Chattanooga to issue bonds with favorable rating
The city of Chattanooga heads to Wall Street today to price $25 million of new and refunding debt.
The tax-free, general obligation bonds earned a favorable 'AA+' rating from the Fitch rating service. The bonds include $16.5 million of refunding bonds and $8.4 million of new debt.
Fitch analysts said the favorable financial ratings for Chattanooga "reflect the city's strong revenue framework, flexible labor environment, moderately low long-term liabilities and significant gap-closing ability.
"Fitch expects employment growth to continue with the expansion of existing and new companies in the city,' Fitch analyst Grace Wong wrote in her assessment of the city. "The auto industry has been a major driver of economic activity in recent years, as the recent expansion of the Volkswagen (VW) automotive production facility has spurred investment by automotive suppliers and other associated industries in the area"
Local gas prices up, but may head lower
Average retail gasoline prices in Chattanooga rose another 2.2 cents per gallon last week but remained 28 cents a gallon below the U.S. average, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of gas outlets released Monday.
The average price of gas in Chattanooga at the start of this week was $2.09 per gallon. That' up 42.2 cents per gallon from a year ago when prices fell to the lowest average annual rates in more than a decade. Nationwide, the average price of gas on Sunday was $2.37 a gallon, up 38.3 cents from a year ago.
Motorists could soon get some relief from rising gas prices, however.
"If there's ever a time one could expect gasoline prices to flatline, this week should be one of them," said Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. "Given the Department of Energy report last week of a huge build in gasoline inventory followed by the brutal one-two punch from winter storms Helena and Iras, that brings immediate and downward pressure on fuel prices."
A half dozen local gas stations on Signal Mountain Road, East Brainerd and Red Bank also were selling gas Monday at $1.95 per gallon - the cheapest in the region, according to GasBuddy.com.
UnitedHealth buys Surgical Care centers
UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest and most diversified U.S. health insurance companies, said Monday it planned to buy Surgical Care Affiliates, a chain of outpatient surgery centers, for about $2.3 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2017.
While the acquisition is a relatively small one for UnitedHealth, whose annual revenues last year were around $180 billion, it marks the latest step in the company's evolution from a traditional insurer to a diversified health services company.
UnitedHealth's Optum unit offers a broad range of health care services to hospitals, doctors and other insurers, but it also provides medical care directly to patients through primary care practices and urgent care centers. The company says it has 20,000 affiliated physicians and says it plans to combine the surgery centers with those businesses.
"Combining SCA and OptumCare will enable us to continue the transition to high-quality, high-value ambulatory surgical care, partnering with the full range of health systems, medical groups and health plans," Larry C. Renfro, vice chairman of UnitedHealth Group and the chief executive of Optum, said in a statement.
Surgical Care Affiliates, based in Deerfield, Ill., is a public company that operates 205 surgical facilities, including specialized hospitals, in partnership with surgeons in 30 states.
Holiday shoppers make 21 percent of purchases online
Holiday spending got a boost in 2016, according to one analysis, as more people opted to shop by phone or computer - though department stores and clothing retailers still lagged.
Overall consumer spending grew 4.7 percent over the previous holiday season, while online retail purchasing grew 12 percent over the same period last year, according to First Data, which analyzed online and in-store payments for nearly a million merchants between October 29, 2016 and January 2.
First Data said about 21 percent of all holiday spending was done online, up from about 15 percent last year.
"More and more, shoppers are opting to stay home to avoid the crowds and make purchases on their own time," said Rishi Chhabra, vice president for information and analytics at First Data.
Takeda buys Ariad in $4.7 billion deal
Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical has agreed to buy U.S. cancer drug developer Ariad Pharmaceuticals in a $4.7 billion deal.
Takeda will pay $24 in cash for each Ariad share, a premium of nearly 75 percent to the stock's $13.74 closing price Friday. Ariad said Monday the deal still needs regulatory approval.
The companies expect to close the deal by the end of February.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. develops treatments for rare forms of leukemia and lung cancer.
The drugmaker drew criticism from members of Congress last fall over price hikes for the leukemia treatment Iclusig. The company raised the cost of the drug four times in 2016 to an almost $200,000 yearly cost, an increase of more than $80,000 over the past several years.