Day: January 20, 2017

Gold Futures Gain 0.7% For The Week

Gold futures climbed Friday as weakness in the U.S. dollar and uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump’s presidency helped to lift prices by roughly 0.7% for the week. February gold rose $3.40, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,204.90 an ounce.

Will 2017 Be Welltower’s Best Year Yet?

Despite the bumpy road for the stock price, Welltower’s business continues to do well and the company recently made some smart moves to set itself up for future growth. After the underperformance of 2016, can investors expect a big rebound in 2017? Welltower’s stock price was all over the place in 2016.

Animal treatment questions cancel a A Doga s Purposea premiere

This weekend’s premiere of “A Dog’s Purpose” has been canceled following the release of a video that appears to show a frightened dog being forced into churning water during production of the film. TMZ published a video Wednesday that shows a man struggling to put a dog into a pool of rushing water while the dog fights to stay out.

Friday’s ETF with Unusual Volume: KBWR

The PowerShares KBW Regional Banking Portfolio ETF is seeing unusually high volume in afternoon trading Friday, with over 296,000 shares traded versus three month average volume of about 77,000. Shares of KBWR were up about 0.5% on the day.

Friday’s ETF Movers: SOXX, XBI

In trading on Friday, the iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF is outperforming other ETFs, up about 1.5% on the day. Components of that ETF showing particular strength include shares of Skyworks Solutions , up about 12.9% and shares of Cirrus Logic , up about 5.4% on the day.

Trump Aides Said to Prepare List of Early Energy Changes

Donald Trump’s advisers have prepared a short list of energy and environmental policy changes he can take now that he has been sworn in as president, including steps to limit the role that climate change plays in government decisions and speed the review of cross-border pipelines. The list of actions Trump can take imminently includes nullifying President guidelines that federal agencies weigh climate change when approving pipelines, deciding what areas to open for drilling or taking other major actions, two people familiar with Trump’s transition planning say.

Carnival Signs Contracts for Two New Cruise Ships

Carnival announced that two new ships are under construction, one of which will be added to its Princess Cruises brand and will feature the Ocean Medallion technology. Carnival is building two new ships to be delivered in 2021 and 2022, one of which will be added to the Princess Cruises line and will feature the company’s new Ocean Medallion technology.

How This CEO Got Caught Up In the Clinton Email Scandal

Months after the election, we still don’t know for sure what happened to all of Hillary Clinton’s emails, the ones that passed through her private email server, a question that remains unresolved and continues to infuriate some of President-elect Donald Trump’s die-hard supporters. But one clue to unraveling the mystery may lie with a low-key tech company based in southwestern Connecticut and its 31-year-old freckle-faced CEO, who handed over up to 17,448 deleted Clinton emails to the FBI.

AT&T Added More Than 200,000 Video Subs in Fourth Quarter, “Entirely Driven by DirecTV Now”

Telecom giant AT&T, which has agreed to acquire Time Warner for $85.4 billion, said in a regulatory filing on Friday that it will report “more than 200,000 video net adds” for its fourth quarter, with the figure being “entirely driven by DirecTV Now.” The company launched the streaming video service at the end of November and previously only said that its fourth-quarter earnings report would shed some light on the early subscriber performance.

AIG to Pay Berkshire $9.8 Billion in Insurance Transfer Deal

American International Group Inc. agreed to pay $9.8 billion to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to take on long-term risks from commercial policies written in prior years. The reinsurance deal covers 80 percent of the risks on certain U.S. policies from 2015 and earlier, representing reserves of about $34 billion as of Jan. 1, 2016, New York-based AIG said Friday in a statement.

Draghi’s Role in Elite Finance Group Comes Under EU Scrutiny

The European Union ombudsman has opened an inquiry into European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s involvement with an elite group of economic leaders. The investigation will consider Draghi’s membership of the Group of 30, a forum of finance executives, academics and policy makers including Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Warburg Pincus LLC President Tim Geithner, Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam, and former ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet.

Investor Optimism Reigns Ahead of Trump Inauguration

In fact, fifty-seven percent of investors are now optimistic about economic growth – up from 45 percent in the third quarter – while only 27 percent are pessimistic, down from 35%, according to new Wells Fargo research. “The primary reason that investors have become more positive and the market has rallied since the election is that the two biggest unknowns for 2016 were eliminated in the last quarter of the year,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.

Dollar General Seen Suffering From Rising Wage Pressures, Competition

Dollar General faces rising wage pressures and mounting competition to open new locations, and that has prompted analysts to revisit their earnings assumptions for the discount retailer. BMO Capital Markets this week reduced its earnings forecasts for 2017 to $4.70 a share from the prior $4.85, bringing what had been among the higher projections on the Street more in line with analysts’ consensus.

Troubled DirecTV Now Might Not Boost Earnings at AT&T, After All

The company’s entrant in the online streaming service sector has been fraught with problems and is making customers unhappy. Plagued by billing issues , frequent interruptions and missing features since the Nov. 30 launch , DirecTV Now’s operational glitches might disappoint analysts who expected the streaming service to be a big earnings driver for AT&T.

A Confused Asia Braces for Life Under Trump

The ascendance of Donald Trump to the U.S. throne leaves many people in Asia nonplussed. The election campaign saw him rail against China and Japan for stealing U.S. jobs and promise to declare China a currency manipulator on his first day in office, as well as slapping 45% tariffs on Chinese imports.

U.S. bankers tell Europeans to think positively on Trump

U.S. bankers, buoyed by a resurgence in profits, are advising their counterparts in Europe to think positively about the new administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. At the annual gathering of the world’s political and business elites in the Swiss resort of Davos, U.S. financiers told investors and overseas’ rivals to focus less on Trump’s anti-globalization rhetoric and more on his cabinet picks, comprising of Wall Street veterans and corporate bosses.

A Really Cheap Small-Cap ETF

Frugal investors looking for low-cost, small-cap index funds have a growing number of options from which to choose, including the Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF . Charles Schwab lowered fees on five exchange traded funds in October.

Oil Demand at Risk as China Reins In Buyers That Bought Less

Demand from some of the most coveted oil buyers may slow this year because they didn’t purchase all that they could in 2016. While China’s private refiners have received their first batch of quotas to buy foreign crude in 2017 and may get approval to purchase more later, the amount probably won’t exceed 2016 volumes, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Deutsche Bank Burden in Mortgage Settlement Eased by Fine Print

Deutsche Bank AG sought an unusual provision in its $7.2 billion mortgage-bond settlement with the U.S. government, and seems to have ended up winning it: the bank can pay down part of its penalty by lending money to fund managers. As part of the agreement, Germany’s largest bank has to provide $4.1 billion of relief for mortgage borrowers.