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☆ Here's our January rapid-fire update on all 34 stocks in Cramer’s Charitable trust portfolio
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Here's a rapid-fire update on every stock in the CNBC Investing Club portfolio. As much as we'd like to maintain a bigger position in this roughly $472 stock, we're refraining from violating our cost basis of $291.52. ( See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust portfolio.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ China’s demographic decline can be boon, not doom
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yet China’s demographic doom is not certain. It is hard to boost birth rates, but France and Scandinavia show it can be done. If last year’s population plunge inspires Beijing to smarten up policy, demographic stress need not augur economic decline. The birth rate was 6.77 per 1,000 people, down from 7.52 in 2021 and marking the lowest such reading on record. United Nations analysts project China's population will shrink by 109 million by 2050, more than triple the rate of their previous forecast in 2019.

☆ Oil giant Aramco says windfall taxes 'not helpful' and could stifle decarbonization
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Pressuring oil companies through higher taxes is counterproductive at a time when global crude demand is set to outstrip supply, the CEO of Saudi Aramco, the world's largest and most profitable energy company, said during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Asked by CNBC's Hadley Gamble if a windfall tax on oil profits is a bad idea, Amin Nasser replied:"I would say, it's not helpful for them [in order] to have additional investment. They need to invest in the sector, they need to grow the business, in alternatives and in conventional energy, and they need to be helped." "So we need to see the support from the policymakers, and from the capital markets at the same time. Policymakers in a number of countries are calling for windfall taxes on major oil and gas companies, many of which saw record profits in the last year, as supply shocks and years of underinvestment in the sector pushed prices to multi-year highs.

Many Germans viewed the end of the Cold War as the end of major conflict for the West. Germany has since become one of Ukraine's top military supporters, having spent 2.2 billion euros on weapons deliveries. 'EMPTY-HANDED' ARMYBeyond the immediate decision on tanks, Pistorius faces the mammoth task of upgrading Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, which army chief Alfons Mais, on the day of Russia's invasion, described as "more or less empty handed". Even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Germany was 20 billion euros short of reaching NATO's target for ammunitions stockpiling, a defence source said. Analysts and experts say Pistorius will have to find his own voice to push for more spending and an overhaul of Germany's defence and procurement systems.

[1/2] A man walks beneath electricity pylons during frequent power outages from South African utility Eskom, caused by its ageing coal-fired plants, in Orlando, Soweto, South Africa, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Siphiwe SibekoSummarySummary Companies Power cuts to become less severe from TuesdayDepends on generators returning to service as plannedEskom tells politicians power cuts to continue into 2024JOHANNESBURG, Jan 16 (Reuters) - South Africa's state-owned power utility Eskom said it would shorten power cuts from Tuesday morning as 14 generators come back on tap this week, but electricity shortages look set to continue at least into 2024. The past week has seen some of the worst power cuts on record in Africa's most industrialised nation, at least six hours a day for most households and often as much as 10 hours. The company implemented power cuts on more than 200 days last year, the most in a calendar year. The utility said it had procured an additional 50 million litres of diesel, which would be used to manage pumped storage dam levels and limit power cuts.

TORONTO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Canada's most populous province, Ontario, plans to significantly expand its use of private providers to perform public health services, the premier said on Monday, in a bid to deal with backlogs and delays in a healthcare system strained by the coronavirus pandemic. Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told Global News on Sunday that Canada’s healthcare system is "on the ropes." Canada's publicly-funded healthcare system has in the past been seen by some as a model system. But critics and public health advocates have argued expanding the use of private providers is a step towards privatizing the public health system and risks cannibalizing a healthcare workforce already facing a shortage. The Ford government has said it has no plans to privatize the healthcare system.

☆ Southwest and Twitter are on a similar flight path
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Jan 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Twitter has slashed about three-quarters of employees since Elon Musk completed his buyout. But it’s also possible Twitter is building up what software developers call “technical debt” – where today’s underinvestment becomes tomorrow’s liability. The holiday meltdown at Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) is an example of how technical debt can build up even in non-technology companies. Twitter doesn’t have airplanes to keep aloft, but it too could be building up a kind of technical debt. The company had about $6 billion of operating costs in the four quarters before it went private, compared with $5 billion of revenue, which suggest there was fat to cut.

☆ England rushes to discharge hospital patients to ease bed-blocking crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Andrew Macaskill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Some patients are being treated in corridors and ambulances have been queuing outside hospitals to hand over patients to emergency wards, as doctors and nurses struggle to discharge patients amid a shortage of staff and beds. The government said in a statement it would make up to 200 million pounds ($242 million) of additional funding available in England to buy short-term care places to allow patients who doctors judge have low medical needs to be looked after outside hospital and 50 million pounds to improve existing faciliites. The statement did not say if the NHS in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would also be putting more funds into care beds. Barclays will address parliament on Monday to outline other measures to reduce the pressures facing the NHS. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last week that reducing hospital waiting lists was one of his five priorities for Britain this year.

