Big banks avoid hiring spree despite trading boom

Market trading is booming at U.S. and European banks thanks to Donald Trump and Brexit, and yet the glory days of dealing rooms the size of football pitches remain as distant as ever. Scarred by the 2007-09 global financial crisis and a subsequent regulatory clampdown, cost-conscious banks aren’t taking on more traders, uncertain whether the revival will last.

Anthem Sues Cigna to Block Deal Termination

Anthem said on Wednesday it has filed a lawsuit seeking to block smaller rival Cigna from terminating their proposed $54 billion deal, which would have created the largest U.S. health insurer by membership. Cigna said on Tuesday it had notified Anthem it had ended the deal and that Anthem was required to pay a $1.85 billion break-up fee.

Millions to fight food industry sway, from a snack bar CEO

A $25 million pledge to fight the food industry’s influence on public health is coming from a surprising source – the CEO of a snack bar maker. Kind founder Daniel Lubetzky says he’s pledging his own money to create a group called “Feed the Truth” dedicated to revealing corporate influence in the nutrition field, with activities like education campaigns and investigative journalism.

Apple CFO Maestri Says U.S. Border Tax Would Be Bad for Economy

Apple Inc. Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said a U.S. border tax would harm the world’s largest economy by raising costs for consumers and making it harder for companies to compete overseas. A border tax also would increase the value of the U.S. dollar, which is already too strong, and reduce the competitiveness of the country’s economy, the CFO said Tuesday at a technology conference in San Francisco sponsored by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress want to rewrite U.S. taxes in ways that may help and hurt Apple, the world’s most valuable public company.

Natixis Faces Formal Investigation Into Sub-Prime Losses

The crisis may be 10 years in the past but Natixis will be forced to relive it as investigators scrutinize statements made in 2007. Natixis , the investment banking and asset management arm of French lender BCPE, will be forced to revisit one of the most painful periods in its history after investigators launched a inquiry into statements it made in 2007 at the start of the subprime crisis.

Two Strategies for Shorting an Alibaba Breakdown

Shares of Alibaba Group Holdings have not participated in the broader market’s four day rally, and the divergent price action and the direction of money flow suggests further downside. There are two short-side strategies, let’s take a look at the setups on the daily chart.

Pepsi Blows It Out of the Water, but …

PepsiCo notched some impressive wins during the fourth quarter, but initial profit guidance for 2017 may leave some bulls thirsty for more. The soda and snacks giant reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.20 a share on Wednesday, solidly beating analysts’ forecasts of $1.16.

Oil Slips on Inventory Jump

Oil slipped further below $56 a barrel on Wednesday as an industry report showing a large rise in U.S. crude inventories signaled ample supply, even as OPEC achieves record compliance with its supply-cut accord. U.S. inventories rose by a larger-than-expected 9.9 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute trade group said on Tuesday, ahead of the Energy Information Administration’s official supply report.

How to best make a prepayment on your mortgage

One very important point I never hear discussed is what the lender does with the extra loan payments borrowers make. If you pay extra on your mortgage before it’s due, does the lender require that the next payment be paid on schedule or can you skip monthly payments corresponding to how much extra you’ve paid? It would seem that many payoff amounts calculated at some point in the future by the lender might go back to the original recorded security deed and original amortization schedule with the extra payments overlooked.

Top Israeli VC Says Startup Nation Drives U.S. Economic Growth

Jon Medved, the Israeli venture capitalist who backed Shopping.com and built investment platform OurCrowd, says tightening technology ties with the Trump administration and allowing Israeli companies to continue to open branches in the U.S. will benefit the economies of both countries. Medved said he hoped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would put technology on the agenda during his scheduled meeting Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington.

United Hunts for Used Wide-Body Jets as Glut Leads to Bargains

United Continental Holdings Inc. is stepping up its hunt for used long-haul jetliners, as a glut of the largest passenger planes creates what the airline’s finance chief calls “tremendous opportunities.” Older aircraft often have similar technology as a newer one while offering lower ownership costs, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy told analysts and investors Tuesday.

Heineken Stock Up on Full-Year Rise in Earnings

Heineken on Wednesday reported a rise in full-year earnings and revenues, despite increased currency headwinds and challenging economic conditions. Heineken stock gained 2.88% in the first hour of trading on Wednesday in Amsterdam to 75.04, extending their 3.64% gain over the past three months.

ABN Amro Profit Rises on Interest Income, Lower Provisions

ABN Amro Group NV, the state-controlled Dutch lender, reported a 23 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit, helped by higher net interest income and lower provisions set aside for risky loans. Underlying net income, which strips out one-time items, rose to 333 million euros from 272 million euros a year earlier, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement on Wednesday.

GlobalTel’s ‘Special Connect’ Inmate Calling Service Reduces the…

Interactive Media Technologies, Inc., Boca Raton, Fla., February 14, 2016 — GlobalTel.com announced today that it has implemented a new way that prison inmates and families of prison inmates can save money on long distance jail calls made from jail to any U.S. or international phone number. The new service named Special Connect is designed to reduce abusive local and long distance charges billed by Inmate Call Providers.

