S&P 500 futures were down 0.3%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.2%, and Nasdaq futures declined 0.3%. A number of big banks including JPMorgan , Bank of America and Wells Fargo will release quarterly performances on Friday morning, heralding the kickoff to the fourth-quarter reporting season.
Month: January 2017
Data Storage Provider Seagate’s Adaptability Leading to Increased Profits
The world of finance and investing is moving at a faster clip than ever, and nowhere more so than in the high-tech sector. Big money is being made from technologies that no one even imagined a few years back.
Panera’s Self-Improvement Efforts Leading to Higher Customer Satisfaction, Better Results
A new survey indicates that the fast-casual chain is the highest-performing restaurant when it comes to pleasing its customers. In the competitive fast food and fast casual restaurant business, a number of chains have been working hard to improve their service and menus.
Despite the Energy Rally, Avoid This Dangerous, High-Yield MLP
Oil and gas master limited partnerships have risen from the dead, but don’t get seduced by MLPs with high dividend yields that are unsustainable. These “energy zombies” are eating the brains of investors who should know better.
Barnes & Noble’s Recasting Won’t Change Its Downward Trend
Barnes & Noble , the nation’s largest bricks-and-mortar retail bookseller, is striving to recast itself into a digital media, content and educational product leader with a little alcohol on the side. Although the company has 638 physical bookstores in 50 states, it is emphasizing its e-commerce site, BN.com, as well as its Nook digital tablets and e-readers.
Trader’s Daily Notebook: Focus on Your Trading System, not on Anybody’s Tweets
As individual traders and investors, the greatest obstacle we generally face is our own propensity to make rash decisions born out of fear and emotion. We know, or rather most traders accept, that as a stock trades above a 200-day simple moving average , there’s a reasonable chance that stock is in an uptrend.
Rev’s Forum: The Obvious Trade Isn’t So Obvious After All
The “sell the Trump news conference” trade didn’t work as expected on Wednesday, but the bears are back again, looking for the Trump rally to unwind. Weakness in the dollar is the main driving force this morning, as it weighs on the yen and drives gold over the $1200 level.
FTSE 100 dips despite strong retail updates
After closing at its 10th record high in a row on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 was down 5.51 points at 7,284.98 by midday. Tesco’s shares fell 2.3%, despite the UK’s largest supermarket reporting a 0.7% rise in UK like-for-like sales over Christmas.
You’ll never be able to save enough for retirement
Have we – those of us trying to get people to save for retirement – become like Freddy Krueger in Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movies? Krueger killed people in their dreams. We may be killing people’s dreams of being able to ever have enough money for retirement.
The jobs that really smart people avoid
Over the last 35 years, Wall Street grew into outsize part of the American economy. The financial sector now accounts for one fifth of U.S. corporate profits, which puts it neck and neck with manufacturing, an industry that employs twice as many workers.
Comcast is America’s Most-Hated Company
In business, perception is everything: A single bad experience can burn a brand name and ruin a company’s reputation. So it’s no surprise that well-known tech companies including Comcast, Facebook, Dish, Sprint, and Charter Communications landed on a list of America’s most-hated businesses.
What Is the Tax Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled?
Seniors today face a world of expenses, from housing to transportation to healthcare . Similarly, those who are disabled often have difficulty making ends meet, especially when their conditions render them unable to work.
McDonald’s inviting bids for 33 percent stake in Japan unit: WSJ
Customers are seen through the windows of a McDonald’s store (top) in Tokyo, while others stand in line in front of cash registers, July 22, 2014. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/File Photo (
Italian bank UniCredit to provision $8.6b more in bad loans
Italian bank UniCredit says it will book an additional 8.1 billion euros in bad loans in the last quarter of 2016. That is in addition to a turnaround plan being voted on by shareholders Thursday to offload 17.7 billion euros in bad loans, cut 14,000 jobs and raise 13 billion euros in a capital increase to improve the bank’s profitability.
Indicted VW exec seeking release on bail over US objection
A high-ranking Volkswagen AG executive indicted in the company’s U.S. emissions scandal is seeking release on bail over the objections of federal prosecutors. A detention hearing for 48-year-old Oliver Schmidt is scheduled Thursday in Miami, where he was arrested on a visit to the U.S. from Germany.