☆ These 6 Club stocks look reasonably priced as Wall Street shuns high flyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

We're focusing on forward price-to-earnings ratios, calculated by dividing share price by estimated earnings-per-share over the next 12 months. In this high-level hypothetical, start with the multiple you want to pay and multiply that by forward earnings estimates. But now growth is less certain and interest rates are going up, so you think paying 10x forward earnings is too risky. Instead, you think paying 8x forward earnings is more appropriate, meaning you're only willing to pay $40 per share. Oilfield services provider Halliburton (HAL) trades at roughly 13x forward earnings, a valuation that we find very reasonable.

The union, which remains locked in heated contract negotiations with Southwest Airlines, published the letter Dec. 31. Kelly served as Southwest CEO from 2004 until last February, and replaced Southwest co-founder Herb Kelleher as chairman in 2008. This is not an employees of Southwest Airlines problem. The union, Nekouei wrote, "has been beating this drum to management for nearly a decade pleading with them to spend the necessary capital to prevent the ultimate consequence someday." In an emailed statement responding to the union's letter, Southwest said that "it has a more than 51-year history of allowing — and encouraging — its Employees to express their opinions in a respectful manner."

☆ Wall Street names these 20 Club stocks as top picks for 2023. Here's the list and our takes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

Club take: We've pared back our position in AMD this year as the semicondcutor company worked through its inventory correction. The company has to do more in terms of managing its costs, but it will likely be a priority in 2023. Analysts described growth outlooks in these segments as "robust" and expect them to drive revenue growth and margin expansion. BofA calls the Club stock a "top tier operator" and expects the company to grow revenue in the coming year despite fears of an economic downturn. Analysts expect to see strong data center growth next year, a business they said could reach $20 billion by 2023.

☆ Oil expected to stay volatile in 2023, but the price could depend on China reopening
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Keeping a lid on prices Oil futures fell Wednesday amid signs that China is moving ahead to normalize its economy, with the removal of border and travel restrictions. Russia's invasion of Ukraine was the biggest shock to the oil market in the past year, sending prices spiking in the first quarter. Under some scenarios, a strong reopening in China could drive oil close to about $120 if supply is short. The latest efforts to penalize Russia were Europe's ban on seaborne oil, as of Dec. 5, as well as a G-7 price cap on the price Russia can receive for its oil. Morse said more oil supply is coming on line from the U.S. and other Western Hemisphere producers in 2023.

☆ Here’s our third-quarter earnings report card for all the stocks in our portfolio
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +17 min

Third-quarter earnings season is finally behind us — and like the prior quarter, results were solid overall compared to analyst forecasts. Danaher (DHR) reported sales and earnings beats on the back of better-than-expected results in all three segments of the health technology company. While U.S. customer traffic was down in the quarter, management noted that it improved sequentially and improved throughout the quarter. Still the luxury hotel and casino company reported solid third-quarter results boosted by its U.S. properties. Amazon (AMZN) reported results that were disappointing, to say the least, and compounded by guidance that was even worse.

☆ Why Southwest is melting down
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

By Monday, air travel was more or less back to normal – unless you booked your holiday travel with Southwest Airlines. More than 90% of Tuesday’s US flight cancellations are Southwest, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Southwest warned that it would continue canceling flights until it could get its operations back on track. Similar to this month’s service mayhem, Southwest fared far worse than its competitors last October. While Southwest canceled hundreds of flights in the days following the peak of October’s disruption, competitors quickly returned to normal service.

☆ Energy stocks had a blowout performance this year. In 2023, the outlook is more uncertain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

After enjoying a monster rally in 2022, energy stocks are heading into an uncertain new year. Energy stocks surged this year after the war in Ukraine interrupted the global oil supply, and drove up the price of a barrel of oil. Ongoing geopolitical risks To be sure, not everyone believes that the outlook is positive for energy stocks, especially without the resolution of some ongoing geopolitical disruptions. That would be bad even for energy stocks. If they do add to their energy allocation, he stressed a preference for U.S. energy over global energy for a "more stable" investment environment.

☆ Dan Yergin says oil prices could hit $121 a barrel when China fully reopens
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Dan Yergin predicts oil prices could hit $121 a barrel when China fully reopens, but warned there are three major uncertainties looming over the market. "Our base case for 2023 is $90 for Brent but you have to look at other cases," the S&P Global vice chairman said, adding there are three major uncertainties: the Federal Reserve's decisions, China demand and Moscow's reaction to the price caps. "If China gets over Covid ... then you add a lot of demand to the market," Yergin told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Tuesday. That could be "one big boost" and push prices to $121 a barrel, building on strains caused by underinvestment in oil and gas, Yergin said. On the flipside, Yergin said prices could fall to around $70 per barrel in a recession.

Following Friday's trade, Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust will own 2,375 shares of HAL, increasing its weighting in the portfolio to about 3.04% from about 2.85%. Halliburton is currently going through a period where an extremely tight equipment market has given the company tremendous pricing power. While it has been a good year already for EMR shareholders with the stock up nearly 3%, we believe the stock can outperform again next year. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. A Halliburton oil well fielder works on a well head at a fracking rig site January 27, 2016 near Stillwater, Oklahoma.

