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☆ Stocks shrug off rates risk as U.S. consumers spend
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Equities - with the Nasdaq (.IXIC) up 15% so far this year - are clinging to the positives, while in interest rate markets investors are quickly ditching hopes for cuts later in 2023. Two-year Treasury yields , which also track short-term interest rate expectations, hit their highest since November at 4.703% overnight. S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%. Elsewhere the repricing of the interest rates outlook is putting an end to a couple months of selling of the dollar in currency markets. The U.S. dollar index is eying a third weekly gain in a row - the longest streak since September, when the index was galloping towards a 20-year high.

☆ CNBC Daily Open: U.S. stocks shrug off hot inflation numbers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. January's hotter-than-expected CPI report cast a shadow over U.S. markets yesterday. January's core CPI of 5.6% is a tiny notch lower than December's 5.7%, which means that prices are still tapering off. Subscribe here to get this report sent directly to your inbox each morning before markets open.

☆ The worst is over for stocks but the bull market is 'stuck in traffic', Wells Fargo says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

US stocks have rebounded in 2023, with the benchmark S&P 500 advancing almost 8%. "We see neither a bull nor a bear market, just a market," analysts said. "We see neither a bull nor a bear market, just a market," a team of analysts led by Chris Harvey wrote in a Monday research note titled "Bear Exits, but Bull Stuck in Traffic". Wells Fargo pointed to a narrowing in investment-grade credit spreads as one sign that the bear market is coming to an end. Read more: Stocks are back in a bull market as global economic outlook is improving, says market veteran Ed Yardeni

☆ MSCI’s Adani cut signals fat tail risks for India
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Shritama Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Hindenburg founder Nathan Anderson sees MSCI's move as a validation of his group’s findings of “stock parking” by Adani. The Securities and Exchange Board of India, headed by former banker Madhabi Puri Buch, acknowledged unusual price movements this month, but without naming the Adani group. But the longer the controversy drags on, there will be a fat tail risk for Adani and all his stakeholders. CONTEXT NEWSGlobal index provider MSCI on Feb. 9 cut its determined free floats for four Adani companies. It reduced those of Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission and ACC, and said any resulting changes will be implemented at the close of Feb. 28.

☆ Biden's stock buyback tax isn't working. In State of the Union, he's asking Congress for more
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

In September 2021, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) proposed that stock buybacks should be taxed at 2%. Lazonick, who thought any minor buyback tax would be ineffective, says he has been proven correct. If a higher buyback tax is enacted, he is betting it will not have the outcomes that Democrats envision. While it's hard to see a higher tax getting passed in the current Congress, it does make sense for Biden to state his desire for 4%. Changing a buyback tax, though, might first prove harder.

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☆ Bears sent running as stock market breaks downtrend and passes key fundamental tests
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The S & P gained another 1.6% last week even after slipping back 1% Friday. Market technicals strengthening Along the way, the technical characteristics of the market are winning converts for the bullish cause. Surely at the S & P 500 level, above 18-times forward profit estimates is a demanding bogey implying so-so returns. The equal-weight S & P is closer to the longer-term average at 16, and mid-cap stocks still modestly valued compared their history. The S & P 500 is compounding so far in 2023 at a 120% annualized rate of return so yeah, expect some give-back and gut-checking.

☆ Investors Shrug Off Weak Earnings Reports as Stocks Rebound to Start Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Hannah Miao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Microsoft reported its slowest sales growth in more than six years, yet its shares finished the week higher. Lackluster earnings reports from some of the biggest companies in the U.S. haven’t put a damper on the stock market’s bounceback. Even some companies that have posted disappointing results have seen their shares rise in the following days. Microsoft Corp. last week reported its slowest sales growth in more than six years, yet its shares finished the week 3.3% higher. American Express Co. and Alaska Air Group Inc. both posted lighter-than-expected earnings and revenue.

☆ Adani scraps $2.5 billion share sale as value of his empire collapses
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Mark Thompson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The share sale — the largest offering by a company already listed on India’s stock market — had closed successfully just 24 hours earlier. But a brutal day of trading Wednesday wiped billions more off the value of his companies, including Adani Enterprises. The conglomerate has seen its value plunge by about $90 billion since the Hindenburg report was published. “Today the market has been unprecedented, and our stock price has fluctuated over the course of the day,” Adani said in a statement. Then the Hindenburg report landed.

