What We're Reading

If you're like me, we're all wondering what is going to occur with ACA (Obamacare) once Donald Trump takes office and the charts from Healthcare (XLV) and Biotech (XBI) certainly reflect the concern.  With the proposed 21st Century Cures Act, due for Senate passage this week, be the $5Billion dollar "game changer"  the sector is waiting for...........or will we be waiting until Congress replaces the unpopular components of Obamacare to see an impact in stock price?

Repealing or replacing Obamacare is fraught with at least six major issues, but perhaps the most significant one is a lack of decisiveness within the Republican party itself. What would Obamacare be replaced with, and how would that change be implemented?

Interestingly, there are at least seven Republican plans that have been tabled to replace Obamacare. Within that group, two of the more prominent ones come from Georgia Rep. Tom Price and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Tom Price, who is Trump’s pick as the incoming secretary for

• Better than expected China PMI over the weekend and ECB meeting on Thursday with LTRO announcement being anticipated and a (speculative) rate cut to help boost their economy.
• $GOOG is planning on extending its customer base by offering internet usage to the un-wired regions of the world via satellite and boost revenue as well as earnings. The new project's estimated price ranges from $1B-$3B, and will start with 180 small, high-capacity satellites orbiting Earth at low altitude.  180 "low altitude"?  Just how many are up there anyway?  lol
• Cost-cutting in a digital age to continue.  Imagine the possibilities.  For example one bank digitized it's mortgage-application and decision process, cutting the cost per new mortgage by 70% and slashing time to preliminary approval from several days to just one minute. A telecom created a self-serve, prepaid service where customers could order and activate phones without back-office involvement. A shoe retailer built a system to manage its in-stor

Maybe it's backfiring.  Maybe those who had pre-existing conditions accepted that having coverage was worth the higher price versus no coverage at all.  Add in those with lower income levels who had no insurance previously.  A big bump.  Maybe all the foot stomping over website glitches (which is common with new websites folks),  fear mongering of information security, "death panels" and contraception coverage from the angel-believing right are being drowned out.  

A new survey shows 64% of Americans now back ACA, of course slight revisions being supported as well but wasn't that expected?  No major law goes on the books without tweaks and revisions but this is actually good news if you're long certain healthcare names whose price has benefited the last few years. 

Of course maybe Bloomberg's survey is inaccurate.  Stranger things have happened but MSM (main stream media) would have you believe ACA (Obamacare) is a nightmare and hated nationwide.  Maybe, just maybe, MSM is feeding us