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d9630067d0d2d13989caf84597e19201 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/teleoperator-of-autonomous-cars-takes-its-first-steps-toward-public-trials.html | Teleoperator of autonomous cars takes its first steps toward public trials | Teleoperator of autonomous cars takes its first steps toward public trials
VIDEO1:5201:52This service wants to operate cars with remote control for self-driving techDigital Original
Phantom Auto, a Silicon Valley startup developing technology to remote control driverless vehicles, is taking the next step to deploying its systems in real world vehicles.
The company has announced three deals with European firms that will start testing Phantom Auto's technology in vehicles and remote control operation centers. NEVS (formerly SAAB Automobile), Einride and Transdev are each partnering with Phantom Auto on a series of projects that will include the remote control of autonomous vehicles in real world traffic. "As we move forward in a world with more autonomous vehicles, we will see more issues and more edge cases where the vehicles will need assistance," said Elliot Katz, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Phantom Auto. "The practical reality is you still need a human in the loop." Based in Mountain View, California, Phantom Auto's technology allows a remote control driver to take control of an autonomous vehicle when that vehicle encounters a situation where it is confused about how to proceed on a street, in a parking lot or in other locations. The remote operator, who sits in front of a series of screens that provide a 360-degree view of what surrounds the autonomous vehicle, can take control of the vehicle and steer it safely through the situation. As ride-hailing firms, transportation and trucking companies start incorporating autonomous drive vehicles into their fleets, the use of teleoperators is expected to be a critical component in smoothing out that transition. "Our partners view us as the next level of safety in developing autonomous vehicles," said Katz.
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569ef1dea2f8a456ac855352f263a439 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/this-pressing-question-about-cryptocurrencies-still-has-no-answer.html | This pressing question about cryptocurrencies still has no answer | This pressing question about cryptocurrencies still has no answer
S3studio | Getty Images
Are certain cryptocurrency exchanges foreign accounts?
That's not a philosophical musing.
Americans who hold more than a certain amount of money abroad typically have to file reports with both the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury. Failure to do so can result in more than $100,000 in fines and time in prison.
"U.S. taxpayers may not even be aware of this requirement because it's not something they readily file every year," said Selva Ozelli, a certified public accountant and lawyer who specializes in the digital coins.
Here are the rules: Anyone with more than $10,000 abroad usually needs to fill out the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR, with the Treasury Department each year. Another law — the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA — requires certain U.S. taxpayers to describe their overseas accounts on Form 8938, when they file their taxes with the IRS.
It's clear the IRS has defined cryptocurrencies as property, and so no matter where you buy your digital coins you need to pay taxes at your capital gains rate on them.
But there is some uncertainty among tax professionals about whether cryptocurrency investors who buy off foreign exchanges need to go through these additional foreign account reporting measures.
"There probably is an FBAR requirement, but I wouldn't go as far as to say there always is one," said Kevin F. Sweeney, a former federal tax prosecutor and an attorney at Chamberlain Hrdlicka in Philadelphia.
He said a lack of guidance from the government has left a "black hole" in his analysis.
"It would seem awfully unfair if they would expect taxpayers to know that — and to then issue penalties for taxpayers who didn't do that — when practitioners can't even 100 percent figure out if there's an FBAR requirement," he said.
U.S. taxpayers may not even be aware of this requirement. Selva Ozellia CPA and lawyer who specializes in the digital coins
Indeed, there's been no direct information from the IRS on whether taxpayers who invest in the digital tokens need to fill out Form 8938, which gets attached to their 1040 each year.
When it comes to the FBAR, Ozelli said recent case law found that foreign online gambling accounts did come with such reporting requirements, suggesting that cryptocurrency exchanges do as well.
"If you're using foreign exchanges, it's going to qualify as a foreign reportable account for FBAR," Ozelli said.
And many cryptocurrency investors, she added, will find themselves in this situation. "A lot of the transactions still take place on foreign cryptocurrency exchanges," she said.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has recently written to the IRS, asking the agency for further guidance on the foreign reporting requirements for cryptocurrencies, as they become more widely used.
It also expressed what it believes the rules should be: foreign reporting could be mandatory in some cases but not when people are solely holding their digital tokens in wallets.
"Having that letter is good guidance for the industry, they can take a position similar to what the AICPA says," Ozelli said.
But she also pointed out that cryptocurrency investors could eventually run into the foreign reporting requirements when they eventually want to cash in their cryptocurrencies, and transfer them from wallet to exchange to do so.
More from Personal Finance:Protect your bank accounts from rising debit card fraud. The Bank of Mom and Dad is open for a quarter of working millennials.Putting bitcoin in your IRA can sink your retirement.
Despite the ambiguity about the foreign reporting requirements, most tax professionals suggest erring on the side of caution.
"There is no set answer, but it never hurts to report," said Daniel Morris, an accountant with expertise in digital currencies.
It's risky not to, he said: "8938 is the only tax form that if you fail to file, and it's deemed that you should have filed, it's a potential felony."
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f6cb0df5fa2cfec4213f52b6efc669d9 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/architect-fotiadis-in-the-world-of-trump-manafort-and-oligarchs.html | The work of a New York architect reveals a lot about real estate in Eastern Europe — where Donald Trump and Paul Manafort built ties to oligarchs | The work of a New York architect reveals a lot about real estate in Eastern Europe — where Donald Trump and Paul Manafort built ties to oligarchs
Donald Trump, Paul Manafort and Ivanka Trump check the podium at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, July 21, 2016.Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images
John Fotiadis, an architect who worked on several projects for Donald Trump, was involved with other prominent business figures in Eastern Europe. Notably, he worked with Ukraine's richest man, as well as working for a developer in the republic of Georgia. He also moved in some of the same circles in Kiev, Ukraine as Paul Manafort, who later became Trump's campaign chief.
During this time, Fotiadis designed some of Trump's most ambitious developments in the former Soviet Union. A master of glass-encased towers and monumental entrances, both hallmarks of Trump's properties, Fotiadis supplied vision and technical expertise that complemented Trump's salesmanship.
Read more: This New York architect's work is a key to understanding Trump's deals and connections in Eastern Europe
Overlooked until now, Fotiadis' work offers a window into Trump's dealings in the complex world of Eastern European real estate.
Fotiadis' work for Trump is detailed in a separate story, linked above. Here's a deeper look at his two other notable clients, Rinat Akhmetov's Esta Holdings group in Ukraine, and the Silk Road Group in Georgia.
With a net worth of $5.8 billion, almost double Trump's, Rinat Akhmetov is the richest man in Ukraine. He is also closely linked to one of the most notorious figures in the ongoing Russia probe: Manafort, the global influence peddler and Trump 2016 presidential campaign chairman who has been charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Like Manafort, Fotiadis came to Ukraine from the United States to work for Akhmetov, in 2009. And like Manafort, Fotiadis did work that experts say could have been lucrative.
By the time Fotiadis arrived in Kiev in 2009, however, Manafort had already moved on from working for Akhmetov's company to working for Akhmetov's political party, the pro-Russian Party of Regions. Experts think it's unlikely Manafort and Fotiadis would have crossed paths.
"Oligarchs like Akhmetov are used to leading very compartmentalized lives," said Columbia University's Alexander Cooley, an expert in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. "And there's no reason that his architect would intersect with his political consultant."
In all, Fotiadis worked on four major projects for Akhmetov's companies in Ukraine, according to his archived portfolio. Three were in Akhmetov's home city Donetsk and one was in the capital, Kiev.
In Donetsk, Fotiadis won a design competition in 2009 to build an international school funded by Akhmetov, The Grigorivska School, which took the architect two years to complete. Fotiadis' firm also was awarded the commission to design an eight-story luxury apartment building for Akhmetov's Esta Holdings there. In 2010, Fotiadis joined the design team for Esta's 100,000-square-foot Pushkinsky Business Center, for which Fotiadis' JFA provided the interior and lighting design.
Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov.Alexander Khudoteply | AFP | Getty Images
In Kiev, Esta Holdings broke ground in 2012 in the city's historic Podol district on a mixed-use project dubbed the Andreevskiy Office Complex. Fotiadis was hired to design a facade and the public interiors. The project was abandoned, however, after protests broke out over a plan to demolish historic landmarks.
For an architect like Fotiadis, an oligarch like Akhmetov would be in some ways the perfect client, said Jan deRoos, a Cornell University professor of real estate finance. "You've got a client who knows what he wants and has the means to make it happen, and you've got an architect who knows what he's doing and gets it done," deRoos said.
"If you're an oligarch, you're going to want some buildings, and you need someone to take care of it. These guys are in the business of being oligarchs, not in the business of building buildings," deRoos said.
To many tycoons who made fortunes in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, the importance of buildings, and by extension, architecture, cannot be overstated, Cooley said: "Buildings are very, very important to the oligarchs because they're the physical manifestation of what they want their legacies to be."
He said monumental architecture and civic works also can burnish an oligarch's reputation in the West, where some still look askance at those who made billions through the mass privatization of what had been Soviet state-owned assets. Cooley terms that "reputation laundering."
Viewed through this lens, Cooley said, Fotiadis' work for the Ukrainian billionaire bore similarities to what Manafort had done for Akhmetov a few years earlier.