No matter how much Kevin McCarthy swears that won’t involve cuts to Social Security or Medicare, it’s almost impossible to imagine they aren’t on the table. If Congress cuts spending to balance the budget as some Republicans have suggested, it could mean big cuts to very popular programs like Social Security and Medicare. Bret: Other than trying to find ways to slow the rate of spending growth, I can’t imagine there would be cuts to either program. They’re popular with Republican voters, too, after all. For some reason, Social Security payroll taxation stops at about $160,000.

☆ A mailman, a NASA scientist and a park ranger: Some government employees shrug off TikTok bans
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Jean-Pierre, who’s from Morristown, New Jersey, has attracted 215,500 followers on the video app where most days he posts from his mail truck during his lunch break. As of last month, all federal workers are banned from having TikTok on their work phones. In some places, using a personal device isn’t enough to get around TikTok restrictions. There’s no telling precisely how many federal workers use TikTok, but certain hashtags show the breadth of its popularity. The public relations staff at some federal agencies said they had no plans to interfere with what federal workers did on their own.

☆ AmEx misses profit estimate as loan-loss provisions weigh
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 27 (Reuters) - American Express Co (AXP.N) missed market estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Friday as the credit card giant stockpiled more rainy-day funds to prepare for a worsening economy, wrapping up a turbulent quarter for major U.S. card companies. Provisions for credit losses were $1.03 billion in the reported quarter, compared with $53 million a year ago. Net income fell 9% to $1.57 billion, or $2.07 per share, in the three-month period ended Dec. 31, from $1.72 billion, or $2.18 apiece, in the year-ago period. The New York-based company's total revenue excluding interest expense increased 17% to $14.18 billion in the quarter. Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The U.S. dollar may hold the key to whether this market rally can last
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. dollar surged in 2022, with the dollar index hitting a peak of $114.78 in September. But since September, the dollar index has slipped and is now nearing a range that could lend support to the S & P 500 . The dollar index nearing 100 is a key number that many technical analysts are watching – it was named one of the big numbers for 2023 by Oppenheimer. Still, she's also been watching the dollar's major corrective phase and per DeMARK Indicators sees an active signal on the dollar index that flashed on Jan. 13. .DXY YTD line DXY YTD "What it suggests is that from the support area, we should see a relief rally or a dollar bounce," she said, adding that this would mark a sentiment shift around the dollar.

☆ New Year, new rally: Why bitcoin is up 26% this month after a tumultuous 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"The most important macro data investors are focussing on is the weak services PMI and the trending down of employment and wage data. 'Whales' buying BTCLarger purchasers of digital coins known as "whales" may be leading the latest rally in bitcoin, according to Kaiko. Several bitcoin miners have been flushed out by the drop in prices. Bitcoin miners, who use power-intensive machines to verify transactions and mint new tokens, have been squeezed by the slump in prices and rising energy costs. That's historically a good sign for bitcoin, according to Ayyar.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, which long championed campaign finance reform, got so good at the game that it used more dark money than Republicans during the 2020 presidential campaign. He was also charged with campaign finance violations, allegedly using "straw donors" to circumvent contribution limits by giving money to allies who would then donate to politicians in their own names. There have been no campaign finance bills introduced in the new Congress, no new policies from regulators and barely even any discussion about reform. But I’m not so surprised," said Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of OpenSecrets, which tracks political donations, of Bankman-Fried’s use of the campaign finance system. "This is yet another example of how lax campaign finance rules allow someone with money to throw their weight around and build influence and maybe it is not gaining traction because it’s just one of many stories like this."

Passengers stuck at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago greeted the latest air travel disruption with a collective shrug. And our nation’s economy depends on a best-in-class air travel system. "We call on federal policymakers to modernize our vital air travel infrastructure to ensure our systems are able to meet demand safely and efficiently," he said. "An FAA system outage is causing ground stops at AUS and other airports across the country," the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said in a tweet. Air France said all of its U.S.-bound flights were operating as planned and were not affected by the FAA computer outage.

☆ This scientist was irked by the phrase 'hella' big — so he created 2 new units of measurement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Metric measurements — also known as the International System of Units, or SI — are managed by a formal international organization. The prefixes Brown came up with are ronna and ronto for 1027 and 10-27 and quetta and quecto for 1030 and 10-30. In fact, SI units used to be based on actual, real-life physical artifacts. "If everyone sticks to SI prefixes," Brown says, "you don't have to go on Wikipedia to find out how long a light-year is or the power in 1 jansky." Pražák proposed sticking to Greek words and letters.

