The company that hiked the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat AIDS patients, is backing off.

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2015/09/22/daraprim-drug-price-hike.cnnmoney?iid=EL

CNBC: If mortgage rates go to 6%, here's what happens to housing

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/11/if-mortgage-rates-go-to-6-heres-what-happens-to-housing.html

If mortgage rates go to 6%, here's what happens to housing

John W. Schoen | @johnwschoen

Friday, 11 Sep 2015 | 2:07 PM ETCNBC.com

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<p>Government rates up since January</p> <p>Discussing the lag between the bond market and mortgage rates, and when the Fed will potentially hike rates, with Nela Richardson, Redfin chief economist. </p>

When it comes to interest rates, what goes down eventually must go up.
And as interest rates begin moving back up to more "normal" levels, that could spell trouble for home prices.
When the bottom fell out of the housing market in 2007, the Federal Reserve responded by pushing borrowing rates to record low levels. Those very low interest rates helped the housing market get back on its feet by making it cheaper for buyers to own a home. As of this summer, the average selling price of a single-family home has made up all the ground lost to the housing bust.

Now, if interest rates go back up to more normal levels, the cost of buying a house will also rise. That could put pressure on home prices, which have bounced back more than 50 percent since bottoming out in early 2012.
To see how prices might be hit by rising rates, real estate consultant John Burns ran the numbers assuming the rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage gradually moves back up to 6 percent—from the current average of just more than 4 percent.
The result is that some very hot markets—including San Francisco, San Jose, California, and Miami—may be overvalued by more than 20 percent.
Read MoreNo Fed interest rate hike until 2017: Sri-Kumar

In other markets, where home prices haven't risen nearly as fast, prices are still undervalued—even if mortgage rates move back up to 6 percent. Those undervalued markets include Chicago, Atlanta and Detroit.

For homebuyers who lock in relatively low rates now, the cost of homeownership is still pretty affordable—but a lot depends on where you live. Burns expects that variation from one city to the next to remain over the long term.
In the priciest places—like San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Jose and Orange County, California—the cost of buying a house can consume half of the average income.
Homebuyers in more affordable cities, including Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Detroit, can expect to spend roughly 20 percent of income or less, according to his analysis.

John W. SchoenCNBC.com Economics Reporter

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/11/goldman-this-may-push-oil-to-20.html?trknav=homestack:topnews:3

(http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/11/non-opec-supply-set-for-big-fall-iea.html)

Goldman: This may push oil to $20

Leslie Shaffer | @LeslieShaffer1

4 Hours AgoCNBC.com

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Mike Blake | Reuters

Residential homes are shown next to a Shell Oil facility in Carson, California

The risk that oil could fall as low as $20 a barrel is rising, with a persistent surplus requiring prices to remain lower for longer to rebalance the market, Goldman Sachs said, cutting its forecasts again.
"While we are increasingly convinced that the market needs to see lower oil prices for longer to achieve a production cut, the source of this production decline and its forcing mechanism is growing more uncertain, raising the possibility that we may ultimately clear at a sharply lower price with cash costs around $20 a barrel Brent prices," Goldman said in a note Friday.
Read More Oil dips as Saudi rejects producer summit, set for weekly fall

The sources of stress: an abundance of oil coupled with a scarcity of storage space. The bank estimates the industry added around 240 million barrels of petroleum to storage tanks from January to August. It projects available identified storage capacity outside China at around 375 million barrels and expects an around 240 million barrel inventory build outside China between September of this year and the end of 2016.
"In the event that storage fills faster than we forecast or capacity is lower than we model, the potential downside to our oil price forecast from hitting storage capacity is significant ," it said.
But it noted $20 a barrel isn't its base case, even though risks that oil will fall that low continue to rise, especially as the bank expects only moderate production declines through the end of the year.