Manafort had arrived in Ukraine in 2005, part of "a whole new class of service providers, hired by these newly rich oligarchs to help them move into the mainstream," Cooley said. Unlike architects and other specialists, men like Manafort "typically did a little bit of everything," Cooley added. To someone like Akhmetov, Manafort was a "one-man concierge service to help their client navigate the West."
Inside Esta Holdings, Fotiadis appears to have worked closely with Akhmetov's team. So closely, in fact, that when Fotiadis decided to open a branch of his firm in Kiev, he chose Esta's director of construction, Sergey Danilyuk, to run it, according to an announcement on Fotiadis' website that has since been removed. An Esta spokesman did not respond to questions from CNBC about Fotiadis, its work with him, or Danilyuk.
For an architect to hire away his client's employee is highly unusual, however, experts told CNBC, especially for an American architect in Ukraine, a country where the real estate industry is widely considered to be corrupt.
Buildings are very, very important to the oligarchs because they're the physical manifestation of what they want their legacies to be.Alexander CooleyColumbia University
Cooley also noted another unusual aspect of Fotiadis' work for Akhmetov's companies: the timing. JFA did not exist until 2009, when Fotiadis left the firm of his mentor, the renowned architect Costas Kondylis, to found his own firm. Yet within months of opening JFA, Fotiadis had secured two major commissions from a foreign billionaire.
Fotiadis and Esta Holdings declined to comment on how they began working together.
"What's so striking to me is the fact that someone as prominent as Akhmetov was Fotiadis' first commission as an independent architect," Cooley said. "You're making a decision to hire this person knowing relatively little about them, because they've only just opened their doors."
"And that is not how guys like Akhmetov hire their architects," Cooley said.
On Fotiadis' now-shuttered website, however, there is a testimonial in which Esta's CEO, Maksim Hramadtsou, praises Fotiadis' work and experience. "JFA brought international experience and the latest global architectural trends and thinking to the Ukrainian market," he says. Fotiadis and his team, the CEO adds, "made great efforts in understanding the local market and its peculiarities and took those factors into account when designing for us."
Fotiadis' work for Akhmetov in Donetsk exemplified one way that real estate development projects in Eastern Europe can work. Backed by political clout and unlimited funds, work is completed on a relatively tight schedule and opened, for the most part, without controversy.
Fotiadis' next big design job, in the republic of Georgia, worked a very different way. From the start, the Trump Tower Batumi project along the Black Sea was underfunded, overhyped and dependent on shifting political forces.
In hindsight, it would come to resemble many of Trump's real estate pursuits in Eastern Europe.
In the summer of 2011, Trump selected Fotiadis to design the plans for two Trump Towers in Georgia, in the capital, Tbilisi, and the resort town Batumi. Trump's official partner was George Ramishvili's Silk Road Group, which said it paid Trump $950,000 up front to license his brand.
But there was another, unofficial partner: Georgia's flamboyant, English-speaking president, Mikheil Saakashvili, who hoped to reap domestic political benefits from Trump's interest in Georgia. At practically every opportunity, Saakashvili inserted himself into the publicity surrounding the deal.
Georgia's then-President Mikheil Saakashvili (L) and Donald Trump shake hands during a press conference to announce a real estate project by Trump in Georgia, at the Trump Tower in New York, March 10, 2011.Emmanuel Dunand | AFP | Getty Images
In 2011, Saakashvili accompanied Ramishvili to Trump Tower in New York to sign a deal with Trump. It was followed by a splashy kickoff in the same glass atrium where, four years later, Trump would launch his presidential campaign.
Fotiadis was familiar to Trump, having worked on several Trump projects during his 20 years with Kondylis. According to a trade news site from 2011, Trump chose Fotiadis for the Georgia projects even though on paper, it was the Silk Road Group that Fotiadis listed as his client.
Cornell's deRoos said this arrangement was typical of the licensing deals Trump sought overseas. Maintaining control over a building's design standards and materials was critical to protecting the value of Trump's brand.
"Regardless of your politics, in the real estate industry, Trump is known for the quality of his buildings, even the licensed ones he doesn't build himself," deRoos said. "And that has a lot to do with the technical services contract that is overseen by Trump's architect, which says how everything needs to be built, what standards need to be met."
Developers like the Silk Road Group would have been required to use a Trump-approved architect, deRoos said. "That would be Fotiadis, who says to them, basically, 'You want something that looks like a Trump Tower?' I can do that."
Silk Road Group was clearly impressed by the architect's work, because later that year it hired Fotiadis to design another project, a Radisson-branded hotel in Georgia's wine country.
In April 2012, Fotiadis, Trump and Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer and fixer, traveled to Georgia, where Trump unveiled Fotiadis' design for a 47-story tower in Batumi, surrounded by a beach resort.
Over two days, the three attended receptions and press events in Tbilisi and Batumi, where Trump promoted his deal with Silk Road Group. According to news reports, Ramishvili predicted he would raise the $250 million needed for the Batumi project by the end of the year.
Donald Trump during a 2011 press conference to announce a real estate project in the republic of Georgia.Emmanuel Dunand | AFP | Getty Images
Behind the fanfare, however, there already appeared to be confusion about who would pay for the project.
Trump had initially pledged in 2011 that he would help the project find investors. Georgian news reports suggested that Trump himself was planning to invest as much as $100 million in the Batumi tower, according to Martin Frederiksen and Katrine Gotfredsen, authors of "Georgian Portraits: Essays on the Afterlives of a Revolution."
Trump did nothing to combat the perception that he had a major stake in the project. Appearing on "Fox and Friends" a few days later, he gushed about how Georgia was "booming" and "unbelievable." When asked about what in Georgia he was investing in, Trump replied, "I'm doing a big job there, I'm doing a big development there and it's been amazing."
In the end, there would be no Trump Tower in Batumi or Tbilisi. In late 2012, Saakashvili's party lost in elections and the country's new prime minister, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, accused Trump and Saakashvili of hyping a fake plan for Trump to invest millions in Georgia even though Trump had never intended to do so.
"Not a single cent has been invested by Trump. It's a complete lie," Ivanishvili told The Atlantic. "Quite the contrary: Trump wanted to sell his brand, and we don't know what actually happened."
A year later, the Georgian economy faltered, and authorities launched a large-scale money laundering investigation into the Silk Road Group. The case was dropped in 2014, however, due to what investigators said was a lack evidence. The following year, Trump announced his upstart candidacy for president.
Donald Trump formally announces his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination during an event at Trump Tower in New York, June 16, 2015.Brendan McDermid | Reuters
In 2016, when Trump shocked the world by winning the election, it was reported that the Trump Organization, not the Georgians, wanted out of the deal. Silk Road Group's Giorgi Rtskhiladze told Forbes he received a call from Trump's lawyers, who told him the deal with Silk Road Group could create potential conflicts of interest now that Trump was president. Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten did not respond to a CNBC inquiry about why the deal was terminated.
Today, the 15-acre site in Batumi that was once going to house Fotiadis' soaring tower sits empty. Ramishvili and Rtskhiladze told Forbes last year that they plan to move ahead with building a Trump-like tower on the site. Silk Road Group has secured funding, they said, from an unlikely source: the Georgia Co-Investment Fund, a secretive investment fund created by none other than the Batumi project's onetime critic, Ivanishvili.
Silk Road Group also says it will still use the Trump-approved design, which is presumably Fotiadis' design. A spokeswoman for Silk Road Group, Melanie Bonvicino, did not respond to questions from CNBC about whether this means it will use Fotiadis' plans.
Yet even as the Batumi project fell apart during the last four years, Fotiadis' other big project for Silk Road Group appears to have slowly inched forward.
A rendering of the Radisson Tsindanali Hotel in Georgia.Source: Silk Road Group
The Radisson wine resort (pictured above) in the picturesque Georgian village of Tsinandali will reportedly open this fall. Bonvicino declined to confirm this or provide any additional information about Fotiadis' involvement in the project.
But a 2015 press release from Silk Road Group describes how Fotiadis' design "re-interprets the materials and formal configurations of the older existing buildings" at the vineyard using "fragmented volumes, inclined roof-planes, [and] weathered-steel framed windows."
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252c2b151ad7565648f77e27c88a90d1 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/china-allows-domestic-fundraising-for-overseas-listed-firms.html | China allows domestic fundraising for overseas-listed firms | China allows domestic fundraising for overseas-listed firms
A view of Shanghai center from Lujiazui financial district. On Saturday, 28 October 2017, in Shanghai, China.Artur Widak | NurPhoto | Getty Images
China has adopted new rules governing the issuance of securities that will allow the domestic flotation of overseas-listed innovators, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a notice published late on Wednesday.
China is encouraging overseas-listed Chinese companies to launch secondary listings in the domestic market through the issuance of China Depositary Receipts (CDRs), modeled on the popular ADRs used in the United States.
The trial rules, which are effective immediately, will provide the "institutional foundation" for innovative companies to issue CDRs on the domestic market, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.
The CSRC statement said the program would support innovative companies that comply with "national strategies" and have "mastered key technologies".
The regulator said it has set strict selection criteria and would strictly control the size, timing and pace of CDR issuance.
The CSRC approved the launch of six Chinese mutual funds on Wednesday, which would be allowed to become "strategic investors" in the upcoming listing of high-tech firms.
The pilot program would allow domestic investors access to tech giants such as Alibaba and Baidu, which are listed in the United States, state news agency Xinhua said.
