1) The KKR & Co. is offering a deal to take the drugstore giant Walgreens Boots Alliance private in what could be the biggest ever leveraged buyout. The New York private equity firm is proposing to buy out shareholders of Walgreens Boots, but there are no details on the proposed transaction. Walgreens Boots has a market value of $53 billion dollars and debt of $16.8 billion dollars. A buyout would give Walgreens Boots time to adapt to a fast changing retail landscape.
2) Some U.S. oil and natural gas production companies are planning to pump less petroleum thereby reducing production for this next year. Several producers, including EQT Corp and Chesapeake Energy Corp have announced their intention to alsoreduce production thereby reining in spending and forecasting slower growth, while other fracking companies like Diamondback Energy Inc., Cimarex Energy Co. and Callon Petroleum Co. plan to hold next year’s spending the same.
3) The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has shattered their single day sales from last year. Alibaba had $33.9 billion dollars in sales, which eclipsed last year’s numbers of $30.8 billion dollars in sales for 24 hours. Alibaba’s annual shopping extravaganza is equivalent to Black Friday or Cyber Monday in the US. The eleventh of November was originally created as a student holiday in China to celebrate single people, but has been transformed into a massive day of sales on Alibaba.
4) Stock market closings for – 11 NOV 19:
Dow 27,691.49 up 10.25
Nasdaq 8,464.28 down 11.03
S&P 500 3,087.01 down 6.07
10 Year Yield: up at 1.94%
Oil: down at $56.63