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92255a39ec8da6cc5cf0398c78c0204b | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/05/homebuyers-are-falling-for-this-scam-some-lose-their-life-savings.html | 'I had sent my money to a thief' — hackers are coming for homebuyers. This man lost $150,000 | 'I had sent my money to a thief' — hackers are coming for homebuyers. This man lost $150,000
Prospective home buyers arrive to tour a house for sale in Dunlap, Illinois.Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Oliver Ellerbe thought he had found the perfect home for his aging parents.
The brick house in Katy, Texas, near Houston, was just a five-minute drive from his own home. At the time, his mother and father lived more than an hour away, near the city of Conroe. The distance began to pose a serious problem when his father's liver cancer spread through his body and left him unable to move about on his own.
"It became very difficult," Ellerbe, 44, said. "My wife and I were interested in bringing him closer to us."
At a real estate auction, Ellerbe, who works in the petroleum industry, made the winning bid on the house: $150,050. The moving plans began.
A few days before the scheduled closing in February 2015, Ellerbe received an email, seemingly from his real estate agent at the firm Keller Williams, notifying him that the wiring instructions had changed. Soon after, he drove over to his bank and sent the $150,050 to the new bank address.
Then he left for a hunting trip with clients. "Nothing felt off," he said.
I had sent my money to a thief.Oliver Ellerbe
On the morning of the closing, Ellerbe received an email from someone at the titling company, Solutionstar Settlement Services. They asked him when he was going to send the money. He had already done so, he explained. He showed the emails as proof.
The titling company representative told Ellerbe they hadn't sent those emails. And the wiring instructions had never changed.
"My heart sank," Ellerbe said. "I had sent my money to a thief."
So-called business email compromise scams are on the rise, with more than $26 billion lost over the last three years, according to the FBI. The problem has become an epidemic for the real estate industry, experts say.
"It started with just phishing corporations, but the real estate industry is more profitable as far as hackers go," said Dorothy Haraminac, a certified fraud examiner. "It's absolutely happening more."
Hackers target homebuyers because they typically send large amounts of money and are not always the most savvy about cybersecurity.
What's more, real estate and titling companies tend to have less robust security measures in place than other large corporations and often fail to warn consumers adequately about the rising threat.
"Many small realty companies just have a family member who's good with computers in charge of their system," said John Shirley, a private investigator.
VIDEO4:1604:16Staying ahead of scammersOn the Money
Just around half of real estate firms warn their clients about the dangers of wire fraud, according to new research by the National Association of Realtors. Around 10% of firms said they'd had an experience with the crime. "The mortgage brokers and agents do receive training on it, but they don't communicate that to the consumer," Haraminac said.
Here's how these scams usually go down: A thief hacks into a real estate or title company's computer system and then studies the transactions, from the language used to the format of the wiring instructions. When the scammer strikes, he or she will often pose as someone from the real estate or titling company to instruct the buyer to wire funds to them.
"The buyer doesn't have reason to question the request since it's coming from what appears to be a legitimate entity that is part of the buying process," said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs at AARP.
Never heard of these scams?
There's a reason for that, Shirley said. "Business email compromise scams don't get a lot of press, because usually the parties involved want to keep it as private as possible," he said. Ellerbe hired Shirley to investigate his case.
He said he did so because law enforcement let him down.
Business email compromise scams don't get a lot of press, because usually the parties involved want to keep it as private as possible.John Shirleya private investigator
Waller County Sheriff's Department in Texas first took over his case, but since Ellerbe's bank was located in Harris County, his file was soon transferred to the sheriff's department there. Then he was told his file was being taken over by the FBI.
When Ellerbe spoke to the Alabama-based FBI agent in charge of his case, he said he wasn't given much hope. "He let me know, 'We're not working on it right now. We have bigger fish to fry.'" And he told Ellerbe his money was likely in Nigeria. "You feel useless," Ellerbe said.
Scams like the one Ellerbe faced rarely lead to successful criminal investigations, said Shirley, a former sergeant in the financial crimes unit of Houston's police department.
"Unless you're talking a very large monetary amount, or you're very connected to someone in city governance, your case just doesn't get looked at," he said.
That means most people never get their money back. "It's just gone forever," Shirley said. "And a lot of times, it's their life savings."
The FBI reviews every complaint it receives, a spokesperson for the bureau said. However, she said, "resource limitations do play a role in investigative and prosecution decisions, along with the ability to collect adequate evidence to charge and convict wrongdoers."
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In the end, Ellerbe sued the real estate company Keller Williams and the titling company Solutionstar Settlement Services for negligence in civil court.
Darryl Frost, a spokesperson for Keller Williams, said the firm doesn't comment on litigation. Solutionstar Settlement Services, now known as Xome Settlement Services, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. "Companies try to point fingers and don't take responsibility for their lack of IT infrastructure," Shirley said.
The parties eventually reached a confidential settlement. However, Ellerbe said that after he paid his attorney and investigator, he was nowhere close to being made whole. And he forked up another $150,050 so that his parents could move into the house in Katy. Still, he said, it's not the money that most grates at him.
"My frustration is that this gentleman is still out there, left to steal somebody else's money," he said. "There's no movement to protect anybody else from this happening."
How to avoid real estate wire fraud:Homebuyers should understand they may be a targeted by scammers, and should act accordingly to verify any suspicious correspondence associated with their home purchase or sale."Buyers should not respond to email requests for money in the buying process — talk to your agent or the title company rather than respond to an email, especially if an email directs you to make last-minute changes to whom you're supposed to be sending money," Stokes at AARP said.Follow up with emails by calling your realtor and confirming that the message came from them, Shirley said.You can learn about the most recent scams at AARP's Fraud Watch Network.
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fac66c9dbe6e577890590736584ffa7d | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/05/us-china-trade-war-causing-small-biz-to-reinvent-customer-retention.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sharpspring&sslid=MzMwNbI0MbA0NjY0BQA&sseid=M7Q0NTIDYktLAA&jobid=6cc940e4-1bfc-4e54-9a5b-d29848ab8f33 | Here's what small businesses, slammed by China tariffs, are doing to minimize the impact of the trade war | Here's what small businesses, slammed by China tariffs, are doing to minimize the impact of the trade war
The Hapag-Lloyd AG Leverkusen Express sails out of the Yangshan Deepwater Port, operated by Shanghai International Port Group Co. (SIPG), in this aerial photograph taken in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019.Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The sweeping tariffs imposed on China for its alleged unfair trade practices was intended to set right imbalances that put U.S. companies at a disadvantage. What wasn't intended: the financial hit U.S. small businesses are suffering as a result of unraveling supply chains.
According to a recent survey by online business-for-sale marketplace BizBuySell, China tariffs have increased the cost of doing business for more than one third, or 37%, of small businesses across the U.S. As a result, 46% of those admit they are losing customers.
It's no surprise, then, that business optimism hit a five-month low in August, confirming a recent survey by CNBC that revealed that small business confidence has dropped to a level not seen since 2017. The common denominator: Small businesses firmly believe the escalating trade tensions will have a negative impact on their bottom line over the next year.
And the longer the feud with China continues, the "deeper and wider" the impact will be on them, says Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of industry trade group SBE Council.
This realization has left small businesses scrambling to figure out the best way to avoid being a victim in the escalating trade war.
Although promising pockets of hope pop up here and there — with the 13th round of talks in Washington a little more than a week away, Trump suspended yet another round of hikes on Chinese goods, and China responded by lifting levies on U.S. soybeans — the overall impact is still an atmosphere of uncertainty that has left small business owners bracing for the next punch.
BizBuySell's survey asked more than 1,700 small business owners how they will deal with the increased costs: 64% said they would raise prices, while 65% of those surveyed said they would consider switching to suppliers outside of China.
Online retailer Trend Nation, a 12-year-old Las Vegas-based company that manufactures thousands of products overseas and sells them under a house brand through marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and eBay, as well as their own website, imports about $8 million in products from Asia, mostly China, and historically had been working with a duty rate of zero to 10%.
"Since the trade war has escalated, the duty rate is now between 10% and 40%," says Trend Nation's CEO Brad Howard, claiming his company's tariff bill has gone from $800,000 to $1.6 million.
Even though Trend Nation's annual revenues are about $30 million a year, Howard calls the tariffs "a hard pill to swallow."
Joe Haddock, Trend Nation's director of product development and global sourcing, says the company is attacking the challenge on multiple levels. Their first step is a "cost-reduction strategy," he says. "We have to tell our factory partners that they're sharing the burden of this with us. We can't swallow this alone; we're not able to do that."
Online retailer Trend Nation's Joe Haddock (left) and CEO Brad Howard say they are working on cost-reduction strategies, including asking their factory partners to share some of the cost burden.Sara Lyons
The next "obvious" step, he says, is to "get out of China." But Haddock claims it's not that easy, for several reasons. Outside of China, resources are limited, there's not as much infrastructure and experience, and the manufacturing areas that do have infrastructure are quickly being snatched up by big-box retailers.
"It puts us as a small- to mid-size retailer in much of a bind because the MOQ (minimum order quantity) they want from us is astronomical," Haddock says. "It's a struggle to find good partners outside of China."
Haddock mentioned the temptation of "loopholes" such as transloading — moving product from one country to another — but said Trend Nation was a "stand-up company" and didn't "want to play in that ballpark."
Many of the factories that are opening up outside of China are Chinese-owned and -operated, he says. "So China's just basically opening up footprints outside of China. Yes, they're paying their labor force, but still all the proceeds, the revenue and everything is streaming right back into China."
Trend Nation is also looking for ways to streamline operations and get leaner, seeking ways to use more value-stream models they can run on a shoestring. "To be completely candid, we were trying to move that way before the whole tariff thing."
Howard does not take a political stance on the issue. "In the short term our business is facing a lot of financial headaches and hardships because of the trade war," he said. "But we do understand why the government is aggressively looking at China."
Howard says he is trying to understand how the U.S. government in years past put together all of the favorable breaks for China, such as shipping costs. He says the cost for him to ship a backpack across Las Vegas from his office to his home was more than the cost to ship the same item from Guangzhou to Las Vegas.
Tony Uphoff, president and CEO of Thomas Publishing, a resource for industrial product and supplier sourcing, calls tariffs' impact a kind of "tale of two cities."
With the Thomasnet.com platform tracking 72,000 different categories of product and services, and 6,000 industrial buyers and engineers making transactions every two seconds, Uphoff gets a unique overview.
VIDEO2:3902:39Trump's best bet is to back off the most extreme options and continue to negotiate: ProSmall Business Playbook
"It is very clear that we're seeing an impact of the tariffs on increased demand for North American suppliers," he says, citing that machinery was up 75% year-over-year, plastic recycling services and lumber were up 70% and steel 35%. "You can draw a direct line from the tariffs to these products."
But, he added, "it's sort of the height of irony that while it may increase your demand, buyers, especially small- to medium-size buyers, are scrambling to find suppliers who can fill their orders."
"No one is just a seller. If you're a supplier, you're also a buyer."
Uphoff said that over the entire market, regardless of location, the tariffs were being used to disrupt and increase prices by as much as 20% to 35%.
If all mills in the U.S. ran to maxed-out capacity, it still wouldn't meet the demand, he explained. Buyers have to go outside the U.S. for raw materials, and small- to medium-sized companies don't always have the pricing clout to handle the multitiered nature of global supply chains.
So while the tariff war is stimulating a refreshed look at sourcing that will benefit North American companies over time, the negative impact is disrupting vendor relationships that have been forged over decades.
Uphoff said the "vast majority" of the thousands of companies he has spent time with over the past 18 months may debate the tactics and execution of the trade war, but to a person, they appreciate the fact that the U.S. government is advocating for U.S. manufacturing.
"Frankly, a lot of manufacturers feel it's been a long time since this has happened," he said.
One small business owner in Upstate New York intends to stay in business for one major reason: "My biggest job is to keep my employees employed," says Rabbit Goody, owner of Thistle Hill Weavers, a small manufacturing company in Cherry Valley, New York, that produces high-end woven fabric for interior designers and the movie business.
The tariff war has affected her "very niche" half-million-dollar-a-year operation in an unusual way.
"We work for some of the wealthiest parts of our society," she says, "but we also work for people who are sheep farmers."
Her high-end products include one-off luxury fabrics for boutique designers, as well historic reproductions for Hollywood — the French flag and Russell Crowe's uniform in "Master and Commander" and the president's shawl in Spielberg's "Lincoln" are two of the 60 films her machines have draped.
Rabbit Goody, owner of Thistle Hill Weavers, at her jacquard in Upstate New York. Her biggest job, she says, is "to keep her sheep farmers employed."Holly Oakley
She serves her lower-end clients — farmers who have their sheep and alpaca wool spun into yarn at 50 cents a pound and then woven into scarves and blankets on Goody's looms — at a discount.
The extra bit of revenue the farmers make selling their products at farmers markets or online helps them hold on.
Goody, a self-described "original hippie," says most of the novelty yarns essential to her business come from China and her suppliers have raised their prices about 30% "to cover their asses."
Her high-end clients tend to have deep pockets, but if she has to spend more on raw materials for them, there's only so far she pass along cost increases. It leaves her with less "discretionary spending" for the low-end clients.
My biggest job is to keep my employees employed. We work for some of the wealthiest parts of our society, but we also work for people who are sheep farmers.Rabbit Goodyowner of Thistle Hill Weavers
"That's the insidious way the tariffs work in making those who are already more at the low end suffer a little more. They bear the brunt," she says.
"Once again, it's another case of the rich getting richer and not being as affected as those who mostly are affected by everything else anyhow," Goody added. "It's just bad economics, no matter how you look at it."
But Thomas Publishing's Uphoff takes a broad overview of the turbulence between the two largest economies ever created, which by definition are interdependent.
"At the end of the day, it's a global market and no one can defy a global market," he said. "Those two economies will always be trading partners."
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dbe5602f047e314b460382cfeeefced6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/06/how-us-small-businesses-are-fighting-counterfeiting-in-china.html | US small businesses are fighting an uphill battle against counterfeiters in China: 'It's like whack-a-mole' | US small businesses are fighting an uphill battle against counterfeiters in China: 'It's like whack-a-mole'
A violin student holding a Bow Hold Buddies device invented by Ruth Brons.Source: Things 4 Strings
When Ruth Brons has a break between teaching her students in New Jersey how to play the violin, she's trying to find new ways to defend her small business against counterfeiters thousands of miles away in China.
Brons, 60, became an entrepreneur a decade ago when she invented an accessory that helps students hold the violin bow correctly. It can take years of painstaking lessons to learn the right technique. Brons said that with her invention, students can hold the bow correctly from their first lesson.
Trademarked as Bow Hold Buddies, she patented her invention in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. But as her business grew, Brons realized she needed to crack the Chinese market, where interest in Western classical music is exploding.
"China is where it's happening," Brons said. "There's a rising middle class and every parent wants their child to learn a Western classical musical instrument to elevate them in society." When Brons hired an agent in 2013 to distribute her product from Beijing, they discovered there was indeed a demand in China – the problem is that they weren't the ones supplying it.
Brons and her agent Jerrie Zhao found counterfeit versions of her product already for sale on the e-commerce site Taobao. They discovered that two factories – one in the major port city of Ningbo and the other in Hengshui – were manufacturing the knockoffs, Zhao said. The counterfeits were being sold at a fraction of Brons' price.
Even worse, the patent Brons paid about $100,000 for in the U.S. had been copied. Counterfeiters had translated all 32 claims of her patent into Mandarin and registered it in China, she said.
Intellectual property theft is a pervasive issue in China and a central bone of contention in the U.S.-China trade war. In 2018, 87% of all counterfeit products seized at U.S. ports came from mainland China or Hong Kong, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Trade. It's not just a problem for the U.S. Eighty percent of all counterfeit products seized worldwide originated in China, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
While the discussion about protecting intellectual property has largely focused on big tech companies, small-business owners like Brons are fighting an uphill battle with limited resources to protect their patents and trademarks – the core of their business – in China's legal system.
Brons, through her legal representation, went to court twice in China to have the copied patents invalidated, a process that she said took years. It has cost her business tens of thousands of dollars to invalidate the patents and get listings of fake products taken down from Taobao, Brons said, but new counterfeit products keep surfacing.
"You take down one and another pops up," Brons said. "It's like whack-a-mole."
She says the annual revenue of her business, Things 4 Strings, has plateaued at around $320,000 because the fakes are hampering growth in China, which should be her most important market. And as the legal bills pile up, she has less money to invest in her business on important expenditures like advertising.
"I'm to the point where I need to write my senator," Brons said. "The legal avenues to get the knockoffs seems to be a coffer raider without a whole lot of results."
The counterfeit products also surface on U.S. e-commerce sites like Amazon and eBay, Brons said.
In April, the Trump administration warned Alibaba, Amazon, eBay and other e-commerce sites that the U.S. government would pursue a regulatory crackdown if the sites did not do more to fight the sale of counterfeit products. All three sites said they were committed to working with the U.S. government to combat fake products.
The problem with intellectual property theft in China is not due to a lack of legislation, according to Fred Rocafort, a former U.S. diplomat who has worked on IP issues in Asia for more than a decade. The domestic legal framework is adequate in China, Rocafort said, and Beijing is a signatory to several international agreements on intellectual property. "The problem emerges when you start looking at the enforcement, which takes place at the more local levels than at the national level," said Rocafort, now an attorney at the international law firm Harris Bricken. "There's a corresponding loss of enthusiasm for enforcement as you move down the chain."Combine the lax enforcement with the fact that China is the world's manufacturing powerhouse, and the result is a pervasive problem with counterfeiting and intellectual property theft. Despite the challenges, Rocafort said American businesses can have success protecting their intellectual property by working within the Chinese system.First and foremost, you have to register your intellectual property in China to have any chance of protecting it there, Rocafort said. This is where Brons' problem started.
She decided against patenting her invention in China when she was starting her business. At the time, she didn't see the point. China seemed far away and she had heard the courts didn't really enforce U.S. intellectual property anyway. Brons expressed regret about her decision, but she said getting a patent in China was just too expensive for her at the time."I could not have afforded it," she said. "I'm just a violin teacher."But the costs associated with not registering your intellectual property are also steep. Brons said she's spent at least $100,000 fighting counterfeiters in China, a substantial sum of money for her small, family-owned business. She has since registered copyright protection in China to cover the design of her product, after hearing that Beijing was doing a better job of enforcing intellectual property rights.
China has indeed instituted reforms in recent years as Chinese President Xi Jinping has made public commitments to strengthening intellectual property protection, but the U.S. has said implementation has not been sufficient.
Washington and Beijing were reportedly making progress on the issue before trade talks collapsed in May and the trade war escalated with several new rounds of tariff increases. The U.S. accused China of backtracking on its commitments, which reportedly included strengthening its laws to protect intellectual property. Beijing denied that accusation.U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators are set to meet this month in Washington, D.C., for another round of talks. "A lot China's push to improve its IP enforcement is a result of outside pressure," Rocafort said. "Frankly, left to their own devices there would probably not be a lot of progress in terms of strengthening enforcement."
To have success fighting counterfeiters, you have to be willing to cooperate with the Chinese authorities, Rocafort said. This requires doing a lot of the investigative legwork yourself, he added. Larry Griffith has had some success in enforcing his intellectual property in China. He is president and CEO of Bohning Co., a small business in northern Michigan that generates about $6 million to $7 million a year in revenue from manufacturing parts for archery equipment. Griffith knew for years that his company's trademarks were being infringed in China. He said his sales in Australia, one of his most important markets, dropped to less than $100,000 from $500,000 a year due to counterfeit products from China. In response, he decided to apply for trademark protection in China, a process that took 14 months. He said Bohning has spent about $250,000 protecting its trademarks from counterfeiters in China and in other countries where the Chinese knockoffs surface. With his trademark in hand, he hired the help of a law firm in Beijing that had a team of investigators. They identified four factories that were making counterfeit goods. Police conducted successful raids on three factories located in Ningbo. They were able to seize tens of thousands of dollars of counterfeit products in terms of the goods' estimated value in the U.S., Griffith said. None of this would have been possible without Chinese trademark protection, he added. "The Chinese government upheld our rights," Griffith said. "It was not a matter of nationalism; it was a matter of law. And I think the Chinese are like a lot of countries -- they're very legally minded; they want to be fair."
Despite this success, the battle is far from over for Griffith. His company is still finding plants making counterfeits, and he says it will likely take years to work through them all. Anyone who plans to go after counterfeiters in China should expect a time-consuming, bureaucratic, tedious and expensive process, he said.
"I think this is like paying taxes – it's never going to go away," Griffith said. "But you can really damage it. I look at counterfeiters like a bully on a playground. If you stand up to them and give them hell, they're going to find an easier target."
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54270a608dc9933266f992e5b821b25c | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/07/apple-macos-catalina-released-for-macs-whats-new-and-how-to-get-it.html | Apple's new Mac update is out, and iTunes is finally dead | Apple's new Mac update is out, and iTunes is finally dead
macOS CatalinaApple
Apple just released its big new software update for Macs. It's called macOS Catalina. Like iOS 13, which was recently released for iPhones, it offers a lot of new features for most Macs made in 2012 or later.
Here's a look at what's new and how to update your Mac.
Sidecar in macoS Catalina lets you use your iPad as a second display.Apple
Sidecar is a new option that lets you use your iPad as a second display on your Mac. This is useful if you're at a desk and want to drag windows over to another screen. To use it, tap the AirPlay button in the top-right corner of your screen and then select your iPad. It works with newer iPads that support the Apple Pencil, and you don't even have to plug your iPad into your Mac. I tried Sidecar briefly on a beta of macOS Catalina and liked that there wasn't any lag and it worked just like I had plugged a second monitor into my computer.
Apple Music will replace iTunes in macOS Catalina this fall.Apple
iTunes is dead in macOS Catalina. It's replaced by three separate apps: Apple TV, Apple Music and Podcasts. It's a smart move, since Apple users have complained for years about how clunky and bloated iTunes has become. Now, everything is separated into different places. It works well, since now I don't have to dig around iTunes to find my movies or the music tab. I can just open the app for what I need.
Music is focused purely on Apple Music streaming and the tunes you've purchased. You can browse your library, find new music in Apple Music if you pay for it, or buy and download new tunes.
Apple TV lets you watch and download movies you've purchased, browse through Apple TV Channels such as HBO and Showtime and, soon, will let you play shows from Apple TV+.
Podcasts lets you play your favorite podcasts and find new ones. A cool discovery feature I like also lets you search for content inside podcasts. So, if there's a person or topic you're interested in, you can find if it's been mentioned in any podcasts through search.
Apple Arcade
Apple Arcade recently launched on iPhones and iPads, and now it's on the Mac as well. This is Apple's $5 per month premium game service. Some games support Xbox One or PS4 controllers. You can easily connect them with Bluetooth and use them to control a game. There aren't as many games in Apple Arcade for Mac as there are on iPhones and iPads, but new games are launching soon and will continue to be released.
Catalyst on macOS Catalina is a new feature that lets developers port over their iPad apps to Mac. Apple first started this last year by launching some of its own iOS apps on the Mac, including News and Stocks. This year, Podcasts was built using Catalyst.
The tools allow developers to bring over their existing iPad apps right to the Mac, which means you might start to see some of your favorite apps that weren't otherwise available on your computer. Some of the apps I've tried include Carrot Weather and TripIt, which gives you an overview of your trips including flight times, hotel and car reservations and more.
macOS CatalinaApple
That's just a taste of what's new in macOS Catalina. There are new accessibility features that let you control your Mac by voice, Screen Time controls that will limit how long you can use certain apps and new security features. A full list of the changes is available on Apple's Catalina website.
Before you update your Mac to macOS Catalina, make sure you've backed up everything you need. Plug your Mac in and make sure you're connected to a fast Wi-Fi network. And make sure you have about an hour or so of free time where you don't need to use your computer.
Then do this:
Tap the Apple icon on the top left of your computer screen.Select System Preferences.Choose Software update.Your computer will install macOS Catalina.
I prefer the method above, but you can also find macOS Catalina in the Mac App Store.
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Follow @CNBCtech on Twitter for the latest tech product news.
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d21fb1852290568f469dfb3c09a416dd | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/07/ex-nasdaq-ceo-bob-greifeld-recent-ipos-remind-him-of-dot-com-bubble.html | Ex-Nasdaq CEO Greifeld warns that recent IPOs' unclear path to profits reminds him of tech bubble | Ex-Nasdaq CEO Greifeld warns that recent IPOs' unclear path to profits reminds him of tech bubble
VIDEO5:5005:50Companies were debuting without a path to profitability: Former Nasdaq CEOSquawk Box
Former Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld warned on Monday that this year's IPO boom feels similar to the late 1990s dot-com bubble.
"It's important to recognize that the IPO market was getting quite bubbly [nowadays]," said Greifeld, a CNBC contributor and author of the new book, "Market Mover: Lessons from a Decade of Chance at Nasdaq."
Many companies with billion-dollar valuations at the time of their initial public offerings this year got cool receptions on Wall Street. Shares of Lyft, Uber and Peloton are all among the worst performers since their market debuts.
"In a sense, it reminded me back of the dot-com era, when you had companies going public that had no known path to profitability," said Greifeld, chairman of high-speed computerized trading firm, Virtu Financial.
During the 1990s dot-com bubble, highly speculative internet stocks were the hottest assets on Wall Street, pushing the tech-dominated Nasdaq up more than 500% from 1995 until the bubble burst in March 2000. The Nasdaq crashed nearly 80% from 5,048.62 before bottoming in October 2002. It took 15 years for the Nasdaq to close above its prebubble record high. Since April 2015, the Nasdaq gained nearly 60% as of Friday's close, which was about 4% from July's all-time closing high.
In a CNBC "Squawk Box" interview Monday, Greifeld referenced the WeWork IPO, which was pulled last week after a summer of volatile headlines about slashed valuations, confusing corporate governance, and a more than $900 million loss for the first six months of 2019.
"That to me was in some ways a parody of some of the hubris you see in the start-ups," he said.
However, Greifeld said the current IPO market is "alive is well," despite some of this year's bombs.
"We shouldn't be sounding great alarm bells," he said, but added, "post-WeWork, if you don't have a path to profitability, you're going to need that."
VIDEO3:2703:27IPOs in 2019 are struggling — Four experts on what to watch nowTrading Nation
Companies going public this year will likely produce the lowest profits of any year since the dot-com bubble, according to analysis from Goldman Sachs last month. Just 24% of 2019 IPOs will report positive net income this year. In 1999, a year before the internet bubble burst, 28% of IPOs reported positive net income in their first years as public companies. That fell to 21% for companies going public in 2000.
"If you can show profitability, you'll be fine" in the current investing environment, Greifeld said. However, he stressed, "At the end of the day, you've got to take away the hype."
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af1b2652654dc66cb1828b1c60f72a91 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/07/ge-to-freeze-pension-plans-for-about-20000-us-employees-in-a-bid-to-cut-debt.html | GE to freeze pension plans for about 20,000 US employees in a bid to cut debt | GE to freeze pension plans for about 20,000 US employees in a bid to cut debt
Employees use hand tools to assemble components of a LEAP jet engine at the General Electric Aviation plant in Lafayette, Indiana, July 19, 2019.Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images
General Electric said on Monday it was freezing pension plans for about 20,000 U.S. employees with salaried benefits, as the industrial conglomerate makes another drastic move to cut debt and reduce its pension deficit by up to $8 billion.
Since taking over a year ago, Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp has carved out a number of measures to streamline the company and raise cash to pare debt. He has also chopped the company's dividend to a penny.
GE and its finance arm had total borrowings of about $105.8 billion as of June 30, with industrial net debt at $54.4 billion.
The company said it will also freeze supplementary pension benefits for about 700 U.S. employees who became executives before 2011. GE's pension plan has been closed to new entrants since 2012.
GE said the freeze is effective Jan. 1, 2021, and both moves are expected to help lower net debt between $4 billion and $6 billion.
VIDEO2:5902:59Easier places to make money than investing in GE: Portfolio managerTrading Nation
Boston-based GE said there would be no change for retirees already collecting pension benefits.
"Returning GE to a position of strength has required us to make several difficult decisions, and today's decision to freeze the pension is no exception," Chief Human Resources Officer Kevin Cox said.
Shares rose 2.6% to $8.79 in premarket trading.
The company said it will offer a limited-time lump-sum payment option to about 100,000 former employees who have not yet started their monthly pension plan payments.
GE expects to record a non-cash pension settlement charge in the fourth quarter, but did not specify the amount.
The company also said it would pre-fund about $4 billion to $5 billion of its requirements for 2021 and 2022 under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by using a portion of the $38 billion cash it is collecting from the sale of its various businesses.
The company also said it was on track to achieve its leverage goal of less than 2.5 times net debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) by the end of 2020.
WATCH: Cramer thinks GE will be higher a year from now
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7805570ae9d95db23222d010ad08ff59 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/07/impossible-foods-ceo-says-rival-plant-based-meat-products-suck.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain | Impossible Foods CEO says competitors 'suck' and reinforce 'the idea that plant-based meat replacements are terrible' | Impossible Foods CEO says competitors 'suck' and reinforce 'the idea that plant-based meat replacements are terrible'
Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown in 2019Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images
Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown is not impressed with other companies offering meat alternatives.
In an interview with Food Dive, Brown said that while the high number of companies jumping into the space shows momentum for the industry, it hurts Impossible Foods when someone else makes a product that's not up to par.
"The only negative is that most of those products, to be honest, tend to suck, and I think that hurts us," Brown said in the interview. "The best thing they could do for us is make better products because every time someone who hasn't tried our product tries one of those products, it reinforces the idea that plant-based meat replacements are terrible."
The CEO acknowledged there's a high bar when it comes to meat alternatives, Food Dive said, and it's difficult to be successful without the right combination of taste and nutrients, as well as convenience, affordability and performance.
Impossible Foods declined CNBC's request for further comment.
The company said it raised more than $300 million in a funding round in May and began selling its plant-based burger in grocery stores last month. Burger King also began selling the company's Impossible Whopper earlier this year.
Despite the company's success in the industry, Brown told CNBC in August that it's not the right time for the company to go public.
VIDEO4:0004:00Impossible Foods CEO on debut at Gelson's and competitor Beyond MeatCNBC Disruptor 50
"We've been very lucky to have great investors," Brown said. "No shortage of great investors when we need money to support our growth. From a financial standpoint, there is no urgency to go public."
Impossible Foods' rival Beyond Meat went public in May, but Brown doesn't see the competition as an issue.
"Between Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, we share less than 1% of the U.S. market for ground beef," he told CNBC. "The other 99% is still out there and it would be crazy for us to focus on Beyond Meat as the competition. We're focused on the other 99%."
Read the full interview with Food Dive here.
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68c2235af5f24579522747e586a519cd | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/07/us-lawmaker-introduces-bill-cutting-nicotine-in-e-cigarettes-amid-teen-vaping-epidemic.html?fbclid=IwAR06zXNevqCJPCuPQxOM8zyz3OdEB5IhcD2smtyrD4v0aWmIQzOW4CXTo2k | US lawmaker introduces bill cutting nicotine in e-cigarettes amid teen vaping epidemic | US lawmaker introduces bill cutting nicotine in e-cigarettes amid teen vaping epidemic
US Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois, looks as Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire arrives to testify before a hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on September 26, 2019, in Washington, DC.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., is introducing a bill that would cap the amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes as lawmakers seek to stem epidemic use among underaged teens.
The Ending Nicotine Dependence from Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Act would limit e-cigarettes to no more than 20 milligrams per milliliter of nicotine, about a third of the 59 milligrams per milliliter contained in standard Juul pods. It would allow the Food and Drug Administration to lower the cap even more to make e-cigarettes minimally addictive or not addictive at all.
While other countries around the world regulate the amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes, the U.S. does not currently have any restrictions. Supporters say the punch that market leader Juul packs helps smokers transition from traditional cigarettes. Critics say it merely makes Juul incredibly addictive, especially for teenagers.
More than one quarter of U.S. high school seniors use e-cigarettes, according to this year's federal National Youth Tobacco Survey. Krishnamoorthi and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform's Economic and Consumer Policy subcommittee are investigating market leader Juul's possible role in fueling what regulators have declared an "epidemic" of teen vaping.
Juul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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ae5b1e8d4b5ee62abcbbee6fa539f70d | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/08/justice-department-objects-to-house-getting-mueller-grand-jury-info.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain | Justice Department asks judge to block House from getting Mueller grand jury materials, says Watergate decision was wrong | Justice Department asks judge to block House from getting Mueller grand jury materials, says Watergate decision was wrong
U.S. President Richard Nixon during Press Conference Regarding Middle East Crisis and Watergate, 1973.Universal History Archive | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Justice Department lawyers on Tuesday used the example of Richard Nixon's impeachment inquiry to argue that the House Judiciary Committee should be denied its request to obtain information about grand jury materials assembled under special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of President Donald Trump.
Lawyers from the Justice Department surprised the judge, Beryl Howell, by arguing that the decision by former Chief Judge John Sirica to release normally secret grand jury materials to the House in 1974, when Nixon faced impeachment, was incorrect, and that those materials should have been kept from Congress at the time, according to NBC News.
Those materials were considered the "roadmap" that led to Nixon's expected impeachment that year. Nixon ended up resigning after before he was formally impeached.
"Wow," Howell said after the hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that the Justice Department now disagreed with Sirica's ruling.
"As I said, the department is taking extraordinary positions in this case," Howell said.
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The Judiciary Committee is seeking the Mueller grand jury information as part of its ongoing impeachment inquiry into Trump. That information would include transcripts of testimony by witnesses to the grand jury.
Douglas Letter, a lawyer for the committee, told Howell that the House of Representatives is entitled to "absolute deference" in impeachment inquiries, according to NBC News.
But Elizabeth Shapiro, an attorney in the DOJ's civil division, argued to Howell that in order to properly seek the grand jury material the House should first vote on a resolution authorizing a formal impeachment inquiry, and then seek the material through a judicial proceeding.
Letter disputed that idea.
"We are in an impeachment inquiry, an impeachment investigation, a formal impeachment investigation, because the House says it is," Letter said.
Howell ended the hearing without making a decision on the House's request.
The impeachment inquiry kicked off two weeks ago after it was revealed that Trump, who had been withholding congressionally appropriated military aid from Ukraine, pressured that country's newly elected president in July to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
VIDEO1:1901:19How to impeach the President of the United StatesDigital Original
Letter said the fact that the inquiry was sparked by the Ukraine issue did not mean that the House cannot examine Mueller grand jury material, which is not related to Ukraine, and which was produced before Trump's call with the country's president in July.
Letter said House committees are eyeing different articles of impeachment, which could include obstructing Congress from getting information to which it is entitled.
Before Trump released a transcript of his call with Ukraine's leader, the Trump administration had blocked efforts by Congress to get information about a complaint by an intelligence community whistleblower who had raised red flags about that phone call.
Howell asked a Justice Department lawyer if grand jury materials that the department is currently withholding from Congress have been shared with foreign government officials.
"I don't know the answer to that," the lawyer responded. The attorney said the department would update Howell by Friday on that question.
The Mueller grand jury had investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, possible coordination with Russians by members of the Trump campaign, and possible obstruction of justice in the Russia probe by Trump himself.
Mueller's report on his investigation found Russia had made repeated efforts to interfere in the election, but did not find evidence that Trump campaign affiliates conspired with Russian agents in those efforts.
The report did not accuse Trump of obstruction, but also pointedly did not exonerate the president of such conduct.
Letter told Howell that what Trump knew as a presidential candidate about WikiLeaks, the document disclosure activist group, could be highly relevant to the ongoing impeachment inquiry. During the 2016 presidential campaign WikiLeaks released emails that had been stolen by alleged Russian agents from the Democratic National Committee and from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta.
Referring to Trump's possible knowledge about WikiLeaks' acivity, Letter said questions for the impeachment inquiry included, "Did he lie? Did he fix the election? Did he obstruct justice?"
— Additional reporting by CNBC's Kevin Breuninger.
VIDEO6:4106:41Josh Brown: What Trump's tax bill means for your moneyInvest in You: Ready. Set. Grow.
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a0e4fbe3f8a8b0727fe6372ea381ede0 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/09/nearly-all-of-the-nbas-chinese-partners-have-cut-ties-with-the-league.html?utm_source=akdart | Nearly all of the NBA's Chinese partners have cut ties with the league | Nearly all of the NBA's Chinese partners have cut ties with the league
A Tencent reporter is seen with the Houston Rockets mascot, Clutch, before Game Six of the Western Conference Semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs during the 2017 NBA Playoffs on May 11, 2017 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.David Dow | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
Nearly all of the National Basketball Association's Chinese partners have publicly announced that they are ending or suspending their relationships with the league.
Out of the 25 official partners listed on the NBA China website, 13 are Chinese businesses. So far, 11 of those companies have distanced themselves from the league amid escalating tensions between China and the NBA.
Ctrip.com, Anta Sports, Changhong, Meiling, Dicos, EHi Car Rental, Master Kong, China Mengniu Dairy, Migu Video, WuZun and Xiaoying Technology are the Chinese companies that have ended or suspended their cooperation with the NBA, according to Chinese public statements translated by CNBC.
The remaining two Chinese partners are joint venture brands that have not issued any statements yet.
VIDEO5:4005:40China completely misunderstood the NBA situation: Michelle Caruso-CabreraSquawk Box
Earlier this week, Chinese tech giant Tencent, Luckin Coffee and Vivo announced the suspension of their relationships with the NBA.
As the country with the largest population in the world and the second-largest economy, China is one of the NBA's most important markets. That relationship began eroding over the weekend after Houston Rockets general manger Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the anti-government protests in Hong Kong. The tweet was quickly deleted and Morey apologized, but his comments drew backlash in China.
The NBA released a statement about Morey on Sunday that was translated into Chinese for the league's verified account on Chinese social media platform Weibo. A CNBC translation of the post found differences between the English and Chinese version, the latter of which sparked criticism in the U.S. for its decidedly more apologetic tone.
The NBA's commissioner, Adam Silver, apologized Tuesday for offending the league's Chinese fans, but he stood by Morey's right to express his opinions, saying the NBA would "protect its employees' freedom of speech."
