Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said investors are far too sanguine about the risks of Donald Trump’s policies, which analysts at Eurasia Group say could contribute to a level of global instability not seen since World War II. The Harvard professor, a Democrat who was Treasury chief under Bill Clinton, on Tuesday cited the possibility of protectionist measures by the U.S. as well as changes to foreign policy and domestic social programs as issues that are creating “extraordinary uncertainty.”
Day: January 3, 2017
Tillerson to Cede Control of $240 Million in Exxon as Trump Pick
Rex Tillerson, former Exxon Mobil Corp. chief executive and President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. secretary of state, will relinquish control of about $240 million in company shares if confirmed as he severs ties to comply with conflict-of-interest requirements. If confirmed, Tillerson will sell the more than 600,000 shares he owns in the largest U.S. oil explorer and transfer the value of more than 2 million in deferred shares to an independently managed trust, Exxon said in a statement dated Jan. 3. The former CEO would have received the shares over the next 10 years.
Toshiba Shares Recover From Early Plunge on Accounting Report
Shares of Toshiba Corp. recovered from an early dive after the Asahi newspaper reported regulatory concerns about the company’s earnings. Toshiba rose 2.3 percent to 289.6 yen as of 11:13 a.m. in Tokyo after slumping as much as 6.9 percent in early trade.
Auto-Sales Acceleration in U.S. Sputters Into 2017: Chart
While final figures for 2016 U.S. auto sales are still a day away, it’s clear the era of rapid growth is over. The industry is entering 2017 with analysts projecting the first significant decline in eight years — a drop of 200,000 vehicles, about the equivalent of one factory’s production — to 17.3 million cars and light trucks.
Gone in 2.39 Seconds: Faraday Claims Tesla-Beating Electric Car
Faraday Future staked its claim to the world’s fastest electric car with its FF91 production model, showing footage of it outracing Tesla Motors Inc.’s Model S in a glitzy event in Las Vegas. The startup electric-car maker backed by Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting is counting on its debut offering to drum up support from investors, many of whom had been invited to Vegas presentation.
Tencent Shares Losing $35 Billion Shows Depth of China Gloom
For a clue on how bearish foreign investors have become about Chinese stocks, take a look at Tencent Holdings Ltd. The Shenzhen-based technology giant has tumbled 13 percent from its September record, wiping $35 billion off the value of its shares, as overseas funds pulled money from Hong Kong and Chinese equities. The company’s large weighting on the Hang Seng Index — at 10 percent — helped make Hong Kong’s benchmark stock gauge one of the world’s worst performers last quarter.
Asia’s Richest Families Are Abandoning – Complacent’ Hedge Funds
For Michael Preiss, whose firm oversees $1.9 billion mainly for wealthy Asian families, adding hedge funds to his clients’ portfolios was an easy sell some years ago. Not anymore.
Watch Tesla rival Faraday Future debut its first car by having…
Faraday Future just debuted its first production model car – the FF 91 – at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show. Faraday chose an interesting way to show off the car, having it back itself into a parking spot.
Trump claims his briefing on Russian cyberattacks was delayed,…
President-elect Donald Trump mocked US intelligence officials on Tuesday in a tweet claiming his briefing on Russian cyberattacks was delayed, and once again cast doubt on their claims that Russia interfered with the presidential election. “The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case.
Why Asia-Pacific Is About to Be Huge for Facebook
Not only is the U.S./Canada Facebook’s largest market by revenue, its average revenue per user is growing faster than any other region. But that trend may change as Facebook looks to grow its advertising on Instagram and start monetizing Messenger and WhatsApp.
Futures Higher Ahead of Fed Minutes; Asia Mostly Higher
Futures for U.S. markets pointed higher late Tuesday as investors await the release Wednesday of the Federal Open Market Commission’s December meeting minutes. Investors want to know if the board expects economic stimulus along with tax reform and reduced regulation as part of a Trump presidency.
China’s Sogou Targets $5 Billion IPO to Chase Rival Baidu
China’s third-biggest search engine expects to hold a U.S. initial public offering at a valuation of as much as $5 billion as it raises cash to close the gap with leader Baidu Inc. in the mobile market. Sogou, whose name means “search dog,” plans to sell about 10 percent of its shares in an IPO that will probably be held this year, Chief Executive Officer Wang Xiaochuan said in an interview.