Goldman cut its one-month, three-month, six-month and 12-month WTI oil price forecasts to $38, $42, $40 and $45 a barrel. That's down from $45, $49, $54 and $60 previously.
It cut its average price forecast for 2016 to $45 a barrel from $57.
Read More Russia will not cut oil production: Deputy PM

Brent for October delivery was trading around $48.73 a barrel on Friday, while U.S. crude was trading around $45.63 a barrel. That follows a wild ride for oil prices, with crude rallying from a low of $37.75 touched on Aug. 24, with daily swings of more than 5 percent in either direction.

"The oil market is even more oversupplied than we had expected," Goldman said. "We now forecast this surplus to persist in 2016 on further OPEC production growth, resilient non-OPEC supply and slowing demand growth, with risks skewed to even weaker demand given China's slowdown and its negative emerging market feedback loop."
--Amanda Diaz contributed to this article.

Employment situation for August 2015

http://mam.econoday.com/byshoweventfull.asp?fid=467000&cust=mam&year=2015&lid=0&prev=/byweek.asp#top

Employment Situation

Released On 9/4/2015 8:30:00 AM For Aug, 2015 Prior Prior Revised Consensus Consensus Range Actual Nonfarm Payrolls - M/M change 215,000  245,000  223,000  173,000  to 257,000  173,000  Unemployment Rate - Level 5.3 % 5.3 % 5.2 % 5.2 % to 5.3 % 5.1 % Private Payrolls - M/M change 210,000  224,000  211,000  175,000  to 254,000  140,000  Participation Rate - level 62.6 % 62.6 % 62.6 % Average Hourly Earnings - M/M change 0.2 % 0.2 % 0.2 % 0.2 % to 0.4 % 0.3 % Av Workweek - All Employees 34.6 hrs 34.5 hrs 34.6 hrs 34.5 hrs to 34.6 hrs 34.6 hrs

Highlights The headline may not look it but there's plenty of strength in the August employment report. Nonfarm payrolls rose only 173,000 which is at the low-end estimate, but the two prior months are now revised up a total of 44,000. The unemployment rate fell 2 tenths to 5.1 percent which is below the low end estimate and the lowest of the recovery, since April 2008. And wages are strong, with average hourly earnings up 0.3 percent for a 2.2 percent year-on-year rate that's 1 tenth higher than July. Debate will definitely be lively at the September 17 FOMC! Private payroll growth proved very weak, at only 140,000. Government added 33,000 jobs vs July's 21,000. Manufacturing, held back by weak exports and trouble in energy equipment, shed a steep 17,000 jobs followed by a 9,000 loss for mining which is getting hit by low commodity prices. A plus is a 33,000 rise in professional & business services and a respectable 11,000 rise in the temporary help subcomponent. This subcomponent is considered a leading indicator for long-term labor demand. Retail rose 11,000 with vehicle dealers, who have been very busy, adding 2,000 jobs following July's gain of 11,000. The participation rate remains low, unchanged at 62.6 percent. Other details include a 1 tenth downtick in the broadly defined U-6 unemployment rate to 10.3 percent. The workweek rose to 34.6 from 34.5 hours. Seasonality, especially the timing of the beginning of the school year, always plays an outsized role in August employment data which are often revised higher. Policy makers are certain to take this into consideration at this month's FOMC. There's something for everybody in this report which won't likely settle expectations whether the Fed lifts off or not this month.

Recent History Of This Indicator The employment situation report for August is expected to show an incremental uptick with nonfarm payrolls expected to rise 223,000 vs 215,000 in July. The unemployment rate is expected to tick 1 tenth lower to an ever tighter 5.2 percent while average hourly earnings are expected to remain tame, at plus 0.2 percent. Note that the high-end nonfarm payroll forecast, at 257,000, isn't exceptionally strong and even if hit, might not be enough to raise expectations for a September rate hike.

