Hedge fund manager Butler Hall Capital said on Friday it is urging Vanda Pharmaceuticals to form an independent special committee to engage with Future Pak over its takeover offer and run a full sales process.
On April 17, Vanda rejected a takeover proposal from Future Pak and adopted a shareholder rights plan to reduce the likelihood of a hostile takeover.
Vanda had said Future Pak, a privately held contract manufacturer and packager of pharmaceutical products, had made an offer of $7.25 to $7.75 per share in cash, which significantly undervalued the company and was not in the shareholders' best interest.
Butler Hall, with current ownership of 350,000 outstanding shares of Vanda, said even though Future Pak's offer "significantly undervalues" the drugmaker, it does not believe the board has "earned the right to outrightly reject such an offer".
"The refusal to engage in a discussion leaves us extremely concerned that such actions will impair our investment in the company," said Butler Hall in a letter to the company's board.
Vanda did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Shares of the Washington, D.C.-based drugmaker was up nearly 4% in afternoon trade.
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
Nigeria's regulator recalled a batch of Benylin paediatric syrup last Wednesday, having found a high level of diethylene glycol in the product during routine testing.
The contaminant, alongside another closely related toxin, ethylene glycol, has been linked to the deaths of more than 300 children in Cameroon, Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan since 2022, though there is no evidence that these incidents are linked with the latest recalls.
The U.N. health body said it puts out global medical product alerts to "encourage diligence" by national authorities and was likely to do so in this instance, "subject to confirmation of certain details from parties".
The recalled batch of Benylin syrup was made by J&J in South Africa in May 2021, although Kenvue now owns the brand after a spin-off from J&J last year.
J&J has referred requests for comment to Kenvue. In an emailed statement on Friday, Kenvue said it had carried out tests on the batch recalled by Nigeria and had not detected either diethylene or ethylene glycol.
"We continue to work closely with health authorities and the WHO and are engaging with NAFDAC to understand their test results, including verifying the authenticity of the sampled product, the testing methodology used, and results reported by the agency," the statement added.
Since Nigeria's recall, five other African countries have also pulled the product from shelves - Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa, where the drug was made.
South Africa’s regulator has also recalled another batch of the syrup, which is used to treat coughs, hay fever and other allergic reactions in children.
Diethylene glycol is toxic to humans when consumed and can result in acute kidney failure, although there have been no reports of harm in the latest incident.
RAW MATERIALS
In the 2022 cases, the contamination in the syrups came from the raw materials used by manufacturers in India and Indonesia.
The WHO said it was collaborating with both the manufacturer and regulatory authority in South Africa to investigate the Benylin paediatric syrup, and had information on the source of the ingredients used. Kenvue has previously said it tested its ingredients before manufacture.
The agency said the possibility that the syrup was counterfeit was also "under consideration as part of investigations".
Earlier this week the WHO sent out a separate alert on five batches of contaminated cough syrup ingredients found in Pakistan that appeared to have been falsely labelled as Dow Chemical products.
It was the first alert the WHO has sent on excipients - elements of a medicine other than the active pharmaceutical ingredient - rather than finished products, the agency confirmed on Friday.
The batches of propylene glycol were contaminated with ethylene glycol.
"It was critical for WHO to also alert manufacturers that may have been procuring this material to exercise more caution," a WHO spokesperson said by email.
Propylene glycol is not an ingredient in Benylin paediatric syrup, a Kenvue spokesperson said on Friday.
The US has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have granted Palestine status as a full UN member state, a move that goes against President Biden’s claim that he favors a two-state solution.
The US was the only member of the 15-member council to vote against the resolution, while the UK and Switzerland abstained. There were 12 votes in favor from Russia, China, France, Japan, South Korea, Ecuador, Algeria, Malta, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, and Guyana.
Palestine currently has non-member observer status at the UN, via Reuters.
A resolution needs nine votes to pass, but the US and the other four permanent members of the council — China, Russia, France, and the UK — have veto power.
Before the Thursday vote,The Intercept reported that theUS was lobbying other countries to vote against the resolution so the US wouldn’t have to veto it.
The Biden administration has come under criticism for claiming to favor a peace deal that involves a two-state solution while continuing to provide unconditional military aid and diplomatic support to Israel, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated his opposition to a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has explicitly stated that he will not allow the creation of a Palestinian state in any future scenario."In any future arrangement … Israel needs security control all territory west of the Jordan,"he said in January. "This collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do?"
