Pershing Square Pays $75,000 To Settle Pay-to-play Probe

Pershing Square Capital Management reached a $75,000 settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday regarding a campaign contribution made by a former employee that violated the government’s donation rules. The former employee contributed $500 to a personal friend of a sibling, who tried, unsuccessfully, to enter one of the gubernatorial primaries in Massachusetts.

Passive, Low-Cost ETFs Attract Record Inflows

Exchange traded fund providers are attracting record inflows as more investors look to low-cost, passive index-based products to track market moves. BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager and largest ETF provider, is experiencing record cash inflows, bringing in $140 billion to its iShares business last year, Bloomberg reports.

Oil Futures Cut Gains At Settlement As EIA Forecasts Rise In Shale Output

Oil futures pared much of their gains in the minutes ahead of Tuesday’s settlement after a report from the Energy Information Administration forecast a rise of 41,000 barrels a day in February oil production from seven major U.S. shale plays. Oil prices had found support earlier after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister on Monday said the oil market would reach a balance between supply and demand in the first half of this year, according to media reports.

How This Apple Inc. Supplier Created Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs in the United States

TSMC is believed to be the sole manufacturer of the Apple-designed A10 applications processor that powers the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and it also builds chips for many chips that Apple procured from third-party suppliers, to boot. My first question is regarding the advisory reports to the U.S. President this Friday, because in a report, the U.S. seems want to ensure their semiconductor leadership, especially in the leading-edge, so what will be TSMC’s strategy to beating this policy direction and ensure your own leadership? Thanks.

Foxx: Private dollars alone can’t solve transportation woes

The outgoing secretary of transportation says stimulating private investment in infrastructure projects, as Donald Trump has proposed, can cover only a fraction of the costs of solving America’s transportation problems. Anthony Foxx tells The Associated Press that “a fair amount of public funding” will still be needed.

Colstrip power plant closure could come earlier than 2022

A partial closure of an aging coal-fired power plant serving customers across the Pacific Northwest could come earlier than planned depending on the actions of its co-owner and Montana lawmakers, according to documents released Tuesday by Washington state regulators. The 2,100-megawatt facility is one of the largest coal-fired plants in the West.

Britain PM Theresa May Sets ‘Hard Brexit’ Course

Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, speaks to the media outside number 10 Downing Street, in central London, Britain July 13, 2016. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo Britain will quit the EU single market when it leaves the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday in a decisive speech that set a course for a clean break with the world’s largest trading bloc.

Lincoln Senator Introduces Bill That Stiffens Trafficking Penalties

As per Federal Communications Commission Regulations following is certified: Platte River Radio Inc. does not discriminate in the sale of commercial time, and will not accept advertising which, in its sole opinion, is purchased with intent to discriminate unlawfully on the basis of race, gender, or ethnicity. The advertiser hereby certifies that its purchase of commercial time is not made for an unlawful discriminatory purpose, including specifically that it is not based upon a decision to place advertising on a station on the basis of race, gender, or ethnicity.

Amid budget crisis, economy on minds of many

But when he was laid off in July from the factory in Santa Fe where he had worked for more than 17 years, McGuiness was thrust back into the job market in New Mexico, where the unemployment rate ranks as the nation’s second highest. Despite having years of experience in chemical compounding, getting a job interview has been a challenge.

Nobody Safe’ If Republicans Undo Net Neutrality, FCC Chair Says

Online companies such as Amazon.com Inc. are vulnerable to unfair competition from internet service providers if the Federal Communications Commission’s open-internet rule is reversed, agency Chairman Tom Wheeler said Tuesday. “Nobody is safe,” Wheeler, a Democrat, said in an interview three days before he leaves office and a Republican administration led by President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

New FDA Chief Should Have Medical Experience, Drugmakers Say

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should have a medical background, and the agency should continue evaluating new medications’ effectiveness, drugmaker executives said in comments indicating opposition to two candidates for the regulator’s top post. Trump’s FDA chief should be a doctor or physician-scientist with experience in clinical care and medical research, said Roger Perlmutter, head of research and development for Merck & Co.

