Walmart denies ABC News report it could join investor group to buy TikTok

 Walmart on Friday denied a report from ABC News that it was considering joining a group of investors to buy short video app TikTok.

Earlier on Friday, ABC News reporter Selina Wang said in a post on X that the world’s largest retailer was "actively considering" joining a group of investors to buy the short video app, citing sources close to the deal. Walmart (NYSE:WMT)’s interest was triggered by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s involvement, the post and a subsequent story on ABC’s website said.

A Walmart spokesperson said the ABC story was incorrect and pointed out that the story had been taken down from the site.

The link to the piece on the ABC News website now says "page unavailable." ABC News was not immediately available to comment.

Walmart had been previously linked to TikTok when it considered teaming up with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to buy the app in 2020. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the popular short video app to a non-Chinese buyer.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/walmart-considers-joining-investor-group-to-buy-tiktok-abc-news-reporter-says-3968887

SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin clinch $13.5 billion-dollar Pentagon launch contracts

 Elon Musk's SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin on Friday won U.S. Space Force rocket launch contracts worth a combined $13.5 billion through 2029 to send some of the Pentagon's most sensitive and complex satellites into space.

The Space Force's flagship National Security Space Launch procurement program will assign roughly 54 missions through 2029 in incremental task orders, according to its Space Systems Command office.

SpaceX, awarded 28 of the missions, won $5.9 billion. ULA, the joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin , won $5.3 billion for 19 missions. Blue Origin got seven missions worth a combined $2.3 billion, with those planned for launch in a later year.

Reuters earlier reported SpaceX and ULA were tapped for the awards.

The program, the most competitive and lucrative U.S. launch effort, effectively affirms the companies as the most capable American rocket providers, though Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket has launched once in January and has less experience than SpaceX's and ULA's rockets.

SpaceX, with its Falcon 9 rocket, is the world’s most active launch company. It has launched dozens of military space missions in recent years. The company said it will use Falcon 9 and its more powerful Falcon Heavy - three Falcon cores strapped together - for the Phase 3 missions.

ULA's new Vulcan rocket had its first two launches last year. The Pentagon certified Vulcan for national security missions this month after months of review into a mishap with its solid rocket motors during one of its flights.

The awards are part of the Phase 3 program's "Lane 2" track. That track contains the Pentagon's most difficult and expensive missions, involving a variety of complex orbits around Earth, for which only the top U.S. launch companies with the most experience are to compete.

SpaceX, according to two people familiar with the plans, will get a vast majority of the missions ordered by the Space Force in the first year of the program. The company's launch rate with Falcon 9 is far greater than ULA and Blue Origin's.

SpaceX CEO, Musk, a special government employee and close ally of President Donald Trump, has wielded enormous influence over the U.S. government, from slashing federal agencies in his government efficiency effort to pushing allies to lead federal agencies that oversee billions of dollars' worth of SpaceX government contracts.

Friday's awards have been years in the making. It is a third phase of a program governing how the U.S. Defense Department purchases rides to space for its military and intelligence satellites, a lucrative area of government procurement once dominated by the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture, United Launch Alliance.

SpaceX has risen in the past decade to become a dominant launch player. Its reusable Falcon 9 rockets offer a cost-cutting capability its rivals have been slower to match, making the company a key vendor for the Pentagon, which is also increasingly reliant on the company for satellite-based military intelligence.

In an earlier phase of the national security launch program, Phase 2, SpaceX won 40 per cent of the missions while ULA got 60 per cent, representing over $6 billion in missions combined.

Some missions originally assigned to ULA under Phase 2 had to be transferred to SpaceX over development delays with ULA's Vulcan rocket, which had frustrated Pentagon officials.

"We are very pleased to be awarded 40 per cent of the Phase 3 procurement," ULA CEO Tory Bruno said in a statement. "Vulcan is the right choice for critical national security space missions and is the only rocket today designed to meet all the requirements of our nation's space launch needs."

With SpaceX emerging as a dominant winner in the program, Musk nonetheless took a jab at SpaceX's rivals on X, his social media platform.

"Winning 60 per cent of the missions may sound generous, but the reality is that all SpaceX competitors combined cannot currently deliver the other 40 per cent! I hope they succeed, but they aren’t there yet," he said.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/spacex-ula-blue-origin-clinch-135-billion-dollar-pentagon-launch-contracts-5045801

Trump administration drops Biden's proposal of Medicare weight-loss drug coverage

 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said on Friday it did not move forward with a proposal put forth by the Biden administration for Medicare coverage of weight-loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy.

U.S.-listed shares of Novo fell 1.4% in aftermarket trading, while those of Eli Lilly, which makes obesity drug Zepbound, were down 2.7%.