— CNBC's Eunice Yoon contributed to this report.
Editor's Note: The NBA said all of its Chinese partners have suspended their relationship with the league as of Thursday, but none of them has permanently severed their ties.
Correction: An earlier version misspelled Xiaoying Technology.
VIDEO12:1512:15Sen. Ted Cruz on China trade and the NBASquawk Box
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2a86ff5882ba79dfb57c5bc4c7cd82e4 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/09/pge-cuts-power-to-millions-in-california-amid-hot-windy-weather.html | PG&E cuts power to a million people in California to prevent wildfires amid hot, windy weather | PG&E cuts power to a million people in California to prevent wildfires amid hot, windy weather
VIDEO1:4801:48PG&E shutting down power due to potential wildfire riskNews Videos
California's biggest utility shut off electricity to more than a million people Wednesday for what could be days on end, in the most sweeping effort in state history to prevent wildfires caused by windblown power lines.
The move came after two years of catastrophic fires sent Pacific Gas & Electric into bankruptcy and forced it to take more aggressive steps to prevent blazes.
The utility said it cut power to more than 500,000 customers in Northern California and that it planned to gradually turn off electricity to nearly 800,000 customers to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires during windy weather. A second group of about 234,000 customers was to lose power starting at noon, the utility said, followed by a third group the utility was still deciding on. The power outages were expected to affect about 2 million people.
Deliberate outages like these could become the new normal in an era in which scientists say climate change is leading to fiercer blazes and longer fire seasons.
The utility planned to shut off power in parts of 34 northern, central and coastal California counties to reduce the chance of fierce winds knocking down or toppling trees into power lines during a siege of dry, gusty weather.
Gusts of 35 mph to 45 mph (56-72 kph) were forecast to sweep a vast swath of the state, from the San Francisco Bay Area to the agricultural Central Valley and especially in the Sierra Nevada foothills, where a November wildfire blamed on PG&E transmission lines killed 85 people and virtually incinerated the town of Paradise.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention said it increased staffing in preparation for extreme fire weather.
The winds will be the strongest and most widespread the region has seen in two years, and given the scope of the danger, there was no other choice but to stage the largest preventive blackout in state history, PG&E said.
"This is a last resort," said Sumeet Singh, head of the utility's Community Wildfire Safety Program.
But the utility faced criticism from residents who noted that it was not noticeably windy on Wednesday.
Michael Wara, a research fellow on energy policy at Stanford University who lives in Mill Valley, north of San Francisco, said his home lost power at 2 a.m. Wednesday even though there was no wind in the area.
Wara said a forecast Tuesday night showed winds in Mt. Tamalpais, a nearby mountain, were less than 10 mph (16 kph).
"There is zero wind where I live," Wara said. "PG&E is required to shut down based on observed conditions, not forecast conditions."
Gov. Gavin Newsom said people should be outraged by PG&E's move.
"No one is satisfied with this, no one is happy with this," he said Tuesday.
The utility needs to upgrade and fix its equipment so massive outages are not the norm going forward, he said.
PG&E had warned of the possibility of a widespread shut-off Monday, prompting residents to flock to stores for supplies as they prepared for dying cellphone batteries, automatic garage doors that won't work and lukewarm refrigerators.
The news came as residents in the region's wine country north of San Francisco marked the two-year anniversary of deadly wildfires that killed 44 and destroyed thousands of homes. San Francisco is the only county in the nine-county Bay Area where power will not be affected.
Residents of the Sonoma County city of Cloverdale, population 9,300, were preparing for the possibility of zero power and downed internet and cellphone lines, which happened during a series of wine country fires that killed 45 people in 2017. Cloverdale homes were not burned then, but residents were worried sick over family in burn zones and in the dark without communications, Mayor Melanie Bagby said.
She accused PG&E of failing to upgrade its equipment.
"It's inexcusable that we're in the situation that we're in," she said. "We pay our bills, and we gave PG&E a monopoly to guarantee we would have" reliable power.
But Santa Rosa Mayor Tom Schwedhelm said he was grateful PG&E was taking proactive action. His city lost 5% of its housing during a 2017 fire that killed 22 and torched nearly 6,000 structures in Sonoma and Napa counties. State investigators determined the fire was sparked by a private electrical system, and was not the fault of PG&E.
VIDEO0:5200:52PG&E shares spiking after comments from California governorPower Lunch
It could take as many as five days to restore power after the danger has passed because every inch of power line must be checked to make sure it isn't damaged or in danger of sparking a blaze, PG&E said.
To the south, Southern California Edison said more than 106,000 of its customers in parts of eight counties could face power cuts as early as Thursday as Santa Ana winds loomed.
The cutbacks followed a plan instituted after deadly wildfires — some blamed on downed PG&E transmission lines — destroyed dozens of lives and thousands of homes in recent years and forced the utility into bankruptcy over an estimated $30 billion in potential damages from lawsuits.
The outages Wednesday weren't limited to fire-prone areas because the utilities must turn off entire distribution and transmission lines to much wider areas to minimize the risk of wildfires.
Classes were canceled for thousands of schoolchildren and at the University of California, Berkeley, Sonoma State University and Mills College.
Hospitals would operate on backup power, but other systems could see their generators fail after a few days. Outages even posed a threat that fire hydrants wouldn't work at a time of extreme fire danger.
Counties activated their emergency centers and authorities urged people to have supplies of water for several days, to keep sensitive medicines such as insulin in cool places, to drive carefully because traffic lights could be out, to have a full gas tank for emergencies and to check the food in freezers and refrigerators for spoilage after power is restored.
PG&E set up about 30 community centers offering air conditioning, restrooms, bottled water and electronic charging stations during daylight hours.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf asked residents Tuesday not to clog 911 lines with non-emergencies and urged people to be prepared. The city canceled all police officers' days off in preparation for the outages.
PG&E said it was informing customers by text and email about where and when the power would be cut. But its website, where it directed people to check whether their addresses would be affected, was not working most of the day Tuesday after being overloaded with visitors.
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f38ec71da41631b30dafea70cac98e57 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/09/yale-fellow-stephen-roach-calls-hong-kong-protests-a-destructive-anarchy.html | Yale's Stephen Roach, addressing NBA's China fallout, calls Hong Kong's anti-government protests a 'destructive anarchy' | Yale's Stephen Roach, addressing NBA's China fallout, calls Hong Kong's anti-government protests a 'destructive anarchy'
VIDEO5:4905:49Truce with China could lead to better trade discussions, says expertSquawk Box
Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University, told CNBC on Wednesday that anti-government protests in Hong Kong are out of control.
"Right now, we're talking about a destructive anarchy," the former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman said in a "Squawk Box" interview.
"Is that what standing for the people of Hong Kong means?" he asked, referring to the National Basketball Association's continued struggles to contain the fallout from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's now-deleted tweet on Friday supporting the demonstrations in Hong Kong.
Protesters have rallied across Hong Kong over the past four months in what started as opposition to a now-withdrawn bill that would have enabled extraditions to mainland China.
However, as demonstrations in the Chinese territory morphed into an anti-government movement, there's been increasing violence. Last week, Hong Kong police shot a protester and fired tear gas while demonstrators threw gas bombs.
"There's a legitimate gripe over this horribly mismanaged extradition bill," said Roach, considered a leading authority on Asia. But he contended, "It's gotten totally out of hand. It's aimed at tearing down anything and everything that stands for Hong Kong's future." He added, "I don't support that."
"Morey has no idea what he's talking about," Roach said. "It's fine that you support democracy and freedom, but in what form do you do that?"
Despite apologies from both Morey and the league, Chinese broadcasters have pulled NBA preseason games from their networks, e-commerce sites delisted Rockets merchandise and brands started reassessing their relationships with the American basketball league.
On Sunday, NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass wrote in press release that the organization understands Morey's tweets have "deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable."
"While Daryl has made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league support individuals' educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them," Bass added.
That messaging from the league — we're sorry you were offended but we're not going to muzzle our people on social issues — has not gone over well in China and the NBA has been in damage control mode.
Sen. Ted Cruz, in an earlier CNBC interview on Wednesday, was critical of the NBA, saying the league should not be an "arm of Chinese censorship" by being too apologetic, "because that exports their repressive policies and regime to the United States and globally."
Meanwhile, the Texas Republican sees the Hong Kong protests differently than Roach. The senator said, "The protesters in Hong Kong are standing up for democracy. They are standing up for human rights."
When asked for comment on Roach's and Cruz's remarks, a spokesman for the NBA referred CNBC to a prepared statement Tuesday from Commissioner Adam Silver.
"[The] NBA will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say on these issues," he said. "We simply could not operate that way."
The Hong Kong protests have been a black eye for China, which is set to resume high-level trade talks with the United States in Washington on Thursday. The U.S. has warned that strong intervention in Hong Kong by Beijing could hurt the prospects of cutting a deal to end the trade war between the two nations.
Hong Kong, previously under British rule, became part of China in 1997. As part of the handover, China vowed to respect the city's semiautonomy through a "one country, two systems" stance until 2047. However, that now-spiked extradition bill, which started the protests in Hong Kong, was viewed as another sign of encroaching influence from Beijing.
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c9759e8a9e36808fdeeeef06816b1f4e | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/chinese-vice-premier-liu-he-says-china-brings-sincerity-to-trade-talks.html | Chinese Vice Premier Liu He says China comes with 'great sincerity' for trade talks | Chinese Vice Premier Liu He says China comes with 'great sincerity' for trade talks
VIDEO5:1405:14China trade talks resume in WashingtonSquawk on the Street
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the country's top trade negotiator, said Thursday that China carries "great sincerity" to the high-level trade talks this week.
"The Chinese side has come with great sincerity and is willing to make serious exchanges with the U.S. on issues of common concern such as trade balance, market access and investor protection, and promote positive progress in the consultations," Liu told Chinese state-run media agency Xinhua on Thursday. Stocks turned higher after his comment.
"On the basis of equality and mutual respect, China is willing to reach consensus with the U.S. through this round of consultations on issues of mutual concern to prevent further escalation and spread of friction," Liu said.
The U.S. and China began their principle-level negotiations in Washington on Thursday. Markets already had wild activity overnight as conflicting reports on trade talks confused investors.
The South China Morning Post reported the two sides made no progress in deputy-level trade talks this week and Liu will cut his visit short. Later, CNBC reported that the publication's story was inaccurate, but the schedule has become "fluid," with Friday's session an "open question." Bloomberg News also reported overnight that the White House is working up a partial deal.
VIDEO2:0302:03Trump tweets he will meet with China vice premier Liu HeSquawk Box
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d8f974fecc009e3f6abcf6c41ea6eeae | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/fa-100-cnbc-charts-the-top-rated-financial-advisory-firms-of-2019.html | FA 100: CNBC ranks the top-rated financial advisory firms of 2019 | FA 100: CNBC ranks the top-rated financial advisory firms of 2019
Finding the right advisor to help with your financial needs and goals can be complicated. There are so many factors to assess. Many advisors will use a high asset under management as a selling point metric when marketing themselves to potential investors. However, AUM isn't the whole story when a potential client is determining which financial advisory firm is right for them.
The CNBC FA 100 celebrates the advisory firms that top the list when it comes to offering a comprehensive planning and financial service that helps clients navigate through their complex financial life.
The CNBC rankings are based on data culled from thousands of advisory firms and provided by AccuPoint Solutions. Factors included in the rankings were disclosures, years in business, average account size, total accounts under management, number of investment advisors, the ratio of investment advisors to total number of employees and discretionary assets under management and total AUM. Each section was weighted according to specific criteria created by CNBC and AccuPoint.
FA 100 2019
Rank Business Name Total AUM (thousands) Years in the Business Accounts Under Management 1Salem Investment Counselors1,356,991401,6522Montag & Caldwell2,100,413434393Dana Investment Advisors5,183,224392,4494Century Management Financial Advisors1,033,809389135North Star Asset Management1,577,049232,0626NewSouth Capital Management3,683,498342357California Financial Advisors1,083,937212,6278Richmond Capital Management5,506,418322329Tom Johnson Investment Management1,191,482283,27310Richard C. Young & Co.1,004,731291,48911Sound Shore Management5,104,0074162512Gamble Jones Investment Counsel1,275,053631,17613C. S. McKee9,688,4411732014Carret Asset Management2,474,880152,14015Gofen & Glossberg4,186,889423,09316Wedgewood Partners1,595,884311,14017Agincourt Capital Management6,891,9072034818Guyasuta Investment Advisors1,310,835251,06219Diversified Management1,019,999251,49820D. F. Dent & Co.4,186,401391,07621Badgley Phelps Wealth Management2,636,477461,61422Trumbower Financial Advisors1,171,6472379023Sol Capital Management1,977,2972890024Luther King Capital Management18,108,390282,67925Veritable15,021,770153,13226Southeast Asset Advisors2,037,2852496027Loring Wolcott & Coolidge7,242,359192,85028Ferguson Wellman Capital Management4,965,806433,01129Roffman Milller Associates1,409,750281,13130Zemenick & Walker1,746,6112121531Bradley, Foster & Sargent3,440,594253,18532Gillespie, Robinson & Grimm1,140,5854568733GW&K Investment Management36,961,9164537,56134Pzena Investment Management32,198,1952326735Cincinnati Asset Management2,622,351287,43836Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management1,132,901251,60037Parsons Capital Management1,254,130251,56738Leavell Investment Management1,612,506341,52839ZWJ Investment Counsel2,062,983301,92840Lee Financial Co.1,016,117231,64641Boys Boys, Arnold & Co.1,091,651291,05142Heritage Investment Group1,137,409181,65443H. M. Payson & Co.3,640,290302,89844Everett Harris & Co.6,914,9584959845Welch Hornsby1,817,958271,75946David Vaughan Investments2,428,499252,41247Highland Capital Management5,466,612214348Oak Associates1,544,0002710649Meritage Portfolio Management1,530,433281,22850Sage Financial Group1,838,269162,88051Foster & Motley1,302,8782163352Check Capital Management1,327,738282,35553The Burney Company1,684,824454,32954Bailard3,636,209501,85855Rembert Pendleton Jackson1,278,185314,43856Cadinha & Co.1,432,708284,63257SFMG Wealth Advisors1,312,434203,04658Clifford Swan Investment Counselors2,775,88310475059National Investment Services7,223,4182553660Emerald Advisors2,769,039275161Oak Ridge Investments1,250,690292,08462JMG Financial Group2,674,956342,77463J. H. Ellwood & Associates1,048,494371964Ami Asset Management1,702,861241,30865Anchor Capital Advisors2,964,915364,66866Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors2,343,319303,60967Steele Capital Management1,813,941233,54368RTD Financial Advisors1,487,4483564969Fulton Breakefield Broenniman1,124,702282,88570Segall Bryant & Hamill18,207,528243,14171Pittenger & Anderson1,479,475241,22972Sands Capital Management35,387,5801343773Caprin Asset Management1,304,006221,03274Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors5,178,3581549475Summit Financial Strategies1,147,2272076476Index Fund Advisors3,572,356196,53577Wescott Financial Advisory Group2,003,142321,93778Foundation Resource Management1,276,3911745779Lee, Danner & Bass1,096,4103145780Pinnacle Advisory Group1,954,332265,99481Alta Capital Management1,703,254382,59182Timucuan Asset Management1,662,4461847483Investment Counselors of Maryland1,807,199174784Eagle Global Advisors2,711,4142257885C. W. Henderson & Associates3,250,874281,23386Hahn Capital Management1,146,0002413287Mitchell, Sinkler & Starr1,032,3514743888Provident Trust Co.2,997,260201,17089Emery & Howard Portfolio Management1,211,890181,73590Bahl & Gaynor12,780,022212,29991Conservest Capital Advisors1,082,4822523092Northside Capital Management4,124,4201735893Tower Bridge Advisors1,299,1001790494Charles D. Hyman & Co.1,082,5672078995Latash Investments1,085,021161396AQS Asset Management2,298,622151097Investment Consulting Group1,796,6752715798Bowen Hanes & Co.2,560,6673822399Cardiff Park Advisors1,842,940162,140100E. S. Barr & Co.1,078,16126825
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b1616b36ea0163fc31d7d4590483323b | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/jim-cramer-makes-major-shift-buy-a-small-portion-in-bed-bath-beyond.html?utm_term=OZY&utm_campaign=daily-dose&utm_content=Monday_04.05.21&utm_source=Campaigner&utm_medium=email | VIDEO2:4302:43Buy 'small portion' of BBBY, says Jim Cramer, in major shiftMad Money with Jim Cramer
Bed Bath & Beyond is a stock worth buying now that the company has a CEO who is "competent," CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday.
The "Mad Money" host has long advised viewers to stay away from the home retailer. Not anymore.
"I think it's time to go positive on this one," Cramer said. "Bed Bath's been punished enough. Now that they've got a competent CEO, better than that, a great CEO coming in, I'm betting the stock could have a lot more upside."
Bed Bath & Beyond's stock rose 21% Thursday, one day after former Target executive Mark Tritton was tapped to become its president and CEO. He is set to start Nov. 4.
"Bed Bath wants to make itself relevant again and he's the guy to do it," Cramer argued.
Most recently Target's executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, Tritton played a crucial role in making shopping seamless for customers whether they were in store or online.
Cramer said Tritton also helped turn around Target's private-label business and keep its suppliers in line to avoid major impact from tariffs.
"Other than Amazon, Target's been Bed Bath's worst enemy," Cramer said. "But now they've got one of Target's best executives running the show."
It's not just Tritton's strong track record at Bed Bath & Beyond that instills confidence in Cramer. Cramer said he likes that stock is a critical element to Tritton's compensation package, rather than a large signing bonus.
"He's betting on himself, and I want to bet with him," Cramer said.
Plus, Cramer said Tritton wouldn't have taken the job if he didn't believe he could turn around the company, which has seen its stock fall from around $80 in 2013 to below $8 in August. It closed just over $12 Thursday.
"I think the fundamentals are better than most people seem to appreciate. There were some genuine positives in that last quarter," Cramer said, pointing to earnings of $.34 per share, beating Wall Street estimates of $.27.
Bed Bath & Beyond is selling at 6.4 times this year's earnings, which Cramer said is a good bargain if you believe the company will come close to beating expectations.
"At these levels, you have to stop fretting about what can go wrong. You got to start imagining about what can go right," he said.
Cramer said he also is pleased by what he heard on Bed Bath & Beyond's conference call — specifically, how it has saved hundreds of millions of dollars by improving its sourcing model and its plans to sell off smaller business units and real estate to raise cash.
"Management wouldn't put a specific number on it, but I bet it could be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion," Cramer said. "That's a big deal. Why? Cause Bed Bath's only a $1.5 billion company. Oh, and they already have about a billion dollars in cash on the balance sheet."
With plans to remove $350 million in "stale inventory" before the holidays, reducing the number of clearance items that drag down gross margins, Cramer said he is anticipating a boost in full-price sales.
"Bed Bath is back," Cramer said. "In a major change for me and Mad Money, I'd buy some of this stock here, and then if you get a pullback, you know what turnarounds do take a little time, I would definitely buy more."
VIDEO8:2808:28Jim Cramer makes major shift: Buy a small portion in Bed Bath & BeyondMad Money with Jim Cramer
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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242c7a1fd8c1010e9c9e96f7e0baa41a | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/stock-futures-open-higher-after-optimistic-trump-comments-on-us-china-trade.html | Dow jumps 300 points after Trump says US has trade deal with China that will come in phases | Dow jumps 300 points after Trump says US has trade deal with China that will come in phases
VIDEO3:1103:11Doubts emerge on tentative US-China trade deal—Five experts on what to watch nextTrading Nation
Stocks rallied on Friday after President Donald Trump said China and the U.S. reached the first phase of a substantial trade deal that delays tariff hikes that were set to kick in next week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 319.92 points, or 1.2% to close at 26,816.59, led by Apple which surged to an all-time high. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% to 2,970.27, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.3% to 8,057.04. The gains helped the Dow and S&P 500 snap a three-week losing streak. The Dow and S&P 500 gained 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively, for the week. The Nasdaq ended the week up 0.9%.
Trump told reporters at the Oval Office that phase one of the trade deal will be written over the next three weeks. The major indexes hit their session highs on this comment, with the Dow rising more than 500 points. Trump made his comments after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.
As part of this phase, China will purchase between $40 billion and $50 billion in U.S. agricultural products. Trump also said the deal includes agreements on foreign-exchange issues with China. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to hold off on tariff hikes that were set to take effect Tuesday.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said both sides struck an "almost complete agreement" on currency and financial services issues. Phase two of the deal will "start almost immediately" after the first one is signed, Trump said.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after arriving aboard Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, September 26, 2019.Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Stocks fell off their session highs shortly before the close after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said a decision had not been made over additional U.S. tariffs scheduled for December.
Stocks gained earlier in the day as Trump tweeted that "good things" were happening during the talks with "warmer feelings than in recent past."
Tweet
Big Tech shares such as Facebook, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet all gained at least 0.5%. Bank stocks also gained steam, as Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase rose more than 1.6% each. Apple jumped 3%.
Chipmakers rose broadly. Micron Technology gained more than 4%, while Xilinx climbed 3.7%.
The U.S.-China trade war has dragged on for more than a year. In that time, the U.S. has targeted billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods with tariffs. China has retaliated with levies of its own, sparking fears of slower global economic growth and weaker corporate earnings.
Investors were eagerly awaiting constructive news on trade from China and the U.S. Michael Geraghty, equity strategist at Cornerstone Capital, is still cautious, however. "We've been in similar situations before, with some kind of trade agreement seemingly at hand, but then the talks collapse," said Geraghty. "That's, in part, reflecting our mercurial president."
— CNBC's Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
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794e6780c085bf6d82cdaa387128522b | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/bernstein-upgrades-jj-says-valuation-is-historically-cheap.html | Bernstein upgrades J&J, says valuation is 'historically cheap' | Bernstein upgrades J&J, says valuation is 'historically cheap'
Amid Johnson & Johnson's legal battles the worst case is already priced into the stock and it's now a buy, according to Bernstein.
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3be9e4c8f6733b97706e39272fe45862 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/brexit-talks-continue-after-promising-signals-that-a-deal-is-possible.html | Brexit talks continue after 'promising signals' that a deal is possible | Brexit talks continue after 'promising signals' that a deal is possible
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson on September 30, 2019.Paul Ellis | AFP | Getty Images
The U.K. government's minister responsible for Brexit is meeting the European Union's chief negotiator in Brussels to continue last gasp talks this morning.
A discussion between the British and Irish prime ministers Thursday afternoon ended with both sides acknowledging that a settlement over Britain's departure from Europe could still be achievable before the current Oct. 31 deadline.
In a joint statement after their meeting, Leo Varadkar and Boris Johnson said they "agreed that they could see a pathway to a possible deal," just days ahead of a crunch EU Council summit when Johnson will seek to win over his skeptical European counterparts for a Brexit agreement that he will then try to pass through the British parliament.
Varadkar appeared upbeat after his two-hour conversation with Johnson, and said he was "now absolutely convinced" the British leader does want a deal. But he nevertheless suggested that Johnson's preferred timeline might prove to be ambitious, insisting that an agreement might be possible "in the coming weeks," rather than days.
The Irish government says it wants to be positive but realistic about a timeline, and has been at pains to point out that Brexit has brought with it many unexpected surprises in the past. One pithy official in Dublin told CNBC there have been "black swans all over the place, flocks of them."
Meanwhile, the British government has not yet confirmed whether it conceded on some of the outstanding sticking points, with U.K. ministers saying publicly that during such a "live negotiation," it would be unhelpful to provide a detailed breakdown of Thursday's discussion.
But the French Secretary of State for European Affairs Amelie de Montchalin told French radio Friday morning that "if there is no desire, particularly from the British side, for compromise, then a no deal is possible."
The pound also weakened briefly Friday morning after the EU Council President, Donald Tusk, who will chair talks between the 28 EU heads of state next week, said on Twitter that the U.K. has still "not come forward with a workable, realistic proposal." He confirmed that he had received "promising signals" from Varadkar though, and reiterated that "even the slightest chance must be used."
Any route to a deal will need to thread a narrow path through the thorny political ground of the border separating the Republic of Ireland from the U.K. nation of Northern Ireland.
VIDEO2:1502:15Have to be as diversified as possible to withstand Brexit, strategist saysSquawk Box Europe
The EU and Johnson's government have until now remained at variance over the avoidance of customs checks at that border, and the self-determination rights of Northern Ireland's residents and their political representatives.
And in Westminster, where the House of Commons will need to approve any Johnson-crafted deal almost immediately after next week's EU Council summit, legislators from across the political spectrum hold highly entrenched views on the future of Northern Ireland post-Brexit.
Analysts and lawmakers offered a mix set of reactions to Thursday's prime ministerial meeting, and outlined the potential implications for some of the other parties that have a stake in these increasingly frantic negotiations.
The office of Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the meeting "appears to have gone well," it had been "positive sounding about the potential for a way forward," and that "all sides seem willing to keep engaging in advance of the Council."
But an official at the finance ministry acknowledged there was still a "lot of work to do around customs and consent," the latter a reference to the role that the local government executive in Northern Ireland will have in shaping the EU-U.K. relationship in the future.
Johnson's proposals published last week suggested that Northern Ireland would remain inside the EU's customs union for several years, but that the assembly in Northern Ireland — often known by the name of the building that houses it, Stormont — would have the final decision on whether it remains in that customs union over the long term. The EU has yet to fully embrace that concept, but has not outright rejected it either.
"The fact they have met and are trying to be cautious and polite about each other is a positive sign," says Katy Harward, a political sociologist and senior fellow at the think tank U.K. in a Changing Europe.
"Varadkar could hardly say that there's no hope of a deal this month, it's not his place to say so."
The latest British proposals are designed to obviate the need for an insurance policy that Johnson's predecessor Theresa May had negotiated, known as the Irish backstop, that would have kept all of the U.K. inside Europe's customs union if a future trade agreement could not be finalized by late 2020.
VIDEO4:3604:36No-deal Brexit the biggest risk we face, Eurogroup president saysSquawk Box Europe
To avoid customs checks and maintain freedom of movement for goods across the Irish border, the new British stance relies heavily on technological solutions that the European Commission has thus far concluded are untested elsewhere and therefore not operable. But experts say that position may be shifting.
"To find a deal is a matter of semantics, legal high tech, which the EU Commission is good at," says Karel Lanoo, the CEO of Brussels-based think-tank the Centre for European Policy Studies.
"All other alternatives at this stage are very risky," he says of Johnson's insistence that the U.K. must exit the EU on Oct. 31, with or without an agreement with Brussels.
But Lanoo posits that Johnson's face-to-face engagement with Varadkar should be interpreted positively. "If there is a will they can find a deal. The fact that they met is already very important."
Pieter Kleppe, who runs the Brussels office of the non-partisan policy outfit Open Europe, with a focus on a post-Brexit EU, says he agrees with Varadkar's assessment that a settlement may eventually be possible "not next week but maybe after."
That will leave very little time for the Parliament in Westminster to pass legislation that approves and then enacts any new agreement, and this may in turn make it difficult for a brief extension to the Oct. 31 deadline to be avoided.
And the passage of that legislation will rely on a parliamentary majority in favor of a deal, which has been largely lacking over the past 10 months.
One member of Johnson's Conservative Party who sits in the Parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords, told CNBC the meeting Friday morning between U.K. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and the European Commission's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier would be key. Robert Hayward said that the public statements after that discussion would allow lawmakers to see "whether the logjam has begun to break."
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6fa1d89b5fe646580c25abf735e5e19c | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/ex-ukraine-ambassador-testifies-trump-pressured-state-department-to-oust-her.html | Ex-Ukraine ambassador testifies Trump pressured State Department to oust her | Ex-Ukraine ambassador testifies Trump pressured State Department to oust her
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch (C) is surrounded by lawyers, aides and journalists as she arrives at the U.S. Capitol October 11, 2019 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told House impeachment investigators Friday that President Donald Trump personally pressured the State Department to remove her from her position, even though a top department official assured her that she had "done nothing wrong."
Yovanovitch said that after she was abruptly recalled from her post in the spring, the deputy secretary of state told her "the president had lost confidence in me," according to her prepared remarks obtained by NBC News.
Read More from NBC NewsGiuliani's associates tried to cut business deal in Ukraine boasting of Trump tiesTrump loses appeal over House subpoena for financial recordsE.U. ambassador to testify in impeachment inquiry, defying Trump administration
"He added that there had been a concerted campaign against me, and that the department had been under pressure from the president to remove me since the summer of 2018," Yovanovitch told lawmakers, according to her opening statement.
The career diplomat, who said she was informed of her ouster in April, said in her statement that she was "incredulous that the U.S. government chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives."
Yovanovitch appeared for her expected closed-door deposition before the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees as part of those bodies' ongoing investigations into Trump's efforts to persuade Ukraine's new government to commit publicly to investigate corruption and the president's political opponents.
It had been unclear right up until Yovanovitch arrived whether she would appear because she still works for the State Department. The White House had vowed administration officials would not cooperate in the impeachment probe.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington D.C.'s nonvoting House delegate and a member of the Oversight Committee, said around noon that Yovanovitch had been testifying for about an hour. The interview is expected to last several hours more.
"She's acting like a true ambassador. She herself has been deeply involved and has been the object of false statements and she's clearing that up," Holmes Norton said after emerging from the room.
Holmes Norton added that "both sides are finding her very credible" and Yovanovitch had not given any indication that anyone attempted to prevent her from answering questions from lawmakers as expected Friday.
Asked about whether the former ambassador to Ukraine had spoken about Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, Holmes Norton said, "They're just getting — that is becoming very, very deep."
Yovanovitch had previously been scheduled to be deposed by the committees on Oct. 2, but the appearance was postponed.
In a letter to House Democrats last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back against Democrats' request to interview five current and former State Department employees, including Yovanovitch.
Yovanovitch has emerged as a potentially key figure in the investigation by House Democrats.
In Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump referred to Yovanovitch as "bad news."
She departed Ukraine in May, months ahead of her scheduled departure, after coming under attack from right-wing media, who alleged she was hostile to the president. Her departure set off alarm bells among Democrats in Congress but the State Department said at the time her exit was planned.
According to the intelligence community whistleblower complaint at the heart of Democrats' impeachment inquiry, Yovanovitch's tenure was cut short because she had run afoul of the then-prosecutor general in Ukraine, Yuri Lutsenko, and Giuliani. Lutsenko at one point alleged she had given him a "do not prosecute" list. The State Department has said the assertion was an outright fabrication and Lutsenko himself later walked back his comments.
Yovanovitch, according to her prepared remarks, addressed Lutsenko's since-recanted allegation, telling lawmakers that she wanted to "categorically state that I have never myself or through others, directly or indirectly, ever directed, suggested, or in any other way asked for any government or government official in Ukraine (or elsewhere) to refrain from investigating or prosecuting actual corruption."
She added, "As Mr. Lutsenko, the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General has recently acknowledged, the notion that I created or disseminated a 'do not prosecute' list is completely false—a story that Mr. Lutsenko, himself, has since retracted."
She also called the notion that she was "disloyal" to Trump "fictitious," and said she did not know Giuliani's motives for attacking her.
"But individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine," she told House investigators, according to her statement.
Yovanovitch's former colleagues have described her as one of the State Department's most talented and conscientious diplomats, and that it would be totally out of character for her to engage in partisan politics.
During her tenure, Yovanovitch was outspoken in her calls for Ukraine to tackle corruption, a stance in keeping with U.S. policy over successive administrations.
After Yovanovitch gave a tough speech in March urging the government to sack a senior anti-corruption official, she came under fire from Lutsenko, conservative voices in the U.S. and the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
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7a64508219054119f6be902c5921d96f | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/mental-health-issues-cause-record-numbers-of-gen-x-z-to-leave-jobs.html?recirc=taboolainternal | Half of millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left their job for mental health reasons | Half of millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left their job for mental health reasons
Christopher Robbins | Photodisc | Getty Images
Cases of burnout have been increasing at an alarming rate in recent years among millennials and Gen Zers. It's a growing problem in today's workplace because of trends like rising workloads, limited staff and resources and long hours.
It's no surprise, then, that a recent study by Mind Share Partners, Qualtrics and SAP reveals that half of millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left a job for mental health reasons.
The study, which looked at mental-health challenges and stigmas in the U.S. workplace, polled 1,500 respondents ages 16 and older working full-time. Another recent study, by the American Psychological Association, found the percentage of young adults experiencing certain types of mental health disorders has increased significantly in the past decade. In particular, the percentage of people dealing with suicidal thoughts increased 47 percent from 2008 to 2017.
The Mind Share Partners, SAP, and Qualtrics study also shows that the younger generations suffer more from mental illnesses. Younger people dealt with a mental illness at about three times the rate of the general population. The findings are corroborated by another recent study, which shows that while the amount of serious psychological distress increased across most age groups, the largest increase between 2008 and 2017 was among adults ages 18–25, at 71%. For adults ages 20–21, the figure was 78%.
For more on tech, transformation and the future of work, join CNBC at the @ Work: People + Machines Summit in San Francisco on Nov. 4. Leaders from Dropbox, SAS, McKinsey and more will teach us how to balance the needs of today with the possibilities of tomorrow, and the winning strategies to compete.
A 2017 report from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State University, meanwhile, found the number of students at various colleges and universities seeking mental health help increased five-fold from 2011 to 2016.
While there's no definitive cause of the trend, some researchers shared their thoughts with CNBC.
Jean Twenge, author of iGen, a book about the effect technology has on this generation, says that "the rise of the smartphone and social media have at least something to do with it."
Twenge said the general pattern is that teens and young adults are spending less time face-to-face with others and more time on their screens. "The pattern lines up very precisely that the majority of Americans owned a smartphone from the beginning of 2012 to 2013," she said. She noted that at that time, mental health issues began to spike.
"Reading about a news event is not going to have the effect on your life and mental health as a fundamental shift in how you spend your time," she said. "And that's what's happened. Less time sleeping, less time on face-to-face interactions is not a formula for better mental health."
VIDEO22:2322:23My "Crazy" Story: Changing the game of mental health at CNBC's @Work SummitAt Work
But Peter Gray, a research professor at Boston College, said that it's not social media or young people's fractured attention spans that are causing their anxiety; it is school itself.
He traces a progression from the mid-1950s in which society has gradually taken away children's internal locus of control (someone with an internal locus of control is likely to believe that both successes and failures are due to their own efforts).
As a result, many young people today are lost. "Since the mid-1950s, when they began taking away children's play, people haven't learned to take control of their own lives." Gray said that control is essential to ward off excessive anxiety.
Gray advocates overhauling our educational system to instill more of that focus. He supports the Let Grow Kids Foundation and others. His advice for students is to take a year off between high school and college to check out careers they may be interested in.
Whatever the cause, the statistic highlights several issues plaguing millennials, like a rise in depression and "deaths of despair" (death from drugs, alcohol and suicide), unaffordable living costs and burnout.
Eighty-six percent of respondents in the Mind Share Partners, SAP, and Qualtrics study said a company's culture should support mental health. "Mental health is becoming the next frontier of diversity and inclusion, and employees want their companies to address it," the authors wrote.
Roughly 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. per year suffer from mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The costs to treat depression, stress, anxiety and other ailments exceeds $200 billion a year, and for many employers the number of sick days and lost productivity associated with mental health represent one of their biggest expenses.
The extent of the problem has caught some off guard. Fran Katsoudas, chief people officer at Cisco, recalled that after the deaths of celebrities Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade last year, the company's CEO, Chuck Robbins, sent out a company-wide email addressing the issues of mental health and suicide.
In it he wrote: "In light of recent tragedies, I wanted to step away from Cisco Live for a moment to talk about the importance of mental health. Unfortunately, we all know friends, family, and coworkers battling mental health conditions, or maybe you're going through your own struggles."
Robbins, who took over the CEO role in 2015, encouraged employees to "talk openly and extend compassion" and asked that they "have each other's backs."
Katsoudas said the response from Robbins' email was unlike anything the company had ever seen before. "This was a conversation that our employees wanted to have — and not only the conversation, but they needed support."
Cisco is optimistic about the opportunity to drive culture change and create an environment where mental health is viewed, spoken about and supported in the same way as physical health.Cisco spokesperson
Cisco immediately took action to establish a culture of acceptance and pave the way for these conversations. One of their first steps was to include mental health services in the company's health-care coverage. In addition, Cisco launched #SafetoTalk, which it calls the first virtual community for employees to come forward and connect weekly with others to share their struggles.
"Each of us has a role to play in making sure that those suffering feel less afraid to ask for support in the moments they need it most. No one needs to go it alone," said Robbins in a note to Cisco employees about #SafetoTalk.
This week Cisco celebrated World Mental Health Day with a series of weeklong activities and virtual event sessions with Cisco employees and mental health experts. Though it's still early, Cisco claims that 7% of its U.S. workforce is accessing some form of mental health and substance abuse treatment. The programs are available to all of Cisco's 75,000 employees and 11,000 managers.
"Cisco is optimistic about the opportunity to drive culture change and create an environment where mental health is viewed, spoken about and supported in the same way as physical health," said a company spokesperson, adding that U.S. engagement for Cisco's Employee and Family Assistance Program is 40%, compared to 24% for Cisco's peers.
Despite such programs, according to Katsoudas, there is more to be done, and Cisco is betting that proactive measures could be key.
"In addition to all of these services that respond, we're also taking a look at how you reduce some of the stress in the system — how you ensure that people don't get to a place where they feel burned out," says Katsoudas.
To address this, Cisco is currently offering its employees a five-session course designed to enhance concentration, resiliency and creative thinking, where participants learn simple cognitive strategies and engage in mental training exercises to optimize their performance at work.
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1dfb4e49013a7d208ff5c6263deef446 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/wall-street-has-doubts-after-partial-trade-deal.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosmarkets&stream=business | Wall Street has doubts after partial trade deal: 'I don't think this gets us to Christmas' | Wall Street has doubts after partial trade deal: 'I don't think this gets us to Christmas'
President Donald Trump speaks after announcing and initial deal with China while meeting the special Envoy and Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China Liu He at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on October 11, 2019.Nicholas Kamm | AFP | Getty Images
After a partial trade deal, what's next?
