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☆ TipRanks reveals the top 10 financial sector analysts of the past decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Tipranks.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

To create this list, TipRanks analyzed every recommendation made by financial sector analysts in the past decade. Top 10 analysts from the financial sector The image shows the most successful Wall Street analysts from the financial sector, in descending order. 3 on TipRanks' top 10 financial analysts list. To create this list, TipRanks analyzed every recommendation made by financial sector analysts in the past decade. 3 on TipRanks' top 10 financial analysts list.

☆ Male Stock Analysts With ‘Dominant’ Faces Get More Information—and Have Better Forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Daisy Maxey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

People place great weight on facial characteristics, which some stock analysts apparently benefit from. Illustration: Alex NabaumFor male financial analysts, having a face that is perceived as strong can be a competitive advantage, a study suggests. But for women analysts, it can be a disadvantage, according to the study.

Besides YouTube's 2.6% first quarter ad revenue decline, Google is facing multiple challenges to its advertising business. While Google's search revenue was up about 2%, Microsoft is in the early stages of a big play to go after it. Matthew Bailey, principal analyst at research firm Omdia anticipates Google will post digital ad revenue growth at around 5% in 2023 and in 2024. Google's monolithic search ads business is starting to see real competitionMost of Google's ad revenue is driven by its ubiquitous search engine. But Amazon, which has a $31 billion ad business, and Walmart, which has a $2.7 billion ad business, grab roughly 80% of retail ad spend.

☆ US default on debt would trigger 'economic catastrophe,' Yellen says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday warned that failure by Congress to raise the government's debt ceiling - and the resulting default - would trigger an "economic catastrophe" that would send interest rates higher for years to come. "A default on our debt would produce an economic and financial catastrophe," Yellen told Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce members. "Congress must vote to raise or suspend the debt limit. Yellen told lawmakers in January the government could pay its bills only through early June without increasing the limit, which the government hit in January. Because the government spends more than it takes in, lawmakers must periodically raise the debt ceiling.

☆ Analysts are torn on how Fox News' ratings will be affected after Tucker Carlson's ousting craters the company's stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tucker Carlson's exit from Fox News wiped $962 million from the network's market value on Monday. But analysts are torn about the long-term impact of the host's ouster on Fox Corp stock. But financial analysts are torn about the impact Carlson's departure will have on Fox Corporation's stock — which lost about $962 million in market value on Monday after news broke of the departure. Matthew Tuttle, the CEO and CIO of Tuttle Capital Management, told Bloomberg that Carlson's exit is "definitely going to leave a mark on Fox." But not all analysts shared the gloomy projection for Fox Corp stock in the long term.

Google's monolithic search ads business is starting to see real competitionMost of Google's ad revenue is driven by its ubiquitous search engine. But neither pose the threat to Google's search dominance that ChatGPT-powered Bing does today, according to an agency source. But ChatGPT-Bing has a bigger opportunity to grab budgets earmarked for Google search because it will change the entire way consumers search for information. But Amazon, which has a $31 billion ad business, and Walmart, which has a $2.7 billion ad business, grab roughly 80% of retail ad spend. Morgan Stanley recently estimated that adtech firms are poised to win $26 billion out of a $130 billion retail media market by 2025.

☆ US House Republicans squirm over Speaker McCarthy's debt ceiling proposal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

It is his opening shot in a negotiation with Democratic President Joe Biden, whose party also controls the U.S. Senate. If the divided Congress fails to raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, the government could face a default that would shake the U.S. and world economies. Several House Republicans on Thursday either raised concerns about the proposal or acknowledged a tough battle ahead on a bill that is unlikely to win Democratic support. McCarthy faces a tough path as he can lose only five votes from his razor thin 222-member majority to pass legislation if Democrats remain united in opposition. The White House criticized McCarthy's plan as draconian, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying, "MAGA House Republicans are holding the American economy hostage in order to take a hatchet to programs Americans rely on every day to make ends meet."

☆ U.S. House Republicans squirm over Speaker McCarthy's debt ceiling proposal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

☆ U.S. Treasury's tax deadline day take totals $129.8 bln -statement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury brought in $129.82 billion in total tax receipts on Tuesday, the annual tax filing deadline, compared with $75.53 billion a day earlier, the department's daily financial statement showed on Wednesday. He also noted that some states suffering natural disasters, have granted tax filing extensions in many counties, such as for flooding in California, and tornadoes in southern states. The Daily Treasury Statement showed that total non-withheld individual tax receipts collected electronically and by other means on Tuesday totaled $80.07 billion versus $34.68 billion on Monday. Withheld tax individual tax receipts totaled $24.92 billion on Tuesday compared with $21.37 billion on Monday. Corporate tax receipts on Tuesday totaled $24.53 billion after $19.313 billion on Monday.

