Thursday November 26 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

The FDA asked this company for some data and now its stock is down 72% - (www.businessinsider.com) Shares of biotech company Clovis Oncology got decimated on Monday. Its stock fell by as much as 72% after it said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked for more clinical data on its lung cancer treatment rociletinib. Tests showed that a lower number of patients were responsive to the drug than previously submitted to the FDA for approval. In a statement, the company said it would provide the requested information by the close of business on Monday. The plunge in shares to as low as $26.05 from around $99 on Friday erased nearly $3 billion of the company's value. Earlier this month, Stifel analysts raised their target price to $140 from around $99.22, writing in a note that everything was moving in a positive direction for Clovis.

Dubai Stocks Slump Most Since August as Mideast Markets Recoil - (www.bloomberg.com) Disappointing company earnings, falling oil prices and a wave of terrorism culminating in Friday’s attacks in Paris unsettled investors, leading to losses in almost every Middle Eastern market. Dubai’s DFM General Index dropped 3.7 percent, the most in almost three months, after Drake & Scull International PJSC became the latest United Arab Emirates construction company to report losses. Egypt’s EGX30 Index tumbled 4.2 percent to the lowest since December 2013 and Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index sank the most in almost three weeks. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks the top 200 companies in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, closed at the lowest since May 2013.

Angela Merkel’s cabinet revolt - (www.politico.eu) Some of the strongest opposition to Angela Merkel’s refugee policy has started to emerge from an unexpected quarter: her own cabinet. In recent days, two longtime Merkel allies — Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière — publicly questioned the government’s strategy and called for tougher policies to slow the refugee influx. Schäuble, speaking in Berlin late Wednesday, warned that Germany faced a potentially destructive “avalanche” of refugees. “Avalanches can be triggered when a somewhat careless skier heads down the hill, shifting just a little bit of snow,” Schäuble said, drawing what many viewed as a not-so-subtle analogy to Merkel’s September decision to welcome thousands of refugees stranded in Hungary.

College accused of being a 'high-pressure recruitment mill' agrees to a record $95.5 million settlement - (www.businessinsider.com) Education Management Corporation (EDMC) is paying $95.5 million to settle a case alleging it falsely obtained federal and state education funds. The nearly $100 million settlement is the largest false claims settlement with a for-profit educational institute in history, US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said during a press conference Monday announcing the resolution. The college operated as a "high-pressure recruitment mill" and illegally paid recruiters based on how many students they enrolled, according to Lynch. EDMC is the nation's second-largest for-profit college system and the parent company of four higher education systems: Argosy University, The Art Institutes, Brown Mackie College, and South University. It was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2006, which retains 40% ownership in the company today. 

China's Copper Imports Face Unprecedented Drop on Slowdown - (www.bloomberg.com) China is facing an unprecedented decline in refined copper imports as a slowing economy erodes demand in the world’s biggest consumer, according to the chief executive of one of the country’s largest buyers. Shipments will shrink 10 percent in 2016 as consumption weakens, domestic supplies increase and less metal is used for collateral in financing, Stephen Huang, chief executive officer of trading house Arc Resources Co., said in an interview in Shanghai. Purchases have already dropped almost 4 percent to 2.55 million metric tons in the first nine months of 2015 from a year earlier, customs data show. “We’ll see a substantial change in sourcing structure next year as users buy more from domestic producers and less from foreign suppliers,” said Huang from his office in Lujiazui, the city’s financial hub, on Nov. 11. The company handles about one tenth of the country’s copper imports, he said.

OTHER STORIES:

Investors face quagmire of falling earnings, higher rates - (www.reuters.com)
Malaysian Deputy PM says must defend sovereignty in South China Sea dispute - (www.reuters.com)
Merkel's Open-Arms Refugee Stance Tested as Europe Goes on Alert - (www.bloomberg.com)
Five soldiers killed in east, highest toll in two months: Ukraine military - (www.reuters.com)

Putin Plan: The Russian President's Strategy for Syria - (www.spiegel.de)
France vows 'merciless' response after attacks kill 127 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Syrian who passed through Greece as refugee was 'one of Paris killers' - (www.theguardian.com)