The next move could be a ratcheting up of the attacks on Chinese-listed companies in the United States.
Friday's rally clearly indicates that the market is happy for the moment with just a partial deal, though the Dow gave up 200 of its 500-point gain in the final half hour as markets realized there was a cessation of tariff hikes set for Tuesday but no clear timeline for removal of the existing tariffs.
UBS' Art Cashin is doubtful that the good feelings will last. "I don't think this gets us to Christmas," Cashin said. "I think it could be a temporary truce that wouldn't last very long."
VIDEO9:3709:37President Donald Trump announces 'phase one' trade deal with ChinaClosing Bell
This partial deal, Cashin said, does not change the longer-term narrative of lower growth for 2020, nor does it end the trade wars.
Others agree. "The trade war is one channel. The U.S. will still press forward and confront China in other areas," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex. "The cold war will not go away just because there is a truce in the tariff war."
"Tariffs have been the tip of the spear in Trump's trade wars," Chris Krueger, senior policy analyst at Cowen, said in a recent note to clients. "The next fronts — capital flows, [more] export controls, supply chain duress, industrial policy — are the global plumbing of the real economy."
The impact of this next round in the trade wars, Krueger said, "can produce exogenous shocks to the global system that can dwarf the tariffs."
Another issue that will likely be part of the U.S. toolbag to continue to pressure China: accounting.
In June, Sen. Marco Rubio and several other senators introduced a bill to delist firms that are out of compliance with U.S. regulators for a period of three years, with a particular emphasis on China.
The reason: Chinese firms are forbidden by their government from sharing information from their auditors with U.S. regulators.
"Our capital markets are the deepest and the most liquid in the world, but we have high standards for exposure and transparency in order to protect investors from fraud," Rubio said on CNBC this week. "And it is very simple: If Chinese companies want access to U.S. capital markets, they should follow our laws the way American companies have to follow their laws over there."
Chinese firms do release their audit reports to the public for U.S. public companies. However, Torrie Miller Matous, director of external affairs for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, said the issue is what they can see behind those audit reports. "Because of the positions taken by Chinese authorities, we are precluded from inspecting the audit work behind the publicly issued audit reports," she said.
All foreign companies that list on U.S. exchanges must have their financial statements audited by an independent auditor. Multinational companies are generally audited by firms in their own country. This is true regardless of whether the firm listing in the U.S. is based in China, Russia, Turkey, France or anywhere else.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 established the PCAOB and required that every accounting firm (U.S.-based or foreign) that issues an audit report for an SEC-reporting company must register with the PCAOB.
VIDEO1:2401:24News Update – Market CloseNews Briefing
The PCAOB is required to periodically inspect registered firm audits of U.S. public companies, including those done by foreign firms, and this has caused significant friction with foreign accounting firms and their regulators.
"There has been a reluctance to let the PCAOB come in and inspect their firms," Daniel Goelzer said, referring to foreign regulatory agencies. Goelzer, a retired partner in the law firm of Baker McKenzie, was at the PCAOB from 2002 to 2012 and was acting chairman from 2009 to 2011.
Over time, the PCAOB negotiated agreements with foreign counterparts that allowed them to perform audit inspections. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and PCAOB Chairman William D. Duhnke III issued a joint statement in December 2018 noting that the PCAOB had entered into cooperative agreements with 23 foreign regulators which allows them to conduct either joint inspections or share inspection findings with regulators in those jurisdictions.
China, however, is one of the few countries that has not been cooperating with the PCAOB. This leaves Chinese companies caught between two regulators — China and the U.S.
Clayton and Duhnke said that despite attempts at constructive dialogue with Chinese regulators, "[W]e have not yet made satisfactory progress."
Goelzer agreed, noting that this issue has been around for some time. "There have been constant negotiations for many years, and they intensified after I left in 2012," but nothing ever came of it, he said.
What's behind the refusal?
"China has strict secrecy laws, but legal issues aside, there has been a lot of speculation they are concerned about what inspectors might see with regard to the involvement of the Chinese government," Goelzer said, emphasizing he did not know for sure.
Goelzer said he generally supports the Rubio bill but with reservations.
"It's unacceptable to have Chinese firms not complying with the rules, but delisting is not a very attractive option," he said, noting that it would move Chinese companies overseas and thus reduce choices for U.S. investors. Depriving U.S. investors of the opportunity to participate in China's growth is also not an attractive option, Goelzer added.
One thing he is quite sure of: The White House — or the SEC — could not simply delist a Chinese firm by fiat.
The first step, he said, would be for the PCAOB to deregister the auditors, on the grounds that they are not participating in inspections. Because the companies need to have an auditor that is listed with the PCAOB, the SEC (or the exchanges) could then delist the company. This would likely be litigated and could drag on for years, he said.
The joint statement lists other measures that could be taken short of delisting, including "requiring affected companies to make additional disclosures and placing additional restrictions on new securities issuances."
"My first choice would be for China to see the light, but if that doesn't happen they may have to pull the plug," Goelzer said.
Another area that will likely heat up is the battle over indexing. The Trump administration has banned six Chinese companies that work on artificial intelligence from doing business with U.S. firms.
Rubio and others have led the charge, arguing that global indexing firms such as MSCI are now including Chinese companies in global indexes and that U.S. government pension funds should not be investing in these indexes.
Some go farther, arguing that the U.S. should seek to limit the ability of global index providers such as MSCI to add Chinese companies to global indexes when the U.S. believes those companies are security threats to the United States.
"If you would like to sell X product in the United States, then they should follow certain guidelines," which would include respecting fundamental values of the United States, one person involved with the negotiations, who asked to remain anonymous, told CNBC.
For Pat Healy of Issuer Network, who advises companies seeking to list on U.S. exchanges, this is a very slippery slope: Should the U.S. government become the global portfolio manager for the world?
"Everyone will lose if we keep thinking like this," he said. "In a free market, if you don't want to support those kinds of companies, you should not buy them. But the government should not be managing indexes."
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48c79fbc7b43d42111de5a239d12c4ce | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-blackstone-hp-amc-tapestry.html | Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Blackstone, AMC, Tapestry & more | Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Blackstone, AMC, Tapestry & more
Pedestrians are reflected on glass in front of Blackstone Group LP headquarters in New York, U.S., on Friday, April 14, 2017.Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading:
Blackstone – Shares of the alternative asset manager shed 0.2% following a downgrade to neutral at Bank of America. The firm said that while Blackstone is "very well-positioned over the long term" they see "more modest upside" ahead after the stock's 55% surge this year.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise — HPE shares rose 4.1% after an analyst at Evercore ISI upgraded them to in-line from underperform. The analyst said HPE now has a better "risk/reward dynamic," citing solid cash flow, an attractive valuation and the acquisition of supercomputer builder Cray.
AMC – Shares of the entertainment company lost 2.4% after Evercore downgraded the stock to underperform. The firm said that "accelerating cord-cutting trends" makes the stock "unfavorable at current levels."
Western Digital – Shares of the computer hard-disk maker rose 1.6% after an analyst at Loop Capital upgraded Western Digital to buy from hold, noting the company can deliver earnings and revenue upside for the final two quarters of 2019.
Tapestry – Shares of the luxury lifestyle brands company dropped 2.8% after UBS lowered its rating on the stock to neutral from buy. UBS believes Tapestry will continue to face both widespread and industry headwinds, limiting its upside.
General Motors – GM's stock slipped 0.2% after the United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced it was countering the automaker's latest offer. The UAW strike has lasted nearly a month, disputing GM production as multiple key manufacturing locations.
Beyond Meat – Shares of the plant-based burger maker slid 3.9% after Wells Fargo initiated coverage on the stock with a market perform rating. The firm said "competition is poised to intensify" and that there's "limited visibility into restaurant and foodservice success."
CrowdStrike – Shares of cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike tanked 9.5% after Citi initiated coverage of the stock with a sell rating. The firm said CrowdStrike won't be able to sustain its current growth level and is trading above normal software multiples.
Planet Fitness – Shares of Planet Fitness rose 3.7% following an upgrade from Imperial to outperform from in-line. The firm said Planet Fitness is a "best in class" fitness operator with good management. Imperial called the stock a "core long-term holding."
SmileDirectClub – The teeth-straightening startup's stock tanked 12.9% after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that is expected to how the company's "teledentistry" service is regulated. SmileDirectClub shares have lost more than half their value since the company's IPO on Sept. 12.
– CNBC's Maggie Fitzgerald, Pippa Stevens and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
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d5d937868e413932d332b47e63d90909 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/beverly-sackler-an-owner-of-purdue-pharma-dies.html | Beverly Sackler, an owner of Purdue Pharma, dies | Beverly Sackler, an owner of Purdue Pharma, dies
Lawrence K. Ho | Getty Images
One of the owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has died.
Beverly Sackler died Monday, according to a filing made by her lawyers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
She was the widow of Raymond Sackler, one of the brothers who bought the drug company Purdue Frederick in 1952. The company later became Purdue Pharma. Beverly Sackler, who lived in Connecticut, was on its board for decades.
No details were in the court filing. Phone calls seeking comment were made to a lawyer and a family spokesman.
Nearly 2,700 lawsuits blame the company for helping spark the opioid crisis. Hundreds also blame family members, including Beverly Sackler. Purdue has proposed to settle them in a deal that would require the family to give up company ownership and pay at least $3 billion
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560b12b96fff7fab2c961807ae57cf7c | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/forex-markets-us-china-trade-brexit-in-focus.html | Dollar up for a 2nd day as US-China trade deal optimism fades | Dollar up for a 2nd day as US-China trade deal optimism fades
A cashier, left, returns cash to a customer at a Vineyard Vines store in Illinois.Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The dollar gained for a second consecutive day on Tuesday as fading optimism over the latest China-U.S. trade truce prompted traders to buy the greenback after a selloff last week.
The greenback had come under selling pressure recently as the combination of some tepid U.S. data and hopes of a breakthrough in a protracted trade conflict between Washington and Beijing prompted funds to unwind some of their extreme dollar long bets.
"After the recent flushout of dollar long bets, currency investors have reassessed the short-term outlook and have come to the view that there is not going to be much of a movement on the trade issue," said Stephen Gallo, European Head of FX Strategy at BMO.
Reports of a "Phase 1" trade deal between the United States and China last week had earlier cheered markets but the dearth of details around the agreement has since curbed this enthusiasm with oil prices extending declines, Chinese stocks weaker and the safe-haven yen holding gains versus dollar.
Against a broad basket of its rivals, the dollar strengthened for a second day and was up 0.1% to 98.55 and around 1% away from a near 2-1/2 year high of 99.67 hit earlier this month.
While the dollar was over-valued on a trade-weighted basis, analysts at ING argued the greenback's valuation was not stretched in a historical context and suggested there was still scope for further dollar gains should the global trade outlook worsen.
Fading hopes over a trade deal also pulled the Chinese currency lower.
China's yuan slipped in offshore markets, a day after reaching a one-month high. The offshore yuan traded at 7.0787 against the dollar, off Monday's high of 7.0503.
Though a monthly survey showed the mood among German investors worsened less in October than expectations, the euro failed to get much of a boost from the data with the single currency down 0.2% at $1.1007.
Elsewhere, sterling trimmed some of its earlier gains as officials raced towards putting a Brexit deal in place by the end of Tuesday.
Britain's latest proposals on the terms of its departure from the European Union are still not enough for an agreement and a legal text is needed by the end of Tuesday for a deal to be agreed at a leaders' summit this week, three diplomatic sources said.
The pound was up 0.3% at $1.2646, trimming some of its gains after being up nearly 0.7% in early London trading.
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cdb2cafb0e91d6d5f60dbff807d809bc | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/moodys-trump-on-his-way-to-an-easy-2020-win-if-economy-holds-up.html | Trump is on his way to an easy win in 2020, according to Moody's accurate election model | Trump is on his way to an easy win in 2020, according to Moody's accurate election model
President Donald Trump pumps his fists as he arrives for a "Make America Great Again" rally at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17, 2019.Nicholas Kamm | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump looks likely to cruise to reelection next year under three different economic models Moody's Analytics employed to gauge the 2020 race.
Barring anything unusual happening, the president's Electoral College victory could easily surpass his 2016 win over Democrat Hillary Clinton, which came by a 304-227 count.
Moody's based its projections on how consumers feel about their own financial situation, the gains the stock market has achieved during Trump's tenure and the prospects for unemployment, which has fallen to a 50-year low. Should those variables hold up, the president looks set to get another four-year term.
The modeling has been highly accurate going back to the 1980 election, missing only once.
VIDEO4:1804:18RBC's Calvasina on impact of 2020 presidential election on individual sectorsSquawk on the Street
"If the economy a year from now is the same as it is today, or roughly so, then the power of incumbency is strong and Trump's election odds are very good, particularly if Democrats aren't enthusiastic and don't get out to vote," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics and co-author of the paper along with Dan White, the firm's director of government counsulting and fiscal policy research, and Bernard Yaros, an assistant director and economist. "It's about turnout."
Three models show Trump getting at least 289 electoral votes, assuming average turnout. His chances decrease with maximum turnout on the Democratic side and increase with minimum turnout expected.
Of the three models, he does best under the "pocketbook" measure of how people feel about their finances. In that scenario, assuming average nonincumbent turnout, he gets 351 electoral votes to the generic Democrat's 187. "Record turnout is vital to a Democratic victory," the report said.
In the stock market model, Trump gets a 289-249 edge, while the unemployment model shows a 332-206 advantage. Across all three models, Trump wins 324-214.
"Our 'pocket¬book' model is the most economically driven of the three. If voters were to vote primarily on the basis of their pocketbooks, the president would steamroll the competition," the report said. "This shows the importance that prevailing economic sentiment at the household level could hold in the next election."
Stock market levels also are key, and the two are intertwined. Zandi said that even a garden-variety 12% market correction around election time could sway the race, as could an unexpected downturn in the economy.
The results might come as a surprise given Trump's consistently low favorability ratings — 40% in the latest Gallup poll — and as most head-to-head matchups against Democrats show the president losing.
However, the report said that Trump's relatively stable ratings help provide a good benchmark for how he will do once election time comes.
Zandi said the race could come down a few key counties in Pennsylvania, which Trump flipped in 2016 after the state had voted Democrat in the previous five presidential elections.
Specifically, he said Luzerne County, in the northeast part of the state, "is the single-most important county, no kidding, in the entire election." The longtime Democratic stronghold favored Trump, 51.8% to 46.8% in the election.
Trump doesn't even have to win the county, but merely needs a strong turnout, Zandi said.
The Moody's models have been backtested to 1980 and were correct each time — except in 2016, when they ndicated Clinton would get a narrow victory. The authors attributed "unexpected turnout patterns" in Trump's favor caused the error and they adjusted for that in the latest projections. They also said the will be updating the projections as conditions develop and change.
WATCH: Josh Brown on what Trump's tax bill means for your money
VIDEO6:4106:41Josh Brown: What Trump's tax bill means for your moneyInvest in You: Ready. Set. Grow.
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06687b1b6af2f71922025f62c8d4495e | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/this-economist-says-the-perfect-tax-rate-for-the-rich-is-75percent.html | Here's why this economist says the 'perfect' tax rate for the rich is 75% | Here's why this economist says the 'perfect' tax rate for the rich is 75%
VIDEO1:5201:52The economists behind Warren and Sander tax plans release new bookSquawk Box
The ideal tax rate for the richest 1% of Americans is about 75% — more than twice the current rates, according to the economist advising Sen. Elizabeth Warren on her tax plans.
Gabriel Zucman, the University of California at Berkeley economist who is advising Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders on their wealth tax proposals, told CNBC Tuesday that there is an "optimal" tax rate for the rich when considering tax policy. The optimal rate would be high enough to maximize revenue from the economy's winners and reduce inequality, but not so high that it would lead to widespread evasion or reduced productivity among the wealthy.
According to the calculations in his new book co-written by Emmanuel Saez, "Triumph of Injustice — How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay," the optimal federal marginal income tax rate would be 60%. But the optimal effective tax rate for the rich in combined taxes — including federal, state, payroll and local — would be 75%.
That's more than twice the current rate paid by the top 1%, he said.
"The rate to maximize revenue is 60%," Zucman said on CNBC Tuesday. "But it depends on enforcement. Governments can choose to make taxes fail and we've seen that."
The ideal rate for taxing the rich has become a galvanizing political issue in the Democratic primary race. Candidates Warren and Sanders have both proposed taxes on accumulated wealth. But so far, none of the candidates have called for a federal tax rate of 60% or more.
In an interview in January, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines when she suggested that the top federal tax rate could go as high as 70%.
The notion of an "ideal tax rate" is also known as the "Laffer Rate." Conservative economist Arthur Laffer created a theory known as the Laffer Curve that suggests that when tax rates get too high, revenue collections actually fall because of avoidance and reduced incentives to work and earn.
The 75% rate would only apply to the top 1% of Americans, or those who earn more than $500,000 in income in 2019, Zucman said.
"This estimate is the best that exists today on the basis of many empirical studies conducted over the last two decades," the two economists wrote in the book. "The tax base does not shrink much when the rich are taxed more heavily."
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52e078322bc9edd528ba55e9466bb884 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/what-happened-to-the-stock-market-tuesday-jpm-earnings-lead-surge.html | Here's what happened to the stock market on Tuesday | Here's what happened to the stock market on Tuesday
The Dow rallies 237.44 points, or 0.89%, to close at 27,024.80. The S&P 500 gained 1% to end the day at 2,995.68. The Nasdaq Composite surged 1.24% to 8,148.71. Investors cheered a slew of better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
J.P. Morgan Chase, UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson were among the companies whose results drove the major stock indexes higher. J.P. Morgan had record revenue for the previous quarter, with CEO Jamie Dimon highlighting he strength of the U.S. consumer. Pharmacy benefits revenue boosted UnitedHealth's bottom line while strength in prescription drugs lifted Johnson & Johnson's results. Most importantly, this string of positive results distracted investors from the lingering uncertainties around U.S.-China trade talks.
J.P. Morgan Chase shares jumped 3.01% and hit a record high. UnitedHealth, meanwhile, surged 8.16%. Johnson & Johnson climbed 1.62%.
Wall Street's focus will largely remain on corporate earnings. Bank of America, Abbot Laboratories, Netflix and IBM are among the companies scheduled to report on Wednesday. Retail sales data is also set for release Wednesday morning. Read more here.
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VIDEO6:3106:31How to double your money in the marketInvest in You: Ready. Set. Grow.
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b95c46d9025b951f2de534d97510409f | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/16/gene-munster-netflixs-stock-tough-to-own-despite-positive-earnings.html | Gene Munster: Netflix is a difficult stock to own even after positive earnings | Gene Munster: Netflix is a difficult stock to own even after positive earnings
VIDEO1:4501:45Gene Munster: Netflix a difficult stock to own even after positive earningsFast Money
Netflix's stock soared in extended trading Wednesday after a third-quarter earnings beat, but it remains a tough one to have in a portfolio, Loup Ventures managing partner Gene Munster told CNBC.
"This was positive to expectations, but this is still a story that I think would be difficult to own," Munster said on "Fast Money."
While Netflix reported an earnings beat, the video-streaming giant missed expectations on domestic paid subscriber additions and fell slightly below analysts' revenue expectations. It did exceed expectations for international paid subscriber additions.
Munster, who argued in July that Netflix's best days "are in fact behind it," continued to evince a bearish outlook Wednesday.
"Ultimately, for this to work, they need to have margin expansion and continue to grow [subscribers]. We're entering a multi quarter of really uncertainty," Munster said.
The issue, Munster said, is he does not see a clear path for Netflix to expand its margins. He said he was "surprised" to see Netflix say it expected 300 basis points of margin expansion next year.
"I don't know how you get there," Munster said. "The easiest way to get there, obviously, is through price increases, which is now off the table ... and you continue to need to fund this quite aggressively. The one opportunity is if they can get cheap debt."
Netflix currently has $12 billion in debt, Munster said.
"There may be an opportunity to have some sort of trade-off there, where they can get margins to inch higher," he said. "But I think that is at the core question: How do you operate expanding margins in what is a very different competitive environment than we had a year ago?"
The increased competition is coming from new streaming services debuting in the next 12 months, including Disney's Disney+ and Apple's Apple TV+, in addition to NBCUniversal's Peacock and WarnerMedia's HBO Max.
Overall, Munster said, he grades Netflix's third quarter at a C+.
"The stock reaction would suggest a higher grade, but ultimately, this trend is there is some cautionary tales here," he said.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
VIDEO7:2607:26Munster reacts to Netflix earningsFast Money
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10d8f24b0ffaffe62094525c4c36f405 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/16/global-economy-awfully-high-chance-of-economic-recession-moodys-says.html | 'Awfully high' risks of a global recession in the next 12-18 months, Moody's chief economist says | 'Awfully high' risks of a global recession in the next 12-18 months, Moody's chief economist says
VIDEO3:2403:24The chances of a global recession are 'uncomfortably high': Moody'sSquawk Box Asia
There's an "uncomfortably high" chance that a recession could hit the global economy in the next 12-18 months — and policymakers may not be able to reverse that course, an economist said on Wednesday.
"I think risks are awfully high that if something doesn't stick to script then we do have a recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "I'll say this also: Even if we don't have a recession over the next 12-18 months, I think it's pretty clear that we're going to have a much weaker economy."
Avoiding a slowdown in economic activity requires many factors to "stick to script" at the same time, he said. That includes U.S. President Donald Trump not escalating the tariff war with China, the U.K. finding a resolution to Brexit and central banks continuing their monetary stimulus, Zandi explained.
"I think high, uncomfortably high," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" when asked about the chances of a global economic recession.
VIDEO6:2706:27What is a recession?CNBC Explains
Other economists appeared less worried about a recession, but shared Zandi's sentiment that growth would continue to weaken.
Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University, said consumer spending has helped support growth in several economies — even as momentum falters in other sectors. But that's not sustainable, he added.
"Consumers and households cannot be counted on to keep growth going. So, really, the key is to come up with a set of policies that are going to spur a revival of business and consumer confidence, and end up boosting investments," he told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund made a downward revision to global growth.
In its World Economic Outlook report, the IMF forecast that the global economy will grow 3% this year and 3.4% in 2020. That's lower than the 3.2% and 3.5% — for 2019 and 2020, respectively — that the fund projected in July.
VIDEO3:1103:11China is reluctant to offer significant concessions to the US: ProfStreet Signs Asia
The fund blamed the "subdued growth" partly on rising trade barriers and heightened geopolitical tensions, and called for a "balanced" way to fend off those risks.
"Monetary policy cannot be the only game in town and should be coupled with fiscal support where fiscal space is available and where policy is not already too expansionary," the IMF said.
Zandi agreed that governments should increase spending to support the economy, but said many major economies would not go down that route.
He explained that with the two major political factions in the U.S. battling an impeachment inquiry into Trump, it doesn't seem likely that Congress would pass any plans to cut taxes. In Europe, Germany may have fiscal space to spend but the government could find it hard to do so legislatively, he said.
"This doesn't lend confidence. The central banks are running out of room, we need fiscal policymakers to step up but I don't think, at this point, it's clear where the political will for doing that is going to come from," he said.
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3cc4b6af696ae0bc5392efd9e0e4eab3 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/16/turkey-says-it-is-preparing-retaliatory-sanctions-against-us.html | Turkey says it is preparing retaliatory sanctions against US | Turkey says it is preparing retaliatory sanctions against US
President Donald Trump speaks about Turkey and Syria during a formal signing ceremony for the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement at the White House in Washington, October 7, 2019.Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Turkey's foreign ministry is preparing retaliatory sanctions against the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Ankara over its offensive in northeastern Syria, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday.
On Monday, Washington announced sanctions to punish Turkey for its offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, but Trump's critics said the steps, mainly a steel tariff hike and a pause in trade talks, were too feeble to have an impact.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Kalin also said that U.S. officials were clearly told Turkey would not declare a ceasefire in northern Syria and that it will not negotiate with Kurdish fighters.
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725c089d5748a11d6ccd6f254596d543 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/16/wall-streets-top-hedge-fund-managers-reveal-their-best-ideas.html | Wall Street's top hedge fund managers reveal their best ideas | Wall Street's top hedge fund managers reveal their best ideas
Sohn San Francisco Investment Conference.
A slew of Wall Street's top hedge fund managers shared their best ideas on Wednesday at the annual Sohn San Francisco Investment Conference.
The conference is best known for hedge fund managers making market-moving presentations. The Sohn conference held in San Francisco is the West Coast version of the investment conferences that began in New York. The conferences, presented in partnership with CNBC, benefit education and other children's causes.
Here are some of picks from the fund managers this year.
Kevin Oram, Praesidium Investment Management Company
Long: Instructure (INST)
Concentrated long-only fund Praesidium is finding value in educational technology company Instructure. The company develops education learning software Canvas, which is used by more than 1,000 institutions and six million students.
Canvas has taken "tremendous" market share from its competitor BlackBoard, portfolio manager Kevin Oram said. Canvas generated about $235 million in revenue in 2018, more than 90% of the company's total revenue, Oram said.
The hedge fund believes Canvas can achieve Ebitda margins of 40% by 2022.
Instructure's other software start-up Bridge is losing money, however, as it requires "vast up-front" R&D investments and a large dedicated sales team, Oram said.
The company can eliminate Bridge's losses by selling it, Oram said, adding that the company's board will announce new strategic plans on Dec. 3.
Gil Simon, SoMa Equity Partners
SailPoint Technologies (SAIL)
SoMa Equity Partners made a pitch for security software company SailPoint Technologies, which specializes in identity governance.
SailPoint ensures employees access only what they need to access, which is crucial in an environment when many corporations are threatened by insider threats, internal data breaches and hacks, CEO Gil Simon said.
The company, which currently has a $2 billion market cap, is likely to double in three years with its stock surging to $35 to $40 a share from Wednesday's close of $18.32, Simon said. The manager sees strong tailwinds including massive enterprise replacement opportunities.
Adam Fisher, Commonwealth Asset Management
Short: interest rates in China
Adam Fisher, CEO at Commonwealth Asset Management, believes the global trend of zero interest rates will spread to China.
"Interest rates in China are going to zero," Fisher said. "We believe rates much more likely to fall to other countries in East Asia than to rise for idiosyncratic domestic reason."
Fisher said China's four megacities with a population of 10 million or more — Beijing, Shanghai Shenzhen and Guangzhou — are already as rich as the rest of East Asia, meaning it's unlikely for them to have explosive growth going forward.
Furthermore, China's workforce is about to collapse as its working age population peaked in 2015 and is projected to fall by 125 million in 2019, which will slow down traditional bank lending, Fisher said.
The stage is set for the Chinese government to step in and cut interest rates further, the manager said.
Glen Kacher, Light Street Capital
Long: Talend (TLND)
Light Street Capital is recommending data integration company Talend.
Talend disrupted the ETL (extract, transform and load) data market when it was launched in 2005, chief investment officer and founder Glen Kacher said. The company has been benefiting from the cloud database wave in the past few years and is building a hybrid platform with both on-premises and cloud solutions, Kacher added.
The company is "the growth leader" in the data integration market, which enjoyed a 38.7% growth and 87% in recurring subscription revenue in 2018, Kacher said.
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046aa71ccef6634b8b732a7d1f0427f1 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/16/weekly-mortgage-applications-flat-even-though-refinance-demand-rises.html?&qsearchterm=mortgage | Weekly mortgage refinance applications rise, even as home purchase demand falls | Weekly mortgage refinance applications rise, even as home purchase demand falls
Prospective home buyers arrive with a realtor to a house for sale in Dunlap, Illinois.Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Mortgage interest rates rose last week, but that didn't throw any cold water on the mini-refinance boom that's been going on for the past month.
Applications for loans to purchase a home, however, came in weaker. Consequently, total mortgage application volume was essentially flat, rising just 0.5% for the week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($484,350 or less) increased to 3.92% from 3.90%, with points decreasing to 0.35 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.
Despite the slight rate increase, applications to refinance a home loan rose 4% from the previous week and were 199% higher than the same week one year ago. At this time last year, the average rate on the 30-year fixed was 118 basis points higher, at 5.10%.
Mortgage applications to purchase a home fell 4% for the week but were still 12% higher than the same week one year ago.
"Purchase applications slowed for the second week in a row," said Joel Kan, the MBA's associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. "While near-term economic uncertainty is still a factor, other fundamental issues, such as a lack of housing inventory in many markets, is preventing purchase activity from meaningfully rising."
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 62.2% of total applications from 60.4% the previous week.
Mortgage rates continue to move higher this week, signaling to some that the recent lows in bond yields are over for now. U.S. investors were buoyed by a potential Brexit deal Tuesday and poured into the stock market. The next meaningful read on the U.S. economy is the retail sales report, scheduled to be released Wednesday.
"In general, if the report is much stronger than expected, is should keep upward pressure on rates," wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. "If it's weaker, however, rates would have a better chance to recover. Either way, geopolitical and trade-related headlines remain capable of causing plenty of intraday volatility."
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6397b16d842e47cf1114690fcb31fad9 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/analyst-calls-of-the-day-apple-netflix-monster-eli-lilly-more.html | Here are the biggest analyst calls of the day: Apple, Netflix, Monster, Eli Lilly & more | Here are the biggest analyst calls of the day: Apple, Netflix, Monster, Eli Lilly & more
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 10, 2019.Brendan McDermid | REUTERS
Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday:
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9d923c112b299a5eb85f7e0e1acdbfef | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/brexit-vote-looked-like-electing-a-prom-queen-oecds-angel-gurria.html | Brexit vote looked like electing a prom queen — not the future of the UK, OECD chief says | Brexit vote looked like electing a prom queen — not the future of the UK, OECD chief says
VIDEO3:0703:07Brexit referendum result happened because 'fairy tales' took over the narrative, OECD chief saysSquawk Box Europe
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria told CNBC that Brexit proponents in the United Kingdom were allowed to hijack the narrative ahead of the 2016 referendum, wrongly distributing "fairy tale" ideas of what the country would look like after leaving the EU.
Speaking to CNBC's Geoff Cutmore on Thursday at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, D.C., he took aim at former U.K. leader David Cameron and his remain campaign, calling it an "exercise in how not to do things."
"I think the idea of calling a referendum, or offering to call a referendum, was not very wise," he said of Cameron's 2015 general election pledge.
"Then you decide to have a referendum — then make sure you win it. And I can tell you it looked like they were electing the prom queen rather than looking at the future of the United Kingdom," he added.
VIDEO1:3001:30Trade tensions have shaved more than 1% off world's growth, OECD's Gurria saysSquawk Box Europe
Gurria, who heads a group of advanced economies known as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said that the pro-EU campaigners lost the 2016 vote because "we let the fairy tales, we let all these assumptions about migration and regulation and about everything else, take over the narrative rather than lead the narrative."
Brexit, a highly divisive issue that still rumbles on in the U.K., was backed by a majority of 52% to 48% in June 2016. The campaign featured allegations of fear-mongering and erroneous claims of extra spending on the health service. Attempts to prosecute Boris Johnson, the current prime minister and Brexit supporter, have been thrown out of court, however.
Pro-Brexit protesters demonstrating in central London.Steve Taylor | SOPA Images | Getty Images
Cameron, meanwhile, has stayed quiet since the vote but recently defended his actions in a TV documentary, saying that the Brexit vote was "inevitable" due to the strength of feeling inside the country.
With a previous Brexit deal being rejected three times by the U.K Parliament, negotiators struck a new deal on Thursday which will now be put in front of the House of Commons on Saturday.
Gurria told CNBC that he was "very encouraged" by the new agreement and called on U.K. lawmakers to approve it and move forward. "We believe that it is going to happen," he added.
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a04df8fd3ce13657c0867fe24f03d331 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/cannabis-legislation-progresses-yet-us-companies-and-us-cannabis-investors-are-moving-in-reverse.html | Cannabis legislation progresses, yet US companies and US cannabis investors are moving in reverse | Cannabis legislation progresses, yet US companies and US cannabis investors are moving in reverse
VIDEO5:4405:44Here's how to market taboo goods like cannabis productsMarketing Media Money
Buoyed by wide-scale public support, legislation to legalize and properly regulate cannabis in the U.S. on the state and federal level continues to gain steam. So why are commercial and investment banks moving in the opposite direction? And what are the risks to U.S. companies and workers who are trying to build out this high growth, CPG (consumer packaged goods) sector? As a result, the U.S. retail investor has become collateral damage.
The passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized the cultivation and sale of hemp and hemp derived CBD, signaled federal acceptance and expansion of the cannabis marketplace in the United States. Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's endorsement of the legislation and continued support is a further testament to Washington's growing embrace of the cannabis industry. And recently, the House of Representatives passed its version of the SAFE Banking Act, which would give cannabis companies access to the U.S. banking system including retail banking, credit card processing and access to institutional lending (as opposed to dilutive convertible debt financings).
So it comes as a surprise that an influential U.S. commercial bank would take a step to thwart the efforts of Americans to invest in legal cannabis companies with U.S. operations.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp., one of the largest custody and clearing banks in the world, announced earlier this month it would stop accepting positions(custody) or trading with U.S. marijuana-related businesses, a decision which would restrict trading of popular cannabis companies that are listed on Canadian exchanges, but have U.S. operations. Canadian-listed firms without U.S. operations would still be able to be traded.
BNY Mellon's head-scratching decision has moved in the opposite direction of the thrust of U.S. public opinion. A Gallup poll conducted in 2018 found that 2 out of every 3 Americans support legalizing marijuana, while key 2020 swing states including Nevada and Michigan have adapted to voters' concerns by legalizing recreational cannabis use.
The only way to provide lasting relief for U.S. investors in cannabis is with legislation from Washington.
Currently, if you're a U.S. company that employs Americans and provides legal cannabis products to Americans, you have to publicly list your shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange, without the benefit of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission oversight.
Currently, if you are a U.S. retail investor you must do cross-border trades in order to invest in cannabis stocks with all of the capital and fees flowing right out of Wall Street to Bay Street in Toronto. But more importantly, the protection of US exchanges and securities laws are also missing.
VIDEO2:3002:30Overall sales strong despite vaping crisis: Cannabis investorPower Lunch
It also means that America's homegrown multi-state operators have to raise capital in Canada where there are major constraints on capital and prohibitive costs to the companies and to investors. Almost every deal/listing in Canada carries dilutive warrants that are ultimately cashed in once professional stock short-sellers drive share prices down. The result is that shares of almost every U.S. multi-state operator are down over 60% from their yearly highs, mostly at the expense of the retail investor who is the primary investor in these deals because large institutions are still restricted from investing in the sector.
Moreover, professional investors operating actively-managed or fixed portfolios of cannabis stocks are unable to invest in some of the highest growth cannabis companies — even though they are operating in states where what they do is totally within the law.
At a time where we are hearing chatter about restricting Chinese companies from listing their shares in the United States, this BONY Mellon decision serves to actually restrict U.S-based operators and investors in the cannabis industry at home.
The U.S. cannabis marketplace is one of the largest and most heralded emerging industries in American history. And unlike other nascent sectors, it's a 100% American-made story. Because traditional credit and/or lending has not been made available to the marketplace due to marijuana's antiquated and misguided classification as a Schedule 1 drug – along with heroin – the only meaningful way to access capital has been via a reverse merger go-public strategy in Canada.
The SAFE Banking bill now awaiting debate in the Senate is a historic piece of legislation that will open the door to broader financial and legal reforms. But it's currently missing a key component that would allow for the movement of American, multi-state operators to the U.S. capital markets, with oversight by U.S. regulatory agencies. Such a provision would provide safe harbor to U.S. exchanges while allowing investment banks and pension funds to invest in U.S. cannabis operators compliant with state and federal laws.
Capital in an exciting, profitable and socially-beneficial industry shouldn't just be flowing north to Canada. It should stay in the U.S. so that when Americans invest in this space, they can do so with confidence.
Tim Seymour is CIO of Seymour Asset Management and CNBC Contributor/Fast Money Trader, and Portfolio Manager of the Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF.
Brady Cobb is CEO of Bluma Wellness, a U.S. multi-state cannabis operator, and a long-time advocate of efforts to reform U.S. cannabis laws.
WATCH: California cannabis farms facing conflict in wine farm country
VIDEO2:0102:01California cannabis farms are facing conflict in wine farm countrySquawk Alley
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c649ea404814a0c8eb1a97c17a522de4 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/cnbc-transcript-national-economic-council-director-larry-kudlow-speaks-with-cnbcs-squawk-box-and-cnbcs-squawk-on-the-street-today.html | CNBC Transcript: National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow Speaks with CNBC's "Squawk Box" and CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Today | CNBC Transcript: National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow Speaks with CNBC's "Squawk Box" and CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Today
WHEN: Today, Thursday, October 17, 2019
WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk Box" and CNBC's "Squawk on the Street"
The following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow on CNBC's "Squawk Box" (M-F 6AM – 9AM) and CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" (M-F 9AM – 11AM) today, Thursday, October 17th. The following is a link to video of the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/10/17/larry-kudlow-ukraine-house-impeachment-politics-squawk-box.html and https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/10/17/larry-kudlow-on-the-state-of-the-economy-trade-and-more.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
JOE KERNEN: Welcome back to "Squawk Box." Joining us now, Larry Kudlow, White House National Economic Council Director. Been a while, Mr. Kudlow. It is great to have you on this morning. Let's start with, like, a philosophical question, Larry. You've been there a while. I don't know if you were ever what I would refer to as a globalist. But at this point, do we have a domestic economy that can continue to outperform? And we have for years, admittedly, but it seems more important and more true now than maybe in the past, that we really need to look at what's happening specifically in our country, more than being bogged down by a global slowdown. Is it more true now than before, do you think?
LARRY KUDLOW: I think you're asking me: is the domestic economy strong enough to withhold the global downturn, Joe, if that's correct?
JOE KERNEN: Yes.