☆ UK strikes set to escalate as nurses prepare for ‘unprecedented’ walkout
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“It is pretty unprecedented,” Billy Palmer, senior fellow at Nuffield Trust, a health research firm, told CNN. While small pockets of nursing staff have walked out before, the country’s National Health Service has seen “nothing of this scale until now,” he added. ‘Enough is enough’Earlier this year, the RCN rejected an offer by the government to increase nurses’ pay by a minimum of £1,400 ($1,707) a year. Each additional 1% pay rise for nursing staff would cost the government around £700 million ($854 million), he added. Internationally, it is hard to compare UK nurses’ pay, given health care systems differ significantly between countries, but it falls somewhere in the middle of the range of comparable economies, Palmer said.

☆ Pentagon Reviews Munitions Needs as Ukraine Drains Stocks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Pentagon is reassessing the U.S.’s stockpile of missiles, artillery shells and other munitions in light of the huge quantities consumed in fighting in Ukraine this year, and could find the U.S. needs to keep less ammunition in its arsenal because the Russians have fired so much of theirs, defense officials said. The sheer quantity of U.S.-made munitions that Ukrainian forces have shot at the Russians has stretched U.S. stocks and worn out howitzer barrels, military officials and company executives said. It has brought to the fore years of underinvestment in munitions manufacturing and purchasing, which the Pentagon said it aims to reverse.

☆ GameStop reports decline in revenue and sharp decrease in cash
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A screen displays the logo and trading information for GameStop on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) March 29, 2022. GameStop said Wednesday its fiscal third quarter sales declined and its cash pile sharply dwindled, as the brick-and-mortar retailer has been working to expand its digital presence. The company's cash and cash equivalents fell to nearly $804 million from approximately $1.4 billion a year earlier. GameStop has been working to become profitable and revamp its brick-and-mortar retail business, after what executives have said were years of underinvestment. GameStop said last month that it had ended its partnership with FTX, after the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy.

Following Monday's trade, Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust will own 2,225 shares of Halliburton, decreasing its weighting in the portfolio to about 3% from 3.38%. Energy stocks are early outperformers Monday, trading slightly higher at the initial open despite broad weakness in equity markets. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude — the U.S. oil benchmark — has climbed more than 5% over the past week, trading at roughly $81 a barrel in midmorning trading Monday. The latter stock in particular has climbed significantly over the past few months, rallying from roughly $25 a share in late September, to $38.45 a share as of Monday morning. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Community health groups that played crucial role during Covid-19 pandemic say they’re being left out of government funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Elizabeth Cohen Lauren Mascarenhas | Elizabeth Cohen | Lauren Mascarenhas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

“A lot of times, the funding streams have names that say ‘community,’ ‘community-based organizations’ or ‘community health workers,’ but the funding often goes to states and doesn’t end up helping at a grass-roots level,” said Denise Smith, executive director of the National Association of Community Health Workers. “HRSA strongly values the critical role that community health workers play – and can increasingly play – in supporting the health and well-being of communities. “Community health workers are frontline public health workers who are trusted members of the community they serve. The group’s promotores de salud, or community health workers, encouraged vaccination and set up a hotline to distribute accurate information about the virus. “Grantees will be able to hire community health workers, as needed and appropriate,” said Nordlund, the CDC spokesperson.

☆ "We're still early days in this downturn": A portfolio manager at Lazard reveals the 3 asset classes that will provide investors with the steadiest returns as recession fears mount — and shares 3 high
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But in a year like 2022 when stocks are down, real assets can suddenly look a lot more attractive to investors. On the other hand, real estate has been a relatively weak performer this year due to its inverse correlation with interest rates. Year-to-date the Lazard Real Assets fund is beating 85% of its peers, down 5.7% versus its category average of a negative 12% return. "It's gone from a second-class in the real estate space to now an integral part of the supply chain," he explained. Finally, in the infrastructure space McGoey highlighted Targa Resources (TRGP) as a key midstream player.

POLITICAL TALKSFollowing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, Chevron received an exemption to trade its Venezuelan crude to recoup pending debts. Chevron's four PDVSA joint ventures produced about 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil and exported the crude around the world prior to the sanctions. It also allows the U.S. company to import supplies to help process the country's crude oil into exportable grades. That limits any wider expansion of Venezuelan oil production. Chevron and other U.S. oil refiners could benefit from supplies of Venezuela's heavy crude flowing to their U.S. Gulf Coast processing plants.

TERMS OF THE LICENSEThe terms readied for approval will prevent Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA from receiving proceeds from Chevron's oil sales. And they will "the use of corrupt shadow firms that control the flow of Venezuela oil to countries like China," said a person familiar with the matter in Washington. The United States this year has kept oil prices from soaring by releasing more than 200 million barrels of the nation's emergency oil reserves. Chevron is a partner with PDVSA in several oil joint ventures that pump and process crude oil for export. Following oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, Chevron got an exemption to trade its Venezuelan crude to recoup billions of dollars in pending debt.

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