Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said a compromise tax bill from House and Senate Republicans will, among other things, repeal the Affordable Care Act
House Republicans have proposed bills aimed at delaying some of the ACA taxes, Bloomberg News reported. One would suspend the annual health insurance tax for two years and the other would provide retroactive relief for the past three years and next year from the ACA's so-called Cadillac tax, which taxes companies for high-cost employer health plans. Congress is likely to tie the measures to a year-end spending bill needed to be passed before Dec. 22, according to the report.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's administration is discussing about submitting an ACA 1332 waiver to find alternative ways to provide affordable insurance, the Wisconsin State Journal reported, citing J.P. Wieske, the state's deputy commissioner of insurance. Under the waiver, Wisconsin may seek to set up reinsurance, or reestablish a program similar to a high-risk pool, among other things.
Maryland extended the deadline for open enrollment in health plans offered at the state's ACA health exchange, Maryland Health Connection, to Dec. 22. The open enrollment period was earlier scheduled to end Dec. 15.
The New York State Department of Financial Services finalized a regulation that protects drivers from "unfairly discriminatory" auto insurance
The House Financial Services Committee voted 56-4 to pass H.R. 4537, a measure aimed at preserving the U.S. state-based system of insurance regulation
American International Group Inc. is the lead insurer
Genworth Financial Inc. may consider selling
Humana Inc.'s board approved a $3 billion share repurchase authorization. The new authorization will expire Dec. 31, 2020, and replaces the company's previous $2.25 billion share repurchase authorization, which has no further capacity.
United Insurance Holdings Corp. closed an underwritten public offering
Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Commission Executive Director Kim Bailey has resigned
Featured news
Teva to cut 25% of staff in restructuring; Lilly banks on diabetes, oncology: Teva Pharmaceutical announced that it will cut 14,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years to cut costs; and Eli Lilly is counting on its diabetes and cancer drugs to help it reach its 2018 revenue targets.
Financial news in other parts of the world
Asia-Pacific: US Fed raises rates; Blackstone to enter Australian mortgage market
Europe: UBS reshuffles top brass; Aegon chair retiring; SEB divests Danish pension biz
Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE lift rates; Fitch takes Qatari banks off Rating Watch Negative
Latin America: Ecuador VP jailed in graft case; Itaú to buy back up to 1.18B reais of shares
The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng dropped 0.19% to 29,166.38, while the Nikkei 225 slid 0.28% to 22,694.45.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 shed 0.19% to 7,482.40 and the Euronext 100 fell 0.29% to 1,042.12.
On the macro front
The jobless claims report, the retail sales report, the import and export prices report, the PMI Composite Flash, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, the business inventories report, the EIA natural gas report, the Fed balance sheet and the money supply report are due out today.