Delta meets 4Q profit forecasts
On a per-share basis, the Atlanta-based company said it had net income of 84 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 82 cents per share.
Straight Path Settles With the FCC, Now Set to Move Forward with…
Straight Path Settles With the FCC, Now Set to Move Forward with Review of Strategic Alternatives to Maximize Shareholder Value Straight Path Communications Inc. , one of the largest holders of flexible mobile and fixed-use wireless millimeter wave spectrum, today announced a comprehensive settlement with the Federal Communications Commission related to the company’s wireless spectrum licenses. As part of the agreement, the FCC has terminated its investigation of Straight Path, and Straight Path can now move forward with the vast majority of its nationwide 39 GHz spectrum fully intact, and its 28 GHz spectrum unchanged.
3 in 4 Say Debt Collectors Defy Requests to Stop Calling
Three out of four consumers said debt collectors ignored their requests to stop calling, according to a survey released Thursday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which detailed “troubling” practices in the multibillion-dollar industry. Despite specific protections outlined in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, consumers told the CFPB that they often felt threatened by debt collectors, were contacted late at night or early in the morning, and were pursued by collectors using incorrect information.
Marks & Spencer Expects Strong Christmas Revenues as Food, Clothing Sales Outperform
M&S said group sales rose 4.3% in its fiscal third quarter, but cautioned that uncertain consumer confidence would hit the company’s earnings in the next three month period. Marks & Spencer Group plc said Thursday that group sales rose 4.3% in its fiscal third quarter, but cautioned that uncertain consumer confidence would hit the company’s earnings.
Tesco Posts Solid Holiday Sales, First Market Share Gain Since 2011
Tesco Thursday posted third quarter and Christmas sales that were largely in-line with analysts forecasts amid a fiercely competitive U.K. food retail landscape. Tesco Plc posted third quarter and Christmas sales Thursday that were largely in-line with analysts forecasts amid a fiercely competitive U.K. food retail landscape.
European Stocks Called Lower as Dollar Tumbles Following Trump Press Conference
European stocks are expected to open lower Thursday as investors react to a slide in the U.S. dollar and a renewed rally in fixed income markets following the President elect Donald Trump’s first press conference since winning the November elections. Britain’s FTSE 100 , fresh off its twelfth consecutive closing high Wednesday, is likely to drift a few points lower at the open, according to financial bookmakers IG, with similar declines called for the DAX and CAC-40 benchmarks in Germany and France.
Kia’s redesigned Cadenza Limited: Real luxury at a price you can afford
The Cadenza’s exterior design does more than imitate something traditional. It sets its own standard with a catchy vertical, concave grille, Warren Brown writes.
Tesco hails ‘strong progress’ as sales rise
Christmas like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of new store openings, grew 0.7% in the UK, and were up by 0.3% across the group as a whole.
November Oil Demand From China Climbs To Second-highest Level On Record: Report
China’s implied oil demand in November hit the second highest level on record at an average 11.44 million barrels a day, according to an analysis of Chinese government data by S&P Global Platts released Thursday. That was 4.1% higher than the same month a year earlier.
M&S beats Christmas sales forecast in clothing and homewares
Marks and Spencer has reported a rise in clothing and homeware sales over the Christmas period for the first time in two years. The company’s chief executive, Steve Rowe, said “better ranges, better availability and better prices” had helped sales to recover.
Special Prosecutors Question Samsung’s Lee in Bribery Probe
Special prosecutors began questioning Samsung Electronics Co. Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee on Thursday as a suspect in a bribery investigation, deepening an influence-peddling scandal that has already led to the impeachment of South Korea’s president.
Sony, Warner Bros. Deepen Investment in Southeast Asian Netflix Rival HOOQ
Sony and Warner Brothers have increased their investment in HOOQ, a Southeast Asian streaming-video service that competes head-to-head with Netflix and Amazon in the region. The two studios are partners in the two-year-old joint venture with Singtel, Singapore’s largest mobile phone operator.
