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CMS seeks Medicare Advantage payment hikes; '17 insured cat losses may top $140B

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CMS seeks Medicare Advantage payment hikes; '17 insured cat losses may top $140B

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a 1.84% rate increase for payments to insurers for offering private Medicare plans for the 2019 plan year. Insurers have until March 5 to comment on the proposed rates. CMS expects to finalize the rate by April 2.

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes in 2017 are expected to exceed $140 billion and economic losses could surpass $300 billion, according to a JLT Re report.

Earnings and call updates: Aon Plc reported a fourth-quarter 2017 net loss attributable to shareholders of $19 million, or 7 cents per share, compared to income of $452 million, or $1.68 per share, in the prior-year quarter.

Click here to read a summary of earnings reported Feb. 1 by select insurance companies covered by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Speaking on an earnings call, XL Group Ltd CEO Mike McGavick is confident that the company will deliver solid results going forward using lessons learned in 2017.

Turning to M&A news. The U.S. Department of Justice has requested more information from CVS Health Corp. and Aetna Inc. with respect to their pending merger.

Cottonwood Title Insurance Agency Inc., a Utah-based title insurance company, acquired Founders Title Co. and Founders Title Co. of Davis.

Led by Armour Group Ltd, a group of investors acquired Elite Insurance Co. Ltd. and its affiliate Elite Business Development Ltd.

Incenter LLC, a provider of trading, advisory and fulfillment services for lenders and specialty finance companies, closed its acquisition of Agents National Title Insurance Co., a Columbia, Mo.-based provider of residential and commercial title insurance services.

Sompo International Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, completed the 100% transfer of the Sompo America companies to Sompo International and has integrated Sompo America's business operations and staff into the Sompo International Insurance platform.

More than 4.3 million New York consumers enrolled in health insurance through the state's health marketplace, NY State of Health, during the 2018 open enrollment period, an increase of 700,000 people from 2017, the state's Department of Health announced.

The maturity of the $63 million Resilience Re Ltd. series 1711A private catastrophe bond transaction has been extended by six months, Artemis reported. The notes were initially scheduled to mature Jan. 8, but will now mature July 8. The extension suggests that the cat bond is exposed to potential losses from the 2017 catastrophes and hurricanes, and the extra time will allow the sponsor to establish whether it can make a claim on the notes principal under the terms of the underlying reinsurance or retrocession arrangement.

Featured news

Merck & Co., AstraZeneca report earnings; Insys facing new lawsuit: AstraZeneca and Merck & Co. reported year-over-year increases in earnings; and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against INSYS Therapeutics for illegally marketing its opioid painkiller Subsys.

Financial news in other parts of the world

Asia-Pacific: India to merge, list 3 insurers; Alibaba to buy 33% stake in Ant Financial

Europe: Deutsche Bank FY'17 loss narrows; Danske Bank launches 10B kroner buyback

Middle East & Africa: IDB to sell Banque Zitouna stake; Standard Bank gets new CEO in Malawi

Latin America: BBVA Bancomer, Banco de Chile, Cielo post higher Q4 profits

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng decreased 0.12% to 32,601.78, and the Nikkei 225 declined 0.90% to 23,274.53.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.34% to 7,464.61, and the Euronext 100 was down 1.04% to 1,048.25.

On the macro front

The employment situation report, the consumer sentiment report, the factor orders report and the Baker-Hughes Rig Count report are due out today.