The country’s leading experts on pardons have called out the president for his “cowardice” in granting mercy to only a handful of the over 130,000 federal prisoners. By commuting the sentences of some of the nonviolent Jan. 6 rioters, Biden would push his primary critic, Donald Trump, into a corner. Second, while Democrats have lost full control of Congress, Biden can act unilaterally to reduce the federal prison population. The power to pardon or commute federal sentences is a prerogative of the executive branch. Finally, by commuting the sentences of some of the nonviolent Jan. 6 rioters, Biden would push his primary critic, Donald Trump, into a corner.

☆ How 'Real Housewife' Jen Shah's fabulous life came crashing down
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Stephanie Clifford | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +43 min

The woman wrote to the judge overseeing Shah's case that she'd had to remortgage her house, almost divorced, and "thought about ending my own life." The couple decided that he should get his degree while Jen Shah dropped out of college to work. (Shah told a judge at her 2022 plea hearing that she had been treated for "alcohol and depression" two years prior. Koa Johnson, Jen Shah's former fashion designerWhen Sharrieff Shah did participate in filming, he quickly became a fan favorite, calm and sensible. Once the show aired and Jen Shah developed a fan base, her behavior became more dramatic, Johnson said.

While we should hold leaders accountable, we shouldn’t expect our leaders to personally risk embarrassment when making the safest choices on our behalf. Life-threatening emergency conditions are notorious for their tipping points, when things suddenly get much worse through a cascade of unwanted events. Snow is a great example of this. When a snow emergency is closing in, why do we close roads? But that decision wasn’t so simple because of the huge costs such closure incurs, especially if the emergency doesn’t materialize as forecast.

As each new year emerges, I reflect on the year before and beat myself up about what didn’t work out. That someone might be a younger version of you, begging for a chance to share their insight. Instead of excitement, I often just feel relieved that the urge to do something meaningful is temporarily muted. Right now, that tween is my wisest teacher, whose first lesson was a simple demand that I try to respect myself again. I’ve been held hostage by self-loathing and perfectionism in recent years, but thanks to my inner tween, next year’s resolutions are all about liberation.

☆ Tesla stock to close out worst year ever with a 65% loss in 2022, wiping out more than $700 billion in market cap
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tesla stock is on pace for its worst year on record as trading in 2022 comes to a close. Shares sank about 65% from the start of the year, amounting to a loss of more than $700 billion in market value. Investors have sounded the alarm on slowing demand and vehicle production, a sluggish market share in China, Fed rate hikes, and CEO Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. The Tesla stock sell-off far outpaced the losses of major indices including the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which plunged 20% and 33%, respectively, for the year. "Don't be too bothered by stock market craziness.

CNN —Barbara Walters, the pioneering TV journalist whose interviewing skills made her one of the most prominent figures in broadcasting, has died, her spokesperson confirmed to CNN. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists but for all women,” Walters’ spokesperson Cindi Berger told CNN in a statement. At that network, Walters launched “The Barbara Walters Specials” and “10 Most Fascinating People” before becoming a co-host and correspondent for ABC News’ “20/20” in 1984. Barbara Walters sits on the set of NBC's "Today" show in New York on April 23, 1976. Barbara Walters is seen at a news conference on September 30, 1976, in New York.

☆ The $113,000 GMC Hummer EV is an incredibly silly vehicle, but is also one of the most fun models I drove all year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Hummer EV Edition 1 costs $113,000 and is ridiculously large. It's ridiculously hugeThe 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1. But loads of funThe GMC Hummer EV Edition 1. As I drove around and towered over the other, lesser cars, I couldn't help but giggle at the sheer absurdity of the Hummer EV. The 2022 GMC Hummer EV Edition 1.

☆ Russian oil price cap is hitting the Kremlin's export revenue and may widen its budget deficit, finance minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The cap on Russian oil imposed by the West is hurting Moscow's export revenue, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said. "Is a bigger budget deficit possible? Price risks and restrictions," Siluanov said in the latest sign yet that the price cap could be working as intended. The effort to cap Russian oil prices went into place on December 5, with the Group of Seven nations, the European Union and Austrailia participating. Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to shrug off the price cap, arguing that the $60 level was already similar to what the Kremlin was yielding from oil sales.

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