Sweeping New Rules Will Curtail Student Loan Interest And Expand Loan Forgiveness Programs

 The Biden administration has released final regulations that will provide sweeping changes to the federal student loan system. The new rules will curtail interest accrual and expand relief under several existing student loan forgiveness programs.

The release of these final regulations is the next step in a long process that began last year with negotiated rulemaking, where the Education Department convened key stakeholders to review and approve proposed reforms to student loan programs.

“Today is a monumental step forward in the Biden-Harris team’s efforts to fix a broken student loan system and build one that’s simpler, fairer, and more accountable to borrowers,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement on Monday.

Here’s an overview of the major changes that will result from the new regulations.

Student Loan Interest Capitalization Reforms

The new federal regulations will curtail student loan interest capitalization.

In many circumstances, student loan interest can accrue on top of a borrower’s monthly payments, such as when the borrower is in an income-driven repayment plan. In addition, interest can accrue during many periods of nonpayment, such as a forbearance. Over time, this interest accrual can result in steadily increasing balances.

Adding to the problem is that certain events can cause that accruing interest to be added back on to the loan principal balance through a process called interest “capitalization.” Since interest is charged as a percentage of the loan principal, capitalization has a compounding effect, where interest accrues on interest. This can lead to substantial balance increases.

The new federal regulations will eliminate certain interest capitalization events including when a borrower first enters repayment, when a borrower exits a forbearance, and when a borrower leaves most income-driven repayment (IDR) plans such as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE). Interest will still be capitalized for borrowers who leave the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan, however, because changing that rule would require an act of Congress.

Expanded Student Loan Forgiveness

The final regulations released on Monday will also streamline and expand student loan forgiveness under several existing programs:

• For Borrower Defense to Repayment — a loan forgiveness program for borrowers misled or defrauded by their school — the new rules will strengthen protections for borrowers and expand the avenues of relief. The rules will allow the Education Department to provide individual or group relief, and will expand the categories of school misconduct that can give rise to a borrower claim. Borrowers will also be entitled to full relief (rather than partial relief, which had previously been permitted) for approved Borrower Defense claims.
• Borrowers will be entitled to automatic Closed-School Discharges “one year after a college’s closure date for borrowers who were enrolled at the time of closure, or [if they] left 180 days before closure and... do not accept an approved teach-out agreement or a continuation of the program at another location of the school.”
• Borrowers seeking loan forgiveness through the Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharge program will have an easier process of proving that they are disabled under the TPD standard. A greater percentage of borrowers receiving Social Security benefits will be entitled to relief automatically, and borrowers will no longer be subject to post-discharge income monitoring.

Additional Student Loan Relief Is Coming

The new federal regulations are expected to be effective by July 1, 2023. In the meantime, there are several other initiatives by the Biden administration that may provide significant relief for federal student loan borrowers by then, as well:

• The Limited PSLF Waiver, which temporarily relaxes key requirements associated with Public Service Loan Forgiveness, ends today. Millions of borrowers have already been approved. But there’s still time to apply.
• The Biden administration is in the process of developing a new Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan, which may be more affordable than current options and will also suspend excess interest accrual during periods where monthly payments do not cover all accruing interest.
• The Education Department is starting to roll out the IDR Account Adjustment initiative, which will provide retroactive credit towards borrowers’ 20-year and 25-year IDR student loan forgiveness terms, bringing millions of borrowers closer to eventual loan forgiveness.
• The administration is still accepting applications for its one-time student loan forgiveness initiative of $10,000 or $20,000. A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the plan, but the Education Department is still encouraging borrowers to submit a student loan forgiveness application.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2022/10/31/sweeping-new-rules-will-curtail-student-loan-interest-and-expand-loan-forgiveness-programs/

Glucose monitoring device maker DexCom stock rallies more than 50% in October to pace the S&P 500

DexCom eased today but stayed on track to be the S&P 500's best October performer with a month-to-date gain of 50.6%. The rally comes as maker of glucose monitoring systems reported last week third-quarter results that beat expectations and got a boost from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' issuing a proposal that would expand the coverage of glucose monitoring devices. 

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20221031242/glucose-monitoring-device-maker-dexcom-stock-rallies-more-than-50-in-october-to-pace-the-sp-500

Health-Care Stocks Rally to Best Month Since 2020 on Haven Demand

 Health care stocks posted their best monthly gain since April 2020 as investors seek shelter in a weakening economy.

