1) Humana, the health insurance giant, is laying off more than 800 people. These layoffs are from its operations in several states, their intent is to trim payroll by 2%, starting this week. Humana is taking a series of measures in 2020 aimed at improving productivity and position the company for long term sustainable success. This need to cut expenses is driven by the anticipated $1 billion dollar non-deductible health insurance fee or HIF, which Humana must pay in 2020.
2) The retail mammoth Amazon is making further inroads into the grocery retailing business by offering free delivery of groceries to its Prime members. These will include services like Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market using time portals of one and two hour delivery windows. Fresh grocery delivery service is expanding into new cities. This new delivery strategy is expected to circumvent other retailers such as Walmart.
3) The ride sharing company Lyft is introducing Lyft Pink, a monthly membership for riders that gives a 15% discount as well as other perks. Unlike previous discount programs which only applied for a certain number of rides, this discount will have no limits. While Lyft Pink will launch later this year, you can sign up for the service now.
4) Stock market closings for – 29 OCT 19:
Dow 27,071.42 down 19.30
Nasdaq 8,276.85 down 49.14
S&P 500 3,036.89 down 2.53
10 Year Yield: down at 1.84%
Oil: down at $55.52