The proposal would have enabled more Americans to afford new medications in the GLP-1 class that have been shown to reduce weight by as much as 20% and prevent type 2 diabetes, but cost as much as $1,000 a month without insurance coverage.

Medicare, the government's health insurance program for people aged 65 or older or who have disabilities, currently covers the use of GLP-1 drugs such as Lilly's Mounjaro and Novo's Ozempic for conditions such as diabetes, but not the versions of those drugs that have been approved to treat obesity.

Bernstein analyst Courtney Breen said the dropping of the proposal was "not surprising," adding that with "pharmaceutical tariffs under negotiation, this is not the time for the administration to give without getting."

Lilly said in a statement it was disappointed with the move, and that it "will continue to work with the Trump Administration and Congressional leaders to ensure people living with obesity are covered by Medicare and Medicaid and are no longer left behind."

A Novo Nordisk spokesperson said "today's announcement was limited," but the company hopes the Trump Administration would soon finalize the definition of obesity. "It is essential that CMS regulations are aligned with current medical science – and that means recognizing obesity as a serious chronic disease."

U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has previously said that America should tackle obesity through healthy eating, not medicine.

The CMS also said it was not moving forward with two other the proposals. One that required Medicare providers to analyze their healthcare utilization policies from a health equity perspective, and another that sought guardrails on artificial intelligence tools amid concerns that they are being used to deny or delay care.

https://www.aol.com/news/trump-administration-drops-bidens-proposal-205205230.html

Democrats Activate NGO Machine For Weekend Color Revolution Operation Against Trump

 The Democratic Party's favorability among Americans has plunged to a record low. In an attempt to reverse this decline, the rudderless party of leftist lunatics has openly launched a domestic color revolution—facilitated by a shadowy network of billionaire-funded NGOs.

Initially, the operation targeted Elon Musk and DOGE; now, the leftist NGO machine is gaining momentum and redirecting total mobilization efforts at President Trump on Saturday in nationwide protests called "Hands Off!"... 

Protest Map 

Hands Off 2025's website shows that 186 NGOs, unions, and other leftist groups support the mass mobilization effort of crazed leftists.

Color revolutions have generally been used in overseas operations by US intelligence agencies for regime change purposes. The American people have seen domestic color revolutions before, such as the BLM riots, which were aimed at manipulating public sentiment, shaping perception, and controlling the emotional atmosphere during Trump's first term. 

Now, the unhinged Democratic Party is at it again, trying to build on Tesla protests and firebombings of showrooms and vehicles by using mass protests and civil disobedience to shape sentiment around Trump in his second term. 

The only problem Democrats face this time is that a taxpayer-funded color revolution—channeled through USAID into their NGO network—will be much harder to pull off now that grant awards have been frozen and USAID has been rolled into the State Department, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio providing oversight.

Summer of Love begins... 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democrats-activate-ngo-machine-weekend-color-revolution-operation-against-trump

Can We Protect Brain Cells from Degenerating?

by Mark Terry 

A team of scientists at Temple University, led by Garth Thomas, PhD, recently published research that could lead to a way to block damaged neurons. The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Various diseases of the brain, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, involve damage to neurons. Dual leucine-zipper kinase (DLK) is an enzyme known to play a role in neuronal damage and loss. DLK signals neurons that they are damaged or sick and triggers a self-destruct sequence. The theory is that blocking this enzyme could slow the progression of these diseases.

Thomas, Associate Professor of Neural Sciences in the Center for Neural Development and Repair at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (Philadelphia), focused on inhibiting DLK as a treatment strategy for neurodegenerative diseases. The research focused on how the damage affects axons, the long, thin spindles that project out of neurons, allowing the transmission of impulses in the brain and spinal cord to other parts of the body. DLK signals axons if they’re sick, telling them to self-destruct.

Earlier attempts to fully block DLK resulted in severe sensory neuropathy. Thomas noted, “This clinical finding suggested that the conventional DLK inhibitor might be disrupting the normal structure and function of axons.”

After confirming that observation, Thomas’s team looked for ways to selectively inhibit DLK. “From some of our previous research, we knew that DLK initiates the self-destruction signals from very specific locations in neurons,” Thomas said. “We thought that if we could stop DLK getting to those locations, it wouldn’t be able to initiate the self-destruction process.”

They then screened more than 28,000 compounds, identifying two that protected neurons from damage caused by DLK. The compounds also decreased DLK signaling in animal models but didn’t stimulate the axonal disruption seen with traditional DLK inhibition.

Working with medicinal chemists, they developed molecules that were more potent and more specific, as well as stable.

