Justin Lebron

The prices of drugs in the United States are one of the highest among developed countries, and that has been a source of anger for citizens for many years. However, the CEO of Swiss drugmaker Novartis Vas Narasimhan pointed out during the course of an interview that the company’s pricing has remained flat in the last three years and the pricing issue is primarily down to middlemen. The middlemen are actually in charge of managing drug benefits, and apparently, the rising drug prices are down to them. The United States government had floated the idea of a rebate plan by way of which the rebates that were paid to these middlemen or ‘pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBM) and would be ended and the benefits passed on to the end user. Insurers are also included among pharmacy benefit managers.

In January this year, the Alex Azar, the Secretary of the U. S. Health and Human Services unveiled a plan that seeks to end the rebates that were going into the pockets of PBMs and instead, divert those benefits directly to the patients so that that drug prices could be reduced. It should also be noted that U.S. President Donald Trump also called for lowering the prices of prescription drugs in the country in his State of the Union address this week.

Narasimhan, who has served as the chief executive of Novartis since February of 2018, backed this plan and stated that it would be ultimately hugely beneficial for patients. Novartis, which had recorded worldwide sales of $51.9 billion and profits of $12.6 billion, counts the U. S. as its most important market. More than 33% of its revenues are generated in the country. During an interview with Reuters, he said, “We (Novartis) pay almost 50 percent of our gross revenues in the United States into rebates. If you return those rebates to patients, so patients pay less out of pocket, I think that is something that makes a lot of sense and will correct a distortion in the marketplace.”

The PBMs, on the other hand, have countered the idea of this new rebate plan by stating that they pass along a lot of the benefits to the patients and in fact, due to the work they do, many people are paying lower health insurance premiums. However, Narasimhan countered that notion as well and stated that if it the payment to PBMs went on then at some point it will affect the insurance plans offered by the employers in the country. Needless to say, premiums will go up significantly as well. He said, “We have zero transparency into the billions we pay in rebates. You could see some adjustment in premiums. But I think that’s another area where we should get transparency.”

United States president Donald Trump is keen to get an infrastructure deal done. But the way things have been working out for Donald Trump, it looks more and more unlikely that he will get any. When speaking about this, a former economic advisor to Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Gene Sperling, said that the United States president Donald Trump might be facing three significant challenges actually to finalize on a deal.

President Donald Trump is expected to address this issue on Tuesday night when he takes the podium to present his State of the Union address. Gene Sperling in a speech told that getting a positive response from the Democrats, who hold the House majority, is most possibly going to be difficult. He further added that the United States president has “three pretty tough bars to get over” to get a bipartisan infrastructure deal.

Trust Issue:

Gene Sperling, who served as director of the National Economic Council under both Clinton and Obama said, “People don’t like making a deal with him. Even Republicans have gotten burned on DACA, on the shutdown appropriations. So there is very little trust,”

President Donald Trump has caused some perturbation within his party over the recent shutdown of government and his stance to phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals had a difference in opinion regarding the deportation for immigrants who were brought into the U.S. illegally as children. The decision for this case is still ongoing and is currently being held up in court. Trump recently offered to extend Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals legal protections for three years. Donald Trump offered this as an exchange to end the government shutdown and for border wall money and. The shutdown of government finally ended after a record-long 35 days.

Government Design:

There is a wide gap between the two parties when it comes to what should be in the plan. Gene Sperling said, “Democrats are going to want real spending, not loans, public-private partnerships and they’re going to want, as Chuck Schumer has said, a green infrastructure component that deals with climate change.”

“Any infrastructure bill would have to include policies and funding that help transition our country to a clean-energy economy and mitigate the risks the United States already faces from climate change,” Schumer wrote in the Washington Post op-ed on December. A distinguished visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation and co-author of “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy,” Stephen Moore, agrees there is a wide divergence between the two parties.

When commenting about the issue, Moore, a conservative economist who advised the Trump campaign in 2016 said that the GOP wants more bridges and roads, better energy infrastructure and ports. While on the other hand the Democrats, want more green energy programs and mass transit.

Moore said, “When Republicans talk about infrastructure and Democrats talk about infrastructure, and it’s like Republicans are on Mars and Democrats are on Venus. There is an issue of whether they are actually talking about the same thing.”

Finance:

Gene Sperling said that after Trump’s tax cut added to the deficit, Democrats are going to expect a plan that is more deficit neutral. He went on to add, that this might lead to conflicts about whether President Donald Trump is willing to revert some of his recent tax cut to help foot the bill. However, Moore insisted that such a scenario will never happen.

“I guarantee you there is not going to be a big tax increase or a pullback on the tax cut because we believe the tax cut has been a phenomenal success,” Moore said.

He went on to add that the policy is responsible, in part, for the “incredible economy” and the “biggest construction boom going on in American history.”

On Wednesday, the gold prices sustained stability following the U.S President Donald Trump Union speech in his state promised to construct a border wall by giving little clarity about the developments within the ongoing trade negotiations with China.

Spot gold also retained stability at around $1,314 per ounce during 0431 GMT.

The U.S gold futures were also steady at $1,318 per ounce.

In the chamber of the House of representative, President Donald Trump spoke about the political conflict that he is undergoing due to his warnings that Democrats should end their opponents to funding for a border wall which is essential to stop the illegal migration and illegal circulation of drugs.

Another government shutdown is more likely in risk because of President Donald Trump who is still adhering to the speech of building a border wall, Hitesh Jain, the vice president of Yes Securities informed; further saying that steadier dollar is exceeding the profit of the gold.

Market competitors are aware of the fact that the global macro numbers are reducing. Investment in gold is the best approach and is very much in computation.

Trump’s claims for $5.7 billion for a U.S Mexico border wall funding has stimulated a 35-day historical partial government shutdown which was ended on 25^th January while Trump has warned to resume the shutdown if in case he is not satisfied with the discussions.

At the same time on Tuesday, Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan stated that unless the U.S economic outlook is not clear the Fed should keep the interest rate where they are as of now, and the process that is in his sight might take other several months.

The interest rate remained steady by the U.S central bank during last week and pledged to be patient before making any adjustments in the future.

The latest Fed meeting signaled that they would be very much in the patient because of the immediate slowdown and due to unreliable trade backdrop. It would still be observed as a peaceful stand even if there is at least one rate hike, Jain mentioned.

Meanwhile, the Trump’s speech did not mention anything important about the China trade front, Chinese officials and U.S officials are confident enough to start another round of trade talks by next week which is held in Beijing, two members who were well known about the plans informed on Tuesday.

Trump has promised to raise 25 percent tariffs from 10 percent over $200 billion goods of Chinese imports as of now if in-case both of them do not agree to a deal by 12.01 A.M on March 2.

As of now gold is unable to form the upside momentum and seems to be battling, Edward Meir the analyst of INTL FCStone mentioned in a research note.

Assets of SPDR Gold Trust which is the biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund notice a fall of 0.18 percent on Tuesday. There is a drop for 2 consecutive sessions on the assets.

Palladium which is the precious metals also fell by 0.2 percent to $1379 an ounce.

Silver also fell down by 0.5 percent at $15.76, and platinum also slipped by 0.1 percent to $815.