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d5f800f948ab7224000eaeab8a280225 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/cnbcs-brian-schwartz-robert-muellers-team-is-requesting-witnesses-turn-in-personal-phones-to-inspect-their-encrypted-messaging-programs.html | CNBC’S BRIAN SCHWARTZ: ROBERT MUELLER’S TEAM IS REQUESTING WITNESSES TURN IN PERSONAL PHONES TO INSPECT THEIR ENCRYPTED MESSAGING PROGRAMS | CNBC’S BRIAN SCHWARTZ: ROBERT MUELLER’S TEAM IS REQUESTING WITNESSES TURN IN PERSONAL PHONES TO INSPECT THEIR ENCRYPTED MESSAGING PROGRAMS
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is requesting that witnesses turn in their personal phones to inspect their encrypted messaging programs
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is asking witnesses to turn in their phones in order to access encrypted messaging applications, sources tell CNBC.Mueller's team has indicated it wants to examine private conversations on WhatsApp, Confide, Signal and Dust, sources say.Fearing a subpoena, the witnesses have complied with the request and have given over their phones.
Brian Schwartz | @schwartzbCNBC
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is requesting that witnesses turn in their personal phones to inspect their encrypted messaging programs and potentially view conversations between associates linked to President Donald Trump, sources told CNBC.
Since as early as April, Mueller's team has been asking witnesses in the Russia probe to turn over phones for agents to examine private conversations on WhatsApp, Confide, Signal and Dust, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Fearing a subpoena, the witnesses have complied with the request and have given over their phones, the sources said.
While it's unclear what Mueller has discovered, if anything, through this new request, investigators seem to be convinced that the apps could be a key to exposing conversations that weren't previously disclosed to them.
A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.
Manafort accused of tampering
The revelation that Trump associates are giving Mueller access to their encrypted apps comes as former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is being accused by investigators of tampering with witnesses through the same types of programs.
On Monday, the special counsel filed a claim that Manafort tampered with witnesses after he was indicted in February for money laundering and illegally acting as a foreign agent.
For evidence, Mueller's deputy listed two apps, WhatsApp and Telegram, that they say Manafort used to contact the witnesses in his case. The filing also says that those conversations were provided to Mueller in May, a month after witnesses say they were approached to provide their phones.
Representatives from WhatsApp, Signal and Dust did not return requests for comment. A representative for Confide could not be reached.
Encryption to protect privacy
The encrypted applications are used to keep conversations private and give users the ability to have discussions without being monitored.
WhatsApp, for instance, markets itself as a way to securely communicate with people overseas.
"With WhatsApp, you'll get fast, simple, secure messaging and calling for free, available on phones all over the world," the website says.
Dust dubs itself a "safer place to text," and pushes its platform as a way to keep messages secretive as well as giving their users the ability to erase messages off of other people's phones, according to their website.
"All your messages automatically 'dust' (erase) in 24 hours or as soon as they're read – you choose which," the site explains.
Dust was also the app reportedly used between longtime Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and Felix Sater, a real estate developer who has claimed to have ties to Russian oligarchs, when they tried to complete a deal for Trump Tower Moscow. The plan ultimately fell apart.
Legal experts aren't surprised
It isn't surprising that witnesses are voluntarily giving over possible evidence to federal investigators, experts said.
"It's just more typical for law enforcement to ask for consent for the obvious reason because it's much easier than applying to a court to get judicial permission," said Robert Ray, who acted as independent counsel during the Bill Clinton Whitewater investigation.
He added, though, that it's "not commonplace, but not all that unusual, either," for prosecutors to seek evidence from witnesses' phones.
"There's nothing wrong with asking people to voluntarily provide information to the FBI for whatever investigation," said Michael German, a retired FBI agent and current fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty and National Security Program. "And to the extent that that's a voluntary action is where the rub is."
CNBC's Kevin Breuninger and Tucker Higgins contributed to this report.
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65702660d3a88e32a92755d63c1373ee | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/cramer-boeings-rally-a-terrific-sign-china-fears-are-overblown.html | VIDEO1:0301:03Boeing's rally a 'terrific sign' China fears overblownMad Money with Jim Cramer
Since the Trump administration began to consider placing tariffs on Chinese goods, shares of aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which sells heavily into China, have been falling.
But when CNBC's Jim Cramer saw shares of the aerospace giant soar over 3 percent on Wednesday, he took it as a sign that China tensions may not weigh as heavily on Boeing's earnings as Wall Street thinks.
"Ever since the president decided to get tough on trade, the stock of Boeing has been trading like it's about to lose a big order from Chairman Mao Airlines," the "Mad Money" host said.
Shares of Boeing, which said it planned to sell $1 trillion worth of aircraft to China over the next two decades, were especially hurt by China's April tariffs on 106 U.S. products. The move was viewed as a retaliation to President Trump's proposed list of tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trade talks with the People's Republic have gotten more complicated of late, however. On Sunday, China warned that any trade deals made with U.S. negotiators may "not take effect" if Trump enacts additional tariffs. On Monday, reports indicated that negotiations seemed to stall.
Still, Boeing's Wednesday rally served to improve the outlook for the company, indicating to investors that its strength was not tied solely to its business in China, Cramer said.
"Given that Boeing is a quintessential industrial and our biggest exporter, what can I say? [This] is a terrific sign," he told viewers, noting that Boeing's CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, has been "demonstrably quiet" about China.
"Let me say something: there are literally a dozen airline purchasers who would love to get in the queue if China drops out, and that's despite the recent declines in the airline stocks because of [a] 50 percent increase in the price of fuel," the "Mad Money" host added.
Shares of Boeing closed Wednesday's trading session at $371.56, 4 cents away from its 52-week high of $371.60. On Monday, the aerospace giant announced a joint venture with French engine manufacturer Safran to build and service key components in commercial aircraft.
VIDEO11:0411:04Cramer: Boeing's rally is a 'terrific sign' that China fears are overblownMad 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 - Instagram - VineQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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669e9a323de8c32a90ed3c65f5729251 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/delta-shares-fall-after-airline-lowers-second-quarter-profit-forecast.html | Delta lowers profit forecast after surge in fuel prices | Delta lowers profit forecast after surge in fuel prices
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A surge in fuel prices will likely eat into Delta Air Lines' profits this quarter, despite strong travel demand, the airline said Wednesday.
Delta said in a filing that it expects to earn $1.65 to $1.75 a share in the three months ending June 30, down from its forecast in April of $1.80 to $2 a share.
The airlines have been grappling with a jump in fuel prices, generally their second-largest expense after employee salaries.
Earlier this week, the International Air Transport Association, an industry group that represents most of the world's airlines, cut its profit outlook for airlines this year due to higher costs.
Delta said fuel prices are up about 50 percent over the past 12 months. That's enough to crimp profits even though the airline expects revenue growth of between 4 and 5 percent quarter from the year-earlier period, a narrower range from the 3 to 5 percent the airline forecast in April.
The timing of the fuel price increase is especially challenging for airlines because higher costs are coinciding with the busiest travel period of the year and carriers are hesitant to cut back on flying when demand is high.
Delta shares ended down 0.9 percent at $54.17, recovering from a more than 3-percent decline earlier in the session. American Airlines shares closed little changed, while United Airlines gained 1.5 percent.
Shares of Southwest Airlines lost 0.3 percent. The airline on Monday warned about a decline in bookings and revenue in the wake of an engine failure aboard one of its flights in April. One passenger died in the accident.
On Wednesday, Southwest said it carried close to 11.9 million paying passengers in May, an increase of more than 5 percent compared with the same month in 2017.
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4e439218ade2d17ab71fc144ba3e7536 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/fire-breaks-out-at-mandarin-oriental-hotel-in-central-london.html | Firefighters search evacuated Mandarin Oriental hotel in central London | Firefighters search evacuated Mandarin Oriental hotel in central London
VIDEO0:4900:49Over 100 firefighters responding to fire at Mandarin Oriental in LondonSquawk Alley
More than 100 firefighters tackled a blaze at a luxury hotel in central London that produced thick black smoke visible for miles around and required people inside the building to evacuate Wednesday.
London Fire Brigade said it was called to the 12-story Mandarin Oriental Hotel just before 4 p.m. (1500 GMT.) Less than an hour later, 20 engines and 120 firefighters were at the scene, and much less smoke was billowing from the top of the hotel.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus were searching the structure to see if anyone still was inside, the fire brigade said.
The cause of the fire was not yet known. One witness said laborers had been working earlier on the roof of the 116-year-old hotel, which recently underwent extensive renovations.
@LondonFire: We've now got 20 fire engines and around 120 firefighters and officers tackling a fire on the roof of a hotel in #Knightsbridge http://bit.ly/2xN9mJw © @jackwmartin_
Writer Juno Dawson tweeted: "Well that was drama. The Mandarin Oriental is literally on fire. Evacuated mid photoshoot. Hope everyone is ok. It was the construction site on the roof that seemed to be on fire."
Hotel employees evacuated to nearby Hyde Park and were given bottles of water as they waited for instructions.
Firefighters were "working extremely hard to bring the fire under control" and likely to be on the scene for several hours, Fire Brigade Station Manager Pam Oparaocha said.
The road in front of the hotel in London's ritzy Knightsbridge neighborhood was closed, causing rush-hour traffic chaos in the area.
Parts of the busy Knightsbridge Underground station also were closed as a precaution.
Mandarin Oriental said that "as the situation is still unfolding, we have no further details to share at this time, but will provide an update soon."
