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☆ US Treasury seen boosting auction sizes as budget deficit worsens
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2023. Investors are playing close attention to this week's quarterly refunding announcement as a sharp jump in long-term Treasury yields has been partly attributed to concerns about the U.S. fiscal deficit. So far this year, the Treasury has issued about $1.6 trillion of additional bills and roughly $1.04 trillion in longer-term debt. The Treasury is also likely to announce a buyback program for a possible launch in January, aimed at improving bond market liquidity, analysts said. The projected increase in longer-term deficits in the coming years, however, will keep Treasury raising auction sizes, analysts said.

Persons: Kevin Lamarque, Guneet Dhingra, Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley's Dhingra, Tom Simons, Zachary Griffiths, Gertrude Chavez, Dreyfuss, Megan Davies, Jamie Freed Organizations: Department of, U.S . Treasury, REUTERS, TD Securities, Treasury, Jefferies, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, New York, Charlotte , North Carolina

More was riding on “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a historical crime drama about a string of murders against the Osage nation in the early 1920s. “Killer of the Flower Moon” also marks the best wide-release debut for a film from a streaming company. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, said of the “Killers of the Flower Moon” launch. As dissimilar as “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” are, they’re alike in their extended run times. “Killers of the Flower Moon" also reeled in more young moviegoers than one might have expected.

Persons: Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, ” Martin Scorsese, Taylor Swift, “ Taylor Swift, ”, Swifties, David Grann’s, Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro, mightily, Apple, Ridley Scott’s, Napoleon, Joaquin Phoenix, Matthew Vaughn’s “, ” David A, Gross, David Gordon Green, Tim Burton's, Comscore, “, “ Leo Organizations: Apple Studios, AMC Theaters, Paramount Pictures, Apple, Netflix, MGM, Sony, Universal, Paramount, Entertainment Research Locations: North America, Osage, Venice

☆ Citigroup says buy the dip in tech stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Citi isn't shying away from tech stocks. "Last quarter, we took profits on our US and Global Tech Overweights, but suggested buying dips," Citi strategists wrote in a Friday note. "We have now seen a meaningful pullback and thus upgrade global Tech once again." Tech stocks have been under pressure recently as Treasury yields rise to multiyear highs, making growth-oriented tech names less attractive. The S & P 500 tech sector is also down more than 5% in the past month.

Persons: CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Citi, Global Tech, Tech, Nasdaq Locations: Europe, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom

☆ 5 ways China's trying to get people to have more babies — from cash incentives to cracking down on the 'bride price'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In 2022, China's population started shrinking for the first time in six decades. The push for marriage and babies comes after China last year saw a record low of 6.83 million marriages registered. Here's how China has tried to get its people to have more babies over the past two years. Wenzhou, a city in southeast China, is offering would-be parents up to 3,000 yuan in subsidies per child. In August, a county in eastern China started offering couples 1,000 yuan in cash if the bride was 25 years old or younger, according to a post on its official WeChat account.

Persons: —, Trip.com Organizations: Service, United Nations, Technology, QiaoYin City Management, China Women's Federation, Authorities, Bloomberg Locations: China, Hangzhou, East China, Wenzhou, Shanghai, Shanxi, Beijing, Zhejiang, Provinces, skewing, Jiangxi, Hebei —, Sichuan, Western China

Benefiting from the highest interest rates since 2008, pension funds are better funded to meet future payouts than they have been in years. Because insurers hold a lot less government debt than pension funds, favouring higher-return assets such as corporate debt, they are expected to sell some of the gilts they receive. It is selling 240 billion pounds of debt this year, a record, save for 2020-21. Helped by the pension fund demand of past years, Britain's average debt life is around 15 years, more than double the U.S. and Germany's. Britain has already started skewing its funding towards shorter debt this year, citing high borrowing needs, a move investors reckon also reflects declining pension fund appetite.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, BoE, gilts, Chris Jeffery, Lane Clark, Peacock, Barry Kenneth, Van Lanschot, Arif Saad, Craig, Owen Davies, LGIM's Jeffery, Yoruk, Carolyn Cohn, Dhara Ranasinghe, Toby Chopra Organizations: REUTERS, Bank of England, Legal, General Investment Management, Fund, Investment, Royal London Asset Management, Investors, Yoruk Bahceli, Thomson Locations: gilts, Germany's, Britain, Amsterdam, London

☆ Law and Medical Schools Quit U.S. News Rankings. Why Did Few Colleges Follow?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Alan Blinder | More About Alan Blinder | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yale Law School started the exodus last November: Dozens of law and medical schools, many among America’s most elite, vowed not to cooperate with the U.S. News & World Report rankings juggernaut. Critics of the rankings dared to hope that undergraduate programs at the same universities would defect, too. Yale, Harvard and dozens of other universities continued to submit data for U.S. News’s annual undergraduate rankings, the 2024 edition of which will be released on Monday. That the rebellion went only so far, for now, has underscored the psychic hold that the rankings have on American higher education, even for the country’s most renowned schools. The rankings remain a front door, an easy way to reach and enchant possible applicants.

