Week of Dec 8 2017 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“I’m always thinking about losing money as opposed to making money. Don’t focus on making money, focus on protecting what you have” – Paul Tudor Jones
1. Walgreens Rebranding Effort in Pharmacy Wars — Walgreens is taking a different approach to grow in the wake of CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) announcing plans to acquire Aetna (NYSE:AET). The company is re-positioning to reach two demographics of female shoppers – millennials and Gen X – with a big emphasis on beauty and food products.
2. Japan Wants Missiles that Could Strike N.Korea — Reuters reported Japan is preparing to acquire precision air-launched missiles that for the first time would give it the capability to strike North Korea. The country is exploring Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE:LMT) JASSM-ER, as well as missiles from Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. The report comes as UN chief diplomat Jeffrey Feltman travels to Pyongyang for rare, high-level, political talks to diffuse tension.
3. The Senate and House Passed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Bill ” — the Senate and House lawmakers passed the “Tax Bill” and are now working to come up with a final version of the tax bill, and they still have some differences to resolve. Below is the summary of the Senate and House versions.
4. House Approves Two-Week Funding Extension, Avoiding Government Shutdown — the Senate has passed a stop-gap spending measure to continue funding the federal government for two weeks. President Trump would sign a stop-gap spending measure funding the government through Dec. 22, according to a statement from the White House. In addition, the White House said it will move forward with a massive infrastructure program in 2018.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