The ornate Edwardian building near Hyde Park opened as a hotel in 1902. It has 181 bedrooms and suites, and is located near Harrods, an iconic department store that itself was destroyed by fire in 1883 and rebuilt.
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c44aadbd59b2d38ae97c1a6d714e6b33 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/gold-could-see-a-drop-to-1250-if-it-breaks-lower-louise-yamada.html | VIDEO1:5201:52A few technical flags suggest trouble for gold: Louise YamadaFutures Now
Gold is holding the $1,300 level but any deterioration would likely be the beginning of an even bigger slide, says one veteran technician.
"If we can't hold here and we break the uptrend, there's a possibility that the price could slide toward $1,250," Louise Yamada, managing director of Louise Yamada Technical Research Advisors, told CNBC's "Futures Now" on Tuesday.
Gold prices have not seen the $1,250 level since December. The precious metal is still 4 percent from that price.
A few technical signs have raised a warning to Yamada of the potential for a breakdown in price. Among them: Gold prices have fallen below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Those trend lines are currently "flattening to falling," another bearish sign.
Momentum levels could also be signaling downward pressure on gold prices, says Yamada.
"The weekly momentum is on a sell and continuing to decline — that's the MACD," she said, referring to the moving average convergence divergence. "The monthly is close to a possible sell."
Any upward bursts have failed to grow into larger moves higher, she noted.
"The rallies have failed at resistance around $1,365 in 2016, 2017, again in 2018," she said. "We've sort of been talking about these rallies as rallies in a bear market from the 45 percent decline we've seen since 2011. Now the price is tickling, possibly breaching, the 2016 uptrend."
Gold prices briefly rallied as high as $1,369 in April before pulling back below $1,360.
So long as gold's "inverse relative relationship" with equities holds, the yellow metal will remain under pressure, she said.
"When stocks are in a bull market, gold underperforms, and when stocks are in a bear market, gold tends to outperform," Yamada said. "I don't think until we see the equity market actually turn into something significantly more bearish that we are going to see much on the upside in gold, so I think the path of least resistance appears down."
Gold prices are down 1 percent for the year, while the has added nearly 3 percent. Gold hit its peak of $1,923.70 in September 2011.
VIDEO5:5805:58Key technical levels are signalling big price risk for gold, says Louise YamadaFutures Now
Disclaimer
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5ee1e8b3faa4dc46f00d83221d87c1bc | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/india-central-bank-raises-policy-rate-maintains-neutral-stance.html | India central bank raises policy rate, maintains 'neutral' stance | India central bank raises policy rate, maintains 'neutral' stance
An Indian policeman stands guard at the entrance of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) head office in Mumbai on October 4, 2017.Punit Paranjpe | AFP | Getty Images
India's central bank on Wednesday raised its policy rate for the first time in more than four years, due to inflation concerns, but kept its policy stance as "neutral".
The monetary policy committee lifted the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent, the first increase since January 2014, as predicted by 46 percent of respondents in a Reuters poll this week.
All six members on the rate panel voted for an increase.
The reverse repo rate was also raised by 25 basis points, to 6.00 percent.
Before Wednesday, the last policy rate change was a 25 bps cut in August 2017.
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ee20f440cfd4a7d7eab63cbe1074be21 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/nasdaq-leaves-dow-and-sp-500-in-the-dust-aiming-for-fourth-straight-day-of-gains.html | Nasdaq leaves Dow and S&P 500 in the dust, aiming for fourth straight day of gains | Nasdaq leaves Dow and S&P 500 in the dust, aiming for fourth straight day of gains
Reuters has learned that ZTE signed an agreement in principle that would lift a Commerce Department ban on buying from U.S. suppliers. The telecommunications equipment maker ceased major operations since the seven-year ban was imposed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his counterpart in the U.S., saying that a decision by President Donald Trump to set up a meeting with North Korea is "brave and mature." Putin said he is expecting a "positive outcome" from the meeting. (CNBC)* Secluded resort chosen for Trump-Kim summit in Singapore (AP)* What Trump's newly softened tone on North Korea means for the summit with Kim (CNBC)
Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended an administration policy that has resulted in immigrant children being separated from their parents after crossing the border illegally. He said if people "don't want to be separated" then "they should not bring them with them." (Washington Post)
Rudy Giuliani, who has been serving as Trump's lawyer amid the Russia scandal, said special counsel Robert Mueller's team is trying to frame the president. He was speaking to the Globes capital market conference in Tel Aviv. (AP)
California, New Jersey, Iowa and Montana were among the states holding primary elections yesterday. California and New Jersey alone will play a massive role in whether the GOP can defend its House Majority. Here are the results. (CNBC)
Judge Aaron Persky, who gave former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner a lenient sentence in rape case, was recalled from office today. He became the first California jurist recalled from the bench in 86 years. (USA Today)
Tesla (TSLA) shareholders struck down a proposal that would have forced the company to split up its chairman and chief executive roles, both of which are held by Elon Musk. They also struck down a proposal to remove three Tesla board members up for re-election this year. (CNBC)* Tesla reveals plans for a new factory in Shanghai at shareholder meeting (CNBC)
CNBC has learned that GitHub was talking to Alphabet's Google (GOOGL) about a deal in recent weeks before it agreed to sell to Microsoft (MSFT) on Monday for $7.5 billion. GitHub founder Chris Wanstrath chose Microsoft because of his relationship with CEO Satya Nadella.
Ambarella (AMBA) reported adjusted quarterly profit of 13 cents per share, beating consensus estimates by four cents, while the camera component supplier also saw revenue beat forecasts. However, Ambarella also gave weaker-than-expected current quarter revenue guidance.
Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said the automaker was "quite likely" to be building 5,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of June. Musk made his comments at Tesla's annual shareholder meeting.
Honda (HMC) will begin selling its six-seat business jet known as the "Hondajet" in Japan next year, as it tries to expand the global market for the aircraft. It is currently sold in North America, Europe and the Middle East.
Northrop Grumman (NOC) won approval from U.S. regulators for its deal to buy rocket component supplier Orbital ATK (OA) for $7.8 billion.
Tronc's (TRNC) top shareholder — former chairman Michael Ferro Jr.'s Merrick Venture Management — has canceled its deal to sell its stake to McCormick Media. The fund said that McCormick had breached its obligations, although it did not detail what constituted that breach.
Delaware has begun sports betting, becoming the first state to open sports gambling after a Supreme Court ruling expanded it beyond Nevada. Several other states are expected to follow, hoping to tap new gambling revenue. (WSJ)
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47e752778888ae69cc3de74fee53c997 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/one-firm-is-way-ahead-of-wall-street-on-bitcoin.html | One firm is way ahead of Wall Street on Bitcoin | One firm is way ahead of Wall Street on Bitcoin
Bart Smith, the head of the digital asset group at Susquehanna International Group, a financial firm, meets with coworkers in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, May 30, 2018.Mark Makela | The New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO — While a number of large financial institutions have discussed trading Bitcoin, one firm has already begun doing it. Very quietly.
The financial firm, Susquehanna International Group in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., just outside Philadelphia, is one of the largest players in trading traditional investments like stocks, options and exchange traded funds, or E.T.F.s. Over the last two years, the privately owned company has also built up a trading desk of around a dozen people that buys and sells millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin and other virtual or cryptocurrencies in private deals.
Now the firm is opening trading to a small group of its 500 clients, with plans to expand.
More from the New York Times:Facebook gave data access to Chinese firm flagged by US intelligence Microsoft buys GitHub for $7.5 billion, moving to grow in coding's new eraApple's WWDC 2018 live: Apple still wants to be different
The move is the latest sign that the virtual currency markets, which were once relegated to the fringes of the financial world, are being embraced by big, mainstream investors.
The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, the Intercontinental Exchange, has been in talks about opening a subsidiary for cryptocurrency trading, and Goldman Sachs is on the verge of opening its own trading operation.
But Susquehanna, which has around 1,800 employees around the world, has a lot more money backing its trading desk — and a lot more ability to interact with clients — than the hedge funds and trading firms that have also been early participants in the virtual currency markets.
The arrival of big financial institutions has raised concerns among some Bitcoin aficionados, who worry that it will harden Bitcoin's status as a speculative trading asset like gold and diminish hopes that it can be used in day-to-day transactions.
Not so, said Bart Smith, the head of the digital asset group at Susquehanna. The firm believes that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies inspired by it are likely to have a wide array of uses, but for now, he said, Bitcoin's best bet is to challenge gold as a scarce commodity that can be moved around more easily.
The original Bitcoin software determined that only 21 million Bitcoin would ever be created. That cap isn't expected to be hit until 2040, and the limited number of tokens currently in circulation has made the online currency appealing as a commodity.
Mr. Smith said that he could also imagine Bitcoin, or some competitor, becoming a digital payment method for the internet — as Jack Dorsey, Twitter's chief executive, recently predicted — but that he wasn't too worried if that didn't happen.
"We believe that this technology and this asset class is going to change some facet of financial services, and we think it is going to exist forever," he said.
Susquehanna first experimented with trading Bitcoin in 2014 after the investor twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss asked the firm about being involved with a Bitcoin E.T.F. that they had applied to regulators to create.
Regulators eventually denied that application. But Susquehanna kept its one Bitcoin trader on board, and then added a few more last year when the cryptocurrency markets took off.