LARRY KUDLOW: Well, the answer is yes. And I'll back that up in a minute. But, I'm not a purist on this. You know, international trade is very substantial. So, we've had some headwinds, particularly in the past year. The economy is a little softer in the second and third quarters. And a lot of that comes out of Europe. By the way, a lot of the European slowdown is centered in Germany. We can't send, we can't export our manufacturing goods, because Germany is doing so badly. So, that's an issue. Brexit, a smaller issue, Joe. Major China slow down, I'm sure we'll get to that in a minute. Latin America is slow. On the other hand, on the other hand, I will defend what's going on in the domestic economy. Because despite a very severe Fed tightening last year, maybe we're coming out of that now, nonetheless, lower taxes and deregulation and opening up energy. We're still plugging along. You know, there is a statistic -- my pal Steve Moore in Journal: in two-an-a-half years, the Trump economy, people are getting about $5,000. $5,000. This is median income, Joe. Ordinary folks. 60, $65,000 a year. Married filing jointly. $5,000 from better labor conditions, huge jobs in income and another $2500 on tax cuts. That's a huge gain. The prior administrations both Democrat and Republican have nothing compared to that. So, that has been driving the economy. As I said, there is some softness right now. But, no, I think the domestic economy is in very good shape. I think the worst of the Fed tightening, by the way, is coming to an end. And I'm kind of optimistic, the yearend quarter should be pretty good. 2020 should be pretty good. So, we're not immune, Joe. We are not immune. I think we are still the driver. We are the international driver.
JOE KERNEN: Okay. Our friend Steve Liesman, and he -- you know, he has different ways of gauging things and maybe through some tea leaves thinks it's possible the Fed could be thinking about a pause in the rate cuts. You're saying they are finally doing the right thing and I would assume you mean they will continue cutting. Do you think there is a possibility the Fed could be considering a pause because of seeing strength? And would that be a negative, in your view, for the economy and the markets?
LARRY KUDLOW: Well, you know, I look at the money market indicators and I look at the yield curve indicators. So, here's the good news, the yield curve, let's see, 10s versus bills, 10s versus twos, has now finally moved back into a normal position. So, it's right side, long rates are now above short rates. Not by a lot, but by some. That's a good sign. I think money market futures, Fed fund futures, correct me if I'm wrong, they're all predicting another 25 basis points at the Fed meeting. A reduction at the Fed meeting.
BECKY QUICK: That's correct.
LARRY KUDLOW: I concur with that. I think that's wise. Jim Bullard of the St. Louis Fed I think who won the 50 at the last meeting, I'm sure he will be pushing for 25. Maybe 50 again this time. And they're moving in the right direction. Their balance sheet is starting to expand a little bit. I don't want to get into a lot of Fed bashing. They do the best they can. Their models are highly flawed. The deep state, board staff, of course, has not been helpful. Oops, did I say that? But the fact is the Fed is moving us in the right direction. So, yeah, we are going to see some lower rates. And by the way, that's a global phenomenon, Joe. Lower rates all across the world, maybe saving the rest of the world from a recession. If you look at the timing, it's sort of interesting. So, we took some hits in 2019, the economy was softer. A lot of that goes back to severe Fed tightening. And some other issues. I get that.
JOE KERNEN: Hey, Larry –
LARRY KUDLOW: Now it looks like the housing sector is leading us back up. That's a pretty good median indicator.
JOE KERNEN: You see in a trial where one side will bring up something that the prosecution wants them to bring up. You brought up deep state. How do you view this whole Ukraine impeachment push? Larry, is that a deep state move? Or is there something that the average Americans will be worried about in terms of the phone call and what's going on with impeachment?
LARRY KUDLOW: Well, I don't think the average American is in the deep state. So, that's the really good news out there in America. Look, I don't want to spend a lot of time on this impeachment business. But I'll just say this, Joe. I read the transcript of that phone call between Ukraine President Zelensky and the U.S. President Trump. I've read it I don't know, 15 times. I first saw it at the U.N. I don't see anything remotely that would constitute some kind of impeachable offense. Look, it was a, you know, it was a congratulatory call. Corruption came up. Zelensky, who we met at the U.N., we had a great bilateral with him, is a very bright young man. He said corruption is a big issue. I think President Trump was saying why don't you help clean up the last, you know, the 2016, 2015, 2014. I don't think the President was aiming at 2020. And I just, I want to make this point. For three years or so, President Trump has said, Europe must help the United States with respect to NATO and other related military assistance. And so, what the President was doing and it's clear in that transcript, is he's saying, I want to go back to protect taxpayers and then let's see if we can get your assistance going, which ultimately is what happened. It was completely transparent. We released the transcript. We released the highly flawed hearsay impeachment complaint. We released that transparently. There was no extent –
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Larry, then explain – then explain the role of Rudy Giuliani and his two associates now who have been indicted.
LARRY KUDLOW: I don't want to explain that. I guess that's Andrew asking that question, my friend, Andrew, from the Upper West Side. It's good to see you, my friend. I don't want to explain it. I'm not acquainted with all these machinations. It's out of my lane and probably above my pay grade.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Larry, let me ask you a different question, though.
LARRY KUDLOW: All I'm saying is -- hang on. All I'm saying is when we released the transcript, we were transparent. We released the whistleblower complaint, which was really third and fourth-hand hearsay, we were transparent. There was never any quid pro quo. The president ever linked the two. His concerns about assistance was why doesn't Europe pay its fair share of cost share burden? And President Zelensky, again, we spent a lot of time with him at the U.N., he's a very bright fella. He said there was never any pressure.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Larry, I'm trying to be polite by letting you provide a fulsome answer. But there are obviously people that have a different view than you do on this issue.
LARRY KUDLOW: I understand that. I'm just giving you my point of view. I don't see anything remotely close to an impeachable offense.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: And you are not troubled by any of it, just so we're clear?
LARRY KUDLOW: Any of what?
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: There is nothing about what the President has either done or his associates in relations to the Ukraine that you are troubled by in any way whatsoever.
LARRY KUDLOW: There is nothing the President has done with respect to that phone call and related matters. The associates, you can go to the second and third and fourth and fifth rings of Saturn, Andrew, and I'm not acquainted with it. I don't follow it. It's out of my lane. I only deal with the economy.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Okay. Let me ask you a separate question, because I think a lot of people -- since you do know the President, though, so very well. There were a lot of people that saw that letter that the President wrote on White House stationary yesterday to President Erdogan of Turkey and couldn't believe their eyes. They couldn't believe what was being said. Is that -- was that normal to you?
LARRY KUDLOW: I'm not sure what specifically you are referring to.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: There was a letter in which the President, I will have to go get the letter, wrote to Erdogan in which he effectively –
JOE KERNEN: It was a colloquial type letter he said make a deal or else. Or else. It was in very plain-spoken language.
LARRY KUDLOW: Look--
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I think you know the letter I'm referring to.
LARRY KUDLOW: Yes, I'm aware of the letter. That's Mike Pompeo's turf, it's not my turf. I believe, in conversations with the President, he is trying to warn Turkey not to cause trouble in Syria and with respect to the Syrian Kurds and other parties. And I think--
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I appreciate that. But the threats and the language and the type of approach, I mean, people looked at that letter initially and thought it was a fake letter.
JOE KERNEN: Well, not everyone.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I think a lot of folks.
JOE KERNEN: Now, you are speaking for –
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I will speak for what I imagine--
JOE KERNEN: If there were a trial there would be on objection and it would probably be sustained.
LARRY KUDLOW: There would be an objection. Thank you, Joe. Look, Secretary Mnuchin made it very clear over the weekend, we will use sanctions and we may use more sanctions to keep Turkey in line. Can we just get, look, here's a point, fellas, I know we don't have all day. We're seeing a lot of the headwinds that held down the economy this year may wind up opening the door to next year. One of them is the China deal. You all haven't mentioned that. We also a U.S.--
JOE KERNEN: We've got to toss this to your old partner, Larry. I apologize. We've got to go to Cramer. It's 9:00 -- and his friends, Carl and David. We got to go. Thank you, Larry. We appreciate it. Sorry to cut you off, but it's straight up at 9:00. We've got to go. Make sure you join us tomorrow. "Squawk on the Street."
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CARL QUINTANILLA: How about talking to Larry Kudlow, National Economic Council Director who was on "Squawk" a few moments ago and got cut off a little bit. Larry, thanks for joining us again.
LARRY KUDLOW: My great pleasure. Thank you -- my great pleasure, Jimmy, appreciate it, fellas.
CARL QUINTANILLA: Larry, one thing you guys didn't get to with the "Squawk" crew was China and specifically AG. Can you talk about that 40-to-50 number and the degree to which this is actually going to happen?
LARRY KUDLOW: Well, that was something that was agreed upon. I think it's a real number. It's not, by the way, just going to be AG purchases, although that's going to be a huge boost to our farm sector. There are also going to be various market access openings with respect to agriculture products and agriculture standards that the Chinese seem to be loosening up on. It will be great pleasure. So that's a huge piece of it – it's not the only piece, but between the market openings, they're lowering non-tariff barriers on agriculture. By the way, they started buying. You know, I believe I was on CNBC when I said maybe ten days ago that people shouldn't be so pessimistic about the China talks and that some good things could happen. And I think this whole Phase 1 is a good thing that's happening and for the skeptics out there, I appreciate that and I respect that. But I'm telling you, there is a lot of momentum and there is agreement on both sides.
JIM CRAMER: Larry, Jim, great having you back. Thank you for coming back.
LARRY KUDLOW: My pleasure, Jimmy. You know, can I read, Jim? I just want to read this. It came out, I believe yesterday morning, this is from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Okay. So that's the top of the heap. It's like our State Department. Here's what they said—and I say this to the doubters—here's what the Foreign Ministry said: the two sides are unanimous in the issue of reaching an economic and trade agreement. There is no difference. This economic and trade agreement will be of great significance to the United States and the rest of the world global economies and world peace. In other words, the two sides are unanimous in the issue of making an economic and trade deal. Now, that's from the Foreign Ministry, a very important part of the Chinese government infrastructure. We've never had a statement like that, Jimmy, from them, never. So, I think all the Phase 1 subjects I hope we get into. This is for real. For real.
JIM CRAMER: Well, look, I await it and I sure hope it happens, because they let the United States down after Argentina. Let's go back to strong versus weak economy. Larry, I've got to tell you, the manufacturing economy needs help. It needs a rate cut and it needs a rate cut now, maybe two rate cuts. But the consumer, the numbers yesterday—from retail, from commerce—indicated weakness. I have a good read on the consumer both from the banks and retailers that says it's strong. What do you say to the people who say, listen, we're a consumer-led economy, why do we need these rate cuts?
LARRY KUDLOW: Well, look at, you know I'm getting anecdotal evidence. One of the lovely part of my jobs I get to meet a lot of CEOs on a constant basis—industry, pharmaceuticals, drugs, bankers—they have a bird's eye view. One of the things I've heard from the big bankers, loans are booming, Jimmy, particularly middle market loans. I've heard that several times so that's a terrific thing. I know the retail sales number was sloppy, but if you smooth it out on the three-month change, it's growing about 5% at an annual rate. That's a good number. On manufacturing, no question the GM strike has hurt us. The Boeing problem has hurt us. The absence of demand from Europe has really hurt us a lot. But I will say this, pardon the numbers, but the third quarter is actually coming in positive. Manufacturing in Q3 looks like it will be up 3.1% at an annual rate. In Q2, it was a negative number. And business equipment, which is important for investment and capital spending, Q3 2.1, Q2 is minus 5. I think, Jimmy, if you look at that, you look at the housing improvement, you look at the strong retailers and, look, let's not forget, you got a 3.5% unemployment rate, 50-year low, with revisions last month payrolls 180. That's a huge number. And households, and I want to emphasize households, which pick up smaller business. The last four months or the last five months, the household survey from which unemployment comes, that thing has been growing 400,000 per month. So.
JIM CRAMER: But Larry –
LARRY KUDLOW: America is working and America is getting paid. I think we are in an improving situation.
JIM CRAMER: I know, but I listen, if I were Jay Powell, Fed chief, I would say that there is no reason to cut. Yet you and I both know that if we're going to remain competitive, particularly with the dollar the way it is, then there must be a cut. How do you rationalize a cut given all that great news you just said?
LARRY KUDLOW: Look, the great news may be more of a forecast. I don't know the actual numbers. I think still in the third quarter, you know, it's going to be a softer quarter than we hope. The money markets are predicting another rate cut. Jim Bullard of the St. Louis Fed who was a thought leader, he's really been kind of a leading indicator of the Fed. He wanted 50 basis points cut last month. He got 25. I think he's pushing for 25, maybe even 50 the end of this month. So, Jimmy, I'm just saying the markets are telling me, at least, you and I used to do this a lot in the good old days, the markets are predicting another Fed rate cut and I agree with that. I think it would be entirely appropriate. One last point on the Fed before we get too far into the weeds. The yield curve is now finally beginning to normalize. A month ago, every media outlet, including media outlets that never heard of the yield curve before were all predicting recession, because the curve went negative. And short rates were above long rates. That's changed now, as you know. Now the ten year is above the 2s and above the three-month bill, that's a good sign. My reckoning is monetary policy will go at least for one more 25-point ease – and as you put it, I think it's worthwhile. I think it's a good thing.
CARL QUINTANILLA: Hey, Larry, really quick. Just a couple things from me. This remarkable meeting last night between the Speaker and the President in the cabinet room, does that bury any hopes of USMCA?
LARRY KUDLOW: Well, you know, Carl, Ii don't think so. Now, I was not at that meeting. I have been at many other meetings. Some are good. Some are not so good. Look, what I'm hearing -- Speaker Pelosi has her disagreements with the administration. No question about that. I understand. Having said that, Speaker Pelosi has been accommodative and accessible and helpful regarding USMCA which is a big boone for farmers, manufactures, high-tech, finance and services, currency stability. It would increase American economic growth by half a percent of GDP and a couple of hundred thousand jobs over time. So I think Speaker—on that subject, even while she disagrees on others—I think she has been helpful. My friend, trade ambassador Bob Lighthizer, is working the Hill, Democratic side, senior key Democrats are heavily engaged with Ambassador Lighthizer, talking about key issues and so many people in the Democratic and Republican party understand that USMCA, which is a template for future trade deals, would be a legacy, a great legacy for the United States, a great legacy for Republicans and Democrats and workers and manufacturers and auto makers and content. This is such a big thing, I still believe it will pass. We may have disagreements on some matters. But I think USMCA has a lot of momentum. I think it will pass and I think it will pass before Thanksgiving. That's my own personal view.
JIM CRAMER: Larry, you know you are making a lot of news. A lot of people feel that the spat between Speaker Pelosi and President Trump is irredeemable. But you are obviously saying that's not the case. You're also saying that we should stay tuned for some buys? Maybe even they open up a J.P. Morgan or Citi to open business in China. Larry, these would be two incredibly bullish things. Just want to be sure that's what we heard, that's what you are saying, because they're both very newsworthy.
LARRY KUDLOW: Number one, let me repeat, the Trump administration, the President may have his disagreements with Speaker Pelosi, this is not unusual. But I still believe on USMCA, that's a separate track, and I will just tell you, high-level conversations with senior Democratic Committee Chairs and Sub-Chairs are talking to Ambassador Lighthizer, who has conducted -- Mr. Lighthizer has put together a brilliant non-partisan trade deal that helps manufacturing and farmers. It also helps the new economy with IP protection. It also includes currency stability. This is a template. This is an American legacy. Second point, second point, Jimmy, you were asking me about China.
JIM CRAMER: Yes, I wanted something new. Maybe something hot like an AG buy, but also say, letting J.P. Morgan in, letting Citi in. They won't let us compete, Larry. They won't let us compete.
LARRY KUDLOW: You are correct. Now, here's a very important point. We have made great progress and this is a key part of Phase 1. This goes back to last Spring. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin had successfully negotiated financial industry openings in China. So that the ownership, the ownership of any joint venture will switch to an American majority. You follow me? Instead of 49%. Alright. So, if an insurance company or a bank or a securities firm gets a license from the Chinese government and enters into a joint venture or something like that, instead of 49%, that number will go to 51, 53 and 100% ownership in a couple of years. Vice Premier Liu He has been talking about this for many months. Not only is that provision still on the table, Jimmy, it's gaining favor. That whole chapter on financial services. The currency transparency and stability. That chapter has gained great credibility. The protection of international property rights. That chapter has gained great credibility. This will go on. Phase 1 may not be all together finished. Alright. You may go to Phase 2 on some areas. But on things like conflict resolution, it's deals getting dealt with at the highest levels of the U.S. and China. The highest levels. And there is a desire and a willingness, I read this foreign ministry statement. I urge you all to get ahold of it, and look at it yourselves and you will see. Now, I cannot predict the future here. All I'm saying is, take Phase 1 seriously. I said on this network a week or ten days ago that we might be surprised at what came out of these talks last week. We are surprised at what came. Both sides have the desire to do business. It's got to be the right deal. It's got to be right for America. President Trump says that all the time. It's got to be enforceable. There has to be ways to deal with disagreement and the resolutions. But nonetheless, this is front and center. It's going back to China. We are going to paper, clip the papers in the documents and the translation together. Maybe it will be signed in APEC in Chile by the middle of next month. Maybe not. But the momentum, the issues, they're all on the table. Both sides have agreed. In other words, Jimmy Cramer, we have come in, we have come further than we ever have before. So, the president lifted one of the tariffs. We will see about other tariffs being lifted. That might be a part of the deal. I don't want to make a prediction. But both sides see this as beneficial for each country. And that is enormous progress. As I said a while back, the mood music has improved. Now the actual negotiation has improved. These are tough guys. This is tough negotiations. The President will always defend America. No question about that. He will always defend our economy. But people shouldn't overthink this. This is real and it's going to be negotiated.
CARL QUINTANILLA: Larry – understood. While -- before we let you go, Larry -- while we have been talking, industrial production for negative year on year, first in three years. Some of that may be GM but you did say in May that the American economy, you said we were killing it with the economy. Are you still saying that today?
LARRY KUDLOW: Well, look, we've had some softness in the Spring and Summer quarters. Again, the aftermath of severe monetary tightening. The slump in Europe. The strikes at GM. The -- I'm not going to call it a strike, but the problems in Boeing. That stuff cuts into manufacturing. But if you look, Carl, I don't want to go through the numbers again. The third quarter as a whole, if we smooth these things out, manufacturing will be a positive in the third quarter. It was negative in the second quarter. Business equipment, positive in the third quarter. It was negative in the second quarter. I like the low interest rates. I like the zero inflation. I also like low taxes, consumer incomes are booming right now and so are jobs. So, I will say, I'm looking for a big improvement in Q4. And I'm looking for a continued, continued economic boom in 2020.
JIM CRAMER: Larry, let me ask you. Yesterday, Marc Benioff was on. You know him, from Salesforce. He was talking about capitalism being dead. The other night there was a Democratic, let's say a referendum, by candidates which said that capitalism is dead but they need to have something else to replace it. One wants government to replace it, we know what that is with the Democrats. The other wants business to replace it. Is capitalism dead, Larry?
LARRY KUDLOW: Capitalism is not dead. Free enterprise is not dead. Economic opportunity and freedom is not dead. Look, in another interview, which I would love to do with you fellas, we can talk about some of these policies coming -- coming out of the Democratic side. I don't want to do politics, but I love to do policy. I would just say this. The President said this at the U.N. He will never permit the United States to become a socialist country. He will never permit the government takeover of healthcare. He will never permit a rollback of energy and fossil fuels, which has not only created jobs, it has made America so strong on the international arena. We will never have the kind of government that actually encourages people not to work and pays them not to work. There is no way Americans are going to vote for plans that would be a government takeover of the economy with a price tag of $100 trillion or more, which would be paid for by enormous increases of middle class taxes. That's the only way you can do that. This is not the American way. We are free enterprise. We are not socialists. We are going to protect a tremendous durable economic prosperity cycle with low taxes and deregulation and energy and getting trade barriers down. Socialism is in Venezuela. Socialism is in China. Socialism is in a lot of places around the country. Jimmy Cramer, you and I started as partners on TV, I don't know, 20 years ago, we didn't talk socialism then. We ain't talking socialism now. America loves freedom. And a government-dominated repressive economy is not freedom. And by the way, why? Why? Creating 3.5% unemployment rate with median incomes 65,000, it's up about 6 or 7,000 in two years. Why would we want to destroy a pretty darn good prosperity cycle? Why would anybody in their right mind want to do that? No. Socialism -- X. Check the boxes.
CARL QUINTANILLA: Larry.
LARRY KUDLOW: Check the box for free enterprise, Jimmy Cramer.
JIM CRAMER: You get it, Larry.
LARRY KUDLOW: Check the free enterprise box. And you know, wealth creation in the stock market benefits, what, 100 million people. I could go on and on maybe we'll have our own show.
JIM CRAMER: Yes, you can. Like the old days.
CARL QUINTANILLA: We can't wrap you any more, Larry, like we did in the old days, but, we can thank you. Larry Kudlow, outside the White House.
For more information contact:
Jennifer DaubleCNBCt: 201.735.4721m: 201.615.2787e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com
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91373db7cd1a1c6e628c8ddc52cf0704 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/co-defendants-of-rudy-giulianis-associates-head-to-court.html | Co-defendants of Rudy Giuliani's associates head to court in political donation case | Co-defendants of Rudy Giuliani's associates head to court in political donation case
Businessman David Correia exits the United States Courthouse in New York City, October 16, 2019.Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Two businessmen who allegedly worked with associates of President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani to make illegal political donations are set to be arraigned Thursday in federal court in New York.
David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin are accused of conspiring to make donations to U.S. candidates — secretly funded by an unnamed Russian national — in order to benefit a recreational marijuana business venture.
They were indicted on a conspiracy charge. Both men are U.S. citizens. Kukushkin was born in Ukraine, and Correia was born in the United States.
Click here to read the indictment.
Correia, who had been traveling in the Middle East when the case was revealed last week, was arrested Wednesday after flying to New York's John F. Kennedy airport to turn himself in, NBC News reported.
He was released from custody that night on a $250,000 bond after appearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Kukushkin was arrested last week, on the same day that two other men in the federal indictment, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were arrested at a Washington-area airport with one-way tickets out of the country.
Parnas and Fruman, both U.S. citizens born in the former Soviet Union, are set to be arraigned in New York next Wednesday.
Ukrainian-born U.S. businessman Andrey Kukushkin, one of four people indicted in New York on charges of violating campaign finance law, is seen in a courtroom sketch as he appears in San Francisco Federal Court in San Francisco, California, U.S. October 11, 2019Vicki Behringer | Reuters
Parnas and Fruman face other charges in the indictment, which alleges they created a shell company and then used it to donate to political committees, including a pro-Trump super PAC, while concealing that they were the ones making the donations.
They are also accused of being involved in an illegal scheme to buy potential influence with politicians and governments by funneling foreign money to candidates and their campaigns.
House Democratic leaders have issued subpoenas to Parnas and Fruman as part of an impeachment inquiry into Trump based in part on a whistleblower complaint that called Giuliani a "central figure" in an attempt to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Parnas and Fruman were ordered by the leaders of three House committees to provide documents and appear to testify as part of the impeachment probe into Trump.
Giuliani previously said he had worked with the two men as part of his efforts in Ukraine to spur an investigation into the Bidens, NBC reported.
In September 2018, all of the four businessmen who are criminally charged in the case met with the unnamed Russian national in Las Vegas to form a recreational marijuana business, which required access to certain state licenses, according to the indictment.
While there, the court document says, Parnas, Fruman and Kukushkin attended a Nevada state political candidate's fundraiser.
The men took steps to hide the foreign national's involvement in the business venture due to what Kukushkin allegedly called "his Russian roots and current political paranoia about it," the indictment says.
Correia allegedly drafted a plan to make $1 million to $2 million in political donations in pursuit of the licenses. The Russian national last fall arranged to make two overseas wire transfers of $500,000 to Fruman's corporate bank account, investigators said. The men then allegedly used some of those funds to make political donations.
VIDEO1:3701:37Bolton distraught over Giuliani's Ukraine efforts: Trump's former Europe expertNews Videos
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d3a41ab0eef0eaaf0c2dd0e15d60d10f | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/dow-rises-on-new-brexit-deal-pence-in-turkey-rep-cummings-died.html | What to watch today: Dow spikes on new Brexit deal, Rep. Elijah Cummings died, VP Pence in Turkey | What to watch today: Dow spikes on new Brexit deal, Rep. Elijah Cummings died, VP Pence in Turkey
U.S. stock futures spiked this morning after a draft Brexit deal was struck between the European Union and the U.K. The Dow and S&P 500 are on track for a second straight positive week, with the Nasdaq aiming for a third consecutive weekly gain. All remain positive for October after erasing the month's losses earlier this week, and the Dow managed to barely hold onto the 27,000 level despite its Wednesday drop. (CNBC)
On today's economic calendar, the Labor Department is out with its weekly look at initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. At the same time, the government will issue September housing starts and building permits figures, along with the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Manufacturing Index. Industrial production figures for September are released at 9:15 a.m. ET. Also, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans appear at a "Fed Listens" Chicago event this afternoon.
A busy earnings week continues, as Morgan Stanley (MS) and Honeywell (HON) highlight this morning's corporate earnings reports. BB&T (BBT), KeyCorp (KEY), M&T Bank (MTB), Philip Morris (PM), SunTrust Banks (STI), Textron (TXT) and Union Pacific (UNP) are also reporting. E*Trade Financial (ETFC), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) and WD-40 (WDFC) are scheduled to issue quarterly numbers after today's closing bell.Shares of Netflix (NFLX) soared nearly 7.9% in extended trading after the company released its third-quarter earnings report. The company reported mixed results, with an earnings beat and a miss on domestic subscriber adds, while revenue slightly missed analysts' expectations. (CNBC)
Negotiators from the U.K. and EU have reached a draft Brexit deal in the eleventh hour of talks and ahead of a crucial EU summit today. The "Withdrawal Agreement" will now be put before EU leaders at their summit today and tomorrow, and then U.K. lawmakers at the weekend. (CNBC)
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings died at Johns Hopkins Hospital due to complications from longstanding health challenges, his congressional office said. He was 68. A sharecropper's son, Cummings became the powerful chairman of a U.S. House committee that has investigated President Donald Trump. (CNBC)
Vice President Mike Pence will urge Turkey today to halt its offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria, a day after Trump threatened heavy sanctions over the operation. Turkey's week-long assault has created a new humanitarian crisis in Syria, with 160,000 civilians taking flight and a security alert over thousands of Islamic State fighters abandoned in Kurdish jails. (Reuters)* 'Don't be a fool!' Trump letter warned Turkey's Erdogan against Syria offensive (CNBC)Democratic congressional leaders said they walked out of a White House meeting on Syria after what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a Trump "meltdown." After top Democrats left the bipartisan meeting with Trump, Pelosi said the president appeared "shaken up" by a House vote condemning his decision to remove U.S. forces from northern Syria. (CNBC)
China emphasized today that the U.S. must remove tariffs in order for the two countries to reach a final agreement on trade. The two economic giants have been embroiled in a trade dispute for more than a year, with each country applying tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of goods from the other. (CNBC)
General Motors (GM) and union leaders have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract that could end the United Auto Workers' monthlong strike against the automaker. The deal still needs approval from local union leaders, who will vote whether to approve the deal during a private meeting today in Detroit. (CNBC)
McKesson (MCK), AmerisourceBergen (ABC), Cardinal Health (CAH), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) are in discussions with state attorneys general over a potential $22 billion opioid settlement. The possible deal comes days before the start of the first federal trial seeking to hold industries accountable for the epidemic. (CNBC)
WeWork owner, The We Company, has formed a special board committee to consider proposals for a $5 billion financing lifeline from its largest shareholder SoftBank and its main lender J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), Reuters reported. The office-space sharing company is establishing the committee in an effort to ring-fence its financing deliberations from SoftBank's influence.
Tesla (TSLA) was added to a government list of approved automotive manufacturers, China's industry ministry said today, as it granted the electric-vehicle maker a certificate it needs to start production in the country. The $2 billion factory it is building in the eastern Chinese city of Shanghai is its first car manufacturing site overseas. (Reuters)
IBM (IBM) shares fell after the company issued weaker-than-expected third-quarter revenue. IBM's revenue has now dropped for five straight quarters as growth in the company's cloud business hasn't been able to make up for declining sales in its services, hardware, and financing businesses.
CSX (CSX) came in 7 cents ahead of estimates with quarterly earnings of $1.08 per share, with the railroad operator's revenue in line with Wall Street forecasts. CSX saw lower shipment volumes.
Unilever (UL) reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter sales, with softer demand in India and China. Emerging markets account for about 60% of the consumer products maker's business.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, with the chipmaker seeing its net profit rise 13.5% from a year earlier.
Facebook (FB) fell again in Interbrand's annual Best Global Brands report, dropping to 14th place from 9th. Interbrand, a unit of ad giant Omnicom (OMC), said the estimated value of the Facebook brand fell 12% to $39.9 billion from a year earlier.
Alcoa (AA) is mulling up to $1 billion in asset sales as well as closing production facilities, as aluminum prices fall. The aluminum producer reported a loss of 44 cents per share for the third quarter, wider than the 33 cents a share that Wall Street was expecting, with revenue essentially in line with expectations.
Apple's (AAPL) Apple Pay service is being examined for antitrust concerns by European Union regulators, according to the Financial Times.
Joe Maddon is back under the halo. Maddon agreed to a three-year deal to become the Los Angeles Angels' manager, reuniting the World Series-winning former bench boss of the Chicago Cubs with the organization where he spent the first three decades of his baseball career. (AP)
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09da9abffd97aee5cec8a401eda4792e | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/elizabeth-warren-did-not-win-the-debate-and-now-shes-got-work-to-do.html | Elizabeth Warren did not win the debate and now she's got work to do | Elizabeth Warren did not win the debate and now she's got work to do
Democratic presidential hopeful Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks during the fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by The New York Times and CNN at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio on October 15, 2019.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
News Items assembly begins at around 2:30 am weekday mornings, so I don't watch prime time television, as a rule. My Google robots are hard at work however, gathering the latest news and video clips. They did a nice job capturing the "highlights" of Tuesday's Democratic candidates debate. I then read the next morning's coverage/analysis and then, finally, the transcript of the debate itself.
How anyone came away with the idea that Elizabeth Warren "won" the debate is beyond me. Yes, she was the focus of the others' attacks. Yes, she got the most speaking time. And yes, she's good at getting her points across (and insisting that she be allowed to finish her answers).
But she did not "win" the debate. The debate wounded her and revealed her vulnerability on the issue of Medicare For All. That vulnerability is all-but-perfectly captured here. Dodging the issue of how Medicare For All can realistically be financed isn't tenable, even in the short-term. The longer she dodges the question, the more damage her candidacy sustains.
VIDEO2:5902:59Democratic candidates square off over Elizabeth Warren's Big Tech break-up planSquawk Alley
Compounding the "artful dodger" problem was (and is) a surprising defect of wonkdom. Because she is very smart (whether you agree with her or not, she is very smart), we expect her to be smart about most everything. And she markets brain power and thoughtfulness as a feature of her campaign (she has "a plan for that" is code for "she knows what she's talking about").
On the subject of Medicare For All, however, she appeared not to have done her homework, as Megan McArdle pointed out to devastating effect in this morning's Washington Post. To paraphrase McArdle, it turns out Warren is not a health care wonk, "she just plays one on TV."
Playing expert on TV would be fine if Warren had been skating her way through some gotcha question about the Export-Import Bank. But she wasn't doing that. She was talking about a staggering and unsustainable expansion of Federal spending. Here's The Atlantic's Ron Brownstein:
The Urban Institute, a center-left think tank highly respected among Democrats, is projecting that a plan similar to what Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders are pushing would require $34 trillion in additional federal spending over its first decade in operation. That's more than the federal government's total cost over the coming decade for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid combined, according to the most recent Congressional Budget Office projections.
This is not an issue that can be "finessed," although the Warren campaign brain trust is doubtless trying to think of a way to do just that. There is no way. Which means that Warren, sooner rather than later, is going to have to walk back her support for Medicare For All or propose a massive middle class tax increase to pay for it. Bernie Sanders has been honest about the need for such a tax increase and argues that it will be offset by reduced health care costs (over time). Warren is trying to have it both ways. That gives Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar the opportunity to damage her "brand" as policy wonk and, perhaps more important, as a "truth-teller."
There are two brackets in the Democratic presidential nomination campaign. The "activist" or ideological bracket, once owned by Bernie Sanders, is now more Warren than not. You don't have to read the polls to see the shift. It's evident from the crowds Warren attracts around the country. She's the new standard-bearer for the party's formidable left wing.
The other bracket is comprised of candidates who are more "moderate" and advertise their "electability." The argument these candidates make is simple: "Beat Donald Trump first and we'll figure out the rest later." As the president's behavior grows more erratic, the power of this proposition strengthens.
VIDEO3:0403:04Watch five key moments from the fourth Democratic debatePolitics
Former Vice President Biden is the presumed favorite in the "electability" bracket, almost entirely because he consistently leads President Trump in most every key state and national poll. Because of past performances (1988 and 2008) and any number of stumbles on the campaign trail, however, many "electability" voters long for a viable alternative. At some level, they want just that. Biden is yesterday's papers. They're hoping someone new (who can defeat Trump) will come along.
The Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary will choose the "electability" alternative to Biden. Incredibly, Team Biden seems content to let this happen, arguing that the nomination campaign really begins in South Carolina in mid-February. Biden's support in the black community, they maintain, makes him all but unbeatable there.
Maybe.
But probably not. If Biden loses to Warren in Iowa and New Hampshire, he's damaged goods. If Biden loses to Warren and Buttigieg in Iowa or New Hampshire (or both), he's finished. You can't be the electability candidate if you don't win. You can't raise money if contributors think you're a loser. You don't get the warm embrace of Rachel Maddow if you're the former vice president of the United States and you can't beat the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
On the ground in Iowa, most everyone agrees that Warren and Buttigieg have the best field organizations. Warren's operation is by far the best. It delivered 2000 people to see her speak at The University of Iowa in Cedar Rapids; not the University of Iowa in Iowa City, the University of Iowa in Cedar Rapids. There's a big difference. And her organization will get stronger still as she throws more resources into the effort.
Buttigieg has invested heavily in the state and will no doubt go "all in" shortly. There are roughly 100 days left until the night of the caucuses. If Buttigieg is going to get into the "finals" against Warren, he must start winning in his bracket, if not outright. "Winning" doesn't mean beating Biden.
It means an outcome that can be touted as a "surprisingly strong third" or "strong enough to raise doubts about Biden's viability" or whatever the Talking Heads say on cable TV when they're hoping to keep the contest alive, the ratings high and their speaking fees at the going rate.
The best way for Buttigieg to "win" is to engage Warren, now and for as long as his campaign lasts. Which is what he did, effectively, in Tuesday night's debate. Amy Kobuchar also engaged Warren effectively, but she's hampered by a lack of funds and so cannot keep up with her well-known (Biden) and well-heeled (Buttigieg) opponents.
Buttigieg has the wherewithal to compete with Biden. But there's nothing to be gained from attacking Biden. The majority of Biden voters will migrate to Buttigieg, if it comes to that, so there's no reason to alienate them.
Mixing it up with Warren helps establish him as her "equal" and frames the choice to his advantage: "Which is more important: fealty to a left-wing agenda or getting rid of Trump? You're the one and I'm the other. Let the voters decide." By the time we get to actual votes being cast and counted, beating Trump may well be the more persuasive stance.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying: Buttigieg, not Warren, won the debate.
John Ellis is the Editor of News Items and a former columnist for The Boston Globe. You can reach him at jellis41@protonmail.com.
Correction: An earlier version of this op-ed got a location of Iowa University wrong. The location is Iowa City.
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
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2c5ab56148d4385df3b6e07cca4947b3 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/esms-regling-europe-is-not-heading-toward-a-2008-type-of-crisis.html | 'We are not heading into a crisis like 10 years ago,' head of Europe's rescue fund says | 'We are not heading into a crisis like 10 years ago,' head of Europe's rescue fund says
Klaus Regling, managing director of the European Stability Mechanism.Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The managing director of Europe's bailout fund told CNBC Thursday that the euro zone has worked hard to ensure it's able to deal with future financial shocks, downplaying talk that another recession is just around the corner.
Klaus Regling, the head of the European Stability Mechanism, told CNBC's Geoff Cutmore at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, D.C., that the euro region has "growth and potential."
"We are not heading into a crisis like 10 years ago. Nobody is arguing that. Sometimes reading the media it sounds like we are heading back to what happened 10 years ago — it's not the case. We don't even have stagnation," he said.
"But there are risks, so we have to be careful and we know in our economic system there will be a crisis from time to time. We must do everything to try to prevent it, but it happens. And it always comes from a different corner."
The European Stability Mechanism, or ESM, is a crisis resolution mechanism set up for euro area countries. It generates money by selling bonds in the global financial markets. Following the euro zone sovereign debt crisis of 2011, the ESM became integral to lawmakers and bankers as bailouts were dealt out to ailing economies.
VIDEO4:5804:58Rest of the world can't expect to be rescued by German economy, expert saysSquawk Box Europe
The European Central Bank (ECB) has just resumed its massive bond-buying program with fragile growth in the region worrying economists and market participants once more. On Thursday, the German government lowered its 2020 growth forecast to 1.0% from 1.5% and global trade wars and new autos regulations have impacted the euro zone's largest economy and the broader region.
Regling rebuffed talk that the euro zone hadn't implemented enough reforms in order to deal with future shocks. He admitted that not being in a crisis meant "things move a bit slower" but insisted that work had been done on a banking union and giving his organization additional mandates.
"We should not assume that there will never be another crisis despite all the efforts. And the efforts have been strong," he told CNBC.
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04a0a8a0464bb535b12795aa72cfb071 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/europe-markets-leaders-seek-brexit-deal-ahead-of-crucial-eu-summit.html | European stocks close slightly higher as UK lawmakers cast doubt on Brexit deal | European stocks close slightly higher as UK lawmakers cast doubt on Brexit deal
European stocks gave up earlier gains on Thursday as British lawmakers cast doubt on a draft Brexit deal agreed between the U.K. and the European Union.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed provisionally 0.1% higher by Thursday's close, with healthcare and financial services stocks leading gains while food and beverages incurred the heaviest losses, slipping 0.8% lower.
