Health Care Stocks: Monday's Headlines
Health care stocks were in focus Monday after the House of Representatives narrowly passed the health care reform bill.
NEW YORK (
) -- Here are the top stock market headlines for the morning of Monday, March 22, 2010.
Monday's Early Headlines
- Market Weighs in on Health Care Approval -- Stock futures were lower early Monday after the House of Representatives on late Sunday voted to approve a health care reform bill in a 219-212 vote with no Republican support. Health care stocks, including Aetna (AET) , Cigna (CI) - Get Report and Humana (HUM) - Get Report were trading mixed in the premarket session.
- Merkel: Greece Doesn't Need EU Help -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly said Sunday that Greece needs no financial help and that the European Union shouldn't make aid for Greece an issue at its summit planned for Thursday. "Aid is not on the agenda on Thursday," Merkel told Deutschlandfunk radio, according to The Associated Press. She reportedly added that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou had given her his assurance that Greece would not ask for EU support.
- Google Reportedly Close to China Decision -- Google (GOOG) - Get Report is expected to unveil its China plans this week, The Wall Street Journal reports, and could come as early as Monday. Google said in January it was no longer willing to censor its search results in China and could potentially shut down its Web site and its offices in the country. One possible scenario is that Google would make deals with specific Chinese ministries about various parts of the business throughout the country, a source told the Journal.
- Bank of America's Moynihan Goes to China -- Bank of America (BAC) - Get Report CEO Brian Moynihan is making his first trip to China this week, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Bank of America is preparing to incorporate in China in order to pursue more business there, the report said. The bank wants to do more commercial and corporate banking in China, in contrast to its retail-banking strength in the U.S.
- Hank Greenberg Sells AIG Stock to UBS -- Former American International Group (AIG) - Get Report CEO Hank Greenberg's investment vehicle, Starr International, will collect $278.2 million upfront from UBS (UBS) - Get Report, according to a regulatory filing. Starr will deliver 10 million shares of AIG to UBS in four transactions of 2.5 million shares, with the first delivery due in just under three years from now.
Monday's Earnings Roundup
- Tiffany (TIF) - Get Report reported a fourth-quarter adjusted profit of $1.09 a share, which was below the Thomson Reuters average estimate of $1.13 a share. Revenue was up 17.2% to $981.4 million, which beat the consensus target of $970.9 million. Looking ahead to 2011, Tiffany said it expects to earn $2.45 to $2.50 a share on revenue of $3.01 billion, which is above the Street's view of $2.43 a share on sales of $2.93 billion.
- PepsiCo (PEP) - Get Report confirmed Monday it expects per-share earnings growth of 11% to 13% in 2010 on a constant currency basis and low-double-digit EPS growth for 2011 and 2012.
-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston
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