The Israeli leader has also credited himself for why there is no Palestinian state. "Everyone knows that I am the one who for decades blocked the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence," he said in February.
The opposition to a Palestinian state is not unique to Netanyahu or his coalition government. Ninety-nine out of the 120 members of the Knesset recently voted against a resolution rejecting the "unilateral" creation of a Palestinian state.
Insurance, repairs, and maintenance costs are up for both homes and autos. Some homeowners are skipping home insurance. What’s going on and who is to blame?
Auto and Home Chart Notes
All data via St. Louis Fed FRED repository, index levels all set to 1015=100
CPI components where found and closest equivalent when not
Case Shiller Home Price Index: S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index
Maintenance and Repair of Dwellings: OECD Main Economic Indicators
Homeowners Insurance: PPI Premiums for Homeowner’s Insurance
New and Use Motor Vehicles: CPI New and Used Motor Vehicles in U.S. City Average
Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repairs: CPI Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repair in U.S. City Average
Auto and Home Index Level Percentage Point Changes
Case-Shiller Home Price Index: Trump 28.3% vs Biden 31.6%
New and Used Cars: Trump +4.5% vs Biden 21.5%
Homeowner’s Insurance: Trump +5.8% vs Biden 11.8%
Private Auto Insurance: Trump +8.0% vs Biden 17.3%
Maintenance and Repair of Dwellings: Trump 11.5% vs Biden 30.8%
Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repairs: Trump 11.1% vs Biden 30.2%
The Hidden Costs of Homeownership Are Skyrocketing
Darren Gondry has owned his four-bedroom home near a golf course in Louisville, Ky., since 2004. He and his wife, Lori Gondry, paid off their primary mortgage in 2021.
That hasn’t stopped other bills associated with homeownership from piling up. Their home insurance costs have risen 63% in two years. Their property taxes, utility costs and homeowners’ association fees have risen in recent years, too.
“I was so sticker-shocked,” Gondry said of the mounting home-cost increases. “I fear they’re here to stay.”
Homeownership affordability fell to its lowest level since the 1980s last year as mortgage rates reached a 23-year high and home prices set new records.
Property taxes and home-maintenance costs are climbing in much of the country. Non-mortgage costs including property taxes, maintenance, utilities and insurance make up more than half of homeowners’ overall costs, according to a 2022 analysis by Fannie Mae economists.
Worst of all, home insurance premiums are soaring. Rates rose by more than 10% on average in 19 states in 2023 after a series of big payouts related to floods, storms, wildfires and other natural disasters across the U.S., according to an Insurance Information Institute analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Plenty of homeowners are having to stretch financially to meet these home-related expenses. Nearly one in five said they couldn’t afford a $500 emergency repair without going into credit-card debt, according to a February online survey of 1,000 homeowners by tech company Clever Real Estate, while 42% said they’ve skipped home repairs or maintenance because of the cost.
Home maintenance fees have risen. It cost an average of $6,663 a year to maintain a home in the fourth quarter of 2023, up 8.3% from a year earlier, according to home-improvement tech company Thumbtack.
In Manhattan, one of the country’s priciest real-estate markets, typical home values fell 8.9% in February from a year earlier, according to Zillow. But the monthly maintenance fees for recently sold co-ops rose 62% from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2024, and condo fees rose 45% in the same period, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel.
In Charlotte, N.C., the average property tax rose 31.5% from 2022 to 2023. In Indianapolis it was up nearly 19%.
Insurify expects average home-insurance costs to rise by more than 10% in eight states this year, including Louisiana, Maine and Michigan.
Steve Kissee listed two Louisiana houses for sale last year, an inherited property and a vacation home.
Kissee is also struggling with insurance costs for his primary home in New Orleans. He received a renewal quote for wind and hail insurance last year for about $31,000, up from a $3,200 premium the year before. He switched to the state’s insurer of last resort for about $7,900 after replacing his roof. His monthly payment for taxes and insurance is higher than the principal and interest payment on his mortgage, he said.
In Colorado, the 2021 Marshall Fire that swept through the suburbs between Denver and Boulder is still boosting insurance costs in that state. Insurance broker Michael McCarron said many of his clients’ home-insurance bills are rising 20% to 40% a year.