The European blue-chip index had initially jumped 0.7% after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that a "great new deal" had been reached before European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker confirmed the agreement.
Sterling hit a five-month high of $1.2949 in the aftermath of the announcements but was back down at $1.2860 by late-afternoon as doubts emerged as to whether Johnson will be able to get the deal approved in a vote the British Parliament on Saturday.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a key ally of Johnson's government, confirmed in a statement Thursday that it will vote against the deal, which it claims "drives a coach and horses" through the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). The GFA is a legal truce that restored peace at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Stateside, U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators are working on phase one of a trade deal text to be presented to presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Back in Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) plans to implement a substantial stimulus package in full despite disagreements within its Governing Council over the move being made public, according to French central bank president Francois Villeroy de Galhau. However, he added that a broader review of the bank's policy framework is welcome.
U.K. retail sales data came in flat for the third quarter, losing momentum as British department stores disappointed.
WH Smith shares jumped 5.8% after the British retailer announced that it would buy Marshall Retail for $400 million in a bid to expand its presence in U.S. airports.
Ericsson, Elisa and Tele2 shares all jumped sharply after reporting strong third-quarter earnings, Ericsson leading the way with a 6% gain.
Earnings news also dominated the bottom of the European blue-chip index, with Swiss software company Temenos plunging 15% after missing expectations. British price comparison site Moneysupermarket also fell 10.3% after its third-quarter trading statement.
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20e3232340d624643ab57a43a7371673 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/first-on-cnbc-cnbc-transcript-imf-managing-director-kristalina-georgieva-speaks-with-cnbcs-geoff-cutmore-on-squawk-on-the-street-today.html | First On CNBC: CNBC Transcript: IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva Speaks with CNBC's Geoff Cutmore on "Squawk on the Street" Today | First On CNBC: CNBC Transcript: IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva Speaks with CNBC's Geoff Cutmore on "Squawk on the Street" Today
WHEN: Today, Thursday, October 17, 2019
WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" – Live from the IMF Fall Meeting in Washington D.C.
The following is the unofficial transcript of a FIRST ON CNBC interview with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and CNBC's Geoff Cutmore on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" (M-F 9AM – 11AM) today, Thursday, October 17th. The following is a link to video of the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/10/17/imfs-georgieva-us-china-tariffs-could-equal-switzerlands-economy-by-2020.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
DAVID FABER: ALL RIGHT. LET'S GET DOWN TO WASHINGTON, D.C. NOW OUR OWN GEOFF CUTMOORE SETTING DOWN WITH A SPECIAL GUEST.
GEOFF CUTMORE: A VERY GOOD MORNING, GUYS THANK YOU FOR THAT, KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA IS HERE WITH ME. MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE IMF VERY NICE TO HAVE YOU WITH US ON CNBC IF I MAY START BY ASKING ABOUT THE BREXIT BREAKTHROUGH WE APPEAR TO HAVE HERE MARKETS HAVE BEEN VERY ENCOURAGED, THE POUND IS STRENGTHENING, THE FTSE IS HIGHER, YET THERE ARE PLENTY OF POLITICAL OPPONENTS LINING UP TO SAY THAT THEY WILL VOTE THIS DOWN AT THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION ON SATURDAY. WHAT WORDS OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THOSE LINING UP TO REJECT THIS DEAL?
KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA: WE NEED TO LOOK INTO THE IMPLICATIONS OF DISORDERLY BREXIT, BREXIT WITH NO DEAL. IN APRIL, THE FUND PUBLISHED THE ANALYSIS IT HAS DONE, AND IT IS VERY SIMPLE VERY EXPENSIVE FOR THE UK. IF THERE IS NO DEAL BREXIT, THAT WOULD COST THE UK BETWEEN 3.5 AND 5% OF GDP. AND IT WOULD ALSO COST THE EU MUCH LESS, SOME HALF PERCENTAGE POINT. SO IS IT IN THE INTEREST OF THE UK, PRIMARILY, THE INTEREST OF THE EU, AND OF COURSE, THE WHOLE WORLD, THAT THERE IS A DEAL. JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER SAID, WHEN THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A DEAL NOW, WE HAVE TO SEE WHETHER THIS WILL CAN REALLY HOLD
CUTMORE: THE ARGUMENTS FOR INVESTORS, LARGELY FOCUS AROUND DEFERRED INVESTMENT ACTIVITY BY COMPANIES AND SUSPENDED CONSUMPTION BECAUSE OF UNCERTAINTY AS YOU LOOK AT THE STORY UNFOLDING, IF THIS MANAGES TO SURVIVE THE SATURDAY SESSION OF PARLIAMENT, DO YOU THINK THERE IS ANY PROSPECT FOR AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE GDP PROSPECTS FOR THE UK AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO RIDE ON THE BACK OF A STRENGTHENING POUND AND A STRONGER STOCK MARKET?
KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA: WELL, THERE ARE TWO FACTORS TO KEEP IN MIND. THE FIRST ONE IS THAT THE MARKETS HAVE ALREADY ABSORBED TO A GREAT DEGREE BREXIT. WE HAVE BEEN LIVING WITH IT NOW FOR THREE YEARS. SO, INVESTORS WHO HAVE BEEN IMPACTED BY THE PROSPECT OF BREXIT HAVE ALREADY INTEGRATED THIS IN THEIR DECISIONS. WHAT IS THE UNKNOWN? THE UNKNOWN IS, WOULD THERE BE A DEAL OR THERE WOULD BE MORE UNCERTAINTY, MORE CHAOS? SO, WE HAVE BEEN PATIENT FOR THREE YEARS. I THINK YOU NEED TO BE PATIENT FOR THREE MORE DAYS. I THINK THE IMPACT ON INVESTOR SENTIMENT WOULD BE A POSITIVE, IF A DEAL IS REACHED IT WOULD REMOVE THAT UNCERTAINTY OF WHAT EXACTLY THAT MEANS IT IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT NOT ONLY THE UK, THE REST OF THE WORLD IS LOOKING FOR REMOVAL OF THIS UNCERTAINTY. WHY? BECAUSE WE HAVE PLENTY OF UNCERTAINTY, EVEN WITHOUT BREXIT
CUTMORE: YOU HAVE TALKED IN THE PRESS CONFERENCE, JUST A FEW MOMENTS AGO, ABOUT PROGRESS IN THE U.S./CHINA TRADE REALM THE MARKETS SEEM TO BE CONFUSED. THERE WAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF A FIRST STEP THAT NOW SEEMS TO HAVE DISSIPATED SOMEWHAT. THAT ENTHUSIASM, AT LEAST. AND THERE'S A LACK OF CLARITY. YOU HAVE DEEPER AND MORE INSIGHTFUL CONVERSATIONS WITH BOTH PARTIES THAN I DO WHAT SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS DO YOU BELIEVE HAS BEEN MADE?
KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA: WHAT WE UNDERSTAND FROM BOTH SIDES, I ACTUALLY STARTED TODAY WITH THE GOVERNOR XIAOCHUAN OF CHINA, I MET WITH SECRETARY MNUCHIN YESTERDAY. WHAT WE HEAR IS VERY CONSTRUCTIVE ATTITUDE AND COMMITMENT TO IDENTIFY REMAINING DIFFERENCES AND THEN FOCUS ON THOSE. IN OTHER WORDS, CASH WHAT IS ALREADY AGREED ON A NUMBER OF ISSUES THERE'S 100% OR CLOSE TO 100% AGREEMENT IF THE FOCUS IS ON THE REMAINING DIFFERENCES, THAT'S A GOOD CHANCE AN AGREEMENT CAN BE REACHED. THE INTEREST IN AGREEMENT IS MOTIVATED BY A VERY SIMPLE COMMON OBJECTIVE. HARMFUL FOR ECONOMIES OF BOTH COUNTRIES, MORE HARMFUL TO CHINA FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. CHINA IS MORE OPEN TOWARDS U.S. AND MORE DEPENDENT ON THE TRADE RELATIONS WITH U.S BUT ALSO NEGATIVE FOR THE U.S. WE HAVE DONE A CALCULATION OF WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT, WHAT IS THE IMPACT, AND IT IS SIGNIFICANT. BY 2020, TARIFFS ALREADY IMPOSED OR ANNOUNCED WOULD SHRINK GLOBAL GDP BY 0.8% THAT'S THE EQUIVALENT OF THE ECONOMY OF SWITZERLAND SO THE MOTIVATION TO FIND A PATHWAY TO A DEAL COMES FROM THE FACT THAT THE WORLD ECONOMY IS SLOWING DOWN, WE ARE IN A SYNCHRONIZED SLOW DOWN TWO YEARS AGO WERE IN SYNCHRONIZED UPSWING. YOU CAN TAKE BATTLE ATTITUDE WHEN THE WORLD IS DOING WELL, ONE HAS TO BE MORE CAREFUL WHEN THIS IS NO MORE THE CASE.
CUTMORE: IS THERE A TIME ISSUE IN YOUR MIND HERE? IT SEEMS THAT WE ARE STILL WAITING FOR RATIFICATION OF THE MEXICO/CANADA/U.S. TRADE DEAL, CONCERNED IT COULD BE TIED UP TO 2020 ELECTION CAMPAIGNING. IF THERE'S NO SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS SOON ON A U.S./CHINA, THAT COULD BE LOST IN THE 2020 ELECTION RACE.
KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA: YOU PUT IT SO CORRECTLY IN YOUR QUESTION, THE SOONER THE BETTER AND THE SOONER THE BETTER NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT IN U.S., THE SOONER THE BETTER BECAUSE WE ARE IN A WORLD ENVIRONMENT THAT IS TOO MUCH LOADED WITH UNCERTAINTY WE HAVE NOT ONLY TRADE UNCERTAINTY IN BREXIT, WE HAVE GEOPOLITICAL UNCERTAINTY, WE ALSO HAVE TECHNOLOGY, CREATING DISRUPTION IN THE WORLD ECONOMY FASTER THAN HAS BEEN THE CASE BEFORE SO ANY AGREEMENT CLOSE TO BEING REACHED BETTRE TO WRAP IT UP AND MOVE FORWARD, AND OUR ADVICE HAS ALWAYS BEEN TALK TO EACH OTHER, AND EVEN BETTER, AGREE WITH EACH OTHER.
CUTMORE: LET ME FLAG UP TWO ISSUES AROUND FINANCIAL MARKETS AND STABILITY THAT YOU'VE RAISED HERE THIS WEEK ONE IS THE HIGH LEVEL OF CORPORATE DEBT AS YOU SEE IT, $17 TRILLION POTENTIALLY EXPOSED TO RECESSION THAT COULD BE DANGEROUS YOU ALSO FLAGGED UP THE RISKS AROUND INTEREST RATES AND INVESTORS THAT ARE STRETCHING FOR YIELDS RIGHT NOW, IN PARTS OF THE MARKET THAT MAY BE LIQUID AND DON'T UNDERSTAND IS IT FAIR TO SAY THERE ARE NOW MORE RISKS IN THE FINANCIAL ECONOMY THAN THERE WERE IN 2007, 2008 HOW DO YOU READ IT.
KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA: THAT I WOULD BE CAUTIOUS NOT TO GO THAT FAR I DO BELIEVE THAT AFTER THE 2007, 2009, PERIOD OF TIME OF GREAT FINANCIAL STRESS FOR THE WORLD ECONOMY, A LOT HAS BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THE PROTECTION OF THE FINANCIAL SECTOR AND SOME WOULD EVEN ARGUE TOO MUCH HAS BEEN DONE IN THAT REGARD. I WOULDN'T GO THAT FAR EITHER BUT WHAT WE ALSO HAVE TO RECOGNIZE IS THAT WE ARE FACED WITH A RATHER UNIQUE SITUATION OF LOW FOR LONGER INTEREST RATES AND EVEN NEGATIVE INTEREST RATES. THAT INEVITABLY CREATES TWO RISKS. ONE IS THE SEARCH FOR HIGHER YIELD BY TAKING HIGHER RISK. THIS IS ALREADY MATERIALIZING. AND TWO, IT IS LACK OF INVESTMENTS WHERE THEY WOULD MATTER MOST, THE FINANCIAL SECTOR NOT BEING ABLE TO BOOST GROWTH THROUGH PRODUCTIVE INVESTMENTS
CUTMORE: DIRECTOR I HAVE TO WRAP YOU UP. IM SO SORRY WE WILL SEE EACH OTHER SHORTLY AT A BIG SIT DOWN PANEL WE ARE DOING THANK YOU FOR JOINING US DAVID, BACK TO YOU ON THE POINT, THEY'RE FLAGGING UP SOME CHALLENGES THAT THE MANAGING DIRECTOR SEES FOR INVESTORS THAT MAY BE TOURISTS, PART OF THE MARKET THEY DON'T WELL UNDERSTAND BACK TO YOU.
FABER: JEFF, THANK YOU FOR BRINGING US THAT INTERVIEW LIVE IN D.C.
For more information contact:
Jennifer DaubleCNBCt: 201.735.4721m: 201.615.2787e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com
Emma Martin CNBCt: 201.735.4713m: 551.275.6221e: emma.martin@nbcuni.com
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e0ce507a1c42c750e5a96b258870c6f6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/jim-cramer-do-not-own-or-short-netflix-here-ring-the-register.html | VIDEO2:1102:11Time to ring the register on Netflix, says Jim CramerMad Money with Jim Cramer
Netflix investors should "ring the register" and cash in on some profits after the stock bounced on its mixed earnings report, CNBC's Jim Cramer recommended Thursday.
The streaming giant soundly topped profit estimates in the third quarter, but the "Mad Money" host isn't convinced the "better-than-feared" numbers were strong enough to take the company out of the penalty box given another period of subscriber woes ahead of the coming deluge of new players in the space.
Netflix shares rallied nearly 2.5% to $293.35 in Thursday's session. The stock closed about $15 below its intraday trading high.
"You've got to understand what Netflix is up against because when you look at these numbers in context I think they're pretty discouraging," he argued, adding "I wouldn't short Netflix here, too risky, but until we see how they handle Disney and Apple, I absolutely wouldn't want you to own it, either."
In anticipation of big brand competition entering the video subscription arena, Netflix's quarter didn't yield a lot of confidence in its business, Cramer said. The platform's kryptonite, he suggested, will be the cheaper price tag and deep libraries of content that will come with Disney+ and Apple TV Plus when both streaming services launch within the next month. AT&T's WarnerMedia and Comcast's NBCUniversal also have their own platforms in the pipeline.
In the September quarter, Netflix delivered a 43 cents earnings beat as it posted profit of $1.47 per share. Revenue came in at $5.24 billion, which just missed expectations, according to Factset. Netflix added 6.26 million new subscribers to its international base. The sour part, however, was the 517,000 new domestic sign-ups, which was more than 55% short of expectations. That follows the 2.7 million new accounts that was short of an 5 million add-ons expected in the July quarter.
"Even before the Disney-Apple tag-team enters the ring, this company's already facing some real headwinds," Cramer said. "So even though they reported a decent earnings beat last night, all anyone cared about were the anemic subscriber numbers."
Netflix conceded that price increases in the U.S. earlier this year affected subscriber retention and that new streaming services could cause "some modest headwind to our near-term growth" in a letter to shareholders.
Macquarie Research downgraded the stock to neutral from buy and reduced its price target to $325 a share from $375.
The company is forecasting a total of 7.6 million new paid subscribers in the fourth quarter. Management guided for 600,000 new domestic sign ups, while analyst consensus is 715,000, FactSet said.
Shares of Netflix are up almost 10% year to date, but the stock is down nearly 20% since it first missed on subscriber growth in its second quarter three months ago.
"Put it all together and I think Netflix has reached a point of saturation domestically," Cramer said. "Why not give Netflix more credit for its incredible profitability? Well, because this is a subscriber growth story and if you value the stock on earnings" it's at 53 times next year's numbers.
VIDEO12:0112:01Do not own or short Netflix here — 'ring the register,' Jim Cramer saysMad Money with Jim Cramer
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Apple and Disney. NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
Disclaimer
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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e7a825d7c10109080f79598e1d8097c4 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/jim-cramer-stocks-will-blast-higher-if-trade-issues-are-resolved.html | VIDEO2:0002:00Resolve trade questions, market will 'blast' past current levels: Jim CramerMad Money with Jim Cramer
CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday that resolutions to a pair of major trade issues would be a boon to the stock market, arguing it's time investors factor positive conclusions into their strategy.
"What happens to the stock market if Larry is right and we get a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada before Thanksgiving and we see concrete results from our negotiations with China?" the "Mad Money" host said, referring to White House top economic advisor Larry Kudlow. "In that case, I think stocks will blast right through these levels and go much higher."
In an interview earlier Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," Kudlow said there is real momentum to build off the preliminary trade agreement with China. He also suggested the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — a replacement for North American Free Trade Agreement — could be signed into law by Thanksgiving.
While Cramer conceded he's not a neutral observer, since the two men co-hosted a TV show in the early 2000s, he said he really believes Kudlow in this instance.
"I thought he might be blowing smoke, so I gave him a chance to dial the whole thing back, take back his comments by asking about both points a second time," Cramer said of his former CNBC colleague.
But since Kudlow said his comments had been "checked off" by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Cramer said he feels more confident.
"Lighthizer and Kudlow are typically in opposite camps when it comes to the trade war," Cramer said, with Lighthizer holding more hard-line principles.
"Now normally when Larry says something positive, the hardliners shoot him down a few days later," Cramer said. "If they've already signed off on his statements, though, while doesn't that make it a very different story?"
And this time, the story could spell positive news for the stock market, Cramer argued.
That's because the uncertainty around both these trade issues is holding back the economy — "and thus the market," Cramer said.
"We could get a really positive domino effect if we pass the NAFTA replacement bill and then start getting even small concessions out of China," Cramer said. "In that scenario, earnings will explode for the weakest part of the economy, the industrials."
Beyond that, Cramer said long-term interest rates should begin to inch higher, putting a stop to the inverted yield curve and the need to "worry so much about" the actions of the Federal Reserve.
"Will Larry be right? I don't know, but it's a real possibility," Cramer said. "And after this morning, you need to start factoring it in before you start doing a lot of selling right into this market."
VIDEO4:4204:42Jim Cramer: Stock market will "blast" higher if trade issues are resolvedMad Money with Jim Cramer
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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a2fb9d507474b7a7272bfce6a5098f00 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/market-trend-implies-stocks-will-rip-on-earnings-as-trade-fears-fade.html | Market pattern suggests stocks will rip on earnings as trade fears fade | Market pattern suggests stocks will rip on earnings as trade fears fade
VIDEO1:1501:15As trade fears fade, Bespoke's Paul Hickey predicts stocks will rip on earningsTrading Nation
Bespoke Investment Group's Paul Hickey expects stocks to buck a bearish earnings season pattern that emerged earlier this year.
Each time the backdrop supported upside, sell-offs ravaged the market due to the U.S.-China trade war, the firm's co-founder said.
"In the first say four weeks of both of those earnings seasons, the market did very well and was trading higher," Hickey told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Wednesday. "The rally was derailed not because of some weak earnings reports, but because President Trump issued tweets and suggesting ... an escalation of the trade war."
Hickey tracks the trouble in a chart showing trade-related S&P 500 sell-offs during the past two earnings seasons.
But this earnings season, according to Hickey, is different because trade risks are fading.
"We have a temporary reprieve from the trade headlines here for the coming weeks," said Hickey. "We had the constant back and forth and the phase one agreement. And, as light as you want to call it, we did get passed that big event, and the market has held up well."
Since Friday's announcement by President Donald Trump of a preliminary deal with Beijing, stocks have been inching closer to all-time highs set in July. The Dow and S&P 500 are on track to see their second positive week in a row.
Similar to the last two earnings cycles, Hickey noted that analyst sentiment surrounding earnings is bearish, a scenario that typically bodes well for stocks. Right now, he sees negative analyst revisions outnumbering positive ones by more than 2 to 1.
"Normally when you see this weak analyst sentiment heading into earnings season, it sets the bar low," he said. "Then the companies do better and stocks go higher."
Hickey contends the scenario is clearing the runway for gains as trade war fears move to the "back burner."
"I don't think we'll hear much about the ongoing trade escalation with China until at least we get to the later stage of earnings season, if we see it at that point at all," Hickey said.
Disclaimer
VIDEO4:5704:57Market trend suggests stocks will rip on earnings as trade fears dissolveTrading Nation
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bb4f9a182663d7cb8c187caa5ccc50ae | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/netflix-q3-earnings-what-could-push-the-stock-higher-in-the-next-year.html | Here's what could push Netflix higher in the next year, and other expert takes | Here's what could push Netflix higher in the next year, and other expert takes
VIDEO2:5402:54Netflix shares start to fade after earnings—Four experts on what's next for the stockTrading Nation
Netflix has gotten a new lease on life — or perhaps just renewed its subscription.
The stock stayed in the green Thursday after an 8% post-earnings move, ending the trading session with a more than 2% gain. The move was a welcome reprieve from a few painful months for Netflix shares, which are up just under 10% year to date.
But concerns around the streaming giant's growth prospects — and encroaching competition — still linger.
Here's what four experts see ahead for the stock:
Rich Greenfield, co-founding partner of technology, media and telecommunications analysis firm LightShed Partners, said Netflix has a lot to prove after "a major miss in Q2":
"The international number was disastrous, and I think you had a lot of investors fearful that the international story was over, because remember: as you think about the next five years for Netflix, the next 10 years, 90%-95% of the growth was coming from overseas. And so when the international story hit a wall last quarter, people panicked. And you look at what happened to the stock on the chart. That was fear of international. So, coming in and actually exceeding expectations for Q3 was a really big sign. … When you look at a company that's got almost 160 million subscribers, given the size now that they're at, I think forecasting subscribers on a quarterly basis is really hard. The thing that's going to move the stock over the next 12 months is do they start to see a reacceleration in global subscribers?"
Michael Graham, head of U.S. equity research and an internet analyst at Canaccord Genuity, said this quarter may have marked a turning point for the company:
"I think the biggest thing is last quarter, domestic subscribers declined sequentially, and they returned to growth this quarter. I think that's the big thing. … The big point that the company was trying to make last night is that all those streaming packages are trying to take share away from the typical cable subscription, which is robust. I mean, Netflix at $12, 13 a month is a small amount compared to what most households pay for a cable bill."
Laura Martin, senior analyst at Needham, said the next thing Wall Street needs to focus on is revenue per user, or RPU — and that it could spell trouble for Netflix's stock:
"The issue's going to be that RPU is going to come more into focus as you start adding $3 mobile-only subs[cribers] in these developing countries. I think the Street is going to make finer granularity about what kind of quality subs offshore Netflix is adding. And I think a stock that trades at seven times revenue, which is where Netflix is down to, can't sustain a negative sub growth anywhere in the world, and that includes the U.S. So, I think as you get increasingly bundled sub adds from Amazon and Apple and Disney, it's going to be harder for Netflix to maintain a positive subscriber growth in the U.S. … I sort of think it's going to get worse and worse as you get more and more competitors with double-A balance sheets and huge cash hoards that Netflix is required to compete against now."
Brian Wieser, global president of business intelligence at media investment giant GroupM, warned that rivals may have a difficult time catching up to Netflix on content because "if you're not in with, like, $5 billion, you're not really a player":
"At least in the United States, I think that the amount of time people can devote to what we call television is relatively limited, and Netflix and all of the new services are going to be competing for that time. I don't really think they're competing with Fortnite, as was indicated a few quarters ago. … The cash burn issue is the point. If they can … find a way to keep the sub growth going while they're burning cash and keep investors along for the ride, then they'll be fine. But the reality is that ... everyone else is coming up, if they're willing to step up with money to pay for content. That's not a given. Apple had $1 billion of content. That's a nice kind of entry point, [but] it's not clear that everyone else that's playing will show up."
Disclaimer
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6f5cdfc8b4165703f1679ae120f09c50 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/nobel-laureate-myron-scholes-says-the-smart-money-is-pessimistic-betting-on-inflation.html | Nobel laureate Myron Scholes says his models show the smart money is pessimistic | Nobel laureate Myron Scholes says his models show the smart money is pessimistic
Nobel laureate Myron Scholes said the options market indicates the smart money is getting nervous.
"Right now for the smart money, the way ahead is pessimistic," Scholes, chief investment strategist at Janus Henderson Investors, said at the annual Sohn San Francisco Investment Conference.
The ratio of the expected upside over the expected downside is at the bottom right now, making equities unattractive, according to Scholes, who uses call and put option prices to get insights into shifting near-term market risks.
Sohn San Francisco Investment Conference
"If you believe that market prices are giving us information about the road ahead ... Basically the market is saying the downside risk for the S&P 500 is about 11% and upside is only around 10% so the distribution is skewed to the downside," Scholes said. "The same thing is true if you look at all the sectors of the S&P 500 except the material sector."
Scholes won a Nobel Prize in economics in 1997 with Robert Merton for research in the pricing of options and derivatives that formed the basis for the widely used Black-Scholes pricing model.
He found that the market is increasingly buying protection against inflation, buying things such as gold and Treasury inflation-protected Securities.
"What we see is very fascinating: the market is indicating some whiff of inflation. The market tends to be worried about inflation," Scholes said. "Basically it looks like bonds and gold are strong, equities are weak."
Scholes is bullish on inflation assets such as natural gas, oil, gold, silver and agricultural commodities which have more upside than downside potential, he said.
In 1994, Scholes joined with John Meriwether to found hedge fund Long Term Capital Management, but the firm famously collapsed in 1998 after the Russian debt crisis.
The Sohn conference held in San Francisco is the West Coast version of the investment conferences that began in New York. The conferences, presented in partnership with CNBC, benefit education and other children's causes.
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366dcba505a18f4b799c5b58583260ad | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/sallie-mae-execs-tan-at-maui-retreat-while-student-debt-crisis-tops-1point6-trillion.html | Sallie Mae execs tan at Maui retreat while student debt crisis tops $1.6 trillion | Sallie Mae execs tan at Maui retreat while student debt crisis tops $1.6 trillion
A graduate at commencement exercises at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, on May 11, 2019.Jonathan Drake | Reuters
As 1 in 5 American adults wonder how to pay off their combined $1.6 trillion in student debt, Sallie Mae executives and sales team members wrestled with a different question: between meetings, how should they spend their time on their five-day paid trip to the luxury Fairmont resort on Wailea beach in Maui?
Sallie Mae brought more than 100 of its employees to Hawaii in August to celebrate a record year — $5 billion in student loans to 374,000 borrowers. The company said it didn't pay for employees' families to attend, but some did tag along.
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"We said, 'Hey, look, Maui is a pretty nice spot.' And so if you wanted to stay a few days or want to bring family, that's up to you," Ray Quinlan, CEO of Sallie Mae, told NBC News on the grounds of the Fairmont Hotel.
Quinlan, in a walk-and-talk with NBC News, said the trip to Maui was not an "incentive trip."
"This is a sales get-together for all of our salespeople," he said, adding the publicly traded company has been taking retreats like the Maui one since it was founded in the 1970s to service federal education loans.
Since then, the lender's trajectory has changed, now offering private loans. But in 2014, the company split into two: Sallie Mae Bank, which offers private loans, and Navient, a newly-formed offshoot which services and collects loans, including those that Sallie Mae sold. Sallie Mae's borrowers, however, have said the company doesn't treat them nearly as well as it does its sales team.
Paige McDaniel, 39, took out a federal Sallie Mae student loan to pay for her undergraduate degree 20 years ago. Six years later, before the Sallie Mae split with Navient, she took out a private loan with the company to pay for her grad school.
"I thought they were the same kind of loans," McDaniel, of the Denver suburb Elizabeth, said. A mother of two, she borrowed $120,000 for her tuition at Lakeland College for a master's in business administration, to help with the cost of living as she worked through school.
The agreement, which included a warning to read it before signing, said the interest rate was variable, but she says she doesn't remember being told the rate was much higher on the private loan.
After graduation, Sallie Mae expected McDaniel to pay "well over $1,500 a month," she said.
"When I told them that, you know, I couldn't afford that, could we make some payment arrangements, they essentially said, 'So sorry, we'll put a lien on your house and garnish your wages if you don't make those payments,'" McDaniel said.
Now, McDaniel owes $304,000, even though she declared bankruptcy to protect her house after being unable to make her payments. She's hired an attorney to sue Navient, arguing that bankruptcy should have cleared her debt because it was a private loan.
"There's no way anybody can ever dig themselves out from underneath that," McDaniel said. "They just don't see that there are families on the other side of this. It's not just my generation cause I have the loans, it affects my children. How am I going to send them to college?"
McDaniel's experience isn't an outlier.
The attorney general of Illinois sued Navient and Sallie Mae in 2017, accusing the company of deceptive subprime lending, a failure to offer proper repayment options, and faulty collection practices.
"We worry about private student loans," said Ashley Harrington, senior policy counsel on student debt at the nonpartisan Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). "They don't have the same protections for borrowers" that federal loans have, she said.
Harrington said private student loans often employ subprime lending practices and give loans to people who will likely be unable to pay them back, adding the issue disproportionately affects black, Latino, Native American and female students.
Black undergraduate students with debt are unable to afford their loans at five times the rate of white bachelor's degree graduates, a 2019 study in part done by the CRL found.
"Sallie Mae had a big part in creating a place where we are in the student debt crisis," Harrington said, and student debt stalls people from buying homes and starting a small business, dragging the economy.
Sallie Mae says it's not liable in McDaniel's suit, saying the current bank wasn't making loans when she took hers out.
"We believe Navient — a separate and independent company from Sallie Mae — is responsible for all liabilities that are at issue," the company said in a statement to NBC News.
But putting the blame on Navient doesn't square with the company's own advertising. On its website, Sallie Mae advertises 43 years of "helping America pay for college," — more years than McDaniel has even been alive.
Navient told NBC News the AG's suit is "baseless," and said it had no comment on McDaniel's case. Referencing allegations that it gave out private loans knowing students wouldn't be able to repay them, the company insisted all loans were issued in "good faith."
In Hawaii, Sallie Mae's lawsuits and controversies seemed lost in the sand.
"So we've had good years, we've had bad years," Quinlan said. The conference, in Sallie Mae's eyes, was a "recognition of the hard work" of the sales team.
Beachside, employees planned and strategized for the upcoming year, were awarded prizes, and soaked up the sun.
"We do it every year," Quinlan said.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified the company that Paige McDaniel plans to sue. It is Navient, not Sallie Mae.
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ade0ec1c37c7ca4c45be5f4ee3f3473c | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/slack-is-getting-hit-and-options-traders-are-betting-on-more-pain.html | Slack is getting slapped down, and options traders are betting on more pain | Slack is getting slapped down, and options traders are betting on more pain
VIDEO2:3202:32Slack has its work cut out for it, options traders sayOptions Action
The software space is suddenly reeling.
The group was hit with a deluge of analyst downgrades and bearish sentiment Wednesday, and after a strong start to the year, the IGV software ETF that tracks it has stalled out completely since mid-July, plunging more than 6% in the last three months.
Established names like Workday, Oracle, Adobe, SAP and ADP have fallen during the period, as has a nascent tech unicorn: Slack.
The workspace messaging company has tumbled nearly 10% from the highs of its first day of trading in June, and options traders aren't betting on a turnaround any time soon.
"The most active contracts were the Nov. 25 puts. About 7,500 of those traded for about $3," Optimize Advisors President Michael Khouw said Wednesday on CNBC's "Fast Money."
"Now, I would point out that those are in-the-money puts, and there was some open interest coming in today. Normally, when you see this kind of a decline, you would expect to see that. Maybe people who own those puts look to sell them and try to monetize them," said Khouw.
As Khouw pointed out, Slack experienced more than twice its daily average options volume on Wednesday, leading him to believe that something interesting was going on.
"The open interest was only about 5,400 contracts, [the 25-strike puts] traded over 7,500 contracts, and many of those contracts were actually purchased," he said. "What might be going on here, is people who own the stock and think there's a chance it might rebound but are not willing to take any more pain might actually have been taking advantage of some of those put sellers."
These traders would be taking advantage of those sellers by purchasing puts against their long position, giving them some insurance on the downside.
"That synthetically puts them into a call position. In this way, if [Slack] does catch a bounce, they'll be able to get some upside exposure, but they're mitigating their downside risk if it does see further weakness," said Khouw.
Slack was trading 2.2% lower in Thursday's session.
Disclaimer
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8e065d066ebc55761f9a9ebad1b84195 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/stock-market-outlook-friday-american-express-coke-earnings.html | Three before you leave — What to watch for Friday including American Express, Coke earnings | Three before you leave — What to watch for Friday including American Express, Coke earnings
A bottle of Diet Coke is pulled for a quality control test at a Coco-Cola bottling plant in Salt Lake City, Utah.George Frey | Getty Images
Here are the most important things to know about Friday before you hit the door.
Earnings season kicked off with a bang this week, and a host of companies are set to report quarterly results Friday including American Express, Coca-Cola, and Kansas City Southern.
For Coke, analysts are expecting the company to report EPS of $0.56 and $9.43 billion in revenue. Following a rough start to the year, shares are up 14% for 2019, but they're trailing Pepsi's 24% rise. Last quarter the company topped estimates and gave upbeat guidance for the remainder of the year.
Rail operator Kansas City Southern's report will be in focus following mixed results from its competitors. CSX beat EPS estimates and saw its revenue match expectations, while Union Pacific missed on the top and bottom line.
"The economy for freight railroads is pretty weak right now ... overall what it feels like to me is the industrial economy is slowing and it is slowing quite a bit," Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk Alley."
VIDEO4:1004:10Union Pacific CEO: The industrial economy is slowingSquawk on the Street
Also on the docket are earnings from State Street, Synchrony Financial and Citizens Financial. Bank earnings got off to a strong start this week with JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York Mellon, and U.S. Bancorp all beating estimates. Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo did, however, come up short.
That said, a number of bank executives warned that lower interest rates could cut into profits going forward.
Sixty-three S&P 500 companies have now reported results for the quarter, and according to Refinitiv, 83% of them have topped EPS estimates.
As the trade war wages on, we'll get an update on the health of the Chinese economy when a slew of economic data comes in Friday, including third-quarter GDP, retail sales and industrial production numbers.
Analysts are saying that third-quarter GDP could be even worse than last quarter, which is bad news in that the second quarter's 6.2% growth rate was the weakest reading in 27 years.
Last month Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that it would be "very difficult" for China to maintain a growth rate of over 6%, given its strong starting place, although he did re-iterate the target rate of 6 to 6.5%.
In September Chinese officials cut the reserve requirement ratio for the third time this year in an effort to bolster the economy.
In a first for the tech giant, Apple is releasing a film on the silver screen.
Documentary "The Elephant Queen" will open in select theaters tomorrow before being available to stream starting on November 1. The tech giant has two more theatrical releases planned. "Hala" will be released on November 22, followed by "The Banker" on December 6.
Apple's content push comes as the streaming wars heat up with the major players in the space all vying for eyeballs. Disney, like Apple, is launching its own streaming platform this year, while NBC and WarnerMedia's platforms — Peacock and HBO Max, respectively — are set to be rolled out next April.
These new platforms are putting pressure on shares of Netflix, which have shed 18% in the last three months. Following a lackluster second quarter report, Netflix did manage to beat EPS estimates for the third quarter, although revenue and subscriber additions missed estimates.
Add to the mix Amazon's burgeoning film studio, and you might say the field is pretty crowded.
Major events (all times ET):
10 a.m. Fed's George
10 a.m. Fed's Kaplan
10:30 a.m. Fed's Kashkari
11:30 a.m. Fed's Clarida
1:00 p.m. Baker Hughes oil rig count
5:10 p.m. Fed's Kaplan
Major earnings:
American Express (before the bell)
Coca-Cola (before the bell)
Schlumberger (before the bell)
Citizens Financial (before the bell)
Kansas City Southern (before the bell)
State Street (before the bell)
Synchrony Financial (before the bell)
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848dd41eb98331ad9b45684bd83ffde8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/the-2019-box-office-has-12-weeks-to-make-more-than-3-billion.html | The 2019 box office has 12 weeks to make more than $3 billion if it wants to beat 2018's record haul | The 2019 box office has 12 weeks to make more than $3 billion if it wants to beat 2018's record haul
Disney releases Frozen II trailer to hit theaters in Nov. 2019.Source: Disney
Despite a slow start, the 2019 box office is showing signs of strength. However, even with blockbuster gems like "Avengers: Endgame," "The Lion King" and "Toy Story 4," it could still struggle to top 2018′s ticket sale record by year-end.
A weak slate of movies in the beginning of the year put 2019 at a deficit. Since the first quarter, the box office has been trailing behind last year's number by a significant margin. Heading into October, the box office was more than 5% behind 2018 during the same nine-month period.
In order to even come close to the $11.9 billion mark 2018 set, the 2019 box office will need upcoming features like "Frozen 2," "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" and "Jumanji: The Next Level," to perform well with audiences.
In total, the box office needs to haul in more than $3.4 billion in sales over the next three months in order to surpass 2018's full-year ticket sales. However, it should be noted that no fourth-quarter period in history has ever garnered more than $3 billion in ticket sales.
The highest gross for the fourth quarter came in 2018, when films like "The Grinch," "Aquaman," and "Ralph Breaks the Internet" helped the box office score just under $2.95 billion in ticket sales, according to data provided by Comscore.
"We are running out of runway," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, said. "We have 12 weekends."
Still, 2019 does stand a chance of making up ground.
From Disney, "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil," "Frozen 2″ and "Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker" are due out in October, November and December, respectively. While analysts foresee "Maleficent" drawing a decent crowd, it's "Frozen 2" and "Rise of Skywalker" that are expected to bump up the box office receipts.
While "Frozen" made around $263 million between its November release in 2013 and the end of the year, it's become one of the most popular properties for children and is likely to see a massive opening weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday and solid ticket sales through December.
Other hotly anticipated releases include: "Terminator: Dark Fate," "Zombieland 2," "Doctor Sleep," "Jumanji: The Next Level" and "Little Women."