Although early, the researchers believe these compounds are a promising approach to eventually preventing and treating neurodegenerative diseases.

https://biopharmbiz.substack.com/p/can-we-protect-brain-cells-from-degenerating

UnitedHealth Group sues tech giant Broadcom over ‘exorbitant’ price hikes

In a battle of corporate behemoths, an arm of UnitedHealth Group claims it will lose access to critical software unless it capitulates to “exorbitant” price increases demanded by vendor Broadcom Inc.


United Healthcare Services sued Broadcom on Wednesday over software that is “ubiquitous” throughout the Eden Prairie-based health insurer’s computer systems.


The UnitedHealth subsidiary, which provides the company’s administrative services, is asking a federal court for an injunction to stop Silicon Valley-based Broadcom from terminating its contract and cutting off service on April 18.


Broadcom is perhaps best known for its broad range of computer hardware products, but since its 2018 purchase of CA Inc. the company has expanded aggressively into software for the corporate market.


United Healthcare Services began licensing CA’s mainframe computer software and maintenance support services in 2006. The company claims in its heavily redacted lawsuit that Broadcom is supposed to renew those licenses and services with limited price increases.


But this year, UnitedHealth alleges, Broadcom refused to honor its contractual commitments.


“Instead, Broadcom is attempting to coerce United into paying hundreds of millions of dollars more for access to CA software,” according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court for Minnesota.


Simply switching to another software vendor isn’t an option.




“United has incorporated the CA Software into its operations so extensively that transitioning to an alternative mainframe software and associated support services would take years,” the lawsuit said.


Broadcom did not respond to requests for comment.


UnitedHealth’s complaint is the second breach of contract suit against Broadcom over corporate software pricing in the past eight months.




In August, Dallas-based telecom and internet services provider AT&T alleged that Broadcom tried to raise prices on its VMware software by 1,050%.


Like UnitedHealth, AT&T claimed that it had the right to renew its Broadcom software licensing contract without new, large price hikes. Broadcom and AT&T reached a confidential settlement in November.


Broadcom’s 2023 acquisition of VMware has caused an uproar over large price hikes aimed at corporate customers, according to tech press reports. UnitedHealth is still negotiating with Broadcom over its use of VMware; its suit covers only its CA software contracts.




UnitedHealth filed the suit after negotiations with Broadcom failed.


Broadcom’s “repudiation” of its contract provisions “is a naked and unlawful attempt by Broadcom to leverage its growing power in the software industry,” UnitedHealth said in the suit.


UnitedHealth, which owns the nation’s largest health insurer, also has been accused of abusing market power, though the company maintains it has not.


The U.S. Justice Department and four states sued in November to block UnitedHealth Group’s proposed $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys, a Louisiana-based home health company that would further UnitedHealth’s push into the home care and hospice markets.


The complaint marks the second time in less than three years that the DOJ has tried to stop UnitedHealth from completing deals to bolster its fast-growing Optum division. The government unsuccessfully sued to block Optum’s acquisition of Change Healthcare in 2022.


At a U.S. Senate committee hearing last spring, UnitedHealth’s size was a recurring — and bipartisan — theme in lawmakers’ questioning. The hearing probed the massive 2024 cyberattack at Change Healthcare, which caused nationwide claims processing chaos for health care providers.




Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, asked if UnitedHealth Group’s health care dominance created “a special [cybersecurity] vulnerability,” while Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called the Eden Prairie-based business “a monopoly on steroids.”


The impasse between the two companies — both among the top 20 U.S. companies as measured by the value of their stock — led to direct negotiations in March between Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and UnitedHealth Chief Technology Officer Sandeep Dadlani.


UnitedHealth in the lawsuit said, with negotiations failing, that without an injunction, there will be “widespread consequences for the millions of parties who rely on United’s operations and services on a daily basis.”




https://www.startribune.com/unitedhealth-group-broadcom-unitedhealthcare-lawsuit-software-prices-contract-breach/601320077

Retail investors buy stocks at largest level in 10 years, JPMorgan says

  Retail investors bought $4.7 billion in stocks on Thursday, the highest level over the past decade, JPMorgan said in a note on Friday.

The historic "buy-to-dip" move by retail investors included names such as Nvidia, Amazon and S&P exchange-traded funds, but they sold Tesla.

Small-cap technology was one of individuals' favorite sector picks amid the meltdown, while institutional investors have increased their bets against the sector.

The S&P 500 plunged 4.9% on Thursday, its biggest one-day percentage loss since June 2020. 

Retail investors' buying spree on Thursday was in contrast to their behavior during the COVID-inspired selloff in March 2020, JPMorgan said.

JPMorgan said that retail performance on Thursday was in line with the losses posted by S&P 500 index on the day, while individuals' stock portfolios are down 12.9% year-to-date on average, below the index.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/retail-bought-stocks-largest-level-135826683.html