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Nvidia shares, which had run up in the days leading up to its report, climbed more than 6% on Thursday but pared gains to end the day little changed. However, Nvidia's stock buyback - the fifth-biggest repurchase announcement among U.S.-based companies this year, according to EPFR - surprised some investors. Despite the staggering dollar amount, Nvidia's buyback amounted to only 2.1% of its nearly $1.2 trillion market value, or buyback yield, as of Wednesday. Indeed, some investors welcomed Nvidia's buyback decision. "It’s a show of confidence," said Francisco Bido, senior portfolio manager for F/M Investments' large cap focused fund, which holds Nvidia shares.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Lip, Daniel Morgan, Morgan, Refinitiv, Tom Plumb, Plumb, buyback, Howard Silverblatt, Dow, Daniel Klausner, Houlihan Lokey, Nvidia's, Francisco Bido, Lewis Krauskopf, Chibuike Oguh, Lance Tupper, Echo Wang, Stephen Nellis, Ira Iosebashvili, Matthew Lewis Organizations: NVIDIA, REUTERS, Nvidia, Companies, Wealth Management, Synovus, Plumb Funds, Arm Holdings, Dow Jones, Apple, Tech, Investments, Thomson Locations: New York, San Francisco

☆ Surface-to-air missiles are getting a workout in the Ukraine war — and not just shooting down enemy missiles and aircraft
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But reports show both Russia and Ukraine are also using SAMs to hit land targets. A S-200 surface-to-air missile system. On Sunday, a UK intelligence update said there were increasing reports of surface-to-air missiles striking land targets inside Russian-controlled territory. With the S-200s, Ukraine can strike Russia without breaking any promises to its allies. When used for attacks against land targets, the supersonic weapons are notoriously inaccurate and cause massive collateral damage.

Persons: SAMs, Ukraine's, Weeks, Ercin Organizations: Service, Patriots, TASS, Russia pummels, UNESCO, Heritage, Anadolu Agency, Getty Images, High, Artillery, Systems Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Wall, Silicon, Soviet, NASAMS, SAMs, Crimea, Western, Russian, Odessa, Getty Images Russia, Moscow, Ukrainian

☆ The top 20 areas real-estate investors are piling into for high population growth, increasing rental demand, or price appreciation, according to a property-data firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

When it comes to single-family homes, it's predominantly investors, according to recent data from CoreLogic, a property-data firm that tracks real-estate transactions. But whether they are small or large investors, they are targeting specific areas, according to the data. "All the others make sense as these have been hot real estate investment areas that have been hot for a very long time in terms of investment. Small investors are active all around the country and make up most of the investors, he said. The below table is based on CoreLogic public records data for single-family transactions.

Persons: Thomas Malone, Goldman Sachs, who's, Malone, upticks, There's Organizations: CoreLogic, Investor, Mega, McAllen, El, San Bernardino -, Thousand Oaks, Beaumont, UT, KS Locations: CoreLogic, California, Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, CA, Angeles, Long, Anaheim, Edinburg, Mission, Brownsville, Harlingen , TX, Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Francisco, Oakland, Hayward , CA, El Paso , TX, Diego, Carlsbad, Fresno, Modesto, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Bernardino - Ontario, Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Rosa, Stockton, Lodi , CA, Albuquerque, NM, Port Arthur, TX, Memphis, TN, Salt Lake City, Christi , TX, Wichita

☆ Opinion: Sending cluster bombs to Ukraine is a very bad idea
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Opinion Michael Bociurkiw | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Michael Bociurkiw CNNOn Friday, after months of debate, US President Joe Biden announced that, as part of a new $800 million military aid package, the administration will be sending controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine. “No to cluster bombs and yes to the legitimate defense of Ukraine, which we understand should not be carried out with cluster bombs,” said Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles. Discord among US allies over cluster munitions might have been avoided altogether, had western capitals moved more swiftly to provide Ukraine with lethal weaponry. To keep the Ukrainians from running out and being defeated, we must send them cluster munitions. Cluster munitions could bring Kyiv a temporary battlefield advantage.