Palo Alto appeals judgea s reversal of Buena Vista Mobile Home Park decision
A view of the El Camino Real entrance to the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park in Palo Alto, Calif. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016.
Asian shares mixed after Trump offers scant policy details
A man stands in front of an electronic stock board showing global stock indexes at a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Asian shares were mixed Thursday following President-elect Donald Trump’s press conference.
Pro-Trump PAC tied to L.L. Bean heiress discloses donations
A pro-Trump PAC linked to L.L. Bean heiress Linda Bean is now reporting donations it never disclosed to the federal government last year. The amended filings by Making Maine Great Again say Bean donated $30,000, not $60,000 as the political action committee originally reported.
Judge: Exxon Mobil must give documents to attorney general
Exxon Mobil has been ordered to hand over documents related to a state investigation into whether it misled the public about the impact of fossil fuels on the climate. Wednesday’s decision by a Suffolk Superior Court judge is a win for Attorney General Maura Healey, who’s trying to determine if the company deceived investors and consumers by hiding what it knew about the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change.
Ivanka Trump shifting gears, heading to Washington
Ivanka Trump plans to step aside from her executive roles at the Trump Organization and her lifestyle brand, but says she is confident both businesses will continue to “thrive.” In a post on her Facebook page Wednesday, Ivanka Trump said she would take a “formal leave of absence” from her executive positions at the Trump Organization and her lifestyle brand – which offers shoes, clothes and messages of female empowerment.
Energy choice Perry steps away from Dakota Access pipeline
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he has stepped down from the boards of two energy companies that are developing the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline project. Perry, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for energy secretary, said in a letter to ethics officials that he resigned Dec. 31 from Energy Transfer Partners LP and Sunoco Logistics Partners LP.
California revenue is growing. So why the talk of deficits?
California’s economy is expanding and voters just approved billions of dollars in tax increases, yet Gov. Jerry Brown this week projected a budget deficit for the first time in four years and called for spending cuts. The paradoxical budget picture is a result of revenue growing more slowly than economists had predicted after years of rapid increases from a hard-charging economy.
Republican FCC member blasts leadership for ‘midnight’ regs without warning
The longest-serving Republican commissioner in the Federal Communications Commission criticized the Democrat-controlled agency for what he called a “regulatory spasm” in its final days after it issued a report Wednesday scolding AT&T and Verizon for their “zero rating” strategies without the approval of the majority of the agency. “It is disappointing that the FCC’s current leadership has yet again chosen to spend its last days in office the same way it spent the last few years – cutting corners on process, keeping fellow Commissioners in the dark, and pursuing partisan, political agendas that only harm investment and innovation,” wrote Commissioner Ajit Pai.
Blackstone Said to Vie With Warburg, Chinese Group for GLP
Blackstone Group LP is considering an offer for Global Logistic Properties Ltd., potentially pitting it against Warburg Pincus and a separate Chinese group in the bidding for the $8.6 billion warehouse operator, people with knowledge of the matter said. Warburg Pincus is forming a consortium to bid for the Singapore-based company and has been speaking with banks and potential bidding partners, according to the people.
U.A.E. Says $50 Oil – Isn’t Going to Cut It’ for Producers
Crude oil at $50 a barrel is too low for most producing countries, according to United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei. Prices have climbed almost 20 percent to above $50 a barrel since the Nov. 30 agreement by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production for the first time in eight years to curb a global glut.
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In this Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016 file photo, a general view with an advertising billboard is seen at the Trump International Golf Club main entrance in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dubai’s DAMAC Properties tells The Associated Press it offered … deals to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s firm worth some $2 billion, but the Trump Organization turned them down.
In VW case, US takes aim at employees, not just corporation
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, left, with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, announcing criminal and civil resolutions … with Volkswagen. Volkswagen pleads guilty to 3 charges, will pay $4.3 billion penalty for emissions cheating and wide-ranging cover-up.
Why Workday Inc. Stock Popped Today
Workday also noted it isn’t updating its latest financial guidance, which incidentally caused Workday stock to plunge last month as the company warned a few larger deals with multinational customers had been delayed. More specifically, Workday told investors to expect fiscal fourth quarter to be in the range of $427 million to $430 million.