☆ What the Fed’s Interest-Rate Increase Means for Your Money
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Oyin Adedoyin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The bar Americans have to clear to get approved for loans and credit cards will likely rise along with interest rates, partly as a result of the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates another 0.25 percentage point on Wednesday. Though that is on the smaller end of interest-rate increases over the past year, recent troubles across the banking industry, caused in part by higher rates, will lead banks to toughen lending standards, compounding the effect of the increase, financial analysts and advisers say.

☆ ChatGPT will most likely impact your job if you work in tech, went to college, and make up to $80,000 a year, research says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Most American jobs are at risk of being impacted by AI like ChatGPT, researchers found. Educated, white-collar workers making up to $80,000 a year will be most affected by AI, per the study. Some jobs likely to be impacted include financial analysts, accountants, and writers. More specifically, the researchers wanted to find out which jobs are most likely to be "exposed" to the model's capabilities. The impact of AI on jobs increases as salaries gets closer to $80,000.

☆ What the Fed’s Next Interest-Rate Move Means for Your Money
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Oyin Adedoyin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The bar Americans have to clear to get approved for loans and credit cards will likely rise along with interest rates, partly as a result of the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates again Wednesday, though some economists say it could hit pause this month or in coming months. Regardless, recent troubles across the banking industry, caused in part by higher rates, will lead banks to toughen lending standards, financial analysts and advisers say.

☆ For investors looking for solid ground in an uncertain market, balance sheet is king
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Amid ongoing market volatility and renewed fears about the health of the banking sector, investors and analysts are increasingly targeting the stocks of companies with stellar balance sheets. Note: The Altman Z-score is derived from a model initially developed in the 1960s by New York University professor Edward Altman as a way to predict bankruptcies. We used an Altman Z-score of 5 to focus our list on the cream of the crop. Tier 1 Capital ratios are generally a better metric for monitoring the balance sheets of big banks. But the market may give heightened attention to companies with strong balance sheets in times of elevated economic uncertainty.

Powering AI Dungeon's text-generation software was the GPT language technology offered by the Microsoft -backed AI research lab OpenAI. The high cost of training and "inference" — actually running — large language models is a structural cost that differs from previous computing booms. Many entrepreneurs see risks in relying on potentially subsidized AI models that they don't control and merely pay for on a per-use basis. Companies making the foundation models, semiconductor makers, and startups all see business opportunities in reducing the price of running AI software. "Latitude is going to continue to evaluate all AI models to be sure we have the best game out there."

☆ ChatGPT is being used to automatically write emails: Microsoft, Salesforce, and TikTok creators are hopping on the trend
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The analysts estimated Microsoft's recently announced generated AI sales features could help it take market share and potentially add over $768 million in annual revenue. Microsoft announced on Monday that it would integrate generative AI based on ChatGPT into a set of tools for business called CoPilot. One of its primary features is using AI to generate emails. Microsoft says that its AI email writer can take important context from the email thread, like the price that was previously discussed, and stick it in the response drafted by AI. Microsoft's feature is currently in beta testing, but will be released to customers of Microsoft's Viva Sales feature on March 15, the company said on Monday.

☆ Experts think AI could bring on the next Industrial Revolution — and some even think it could trigger nuclear war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Researchers surveyed 480 experts in Natural Language Processing on what they think of AI. Many respondents agreed that AI can create "revolutionary societal change" and lead to catastrophe. The survey was conducted before the release of buzzy AI chatbot ChatGPT. Even more striking, 36% of the respondents said that they agreed AI has the power to cause "catastrophic outcomes" at the level of an "all-out nuclear war." Former Meta executive John Carmac believes AI may be able to think and act like humans in just a decade.

☆ Meta could bring in nearly $2 billion this year from new Instagram and Facebook verification subscriptions, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Meta rolled out a new subscription offering for Instagram and Facebook. Meta is rolling out a new paid version of verification on Instagram and Facebook that could prove valuable to the company in a short amount of time. As the monthly subscription costs $11.99 for web or $14.99 for mobile, that could mean $1.7 billion in additional yearly revenue, the analysts said. "In addition to Meta Verified, we think there are opportunities for content and commerce subscriptions to help Meta diversify its revenue base over time," Bank of America analysts wrote. While Meta's core business is and very likely always will be ads, influencers have been "under monetized" at the company, Shmulik said.