Those who live in flood zones, hurricane zones, or fire zones have seen their rates rise 50-100 percent or more. A quote from $3,200 to $31,000 is shocking.
Ask anyone in a hurricane zone, anyone in school, and anyone who buys their own health insurance what their inflation rate is.
The BLS averages all of this. Economists wonder why so many people are angry.
Assessing the Blame
Neither Trump nor Biden handled Covid well, but Biden was an outright disaster.
The third and final fiscal stimulus under Biden was totally unwarranted and unleashed a huge amount of inflation (see fiscal stimulus chart below).
It’s important to note that Trump wanted the fiscal stimulus that Biden got, but Congressional Republicans delivered a much smaller package.
Trump started eviction moratoriums, but Biden kept them too long and fought with the Supreme Court to keep them going longer. The same applies to student aid.
The fiscal stimulus was massive and unwarranted as were the lockdowns. Biden and Democrat governors kept lockdowns and school cancellations going long after it was easily apparent they were no longer doing any good.
For some of the supply chain problems, no one is to blame explicitly, but the fiscal stimulus exacerbated the problems.
Fiscal Stimulus
Consumer Price Index
Prices had already started to soar before the third and largest round of stimulus.
Role of the Fed
The Fed’s role in all of the housing components is massive. Home prices were already soaring, up 28 percent in the Trump years.
The Fed (economists in general) view home prices as a capital expense, not a consumer expense. Thus home prices are not in the CPI nor in the PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) measure of inflation. The latter is the Fed’s preferred measure.
This is a serious ongoing economic mistake by the Fed. The Greenspan Fed and the Bernanke Fed both ignored home prices. Asset bubbles brewed, culminating in the Great Recession.
Powell made the same mistake. However, because there were no liar loans this time, the result is people are trapped in their homes unwilling to trade a 3.0 percent mortgage for a 7.0 percent mortgage.
Compounding the inflationary problem, everyone with an existing mortgage refinance at 3.0 percent, This put extra money in their pockets every month fueling consumption.
The Fed’s QE also created an asset bubble in stocks, also fueling consumption. Those wanting to buy a house are trapped out by soaring prices and high mortgage rates.
The Fed’s Big Problem, There Are Two Economies But Only One Interest Rate
Caping insurance rates has the same effect as capping rents.
The former leads to an exodus of insurers. The latter lead to an exodus of builders and repairs.
What About Autos?
The push to EVs is part of the reason costs are up (manufacturers had huge capital expenditures but sales have been poor). A record UAW contract also played in rising prices as did a chip shortage.
Biden had a direct role in the UAW contract (Biden was on the Picket Line) and 100% of the role of forcing manufacturers to build EVs before the industry and infrastructure was ready.
The cost of vehicles is up, so the cost of insurance is up.
Whose Job Is It?
Trump, Biden, and Congress all played a role. Biden pressed for all the stimulus and got it. So he gets the credit, or in this case more of the blame, than Trump.
But in assessing the blame we must also factor in responsibilities.
Inflation is the Fed’s direct responsibility. The Fed kept QE going way too long. It slashed rates creating a housing bubble (albeit one of a different flavor), and an asset bubble in stocks.
Powell repeated the mistakes of the Greenspan and Bernanke Fed and on top of it failed to understand, then even see (when it was obvious to the world), what three rounds of fiscal stimulus would do.
The Fed also missed the transition from goods inflation to services inflation. And on the Fed’s watch we had the failure of three banks because the Fed failed to spot obvious speculation by banks in long-dated treasuries.
It doesn’t get more pathetic than that.
Politically speaking, Biden wants credit for reducing the rate of inflation that he and the Fed are most responsible for.
It doesn’t work that way. Biden deserves no credit and polls show people don’t give him any.
The Port of Baltimore is “closed until further notice” following the Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy, sending several industries into disarray and jeopardizing national security.
In 2023, the port handled a record amount of international cargo, ranked ninth for both dollar value and tonnage in the United States. Vital for both imports and exports of a variety of commodities, the Port of Baltimore has always had international significance and the impact of its closure will be wide-ranging and long-term for the supply chain in the United States and beyond. Given the seriousness of this issue, Congress must come together to approve the funding to clean up the debris, reopen the channel, and rebuild the bridge.