Definition The employment situation is a set of labor market indicators based on two separate surveys in this one report. The unemployment rate equals the number of unemployed persons divided by the total number of persons in the labor force, which comes from a survey of 60,000 households (this is called the household survey). Workers are only counted once, no matter how many jobs they have, or whether they are only working part-time. In order to be counted as unemployed, one must be actively looking for work. Other commonly known figures from the Household Survey include the labor supply and discouraged workers.  Why Investors Care

During the mature phase of an economic expansion, monthly payrolls gains of 150,000 or so are considered relatively healthy. In the early stages of recovery though, gains are expected to surpass 250,000 per month. Data Source: Haver Analytics

The civilian unemployment rate is a lagging indicator of economic activity. During a recession, many people leave the labor force entirely, so the jobless rate may not increase as much as expected. This means that the jobless rate may continue to increase in the early stages of recovery because more people are returning to the labor force as they believe they will be able to find work. The civilian unemployment rate tends towards greater stability than payroll employment on a monthly basis. It reveals the degree to which labor resources are utilized in the economy. Data Source: Haver Analytics

Productivity and Costs for second quarter 2015

http://mam.econoday.com/byshoweventfull.asp?fid=467104&cust=mam&year=2015&lid=0&prev=/byweek.asp#top

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-productivity-rises-at-fastest-pace-since-end-of-2013-2015-09-02?dist=lcountdown

2015 Economic Calendar
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U.S. & Intl Recaps   |   Event Definitions   |   Today's Calendar
Productivity and Costs   Released On 9/2/2015 8:30:00 AM For Q2:15 Prior Consensus Consensus Range Actual Nonfarm productivity - Q/Q change - SAAR 1.3 % 2.8 % 1.6 % to 3.3 % 3.3 % Unit labor costs - Q/Q change - SAAR 0.5 % -1.2 % -1.4 % to 0.4 % -1.4 % Highlights The upward revision to second-quarter GDP gave a strong lift to nonfarm productivity, up 3.3 percent at an annualized rate which is at the very top of the Econoday consensus and well up from plus 1.3 percent in the initial reading. This is the best performance since the fourth quarter of 2013. The gain in productivity in turn drove unit labor costs 1.4 percent lower which is well down from the prior estimate of plus 0.5 percent and at the very low end of consensus and the sharpest drop since the second quarter of 2014. Output rose a sharp 4.7 percent in the quarter while hours worked rose only 1.4 percent with compensation up only 1.8 percent. But year-on-year data tell a different story with productivity up 0.7 percent in the second quarter and labor costs up 1.7 percent. These readings reflect prior weakness in productivity tied to weak output in the first and fourth quarters. And the productivity outlook for the ongoing third quarter is also soft with early GDP estimates at roughly plus 2 to 2.5 percent. For reference, second-quarter GDP came in at 3.7 percent, revised from a prior reading of 2.3 percent. Recent History Of This Indicator The second estimate for productivity & costs is expected to show a rise in productivity growth to 2.8 percent from 1.3 percent reflecting the upward revision to second-quarter GDP. Higher productivity points to lower unit labor costs which are expected to fall 1.2 percent. Definition Productivity measures the growth of labor efficiency in producing the economy's goods and services. Unit labor costs reflect the labor costs of producing each unit of output. Both are followed as indicators of future inflationary trends.  Why Investors Care Nonfarm productivity growth has remained healthy during this expansion, but it has prevented employment from growing very fast and this hurt income growth to some extent. Unit labor costs tend to fall when productivity growth accelerates and then rises as productivity growth abates. Data Source: Haver Analytics Please note: Your browser must display iFrames to view the Interactive charts. 2015 Release Schedule Released On: 2/5 3/5 5/6 6/4 8/11 9/2 11/5 12/2 Release For: Q4:14 Q4:14 Q1:15 Q1:15 Q2:15 Q2:15 Q3:15 Q3:15 Share this page Legal Notices | ©Copyright 1998-2015 Econoday, Inc.  powered by  Previous

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/27/what-west-texas-producers-are-saying-about-40-oil.html

What West Texas producers are saying about $40 oil

Morgan Brennan | @MorganLBrennan

19 Hours AgoCNBC.com

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The aerial view from a Midland, Texas-bound airplane tells the story: thousands of well pads carved into the desert shrubbery as far as the eye can see.

Morgan Brennan | CNBC

Aerial view of oil fields over west Texas.

