Briefcase

Pharmacy benefit firms merge to trim costs

The top two U.S. companies managing prescription drug benefits are uniting in a $29.1 billion deal they say will help achieve key goals of the health care overhaul: reining in costs and improving patients’ health.

Express Scripts Inc. announced an agreement Thursday to buy rival Medco Health Solutions Inc. Together, they would handle the prescriptions of about 135 million people, more than one in three Americans.

Together, Express Scripts and Medco handled more than 1.7 billion prescriptions in 2010 and reported almost $110 billion in revenue, although Medco recently lost several contracts covering millions of people.

“The deal strategically makes sense because in this business, scale matters,” said Les Funtleyder, health care portfolio manager for Miller Tabak.

Associated Press

Microsoft posts record fourth-quarter revenue

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft Corp. reported record fourth-quarter revenue Thursday, helped by strong sales of its Office software suite.

But revenue from the division that includes Microsoft’s Windows operating system fell 1 percent from the same time last year, marking the third straight quarter of decline. The drop suggests that consumers are buying fewer computers that use Microsoft’s software. It may also indicate that more consumers are moving to tablet computers, rather than upgrading their existing laptop and desktop computers.

Total revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter rose 8 percent from last year to $17.4 billion, higher than the $17.2 billion that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Associated Press

Wal-Mart agrees to share its consumer data

NEW YORK – The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has agreed to resume sharing consumer data with a major market research firm, a move that could help other retailers, as well as manufacturers, better understand how Americans shop and could influence what appears on store shelves.

Most U.S. food, drug, discount and convenience chains provide Nielsen Holdings N.V. with sales data, but Wal-Mart is considered the single most important bellwether of consumer spending because it accounts for nearly 10 percent of all nonautomotive retail dollars spent in the U.S.

The agreement it announced Thursday with Nielsen ends a decade-long break in their relationship.

Associated Press

Mortgage rates remain largely unchanged

WASHINGTON – Fixed mortgage rates were mostly unchanged this week, inching up from their yearly lows.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed loan ticked up to 4.52 percent from 4.51 percent a week ago, Freddie Mac said Thursday. It reached its yearly low of 4.49 percent last month.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed loan, popular for refinancing, nudged up to 3.66 percent from 3.65 percent, its low point for the year.

Associated Press