Persons: “ It’s, ”, Eric J, Gertler Organizations: Yale Law School, U.S . News, Yale, Harvard

Now, given the current high car costs and interest rates, drivers are shifting their focus to less expensive models. That shift shows in so-called "days to turn" numbers, which measure how long cars are in dealer inventory before being sold. "People have stopped going for top-of-the-line cars and are going for mid-trim cars," he added, "That's where we're starting to see the shift." Paul Waatti industry analyst at AutoPacificFive years ago, there were 12 vehicles selling for an average price of more than $100,000. Know your budget — really Most car buyers use monthly payments to conceptualize how expensive a car is.

Persons: Patrick T, Joseph Yoon, homebuyers, Yoon, Edmunds, Brian Moody, Kelley, Moody, Paul Waatti, Waatti, they're, Tom McParland Organizations: Fallon, Bloomberg, Getty, Finance, Mitsubishi Mirage, Consumers, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen —, Auto, AutoPacific, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Royce, Automatch Consulting Locations: Autonation, Carvana, Buffalo , New York, Edmunds

Media organizations including The Associated Press have requested the troopers' names. State public safety officials denied a request for the names by The Connecticut Mirror, which has a pending appeal before the Freedom of Information Commission. The judge said the union could appeal to the courts if the commission orders disclosure of the names. The union asked that the troopers’ names not be released until investigations are complete. The union says releasing the troopers' names before the investigations are complete could unfairly tarnish their reputations.

Persons: —, Rupal Shah, Shah Organizations: Connecticut State Police Union, of, Commission, Media, Associated Press, Connecticut, Information Commission, University of Connecticut Locations: MIDDLETOWN, Conn, Middletown

☆ Russia's massive brain drain is ravaging the economy - these stunning figures show why it will soon be smaller than Indonesia's
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's war on Ukraine has fueled a massive brain drain that will hobble Putin's economy. Russia's GDP, as measured by purchasing power parity, will fall behind Indonesia's in 2026. "But Russia's slide and Indonesia's ascent are both driven in large part by the same thing: people. Russia is suffering from acute brain drain while Indonesia's labor force is growing," the Council wrote. Not only is Indonesia's labor force increasing, but the influx of highly skilled workers has helped boost private consumption standards in the country, it added.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, That's, would've, Putin, Indonesia's Organizations: Service, Workers, French Institute of International Relations, Kremlin, Atlantic Council Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Indonesia's, Wall, Silicon, Russian, Soviet, Indonesia, China, Beijing

Consider this: In July, just one car model — the Mitsubishi Mirage — had an average new-vehicle transaction price below $20,000, according to Kelley Blue Book data. The $20,000-or-below barometer is a sort of unofficial price threshold for an affordable new car, said Brian Moody, executive editor for Kelley Blue Book. Five years ago, there were 12 vehicles selling for an average price of more than $100,000. The average new-vehicle purchase price today is about $48,000, up from about $30,000 in 2012, according to Kelley Blue Book. Know your budget — really Most car buyers use monthly payments to conceptualize how expensive a car is.

Persons: Kelley, Brian Moody, Moody, Tom McParland, Paul Waatti, Waatti, Joseph Yoon, they're, Yoon, McParland Organizations: Mitsubishi, Manufacturers, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan, Mitsubishi —, Automatch Consulting, Consumers, Edmunds, Auto, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Royce

☆ Return-to-office orders look like a way for elite, work-obsessed CEOs to grab power back from employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bosses who allowed fully remote work during the pandemic want workers back in the office, pronto. Experts say RTO orders come from elite, often male CEOs who prioritize work over work-life balance. AdvertisementAdvertisement"For most employees, life is partly work, but partly things outside work," Stanford economist Nick Bloom said. "These elite CEOs probably work 100-plus hours a week and they're much more work-focused." The mandates symbolize the sharp disconnect right now between the way CEOs and employees think about work.