It's all about oil in West Texas. The area is home to the Permian Basin, the most prolific oil-producing formation in the U.S., a hydrocarbon-rich collection of formations that stretch from Texas into New Mexico. Once written off as a place for tumbleweeds, the area has become a boom region in the past decade as the advent of horizontal hydraulic fracturing—"fracking"—brought new investment to waning, vertically drilled oil fields.
Crude production in the Permian Basin is at near-record levels, around 2 million barrels per day, according to the Energy Information Agency, for the first time since the early 1970s.
But as crude prices have collapsed over the last year amid oversupply and waning global demand, cutbacks have once again starkly taken root in this oil patch, which has experienced boom and bust cycles for nearly a century now. West Texas Intermediate crude was back above $41 a barrel on Thursday but has traded below $40 for much of the week. A year ago, it was above $90.
Read MoreSaudi Arabia hangs on with cheap oil—but for how long?

The rig count has dropped dramatically, down 55 percent since late September, as oil and gas companies drill fewer wells.
"Current prices do not justify continued drilling in the U.S. for oil. Period," said Steven Pruett, chief executive of Elevation Resources, a mid-sized Permian Basin producer backed by private equity.

<p>Oil slide's ripple effects </p> <p>CNBC's Morgan Brennan reports on the impact oil's downturn has had on the U.S. oil industry.</p>

Elevation, which pumps about 3,000 barrels of oil and 8 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, currently has three drilling rigs running. Two came online in June, when oil climbed back above $60, a move that had many in the sector, including the Dallas Federal Reserve, believing the worst was over.

Standing in front of one of those towering rigs, Pruett said the company is already debating whether it will stay in use: "With $40 a barrel, we have to reassess whether we can continue to justify running this drilling rig to drill new wells. It's not very exciting to put $7 million in the ground with the prospect of recovering that $7 million over 50 years."
Read MoreThis country has just speeded up fracking

Seven million dollars is Elevation's estimated cost to bring a new well online, including drilling and fracking.

Morgan Brennan | CNBC

Nearly 40 inactive rigs are stored in a business park in Midland, Texas.

Roughly 250 rigs are operating in the Permian right now, up from a low of about 230 in June. If oil stays at near-$40 lows, more will come offline. Pruett said he thinks the count could fall below 100, as it did in 2009, the last time crude was cheap.
He isn't alone in that sentiment. Already, one can see nearly 40 inactive rigs sitting quietly in an industrial park outside of Midland, pointing straight up into the sky because there isn't enough room to break them down and store them sideways. Other lots hold other relics of $100 crude.
Some analysts peg the ballpark break-even of pulling oil out of the West Texas ground at $35 to $40, making it one of more cost-effective energy plays in the United States
Read MoreDrillers may face wave of bankruptcies this year

But Stephen Robertson, vice president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, said the break-even point varies greatly from company to company, and from well to well, based in part on timing and the maturity of a given site. The numbers, he and others maintain, are also changing drastically and quickly.
"There are some companies out there that have figured out a way to cut their drilling costs by 50 percent," Robertson said. "While a few months ago, their break-even point may have been one (price), now it's different."

Morgan Brennan | CNBC

Oil drilling operations in west Texas.

One company taking advantage of lower labor and equipment costs is Midland-based ExL Petroleum. The 10-year-old oil and gas producer sold its assets to another company last year and since then has been sitting on its cash pile, making plans to expand and begin drilling new wells on new land.
"if you've ever been to a casino, there's a $5 table, a $10 table, a $50, and then there's a table behind the glass, but they're all the same game. Whichever table you're playing, the odds—it's the same game," said Doug Robison, president and founding partner of ExL Petroleum. "At $38 a barrel, if the cost has come down, the return is the same. You're not spending as much money, but you're making the same percentage back."
Read More3 charts explain how oil is roiling world currencies

Robison said his privately held company can extract crude for well below $40 a barrel, since his team has waited out the past year for costs to come down. He pointed to the beginning of the "new resource play" in Permian in the early- to mid-2000s, when crude was $25 a barrel, to illustrate what can be done at low prices when costs are inexpensive.
But not everyone in the Permian is faring well in the downturn. From oil and gas companies to municipalities that depend on oil tax revenue to Wall Street firms that issued debt to drillers, many parties are watching the Permian Basin's players—especially smaller, newer ones—closely.
Larger, more cash-flush players are already quietly gobbling up assets from smaller, private, harder-hit companies that have hedges expiring and debt payments coming due. In many cases, it's not a merger or acquisition, but the sale of operating assets—active wells—that is the focus of deals.

