Twelve managed-care companies are challenging Florida's award of Medicaid contracts, probably worth about $90 billion, alleging that the Agency from Health Care Administration mishandled the multiyear deals, The News Service of Florida reported. Filing petitions in 11 regions across the state, Molina Healthcare Inc., Magellan, UnitedHealthcare and others alleged the agency committed several errors in handling the contracts such as not finishing the reviews on time and awarding the contract to a vendor who filed the wrong bid. If the initial decisions of the agency stand, some companies will be shut out of the managed care program for the next five years.

UKnight Interactive sued Knights of Columbus over the alleged business misconduct of the organization's leadership. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Colorado, accuses Knights of Columbus of actuarial fraud regarding the size and demographics of its membership.

The New York State Office of the Attorney General has asked the public to comment on the sale of New York State Catholic Health Plan Inc., which does business as Fidelis Care New York. Centene Corp. has agreed to buy substantially all of the assets of Fidelis Care for $3.75 billion. The office is reviewing the transaction to determine whether the price and terms are fair and reasonable.

As expected, Transatlantic Holdings Inc.'s catastrophe bond Bowline Re Ltd. series 2018-1 settled at $250 million with coupon price being 4.5%, the middle of the initial guidance, Artemis reported. The size of the bond initially was $200 million. Transatlantic Holdings is the parent of Transatlantic Reinsurance Co.

United Insurance Holdings Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiaries, entered into reinsurance agreements to seek coverage for catastrophe losses from named or numbered windstorms and earthquakes.

An Aon Risk Solutions survey indicated that the price per million of directors and officers liability insurance increased 3.2% in the first quarter, compared with the year-ago quarter, Business Insurance reported. Aon clients that renewed coverage in the first quarter of each of 2018 and 2017 saw an increase of 1.6% in price per million of D&O liability insurance, compared to a 2.8% decrease in the fourth quarter of 2017.

After pricing below its expected IPO range, AXA Equitable Holdings Inc.'s shares fell further after its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, before regaining ground and finishing the first trading day up slightly. Josef Schuster, founder of IPOX Schuster LLC, said the initial results for AXA Equitable were relatively disappointing, but were not unsurprising. AXA Equitable lacks significant exposure to high-growth segments in asset management like exchange-traded funds, Schuster said in an email to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Investors are also aware of the poor first-quarter performances for shares of companies with recent large U.S. IPOs such as Snap Inc. and Brighthouse Financial Inc.

Aon PLC named Richard Schuyler as CEO of Aon Carrier Link, a new distribution channel linking participants to its network of local offices.

Trisura Group Ltd. reported first-quarter net income of C$1.9 million, compared with a net loss of C$4.0 million, in the year-ago quarter.

Kingsway Financial Services Inc. entered into a letter of intent to sell its nonstandard automobile insurance companies.

An affiliated fund of Palladium Equity Partners LLC has agreed to sell Pronto Holdco LLC to Risk Placement Services Inc., a unit of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Texas-headquartered Pronto Holdco is the parent company of Pronto Insurance, a full-service managing general agency, broker and claims administrator.

Featured news

Novartis picks finalists for generics portfolio; AstraZeneca drug fails trial: The World Health Organization is preparing for the worst-case scenario in a new outbreak of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Reuters reported. Peter Salama, WHO deputy director-general of emergency preparedness and response, said he hoped the country would allow the deployment of an experimental vaccine, but also warned about its complexity.

Financial news in other parts of the world

Asia-Pacific: JPMorgan applies for China JV; ANZ may sell NZ life ops; Indian bank posts loss

Europe: Monte Paschi, Piraeus Bank report Q1; Bank of England holds rates

Middle East & Africa: US sanctions Iran currency network; South Sudan gets new central bank chief

The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 1.02% to 31,122.06, and the Nikkei 225 climbed 1.16% to 22,758.48.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was down 0.09% to 7,693.397, and the Euronext 100 was down 0.19% to 1,068.34.

On the macro front

The import and export prices report, the consumer sentiment report and the Baker-Hughes Rig Count report are due out today.

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