The S&P 500 Health Care Index rallied 9.6% in October, its best month in two and a half years and beating the greater benchmark’s 8% rise. Hospital operator Universal Health Services Inc. -- fresh off its best week on record -- and diabetes device maker Dexcom were among the top performers driving the sector higher.

The gains come as investors look for safe bets amid rising interest-rates and a looming recession. Pockets of the health sector, from insurers to large drugmakers, tend to do well in downturns as demand for their services isn’t swayed by the economic outlook.

While wipeouts from major tech stocks have been grabbing the headlines, earnings beats in health care have been rewarded more than any other sector, according to Asad Haider, a Goldman Sachs Group strategist.

He said health care’s defensive appeal and outflows from other sectors, including tech bellwethers, are helping bolster the stocks. Disappointing earnings from tech companies stand in contrast to the beats-and-raises from Biogen Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc., Merck & Co. Inc. and others, Haider wrote in a note to clients dated Friday.

The group has charged higher for the past four weeks, its longest weekly winning streak since December 2021.

And more earnings reports are coming. The best health performers this year are drug distributors McKesson Corp., which is expected to report earnings on Tuesday after a 57% rally this year, and Cardinal Health Inc., which is set to share results on Friday after a 47% gain.

https://www.yahoo.com/now/health-care-stocks-rally-best-181126053.html

Colombia's Oil Industry In Jeopardy As Cocaine Production Soars To New Record

 By Matthew Smith of OilPrice.com

Leftwing Senator Gustavo Petro’s electoral victory, which he was inaugurated as Colombia’s 34th president, saw a wave of optimism sweep across the strife-torn country. The term of President Petro’s predecessor Ivan Duque was marred by a spike in violence and crime, nationwide anti-government protests, a surge in the activity of illegal armed groups and soaring cocaine production.

Fallout from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which caused Colombia’s GDP to contract by 7% that year and spiraling poverty, contributed to rising lawlessness, crime and violence. Alarmingly, cocaine production, which is a key driver of violence and illicit activity in Colombia, keeps soaring to new highs. This is symptomatic of a weak state that lacks a credible presence in many rural regions causing the internal security environment to deteriorate. Escalating insecurity will potentially roil Colombia’s post-pandemic economic recovery, one of the strongest in Latin America, while impacting the Andean country’s economically vital energy patch. For these reasons, Petro must act decisively to curb violence, lawlessness and illicit activities in a country that is falling once-again into chaos.

A key indicator of Colombia’s deteriorating domestic security is the recent announcement by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) that domestic cocaine output (Spanish) hit yet another record during 2021. That occurred despite decades of U.S. funded counter-narcotics operations, leaving Colombia as the world’s number one cocaine producer. UNDOC estimates that 2021 cocaine production grew 14% year over year to 1,400 metric tons, while the amount of land utilized for coca cropping surged by a whopping 43% to half a million acres. Burgeoning cocaine production, along with the vast profits that narcotics trafficking generates, was responsible for funding the immense escalation of Colombia’s multiparty asymmetric conflict during the 1980s. 

Cocaine profits have long funded various armed non-state groups in Colombia with soaring production responsible for a surge in the number of illegal armed groups, combatants and related violence since 2018. The vast earnings generated by cocaine in Colombia are thought to be as high as $12 billion annually, which is equivalent to 4% of the Andean country’s GDP. It is cocaine production and coca cropping, the leaf of the coca plant being a necessary precursor, as well as associated violence which is responsible for the 260,000 plus deaths that have occurred during Colombia’s armed conflict. Most of those casualties were civilians who also suffered forced displacement by various illegal armed groups, with it thought that as many as 8 million people having been forced to leave their homes. 

The recent spike in Colombia’s cocaine production, along with the associated escalation in violence linked to illegal armed groups was responsible for a sharp uptick in the number of civilians displaced during 2021. According to the UN, at least 74,000 Colombians were displaced during that year, which is more than double 2020. The volume of direct attacks against civilians during 2021 also trended higher, rising by 37% year over year to total of more than 2,400 occurrences. These worrying events underscore the growing violence gripping Colombia, most of which is associated with coca cultivation and the manufacture of cocaine. Massacres, which are another symptom of growing cocaine production, lawlessness, rising insecurity and an ineffective state, have surged since 2018. Colombian peace think-tank Indepaz recorded 85 massacres, which is the murder of three or more people in a single event, up until 9 October 2022. That is 10 greater than the same period a year earlier and more than double the 36 massacres recorded during 2019 before the pandemic.