Persons: Michael Bociurkiw, Joe Biden, “, ”, Margarita Robles, Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, Emannuel Macron, Andre Luis Alves, ” Biden, William Taylor, Jake Sullivan, Vladimir Putin —, Erin Burnett, Zelensky Organizations: Atlantic Council, Organization for Security, Cooperation, CNN, Ukraine CNN —, Michael Bociurkiw CNN, Spain’s, NATO, Tactical Missile Systems, British Storm Shadow, Defense Department, Cluster Munitions, Human Rights Watch, United States Fund, UNICEF, “, Sunday, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Twitter Locations: Odesa, Europe, Kyiv, Ukraine, Canada, Spain, New Zealand, Germany, Margarita Robles . New Zealand, Lithuania, Vilnius, Russia, France, United States, Asia, Geneva, AVDIIVKA, UKRAINE, Avdiivka, Vladimir Putin — Ukraine, Odessa

☆ These 3 stocks are troubled but I'm not ready to give up
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is also a head-scratcher. EL YTD mountain Estee Lauder YTD performance Estee Lauder just shocks me. Estee Lauder, at the end of this week, acted like there was something going on, but I can't fathom what it might be. That said, there's a suit going on in Northern California with a dying 24-year-old man claiming that excess use of J & J baby powder is to blame, which could make $8.9 billion look small. Bottom line Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder and Danaher are why this business of stock picking and running a portfolio can be so daunting.

Persons: Estee Lauder, Johnson, Danaher's, Lauder, Houdini, Fabrizio Freda, Alex Gorsky, there's, Danaher, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Spencer Platt Organizations: CNBC, New York Stock Exchange, Getty Locations: Swiss, Roche, China, Cava, CAVA, Northern California, New York City

A short position is essentially a wager an asset's price will fall, and a long position a bet it will rise. Funds expanded their already record net short two-year Treasuries futures position to more than 1 million contracts for the first time. The scale of the move lately is remarkable - the net short position has more than doubled in just two months. Notably, funds' net short two-year Treasuries position now exceeds their net short 10-year Treasuries position by some 354,000 contracts. Reuters ImageIf this is indeed hedge funds betting on an inverted 2s/10s yield curve, they are sitting pretty.

Persons: that's, Jamie McGeever, Tom Hogue Organizations: U.S, Futures Trading Commission, Reuters, Barclays, Thomson Locations: ORLANDO, Florida, U.S . Federal, U.S, York

☆ Debt ceiling optimism helps lift S&P 500, Nasdaq
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Chuck Mikolajczak | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The benchmark S&P 500 index (.SPX) rebounded from early declines on news that top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy said a deal to raise or suspend the debt ceiling could potentially be reached in time to hold a House vote next week. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden and McCarthy reiterated their aim to strike a deal soon to raise the $31.4 trillion federal debt ceiling and agreed to talk as soon as Sunday. The debt ceiling has drawn attention away from uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's stance on interest rates. Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.17-to-1 ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and seven new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 77 new highs and 74 new lows.

☆ Opinion | A Hot Mess in the Georgia Republican Party
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Michelle Cottle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

At what point does this party become mostly a bastion of wingnuts, spiraling into chaos and irrelevance? Just cast your eyes upon Georgia, one of the nation’s electoral battlegrounds, where the state Republican Party has gone so far down the MAGA rabbit hole that many of its officeholders — including Gov. The backstory: Some Republican incumbents took offense last year when the Georgia G.O.P.’s Trump-smitten chairman, David Shafer, backed Trump-preferred challengers in the primaries. (Mr. Trump, you will recall, was desperate to unseat several Republicans after they declined to help him steal the 2020 election.) “That’s a burn that’s hard to get over,” says Brian Robinson, a Republican strategist who served as an adviser to former Gov.

☆ Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he wants to 'shut down the FBI' and replace it with something that sounds a lot like the FBI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 GOP candidate, said he wants to shut down the FBI. It was a "head-scratcher" for MSNBC's Chuck Todd, who spoke with Ramaswamy on Sunday. If you're confused about 2024 GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's proposal, you're not alone. I said shut down the FBI and replace it with something new," said Ramaswamy, an "anti-woke" biotech millionaire. "So, you're going to replace the FBI with a new FBI?"

☆ Stephen King says he still owns a Tesla and admires Elon Musk, but paying $44 billion for 'a social media plaything' was ridiculous
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

King has praised Tesla in the past, but he's been more critical of Musk in recent months. "$44 billion for what's essentially a social media plaything is a little bit on the ridiculous side," the author told Slate regarding Musk's Twitter purchase in an interview that was published on Friday. In the interview, King admitted that he owns a Tesla and he thinks it's a "great car." In 2019, King praised Musk for Tesla's "fart" feature and Musk thanked him for owning a Tesla. King told Slate he doesn't plan to leave Twitter anytime soon, but he's still averse to the idea of subscribing to Twitter Blue.

LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - If a mega Western recession is coming down the pike in the second half of this year, someone should point it out to the junk bond market. The investment herd seems more convinced than ever that recession is on the way amid tightening bank credit after the March bank stress - even if not all the incoming evidence supports that take. More than a third now see the biggest risk ahead as a bank credit crunch and global recession. And that's with junk spreads more than three times higher than quality corporates. U.S. and European junk bond spreads historicallyBank of America survey on investment grade bonds vs junkCOURAGE AND DECOMPRESSIONThere's little doubt than many investors want to steer well clear, for now at least.

Feb 16 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. Or rather, it is the reaction of world markets and risky assets to the repricing that is increasingly defying logic. This has come amid an astonishing rise in U.S. bond yields, market-based implied rates, and Fed policy expectations. According to U.S. 'SOFR' rate futures the implied year-end Fed policy rate is now above 5% - four months ago it was 4%, and six months ago it was only 3%. chartIn Asia, Bank Indonesia (BI) is expected to leave its key interest rate unchanged at 5.75%, which could mark the end of a short six-month long hiking cycle.

☆ M&Ms Super Bowl commercial: How ads have become weeks-long campaigns
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The Super Bowl commercial, billed as the conclusion to weeks-long drama surrounding the status of the “spokescandies,” left some viewers scratching their heads. But if you weren’t paying attention, the final commercial might be a head scratcher -— one risk a brand takes when it uses a weeks-long campaign ahead of its Super Bowl commercial. In a change for the decades-old Super Bowl ad wars, it’s actually become a commonplace strategy to use social media to tease, preview and create buzz ahead of their Super Bowl commercials. Companies spend millions just for a Super Bowl ad slot — reportedly over $7 million for some 30-second spots — before investing into the commercials themselves. Dance contests and bettingDespite the high cost of a Super Bowl commercial, companies are eager to nab a spot.

☆ Hoping to win the $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot? Take these 3 steps to prepare for any cash windfall
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Kamaron Mcnair | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Of course, the size of the cash windfall and your own financial situation may completely change how you decide to spend it. But in any case, having the right mindset around extra cash can help you avoid squandering the opportunity when it arises. Sometimes you know a windfall is coming, like if you're expecting a decent tax refund. In any case, here are three steps you can take to prepare for a cash windfall. That can mean having a plan for all or part of your tax refund to go directly to your savings.

☆ The stock market can thrive even in the face of rising interest rates, chief investment strategist says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

i'The stock market can still rise in the face of high interest rates, according to BMO's Brian Belski. "Our work shows that the S&P 500 has historically performed quite well in higher interest rate environments," Belski said. For one, higher interest rates impact a company's cost of capital and could reduce profits if they have to pay more interest when raising debt. Additionally, higher interest rates offer investors an alternative to stocks in the form of higher-yielding bonds and money market funds, which is especially appealing after a decade of near-zero interest rates. "History tells us that a higher interest rate backdrop does not represent a detriment to US stocks."

☆ U.S. job openings jump in September; raw material prices fall in October
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | Wayne Cole | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

With roughly 1.9 job openings for every unemployed worker at the end of September, wage growth could remain elevated. "It is a head scratcher where you have to wonder whether 10 million job openings can stop a recession from coming." Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased 437,000 to 10.7 million on the last day of September, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report. Data for August was revised higher to show 10.3 million job openings instead of 10.1 million as previously reported. The job openings rate increased to 6.5% from 6.3% in August.

Marcus, Goldman's consumer banking business, will be absorbed into the wealth unit, the sources said, confirming an earlier Wall Street Journal report. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThis is the biggest shakeup since the company's investor day in early 2020 when it outlined plans for four core units: investment banking, global markets, consumer and wealth management and asset management. The reorganization comes as the Wall Street titan seeks to boost its income from fee-based businesses and cut its reliance on volatile trading and investment banking revenues. The changes also signal Marcus, the consumer unit, is being relegated after Chief Executive Officer David Solomon expressed big ambitions to build a mainstream digital bank. But the consumer banking unit that launched in 2016 has struggled to gain traction and suffered from delays.

Gifts cards and prepaid gift cards are ideal for practical or last-minute presents. AdvertisementWhat is the difference between a prepaid debit card and a gift card? A prepaid debit card lets you load a specific amount onto a card (similar to a gift card), but it functions like a debit card. Pros and cons of prepaid debit cardsPros of prepaid debit cards Use at multiple stores. With a gift card, you'll only need to pay for the amount loaded onto the card.

Persons: —, you've Organizations: Service, Visa, Mastercard

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