month low, after Cowen & Co. downgraded the steelmaker, citing the belief that steel and iron ore prices were poised to move lower. Analyst Novid Rassouli cut his rating to underperform from market perform, and lowered his price target to $20 from $24. Ironically, Rassouli said the Section 232 investigation into the effects of steel imports on U.S. national security authorized by President Trump has caused imports to rise to record levels as importers rushed in product prior to any action, which should put pressure on hot-rolled coil steel prices. “The material exposure to spot prices makes us cautious on shares of U.S. Steel as we enter a period where we expect prices to move lower in the next few month,” Rassouli wrote in a note to clients. U.S. Steel’s stock has now tumbled 22% since April 20, when Trump signed a presidential memorandum to prioritize the Section 232 investigations, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.2% over the same time.

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SEC imposes trading suspension on company touting role in hurricane relief

The Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily suspended trading on September 22 in the securities of Grupo Resilient International Inc. , also known as Paradise Ridge Hydrocarbons, Inc., in response to allegedly dubious claims in a recent press release regarding its hurricane relief efforts. The SEC is questioning the adequacy and accuracy of statements made by the Addison, Texas, company on September 7 regarding the company’s provision of Hurricane Harvey disaster relief, including claims that the company had added a “FEMA approved contractor” to the board of its subsidiary and that the company was currently deploying workers and preparing to deploy a network of mobile broadband trailers to assist with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Houston. There are additional questions about some of the company’s prior press releases. The suspension will terminate on October 5, 2017 at midnight.

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