Having three decades of experience in the United States military, and with foreign affairs and national security issues I can safely say that the reverberations of the disaster will be felt across the globe. The repercussions with regards to energy security are of specific concern and must be addressed.
Domestically, the impacts of these hiccups in the energy supply chain are already being felt. CSX’s Curtis Bay Piers in particular – heavily impacted by the bridge collapse – supplies coal to power the Maryland electric grid and provides metallurgical coal critical for the steel industry. The inability to ship energy supplies from this terminal has created a ripple effect in both sectors. A warning from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), meanwhile, that the bridge collapse and subsequent impact to the port will slow the growth of U.S. coal exports to our allies has also weakened that supply chain of growing importance.
International demand for American coal has been on the rise in the past few years due to Europe’s tightening energy supply, low natural gas reservoirs, and conflict in the region as many countries like Ukraine turned elsewhere to get their energy commodities. As the second-largest exporting hub for coal in the United States, accounting for nearly one-third (28 percent) of total exports in 2023, the Port of Baltimore has helped meet that demand.
While most of the coal exported from the Port of Baltimore was historically destined for locations outside of Europe, it has increasingly been finding its way to countries on the continent dealing with rising Russian aggression, providing them an alternative to forced reliance on Russian energy supplies. But with the port’s unspecified closure and reopening timelines, American allies around the world may be forced to turn back to Vladimir Putin and his cronies. This will give Russia undue power, in Europe in particular, which has historically relied heavily on Russian imports of coal, oil, and natural gas.
China’s rise and efforts to use energy and infrastructure connections to extend their reach and influence around the world have also been a growing concern for years now. Its Belt and Road Initiative includes significant investments in energy infrastructure across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and has been used to extend its influence by becoming a partner in meeting these regions' energy needs. The disruption in the flow of energy resources that has occurred as a result of the Port of Baltimore’s indefinite closure could subsequently force some U.S. allies to seek alternative suppliers and with the country’s coal output hitting record highs in 2023, it may provide an opening for the Communist Country to further assert itself on the world stage.
Energy independence and security means having enough energy to meet demand, as well as protecting power systems and infrastructure from physical attacks and cyber threats. Given these facts, the United States should be focused on bolstering the resiliency of its own energy supply chain – as well as strengthening connections with allies who are also concerned about the rise of Chinese and Russian influence around the world – by prioritizing the restoration of the Port of Baltimore. This will not only restore a vital link in the nation's energy supply chain but also signal to adversaries that the United States is committed to safeguarding its infrastructure and, by extension, its ability to act freely on the international stage.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore recently highlighted the need for quick cleanup, noting that “we need to make sure that we're actually moving quickly to get the American economy going again, because the Port of Baltimore is instrumental in our larger economic growth." Given the domino effects of its continued closure – most specifically to national security and energy independence across the globe – leaders in Washington must come together to quickly clean up and repair access to the port.
Rob Maness is a Retired Colonel and Founder of Iron Liberty Group.
A suspected Iranian spy ship that its own government calls an "intelligence and logistics" vessel returned home this week after a three-year mis, as well as more recently lingering near Yemen for months.
The MV Behshad entered the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday and moored off Bandar Abbas, a port city located on the southern coast of Iran, on Thursday.
Several reports, including one from The Wall Street Journal in December, suggest the vessel was directly assisting Yemen's Houthi forces with targeting commercial ships in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the southern Red Sea.
"Iran's paramilitary forces are providing real-time intelligence to Yemen's Houthis that the rebels are using to direct drones and missiles to target ships passing through the Red Sea, Western and regional security officials said," WSJ wrote in the report, citing Western intelligence sources.
In March, we pointed out that Behshad moored near the area where undersea data cables linking several continents were severed.
Behshad's return to Iran comes as the Israel-Iran conflict deteriorated, with both countries volleying missiles and drones at each other in recent days.
"The ship is likely viewed as one of the targets Israel may hit in the future," said Michael Horowitz, the head of intelligence at Le Beck International, a security and risk management consultancy, in a post on X.
Iran's state media hasn't commented on Behshad's movements.
During a hearing Thursday, Senators Rand Paul and Josh Hawley grilled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas concerning the open border and the murder of Laken Riley.
