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☆ Explainer: What is happening in Japan's bond market?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Junko Fujita | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

TOKYO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Market forces have pushed Japanese government bond yields above policy targets. Here is what is happening and what it means:WHAT IS JAPAN'S BOND MARKET? To stimulate lending, growth and inflation, the Bank of Japan has pinned short-term interest rates at -0.1% and 10-year yields around zero since 2016. That swap yield may indicate where the 10-year bond could be if the BOJ left the market alone. "Unless the BOJ reduces its presence in the market and changes its stance that it is controlling the yield level, market liquidity won't improve."

What are credit card and bank rewards points worth? One great feature of the program is that all points are equal, so any account that earns Membership Rewards points has access to transfer partners. If you're a Bank of America Preferred Rewards customer, you'll earn 25% to 75% more points, depending on how much you have on deposit, but your rewards points are still worth 1 cent apiece. You can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou to JetBlue, but the ratio varies depending on the rewards program. However, those miles expire after 36 months regardless of your account activity, so only transfer miles when you have immediate plans to redeem them.

☆ 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.

☆ UK officials meet with unions in bid to end strikes by nurses and ambulance drivers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Senior UK government officials are meeting with labor unions on Monday in a last-ditch effort to avert another wave of strikes affecting vital public services such as health care and transport. On Monday, the education minister will meet with teaching unions, the transport minister will meet with rail unions and the health minister will meet with unions representing nurses and ambulance drivers. Workers are demanding higher pay and better working conditions in the face of record inflation and a sharp fall in living standards. Ambulance workers will strike on January 19 in Wales and on January 23 in England. Teacher unions are balloting members over a possible strike, while the British Medical Association started balloting junior doctors on Monday.

☆ Jim Cramer's top 8 things to watch in the market Monday: Stocks up, guidance trims, possible job cuts coming
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

U.S stock futures rise after the Dow Jones Industrial Average , the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq finished the first trading week of the new year higher. Barclay's cuts price target on Club name Constellation Brands (STZ) to $278 per share from $288; keeps overweight (buy) rating. 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. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

☆ UK strikes to continue after govt's talks with unions fail
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Kylie Maclellan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Teaching unions, who will announce the result of their strike ballots later this week, met with the education minister, while the health minister also spoke to unions representing nurses. The RCN, representing nurses, called the meeting with Barclay "bitterly disappointing". It said there was a long way to go if ministers want to avert nurses strikes scheduled for Jan. 18 and 19. Unions Unite and Unison, both representing health workers, also condemned the government's approach. The government has argued that inflation-matching pay rises will only fuel further price increases and cause interest rates and mortgage payments to go up further.

☆ How many Instagram followers you need to start making money
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

But at what point — and with how many followers — can an influencer start making money? With a few thousand followers on Instagram these days, it's easy to ask yourself: When can I start making money doing this? For instance, Tess Barclay, a Toronto-based nano influencer who creates lifestyle content, started earning money with a few thousand Instagram followers in 2021. Meanwhile, may other influencers start making money by earning a commission from sales via affiliate marketing. While the doors have opened for many more creators on Instagram to start making a living, often they don't start making full-time incomes immediately (although a fair number of micro influencers with under 100,000 followers work full-time as influencers).

☆ Thousands of UK ambulance staff to stage more strikes in January
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Thousands of British ambulance workers will stage two further strikes on Jan. 11 and 23 in an escalating dispute over pay and staffing, the Unison trade union said on Thursday, after a similar walkout by staff on Wednesday. While Wednesday's strike, which also involved workers affiliated to two other trade unions, lasted 12 hours, the two Unison strikes next month will last 24 hours each, Unison said in a statement. "No health workers want to go out on strike again in the new year." The strikes come as an already pressured health system faces further strain this winter, with nurses also going on strike in a separate pay dispute. British health minister Steve Barclay said meeting unions' pay demands would mean taking money away from frontline services.

☆ UK ambulance staff follow nurses in striking over pay
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Ambulances are parked at the Hollymoor Ambulance Hub of the West Midlands Ambulance Service, operated by the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, in Birmingham, Britain June 5, 2020. Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said the National Health Service (NHS) would prioritize those with life-threatening needs. "Ambulance workers – and the public – deserve better. An independent pay review body has awarded more than 1 million NHS workers a pay rise of at least 1,400 pounds ($1,704), equating to an increase of at least 4% for most ambulance staff, according to the government. The NHS Confederation, which represents national health service organisations, said the strike risked patient safety.