Notably, "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" hauled in $169 million between its Dec. 20 release and New Years in 2017, and went on to collect $404.5 million in the U.S. through its run. "The Next Level" arrives one week earlier in Dec. this year, giving it the opportunity to ring up more sales before the year ends.
Not to mention, 2018 had a very weak ending, with last December's ticket sales slumping 20% from the year prior.
And it was the first December since 2015 that Disney didn't have a "Star Wars" movie in theaters. Instead, Warner Bros. took that open tentpole slot and released "Aquaman." The $199 million the aquatic hero collected during the month paled in comparison to what "Force Awakens," "Rogue One" and "The Last Jedi" had made during their December runs.
"Rise of Skywalker," the finale in the Skywalker Saga, is expected to bring in between $500 million and $600 million during its December run.
"It's not a existential crisis if we don't beat last year's numbers," Dergarabedian said. "A win for the industry is to have a solid year."
Dergarabedian noted that even if 2019 does not surpass 2018's numbers, it will set up the first quarter of 2020 for success.
After all, a number of December released films have gone on to make money after New Year's Day, contributing to the next year's box office haul. "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" garnered $235 million after New Year's, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" picked up in $285 million and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" added over $100 million in the new year.
With another "Jumanji" and Star Wars film, as well as the possibility that "Frozen 2" could have solid replay value in the new year, 2020 could get a nice jump start.
VIDEO2:1202:123 key themes to watch for at the movie theater this fallSquawk Alley
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ae0f5ae4eccc745c274e416f2241e4df | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/toyota-eyes-former-competitors-as-allies-in-electric-car-race.html | Toyota eyes former competitors as allies in electric car race | Toyota eyes former competitors as allies in electric car race
Akio Toyoda with new Toyota SupraPaul Eisenstein | CNBC
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda is an avid motorsports fan who routinely heads out on the track to test the company's latest products, especially high-performance models like the new Supra sports car and the smaller Toyota 86.
So there was no surprise when he highlighted some of the benefits of an expanded relationship with smaller Japanese automaker Subaru last month, notably including plans to jointly develop a new version of the Toyota sports car and the near-twin Subaru BRZ.
"During this once-in-a-century period of profound transformation, driving enjoyment will remain an inherent part of automobiles and is something that I think we must continue to strongly preserve," the grandson of Toyota's founder said in a statement.
VIDEO2:1602:16Macquarie's top Japanese auto picks include Toyota, SubaruStreet Signs Asia
But the development of the two next-generation sports cars is really only a small part of Toyota's decision to expand its stake in Subaru from 17% to 20%. It's that profound transformation of the industry, including the push into electric, connected and autonomous vehicles that has caused the Japanese automotive giant to rethink a fundamental tenet of its long-term strategy.
Once largely focused on going it alone, Toyota has been lining up a broad range of alliances with erstwhile rivals, including not only Subaru but Suzuki, Mazda and even BMW.
"They have changed from ultra-conservative to ultra-aggressive" when it comes to alliances, said Michael Dunne, a veteran Asian auto industry analyst, and CEO of Zozo Go, an auto consulting service that specializes in Asia.
The deal with Subaru also sees the smaller carmaker take a minor stake in Toyota. The two companies plan not only to develop the next-generation 86 and BRZ sports cars but also some as yet-unspecified all-wheel-drive models. And they plan to work together on a variety of new technologies, including electrified and self-driving vehicles.
The alliance with Subaru is just the latest that Toyota has announced. Among others:
Toyota announced Aug. 28 it was acquiring a 4.94% stake in Suzuki for 96 billion yen, or $910 million. In turn, the smaller automaker said it would purchase 0.2% of Toyota's outstanding shares for 48 billion yen, or about $455 million.
Toyota also holds a 5% stake in Mazda while the Hiroshima-based automaker has a 0.25% holding in the bigger company. Among other things, the alliance formed in August 2017 sees the two companies partner on a new plant in Alabama that will assemble several jointly developed vehicles.
As part of what Toyota describes as a "binding agreement and MOU on collaboration," it teamed up with BMW to develop the newly reborn Supra sports car, along with the Bavarian automaker's latest version of the Z4 roadster, both of which share key underpinnings.
The Japanese automaker formed a small alliance with PSA, the parent of Peugeot and Citroen, in 2012, significantly expanding it six years later. Among other things the new deal has PSA supplying Toyota with a new compact commercial van.
Some alliances are pragmatic efforts aimed at helping Toyota expand its presence in markets where it is weak, Suzuki helping it gain a foothold in booming India. And the relationship with PSA has addressed Toyota's weaknesses in Europe, especially its need for diesel engines.
There's another common thread to many of Toyota's joint ventures, industry analysts point out. In today's increasingly fragmented market, it can be far too costly for a single automaker to justify the development of low-volume products, especially sports cars. By sharing costs, it makes it easier to pencil an acceptable business case.
"What has changed is the industry and the market and what is needed to succeed," said Stephanie Brinley, principle analyst IHS Markit. "You need access to skill set you may not have in house."
VIDEO14:4514:45How Toyota became one of the biggest car companies in the worldAutos
That's also true when it comes to the development of all the new technologies that automakers have to focus on today, said Dunne, including the autonomous and battery-powered vehicles that aren't likely to start generating profits for a number of years.
"As the environment which surrounds the automobile industry has been changing drastically, we need to have the ability to respond to changes in order to survive," Toyota CEO Toyoda said in a statement following announcement of a preliminary deal with Suzuki. Such deals expand the potential payoff of "the R&D which each company is working on individually," he added.
Toyota has had a few long-term relationships, notably an alliance with Daihatsu largely focused on Japan's unique Kei-car, or microcar, market. But even there, Toyoda decided to step things up, completely buying out Daihatsu in 2016.
It is clearly stepping up its game. And it is not limiting its alliance strategy to working with other, direct competitors. Toyota announced in August last year that it would invest $500 million in the ride-sharing giant Uber, an alliance focused on the development of autonomous vehicles.
Once rare, partnerships have become more and more the auto industry norm over the last several decades, especially since Toyota's closest Japanese rival, Nissan, was bailed out from an all but certain collapse back in 1999, forming what was initial known as the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Mitsubishi has since become the third leg in that stool.
Japan's number three automaker, Honda, has announced two major alliances with General Motors over the last several years and, as has become the norm, they focus on future technologies including hydrogen fuel cells and autonomous vehicles.
For its part, Toyota long downplayed alliances because it felt it could fund pretty much everything on its own as one of the world's wealthiest automakers, said Dunne. Its pockets remain deep — it closed the last fiscal year, ending March 31, with net income of 1.88 trillion yen, or $16.98 billion. But that was down 25% from the prior year, and higher spending on the development of future technologies was among the various factors contributing to that decline, the company reported.
So, even with its deep pockets, sharing costs with other automakers is a way "to get the best economies of scale," said Scott Vazin, the company's U.S. corporate communications chief.
What's unusual said Dunne, is the sheer number of alliances Toyota has formed. And from that perspective it is operating "more like the culture of Silicon Valley, in sharp contrast to the narrower approach normally taken by the auto industry. They're placing multiple bets, expecting some might fail but assuming that some of them will clearly pay off."
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5dd569bccffcf7f75c45feaa4b1932c0 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/us-bonds-traders-monitor-economic-data-trade-concerns.html | Treasury yields higher after UK and European Union reach new Brexit deal | Treasury yields higher after UK and European Union reach new Brexit deal
U.S. government debt yields rose Thursday after both U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Union announced a new draft Brexit deal.
Though it remained unclear whether the new accord would clear U.K. Parliament, the apparent success of the last-ditch talks was enough to foster a modest pivot toward riskier assets in both American and European markets.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.748% after climbing as high as 1.799% earlier in the session, its highest level since Sept. 19. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond also rose to a one-month high of 2.272% before moderating its rise to 2.234%. Bond yields rise as prices fall.
The rise in Treasury yields came after reports that the U.K. made concessions over the Irish border in negotiations with the EU, an issue that had proven to be the biggest obstacle to a deal up to that point. The pound was 0.2% higher against the dollar, at $1.2858 after reaching a five-month high in earlier trading.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said "we have a great new Brexit deal" via Twitter. He called on British lawmakers to back the deal when it's put before Parliament on Saturday.
tweet
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, meanwhile, called the deal "fair and balanced."
Tweet
U.S. corporate earnings have been strong thus far, but trade concerns returned Wednesday as the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products may not be as substantial as initially thought, casting doubt over progress in talks between Washington and Beijing.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that trade negotiators from the world's two largest economies are working to finalize a phase one trade deal draft to be presented to presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
Treasurys
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f7b450dedb1d4a83744989c777bd9abe | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/watch-trump-chief-of-staff-mick-mulvaney-while-under-scrutiny.html | Watch: Mick Mulvaney, under fire in Ukraine scandal, announces that Trump Doral resort will host G-7 | Watch: Mick Mulvaney, under fire in Ukraine scandal, announces that Trump Doral resort will host G-7
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Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney held a press briefing Thursday at the White House.
Mulvaney announced that the June 2020 G-7 summit would be held at President Donald Trump's Doral resort in Miami.
Mulvaney, now deeply entrenched in the Ukraine scandal involving Trump, is believed to have been in touch with Ukrainian diplomats and officials more than previously known, The Washington Post reported.
VIDEO3:2803:28Here's a break down of Trump's Doral Resort businessPower Lunch
He facilitated meetings with envoy Kurt Volker and Ambassador Gordon Sondland, who testified Thursday in the impeachment inquiry against the president.
Trump is being investigated by House Democrats after pressuring Ukrainian officials to investigate presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.
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fe69cc8c9063074a35c24d1bb0a8efab | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/white-house-advisor-kudlow-a-lot-of-momentum-to-finish-china-trade-deal.html | White House economic advisor Kudlow says there's 'a lot of momentum' to finish China trade deal | White House economic advisor Kudlow says there's 'a lot of momentum' to finish China trade deal
VIDEO2:4302:43Larry Kudlow: There's a lot of momentum for a US-China trade dealSquawk on the Street
Top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow pushed back on criticism of the tentative trade agreement with China, explaining why he sees the negotiations accelerating toward a more complete accord.
"People shouldn't be so pessimistic on the China talks and that some good things could happen," Kudlow said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "For the skeptics out there, I appreciate that and I respect that but I'm telling you that there's a lot of momentum and there's agreement on both sides."
Wall Street analysts were among those skeptics, as Evercore strategists said the accord only "focused on the low-hanging fruit." The firm's analysts said they don't think the early agreement "clears the air for global corporations to decide on what matters most – where to invest, produce, hire or source." But Kudlow asserted that there will be new opportunities for U.S. companies, pointing especially to his expectation that China will be "lowering nontariff barriers on agriculture."
"There are also going to be various market access openings with respect to agriculture products and agriculture standards that the Chinese seem to be loosening up on," Kudlow said.
Representatives for President Donald Trump's administration are expected to meet with top Chinese trade negotiations in the next couple of weeks. China would like to see more details added to the first part of the trade deal before Chinese President Xi Jinping signs it, CNBC reported earlier this week.
VIDEO1:5101:51Larry Kudlow: The Fed is moving in the right direction despite 'highly flawed' modelsSquawk Box
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398dda16e6eab61c49c702b1d261dd72 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/bank-of-america-upgrades-chipotle-because-of-falling-avocado-prices.html | Bank of America upgrades Chipotle, citing declining avocado prices | Bank of America upgrades Chipotle, citing declining avocado prices
Sales momentum and a decrease in avocado prices should support bottom-line growth for Chipotle, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
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51b2e80bbecf11b5309f3c55d9ae9f75 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/coca-cola-ceo-uk-consumer-sentiment-will-lift-if-brexit-deal-passes.html | Coca-Cola CEO: UK consumer sentiment will lift if Brexit deal passes | Coca-Cola CEO: UK consumer sentiment will lift if Brexit deal passes
James Quincey, Coca-Cola Company CEOAdam Galica | CNBC
Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said that if U.K. lawmakers pass a Brexit deal, consumer sentiment will improve.
"If it mercifully comes to an end, then yes, I do think that sentiment will improve, maybe not overnight, but over time and hopefully going into 2020," Quincey told analysts on the company's earnings call Friday.
The European Union and the United Kingdom agreed on a new withdrawal agreement that will allow the country to leave the political and trade union. The U.K. Parliament will vote on the deal Saturday, but it is unclear if it will pass. The Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party has said that it will be unable to support the deal in Saturday's vote. If U.K. lawmakers approve the agreement, the EU's Parliament will also have to ratify the deal.
But the three-year uncertainty about fate of the U.K. has put pressure on British businesses and consumers. Coke, like many other companies, increased its U.K. inventory in case of a no-deal Brexit, which would mean leaving the EU without any kind of trade agreement.
"It would be fair to say that in the short term, the U.K. business has been impacted by the consumer sentiment, driven by Brexit in the U.K., which has affected everyone — the entire business outlook in the U.K." Quincey said.
Coke announced its fiscal third-quarter results Friday. Its earnings were in line with analysts' estimates, while its revenue topped Wall Street's expectations, thanks to growing sales for healthier drink options.
VIDEO2:1402:14Boris Johnson's Brexit deal will probably be narrowly defeated, analyst saysStreet Signs Europe
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e9c190d9312f4b30a99ec2f2455a7d66 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/cramer-lightning-round.html | RingCentral: "We happen to like RingCentral very much, but we also understand that this is not the market for the RingCentrals. Let them come in and only then do you pull the trigger."
Cypress Semiconductor: "That one's done. That's a cha-ching, cha-ching. We're not arbitrageurs. May I suggest going into ... maybe even Micron as it comes in."
Abiomed: "The stock collapsed. I mean it was one of the best-performing stocks in the last couple years then it just collapsed and I don't really get it and I can't fathom why, but if they came on [the show] maybe we'd get a better line."
Beyond Meat: "You've got to sell Beyond. I like the guys behind Beyond so much, but, you know what, that's not enough. The fact is this stock's very overvalued versus all the competitors that are coming in. You have to still sell Beyond. We'll get to a level that is right."
Texas Instruments: "Nice piece out this morning saying you've got to get long Texas Instruments before the quarter. Do you mind if I wait to see the number?"
Disclaimer
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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c0c6a93ca68e2b7feceac9a09f91720f | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/europe-markets-caution-ahead-of-uk-lawmakers-vote-on-brexit-deal.html | European stocks close lower ahead of crucial weekend Brexit showdown | European stocks close lower ahead of crucial weekend Brexit showdown
European stocks closed lower Friday afternoon as traders await signals as to whether a Brexit deal agreed between the U.K. and EU will pass muster with British lawmakers in parliament.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended provisionally lower by 1.15%, with autos trading down 1.45 % on the back of a profit warning from Renault, while basic resources added 0.33%.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed a new Brexit deal which was unanimously backed by European Union leaders on Thursday, but must now fight to secure approval from British MPs (Members of Parliament) in a vote on Saturday if he is to succeed in taking Britain out of the bloc on October 31.
Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the coalition partner of Johnson's ruling Conservative party, has affirmed that it will vote against the deal. The prime minister will need to secure the backing of hardline Brexiteers within his party along with 21 moderates he expelled from the party last month for voting to prevent a no-deal exit.
Some analysts are projecting a narrow defeat unless Johnson can manage the tall order of securing 37 votes from lawmakers outside his own ranks.
The British parliament's Treasury Committee wrote to Finance Minister Sajid Javid urging him to publish updated economic forecasts of the cost of leaving under the proposed deal, Reuters reported Friday morning.
Market focus was also attuned to economic data from China, which showed growth in the world's second-largest economy fell to its slowest since 1992.
Stocks on Wall Street were trading lower on Friday as investors monitored corporate earnings reports and digested the weak Chinese data.
Back in Europe, earnings season remained in focus, with French automaker Renault on Thursday cutting its 2019 revenue outlook and profit forecasts citing slowdowns in Turkey and Argentina. Renault shares plunged 11.68% Friday to drag the rest of the European automotive sector into the red.
At the top of the Stoxx 600, Swedish medical technology company Getinge surged 16% after its third-quarter profit exceeded expectations, demonstrating continued growth and improved margins.
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31ca78e07da85a4b3b6e82db72e131b5 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/fighting-in-kurdish-held-syrian-town-despite-cease-fire.html | Fighting in Kurdish-held Syrian town despite cease-fire | Fighting in Kurdish-held Syrian town despite cease-fire
This picture taken on October 14, 2019 shows smoke rises from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, from the Turkish side of the border at Ceylanpinar district in Sanliurfa, on the sixth day of Turkey's military operation against Kurdish forces.Ozan Kose | AFP | Getty Images
Associated Press journalists witnessed continued fighting Friday morning in a northeast Syrian town at the center of the fight between Turkey and Kurdish forces, despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect hours earlier.
Shelling and billowing smoke could be seen around Ras al-Ayn accompanied by the sound of gunfire. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, reported intermittent clashes in the Ras al-Ayn but relative calm elsewhere since Thursday night. That's when Turkey and the U.S. agreed to a five-day cease-fire to halt the Turkish offensive against Kurdish-led forces in the region. AP journalists also reported quiet in the town of Tal Abyad.
The agreement — reached after hours of negotiations in Turkey's capital of Ankara between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence — requires the Kurdish fighters to vacate a swath of territory in Syria along the Turkish border. That largely solidifies the position Turkey has reached in its offensive, now in its tenth day.
The fighting Friday came even after the commander of Kurdish-led forces in Syria, Mazloum Abdi, told Kurdish TV late on Thursday: "We will do whatever we can for the success of the cease-fire agreement." But one Kurdish official, Razan Hiddo, declared that the Kurdish people would refuse to live under Turkish occupation.
Kurdish fighters have already been driven out of much — but not all — of a swath of territory that stretches about 100 kilometers (60 miles) along the middle of the Syrian-Turkish border, between Ras al-Ayn and Tal Abyad.
But Kurdish forces are still entrenched in Ras al-Ayn, where they were fiercely battling Turkish-backed Syrian fighters trying to take the town Thursday. Whether the Kurdish fighters pull out of Ras al-Ayn will likely be an early test of the accord.
Turkish troops and their allied Syrian fighters launched the offensive two days after U.S. President Donald Trump suddenly announced he was withdrawing American troops from the border area.
The Kurds were U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State but came under assault after Trump ordered U.S. troops to pull out.
Trump framed the U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal with Turkey as "a great day for civilization" but its effect was largely to mitigate a foreign policy crisis widely seen to be of his own making.
Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters terrorists because of their links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.
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746bc63b87e87708ae3f3fd198d49635 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/fisher-investments-losses-hit-1point3-billion-in-pension-assets.html | Troubles keep mounting for Fisher Investments as losses in pension assets hit $1.3 billion | Troubles keep mounting for Fisher Investments as losses in pension assets hit $1.3 billion
Kenneth Fisher, chief executive officer of Fisher Investments, speaks at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010.Gillianne Tedder | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Iowa Public Employees Retirement System is terminating its relationship with Fisher Investments, pulling $386 million from the asset manager.
The Iowa plan, which holds $34 billion in total assets, announced its move on Friday and attributed its decision to sexist comments Ken Fisher, the billionaire founder of the firm, made at an investment conference last week.
The losses in pension assets for Fisher Investments is now about $1.3 billion.
"IPERS staff has taken time to evaluate this situation, and it is our opinion that Mr. Fisher's comments have damaged the credibility of the firm and its leadership," said Shawna Lode, a spokeswoman for the plan in a statement.
"As a result, the risk to IPERS is that the firm could lose investment talent, and/or it may be unable to recruit high caliber talent in the future," she said.
"Furthermore, the negative publicity will probably continue to be a major distraction to Fisher Investment personnel," Lode said.
The plan is weighing its transition options.
Earlier this week, Boston announced it would pull $248 million in pension assets from Fisher.
Similarly, the state of Michigan said it would withdraw $600 million of its pension fund assets. Philadelphia's board of pensions also yanked $54 million from Fisher.
Ken Fisher has since apologized for the comments.
"Some of the words and phrases I used during a recent conference to make certain points were clearly wrong and I shouldn't have made them," he said in a statement. "I realize this kind of language has no place in our company or industry. I sincerely apologize."
VIDEO5:4605:46Investing guru Ken Fisher under fire after offensive comments at private eventPower Lunch
CNBC obtained an audio recording last week of Fisher's comments at the Tiburon CEO Summit, as well as audio of him speaking at a previous conference.
Clips from both were featured on CNBC Power Lunch. Combined, they show that the money manager made flippant remarks about sex.
In the audio obtained by CNBC, Fisher says at the Tiburon conference: "Money, sex, those are the two most private things for most people," so when trying to win new clients you need to be careful.
He says: "It's like going up to a girl in a bar … [inaudible] …going up to a woman in a bar and saying, hey, I want to talk about what's in your pants."
Further, when Fisher was a speaker at the Evidence-Based Investing conference in 2018 he compared marketing mutual funds to propositioning a woman for sex at a bar.
"I mean the, the most stupid thing you can do, which is what every mutual fund firm in the world always did, was to brag about performance, uh, in, in a direct mail piece, which is a little bit like walking into a bar if you're a single guy and you want to get laid and walking up to some girl and saying, 'Hey, you want to have sex?'" Fisher said, according to audio obtained by CNBC.
Organizers of both conferences subsequently banned him from speaking again in the future.
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e0ae218e1de1aa62c07119e1d45f422f | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/gold-markets-brexit-deal-in-focus.html | Gold steadies as concerns on Brexit, trade war linger | Gold steadies as concerns on Brexit, trade war linger
A mark of 999.9 fine sits on hallmarked one kilogram gold bullion bars at the Valcambi SA precious metal refinery in Lugano, Switzerland, on April 24, 2018.Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Gold steadied on Friday, helped by a weaker dollar, with the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, uncertainties over U.S-China trade and fears of a global slowdown keeping bullion on track for a small weekly gain.
Spot gold was unchanged at $1,491.17 an ounce, but held a relatively tight range for most of the session. U.S. gold futures settled down $4.20 at $1,494.
"The dollar is a bit soft so (that) could help a little, but overall gold is meandering in no-man's land. Perhaps we've found a restive equilibrium until we get a fresh macro driver," said Tai Wong, head of base and precious metals derivatives trading at BMO.
"The $1,380-$1,400 range ought to be a solid bottom for gold and $1,480-$1,520 seems really to be the equilibrium."
Britain and the European Union sealed a new Brexit deal on Thursday, but whether that deal will be approved by the British parliament on Saturday is keeping markets on edge.
"Brexit is a coin flip at this point of time going into the weekend, we're still waiting on the trade situation to see if they're going to ink an actual partial deal," said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.
"The focal point today will be the Fed speak. We're hoping to get any type of clue if there are any changes in the rate cut mentality at the end of this month. In recent days there have been discussions about a potential pause."
The U.S. Federal Reserve is watching for signs that a global trade slowdown is having an impact in the United States beyond manufacturing and investment, but is not yet heading into a "full-fledged rate cutting cycle," Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said.
In another sign the trade dispute is dragging on economic growth, data from China showed its third-quarter economic growth slowed to its weakest pace in almost three decades.
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3874e705ea002d3395379a778dabc949 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/how-a-traditional-boat-helped-inspire-the-features-of-an-opera-house.html | Here's how a traditional boat helped inspire the sustainable features of a 2,000-seat opera house | Here's how a traditional boat helped inspire the sustainable features of a 2,000-seat opera house
VIDEO2:0902:09How a traditional boat helped inspire the features of an opera houseSustainable Energy
The skyline of Dubai is dotted with imposing structures. These include the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, which stretches more than 2,700 feet into the heavens.
While these skyscrapers are undoubtedly impressive in terms of their scale and ambition, in the years ahead they will need to become increasingly sustainable. Under Dubai's Clean Energy Strategy, authorities want to generate 75% of power from clean sources of energy by the year 2050, while authorities have also introduced regulations to ensure that new buildings reduce energy and water consumption, among other things. Multinational firm Atkins is responsible for the design of Dubai Opera, a 2,000-seat theater that opened in 2016. Its appearance is based on the traditional dhow boats used in the region.
While visually striking, the boat-inspired design also offers benefits in terms of how the building functions. Roupen Yacoubian, Atkins' head of architecture for the Middle East, told CNBC's "Sustainable Energy" that dhow boats had a "restricted base and a broad crown." This form, he explained, "allows the building to cast a shadow on itself at peak periods in the day in order to manage and mitigate solar radiation." "I think the other feature that really stands out for me is the active one, which is … a flexible design, a flexible building that can accommodate … several different types of venues and modes," Yacoubian added. This meant that the building was being intensely used and avoided the need to construct separate venues for different kinds of concerts, he said.
The façade of the structure is made up of more than 1,200 glass panels. "These glass panels have anti-reflective coating internally and externally in order to mitigate the solar radiation," Yacoubian said. In terms of making the building sector more sustainable in general, Derek Clements-Croome, an emeritus professor at the University of Reading, listed four principle areas for improvement: energy, waste, water and pollution. Clements-Croome's areas of interest include intelligent buildings and cities. "Intelligent buildings that are well-designed will have substantial savings in water consumption, energy and smart waste systems, for example, to reuse waste and also will be less polluting," he explained.
"All of those things are very important but it's difficult to give precise figures about savings — they will vary a lot depending on the context."
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2c1be879bb3ff829e02226e325529c65 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/lets-swap-netflix-for-microsoft-jim-cramer-says-in-faang-audit.html | Time to retire FAANG?
CNBC's Jim Cramer, who enjoys putting acronyms to good use, is now on the prowl for a new play on words to redefine the group of big technology stocks.
Though he did not invent the FAANG acronym, the "Mad Money" host popularized the term that encompasses the internet stocks of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet. Now he is calling for another giant in tech to displace the streaming platform from the bunch.
"I say we replace Netflix with the far less episodic Microsoft, but if we do that, well, you know we've got some difficult choices to make," Cramer said. "I need a new acronym."
He went on to ask viewers to suggest new acronyms on his Twitter page: @JimCramer.
Cramer called Netflix, whose stock cratered more than 18 points to nearly $275 a share during the session, the "elephant in the room." Just the day before, the show host told viewers not to buy or short the stock — just sell it out of your portfolio.
He was critical of its mixed third-quarter report, which said the company beat profit expectations but barely missed revenue numbers. However, Cramer was disappointed that it missed subscriber growth for the second straight quarter as video-streaming competition is expected to heat up in the current quarter.
Netflix shares climbed as much as 43% between the start of the trading year and early May. The stock is now up just 2.85% since it opened at $267.66 on the first trading day of 2019.
"When Netflix reported two nights ago, they missed on almost every key metric," Cramer said. "I think it's got more downside. I think the stock has lost its mojo."
In assessing the rest of the FAANG class, Cramer said Facebook is a "very undervalued stock" but warned that it could also get kicked out of the group if the U.S. government forces the social media giant to spin off the Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.
Apple is the "north star" of the market, Cramer added. The host said he thinks Wall Street may be "concerned" about Amazon's spending habits. The e-commerce giant earlier this year earmarked $7 billion for video and music content in 2019.
While Amazon also faces some calls to be broken up, Cramer is convinced that Alphabet could benefit by separating its search, cloud services and self-driving car program, Waymo, into separate businesses.
As for Microsoft, it is one of two companies that have market value of more than $1 trillion, according to FactSet. Apple has nearly $1.07 trillion market value to Microsoft's almost $1.06 trillion, as of Friday's close.
With Microsoft, what was formerly known as FAANG would be made up of the five most valuable companies on the S&P 500. Facebook, the youngest company of the five, has the smallest market value at $530 billion.
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Facebook, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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5d70efcf444a96e8ab88c81eedfd43bc | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/macron-opposes-brexit-extension-if-uk-parliament-rejects-deal.html | Macron says he opposes Brexit extension if UK parliament rejects deal | Macron says he opposes Brexit extension if UK parliament rejects deal
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the Elysee Palace on May 06, 2019 in Paris, France.Aurelien Meunier | Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he was opposed to granting a Brexit extension past the Oct. 31 deadline if the British parliament rejects the deal agreed with the 27 other EU member states.
The House of Commons is due to vote on Saturday on the agreement reached between the 27 and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"I hope we can stick to the timeline we gave ourselves and that the date of Oct. 31 is respected," Macron told a news conference.
"I am not making political waves, I don't want to get involved in whether the British parliament votes for this or that, but I do not think that another delay should be granted. We should end these negotiations and move on to talks on our future relations and get them done."
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7b34e1207f06c5000fc2c549fa3261ec | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/snap-stock-upgraded-but-tiktok-remains-a-risk.html | Snap just got an upgrade, but analysts warn TikTok is a looming risk in the fight for social media ad dollars | Snap just got an upgrade, but analysts warn TikTok is a looming risk in the fight for social media ad dollars
Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of SnapchatGetty Images
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts upgraded Snap to a buy on Friday, but warned that the rise of social media rival TikTok could be a risk to the call.
TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, is a mobile app on which users can share and easily edit short videos. Across its suite of apps and around the globe, ByteDance now says it has 700 million daily active users. Meanwhile, Snap said its user base grew to 203 million daily active users in July when it reported second-quarter earnings.
In a research note Friday, Bank of America analysts outlined reasoning for the upgrade, but listed this as one of the risks: "Pressure from TikTok" appears to be behind a decline in monthly users on Snapchat, implied by figures in its Ads Manager, they wrote.
Analysts said investors have raised concerns over the competitive threat TikTok presents to Snap, but said consumers use Snap and TikTok for different purposes.
"In our view, many consumers use both applications interchangeably for different use cases, Snap being a private, community driven messaging and professional content platform and TikTok being a 'viral' short video sharing application," they wrote. "In our view, the current TikTok interface, which consists of mainly 'viral' short-form video does not pose a significant threat to Snap's use case."
However, the analysts wrote, "We think there is some risk of TikTok making product changes that move closer to Snap's core functionality, and TikTok will likely compete for ad dollars."
Snap is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer, said in an emailed comment that Snapchat will start to feel more competition for user time and attention from TikTok, if it hasn't already.
"Both apps feature vertical, short, user-generated videos. Although teens use the apps in different ways, the allure of watching and creating TikTok videos is currently very strong in this demographic group," she wrote.
But Snap is making a strong effort for ad dollars with new updates like dynamic ads, which Williamson said appeal to performance advertisers and help put Snapchat's ad offerings to a closer level with Facebook's.
"However, the competition for ad dollars is intense. Facebook and Google still control most of the digital ad market, and new entrants like TikTok are catching interest among advertisers," Williamson wrote.
Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap.
VIDEO4:2504:25How TikTok's Chinese owners might be influencing its contentSquawk Box
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2270db62f035d3373f74404779b37857 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/tech-leaders-pay-tribute-to-oracles-mark-hurd-who-died-on-friday.html | Tech leaders pay tribute to Oracle's Mark Hurd, who died on Friday | Tech leaders pay tribute to Oracle's Mark Hurd, who died on Friday
Mark Hurd, co-chief executive officer of Oracle Corp., speaks during the Oracle OpenWorld 2014 conference in San Francisco on September 29, 2014.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tributes from technology leaders poured in for Mark Hurd, who died on Friday at age 62, just weeks after announcing that he was taking a medical leave of absence from the company he co-led starting in 2014.
Hurd, an industry veteran who was CEO of Hewlett-Packard before joining Oracle as president in 2010, was hailed by fellow tech executives, including some former rivals.
"We lost an iconic leader in high-tech today," former Cisco CEO John Chambers told CNBC on Friday. "Having known Mark Hurd as a peer and a competitor, I have tremendous respect for him and the differences he has made in the industry. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and the employees of Oracle. Mark will be missed."
Hurd "presided over mega accomplishments," Bill McDermott, who stepped down last week as SAP's CEO, wrote on Twitter.
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Judson Althoff, executive vice president in charge of Microsoft's worldwide commercial business, said in a tweet that he learned from Hurd while working with him at Oracle.
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Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff also took to Twitter with his condolences:
"He was always very kind to me & I always enjoyed seeing him at the Warriors at Oracle Arena," wrote Benioff, a former executive at Oracle.
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The Golden State Warriors played their last game at Oracle Arena in Oakland earlier this year, and have since moved to San Francisco and the new Chase Center. The team purchased the land for the new arena from Salesforce in 2015.
WATCH: Mark Hurd, co-CEO of Oracle, dies at 62
VIDEO2:3802:38Mark Hurd, co-CEO of Oracle, dies at 62Squawk Alley
Follow @CNBCtech on Twitter for the latest tech industry news.
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57377ef9fddb6bef3a2255dc81ea962d | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/the-ideas-changing-the-way-we-think-about-buildings-part-three.html | The ideas changing the way we think about buildings, part three | The ideas changing the way we think about buildings, part three
VIDEO7:5407:54Ideas changing the way we think about buildings, part threeSustainable Energy
To watch part one of this episode, please click here.
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d40e3a3ea34badbbc423773af2dd3e97 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/18/what-happened-to-the-stock-market-friday-earnings-enthusiasm-zapped.html | Here's what happened to the stock market on Friday | Here's what happened to the stock market on Friday
The Dow fell 255.68. points, or 0.95% to close at 26,770.20. The S&P 500 slid 0.39% to end the day at 2,986.20. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.83% to 8,099.54. Negative news related to Boeing and Johnson & Johnson weighed on the market while Netflix led Big Tech shares lower.
Sharp declines in Boeing and Johnson and Johnson were a drag on the Dow. Boeing fell 6.79% after the Federal Aviation Administration said the aerospace giant withheld "concerning" pilot messages about the 737 Max's safety. A baby-powder recall pushed Johnson & Johnson down more than 6%. Meanwhile, Netflix dropped more than 6%, pressuring other Big Tech stocks such as Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet. Those declines zapped some of the market's enthusiasm around corporate earnings from earlier in the week. The earnings season started with most companies posting earnings that topped analyst expectations.
Shares of Victoria's Secret-parent L Brands plunged nearly 10% and were the biggest decliners in the S&P 500. The stock dropped after an analyst at Credit Suisse downgraded it to underperform, citing a "multitude of challenges" the company is facing. Meanwhile, better-than-expected earnings results lifted Intuitive Surgical nearly 7%.
Around a quarter of the S&P 500 is slated to report quarterly numbers next week, including Amazon, Caterpillar and Intel. Consumer sentiment and durable goods orders will also be in focus for investors.
Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.
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196dc4ee366f64009bc0ec5efa019ede | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/19/38-people-cited-for-violations-in-clinton-email-probe.html | 38 people cited for violations after State Department investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of private email | 38 people cited for violations after State Department investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of private email
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the Time 100 Summit event on April 23, 2019, in New York.Don Emmert | AFP | Getty Images
The State Department has completed its internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of private email and found violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.
The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were "culpable" in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton's personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley this week and released Friday. The 38 are current and former State Department officials but were not identified.
Although the report identified violations, it said investigators had found "no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information." However, it also made clear that Clinton's use of the private email had increased the vulnerability of classified information.
The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to a Clinton representative.
The investigation covered 33,000 emails that Clinton turned over for review after her use of the private email account became public. The department said it found a total of 588 violations involving information then or now deemed to be classified but could not assign fault in 497 cases.
For current and former officials, culpability means the violations will be noted in their files and will be considered when they apply for or go to renew security clearances. For current officials, there could also be some kind of disciplinary action. But it was not immediately clear what that would be.
The report concluded "that the use of a private email system to conduct official business added an increased degree of risk of compromise as a private system lacks the network monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities of State Department networks."
The department began the review in 2016 after declaring 22 emails from Clinton's private server to be "top secret." Clinton was then running for president against Donald Trump, and Trump made the server a major focus of his campaign.
Then-FBI Director James Comey held a news conference that year in which he criticized Clinton as "extremely careless" in her use of the private email server as secretary of state but said the FBI would not recommend charges.
The Justice Department's inspector general said FBI specialists did not find evidence that the server had been hacked, with one forensics agent saying he felt "fairly confident that there wasn't an intrusion."
Grassley started investigating Clinton's email server in 2017, when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Iowa Republican has been critical of Clinton's handling of classified information and urged administrative sanctions.
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5784ca6a014f6841e1840940663fafb5 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/19/angry-over-brexit-thousands-gather-in-london-demanding-new-referendum.html | Angry over Brexit, thousands gather in London demanding new referendum | Angry over Brexit, thousands gather in London demanding new referendum
The battle over Brexit spilled onto the streets of London on Saturday when tens of thousands of people gathered to demand a new referendum while lawmakers decided the fate of Britain's departure from the European Union.
Protesters waving EU flags and carrying signs calling for Brexit to be halted gathered at London's Park Lane before a march through the centre of the capital to parliament.
"I am incensed that we are not being listened to. Nearly all the polls show that now people want to remain in the EU. We feel that we are voiceless," said Hannah Barton, 56, a cider maker from central England, who was draped in an EU flag.
"This is a national disaster waiting to happen and it is going to destroy the economy."
Many protesters carried placards, some comparing Brexit to the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. Some wore elaborate costumes with one group dressed as fruit and vegetables.
There were also papier mache models mocking politicians such as Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"I don't like the sort of place the country is becoming. We have become a more angry country than before the referendum," said Phil Canney, 33, a mechanical engineer.
"If what Johnson is putting to parliament today was the argument in the referendum they would have lost by a landslide. They have taken the result and run away with it to excuse anything they want to do."
After more than three years of tortuous debate, it is still uncertain how, when or even if Brexit will happen as Johnson tries to pass his new EU divorce deal and plots a way out of the deepest political crisis in a generation.
The protesters, from around the United Kingdom, will march to parliament as lawmakers prepare to vote in the first Saturday session since the 1982 Falklands war.
James McGrory, director of the People's Vote campaign, which organised the march, said ahead of the protest that the government should heed the anger of pro-Europeans and hold another referendum on EU membership.
"This new deal bears no resemblance to what people were promised and so it is only right that the public deserve another chance to have their say," he said.
While Brexit has divided families, parties, parliament and the country, both sides agree Saturday could be one of the most important days in recent British history: a juncture that could shape the fate of the United Kingdom for generations.