The firm decided to step up its operation, and go out to clients, after seeing the success of Bitcoin futures contracts, which were introduced by exchanges in Chicago late last year and have been growing volume in recent months.
Susquehanna will trade futures, which are contracts tied to the future price of Bitcoin. It will also allow customers to buy and sell actual Bitcoin and a few other cryptocurrencies like Ether and Bitcoin Cash.
To make these available to customers, Susquehanna recently amended the broker dealer license that it has on file with regulators. That change will allow the company to trade cryptocurrencies that are labeled by regulators as securities. Regulators in the United States have recently indicated that many newly created virtual currencies — though not Bitcoin — should likely be categorized as securities and traded only by regulated entities.
Most of the cryptocurrency exchanges where Susquehanna trades are largely unregulated. Bloomberg recently reported that American authorities were investigating whether some traders were taking advantage of this to manipulate the price of Bitcoin by posting lots of trades that they didn't intend to complete.
Mr. Smith said he had not seen clear evidence of manipulation, but cryptocurrency markets are still very immature compared with the other markets where Susquehanna trades, especially given the lack of regulations for many of the largest exchanges holding cryptocurrencies.
He said the single biggest problem for sophisticated investors was the security risk in holding virtual currencies. In other markets, Susquehanna doesn't have actual custody of stocks or bonds.
Bitcoin was built so that users can hold and transfer their tokens with a password or private key that no one else knows. If the private key is compromised, a hacker can take the coins, and the owner has no way to get them back. That has led to big losses at several Bitcoin exchanges.
Susquehanna built its own systems for storing the cryptocurrencies it is holding for more than a day. To deter hackers, the private keys are kept in devices in an off-site facility that is not connected to the rest of the company's computer systems.
"There were no financial services firms out there two years ago that were storing and moving large amounts of cryptocurrencies, so there is no road map," he said.
Then there is the matter of trying to figure out on a daily basis what a single Bitcoin or Ether token should be worth.
There is still little agreement on what factors traders should take account of when deciding on a value for cryptocurrencies, given that many of the expected uses for digital tokens are still hypothetical. While Mr. Smith's teams look at the technical and security specifications of the coins, it is much harder to answer the most important question: Will they be used as something other than a digital commodity?
"The value is: What do you think the best-case scenario of these different digital assets is in the future — and handicapping what is the percentage chance that they will get there," he said.
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029d21852e1c1dfbe4889b8cd12f37b8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/putin-calls-trump-brave-and-mature-for-north-korea-summit.html | Putin calls Trump 'brave and mature' for North Korea summit | Putin calls Trump 'brave and mature' for North Korea summit
Russia's president Vladimir Putin (L) and US president Donald TrumpMikhail Metzel TASS via Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his counterpart in the U.S., saying that a decision by President Donald Trump to set up a meeting with North Korea is "brave and mature."
Putin said he is expecting a "positive outcome" from the meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, due to take place in Singapore on June 12.
"I still hope that this meeting — a very brave and mature decision U.S. President Donald Trump has made, to have direct contacts with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — will take place, and we all expect a positive outcome," Putin said in an interview with China Media Group, published on the Kremlin website Tuesday.
However, Putin added it was "a pity that our Western partners, the United States and, unfortunately, South Korea have not stopped their military exercises and maneuvers that do nothing to aid de-escalation" of tensions in the region.
The meeting between Trump and Kim, hailed as a diplomatic landmark in relations between the traditional enemies, was initially canceled by Trump due to what he called the "open hostility" from Pyongyang. But, in a dramatic change of course the president announced earlier this week that it was back on.
Trump appeared to limit expectations of some kind of denuclearization deal, however, saying that could take more time.
Although both leaders have expressed admiration for each other in the past, relations between the West and Russia remain strained. Economic sanctions are still in place on Moscow for its annexation of Crimea and its perceived role in the pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine in 2014, accusations of meddling in the U.S. election in 2016, as well as differences over Syria and Iran.
Putin's comments on the meeting come as speculation mounts over when Trump and the Russian leader could next meet. Asked about relations with the West during the interview, Putin said he looked forward to "good, positive relations."
"We are not surprised by any restrictions or sanctions; this does not frighten us and will never force us to abandon our independent, sovereign path of development … But we understand that our partners are trying to limit our development by imposing these restrictions and sanctions," he said.
Sanctions were futile, Putin said, and the policy "primarily hurts those who initiated it" but he believed that "common sense will still prevail."
In an interview on Monday ahead of a visit to Austria, Putin appeared to soften his tone towards Russia's neighbor Europe, insisting that Russia did not want to see a divided EU, despite claims that the country has meddled in various elections in the region in order to promote euroskeptic parties and ideologies.
Putin said he wanted to see a "prosperous and united" EU. "The more problems there are in the EU, the bigger our risks and uncertainties," Putin told Austrian broadcaster ORF. "We need to build cooperation with the EU," he added.
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1d2b7e2eeef65b8a46f3a558505bcd4f | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/raghuram-rajan-pragmatic-beijing-stops-us-china-tensions-from-blow-up.html | 'Pragmatic' Beijing is what's stopping US and China from a 'blow up,' former central banker says | 'Pragmatic' Beijing is what's stopping US and China from a 'blow up,' former central banker says
The national flags of the U.S. and China.Getty Images
Among the countries that the U.S. has taken issue with, China has stood out for knowing how to handle President Donald Trump's administration to avoid worsening conflict, former Indian central bank governor Raghuram Rajan said Tuesday.
In fact, Rajan said at the Nomura Investment Forum in Singapore, it's the pragmatism on the part of the Chinese leadership that has prevented tensions between the world's two largest economies from escalating.
Trump has said unfair Chinese practices are to blame for the wide trade balance between the two countries and has accused the Asian economic giant of stealing intellectual property from American firms. Beyond that, both countries have also clashed over China's militarization of disputed islands in the South China Sea.
"All that makes for a very volatile combination," said Rajan, now a finance professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
"If it were not for the fact that we have a very pragmatic Chinese administration, which also understands how to play its parts with the U.S. administration, this would be something that almost surely be heading towards a blow up," he added.
The best case scenario in the ongoing trade tensions is that China makes some concessions that would make it difficult for the U.S. to reject, said Rajan, without going into specifics.
On the other hand, it's "not clear there's a basis of dialogue at all" between the U.S. and the European Union given the tough stance taken by both sides, Rajan added. The E.U. has recently pushed back against the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs of its own.
"The Europeans seemed to have a much bigger sense of betrayal," he explained, adding that tensions between the sides could deepen as leaders aren't backing down.
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149668b4f6f0371c3a3e07087f028c1c | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/real-estate-mogul-sam-zell-uses-vulgar-language-to-talk-about-women-he-promoted.html | Real estate mogul Sam Zell uses vulgar language when talking about promoting women | Real estate mogul Sam Zell uses vulgar language when talking about promoting women
Sam ZellKate Rooney | CNBC
One prominent real estate investor shocked some audience members at a conference on Wednesday when he used vulgar language to describe how he works with and promotes women within the industry.
"I never promoted a woman because she was a woman," Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Group Investments, said at the REITweek investor conference hosted by Nareit in New York.
"I never demoted a woman because she was a woman. My issue is what do you do, what do you produce, how do you interrelate to the rest of the business," he went on.
"I don't think there's ever been a, 'We gotta get more p---- on the block, OK?'" Zell said.
There weren't many laughs, the audience got "very silent," and there was "quite a bit of shock," according to Edward Jones real estate investment trust analyst Matt Kopsky, who was in attendance when Zell's comments were made.
VIDEO7:2607:26Billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell on the economy, tax reform and investing globallySquawk Box
"The quote is uncalled for," Kopsky told CNBC, "but he didn't mean any harm by it. ... He believes in meritocracy."
Representatives from Nareit and Equity Group Investments didn't immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.
At a time when other industries are being plagued by their own #MeToo movements, the real estate sector isn't immune to such discrimination.
A recent Wells Fargo study found that REITs benefit from having women on their boards. Still, the average representation of women on REIT boards is just about 15.5 percent today, trailing a 22 percent average for the S&P 500, according to the report.
Zell also caught heat roughly two years ago when he had a bizarre discussion about whether people wanted to have sex with Chinese men, during a separate real estate conference.
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745a93e4cc7ebc7d661f5589afc96472 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/tariff-increases-could-bring-us-back-to-2008-crisis-levels-world-bank.html | Tariff increases could bring us back to 2008 crisis levels, World Bank warns | Tariff increases could bring us back to 2008 crisis levels, World Bank warns
Workers transport imported soybeans at a port in Nantong, China April 9, 2018.Reuters
A ramp-up in the pace and scope of tariffs could set the world back to 2008 in terms of global trade levels, the World Bank has warned.
In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, published Tuesday, the multinational finance organization had a grim forecast for both emerging and developed markets in the event that the commercial disputes underway between major economies intensifies.
"A broad-based increase in tariffs worldwide would have major adverse consequences for global trade and activity," the report said. "An escalation of tariffs up to legally-allowed bound rates could translate into a decline in global trade flows amounting to 9 percent, similar to the drop seen during the global financial crisis in 2008-09."
Canada, Mexico and the EU are unleashing retaliatory trade tariffs on the U.S. in response to the Donald Trump administration's announcement last Thursday that those economies would not be exempt from global steel and aluminum levies being imposed by Washington on national security grounds.