<p>Ripple effects of oil plunge</p> <p>CNBC's Morgan Brennan reports on Midland, Texas, where unemployment remains low because of fewer workers in the energy sector.</p>

The expectation is that there will be bankruptcies—and if crude stays low, maybe a large number of them. A credit crunch is already beginning to take root as debt payments come due and financiers remain skittish about extending more credit. Many operators have key hedges expiring next year, or for those better-positioned, in 2017. If the Federal Reserve begins raising interest rates, that will take its toll as well—not only making debt more expensive, but likely adding more strength to the dollar, which in turn will continue to weigh on commodity prices.

"There are companies that overspent and overcapitalized ... when the prices were high, (and) they may be in some jeopardy," Robison said. "We'll see some companies go under, and that will create opportunities for others. It's the law of the jungle."
Read MoreOil is the biggest investing opportunity: Strategist

A lot depends on how long low oil prices last.
Production has continued to tick higher as rigs have come offline because once a well is drilled, that particular piece of equipment is no longer needed for further production out of the well. And for companies facing a credit crunch, the only option is to keep running those wells, even at slashed prices.

Justin Solomon | CNBC

A pump jack in Midland Texas.

Therefore, there's a lag time between a collapse in crude prices and a cutback in production. Elevation Resources' Pruett said it's about six months. He expects U.S. overall production to slow through the rest of the year, with a decrease of as much as 1 million barrels per day in early 2016.
Added Robison: "For us, it's going to be a time of being as efficient as possible—to make sure that we perform at the wellhead ... and be as smart as we possibly can on our expenditures. If we do that, we should be successful, because there's going to be an energy industry."
"We have to have it," he said. "It's like farming. You have to have food. You have to have energy."
—CNBC's Justin Solomon contributed to this report.

Expected GDP revision for 2nd quarter

http://mam.econoday.com/byshoweventfull.asp?fid=467023&cust=mam&year=2015&lid=0&prev=/byweek.asp#top

2015 Economic Calendar

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U.S. & Intl Recaps   |   Event Definitions   |   Today's Calendar

GDP  Released On 8/27/2015 8:30:00 AM For Q2p:2015 Prior Consensus Consensus Range Real GDP - Q/Q change - SAAR 2.3 % 3.2 % 2.7 % to 3.6 % GDP price index - Q/Q change - SAAR 2.0 % 2.0 % 1.9 % to 2.1 % Recent History Of This Indicator Real GDP is expected to be revised higher to plus 3.2 percent in the second estimate from an initial estimate of 2.3 percent. The revision is expected to reflect upward revisions to retail sales and a large build in June business inventories. Definition Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the broadest measure of aggregate economic activity and encompasses every sector of the economy.  Why Investors Care   Real GDP growth is always quoted at a quarterly annual rate. It measures how much the economy has grown over a three-month period. Quarterly growth rates are often volatile; consequently, economists also like to look at the year-over-year growth in GDP. The yearly changes tend to be more stable. Data Source: Haver Analytics   It is common to compare quarterly changes at annual rates in the GDP deflator. These can be volatile, just like the quarterly swings in real GDP growth; as a result, the trend in inflation is better determined by year- over- year changes. Data Source: Haver Analytics     2015 Release Schedule Released On: 1/30 2/27 3/27 4/29 5/29 6/24 7/30 8/27 9/25 10/29 11/24 12/22 Release For: Q4a:2014 Q4p:2014 Q4f:2014 Q1a:2015 Q1p:2015 Q1f:2015 Q2a:2015 Q2p:2015 Q2f:2015 Q3a:2015 Q3p:2015 Q3f:2015   A: Advance P: Preliminary F: Final