Campaigners are confident that the number of people on the streets will rival a similar demonstration in March, when organisers said 1 million people took to the streets. A rally this size would be among the largest ever in Britain.
More than 170 coaches from around Britain were due to arrive in London taking people to the march. Nine coaches left Scotland on Friday and four left Cornwall on England's western tip early on Saturday.
In 2016, 17.4 million voters, or 52%, backed Brexit while 16.1 million, or 48%, backed staying in the EU.
Some opinion polls have shown a slight shift in favour of remaining in the EU, but there has yet to be a decisive change in attitudes and many voters say they have become increasingly bored by Brexit.
Since July 2017 there have been 226 polls asking people whether they support Leave or Remain, according to a poll of polls by YouGov published last week. Of those, 204 have put support for remaining in the EU ahead, seven have given a lead to leave and a few have been tied.
However, other polls suggests most voters have not changed their mind: 50% of the public want to respect the referendum result, 42% want Britain to remain in the EU and 8% said they don't know, the largest Brexit poll since 2016 carried out by ComRes found.
Supporters of Brexit say holding another referendum would deepen divisions and undermine democracy.
A group of lawmakers in the main opposition Labour Party have put forward an amendment calling for approval of any deal to be put to a second referendum.
The challenge for pro-referendum forces is finding enough support in parliament. In April, when the government held a series of votes on various Brexit options, a second referendum was the most popular, but fell short of a majority losing 292 to 280.
Even if another referendum were agreed, it would take months to organise and there would be disputes about the question.
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223705899e4c14004152438a48c7ac38 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/19/aoc-says-moment-of-clarity-drove-decision-to-endorse-bernie-sanders.html | AOC says 'moment of clarity' drove decision to endorse Bernie Sanders | AOC says 'moment of clarity' drove decision to endorse Bernie Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezJaime Green | The Wichita Eagle | AP
Two progressive heavyweights, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michael Moore, officially endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in New York on Saturday.
The freshman congresswoman and liberal filmmaker took the stage at the Vermont senator's "Bernie's Back" rally in Queens — his first since he suffered a heart attack earlier this month — to explain to a crowd of 20,000 why they were "feeling the Bern."
Ocasio-Cortez said Sanders had been fighting for her entire life for the same issues that got her elected to Congress, emphasizing that when she was a child the senator had already been actively supporting public education, equitable housing, single-payer healthcare, LGBTQ rights and reduction of student debt.
"Bernie Sanders did this and fought for these aims and these ends when they came at the highest political cost in America," she said.
She said her experience in Congress standing up "to corporate power and established interests" further pushed her to support Sanders' candidacy.
"I have grown to appreciate the enormous consistent and nonstop advocacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders," she said.
The handful of speakers used their time on stage to attempt to push back against a narrative that Sanders is too old to run for president and could not be elected.
Moore claimed that news pundits were pushing forward this narrative that Sanders' age and health would be an issue for his campaign. According to the filmmaker, Sanders' age would only be a benefit.
"Here's what's too old: the electoral college is too old," Moore said. "A $7.25 minimum wage: that's too old. Women not being paid the same as men: that's too old. Thousands and thousands of dollars of student debt. What is that? Too old."
Moore also talked about challenges around the use of fossil fuels and high healthcare costs and said that the country would benefit from Sanders' "wisdom and experience and love for the American people."
"Not only can Bernie win, Bernie will win," Moore added.
That idea was also emphasized by Carmen Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, who also spoke at the rally. She said Sanders earned her support when he came to the island without cameras and asked how he could help her constituents.
Many of the other speakers — who included the senator's wife, Jane Sanders, and his national campaign co-chair Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator — also drew attention to these same issues.
But the greatest focus was on Ocasio-Cortez, who told NBC News before her speech that it was not a political calculation but "authenticity" that drove her endorsement.
"It was a moment of clarity for me personally in saying, 'What role do I want to play?'" the congresswoman said. "And I want to be part of a mass movement."
Sanders said he would be joined by a special guest at his rally during Tuesday's debate, and it was later revealed that Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ilhan Omar — both members of the so-called "squad" of four progressive congresswomen — would be endorsing the Vermont senator.
Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement is seen as a blow to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who had previously made an effort to work with Ocasio-Cortez on multiple issues, including in helping with Puerto Rico's recovery after Hurricane Maria.
Nevertheless, Ocasio-Cortez's roots go back to Sanders' 2016 campaign for which she volunteered.
Sanders also praised Ocasio-Cortez when she won her seat in a long-shot bid against a powerful Democratic incumbent in a primary last year. "What she did is talk about the real issues," he said then.
Ocasio-Cortez returned the praise on Saturday, saying that Sanders had changed the direction of the party.
"We right now have one of the best Democratic presidential primary fields in a generation," she said, "and much of that is thanks to the work that Bernie Sanders has done in his entire life."
VIDEO3:0403:04Watch five key moments from the fourth Democratic debatePolitics
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ee323a3797aee6def2d85c686b9d37c2 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/19/htc-launches-exodus-1s-a-cheaper-version-of-its-blockchain-smartphone.html | HTC launches a cheaper version of its blockchain phone | HTC launches a cheaper version of its blockchain phone
HTC is bringing out a cheaper version of its blockchain-friendly smartphone in a bid to entice the people hesitant about buying cryptocurrencies and expensive flagships from the likes of Apple and Samsung.
The Taiwanese smartphone maker on Saturday launched the Exodus 1s, a slightly smaller take on the Exodus 1, which it released last year. That phone initially cost 0.15 bitcoins — over $1,189 at current prices, similar to that of a high-end iPhone or Galaxy — although the company subsequently let people buy it in dollars for $699.
This new device costs 219 euros ($244), or the equivalent in cryptocurrency. But the big difference with this handset, according to HTC's Phil Chen, is that it comes packed with cryptocurrency-related features that will let users exchange, lend and borrow digital assets. He added that the first phone met the firm's own sales targets.
"This is a completely different device," Chen, who serves as HTC's "decentralized chief officer," told CNBC. "The Exodus 1 is still available and is hitting our internal targets. We've been delighted with the response."
One standout feature on the new phone, HTC says, is the ability to run a "full bitcoin node." Buyers would have to fork out for a 400GB memory card that stores the bitcoin blockchain — a digital ledger used to validate transactions — on the phone. This basically means that users will be able to verify transactions on the underlying bitcoin network.
Chen explained this would enable cryptocurrency wallets on the phone to "calculate the user's balance and ensure that future transactions are verified, further ensuring that the balance is actually owned by the spender."
Cryptocurrencies are known to be volatile assets. The price of bitcoin hit an all-time high of close to $20,000 in December 2017, before slumping as low as $3,122 the following year. In 2019, the virtual currency has been on the rise, doubling in value since the start of the year.
HTC believes the new gadget will help it stand out in a sluggish smartphone market. The company has for years now mostly flown under the radar when it comes to phones. Since Google bought the HTC team that made its Pixel phones in 2017, the firm has been fairly quiet when it comes to new releases.
It has been shifting its focus away from phones over the past few years to virtual reality, and last year said it would lay off 1,500 workers to "realign" resources. But Chen said the firm sees an opportunity to reinvigorate the smartphone market with crypto-friendly features, particularly for people with restricted access to the financial system.
"Initially considered a gimmick by some, crypto technology is the next frontier of smartphone innovation," Chen said. "For the smartphone category to grow again, we need more adoption of cryptophones."
The company isn't the only firm to have developed a phone focusing on blockchain. Swiss start-up Sirin Labs has launched a crypto-focused product, while Samsung released a blockchain-branded variant of its Galaxy Note 10 in South Korea.
HTC said the phone will initially ship to Europe, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and will be available in other markets further down the line.
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07a518a59b232f87ff7289486e3eafd8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/19/trump-says-he-hopes-us-china-trade-deal-will-be-signed-by-mid-november.html | Trump says he hopes US-China trade deal will be signed by mid-November | Trump says he hopes US-China trade deal will be signed by mid-November
US President Donald Trump speaks as he arrives at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Forth Worth in Texas on October 17, 2019.Nicholas Kamm | AFP | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he thinks a trade deal between the United States and China will be signed by the time the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings take place in Chile on Nov. 16 and 17.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will provide Beijing's perspective on the progress of the talks in a speech on Saturday, according to a tweet from editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a tabloid published by the People's Daily of China's ruling Communist Party.
"I think it will get signed quite easily, hopefully by the summit in Chile, where President Xi and I will both be," Trump told reporters at the White House, without providing details.
"We're working with China very well," Trump also said.
The White House has announced that China agreed to buy up to $50 billion of U.S. farm products annually, as part of the first phase of a trade deal, although China seems slow to follow through.
The so-called phase 1 deal was unveiled at the White House last week during a visit by vice premier He as part of a bid to end a tit-for-tat trade war between Beijing and Washington that has roiled markets and hammered global growth.
U.S. officials said a second phase of negotiations could address thornier issues like forced technology transfer and non-financial services issues.
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fdfdccd8c9d0d2aee89651c8863f4172 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/19/trumps-executive-order-total-surpasses-obamas-for-the-same-time-span.html | Trump has now issued more executive orders than Obama did during the same time span | Trump has now issued more executive orders than Obama did during the same time span
President Barak Obama (R) and President-elect Donald Trump smile at the White House before the inauguration on January 20, 2017Kevin Dietsch-Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images
It wasn't too long ago that Donald Trump derided presidential executive orders as "power grabs" and a "basic disaster."
He's switched sides in a big way: In each year of his presidency, he has issued more executive orders than did former President Barack Obama during the same time span. He surpassed Obama's third-year total just recently.
Back in 2012, Trump had tweeted: "Why Is @BarackObama constantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority?"
That criticism continued once he entered the presidential race.
"The country wasn't based on executive orders," Trump said at a South Carolina campaign stop in February 2016. "Right now, Obama goes around signing executive orders. He can't even get along with the Democrats, and he goes around signing all these executive orders. It's a basic disaster. You can't do it."
But Trump appears to have learned what his predecessors discovered as well: It's easier and often more satisfying to get things done through administrative action than to get Congress to go along, said Andrew Rudalevige, a professor at Bowdoin College who studies the history and effectiveness of presidential executive actions.
"Most candidates don't realize the utility of executive actions while campaigning," Rudalevige said. "When they become president, they quickly gain an appreciation of how difficult it is to get things done in government."
The White House declined to comment on Trump's use of executive orders. He surpassed Obama's third-year total when, in the last two weeks, he issued five executive orders relating to Medicare, government transparency, federal spending and imposing sanctions on Turkish officials.
An executive order can have the same effect as a federal law — but its impact can be fleeting. Congress can pass a new law to override an executive order and future presidents can undo them.
Every president since George Washington has used the executive order power, according to the National Constitution Center, and some of those orders played a critical role in American history. President Franklin Roosevelt established internment camps during World War II. President Harry Truman mandated equal treatment of all members of the armed forces through executive orders. And President Dwight Eisenhower used an executive order to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock.
When Obama became frustrated with how difficult it was to push legislation through Congress, he warned Republicans he would take executive action when he considered it necessary.
He famously declared in 2014: "We're not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help they need. I've got a pen, and I've got a phone."
Few candidates for office have placed so much emphasis on criticizing a predecessor's executive orders as Trump did. He reasoned that Obama's use of executive orders made him look like a weak negotiator. But Trump himself has had little success with Congress in that regard. His biggest legislative achievement so far, a $1.5 trillion tax cut, failed to gain one Democratic vote.
Trump has so far issued 130 executive orders. By comparison, Obama issued 108 in his first three years.
Still, Rudalevige says that comparing executive orders from one president to the next can provide a misleading snapshot of a president's propensity for taking executive action. That's because presidents also use memoranda and proclamations to achieve policy goals or to get the message out about their priorities. One president's executive order might be another's memoranda, or phone call even.
Obama relied on memoranda and proclamations for some of his most disputed executive actions, so just counting his executive orders understates his efforts to take action without Congress passing a bill.
For example, protections for young immigrants brought into the country illegally as children came about through a Department of Homeland Security memorandum. That effort allowed eligible individuals to request temporary relief from deportation and apply for authorization to work in the U.S.
Obama took the action after Congress had declined to pass the Dream Act, legislation that would have helped a similar group of migrants. Republicans argued Obama overstepped his constitutional authority. In November, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments over the Trump administration's plan to end the program, which has protected roughly 700,000 young immigrants from deportation. Lower courts have so far blocked the administration from ending the program.
Obama also issued proclamations to declare new national monuments in Utah and Nevada in his final days in office. In all, he issued 34 monument proclamations, including designating 29 new monuments and enlargement of five existing monuments as he brandished his conservation legacy. Some of the largest monument designations were heavily criticized by state and local officials.
Rudalevige said that Trump appears to favor the pomp and ceremony that often comes with an executive order. He routinely makes a speech, administration officials and potentially affected Americans get to thank him for taking action and Trump often signs the order before the cameras, holding it up in the air for photographers to capture the moment.
"I think it fits his personality," Rudalevige said.
VIDEO6:0006:00Robert Shiller: Recession likely years away due to bullish Trump effectTrading Nation
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35fe953c71a5c43b639991c509a01346 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/20/brexit-could-cause-a-broad-investor-strike-ubs-chairman-warns.html | Brexit could cause a broad 'investor strike,' warns UBS Chairman Axel Weber | Brexit could cause a broad 'investor strike,' warns UBS Chairman Axel Weber
VIDEO2:5902:59Seeing an 'investor strike' over Brexit and trade tensions, UBS chairman saysSquawk Box Europe
The chairman of Switzerland's largest bank is seeing what he calls an investor strike as the confusion and uncertainty surrounding Britain's exit from the EU intensifies.
"I think you've seen, with Brexit but also with the trade disputes, that there has been an enormous increase in uncertainty," UBS Chairman Axel Weber told CNBC's Geoff Cutmore on Saturday. "Uncertainty has been bad for investments all along. What you're seeing at the moment — and we're seeing it in our client base — is almost an investor strike."
The German investment banker's comments came during the 2019 Annual International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, D.C., where discussions focused heavily on global economic turmoil caused by trade wars, protectionism and political instability.
"The way I look at that is while interest rates are very very low, and the costs of investment are at historic lows, the increased uncertainty about whether those projects will pay off, whether rejigging your whole production chain will pay off, by having parts of that production chain be in China — or for Europeans, in the U.K. — is a huge uncertainty," Weber said. "And people will not take these decisions until the political decisions are taken."
VIDEO3:2203:22Disappointed European project has become inward looking, UBS chairman saysSquawk Box Europe
S&P Global Ratings calculated in the spring that Brexit had, by last April, cost the U.K. economy $86 billion. The uncertainty following the vote led to a dramatic decrease in the value of the pound, increased inflation, a fall in household spending power, weak exports, declining real estate prices and the stalling of local and foreign investment.
In the latest developments, Britain has requested yet another extension of the Oct. 31 deadline to leave the European Union — which would be the third extension since the June 2016 referendum — after U.K. lawmakers delayed a vote Saturday on the withdrawal agreement negotiated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The lawmakers voted to activate a law that required Downing Street to ask Brussels to push back the deadline for Brexit, despite Johnson's vocal objection to another extension.
But EU leaders don't have to accept the extension request, and there are a number of ways they could respond. They could offer a technical extension of a few weeks in the hope of passing the recently-negotiated agreement with Johnson; they could agree to push the date back to January 31, opening the door to a U.K. general election and a potential second referendum; or they could refuse the extension request altogether, possibly triggering an economic crisis for both the U.K. and EU.
EU Council President Donald Tusk said he received the extension letter and that he would begin consulting with EU leaders on how to respond to Britain's request. Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said Sunday morning that the U.K. would indeed leave the EU by October 31, adding yet more confusion to the outlook.
Despite all this, Weber is "more positive that we'll see an orderly Brexit," he told CNBC Saturday. "But investors still want to see it on the table. They have been, too many times the project has been delayed, and they're just holding out and waiting for investment. And you can see how investment in the U.K. has fallen off a cliff, and that is not good as a dynamic part of the economy."
"So where I see a big risk is a kind of broad-based investment strike at the moment, about the uncertainty that we have in the global economy, which is politically made rather than made by markets. And that is a really bad environment."
—CNBC's Spencer Kimball and Matt Clinch contributed to this report.
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5feccf68e2f86ebeabf6c5584622b3c1 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/20/electric-car-prices-finally-in-reach-of-millennial-gen-z-buyers.html | Electric vehicle prices finally in reach of millennial, Gen Z car buyers | Electric vehicle prices finally in reach of millennial, Gen Z car buyers
Tesla Model 3Source: Tesla
Members of the millennial and Gen Z generations care more than past generations about climate change, but younger Americans have been slow to show that belief in one important way: electric-car buying.
Only 10% of electric vehicle buyers are between the ages of 25 and 34, according to Cox Automotive. A big reason: price. Younger generations of Americans are struggling with student debt and wage stagnation at a time when more than 70% of electric car customers' incomes are at least $100,000. The biggest competition has been in the affluent consumer market, where Tesla had an early lead and is now being challenged by luxury car makers including Porsche, which recently debuted its first electric car at an even higher price point than Tesla's most expensive models.
But with global auto manufacturers including GM, Volkswagen, Nissan and Kia coming to market with more electric car offerings, the situation is changing.
The cost gap between electric models and gas models is beginning to shrink, according to Rachelle Petusky, the manager of research and market intelligence for Cox Automotive Mobility. And that shift is going to accelerate. "Going to be even more so the case in the next two to three years," she said.
Between 2010 and 2016, the cost of electric car batteries went down by over 70%, lowering the average transaction cost for electric cars. Nissan LEAF prices have decreased by 2.5% since 2012, while combustion engine cars like the Nissan Maxima have increased by 7.5%, closing the cost gap.
Younger demographics are becoming more aware of the economic benefits of owning electric vehicles. The Cox Automotive survey showed 65% of Gen Z consumers said that charging an EV costs less than fueling a gas car. According to the US Department of Energy, fueling an electric car costs almost half as much as a gasoline car, with a gallon of gasoline costing $2.64 on average in the U.S., and an electric eGallon costing $1.24.
Source: IHS Markit/Cox Automotive
Other concerns are still holding them back, according to Petusky. Their biggest concern is not price, but range anxiety — the fear that the car will run out of power before the battery can be recharged.
That was the main hesitation for 26-year-old William Lai, who currently leases a BMW i3, which has an MSRP around $44,450, according to Edmunds.
Cox Automotive's research shows that electric vehicles are closing the gap in expected range. A Nissan Leaf has a range of approximately 225 miles, while Gen Z's average estimated range for electric cars is 218 miles; for millennials the average estimated range is 248 miles.
The density of younger consumers in urban areas can be a reason for the limited appeal of electric cars, said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds. According to the 2017 census, 17.8% of people living in New York City were between the ages of 25 and 35, the age group with the highest percentage. Younger people who live in many urban areas may not need to own a car – public transportation is the norm.
But Lai, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, said public charging stations helped make an EV work for his lifestyle. "You have to live in a place where you can charge it," said Lai.
Although he does not have a home-charging station, he said he has the ability to use charging stations at his place of work, as well as free stations in public spaces like grocery store parking lots.
VIDEO8:0708:07Cost, charging infrastructure, and convenience will affect electric vehicle adoption, says former Ford CEOClosing Bell
Buying a used electric vehicle is cheaper than buying a new one, with used EVs costing between 43% to 72% less than new ones, depending on the model, according to Edmunds.
For 25-year-old Brain LaClair, buying a used electric car was the best option for him.
LaClair recently purchased his first electric car in July, a used 2017 Nissan LEAF. While he admits the engines on newer models are much better, he said his can go 120 miles before needing to charge, fitting into his daily commute of roughly 40 to 50 miles.
"A lot of people my age would be able to afford an electric vehicle if they looked into it," he said. "I really don't think that it's a thought that really crosses a lot of people's minds, because when they think about electric cars, they think about Tesla."
LaClair paid $12,000 for his used Nissan LEAF. He received $1,000 for trading in his old vehicle and also received a $750 electric vehicle incentive from a local utility for home charging. He was surprised by how inexpensive it is to maintain and power his car, spending $14 on charging fees in August.
But LaClair is not the norm in the electric vehicle consumer market according to Caldwell, who said buyers of used electric cars remain rare. Lai, whose annual income is $100,000, said he prefers to lease his BMW i3due to how rapidly technology advances. He said he wouldn't want to purchase a car in which the battery and technology would quickly go out of date with each new update.
Even though the LEAF has a base MSRP of $29,990, more car buyers are interested in Tesla, which just increased the price for the most affordable version of Model 3 from $38,990 to $39,940. Electric cars make up around 2% of car sales, and the majority of the market share is Tesla, according to Cox Automotive's research.
There are federal tax incentives for electric car purchases, though those decline once a manufacturer reaches a fixed number of 200,000 cars sold, and Tesla's models are already in the incentive phase out-period, with the original $7,500 credit now down to $1,875 tax credit available until the end of this year.
Electric car prices
Maker Model MSRP BMWi3$44,450TeslaModel 3$39,490HyundaiKona$38,305ChevroletBolt$36,620Volkswagone-Golf$31,895NissanLEAF$29,990
Some states, including New York and Vermont, offer tax incentives for electric vehicle drivers. In some of these states, residents receive tax rebates by proving they've driven exclusively with electric power for a given number of miles, while in others, residents receive a rebate when they initially purchase an electric vehicle.
In some states, electric vehicle owners are required to make yearly car fees, with owners in 11 states paying more than gasoline taxes.
New York State resident Ian Bresalier, who leased a BMW i3, said he used the money from the rebate to purchase an in-home charging station.
"Basically, it pays for itself," the 24-year-old said.
But Bresalier is an example of how long the road will still be for the mass adoption of electric vehicles. The deciding factor for him in buying an electric car was the fact that he was an BMW employee at the time and received an employee deal. He loved the electric car, but he no longer has one. Bresalier now drives a gas-powered 2015 Chevy Sonic because the car averages 40-miles per gallon on the highway and he does a lot of travelling. Range anxiety was a big issue for Bresalier.
LaClair, who makes payments on his used LEAF every month, is focused on the long-term benefits.
"While I now have car payments, I'm also spending about $250 less per month on powering my car" he said. "Even though I'm spending money to plug my car in at home, it is incredibly less than if I were filling up at the gas pump every week."
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95b14047a5731a26f8d82f682ff788c6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/20/nancy-pelosi-goes-to-jordan-for-vital-discussions-about-syria-crisis.html | Nancy Pelosi goes to Jordan for 'vital discussions' as the Syria crisis rages | Nancy Pelosi goes to Jordan for 'vital discussions' as the Syria crisis rages
U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CAlif) holds her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. September 12, 2019.Aurora Samperio | NurPhoto | Getty Images
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a group of American lawmakers on a surprise visit to Jordan to discuss "the deepening crisis" in Syria amid a shaky U.S.-brokered cease-fire.
The visit came after bipartisan criticism in Washington has slammed President Donald Trump for his decision to withdraw the bulk of U.S. troops from northern Syria — clearing the way for Turkey's wide-ranging offensive against the Kurdish groups, who had been key U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State group.
Turkey agreed on Thursday to suspend its offensive for five days, demanding the Kurdish forces withdraw from a designated strip of the border about 30 kilometers deep (19 miles).
Pelosi, along with the nine-member Congressional delegation, met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the capital of Amman late Saturday for talks focusing on security and "regional stability," according to a statement from her office.
Jordan is a key U.S. ally in the region and has been greatly affected by the eight-year-long civil war in neighboring Syria. Jordanian officials say the kingdom hosts some 1 million Syrians who have fled the fighting.
"With the deepening crisis in Syria after Turkey's incursion, our delegation has engaged in vital discussions about the impact to regional stability, increased flow of refugees, and the dangerous opening that has been provided to ISIS, Iran and Russia," said the statement, using the Islamic State group's acronym.
Jordan's state news agency Petra said Abdullah stressed the importance of safeguarding Syria's territorial integrity and guarantees for the "safe and voluntary" return of refugees.
"The meeting also covered regional and international efforts to counter terrorism within a comprehensive approach," the agency said.
The congressional delegation included Democrats Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, who is leading the impeachment probe into President Trump; Eliot Engel, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. There was one GOP member of the group, Rep. Mac Thornberry, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.
The U.S. Embassy in Amman said the delegation left Jordan early Sunday but gave no further details on where it was heading.
Many Democrat and Republican lawmakers say that the U.S. pullout could make way for rivals like Iran and Russia, who back Syrian President Bashar Assad.
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bec18ba1a87b59417aadabf426e4b107 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/apple-is-on-fire-and-helping-the-chip-stocks-rally-jim-cramer-says.html | VIDEO4:1404:14Apple helping the chip stocks rally, Jim Cramer saysMad Money with Jim Cramer
Stocks generating positive pin action have been a lot more powerful than the stocks generating negative pin action this earnings season, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Monday.
The action buttressed positive activity across the stock market helping the Dow Jones Industrial Average to rise more than 57 points, the S&P 500 climb 0.69% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rally 0.91% by session close.
"We're getting some tremendous positive pin action here with some very important companies putting up excellent results and it's reverberating," the "Mad Money" host said. "Their stocks roar higher and drag whole groups with them as we've seen ... I've gotta tell you, that's pretty encouraging."
By pin action, such as in bowling, Cramer's referring to the market phenomenon in which shares of one company influence the stock action of other businesses in related sectors.
Cramer highlighted the moves in Apple and J.P. Morgan Chase, among other stocks, as catalysts in their respective sectors. Apple shares rose 1.7% in the session.
Sales of the iPhone 11 are helping shares of Apple break out to new all-time highs, he said. The stock turned in a record close, the 13th time this month according to FactSet, on Monday above $240 per share. On top of better-than-predicted phone sales, Cramer gave CEO Tim Cook credit for talking with leaders from both the United States and China "to navigate his way through the trade war" and said it appears to be working.
Apple's stock is up nearly 11% since it first revealed its new iPhone more than a month ago. Cramer said its helping the value of several semiconductor companies to rise as well, including Cirrus Logic, Texas Instruments, Broadcom and Skyworks Solutions.
Those four names rose Monday, with Cirrus leading the group with a gain of 2.6%. The stocks, with the exception of Broadcom, have also rallied since mid-September with Skyworks Solutions surging 12%, according to FactSet.
"In other words, Cook's not waiting for the trade talks to be resolved. ... He's on the the front lines, front lines of the trade war trying to calm things down," Cramer said. "A rally in these stocks can trigger a dramatic move in the whole Nasdaq. It's a mammoth breakout that silences the macro junkies" worried about "a big economic slowdown that's pretty hard to find if you're examining most domestically oriented companies."
Cramer also noted the impact that J.P. Morgan Chase, which posted record revenue in its third-quarter earnings report last Tuesday, has on the banking sector in the market. The stock rallied 2.5% in Monday's session and Cramer said the move influenced a number of other bank stocks.
"The stock of J.P. Morgan is ridiculously cheap. You can't have a real bank rally without this one, it's the best of the best," Cramer said. "That's why the stock's fabulous move today was a locomotive that pulled Citigroup, it pulled Bank of America and it pulled Morgan Stanley along with it."
Positive pin action from American Express, Honeywell and Union Pacific have also helped their respective groups climb in the market, he said.
VIDEO12:5012:50Apple is on fire and helping the chip stocks rally, Jim Cramer saysMad Money with Jim Cramer
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Apple, Honeywell, Citigroup and JPMorgan.
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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569ae1af969136035d53d33a8f8d06d3 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/bhp-inks-four-renewable-energy-deals-for-chilean-copper-sites.html | Mining giant BHP inks four renewable energy deals for Chilean copper sites | Mining giant BHP inks four renewable energy deals for Chilean copper sites
Oliver Llaneza | Hulton Archive | Getty Images
The world's biggest mining firm by market value has struck four new renewable energy agreements for its copper operations in Chile. In an announcement Monday BHP said it was making a provision of around $780 million in relation to the cancelation of existing coal contracts it had.
The President of BHP Minerals Americas, Daniel Malchuk, said the "new renewable energy" contracts would increase flexibility for the firm's power portfolio and "ensure security of supply for our operations, while also reducing costs and displacing CO2 emissions." Malchuk added that the contracts would "deliver an estimated 20 percent reduction in energy prices" at the Escondida and Spence sites.
Fifteen-year contracts have been agreed with Enel Generacion Chile for 3 terawatt hours (TWh) per year while 10-year contracts, again for 3 TWh, have been agreed with Colbun.
The Enel agreements will start in August 2021 while the contracts with Colbun will commence in January 2022. In terms of environmental impact BHP said the deals would, from 2022, displace 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year compared to the fossil fuel-based contracts being replaced.
BHP is one of several mining companies turning to renewables.
In May, Rio Tinto said it would purchase renewable energy certificates for its Kennecott Utah Copper facility and also shut its coal power plant. The business said the move would cut the operation's annual carbon footprint by more than 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. In July, AngloAmerican signed a deal with Enel Generacion Chile for the supply of 3 TWh a year for a 10-year period.
According to Enel the deal will enable AngloAmerican to cut its total carbon dioxide emissions in Chile by more than 70%.
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49c1d6fe21d5836fe037bfa91c1aa8d6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/chinas-defense-minister-says-resolving-taiwan-question-is-priority.html | China's defense minister says resolving 'Taiwan question' is a national priority | China's defense minister says resolving 'Taiwan question' is a national priority
Taiwanese flags during a campaign event in Taipei on June 1, 2019.Daniel Shih | AFP
China's defense minister said on Monday that resolving the "Taiwan question" is his country's "greatest national interest," and that no force could prevent China's "reunification."
Separatist activities are doomed to failure, Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said at the opening in Beijing of the Xiangshan Forum, which China styles as its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.
Tensions between China and Taiwan have ratcheted up ahead of the self-ruled island's presidential election in January. Taiwan is China's most sensitive territorial issue.
"China is the only major country in the world that is yet to be completely reunified," Wei said.
"Resolving the Taiwan question so as to realise China's full reunification is the irresistible trend of the times, China'sgreatest national interest, the righteous path to follow and the longing of all Chinese people."
Proudly democratic Taiwan has lambasted China for its authoritarian rule and for being a threat to regional peace, while China has heaped pressure on Taiwan, whittling away at its few remaining diplomatic allies.
China regards Taiwan as its sacred territory, to be brought under Beijing's rule, by force if needed, a message President XiJinping reiterated at the start of this year.
China translates the word "tong yi" as "reunification," but it can also be translated as "unification," a term in Englishpreferred by supporters of Taiwan independence who point out that Beijing's Communist government has never ruled Taiwan and so it cannot be "reunified."
Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists. The People's Republic ofChina has never governed Taiwan, whose people have shown little interest in being ruled by autocratic Beijing.
China has also been angered by U.S. support for Taiwan, including arms sales. Washington has no formal ties with Taipei, but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
The U.S. and China are also locked in a bitter trade war, though they have been holding talks to end it.
"No one and no force can ever stop China's full reunification. We are committed to promoting the peaceful development of cross-Taiwan strait relations and the peaceful reunification of the country," Wei said.
"However we will never allow separatists for Taiwan independence to have their way, nor allow interference by anyexternal forces. Advancing china's reunification is a just cause, while separatist activities are doomed to failure."
The United States has also angered China by repeatedly conducting what it calls "freedom of navigation" operations by naval ships close to islands China occupies in the South China Sea.
China claims almost all the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, but neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines,Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
"The South China Sea islands and Diaoyu islands are inalienable parts of China's territory. We will not allow even an inch of territory that our ancestors have left to us to be taken away," Wei said.
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d206ce26c86d4bd7f1b965f5234f97fa | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/cnbc-prime-builds-fall-roster-with-original-series-back-in-the-game-hosted-by-alex-rodriguez-and-executive-produced-by-michael-strahan.html | CNBC PRIME BUILDS FALL ROSTER WITH ORIGINAL SERIES, 'BACK IN THE GAME,' HOSTED BY ALEX RODRIGUEZ AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY MICHAEL STRAHAN | CNBC PRIME BUILDS FALL ROSTER WITH ORIGINAL SERIES, 'BACK IN THE GAME,' HOSTED BY ALEX RODRIGUEZ AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY MICHAEL STRAHAN
New Series, Premiering Wednesday, November 6 at 10pm ET, Follows Celebrities Who Are Looking to Get Back on the Path of Financial Stability With Guidance from A-Rod
"You do not have to be defined by your mistakes. How you come back matters too." -Alex Rodriguez
Watch the Trailer
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — October 21, 2019 — Former Major League Baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez is no stranger to the comeback story. Now, he wants to help fellow celebrities get their shot at redemption on an all-new series, "Back in the Game." From Michael Strahan's SMAC Productions and Amber Mazzola's Machete Productions, "Back in the Game" premieres Wednesday, November 6 at 10pm ET on CNBC.
Professional athletes and entertainers are some of the best paid people in the world. But the reality is, their careers are often short-lived and they can find themselves in serious financial distress when the big paychecks stop coming their way. In this four episode hour long series, the legendary baseball icon and mega-successful businessman, Alex Rodriguez, gives back by mentoring notables who have fallen on hard times and need help getting back on their feet.
In the series premiere, Alex enlists the expertise of his friend, serial entrepreneur, Marcus Lemonis, aka "The Profit," to help former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield take control of his financial future. Additional episodes feature Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte, actress Nicole Eggert, and former "American Idol" host Brian Dunkleman, who open up about the stories behind their mistakes and humiliation. Alex digs deep into their finances and personal struggles, and introduces them to his trusted team of experts to try to launch new careers, repair reputations, build self-esteem and ultimately, get them back on path of financial stability. But after years of living large, will they be willing to listen to their new coach?
"Back in the Game" is produced by SMAC Productions and Machete Productions with Amber Mazzola, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Strahan, Constance Schwartz-Morini and Elizabeth Jones as executive producers. Marshall Eisen is the executive producer for CNBC.
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Founded in 2011, Machete Productions is the creation of Emmy-nominated Executive Producer Amber Mazzola. Since its formation, Mazzola and Machete have produced the first unscripted series under the CNBC prime banner, Treasure Detectives, and The Profit, the #1 original series on CNBC now in its seventh season, as well as CNBC's Back in the Game with Alex Rodriguez. Machete also produced recently aired Relatively: Nat & Liv and hit franchise WAGs for sister network E!
About SMAC Productions
SMAC Productions develops specialty scripted and unscripted television and film content for the global market. SMAC's mission is to create diverse programming that has a lasting impact on audiences through entertaining and powerful storytelling. SMAC Productions' slate includes the critically acclaimed Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Sports Awards, The Joker's Wild (TNT/TBS), ESPN 30 for 30: Deion's Double Play (ESPN), Wiz Khalifa: Behind The Cam (Apple Music), Back In The Game (CNBC), Religion of Sports (AUDIENCE Network), and SMAC's hit primetime gameshow The $100,000 Pyramid which just wrapped its fourth season with ABC. The following SMAC projects are in development: an untitled series based on the life of Netflix's Last Chance U breakout star Brittany Wagner starring Courteney Cox (Charter Spectrum), Cupcake Men (ABC and Lee Daniels Entertainment), and Caramel Curves (HBO and Issa Rae Productions). SMAC Productions is the television, film, and event production arm of SMAC Entertainment, the multi-dimensional media company co-founded by Pro Football Hall of Famer and Emmy-winner Michael Strahan and entrepreneur, marketing executive and talent manager Constance Schwartz-Morini.
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Beth GoldmanCNBCo: 201.735.4724c: 201.563.3983e: beth.goldman@nbcuni.com
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faa025c94c31b8873aeab6f3551d1c48 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/eu-regulator-expects-to-clear-boeing-737-max-in-january-at-earliest.html | EU regulator expects to clear Boeing 737 MAX in January at earliest | EU regulator expects to clear Boeing 737 MAX in January at earliest
Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft are parked up at a gate in the terminal of Manchester Airport on March 12, 2019 in Manchester, England.Christopher Furlong | Getty Images
European regulators expect to clear Boeing's grounded 737 MAX to return to service in January at the earliest, following flight trials by European test pilots currently scheduled for mid-December, Europe's top air safety official told Reuters.
The head of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) declined to estimate when U.S. regulators would make their own decision to lift a flight ban imposed in March, but said any gap between the agencies would be a matter of weeks not months.
Boeing has said it aims to return the jet to service by year-end following changes to cockpit software and training in the wake of two fatal crashes that sparked the grounding in March.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has primary responsibility for lifting the ban and is expected to be followed by other regulators including EASA, but there have been concerns that other agencies could be slow to act.
"For me it is going to be the beginning of next year, if everything goes well. As far as we know today, we have planned for our flight tests to take place in mid-December which means decisions on a return to service for January, on our side," EASA executive director Patrick Ky said late on Friday.
He said a return to service of the MAX would be coordinated with the FAA as much as possible, but that the two agencies had slightly different processes and consultation requirements.
"So we may end up with a couple of weeks of time difference but we are not talking about six months; we are talking about a delay which, if it happens, will be due mostly to process or administrative technicalities," Ky added.
Ky was speaking shortly before the disclosure on Friday of internal pilot messages from 2016 plunged Boeing into fresh turmoil. On Monday, he declined comment on the messages.
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b3e46728d1932a5cd028bfe2337f39a7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/forex-markets-brexit-pound-in-focus.html | Dollar skids as Brexit optimism lifts pound and euro | Dollar skids as Brexit optimism lifts pound and euro
Sterling notes and coins are laid out for a photo.Matt Cardy | Getty Images
The dollar was crawling toward its worst month since January 2018 on Monday as intermittent waves of Brexit optimism pushed the pound to a 5-1/2 month high and kept the euro's bumper October intact.
Although Prime Minister Boris Johnson this weekend was forced by his opponents to send a letter to Brussels seeking a delay to Britain's departure from the European Union as UK lawmakers delayed a vote on a reworked Brexit deal, the currency market reflected tentative hopes that it would eventually be passed. Johnson will again try to put his Brexit deal to a vote in parliament on Monday.
Against the dollar, sterling was last up 0.1% in North American trade, having earlier broken above $1.30 for the first time in 5-1/2 months. The euro was 0.18% higher against the dollar, having also been lifted by Brexit optimism this month by 2.23%.