Persons: Bosses, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Mark Zuckerberg's, they'll, Grace Lordan, —, Lordan, Elon Musk, Tesla, Stanford, Nick Bloom, Bloom, Hasan Chowdhury, Sarah Jackson Organizations: Service, Meta, London School of Economics Locations: Wall, Silicon, hchowdhury, sjackson

☆ US home builders ramped up construction in July, beating expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Anna Bahney | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Housing starts, a measure of new-home construction, climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.452 million in the month, beating market expectations of 1.448 million, according to data released Wednesday by the Census Bureau. “Buyers embraced new homes in the first half of this year as a welcome alternative to the massive shortage of existing homes,” Ratiu said. The slight increase in starts suggests builders have some optimism, she said, though it remains to be seen what future mortgage rate increases may mean for the market. “In many cases, even repurchasing their same home at today’s mortgage rates would be out of a typical buyer’s price range.”Mortgage rates are hovering around 7% and interested buyer traffic is slowing down for some builders. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, released Tuesday looks at current sales, buyer traffic and the outlook for sales of new construction homes over the next six months.

Persons: George Ratiu, “ Buyers, ” Ratiu, “ Homebuilders, ”, “, eeking, Kelly Mangold, ” Mangold, Alicia Huey, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, LEN, Horton Organizations: DC CNN, Housing, Census, “, West, Real Estate Consulting, National Association of Home Builders Locations: Washington, Midwest, West, Wells Fargo, Lennar

☆ Paul Krugman says a soft landing now looks 'amazingly within reach' after inflation report
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Consumer inflation data strongly indicates the US is on its way to a soft landing, Paul Krugman said. That means the economy could see normal levels of inflation without a spike in unemployment. "We haven't touched down on the runway yet, and a soft landing isn't guaranteed," Krugman said. The CPI report "strongly suggested" a soft landing is ahead and now looks more likely than not, he added. And digging deeper into the numbers, the cooling trend in inflation actually looks more upbeat.

Persons: Paul Krugman, Krugman Organizations: Service, New York Times, CPI Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ AI’s regulation naysayers protest too much
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Karen Kwok | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

As venture capitalist Marc Andreessen notes, AI models are made up of codes and algorithms just like other computer programmes. Moreover, AI models’ ability to extrapolate from data at high speed explains why almost every industry is deploying the technology in the hope of boosting productivity. Precisely because AI models can replicate tasks done by humans, it’s harder to spot which is which. The EU’s proposed law advocates placing AI applications into four different buckets. AI systems that could be used to influence voters and the outcome of elections and systems used by social media platforms with over 45 million users are labeled “high-risk”.

Persons: Sam Altman, Marc Andreessen, Joe Biden, Altman, ChatGPT, “, ”, Peter Thal Larsen, George Hay, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, Organisation for Economic Co, OECD, Microsoft, Watchdogs, Facebook, Meta, Twitter, Union, Bloomberg, Thomson Locations: EU, China, Canada, India, United Kingdom, United States, Brussels, Paris, Europe

☆ Influencers are outranking journalists as news sources on TikTok and other platforms that win with younger audiences
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Nathan Mcalone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Journalists rank behind influencers in driving news conversation on TikTok and other younger social platforms. Journalists are getting outflanked by influencers when it comes to reaching audiences around news topics on younger-skewing platforms like TikTok and Snapchat. But "personalities" won out on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube (by a smaller margin). While TikTok was the fastest-growing network in the Reuters report, Facebook remained the most important overall, with 28% of consumers using it for news in the last week. The Reuters report also found a difference in the topics that resonated on different platforms, which could hinder the efforts of some journalists and news organizations.

Persons: TikTok, Whatsapp Organizations: Facebook, Twitter, Journalists, Reuters Institute, YouGov, YouTube, Reuters Locations: China, Asia

☆ Evercore ISI raises market outlook and gives 'Momentum Masters' stocks to play it
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The S & P 500 could see more upside ahead after breaking out above a key level as artificial intelligence drums up market excitement, according to Evercore ISI. His new target implies the stock market could rally 3.9% from where it finished last week. That puts Emanuel above the median and average S & P 500 targets on Wall Street after previously being right around them. The S & P 500's recent breakout above the 4,200 points is a sign that AI-driven momentum first seen in the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite is now apparent in the S & P 500. Momentum masters He called this investing landscape a "Momentum Market" that requires more risk management a probabilistic thinking.

Persons: Julian Emanuel, Emanuel, he'll, Russell, —, selloff, Zscaler, BancShares, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: ISI, American Association of, Investors, Big Tech, Nasdaq, Silicon Valley Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Company, P Bank ETF, Banking Locations: Silicon

☆ Rectal Cancer Patients Could Be Spared the Brutal Effects of Radiation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

That was why researchers took another look at the standard treatment for rectal cancer. But the radiation puts women into immediate menopause and damages sexual function in men and women. Yet radiation treatment, the study found, did not improve outcomes. For colon and rectal cancer specialists, the results can transform their patients’ lives, said Dr. Kimmie Ng, a co-director of the colon and rectal cancer center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who was not an author of the study. “Now, especially, with patients skewing younger and younger, do they actually need radiation?” she asked.