☆ A hedge fund manager who's up over 39% this year says these 6 cheap stocks are well-positioned to survive another bear market in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hedge fund manager Charles Lemonides is up 39% this year through November. Well-placed bets on winning stocks and against losing ones have helped his hedge fund, the ValueWorks Long Biased Composite, rise 39.4% after fees through November. Investing in Lemonides' hedge fund isn't for the faint of heart. "It's a stock-picker's market environment, and I think there are companies that are well-priced and well-positioned today," Lemonides said. Below are Lemonides' six favorite stocks right now along with the ticker, market capitalization, price-to-earnings ratio, and his summarized thesis for each.

☆ Liberians protest over economic hardship and president's absence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Alphonso Toweh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] President of Liberia George Weah arrives to address the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 22, 2022. REUTERS/Mike SegarPAYNESVILLE, Liberia, Dec 17 (Reuters) - More than a thousand people joined a demonstration in a suburb of Liberia's capital on Saturday, protesting over economic hardships and President George Weah's prolonged absence from the country. Lewis Brown, a prominent Liberian politician who served in the cabinets of former presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Charles Taylor, was the event's main organiser. "Too many people in this country are suffering, cannot pay rent, cannot pay school fees," Brown said as she addressed the crowd. Reporting by Alphonso Toweh; Additional reporting by Carielle Doe; Writing by Cooper Inveen;Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 'What a tragic day': British nurses strike in bitter pay dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Farouq Suleiman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] NHS nurses take part in a strike, during a dispute with the government over pay, outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, Britain December 15, 2022. An estimated 100,000 nurses will strike at 76 hospitals and health centres, cancelling an estimated 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries in Britain's state-funded NHS. "What a tragic day. This is a tragic day for nursing, it is a tragic day for patients, patients in hospitals like this, and it is a tragic day for people of this society and for our NHS," Pat Cullen, the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, said to the BBC on a picket line on Thursday. Polling ahead of the nursing strike showed that a majority of Britons support the action, but once the walk-outs are underway politicians will be closely monitoring public opinion.

☆ Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the market Thursday: Fed selling, chip stocks boost, Disney concern
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Barclay's raises price target on Club holding Wynn Resorts (WYNN) to $95 per share from $75; keeps an equal weight (hold) rating. Citi raises price target on Club holding Linde (LIN) to $402 per share from $322; keeps buy rating. HSBC starts Club stock Nvidia (NVDA) with a reduce rating and a $136-per-share price target; says downside not priced in. Cowen downgrades JetBlue (JBLU) to market perform from outperform (hold from buy); trims price target to $10 per share from $9. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ British nurses launch historic strike, as pay and staffing crises threaten the NHS
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“The reality is, every day, nurses across the UK are walking into understaffed hospitals,” Mackay said. “I feel really sorry for the young girls who are now trying to get into the profession, they have to pay for their training. Nurses’ pay dropped 1.2% every year between 2010 and 2017 once inflation was taken into account, according to the Health Foundation, a UK charity that campaigns for better health and health care. Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesEarlier this year, the RCN rejected an offer by the government to increase nurses’ pay by a minimum of £1,400 ($1,707) a year, which amounted to an average rise of 4.3%, well below the rate of inflation. Members of Britain’s armed forces were being trained to drive ambulances and firefight in the event of strike action, ministers said earlier this month.

☆ 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.

☆ UK health unions offer to pause NHS strikes if government joins pay talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 10 (Reuters) - British health unions have offered to suspend a wave of planned strikes in health services over Christmas and the New Year if the government agrees to open serious discussions over pay. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Unison said they would consider calling off the strikes if Britain's health and social care minister Steve Barclay agrees to host serious negotiations. "I will press pause on it when the health secretary says he will negotiate seriously on our dispute this year," RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said in a statement. "Rather than scare the public about the consequences of strikes, the health secretary should table genuine plans for improving wages," said Unison general secretary Christina McAnea in a statement. "Ministers have had constructive talks with unions, including the RCN and Unison," a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in a statement.

☆ UK strikes to hit ambulance services, hospitals and trains in the run up to Christmas
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

More than 10,000 ambulance workers represented by the GMB Union will strike again on December 28. Ambulance workers, like others in the UK National Health Service (NHS), “are on their knees,” according to GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison. According to The Times, one million UK workers are set to strike in December and January. The union said that critical care will be exempt from strike action but non-critical services will have lower staffing levels. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 115,000 postal workers, has notified Royal Mail of additional walkouts on December 9, 11, 14 and 15.