OTTAWA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said on Tuesday that no further rate hikes will be needed if, as expected, the economy stalls and inflation comes down. The central bank has over the last 11 months lifted rates at a record pace to 4.5% to tame inflation, which was 6.3% in December, still well above the bank's 2% target. On Monday, a median of market participants surveyed by the central bank forecast borrowing costs would come down by half-a-percentage-point by the end of this year, and would fall further next year. "We need to pause rate hikes before we slow the economy and inflation too much. "The considerable tightening we've done will continue to work its way through the economy, and this will rebalance demand and supply and slow inflation."

☆ How Gen Z and the Great Resignation created a wave of overinflated job titles
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Way back in 1993, the Financial Times ran a column bemoaning the grandiose job titles that were popping up in the US and the UK. Compared with enticements like higher pay and better benefits, tacking an extra "senior" onto somebody's job title is free. Some are mashing together a bunch of old words, resulting in monstrosities like "senior executive vice president" — not to be confused with senior vice presidents and executive vice presidents. Still, despite the downsides of title inflation, I think there are some redeeming qualities to the state of things today. It goes to show how our job titles aren't just a summary of our day-to-day responsibilities or an indicator of our place in the org chart.

☆ Leaked Amazon memo shows it only wants to hire students and new grads for entry-level software roles
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But middle managers could be the latest layoff target in tech, especially after Mark Zuckerberg's latest reported comments. Leaked Amazon memo reveals new hiring strategy. The e-commerce giant is only hiring students and new grads for entry-level software positions, per an internal note reviewed by Insider. More on Amazon's latest hiring strategy here. The latest people moves in tech:An Amazon Web Services exec who was accused of gender discrimination is leaving, according to leaked docs.

☆ People in this city spend the most on coffee—it's not New York or LA
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Ryan Ermey | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

How much is your daily coffee habit really costing you? The city where espresso and steamed milk will cost you the most: Virginia Beach, Virginia, clocking in at $5.75 a cup, on average. The most expensive cups of cappuccino Virginia Beach, Virginia: $5.75 Las Vegas: $5.40 Minneapolis: $5.37 New York: $5.31 San Francisco: $5.21 That's just the outright cost. New York and San Francisco have expensive coffee, but their residents tend to make more money. If you express the cost of a five-days-a-week cappuccino habit as a percentage of a city resident's average income, the most expensive coffee cities change a bit.

☆ A shortage of accountants is pushing the industry to reboot its image to win over young talent: 'You have to sell them'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Erica Sweeney | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Accountants manage financial processes and financial reporting and ensure regulatory compliance. To combat shortages, those in the accounting industry are working to attract more people to the field. Sandy Torchia, the vice chair of talent and culture at KPMG, said the company hasn't been impacted by the accountant shortage yet. How the accounting industry is addressing the shortageMany firms are shifting to remote-work policies and investing in automation and technology to attract and retain talent. Lisa Simpson says the accounting industry needs automation to allow accountants to focus on "higher-value work."

☆ The Price Is Wrong in Online Dating
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Laura Forman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Financial analysts are estimating Tinder’s revenue grew only single-digits last year, down from 43% growth four years ago. Match Group is betting you can’t put a price on true love. The dating giant will be launching a new premium tier for its relationship app Hinge this quarter, a spokesperson for Match confirmed to The Wall Street Journal on Monday. The spokesperson also confirmed Match is testing subscribers’ interest in a new superpremium tier for its most popular dating app, Tinder. Bloomberg reported last week the new Hinge subscription, dubbed “HingeX,” would run as much as $60 a month, while the new Tinder subscription could cost a whopping $500 a month.

☆ Microsoft Earnings Likely Slid Last Quarter Amid Economic Concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Tom Dotan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Microsoft Corp. likely recorded its slowest sales growth in more than six years last quarter as economic concerns cooled demand for its software and cloud services. The Redmond, Wash., firm’s revenue growth is expected to slow to less than 3% in the three months through Dec. 31 compared with a year earlier while its net income is expected to fall more than 8%, according to financial analysts surveyed by FactSet . They predicted the company would announce sales of $53.12 billion and a net income of $17.21 billion for the period.

☆ Pakistan Works to Revive IMF Bailout
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Saeed Shah | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pakistan says some 33 million people were affected by devastating flooding over the summer. ISLAMABAD—Pakistan held talks Monday with the International Monetary Fund in an effort to restart a stalled bailout program, as economists warn that the country is in danger of defaulting on its foreign debt. Foreign currency reserves have shrunk to critical levels, enough to cover only about three weeks’ worth of imports, according to financial analysts. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that he had pleaded to the IMF to pause what he called harsh conditions to its loan.

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