Nikkei Rises, Insurers Lead Gains on Higher Bond Yields

Japan’s Nikkei share average rose near six-week highs touched earlier in the week on Wednesday, as shares of insurers soared after comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen boosted U.S. and global bond yields. The Nikkei gained 1 percent to 19,437.98, near Monday’s intraday high of 19,519.44.

Toshiba Puts Prized Chips Unit Up for Sale to Salvage Business

After a chaotic day of earnings, it’s become clearer Toshiba Corp. may soon end up a shadow of its former self. Buried in company presentation materials Tuesday was a note that the Tokyo-based conglomerate is considering selling a majority stake in its memory chip business, a reversal of a previous plan to limit the sale to 20 percent.

India Said to Cut Bank Capital Infusion for This Fiscal Year

India may cut the amount of capital it plans to inject into state-controlled lenders this fiscal year by as much as 78 billion rupees because of slow loan growth, people with knowledge of the matter said. The government, which had promised to inject 250 billion rupees into the lenders in the year ending March 31, has decided to defer 21 billion rupees of the pledged amount into next financial year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Engaged’s Welling Escalates Rent-A-Center Campaign, Urges Sale

Rent-A-Center ‘s shares were rising midday Tuesday after activist investor Engaged Capital LLC’s Glenn Welling escalated his campaign at the furniture and electronics rent-to-own company with a letter suggesting that the “most logical” outcome from a strategic review process is a sale of the enterprise. The letter, addressed to the company’s board, also said that Welling was prepared to nominate a slate of dissident director candidates if the company didn’t act “objectively and expediently” for all shareholders.

Oil Dips Over Doubts OPEC Agreed Cuts Will Last

Oil prices dipped on Wednesday over concerns that OPEC producers would not be able to maintain their high compliance so far with output cuts aimed at reining in a global fuel supply overhang. Brent crude was trading at $55.62 per barrel at 600 GMT, down 35 cents, or 0.63 percent, from its last close.

NY Times Says Trump Campaign Had Repeated Contact With Russian Intelligence

Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing four current and former U.S. officials. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said, according to the Times.

Asia Shares at 19-Month Peak

Asian stocks scaled 19-month peaks on Wednesday thanks to a record-setting night on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen flagged a possible interest rate hike next month, keeping the dollar in pole position near three-week highs. Yellen said on Tuesday that the Fed will probably need to raise interest rates at an upcoming meeting, and that delaying rate increases could leave the Fed’s policymaking committee behind the curve.

Palo Alto council wants housing, cautious about density

The owner of 4146 El Camino Real is interested in developing the lot, pictured at left on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, which has been vacant since 1997, into up to 21 multifamily condo units. Opponents say the proposal is too dense for the area while supporters say the area is ideal for density because of its proximity to businesses and public transportation.

Why Wayfair Inc. Stock Jumped 18.6% in January

The bulk of Wayfair’s gains last month came as the stock jumped more than 10% on Jan. 10, shortly after Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah spoke at the 19th Annual ICR Conference in Orlando, Fla.More specifically, Shah noted that Wayfair’s performance was “quite strong,” both overall and during the five-day holiday shopping period of Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. Shah further stated that while there was “some consumer uncertainty” as management had warned during its third-quarter 2016 report earlier in November — which effectively sent shares plunging to end the year — in retrospect “it wasn’t really to any significant degree.”

RPX Disappoints With Falling Profits, Tepid Guidance

Yet as valuable as that service has been, RPX has recently had trouble finding ways to grow its revenue from subscribing clients. Coming into Tuesday’s fourth-quarter earnings report, investors knew that RPX’s relatively new discovery services business would lead to an overall sales increase, but they still wanted to see signs of growth elsewhere.

CSX railroad wants shareholder vote on hedge fund’s demands

CSX wants its shareholders to vote on the demands a hedge fund is making as it seeks to install the executive who led Canadian Pacific’s turnaround at the U.S. railroad. The Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX said Tuesday it will call a special shareholder meeting so investors can have a say on the requests from Paul Hilal ‘s hedge fund.

Top Publicly Traded Video-Game Stocks in the Industry

Video-game stocks have seen a lot of growth lately, but the gaming industry could still give publicly traded gaming companies such as Electronic Arts even more room to run. With the growth of online gaming, mobile gaming, and new hardware and software that’s preparing a tech overhaul for this industry, here’s why EA and these other companies could be some of the best video-game stocks now.

18 electric vehicle charging stations installed at LAX parking structure 7

LOS ANGELES >> Los Angeles International Airport officials announced Tuesday that 18 “level 2” electric vehicle charging stations have been installed in Parking Structure 7. LAX now has a total of 81 level 2 charging stations, with another eight chargers at the LAX FlyAway bus terminal in Van Nuys. “By installing EV charging stations and encouraging people to drive zero-emission vehicles, LAWA is helping to make the air we breathe cleaner and I greatly appreciate their work,” said City Councilman Mike Bonin, whose district includes LAX.