☆ Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the market Thursday: Cooler inflation, Salesforce co-CEO exit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Club holding Salesforce (CRM) saw the departure of co-CEO Bret Taylor, leaving co-founder Marc Benioff as sole CEO, again. Five Below (FIVE) blowout quarter and stock jumps more than 9% in the premarket; in keeping with the discounter retailers. 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. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

☆ Ambulance workers to strike, further disrupting health service in Britain
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Farouq Suleiman | Ajose Koilparambil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] An NHS logo is displayed outside a hospital in London, Britain May 14, 2017. Britain's state-run National Health Service (NHS) is braced for a wave of unprecedented industrial action this winter, with up to 100,000 nurses due to take strike action on Dec. 15 and 20 for the first time in their union's 100-year history. "No one in the NHS takes strike action lightly, today shows just how desperate they are," GMB National Secretary Rachel Harrison said. The union said it would meet in the coming days to discuss potential strike dates before Christmas. Thousands of health workers, including call handlers and paramedics, represented by the Unison trade union are also set to take industrial action after voting in favour of strikes.

☆ Nesta's VC arm just launched a $60 million fund to back social and climate impact startups. We got an exclusive look at the 13-slide pitch deck it used to sway its board.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The VC arm of the UK's social innovation agency Nesta just launched a £50 million ($60 million) fund. We got an exclusive look at the 13-slide pitch deck used to convince Nesta's board to launch the fund. While UK-focused, Nesta Impact Investments can invest in any geography as long as the company could have a positive impact on the UK market. In this portfolio, Nesta Impact Investments is running at 71% from minoritized or disadvantaged groups, according to Barclay. We got an exclusive look at the 13-slide pitch deck Nesta Impact Investments used to sell Nesta's board on the new fund.

☆ British nurses to stage first strikes on Dec. 15, 20
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jacob King/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoLONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Thousands of British nurses will go on strike on Dec. 15 and 20 for more pay, their union said on Friday, adding to a winter of industrial action and putting further pressure on the state-run health system. The strikes are the first of possibly several walkouts by National Health Service (NHS) nurses, which come after the government refused to meet demands for pay rises of 5% above inflation. He said the NHS had plans in place to minimise any disruption from the strikes and ensure continuity for emergency services. "Why on Earth is the Health Secretary refusing to negotiate with nurses?" "Patients already can’t get treated on time, strike action is the last thing they need, yet the Government is letting this happen."

☆ UK minister does not recognise report government wants Swiss-style ties with EU
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - British health minister Steve Barclay said on Sunday he does not recognise a report that the government wants to move towards a Swiss-style relationship with the European Union. Switzerland has negotiated access to the European single market, but in return has to accept conditions including allowing freedom movement of workers from EU countries and payments into the bloc's budget. Simon Clarke, a former minister, was among those to criticise any suggestion that Britain could pursue a Swiss-style deal. Britain is currently locked in talks with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the Brexit deal that mandated checks on some goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom due to the province's open land border with EU member Ireland. Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NHL roundup: Surging Jets tie it late, sink Kraken in OT
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

With Winnipeg goalie David Rittich pulled for the extra skater, Blake Wheeler scored his 300th career NHL goal on the power play to tie the score with 5.2 seconds left. Jordan Eberle and Brandon Tanev scored for Seattle, which is 5-1-1 in its past seven games. The Kraken took a 2-1 lead on Tanev's goal at 7:02 of the third. Bruins 5, Canucks 2Five different players scored goals and defenseman Hampus Lindholm assisted on three as Boston downed visiting Vancouver for its fourth straight win. Travis Konecny scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who went 0-for-6 on the power play en route to losing their third straight game.

☆ Premarket stocks: Crypto is in crisis. It's not just because of FTX
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN Business —The stunning downfall of FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, sent shockwaves through the crypto universe last week. Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old crypto titan and chief executive of FTX, watched billions of his fortune evaporate in a bankruptcy filing that shook the trillion-dollar industry to its core. Those efforts mean capital is drying up – and that’s not just bad for crypto but other asset classes including stocks, too. Cryptocurrencies enjoyed huge injections of money during the pandemic era thanks to the Federal Reserve’s easy money policy. “In all, the slowdown in global money growth looks set to continue over the coming year, with some contraction looking likely in the US,” wrote JPMorgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou in a note.

LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of British nurses will go on strike for the first time over demands for better pay, their trade union said on Wednesday, adding to pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during an economic crisis. "Anger has become action – our members are saying enough is enough," RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said in a statement. "This action will be as much for patients as it is for nurses. NHS nurses have seen their salaries cut by up to 20% in real terms over the last ten years, the RCN has said. Sunak's spokesperson told reporters earlier on Wednesday the government wanted to strike a balance between the "crucial role" played by nurses and its fiscal challenges.

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