The developments follow threats between the U.S. and China, kicked off by the White House on accusations of Beijing's "unfair" trading practices and its massive trade surplus over the U.S., to hand down tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of each other's goods. The two countries are in ongoing negotiations in an attempt to avoid or lessen the tariffs.
Meanwhile, negotiations to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have failed to produce comprehensive agreements, leaving that deal — and the ease of trade it has enabled for 24 years — similarly under threat.
VIDEO5:4005:40Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers: I’m appalled by Trump’s trade actionsSquawk Alley
The hardest-hit areas in the event of increased protectionism would be emerging markets and developing economies, the World Bank said, with sectors like agriculture and food processing among the hardest hit.
And any setbacks to commercial activity in China or the U.S., the world's largest economies, "would result in significant negative spillovers for the rest of the world through trade, confidence, financial and commodity-market channels," the Bank added.
Short of a full trade war, the uncertainty stemming from the threat of significant economic policy shifts in major economies would negatively affect financial markets and activity worldwide. The Bank noted that trade liberalization trends had already been slowing for some time, with the number of new trade agreements hitting an 18-year low in 2017.
The dire warning echoes forecasts by S&P Ratings and the European Central Bank, both of which have predicted a contraction in global growth by up to 1 percent if trade tariffs were to expand. A broad consensus among international lenders and finance organizations sees more harm than good coming from a trade war, and even simply the threat of one.
The Trump administration has defended its decisions, citing national security, U.S. trade deficits with many partner countries, and a need to make other economies "play fair" when it comes to trade. With regard to China, it has also pointed to Beijing's lack of intellectual property rights protection, unequal market access, and government protection of its own industries.
VIDEO1:1601:16Economists don’t view tariffs as a macro concern, analyst saysStreet Signs Europe
Some market analysts have already forecast the onset of another U.S. recession within the next two years, with mounting debt, rising interest rates, cyclical factors and the growing trade tensions highlighted as key sources of concern. J.P. Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon recently said that the Trump administration's trade policy could be one of the "flies in the ointment" that ends the current economic recovery.
But several economists maintain that the world isn't headed for an all-out trade war, calling such fears overblown.
"I don't think we're going into a full-blown trade war. These are negotiating tactics," Julien Lafargue, European equity strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Wednesday.
And HSBC's Chief Foreign Currency Strategist David Bloom, speaking on the same show Tuesday, brushed off what he believed to be overreaction.
"It's a bit of tit-for-tat but I wouldn't call it a trade war," he said. "These things happen. We saw it under Bush; I think people are getting a bit alarmist about it."
Former U.S. President George W. Bush enacted stiff steel tariffs in 2002 as an anti-dumping measure, only to rescind them by the end of the following year. Multiple studies by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and other groups found that the costs of the tariffs outweighed the benefits, as they hurt aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) and employment numbers.
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59fcfc04775fa36fa6e4269c5e5f445c | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/us-house-prices-are-going-to-rise-at-twice-the-speed-of-inflation-and-pay-reuters-poll.html | US house prices are going to rise at twice the speed of inflation and pay: Reuters poll | US house prices are going to rise at twice the speed of inflation and pay: Reuters poll
VIDEO0:4600:46Affordable home shortage to continue through 2018, new poll saysNews Videos
An acute shortage of affordable homes in the United States will continue over the coming year, according to a majority of property market analysts polled by Reuters, driving prices up faster than inflation and wage growth.
After losing over a third of their value a decade ago, which led to the financial crisis and a deep recession, U.S. house prices have regained those losses — led by a robust labor market that has fueled a pickup in economic activity and housing demand.
But supply has not been able to keep up with rising demand, making homeownership less affordable.
VIDEO1:3901:39Mortgage apps up 4% vs. previous week: Mortgage Bankers AssociationSquawk Box
Annual average earnings growth has remained below 3 percent even as house price rises have averaged more than 5 percent over the last few years.
The latest poll of nearly 45 analysts taken May 16-June 5 showed the S&P/Case Shiller composite index of home prices in 20 cities is expected to gain a further 5.7 percent this year.
That compared to predictions for average earnings growth of 2.8 percent and inflation of 2.5 percent 2018, according to a separate Reuters poll of economists.
U.S. house prices are then forecast to rise 4.3 percent next year and 3.6 percent in 2020.
"We are not seeing a temporary phenomenon. House prices have been outrunning family incomes for several years in the U.S. and while demand has cooled off a bit, the supply side is still very tight," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Financial Group.
"I think house prices will continue to outrun family incomes for at least another year and it will take some time for demand to slow and to some extent supply to increase."
The latest poll comes after weak existing and new home sales data for April.
A further breakdown of the April data showed the inventory of existing homes had declined for 35 straight months on an annual basis while the median house price was up for a 74th consecutive month.
About 80 percent of nearly 40 analysts who answered an extra question said the already tight supply of affordable homes in the United States will either stay the same or fall from here over the next 12 months.
Existing home sales, which account for about 90 percent of U.S. turnover, are now forecast to rise slightly and average 5.60 million units in each quarter this year from about 5.46 million units in April.
That is well below the peak of 7 million units averaged during the previous housing market boom, which will keep prices elevated and make housing less affordable.
When asked to rate the affordability on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is extremely cheap and 10 is extremely expensive, the median answer was 7.
"U.S. house prices are slightly over-valued when looking at fundamental valuation metrics such as the median-home-price-to-income ratio," noted Brent Campbell, economist at Moody's Analytics.
A pricier market is likely to push many people to rent rather than buy.
But even renting a home in major U.S. cities will become more expensive relative to average income, according to about 60 percent of nearly 40 analysts who answered an additional question.
Another potential hurdle for home buyers are rising mortgage rates. According to the poll the average 30-year mortgage rate will rise to 4.60 percent by year-end and then touch 5.0 percent by end-2019.
Those figures are a slight upgrade from the previous poll in February but seem to be in line with economists' expectations for the Federal Reserve to tighten policy more than what the central bank's most recent forecasts suggest.
"With mortgage rates continuing to rise, affordability is getting steadily worse," noted Jonas Goltermann, developed market economist at ING.
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fba17b41e018cf172572c3e447d255fb | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/with-a-triple-crown-possible-tv-viewership-could-triple.html | With a Triple Crown possible, TV viewership could surge | With a Triple Crown possible, TV viewership could surge
VIDEO2:4802:48All eyes on Justify at Belmont StakesSquawk on the Street
The stakes are high for this Saturday's 150th running of the Belmont Stakes — and not just for Justify, the undefeated horse that may ride take the Triple Crown, something only 12 horses have ever managed to do.
The average television viewership for the last three non-Triple Crown races was about 5.9 million, according to NBC Sports Group, which owns the broadcast rights. Compare that with 19.6 million, the average number of viewers in 2014 and 2015 when a Triple Crown was a possibility.
The Triple Crown is the very elusive title given to a 3-year-old thoroughbred horse that manages to win three races: The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Saturday's race is being held at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
If Justify wins it will be No. 13.
In May, the colt won the 144th Kentucky Derby by 2½ lengths in just more than 2 minutes. Justify also won the Preakness Stakes in May by a half-length.
Bob Baffert, the legendary horse trainer who won the Triple Crown in 2015 with the horse American Pharoah, and who also trains Justify, can still remember the intensity of when American Pharoah won.
"It's that kind of electricity in the air, when you're so glad you were there and part of it," Baffert said Wednesday on "Squawk on the Street."
"That's why everybody goes out there," he said. "That's why it'll be packed, because you want to feel that excitement."
The field heads toward the first turn during the 144th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky.Getty Images
According to the The New York Racing Association, betting on the race will also likely increase. In 2015, when American Pharaoh was up for the Triple Crown, wagers on the race were about $75 million. The numbers fell to about $47 million the following year when there was no Triple Crown possibility.
Baffert said he'll have a front-row seat Saturday: in a box near the wire.
"I'm the guy that looks nervous as hell," he said.
"All you hope for is that the horse breaks cleanly and gets out there," Baffert said. "You don't want him to break poorly and be behind."
Watch the race Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC Sports, or 4 p.m. ET on NBC. Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC and NBC Sports.
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6966d9d99480a350806d0745197869e8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/womens-safety-xprize-goes-to-leaf-wearables-for-safer-pro-device.html | $1 million Women's Safety XPrize to tackle sexual violence awarded to Indian start-up | $1 million Women's Safety XPrize to tackle sexual violence awarded to Indian start-up
Indian members of NGO 'Aastha' hold placards during a protest in Mumbai for better safety for women following the rape of a student in the Indian capital.Punit Paranjpe | AFP | Getty Images
There is a global epidemic of sexual violence against women that persists despite significant progress in gender equality for health, education and legal rights. The #MeToo movement in the United States launched last October and has kickstarted a movement to tackle this troubling issue after it was revealed that even the most prominent women in the media and entertainment industry have suffered from assault.
But even before the problem became a hot-button issue on social media, it was top of mind for Anu and Naveen Jain — technophilanthropists and the co-founders of such legendary companies as InfoSpace, Intelius and Inome. They launched the $1 million Women's Safety XPrize in October 2016 to challenge teams from around the world to develop a device that can inconspicuously trigger an emergency alert if a woman is in danger and transmit the information to a network of community responders — all within 90 seconds and costing under $40.