"Brexit has been doing a lot of the hard work in terms of moving things around," said Daniel Katzive, head of foreign exchange strategy for North America at BNP Paribas in New York.
"Whereas the impact of Brexit on sterling is obvious, euro-USD's response to diminished Brexit fears has probably been larger than what we had expected. This suggests that a lot of the weakness in the euro over the previous few months was being driven by Brexit concerns and as those are reducing, we're seeing the euro get closer to where we think where it should have been all along based on rate differentials."
The dollar is down 2.1% this month against a basket of six rival currencies which, if it stays that way, would be its worst month since January 2018.
It hovered at $1.115 per euro on Monday but managed to claw up to 108.52 against the safe-haven Japanese yen. The yen has been weak too, having hit a 2-1/2-month low last week.
The dollar has also been falling against a backdrop of weaker U.S. data including disappointing retail sales which fell for the first time in seven months in September as households cut spending on vehicles, building materials, hobbies and online purchases.
"There are definitely some warning signs on the U.S. data front, which I think is also impacting the dollar," said Katzive.
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f551906f82fd84649602b84bb44601b7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/four-drug-companies-reach-a-settlement-as-opioid-trial-was-set-to-begin.html | Four drug companies reach a last-minute $260 million opioid settlement with two Ohio counties | Four drug companies reach a last-minute $260 million opioid settlement with two Ohio counties
VIDEO3:0503:05Ohio opioid trial canceled following settlement with four drug companiesSquawk Box
Four large drug companies reached a last-minute $260 million legal settlement on Monday over their role in the U.S. opioid addiction epidemic, striking a deal with two Ohio counties to avert the first federal trial over the crisis.
However, drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson and drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical fell short of a wider deal worth tens of billions of dollars to end all opioid litigation against them.
The distributors, which handle around 90% of U.S. prescription drugs, will pay a combined $215 million immediately. Israel-based drugmaker Teva is paying $20 million in cash and will contribute $25 million worth of Suboxone, an opioid addiction treatment, according to Hunter Shkolnik, an attorney for the counties.
Teva, the world's largest generic drugmaker, will makes its contribution over 18 months, according to Shkolnik.
The deal settles claims brought by Ohio's Cuyahoga and Summit counties, which had accused the companies of fueling a nationwide opioid crisis. Some 400,000 U.S. overdose deaths between 1997 and 2017 were linked to opioids, according to government data.
"While the companies strongly dispute the allegations made by the two counties, they believe settling the bellwether trial is an important stepping stone to achieving a global resolution and delivering meaningful relief," the distributors said a joint statement. Teva declined to comment.
The so-called bellwether or test trial was meant to help shape a broader settlement of some 2,600 lawsuits pending over the toll opioids have taken on local communities and the nation.
Late on Friday, talks collapsed that were aimed at reaching a $48 billion global settlement of all opioid litigation against the same defendants.
This illustration image shows tablets of opioid painkiller Oxycodon delivered on medical prescription taken on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC.Eric Baradat | AFP | Getty Images
Shares in the companies had risen last week in anticipation of a broader deal. On Monday, shares of the big three drug distributors were down from more than 2% to 4%, having trimmed some earlier losses.
"We are not surprised to see distributor shares giving back some of last week's gains as uncertainty persists in this extremely complex litigation," Baird analyst Eric Coldwell wrote in a note.
The settlement, if extrapolated to nationwide deal resolving all litigation for the four defendants, suggests a settlement value of around $48 billion, based on a court-approved allocation formula.
"We're still at the table," said Joe Rice, an attorney for the local governments, who indicated the timing of payments wasa sticking point. "This should be a global settlement, but it's got to be fair and it's got to be now."
The judge overseeing the case, Dan Polster, said he would work out a new trial date for the remaining defendant, pharmacy chain operator Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Lawyers representing the local governments said in a statement on Monday that the litigation had revealed the country's pharmacy system "has played a greater role in the opioid epidemic than previously realized."
Walgreens said in a statement on Monday that it only sold opioids to fill a valid prescription written by a licensed physician. It said it was diligent to prevent the diversion of controlled substances.
A sixth defendant, the smaller distributor Henry Schein, said on Monday it had been dismissed as a defendant from the trial after agreeing to a deal worth around $1.25 million.
The lawsuits accuse drugmakers of overstating the benefits of opioids while downplaying the risks. Distributors allegedly failed to flag and halt a rising tide of suspicious orders, shipping vast amounts of the pills across the country.
Drugmakers have denied wrongdoing, arguing their products carried U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved labels that warned of the addictive risks of opioids. They say they did not cause the toll the epidemic has had on states and localities.
Distributors had argued that they made up only "one component of the pharmaceutical supply chain" and their role was to make sure medicines prescribed by licensed doctors were available for patients.
Monday's settlements add to deals worth $66.4 million that the two Ohio counties earlier struck with drug companies Mallinckrodt, Endo International, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan.
Armond Budish, county executive of Cuyahoga, said Friday's proposed global settlement, which had the support of state attorneys general, would have distributed funds over 18 years,not immediately. "People are dying now," he said.
Cuyahoga County has said it will use the funds to expand residential treatment beds, increase emergency care follow-up and to create alternatives to jailing low-level drug offenders, among other initiatives.
Polster, has aggressively pushed for a settlement that "could do something meaningful to abate this crisis."
Pharmacy chains and drug distributors unsuccessfully tried to remove the outspoken judge from the case, saying he was biased and had pressed too hard for a costly settlement.
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ccc9dc6d902e7d01cbd3376ecd4a4b9e | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/goldman-sachs-investment-banker-charged-in-insider-trading-scheme.html | Goldman Sachs investment banker charged in insider trading scheme | Goldman Sachs investment banker charged in insider trading scheme
A Goldman Sachs investment banker has been released on bond and placed on leave by the firm after allegedly being involved in an insider trading scheme.
Bryan Cohen, a vice president at Goldman Sachs who works in the Consumer Retail industry group, was arrested early Friday on charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He was also sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and accused of improperly using insider information about impending corporate deals.
Cohen is the third Goldman Sachs employee to be charged in an insider trading scheme since May 2018.
Cohen, 33, of New York, was arraigned on Friday before a U.S. magistrate judge in Manhattan and released after he posted $250,000 and ordered to refrain from the "conduct alleged," according to court records. A pre-trial hearing is set for Oct. 22.
Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Nicole Sharp said on Saturday the firm is "cooperating with the authorities on the situation regarding Mr. Cohen. Protecting client confidential information is our highest internal priority and we condemn this alleged behavior."
A lawyer for Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The SEC complaint also names a Greek citizen, George Nikas, 54, who has homes in New York and Athens and owns a restaurant chain "GRK Fresh" that includes locations in Manhattan. A lawyer for Nikas could not immediately be identified Saturday.
The complaint says the pair participated in a scheme that netted Nikas at least $2.6 million in illicit profits by trading shares in two companies. Cohen passed on non-public corporate deal information to an unnamed trader who in turn gave it to Nikas who used it to illegally trade securities, the SEC said.
Cohen got cash in exchange for information he gave the trader.
The trader and Nikas "realized millions of dollars in illicit gains from trading the securities of at least two different public companies — Syngenta and Buffalo Wild Wings — in advance of news that these companies had been targeted for acquisition," the SEC said.
The SEC says Nikas profited from buying Syngenta securities in 2015 after first being passed information about Monsanto Co's proposal to acquire it and later about ChemChina's interest.
In October 2017, Cohen passed along that Arby's Restaurant Group was interested in acquiring Buffalo Wild Wings, the SEC said, prompting additional trades.
In June, former Goldman Sachs vice president Woojae Jung was sentenced to three months in prison for engaging in insider trading based on non-public information about several companies that were bank clients.
Damilare Sonoiki, a Goldman Sachs analyst, was charged in August 2018 with leaking non-public information about pending deals to NFL football player Mychal Kendricks in exchange for cash and tickets to games. Sonoiki and Kendricks both pleaded guilty in September 2018.
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b7f4485ea47418a537b96f45f76ec77c | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/halliburton-profit-falls-32percent-on-weak-north-america-drilling.html | Halliburton profit falls 32% on weak North America drilling | Halliburton profit falls 32% on weak North America drilling
Various Halliburton equipment being stored at the equipment yard in Alvarado, Texas.Cooper Neill | Reuters
Halliburton Co reported a bigger-than-expected 10% drop in quarterly revenue on Monday, as the oilfield services provider battled lower demand from shale oil producers in North America, its biggest market.
Revenue from North America, which accounts for more than half of the company's total, fell 21% in the third quarter, primarily due to lower pressure pumping activity and pricing.
Halliburton, the largest provider of hydraulic fracking fleets, said completion and production revenue fell 16% in the three months ended Sept. 30.
Larger rival Schlumberger said on Friday it had recorded a $1.58 billion goodwill impairment charge related to its pressure pumping business in North America.
"These results from Halliburton bring into crystal-clear focus the speed with which North America (NAM) land well construction and completion activity eroded during course of Q3," Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co analysts wrote in a note.
Oilfield service providers are struggling with reduced spending by oil and gas producers as investors push for higher buybacks and dividends rather than growth in a weak oil price environment.
Halliburton was forced to cut 650 jobs across Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and North Dakota amid the slowing oil and gas activity, while smaller rival ProPetro cut about 150 workers, sources told Reuters.
Net profit attributable to Halliburton fell to $295 million, or 34 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $435 million, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts had on average estimated 34 cents per share, according to Refinitiv data.
Revenue fell to $5.55 billion, below analysts' average estimate of $5.81 billion.
Shares of the company were unchanged in premarket trading, having fallen about 31% so far this year through Friday's close. The S&P 500 Energy sector index has fallen just 0.8% during the same time.
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c195b9f5ba67739a83b4fb2c7e4d4432 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/heres-how-to-play-jp-morgan-one-of-the-top-performing-banking-stocks.html | Here's how to play one of the top-performing banking stocks | Here's how to play one of the top-performing banking stocks
Banking earnings are done and dusted, and Blue Line Capital President Bill Baruch says one of the top performers could keep the rally going.
"J.P. Morgan kicked off earnings season with a strong beat. The stock has a lot of momentum and it's been trading very well up to earnings, and now we're seeing record highs," Baruch said Friday on CNBC's "Trading Nation."
J.P. Morgan beat on the top and bottom lines in its third quarter thanks to a strong showing in consumer lending. The largest U.S. bank by assets reported consumer and banking net income of $4.27 billion, up $187 million from a year earlier.
The stock climbed 4% last week, nearly double the gains on the broader KBE bank ETF. It is also less than 1% from all-time highs.
"One of the best ways to play more upside with limited risk is using call options," Baruch said. "The earnings season in general has been off to a good start, but I don't want the downside risk of, say, if U.S. and China turn sour or other earnings start to sour."
He said J.P. Morgan looks to be on the path to $130 a share before the end of the year, nearly $10 per share above its closing price last week.
On the expectation J.P. Morgan continues to outperform over the next month and a half, Baruch is buying at-the-money 130 calls with Nov. 29 expiration for $3.50 per option.
"This gives you at-the-money call exposure. If this breaks out and continues to break out, you're going to capitalize over the next two to three weeks," said Baruch.
Disclaimer
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54d72238872c78ac4d347cf105a1c9aa | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/japans-september-exports-slip-for-10th-month-builds-pressure-on-boj.html | Japan's September exports slip for 10th month, builds pressure on central bank | Japan's September exports slip for 10th month, builds pressure on central bank
Japan's exports contracted for a 10th straight month in September, raising speculation the central bank could ease monetary policy as soon as next week to counter heightening overseas risks and a slowdown in demand.
Exports in September slumped 5.2% from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed on Monday, dragged down by car parts and semiconductor production equipment.
The fall was larger than a 4.0% drop expected by economists and marked the longest run of declines in exports since a 14-month stretch from October 2015 to November 2016.
In volume terms, exports fell 2.3% in the year to September, the second consecutive month of declines.
The extended fall in exports comes after the government lowered its assessment of the economy on Friday, raising a warning flag over weakness in exports.
Markets are rife with speculation the BOJ could ease at its Oct. 30-31 meeting, after it said at its rate review last it would take a more thorough look at whether heightening overseas risks could derail Japan's fragile economic recovery.
The BOJ will "certainly" reduce short- to medium-term interest rates if it needed to ease monetary policy, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told Reuters on Saturday.
Risks to the global economy have risen from a bitter trade war between the United States and China, darkening the outlook for Japan's economy, the world's third-largest.
That, among other factors, has triggered calls from some Japanese policymakers the government is ready to take fiscal measures if extra economic support was needed.
By region, exports to China, Japan's biggest trading partner, slipped 6.7% year-on-year in September, down for the seventh month as shipments of auto parts declined.
Exports to Asia, which account for more than half of Japan's overall exports, dropped 7.8% in the year to September, falling for the 11th month.
Japan's exports to the United States fell 7.9% in the year to September, weighed down by reduced shipments of cars of3000cc and higher.
Japan's overall imports dropped 1.5% year-on-year, a smaller decline than the median estimate for a 2.8% decrease.
The trade balance came to a deficit of 123.0 billion yen ($1.14 billion), versus a 54.0 billion yen surplus seen by economists.
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0824596883f57529018b90e9238972e6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/jim-cramer-mad-money-recap-stock-picks-oct-21-2019.html | VIDEO1:2001:20Cramer Remix: No stock can match the pin action of these playersMad Money with Jim Cramer
CNBC's Jim Cramer breaks down how certain stocks are serving as catalysts in their respective sectors. The "Mad Money" host takes a look at chart action in the S&P 500 to get a read on where the index and market is headed. He sits down with the new CEO of StockX Scott Cutler, formerly of eBay and the New York Stock Exchange, to find out if the high-end products exchange has plans of going public.
Apple CEO Tim Cook greets employees outside the Apple Store on Fifth Ave in New York, September 20, 2019.Carlo Allegri | Reuters
Stocks generating positive pin action have been a lot more powerful than the stocks generating negative pin action this earnings season, CNBC's said Monday.By pin action, such as in bowling, Cramer's referring to the market phenomenon in which shares of one company influence the stock action of other businesses in related sectors.
The action buttressed positive activity across the stock market helping the to rise more than 57 points, the climb 0.69% and the tech-heavy rally 0.91% by session close.
"We're getting some tremendous positive pin action here with some very important companies putting up excellent results and it's reverberating," the "Mad Money" host said. "Their stocks roar higher and drag whole groups with them as we've seen ... I've gotta tell you, that's pretty encouraging."
Cramer highlighted the moves in and J.P. Morgan Chase, among other stocks, as catalysts in their respective sectors. Apple shares rose 1.7% in the session.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Cramer has advised that investors take precautions as the inches closer to record trading levels.
The host broke down one trusted technical analyst's bearish prognosis of the market and, though he doesn't agree with the conclusion, he warned that the scenario is "on the table in a lot of people's heads." The widely quoted large-cap index closed the session above 3,006, nearly 20 points off its all-time closing high from July.
"The charts, as interpreted by Carley Garner, suggest that the averages could keep climbing for the next few weeks, but after that she thinks we're in real trouble and she recommends using any of the strength we're about to get to ring the register," he said. Garner is co-founder of DeCarley Trading.
"It never hurts to be a little cautious as we keep climbing," he added. "I think there's more to the bull market than Garner gives it credit for. Still, we need her perspective."
Experts from Midland Manufacturing, part of Dover's OPW Global, are conducting Emergency Preparedness Training.Source: Dover
Manufacturing conglomerate Dover has posted a series of strong quarters in 2019, which included cost cuts, Cramer said. The industrial giant found itself in rough waters with the rest of the industry as investors began to worry that the global economy was slowing down.
Cramer, however, noted that the company revealed some changes in its September investor meeting.
"Dover has transformed itself into a much less cyclical kind of industrial—that's why it's been able to rally in a tougher macroeconomic environment," he said. "It's why I think the stock has more upside going forward."
Scott Cutler, CEO, StockXScott Mlyn | CNBC
If StockX has plans to hold an IPO, it now has a person at the helm with experience in public markets.
StockX, the Detroit-based e-commerce marketplace that started out as an exchange for limited-edition sneakers, in June brought on alum Scott Cutler to lead the privately held company as CEO. In the same month, the company raised $110 million in a Series C funding round to give it a $1 billion valuation.
The resale platform, which has expanded into other high-end products, was launched in 2016 by Josh Luber and billionaire Quicken Loans CEO Dan Gilbert.
"We have world-class investors, including Dan, that are in this and I think wouldn't that be great if we ended up with that [public] outcome, that's certainly our objective as a company," Cutler, who previously was a senior vice president at eBay and president of StubHub, a unit of eBay, told Cramer in a sitdown. "But we're going after a global opportunity with consumers around the world and we're super excited about this innovation in commerce."
iStock | Getty Images Plus
It finally happened and Cramer said he's just now noticing it. The host has been warning time and again that the 2019 class of IPOs will weigh on fast-growing stocks trading on the Nasdaq and is flagging that the cloud software stocks have felt the brunt of the pain.
Cramer said it's tricky investing in the sector here and that it's reminiscent of unraveling of the dotcom era.
"If you don't own any of the cloud stocks, I think you've got to let them settle," he said. "I wish I could offer more reassurance, but the vast supply of new stock just snuck up on us and it's causing the whole group to get hit. These IPOs are a tsunami and it's just not worth trying to fight it — better to get out of the way."
In Cramer's lightning round, the "Mad Money" host zips through his thoughts about callers' stock picks of the day.
: "They have taken that one to the woodshed. I've got to tell you I think you're now going to have to start dealing with a lot of tax-law selling. I would be careful. I do like the idea, but wow has it been clobbered. That's not a good sign."
Merck: "Merck reports on Oct. 29. Here's what you need to know about Merck: Merck will print, there'll be someone who doesn't like it, they'll knock the stock down and then you'll buy more; or they'll get too excited about it and then it'll get knocked down. So the secret is buy half Merck now and half Merck after it starts going down the day it reports because it will be a good quarter."
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Apple and JPMorgan Chase.
Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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58eaf0d4f39248ef527b775e3511e88c | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/josh-brown-apple-better-off-with-cook-as-ceo-in-time-of-china-trump.html | Josh Brown: in the time of China and Trump, Apple may be better off with a Tim Cook as CEO than a Steve Jobs | Josh Brown: in the time of China and Trump, Apple may be better off with a Tim Cook as CEO than a Steve Jobs
VIDEO1:2801:28Steve Jobs would have been horrible CEO during today's trade war: Josh BrownHalftime Report
Amid the U.S. trade war with China, Apple may be better off with a CEO like Tim Cook than one like the late Steve Jobs, money manager and popular blogger Josh Brown told CNBC on Monday.
Jobs "would have been a horrible CEO in this moment," the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management said during an appearance on "Fast Money Halftime Report." Because he would have to "kowtow to both Beijing and [President Donald] Trump."
He continued: "Could you picture, in a million years, Steve Jobs threading the needle in the way Time Cook has?"
Apple couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Brown described Jobs as a "beacon of innovation" in his time as CEO. But Cook brings "competence, logistical savvy, and calmness," Brown added.
Brown's remarks come amid a critical juncture for Apple. China is a key market for Apple, and many of the company's products are assembled there. Now, Apple is considering shifting many of its operations from China to places like India or the U.S. to soften the impact of the ongoing trade war.
Jobs' successor, Cook, had not been an early supporter of Trump. But Cook has kept in touch with Trump throughout his presidency, including meeting with him on matters involving trade. Cook has also held meetings with China on tender political matters that involve the company.
Just last week, he met the chief of China's market regulator, a week after Apple faced criticism for removing an app in its app store that helped Hong Kong protesters track police movements.
Cook has to "live with the reality" that China is a "lifeline" for his business while "simultaneously convincing 'mad dog' Trump that he is going to build things here," Brown said. "He's done it incredibly well. Could you imagine Steve Jobs pulling that off? I really can't."
—CNBC's Kif Leswing and Reuters contributed to this report.
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e499def0fccb16506f8911ac18d62cae | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/major-analysts-still-bullish-on-plunging-peloton-ipo.html | Major analysts are bullish with their first reports on the struggling Peloton IPO | Major analysts are bullish with their first reports on the struggling Peloton IPO
Peloton bikeSource: Peloton
Shares of fitness program company Peloton have dropped nearly 19% since its public debut last month, but Wall Street firms including J.P. Morgan, Barclays and UBS began covering the stock on Monday with bullish forecasts.
"We believe Peloton is well positioned to disrupt the fitness industry," J.P. Morgan wrote in a note to investors.
Raymond James thinks Peloton has "a clear path" to profitability, saying the company's profit outlook is "more than the market gives it credit for."
"An investment in Peloton is also an investment in the management team as, like Netflix, we expect many competitive challenges," Bank of America said.
While Peloton's stock initially rose more than 2% in premarket trading, it later fell 5.3% in trading to close at $22.28 a share. The analysts began coverage after a lock-up on analyst research of underwriting firms expired. Skeptics will say the firms are just trying to support the struggling stock brought public by Wall Street.
Here's what major analysts were saying about Peloton:
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1960f43c87c6fc6b310415b919aee1e3 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/meghan-markle-friends-told-her-not-to-marry-harry-because-of-tabloids.html | Meghan Markle says her friends told her not to marry Prince Harry because of British press intrusion | Meghan Markle says her friends told her not to marry Prince Harry because of British press intrusion
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has said that her British friends warned her against marrying Prince Harry, because of British tabloid press intrusion.
Speaking as part of a TV program, broadcast Sunday, following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's royal tour of southern Africa last month, she said:
"When I first met my now-husband, my friends were really happy because I was so happy, but my British friends said to me: 'I'm sure he's great but you shouldn't do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life'."
"And I very naively, I'm American, we don't have that there, what are you talking about, that doesn't make any sense. I'm not in tabloids, I didn't get it. So, it's been complicated," she added.
The couple's first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was born on May 6, with the couple choosing not to use a royal title for him. Asked by presenter Tom Bradby about the impact of press intrusion on her mental and physical health, the Duchess said:
"Any woman, especially when you're pregnant, you're really vulnerable, so that was made really challenging. And then when you have a new born, and especially as a woman it's really, it's a lot. So you add this on top of just trying to be a new mom, trying to be a newly-wed, and also thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I'm OK, but it's a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes."
"And the answer is, would it be fair to say, not really OK, as in it's really been a struggle?" Bradby asked.
"Yes," the Duchess answered.
VIDEO1:1101:11Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcome their first childNews Videos
The Duchess also spoke about how she has tried to retain a British "stiff upper lip" since marrying the Duke in May 2018.
"I've said for a long time to H, that's what I call him, that it's not enough to just survive something, right, that's not the point of life, you've got to thrive, you've got to feel happy and I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip, I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging and the biggest thing that I know is that I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair, and that's the part that's really hard to reconcile."
"Harry & Meghan: An African Journey" aired on the UK's ITV station on Sunday, also saw the Duke talk frankly about his feelings toward the media, after his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris in 1997.
Asked by Bradby whether he felt at peace with his mother's death or whether it is still a wound that festers, the Duke said: "I think it's still a wound that festers, I think being part of this family, in this role, in this job, every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash, it takes me straight back. So, in that respect, it's the worst reminder of her life as opposed to the best."
Earlier this month, the Duchess of Sussex sued British tabloid the Mail on Sunday over the publication of a letter she wrote to her father. The lawsuit accused the newspaper of copyright infringement, misuse of private information and violating the U.K.'s data protection law.
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30a91aa5b3c493414a41fe8244c7cbe5 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/pm-mahathir-mohamad-warns-of-possible-trade-sanctions-on-malaysia.html | Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warns of possible trade sanctions on Malaysia | Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warns of possible trade sanctions on Malaysia
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at a press conference in Putrajaya, near Kuala Lumpur, on April 15, 2019.Kyodo News | Getty Images
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday his exports-reliant country could be hit with trade sanctions amid rising protectionism highlighted by the U.S.-China tariff war.
Mahathir did not mention the source of possible sanctions on the Southeast Asian country but said he was disappointed that proponents of free trade were now indulging in restrictive trade practices on a "grand scale."
"Unfortunately, we are caught in the middle," he told a conference in the capital Kuala Lumpur, referring to the U.S.-China trade war.
"Economically we are linked to both markets, and physically we are also caught in between for geographical reasons. There are even suggestion that we ourselves would be a target for sanctions."
The United States and China were two of the three biggest export destinations for Malaysia between January and August this year. Singapore was the top destination.
To cushion the impact of the collision between the superpowers, Mahathir said Malaysia was collaborating more with its regional neighbors.
Mahathir also complained of being bullied by powerful nations, referring to a campaign by European countries against Malaysia's agricultural mainstay of palm oil. The edible oil contributed 2.8% of Malaysia's gross domestic product last year and 4.5% to total exports.
"Having cleared most of their forests and refusing to reduce their noxious emissions, they now try to impoverish the poor by preventing them from clearing their forest for living space and earning a living," he said.
The European Union passed an act earlier this year to phase out palm oil from renewable fuel by 2030 due to deforestation concerns.
There are also concerns that India, one of the biggest buyers of Malaysian palm oil, would restrict imports of the product due to a diplomatic row over comments made by Mahathir on New Delhi's recent actions in the disputed South Asian region of Kashmir.
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74e3e4ae8ab69dc35ad79bfd26415db0 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/stock-market-outlook-for-tuesday-mcdonalds-and-ups-earnings-and-economic-data.html | Three things to watch for in the markets on Tuesday including McDonald's, UPS earnings | Three things to watch for in the markets on Tuesday including McDonald's, UPS earnings
Big Mac hamburger and french fries are pictured in a McDonalds fast foodBen Stansall | Getty Images
Here are the most important things to know about Tuesday before you hit the door.
Fast-food chain McDonald's reports third-quarter earnings before the bell on Tuesday. Stephens is forecasting earnings per share of $2.21 on revenue of $5.536 billion. That compares with EPS of $2.05 a share and revenue of $5.34 billion last quarter, results that sent the stock to an all-time high.
Shares of McDonald's are up 18% this year.
That sizable gain actually lags the broader market and its fast food peers like Chipotle, which also reports earnings on Tuesday, Restaurant Brands, parent company of Burger King and Wendy's.
"MCD was noticeably missing from the Chicken Sandwich Wars, which we believe stole some quick service visits from MCD on the margin," said Stephens analyst Will Slabaugh in a note to clients. The firm said domestic same-store sales will grow 5.2%.
UPS also reports earnings before the bell on Tuesday. The shipping company is coming off of a strong second-quarter earnings report that sent the stock up 9%, as demand for faster shipping drove a jump in revenue. Cowen is expecting earning of $2.03 per share, compared to last quarter's $1.96 per share.
Volume for NextDay Air increased by more than 30% in the company's fiscal second quarter. The company's CEO said UPS is well-positioned to take advantage of the demand for one-day shipping from smaller retailers, a trend that is dominated by e-commerce giant Amazon.
We'll get September existing home sales and Richmond Fed manufacturing data on Tuesday. Economists are estimating 5.45 million U.S. homes sold in September, according to Dow Jones. This is after U.S. home sales unexpectedly rose to a 17-month high in August, showing that lower mortgage rates are encouraging buyers to take action.
October Richmond Fed manufacturing data is released at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and economists are expecting a read of -6, compared to September's read of -9, according to FactSet.
Major events (all times ET):
8:30 a.m. Philadelphia Fed nonmanufacturing (Oct)
10 a.m. Existing Home sales (Sept)
10 a.m. Richmond Fed surveys Major earnings:
Biogen (before the bell)
Lockheed Martin (before the bell)
McDonald's (before the bell)
NextEra Energy (before the bell)
Novartis (before the bell)
Procter & Gamble (before the bell)
Travelers (before the bell)
UBS (before the bell)
United Tech (before the bell)
UPS (before the bell)
Texas Instruments (after the bell)
Canadian Natl. Railway (after the bell)
Chipotle Mexican Grill (after the bell)
CoStar (after the bell)
Discover Fincl. (after the bell)
Equity Residential (after the bell)
Snap (after the bell)
Whirlpool (after the bell)
— with reporting from CNBC's Michael Bloom.
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99df77ab75f250f823e2b88d89465fdf | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-premarket-boeing-peloton-halliburton-facebook-ibm-more.html | Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Boeing, Peloton, Halliburton, Facebook, IBM & more | Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Boeing, Peloton, Halliburton, Facebook, IBM & more
VIDEO0:3900:39Wall Street set for a higher openMorning Report
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
Halliburton – The oilfield services company matched estimates with quarterly earnings of 34 cents per share, but revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts. Halliburton's revenue was hurt by a slowdown in North American shale drilling.
Boeing – Boeing remains under scrutiny, following Friday's revelations of 2016 emails which called into question the safety of the 737 Max jet's flight control system. Those emails have now been turned over to Congress. Boeing expressed regret over those messages and is continuing to investigate.
Peloton – J.P. Morgan Chase rates the fitness bicycle maker "overweight" in new coverage, noting that Peloton has the largest interactive fitness platform in the world and that it's well-positioned to disrupt the fitness industry. J.P. Morgan is one of about a dozen firms beginning coverage of Peloton with "buy" or similar ratings as the research firm "quiet period" ends.
Thomson Reuters – Thomson Reuters said it was engaged in CEO succession planning "as a matter of good governance," and CEO Jim Smith said in an employee memo he was "not planning to go anywhere soon." That followed a Financial Times report saying the financial information provider had hired search firm Spencer Stuart to put together a list of CEO candidates.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise – The technology services company got a double upgraded from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, to "buy" from "underperform." The firm points to attractive cash flow and management focus on stable growth, among other factors.
Facebook – Facebook said it is open to a possible currency peg for its digital currency project "Libra," in the face of growing issues and partner pullouts.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals – The drugmaker received Food and Drug Administration approval for a second use of its blood disorder drug Ultomiris. The new use treats patients with abnormal blood clots in kidney blood vessels.
Verizon – Verizon is seeking a buyer for the HuffPost website, according to the Financial Times. The paper said formal talks have not been launched, however, and said any talks are at an early stage.
News Corp – News Corp has reached a deal with Facebook to feature headlines from The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones properties, as well as the New York Post.
Apple – Raymond James reiterated its "outperform" rating on Apple and raised its price target on the stock by $30 to $280 per share. The firm cites more favorable data on sales of the iPhone 11.
Pinterest – Pinterest was upgraded to "outperform" from "sector perform" at RBC Capital, based on strong user trends and prospects for the hobby-sharing website operator to ramp up monetization.
IBM – IBM was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at UBS, which said it thinks it will be difficult for IBM to achieve sustainable mid-single digit revenue growth.
VIDEO6:3106:31How to double your money in the marketInvest in You: Ready. Set. Grow.
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6cf80dba4729d552d4c47361d64307cb | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/thomson-reuters-says-engaged-in-ceo-succession-planning.html | Thomson Reuters says engaged in CEO succession planning | Thomson Reuters says engaged in CEO succession planning
The Thomson Reuters logo is seen on the company building in Times Square, New York.Carlo Allegri | Reuters
Thomson Reuters is engaged in succession planning for Chief Executive Jim Smith as "a matter of good governance," the business information company said on Sunday.
The company statement came after the Financial Times reported Thomson Reuters had begun a search for a new chief executive.
David Thomson, the company's chairman, said the board "is fully supportive of Jim Smith and his management team. We are aligned on strategy and direction."
Smith said in a memo to employees he was actively involved in the succession planning process.
"To be clear, I'm not planning to go anywhere soon," Smith said. "Please know that when the time comes to hand over the reins, you will hear it from me."
The Financial Times cited four unnamed sources as saying Thomson Reuters, which owns the Reuters news agency, had hired search firm Spencer Stuart to put together a list of internal and external candidates. The search was at an early stage, the newspaper said.
In a statement, Thomson Reuters said: "The Board of Directors considers succession planning and benchmarking for all key executives a matter of good governance. Hence, the Board and management continuously assess internal candidates and work with search firms to scan the external market."
Spencer Stuart declined to comment and a spokesman for Thomson Reuters declined to comment specifically on whether it had engaged Spencer Stuart.
Smith oversaw the sale of a majority stake in the news and information provider's financial-data business to a Blackstone consortium last year. Earlier this year, Blackstone agreed to sell the financial-data business, now called Refinitiv, to London Stock Exchange for $27 billion.
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0d5927a60755c64788616425dc1c6635 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/tornado-ravages-north-dallas-leaving-thousands-without-power.html | Tornado ravages north Dallas, leaving thousands without power | Tornado ravages north Dallas, leaving thousands without power
VIDEO1:0101:01Tornado rips through Dallas, Texas, leaving severe damage in its wakeNews Videos
A tornado plowed through parts of northern Dallas late on Sunday, knocking out power to more than 175,000 homes and businesses and delaying flights at regional airports, officials said.
The storm left a miles-long swath of destruction through Dallas, hitting near the Love Field airport in the city's north, the National Weather Service's (NWS) Weather Prediction Center in College Park Maryland said early on Monday.
All tornado warnings have been lifted and there are no flash flood warnings, it added.
Emergency responders and the Dallas Morning News newspaper said no injuries or deaths had immediately been reported, but police and firefighters were going door-to-door in some neighborhoods to check on residents.
"It was exactly one tornado that hit at 9:02 p.m.," said David Roth, adding that it was a powerful one but crews need to survey the damage by daylight to assess its strength.
In this Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019 photo, Henry Ramirez, a member of Primera Iglesia Dallas, is consoled by his mother Maribel Morales as they survey severe damage to the church, where Ramirez plays drums and Morales attends, after a tornado tore through North
"We also saw golfball- and baseball-sized hail in some areas and a narrow swath of north Dallas that got between 1 to 3 inches of rain," Roth said, or the equivalent of 2.5 cm to 7.6 cm.
On Twitter, DFW Airport said its ramps were closed as a safety measure and departures were delayed at least until 12:30 a.m. CDT.
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e5d16d3c2e166504074c24533f00b27f | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/trade-war-isnt-stopping-emerging-markets-see-patches-of-growth-stabilization-analysts-say.html | Trade war isn't stopping emerging markets, where one analyst sees 'patches of growth stabilization' | Trade war isn't stopping emerging markets, where one analyst sees 'patches of growth stabilization'
Emerging market equities remain attractive despite trade tensions, and the sector is seeing "patches of growth stabilization," according to one analyst.
The escalation in U.S.-China trade war and concerns of a global growth slowdown over the last few months have rattled investors and destabilized markets.
The trade conflict offered a sign of easing this month after Washington indicated that phase one of a deal had been agreed upon by Beijing, but doubts continue to linger over the sustainability of this agreement.
This has pushed investors away from traditional assets that are yielding very low returns into safe-havens like gold and government bonds. But some analysts have claimed that emerging market equities continue to remain attractive.
"While continued tensions are likely to result in continued market volatility, we nonetheless find reasons to be positive about emerging markets, with a more dovish global central bank backdrop offering support," Chetan Sehgal, lead portfolio manager, and Andrew Ness, portfolio manager, Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust, said in a research note Monday.
VIDEO3:0803:08Expect strong recovery in emerging Asia next year, IMF's Zhang saysSquawk Box Europe
Central banks across the globe have been on a rate-cutting path, with countries like India lowering rates for the fifth time this year. The rate-cutting trend continues in the developed world as well, with the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve turning dovish in order to stimulate the economy.
"We expect this trend to continue with rate cuts in a number of larger EMs, including India, Brazil, Russia and Mexico. Coupled with improving earnings expectations and relatively undemanding valuations and dividend yields, we believe the outlook for EM equities remains attractive," Sehgal and Ness said.
However, several analysts have claimed that more and more fiscal measures are being introduced in India in order to stimulate investment and growth along with the central bank's dovish monetary policy stance.
Emerging market stocks have not been immune to massive volatility over the last few months. The MSCI Emerging Market index, used to measure equity market performance in global emerging markets, is down more than 6% over a six-month period but is up more than 6% year-to-date. However, analysts believe some emerging market economies are seeing more growth than the developed world.
On Friday, China said its economy grew by 6% in the third quarter, the slowest since the first quarter of 1992, according to Reuters. However, analysts at Natwest have claimed the data pointed toward a stabilization in domestic demand.
VIDEO3:3603:36Rich countries must focus on investing in human capital, IMF's Georgieva saysSquawk Box Europe
"Outside the U.S., there are patches of growth stabilization, especially in emerging markets. China has been an important part of the EM stabilization story and this past week's heavy data calendar was broadly consistent with the theme," James McCormick, global head of desk strategy at Natwest Markets, said in a research note Monday.
Several analysts have said that despite the fear of slowdown across the globe and the trickle-down effect of weakness in the developed world, some emerging market economies like India, China and Brazil continue to grow due to strong domestic demand and synchronized monetary-fiscal policy at home.
"The EM-DM (developed market) growth narrative is changing," emerging market analysts at Natwest Markets said in a note last week.
VIDEO5:3305:33What is an emerging market?CNBC Reports
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1cceda4f284b4131a848c5cf455b7597 | https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/21/us-bonds-treasury-yields-in-focus-as-investors-monitor-auctions.html | Treasury yields move higher amid strong earnings, US-China trade optimism | Treasury yields move higher amid strong earnings, US-China trade optimism
U.S. government debt yields rose Monday amid strong corporate earnings on Wall Street and upbeat commentary from the White House related to U.S.-China trade relations.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, was higher at around 1.792%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at around 2.288%.
The moves in pre-market trade come as investors continue to closely monitor global trade developments.
On Friday, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said Beijing would work with the U.S. to address one another's trade concerns. China's chief negotiator in the trade talks also said that stopping the trade war would be good for both countries — as well as the global economy.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has said he hopes a trade deal between the U.S. and China will be signed by the time the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting takes place in Chile in mid-November.
The two economic superpowers reached a limited trade deal last week, in an attempt to end a protracted dispute that has battered financial markets and hammered global growth. Both sides are working toward a comprehensive breakthrough.
The third-quarter earnings season began with a strong start over the last couple weeks, fostering an appetite for risk assets. Companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Netflix and others have posted better-than-expected results. To be sure, companies are beating muted estimates.
Analysts polled by FactSet expect overall S&P 500 earnings for the third quarter to have fallen by 4.7%.
Treasurys
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