Mayorkas appeared very uncomfortable as Paul took him to task over the full scale invasion he has overseen at the border.
“You refuse to look at the facts and it’s still, I guess, insulting to all of us and insulting to the memory of Lake and Riley and to the memory of others who have been killed by people who came into this country,” Senator Paul urged.
Secretary Mayorkas SQUIRMS while Senator @RandPaul GRILLS him on Laken Riley's killer for seven minutes straight!
Paul reeled off a short list of examples of crimes committed by illegal immigrants recently, that represents a tiny fraction of the true scale of the problem.
He stated, “On March 2nd, an illegal alien who got into the country as a gotaway killed Washington State Trooper Christopher Gadd. A Haitian man who entered the US via the CHNV parole program was arrested for sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl. On March 21st. Illegal aliens in El Paso rushed the fence. You saw that on national television. An illegal alien on March 23rd murdered 25-year-old Michigan resident, Ruby Garcia.”
Paul continued, “A Chinese National, came across the border an illegally breached a military base in California. I mean, the stories go on and on and I think a lot of people in America are going to be appalled that you refuse to answer the questions.”
The Senator then turned to Jose Ibarra, charged with the murder of 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley. It has emerged that Ibarra was released into the US at the border via parole due to lack of detention space.
Paul asked Mayorkas “was it lawful to parole him? Was it lawful to let him in the country because you say the camp’s full?”
Mayorkas responded, “Ranking member Paul, as a former federal prosecutor for 12 years. I can say with tremendous conviction that individuals who commit criminal acts need to be held accountable for their crimes.”
“Well, that’s not much consolation if you wait until after he is murdered somebody,” Paul fired back.
“See, part of the problem is, and I think people would be aghast to know this, that when you come in, you just give people your name. It’s the honor system,” Paul continued, adding “There may be some databases you check, but certainly most of the domestic crimes in Venezuela probably are not in any kind of international database.”
“So if you waltz into the country through your generous parole programs and say, ‘I’m John Smith from Venezuela,’ you have no way of ascertaining that and you still let ’em go. So you say, ‘well, we’re going to make sure that they’re not a violent criminal.’ You have no way. You look in some databases, maybe they’re not in the database, but you have no way of even knowing that that’s their name,” the Senator further urged.
Paul continued, “Then you give biometric, you give them fingerprints. Now they have a new name and fingerprints. They essentially have been given a new identity by your agency.”
“I am just so sickened and sad by the families who have lost loved ones from this. I don’t see real remorse. I don’t see you’re willing to answer the questions,” he further charged.
“I mean, if it were me, I would be so upset by this. I would be doing everything possible to make sure that another Jose Ibarro doesn’t get in, but apparently you let his brother in too, and his brother’s got a rap sheet 10 times longer than Jose does,” Paul further asserted.
Mayorkas is the first cabinet official in American history to be impeached over high crimes and misdemeanors, including ‘aiding and abetting’ a foreign invasion and committing perjury before Congress, but he has so far managed twice to dodge an impeachment trial.
“All I can express is disappointment and bewilderment that the Democrats let you get away with it,” an exasperated Paul declared.
In a further grilling, Senator Josh Hawley ripped into Mayorkas regarding the release of Ibarra into the country, reading the parole report detailing his criminal history and exposing the amount of times the illegal committed offences and was let go before Laken Riley’s murder.
Mayorkas then had the gall to claim Hawley had “misstated some facts.”
“I have read from the parole file, which you have said you don’t recall,” Hawley shot back, adding “I have just read it into the record. And the reason is you have lied repeatedly to Congress and to the American people about this. They deserve to know. And the only way they’re going to know is if I tell them.”
“I’ve just told them it’s in the record. Now I’ve read it verbatim from the parole file, verbatim. I just want to know, why did you change your story so often? Why didn’t you just answer honestly to Congressman Bishop and Senator Brett?” Hawley further enquired.
Mayorkas glibly responded “Senator, I am I am confident that justice will be vindicated in the criminal prosecution of the case.”
“Well, hopefully he’ll get more of a trial than you got. Otherwise there’ll be no justice for anyone at all,” Hawley blasted back at Mayorkas.
Here is the full exchange:
Can anyone justify why Democrats keep saving this guy’s ass?