After scouring the world for a solution, the winning team for the Women's Safety XPrize was announced Thursday at the United Nations. A total of 85 teams from 18 countries vied for the top spot, but Leaf Wearables from New Delhi was the grand prize winner that met all of the Women's Safety XPrize criteria.
The five finalist solutions were tested to see how the devices might fare across a variety of environments, including high-rise office buildings, college campuses, in public transit and at home. Devices ranged from smart jewelry that can trigger emergency alerts to wearables that detect physical gestures and speech recognition for emergency triggers. Most important:All of the solutions from the finalist teams work in areas where there is no cell connection.
Leaf Wearables' technology, called Safer Pro, is an enhanced version of their smart safety device Safer. Safer Pro is a small chip that can be put into any device or jewelry. When a user is in danger, she can press a button on the device, which sends an emergency alert with location details to a user's guardians. It also lets you record audio.
According to Anu Jain, the $1 million prize will help Leaf Wearables scale up their business. "What makes Leaf's technology a good device for global use is the fact that it runs off BLE 4.0 technology and a mesh network so any message can leap from one device to another with a very low signal."
Anu and Naveen Jain: technophilanthropists tackling a global crisis.Source: Anu Jain
An independent panel of judges culled all entries and chose the finalists for this award. They included former FBI executive Lauren C. Anderson; Nic McKinley, founder of DeliverFund, a nonprofit private intelligence organization; Supreet Singh, COO and director of Safecity (Red Dot Foundation); and Phyllis Newhouse, CEO of Xtreme Solutions, which specializes in IT business and cybersecurity consulting.
"The goal is to change the global mindset over women's safety issues," said Anu. "For generations women's safety has been an issue no one successfully addressed, yet it's a stepping-stone to ensuring gender equality. It's time to use technology to solve this problem. We need to develop response networks which do not exist in much of the world," she added.
Violence against women — particularly sexual violence — is not only a major public health problem, it is also a violation of women's human rights. Global estimates by the World Health Organization indicate that 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
Sexual assault knows no borders, and victims are of all ages and walks of life. In the United States the hidden threat is not often spoken about. The U.S. Bureau of Justice estimates that 1 in 5 women will experience rape or attempted rape during their college years. Even more disturbing: 1 in 4 girls will be sexually abused before they turn 18.
The situation is dire, especially in developing countries, because many nations do not have a universal emergency access number (like 911 in the United States) that victims can call to report a crime. Basic emergency reporting and response networks do not exist.
This epidemic has alarming ripple effects: It has stymied the growth of women in society and led to gender inequality and discrimination. Just as important, it has increased health problems among women. There are also economic costs when you consider each rape costs approximately $151,423 in the United States.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the enhanced version of the Safer device, Safer Pro, does not rely on biosensor technology.
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b333d4b717e4594b0f99082a5231343d | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/5-cities-where-homes-sold-fastest-and-the-5-slowest.html | Quick, make an offer! 5 cities where homes sold fastest, and the 5 slowest | Quick, make an offer! 5 cities where homes sold fastest, and the 5 slowest
A real estate agent shows a home to a prospective buyer in Miami.Getty Images
Buying a home has turned into a game of Jeopardy!: If you don't act with lightning speed, you lose.
U.S. homes that sold in April – meaning final contracts were signed – were listed an average of just 64 days earlier, the fastest turnaround since the housing crash and recession from 2007 to 2009, according to real estate research firm Trulia. That's down from the previous low of 71 days last July and 77 days in April 2017.
In April 2010, houses languished for 137 days before sales were completed.
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"Things are moving quickly," says Trulia housing economist Felipe Chacon. "You need to have your ducks in a row."
A strong job market that's fueling demand and near-record low supplies of homes for sale is forcing house hunters to make offers quickly – sometimes sight unseen. There was a four-month supply of homes on the market in April – the time it would take to exhaust the existing housing stock if no other units were added -- compared to a normal six-month inventory, according to the National Association of Realtors
Keep in mind that homes were actually on the market for a much shorter average of 26 days in April, which is also a post-recession low. That's the time it took for a house to be listed and an offer to be made and accepted. Then comes the inspection, appraisal and loan approval process, which sometimes results in renegotiated offers and canceled sales. Trulia analyzed time-to-closing data to provide a more accurate reading of how long it takes to sell a home.
• Seattle. It's taking just 36 days from listing to sale. In April, home prices were up 19.5% from a year earlier in the technology hub that's home to giants such as Microsoft and Amazon. Strict zoning regulations make it harder to build new houses, limiting supply.
• San Jose, Calif. Time to sale: 36 days. This Silicon Valley epicenter was the most competitive housing market in the country in March, with 83.2% of homes sold above list price, according to Redfin. Home prices are up 22% in the past year.
• San Francisco. Time to sale: 36 days. It's the most expensive housing market in California with the median price topping $1.3 million, up 13.7% from a year ago, according to Trulia. The nosebleed prices are forcing out many residents, but those choosing to stay are snapping up homes.
• Oakland, Calif. Time to sale: 38 days. The somewhat more affordable market is benefiting from its status as a bedroom community to San Francisco. Home prices are actually down 6.2% annually but still up 50.5% the past five years.
• Denver. Time to sale: 41 days. Another technology hotbed that has seen home prices climb 10% the past year.
In other cities, buyers have the edge and can often take their sweet time before making a bid. Here are the five metro areas where it's taking longest to sell homes.
• Syracuse, N.Y. Time to sale: 144 days. Among the nation's 100 largest metro areas, it ranked dead last in economic growth from 2010 to 2015, according to the Brookings Institution. Home prices are up 3.5% the past year.
• Long Island, N.Y. Time to sale: 132 days. Prices are up a respectable 5.8% the past year but luxury homes may take longer to sell.
• New York, N.Y. Time to sale: 128 days. The city is beset by a glut of luxury homes. Also, the new tax law limits deductions of interest and taxes on higher-priced houses. Prices are up 5.9% the past year.
• Miami. Time to sale: 115 days. Jobs are growing but many are in the lower-paying tourism industry, Chacon says. And luxury homes linger on the market.
• Pittsburgh. Time to sale: 99 days. The population has edged down in recent years and housing prices have been stable with little volatility. Prices are up 5.1% the past year.
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07cbbf6372bf56b971dbcc72c85a174f | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/a-garbage-revolt-in-russia-could-pose-a-big-problem-for-putin.html | Will a garbage revolt threaten Putin? | Will a garbage revolt threaten Putin?
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir PutinAlexey Nikolsky | AFP | Getty Images
A steady stream of garbage-laden trucks moves the waste of Russia's capital to landfills in the surrounding region. The resulting mountains of refuse emit noxious fumes and leach pollutants into nearby waters, endangering the residents of the region around Moscow.
Citizens living near these landfills have had enough.
Protests against garbage dumps have erupted in at least eight towns and villages around Moscow in the last six months. As a scholar who studies contemporary Russian politics, I believe these garbage protests reveal a crisis of basic governance that potentially poses a greater challenge to Putin's government than pro-democracy activism.
More from The Conversation:Russia, Putin lead the way in exploiting democracy's lost promiseFearless leader or lame duck? Putin's certain triumph heralds fresh uncertaintyImagining Russia post-Putin
Russian activists have come under increasing pressure since Putin returned to office in 2012. Protests have been relatively scarce after the 2011-2012 Bolotnaya demonstrations in response to election fraud. Long-standing nongovernmental groups working on environmental and human rights issues, which relied in part on funding from abroad, have been labeled "foreign agents" by Russia's Ministry of Justice.
At the same time, Putin's government has cultivated more patriotic and apolitical forms of activism, such as youth groups that organize events memorializing World War II and socially oriented NGOs that work marginalized groups, including the disabled and orphans.
My research charts the changing nature of citizen activism in Russia. In the 1990s, foreign aid flooded into Russia to support democratic transition by funding causes that matched Western donors' priorities – causes like human rights and environmentalism. Now, many of these groups struggle to survive.
In 2017, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, my research found a substantial increase in grassroots groups oriented around "civic pride" and local volunteer initiatives. These new groups focus on the preservation of green spaces, litter collection, recycling, urban beautification and historic preservation. These efforts represent a new "environmentalism of daily life" more acceptable to the government.
But these seemingly benign groups – and their expectations that citizens can partner with the government to address quality of life issues – may yet represent a political threat to Russia's status quo.
Minchenko Consulting, a high profile Russian research and PR firm that focuses on political campaigns and elite politics, points out in a recent report that "health and children are two basic universal values" that can motivate otherwise apathetic citizens to take action.
All politics is local, but Moscow and its waste disposal challenges exert an outsize influence on the surrounding region, with outsized consequences for activism.
Since 2010, under the leadership of Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow has transformed into a dynamic global city, fueled by oil wealth and urban redevelopment. Moscow's growing population and unfettered consumption mean increased waste. A report by the environmental group Greenpeace calculates that Moscow is responsible for 11 million tons of trash annually, approximately one-fifth of all waste in Russia. Only 4 percent of Moscow's waste is recycled.
To preserve quality of life in the capital, the Moscow's government sends streams of municipal waste into the surrounding regions. Greenpeace reports that 90 percent of Moscow's waste goes to landfills in Moscow's suburban region. Landfills created in the Soviet and early post-Soviet period, when there was little consumer waste, have been expanded, often with no community notification and despite being in close proximity to homes and schools. Air quality suffers as the dumps release fumes from decomposing waste.
In addition to established landfills, 52 illegal dumps were identified in the Moscow region in the first half of 2017.
