Gold futures pull back from three-week high, tracking stronger dollar

Gold futures for December delivery on Comex slipped $2.50, or 0.2%, to $1,274.30 an ounce at Monday’s settlement. Gold, which hit a more-than-three-week high late last week when U.S. election volatility was revived with the additional review of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails, eased Monday as the dollar advanced against chief rivals.

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SEC charges audit partner failed to find fraud at fund

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner with allegedly failing to find a fraud during his audit of Burrill Life Sciences Capital Fund III, a venture capital fund. The SEC complaint says Adrian D. Beamish failed to scrutinize millions of dollars ”advanced” management fees taken as unauthorized related-party transactions. Beamish also allegedly failed to ensure that the transactions were properly disclosed in the fund’s financial statements.

”Auditors perform a critical check on fraudulent conduct, especially when related party transactions are involved,” said Jina L. Choi, Director of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. The scheduling of a public hearing before an administrative law judge is pending.

Earlier this year G. Steven Burrill, the owner and principal of the investment adviser of the fund, settled his SEC case that alleged he spent fund assets to keep his other businesses afloat, travel on family vacations, and pay other unauthorized personal expenses.

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Lumber Liquidators shares plunge about 6% after company posts bigger-than-expected loss

Shares of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. tumbled 5.8% Monday, after the company reported a worse-than-expected loss for its third quarter. The hardwood floor retailer said it had a net loss of $18.4 million, or 68 cents a share, in the quarter, wider than the loss of $8.5 million, or 31 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales came in at $244.1 million, up 3.4% from a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for a loss of just 18 cents and sales of $232 million. Same-store sales rose 1.0%, beating the FactSet consensus for a decline of 4%. “We are pleased with the direction of our sales performance this quarter but recognize we have work to do to restore Lumber Liquidators to growth and profitability for the long term,” Chief Executive John Presley said in a statement. Lumber Liquidators has been struggling to recover from a scandal relating to high levels of a known carcinogenic in wood sourced from China. Shares are up 0.1% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 4%.

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U.S. stocks edge higher as investors brace for new details in Clinton probe

U.S. stocks opened marginally higher on Monday as investors braced for any new developments in a probe of Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s alleged misuse of a private email server. The S&P 500 index gained 4 points, or 0.1%, to 2,129. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 26 points, or 0.1%, to 18,178. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 16 points, or 0.1%, to 5,206.

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Constellation Brands pays $600 million to buy Grupo Modelo brewery

Constellation Brands Inc. announced Monday a deal to buy Grupo Modelo’s brewery in Obregon, Mexico for $600 million. Grupo Modelo is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A. . Constellations will use the brewery, which is expected to have four million hectoliters of production capacity, to expand its high-end Mexican beer portfolio. “We believe this is the right strategy to provide near-term capacity and greater flexibility to support our growth and innovation plans, while allowing for the buildout of our Mexicali brewery over an extended time period,” said Chief Executive Rob Sands. Constellation Brands shares tacked on 1.1% in light premarket trade, while Anheuser-Busch’s stock slipped 1.2%. Year to date, Constellation Brands shares has climbed 17% while the S&P 500 has gained 4%.

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Post-FBI poll by Morning Consult shows Clinton keeping 3-point lead

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A poll conducted after the announcement by the FBI that they were looking into additional emails pertaining to the Hillary Clinton investigation showed the former secretary of state retaining her lead against Donald Trump. According to the Morning Consult/Politico poll, Clinton remained at 42%, Trump was at 39%, Libertarian Gary Johnson at 7% and Green Party nominee Jill Stein at 5%.

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Performance Group files for bankruptcy, enters ‘stalking horse’ asset purchase agreement

Peformance Sports Group Ltd. said Monday it has filed for bankruptcy, as part of a restructuring that includes a “stalking horse” agreement to sell of substantially all of its assets for $575 million. The acquisition vehicle of the assets will be co-owned by Sagard Capital Partners L.P. and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. The sports equipment and apparel seller will conduct a bidding process, to be approved by the courts, to seek higher bids for the sale of its assets. Debtor-in-possession financing will be provided by Bank of America and certain other lenders. Performance Group’s stock, which is currently halted for news, has plunged 64% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 4%.

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TeamHealth agrees to be acquired by Blackstone in deal valued at about $6.1 billion

TeamHealth Holdings Inc. said Monday it has agreed to be acquired by private-equity firm Blackstone in a deal valued at about $6.1 billion. Blackstone will pay $43.50 per TeamHealth share in cash, equal to a premium of about 33% over TeamHealth’s closing price on Oct. 3, the last trading day before news reports that the company was considering a sale. TeamHealth offers outsourced emergency medicine, hospital medicine, critical care, anesthesiology, orthopedic hospitalist, acute care surgery, obstetrics and gynecology hospitalist, ambulatory care, post-acute care and medical call center solutions to approximately 3,400 acute and post-acute facilities and physician groups nationwide. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. Shares were halted in premarket trade, but are down 16% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 4%.

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Cardinal Health beats profit expectations but cuts outlook

Cardinal Health Inc. reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that fell to $309 million, or 96 cents a share, from $383 million, or $1.15 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.24, above the FactSet consensus of $1.21. Revenue increased 14% to $32.0 billion from $28.1 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $31.1 billion. Pharmaceutical revenue of $28.8 billion beat the FactSet consensus of $28.1 billion, and medical revenue of $3.3 billion topped expectations of $3.2 billion. Based on first-quarter results and current second-quarter expectations, the health care services company cut its adjusted EPS outlook to $5.40 to $5.60 from $5.48 to $5.73. Pharmaceutical revenue is expected to decline in the mid-to-high single-digit percentage range from a year ago, while the FactSet consensus implies growth of 7.5%. “While short-term headwinds, particularly around pharmaceuticals, are quite challenging, our Medical segment had an excellent quarter building on the momentum coming out of fiscal year 2016,” said Chief Executive George Barrett. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has tumbled 24% year to date, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has lost 5.9% and the S&P 500 has gained 4%.

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Level 3’s stock surges after CenturyLink buyout deal confirmed

Shares of Level 3 Communications Inc. surged 3.9% in premarket trade Monday, after the communications services company confirmed a deal to be acquired by CenturyLink Inc. . The deal, which values Level 3 at about $23.9 billion, as a total value of about $34 billion when including debt. Under terms of the deal, CenturyLink will pay $26.50 a share in cash, and 1.4286 of its shares for each Level 3 share outstanding. Based on CenturyLink shares reference price of $28, that values Level 3’s stock at $66.50, or a 23% premium to Monday’s closing price. Level 3’s stock had run up 15% over the past two sessions after The Wall Street Journal reported that the companies were in advanced merger talks. CenturyLink expects the deal to add to free cash flow in the first year after closing, and to generate $975 million in annual synergies. Level 3’s stock has slipped 0.6% year to date through Friday, while CenturyLink’s has climbed 21% and the S&P 500 has gained 4%.

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