The 2017 Bond Strategy That Goldman, BlackRock and TCW All Back
For the world’s biggest bond managers, 2017 might just be the year that unconstrained funds finally live up to the hype. Although the bond funds — long marketed for their potential to shine in any environment — have failed to deliver consistently over the years, bond managers are convinced they’re about to have something of a moment.
Arnold Schwarzenegger hosting The New Celebrity Apprentice is no Donald Trump
What was new about The New Celebrity Apprentice ? “You’re fired” became “You’re terminated,” a catchphrase within a catchphrase – referring to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career-making film, Terminator – that sounded clever for about two seconds. The setting moved from New York to Los Angeles, with a correspondingly sunny new opening sequence .
Why CyberArk Software, Ltd. Stock Fell 10.8% in December
Note that CyberArk shares rose more than 22% in the two weeks following its strong third-quarter 2016 report in early November. Revenue climbed 37% year over year, to $55 million; this included a 34% increase in license revenue, to $33.3 million, and 42% growth in maintenance and services revenue, to $21.7 million.
Why Ambarella, Inc. Stock Dropped 12% in December
The bulk all of Ambarella’s declines last month came on Dec. 2, the day after the company announced that fiscal third-quarter 2016 revenue had climbed 7.8% year over year, to $100.5 million — marking the company’s first-ever $100 million-plus quarter, thanks to strength across its IP security, home monitoring, and automotive markets, as well as a ramp-up from action sports cameras ahead of the holiday seasons — and translated to 4.9% growth in adjusted net income to $38.4 million. Adjusted net income per share also rose 2.8%, to $1.11.
PayPal Is Powering Growth by Focusing on the Small Things
In the last two quarterly earnings reports, after highlighting results for revenue and earnings per share, PayPal began discussing two financial metrics that drive everything management does to grow the value of the business for shareholders: PayPal’s strategy is clear and management is completely focused on driving growth in these two metrics. When we multiply the growth in customer accounts with the growth in transactions per account, we get a result that is almost equal to the growth in total transactions processed.
New Year’s Money Curbs May Prompt More Use of China Outflow Pipe
On the day bank branches reopened after China imposed restrictions on citizens trying to spirit money out of the country, Wendy Chen went to her branch in Shanghai and peppered staff with questions about how to get around the new controls. She was asking after the Jan. 1 rules required people converting yuan into dollars to provide detailed information on how they planned to use the money abroad and restricting its use.
Trump Picks Wall Street Attorney Jay Clayton for Top SEC Post
Sullivan & Cromwell partner Jay Clayton is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head up the Securities and Exchange Commission. Clayton, one of about 875 attorneys at the law firm, has a wide range of experience dealing with complex legal issues involving M&A, private equity, capital formation, regulatory issues and corporate governance.
Apple Turns 40 With Little Fanfare as March to Dow 20K Resumes: ICYMI
Indexes ended Tuesday in the green across the board as Trump continued to nominate advisers to his cabinet and Tweet his heart out sending a handful of stocks into disarray. On Jan. 3, 1977, the Apple Computer Corp. is incorporated.
Cramer: Freeport McMoRan Might Have Run Out of Gas
Energy powerhouse Freeport McMoRan rallied 94% in 2016, making it the S&P 500’s No. 3 gainer for the year — and perhaps the ultimate “back-from-the-dead” stock from among the index’s big winners for the year.
Cramer: ONEOK Looks A-OK to Me
Energy firm ONEOK soared 132% in 2016, trailing only Nvidia as the year’s best-performing S&P 500 component. OKE seems like an odd S&P 500 winner at first glance … until you consider that it came back from the dead like so many oil-and-gas-related companies did.
Cramer: Nvidia Is the American Pharoah of Stocks
The S&P 500’s single-best performer of 2016 was Nvidia , a stock I call ” American Pharoah ” because it rallied an insane 222% for the year. The trajectory of this horse had been pretty consistently up until its total lift-off in November, when it turned out that every business driver was doing much better than expected.
For Alabama-Clemson Championship Rematch, Tickets Are Historically High
Prices for the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship game are three times more than for last year’s game. The 2017 championship game between Alabama and Clemson is the most expensive yet.
Syncing feeling
It seems quaint to recall that bands used to be accused of “selling out” if a TV programme or commercial used their music. Nowadays, rock and pop artists of all kinds have become reconciled to that particular way of doing what the Clash used to call “turning rebellion into money”.