European vegetables: ‘Perfect storm’ raises prices

Bad weather in Italy and Spain is likely to significantly increase the price of vegetables across northern Europe, food suppliers and supermarkets have told the BBC. One supplier said that a combination of flooding, cold weather and poor light levels had created a “perfect storm” of poor growing conditions.

Jim Cramer — Border Tax Issues Boosting Retail, for Now

Retail stocks including Walmart , PVH Corp. , Best Buy , Nike are on the move Tuesday after President-elect Donald Trump said the U.S. dollar is too strong and the proposed Border Adjustment Tax is “too complicated.” What should investors infer? That perhaps the potential import tariffs or other border taxes will be more difficult to institute than previously thought, TheStreet’s Jim Cramer, co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio , said on CNBC’s “Stop Trading” segment.

J.C. Penney Stock Jumps on Nike Partnership

Shares of J.C. Penney were rallying almost 4% in Tuesday morning trading after announcing that it will include Nike shops in more than 600 of its stores. The Plano, Texas-based company will dedicate 500 square feet to Nike products within a “prominent” location of the men’s department, according to a statement by J.C. Penney.

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff : ‘Expect Us to Look at Anything That’s Exciting’

Salesforce.com hopes to double its annual revenue, despite already being the fastest growing enterprise software company of all time. Cloud computing company Salesforce.com spent about $5 billion on acquisitions in the past year and it will continue to look at any “exciting” opportunities out there, CEO Marc Benioff said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday morning.

Peugeot Citroen Wobbles on Report of Emission Test Failure

France’s No.2 carmaker joined larger French rival Renault under scrutiny but shares in both rose on the back of a bumper 2016 for European new car sales. PSA Peugeot became the latest European car manufacturer to tremble in the wake of Volkswagen ‘s record fine for cheating emission tests after it was reported that one of its models had failed to meet EU standards and showed anomalies in official testing.

Yum! Brands May Benefit From Bringing Taco Bell Staples to China

The U.S. restaurant company’s Chinese spin-off is introducing the Mexican’s fast-food chain’s Doritos Locos Tacos and Fire Sauce, and the strategy could drive revenue. Yum China Holdings , which was spun off last year from Yum! Brands ‘ , has unveiled plans to bring Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos and the popular Fire Sauce to China.

Cramer: Rising Deal Tide in the Permian Lifts Oil Boats

Yes, the Permian buys continue to move the needle. It looked like Noble Energy would be hammered when it paid a gigantic premium for Clayton Williams over the weekend; the latter stock is up 37%, but more important, perhaps, is that the stock was at $7 a little less than a year ago and now it is at $143.

The Bulls Are Back on Randgold Resources

Recent strength in the price of gold, weakness in the U.S. dollar and improved technical signals on GOLD suggest that GOLD and other precious metal miners can rally further. You don’t have to be a confirmed gold bug to participate.

China’s Xi defends global trade at World Economic Forum in Davos

Chinese President Xi Jinping is the first Chinese leader to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday trumpeted the need for free trade and urged the world to “say no to protectionism,” delivering a strong rebuke to isolationist tendencies that helped fuel Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

Scaramucci Clarifies That His SkyBridge Is ?Almost? Sold

Anthony Scaramucci, named as an adviser to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, said he has “almost” sold his SkyBridge Capital asset-management firm. Scaramucci, 53, clarified a comment he made earlier Tuesday during a presentation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the firm had been sold today.

Standard Chartered Stock Surges On Big Shipping Industry Bet

Standard Chartered shares surged the most in nine months Tuesday after the emerging market bank announced a big bet on the beleaguered shipping industry. The London-based bank said it closed three trade finance deals totalling $1.6 billion in value during December, providing funding to merchants transporting liquefied natural gas and other types of energy, at a time when banks are pulling back en masse from the shipping industry.

Rio Tinto Beats Q4 Expectations, Reaffirms 2017 Targets

Strong cash flows could lead to significant dividend hikes and share buybacks, underpinning a rally that has lifted shares by a third in the three months. Rio Tinto shares traded firmly lower in London Tuesday despite solid fourth quarter earnings from the world’s biggest seaborne iron ore exporter and a confirmation of its 2017 targets that set the stage for increased dividends and share buybacks.