Persons: Kimmie Ng, Dana, Dr, John Plastaras Organizations: Farber Cancer Institute, Penn Medicine Abramson Cancer Center

We found that when it came to pursuing male-dominated fields like computer science and engineering, gender gaps were greater when students chose to follow their passions, with men disproportionately choosing those fields. We also found that gender gaps in selecting potential future occupations were smaller when we asked people of both genders to prioritize nurturing and emotionally supporting other people. That is, if you encourage women and men to follow their passions in selecting a major or career, there is a big gender gap. If you encourage them to make money, there is less of a gender gap, with more women skewing toward traditionally masculine fields. Are we suggesting that women shouldn’t pursue their passions and should enter fields that they don’t really care about just to close gender gaps?

☆ Apple results show iPhone's 'consumer staple nature' in a tough environment, Wall Street says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Most Wall Street analysts like what they're seeing from Apple , viewing the iPhone maker's better-than-expected results as a sign of resilience and its continued ability to deliver even in a tough environment. Apple rose 2% in the premarket after posting earnings that beat expectations, driven by stronger-than-expected iPhone sales. Chatterjee has an overweight rating on Apple and a price target that implies upside of 14.6%. Softening demand 'casts a cloud' Despite the company's better-than-feared results, some analysts do expect volatility ahead. UBS analyst David Vogt reiterated his buy rating on the stock but said softening demand "likely casts a cloud on the stock near term."

☆ More and more Americans don't want electric cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Americans are getting more divided on electric vehicles. While EVs gain market share, more and more people say don't want one as their next car. Battery-powered cars seem like the next big thing, but a growing portion of Americans aren't ready to give up internal combustion. The percentage of Americans who say they're "very unlikely" to buy an electric vehicle as their next car is growing, according to JD Power, which keeps close tabs on consumer sentiment around EVs. "Top-line metrics on overall EV market share, availability and affordability have been on a long-term upward trend," the market research firm said.

April 25 (Reuters) - Star host Tucker Carlson's abrupt exit from Fox News is likely to hit short-term ratings but could nudge more mainstream advertisers to consider a network they have snubbed for being too partisan, investors and analysts said. News of his departure on Monday wiped nearly $1 billion from the market valuation of the network's parent company, Rupert Murdoch-controlled Fox Corp (FOXA.O). "It's a huge deal," said Matthew Tuttle, head of Tuttle Capital Management, an investment firm that is betting against Fox shares. The conservative-leaning Carlson's prime-time show was the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54 age demographic on Fox News - the most-watched U.S. cable news network. It's likely that advertisers who were seeking that audience may have limited other options for conservative news viewership without skewing too conservative."

☆ Fake jobs hide cooler reality for US workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

With listings for positions that don’t exist, dubbed ghost jobs, and stale postings complicating the monthly openings count, the latter signal is probably closer to reality. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 9.9 million job openings in February on Tuesday, still up 42% from the last pre-pandemic reading. Unique job postings collected from hundreds of websites have fallen back to early 2020 levels, according to ZipRecruiter. Nearly half of hiring managers said they left job openings up to give the impression their firm was growing, small-business lender Clarify Capital found in a summer survey. The discrepancy matters, since a still-elevated count probably worries the Federal Reserve, which views strong labor demand as a major contributor to inflation.

☆ The State of Payment Methods: More Choice and Economic Changes Are Affecting Consumers Spend
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Insider Intelligence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Although debit still reigns supreme, with consumer preferences moving toward digital, cash and checks will continue to be displaced in the US. But even though cash usage is dwindling, the Federal Reserve reports that 79% of US adults still hold cash daily. Cash and check usage may be dwindling, but debit and credit cards are seeing upticks among economic uncertainty. As consumers become more concerned about the economy and job security while also steadily adopting new digital solutions, we are seeing shifts away from traditional payment methods. Curious to learn more about the state of payment methods?

☆ The State of Payment Methods: More Choice and Economic Changes Are Affecting How Consumers Spend
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Insider Intelligence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

☆ At SXSW, OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman tried to quell misinformation fears around ChatGPT and says he's still 'optimistic' about the future of AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Greg Brockman, OpenAI president and cofounder, said he's still optimistic about the future of AI. Brockman spoke to a large crowd in one of the kickoff panels at South By Southwest in Austin. Despite concerns around misinformation and sentience, he thinks that AI will be a force for good. Musk, who severed ties with the company in 2018, is putting together a team to build a rival, "anti-woke" AI chatbot, The Information reported. Greg Brockman, the cofounder of OpenAI, speaks at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

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