It is the marked increase in cocaine production and associated violence from various illegal armed groups engaged in the manufacture of the narcotic that poses the greatest threat to the Colombian state, civil society and the economy. This becomes particularly apparent when the regions where coca is grown and much of the related violence occurs are also those rich in hydrocarbons. The Catatumbo region, located in the northwest near the Venezuelan border, is Colombia’s second major coca cultivating area and the country’s deadliest conflict zone. Aside from being a hotspot for the resurgent civil conflict, Catatumbo is also one of Colombia’s top oil producing areas with it believed to contain anywhere up to 17 million barrels of undiscovered oil reserves. The crucial 210,000 barrel per day Cano Limon Covenas oil pipeline passes through Catatumbo leaving it vulnerable to sabotage and the application of illicit valves used to steal petroleum. The escalation of cocaine related conflict in the region has seen such incidents rise significantly since 2020. 

Colombia’s southern Putumayo department is listed by UNDOC as being the fourth largest zone for coca cultivation. The region, which borders northern Ecuador, has long had significant presence of the now demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC – Spanish initials). Since the 2016 peace agreement between Bogota and the FARC a series of smaller illegal armed groups, mainly dissident FARC elements, and criminal organizations have sprung up in Putumayo. Those groups are primarily focused on coca cropping and cocaine production in a region that, because of its proximity to Ecuador, contains well-established extremely lucrative trafficking routes. As a result, violence is spiraling out of control in Putumayo with frequent clashes between various armed groups sparking massacres. Putumayo is also home to the Caguan-Putumayo Basin, Colombia’s second most prolific hydrocarbon basin with the country’s hydrocarbon regulator the National Hydrocarbon Authority (ANH – Spanish initials) estimating it contains oil reserves in excess of 365 million barrels.

While Petro plans to transition Colombia away from dependence on fossil fuel extraction by ending contracting for hydrocarbon exploration and banning hydraulic fracturing, the oil industry is currently an important economic driver. Petroleum is Colombia’s largest export accounting for 35% of all exports for the first seven months of 2022, valued at $13.8 billion. Hydrocarbon extraction also accounts for around 3% of Colombia’s GDP and generates a fifth of Bogota’s fiscal revenues. Those numbers make eliminating Colombia’s petroleum industry near impossible, particularly with Petro planning to significantly boost spending on social programs and poverty alleviation. In fact, his plans to hike taxes for Colombia’s oil industry will make it a more important source of income, particularly in a global economy besieged by an energy crisis and rampant inflation where guaranteeing energy security is now an imperative. Rising violence and conflict in Colombia fueled by soaring cocaine production will impact the economically crucial petroleum industry and roil the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery, further hurting an already suffering population.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/colombias-oil-industry-jeopardy-cocaine-production-soars-new-record

FDA warns of tracheostomy tube shortage

 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday there was a shortage of tracheostomy tubes, a surgical device that helps patients to breathe, including those manufactured by ICU Medical.

The agency said the shortage was due to difficulties in raw material procurement and would most likely impact pediatric patients.

They will be affected by the limited supply of tubes with similar functionality as ICU Medical's Bivona, that are made from flexible silicone and easier to use in children.

The health regulator has recommended reusing tracheostomy tubes after following proper sanitary procedures in order to deal with the current shortage.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-u-fda-warns-tracheostomy-200144187.html

Biohaven upped to Overweight from Neutral by Cantor

 Target $27

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=BHVN&p=d

Monopar Announces Timeline of Upcoming Data Events for Validive, Camsirubicin, and MNPR-202

 Monopar Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: MNPR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing proprietary therapeutics designed to extend life or improve the quality of life for cancer patients, will be presenting clinical data on camsirubicin and preclinical data on MNPR-202 in November and December, and is planning to report out the interim go/no-go analysis for its Validive Phase 2b/3 VOICE trial in Q1 2023.

November 2022:

Poster of Camsirubicin Phase 1b Clinical Trial Data to be Presented at CTOS 2022

Event: Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) Annual Meeting Conference
Date: November 16-19, 2022
Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada

December 2022:

Poster of MNPR-202 Preclinical Data to be Presented at ASH 2022

Event: 64th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition
Date: December 10-13, 2022
Location: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

Q1 2023:

Interim go/no-go Analysis for Validive Phase 2b/3 VOICE Clinical Trial

The Company plans to report out the interim go/no-go decision for its Validive Phase 2b/3 VOICE clinical trial in Q1 2023. All patients required for the interim analysis have been enrolled. Patient enrollment will continue, as will adding additional clinical sites (currently 71 sites across the U.S. and Europe), in preparation for a potentially positive interim analysis.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/monopar-announces-timeline-upcoming-data-120000087.html