Executive pay: ‘Fat Cat Wednesday’ highlighted
Top bosses will have earned more by midday on Wednesday than typical workers earn in the entire year, the High Pay Centre think tank has said. Branding it “Fat Cat Wednesday”, it says that is the time executives will pass the average UK salary of A 28,200.
Israeli Government Said to Oppose China Purchase of Insurers
Israel’s Finance Ministry opposes the sale of insurance companies to Chinese investors because it’s hesitant to put pension money in their hands, a senior government official said, a stance that could bode ill for Fujian Yango Group Co.’ s bid to buy Israel’s Phoenix Holdings Ltd. Many Chinese investors don’t bring clear advantages to the table in managing savings because they don’t have well-established track records, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ministry policy.
Rates on short-term bills fall at weekly US Treasury auction
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Tuesday’s auction, with rates on six-month bills dropping to their lowest level in four weeks. The Treasury Department auctioned $34 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.530 percent, down from 0.555 percent last week.
Why NVIDIA Corporation Stock Popped 15.8% in December
For perspective, NVIDIA stock also skyrocketed nearly 30% in November, with the bulk of the month’s gains coming after the company’s third-quarter results crushed the expectations of analysts on Wall Street. NVIDIA founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang rightly called it a “breakout quarter,” with record revenue, margins, and earnings.More specifically, quarterly revenue grew 54% year over year, to $2.00 billion, including broad growth across gaming, , data center , and automotive .
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The memory chip price wars of 2015 came to a drastic end, and Micron’s finances took a commensurate turn for the better. The memory chip industry is known for its brutal price wars, often lasting several years at a time.
What Happened in the Stock Market Today
Xerox shares jumped 15% on the company’s first trading day following a spinoff that executives hope will put it on a path to stronger growth . Xerox is now focused completely on its document technology and document outsourcing segments, with the business process services divisions operating as a separate public company called Conduent .
Welltower Inc.’s Best Moves in 2016
However, it’s important to know that Welltower’s business is just fine. In fact, the company made some smart moves in 2016 that should ensure continued long-term success for investors.
J.C. Penney Strikes Deal for Texas Headquarters
J.C. Penney Co. reached a deal to sell its Plano, Texas, headquarters and lease back part of it, reaping about $353 million for the retailer.
Could This Be Why Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Climbed Today?
The reaction to the termination of a contract with Swiss pharma giant Roche last month was severe. It looks like value-minded investors are taking advantage of the stock’s bargain bin price and perhaps salivating over the increased attractiveness of the company as an acquisition following the deal’s termination.
Better Buy: Costco Wholesale Corporation vs. Target
In a brutally competitive industry, they each stand out by generating over $2 billion of annual earnings and handling millions of transactions per year. There are major differences between these two companies that could make one a better buy over the other for long-term investors.
Financial Trends: What’s In and What’s Out in 2017
Now that 2016 is over, you may be reflecting on what went well, and what didn’t. Were you unemployed? Did you carry some debt? Land a gig? Buy a new home? With unemployment at a nine-year low, jobs being created at an average of 180,000 per month, the economy growing at better than three percent in the most recent quarter and some signs of a pickup in inflation, it makes sense that we got an interest rate hike last month, and that we’ll get a few more in 2017.
Was Russia really behind the Wikileaks email release?
Jan. 03, 2017 – 4:06 – Cyber hack expert Robert Siciliano explains why the Obama administration’s evidence against Russia as the source for releasing Wikileaks emails is very thin.
10 ways to improve your telework productivity this year
Have a New Year’s resolution to work from home more this year – maybe to spend more time with your children or save some gas money? Thanks to the flexible world of the Internet, I’ve been able to work away from The Post’s D.C. office for about a year and a half now – joining an estimated 37 percent of Americans who say they’ve telecommuted. Working from home can have its own charms and challenges.
Megyn Kelly leaving Fox News for NBC?
Megyn Kelly, a fast-rising star at Fox News, will leave the cable network for a job at NBC, according to the New York Times. Kelly will take on a “triple role” at NBC, the Times reports.
What’s Behind the Rise in Deaf-Owned Businesses?
If you’re a deaf entrepreneur, more and more services are springing up to help you succeed. What’s holding you back? This past year, 2016, Austin, Texas, was ranked No.