As the stench rises and the public health risks – such as respiratory diseases that most acutely affect children – mount, citizen appeals to regional and national government officials have had little effect.
Local people are left with few options but protest. Demonstrations of more than 1,000 people occurred in at least eight towns and villages near Moscow. Citizens also have organized groups on VKontakte, a Russian social media platform, to coordinate petitions, block roads and even mount hunger strikes.
The biggest and most sustained garbage protests have occurred in the town of Volokolamsk, site of the Yadrovo landfill.
For months, residents have complained of foul smells, difficulty breathing, nausea and rashes. In early March 2018, local officials declared a state of emergency due to the release of gases from the dump.
Then on March 21, more than 50 children were hospitalized with symptoms of poisoning. Ekaterina Volkova, the Volokolamsk district deputy head of education, said that the cause was presumably hydrogen sulfide seeping out of the landfill. Official measurements showed that the chemical was present at 10 times the maximum allowable concentration.
In response, 6,000 residents – more than a quarter of the Volokolamsk population – came out on the streets to demand that the landfill be closed – not simply "modernized," as district authorities promised in the past.
Protesters carried signs with slogans such as "Stop poisoning us!" and "Don't kill our children!" The town's mayor pledged to try to close the landfill, even as local businesspeople supporting the protesters were detained by the police. Now Volokolamsk residents are pursuing their case in court.
Garbage protests in Volokolamsk and elsewhere have exposed weaknesses in Russia's system of political authority, often described as a "power vertical" in which government officials answer not to their constituents, but to their political superiors and ultimately to President Putin. Facing unresponsive or incompetent officials, citizens turn to Putin as the only one who can solve their problems.
In 2017, Yelena Mikhailenko called into President Putin's annual "Direct Line" call-in show for citizens to complain about noxious emissions from the Kuchino landfill in her neighborhood which caused nausea and vomiting.
"Turning to you is our last hope," Mikhailenko told the president.
Expressing sympathy, Putin ordered the Kuchino dump closed by presidential order.
The quick resolution of the Kuchino problem was covered favorably in the Russian media, but hardly represents a systemic response to the problem of municipal waste disposal. In fact, Putin's recognition of what he called "the legitimate negative reaction of people" to widespread problems with trash disposal may have emboldened protesters near other landfills.
Meanwhile, Moscow regional government officials have placed tremendous pressure on those lower in the power vertical to quell the garbage protests and to allow continued transport of waste, including threatening district and town officials with arrest and loss of property.
One beleaguered head of a Moscow region district, Aleksandr Shestun, even issued a direct plea to Putin via YouTube video, outlining the threats made to his family and requesting the president's assistance.
The fact that those on all sides of the garbage protests feel forced to "appeal to the tsar" illustrates simultaneously the president's authority and the risk that Putin ultimately may become accountable for failures of basic governance at lower levels.
When well-intentioned citizens confront unaccountable officials, their activities can become more political. I interviewed a municipal civic group leader from St. Petersburg who works on urban ecology and waste. He commented that it has become clear that government officials are responsive not to citizens, but to those "from above" who put them in their offices.
City deputies are not influenced by elections, he lamented, implying that they owe loyalty to political elites, and are not accountable to the people. Yet when questioned about whether he is ever concerned that the authorities will perceive his work negatively, the leader – who did not want to be identified – reflected on his vision of patriotism.
"It is my country, my city, my people," he said. "That is more important than any bureaucrat."
Garbage politics is nudging apolitical activism into a critique of the political system. Unabated, these trends could dent the Putin regime's legitimacy.
When the government fails to protect citizens from toxic emissions, and citizens have to take to the streets to gain attention, they begin to ask: What is the government for?
Commentary by Laura A. Henry, an Associate Professor of Government and Legal Studies at Bowdoin College. She is also a contributor at The Conversation, an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community.
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
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6fc7bca0f9a3fdb833997abb4a65eb06 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/billions-in-us-solar-projects-have-been-shelved-after-trump-panel-tariff.html | Billions in US solar projects have been shelved after Trump panel tariff | Billions in US solar projects have been shelved after Trump panel tariff
President Donald Trump's tariff on imported solar panels has led U.S. renewable energy companies to cancel or freeze investments of more than $2.5 billion in large installation projects, along with thousands of jobs, the developers told Reuters.
That's more than double the about $1 billion in new spending plans announced by firms building or expanding U.S. solar panel factories to take advantage of the tax on imports.
The tariff's bifurcated impact on the solar industry underscores how protectionist trade measures almost invariably hurt one or more domestic industries for every one they shield from foreign competition. Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, for instance, have hurt manufacturers of U.S. farm equipment made with steel, such as tractors and grain bins, along with the farmers buying them at higher prices.
White House officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump announced the tariff in January over protests from most of the solar industry that the move would chill one of America's fastest-growing sectors.
First Solar Inc.Source: First Solar
Solar developers completed utility-scale installations costing a total of $6.8 billion last year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Those investments were driven by U.S. tax incentives and the falling costs of imported panels, mostly from China, which together made solar power competitive with natural gas and coal.
The U.S. solar industry employs more than 250,000 people — about three times more than the coal industry — with about 40 percent of those people in installation and 20 percent in manufacturing, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
"Solar was really on the cusp of being able to completely take off," said Zoe Hanes, chief executive of Charlotte, North Carolina solar developer Pine Gate Renewables.
GTM Research, a clean energy research firm, recently lowered its 2019 and 2020 utility-scale solar installation forecasts in the United States by 20 percent and 17 percent, respectively, citing the levies.
Officials at Suniva — a Chinese-owned, U.S.-based solar panel manufacturer whose bankruptcy prompted the Trump administration to consider a tariff — did not respond to requests for comment.
Companies with domestic panel factories are divided on the policy. Solar giant SunPower Corp. opposes the tariff that will help its U.S. panel factories because it will also hurt its domestic installation and development business, along with its overseas manufacturing operations.
"There could be substantially more employment without a tariff," said Chief Executive Tom Werner.
The 30 percent tariff is scheduled to last four years, decreasing by 5 percent per year during that time. Solar developers say the levy will initially raise the cost of major installations by 10 percent.
Leading utility-scale developer Cypress Creek Renewables said it had been forced to cancel or freeze $1.5 billion in projects — mostly in the Carolinas, Texas, and Colorado — because the tariff raised costs beyond the level where it could compete, spokesman Jeff McKay said.
That amounted to about 150 projects at various stages of development that would have employed three thousand or more workers during installation, he said. The projects accounted for a fifth of the company's overall pipeline.
Developer Southern Current has made similar decisions on about $1 billion of projects, mainly in South Carolina, said Bret Sowers, the company's vice president of development and strategy.
"Either you make the decision to default or you bite the bullet and you make less money," Sowers said.
Neither Cypress Creek nor Southern Current would disclose exactly which projects they intend to cancel. They said those details could help their competitors and make it harder to pursue those projects if they become financially viable later.
Both are among a group of solar developers that have asked trade officials to exclude panels used in their utility-scale projects from the tariffs. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it is still evaluating the requests.
Other companies are having similar problems.
Scott Canada, senior vice president of renewable energy at solar project builder McCarthy Building Companies, said his company had planned to employ about 1,200 people on solar projects this year but slashed that number by half because of the tariff.
Pine Gate, meanwhile, will complete about half of the 400 megawatts of solar installations it had planned this year and has ditched plans to hire 30 permanent employees, Hanes said.
The company also withdrew an 80-megawatt project that would have cost up to $150 million from consideration in a bidding process held by Southern Co. utility Georgia Power. It pulled the proposal late last year when it learned the Trump administration was contemplating the tariff.
"It was just not feasible," Hanes said.
For some developers, the tariff has meant abandoning nascent markets in the American heartland that last year posted the strongest growth in installations. That growth was concentrated in states where voters supported Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
South Bend, Indiana-based developer Inovateus Solar, for example, had decided three years ago to focus on emerging Midwest solar markets such as Indiana and Michigan. But the tariff sparked a shift to Massachusetts, where state renewable energy incentives make it more profitable, chairman T.J. Kanczuzewski said.
Other developers are forging ahead, keen to take advantage of the remaining years of a 30-percent federal tax credit for solar installation that is scheduled to start phasing out in 2020.
Some firms saw the tariff coming and stockpiled panels before Trump's announcement. 174 Power Global, the development arm of Korea's Hanwha warehoused 190 megawatts of solar panels at the end of last year for a Texas project that broke ground in January.
The company is paying more for panels for two Nevada projects that start operating this year and next, but is moving forward on construction, according to Larry Greene, who heads the firm's development in the U.S. West.
Intersect Power, a developer that cut a deal last year with Austin Energy to provide low-cost power to the Texas capital city, is also pushing ahead, said CEO Sheldon Kimber. But the tariff is forcing delays in buying solar panels.
The 150-megawatt project is due to start producing power in 2020. Waiting until the last minute to purchase modules will allow the company to take advantage of the tariff's 5-percent annual reductions, he said.
Trump's tariff has boosted the domestic manufacturing sector as intended, which over time could significantly raise U.S. panel production and reduce prices.
Panel manufacturers First Solar and JinkoSolar, for example, have announced plans to spend $800 million on projects to increase panel construction in the United States since the tariff, creating about 700 new jobs in Ohio and Florida. Just last week, Korea's Hanwha Q CELLS joined them, saying it will open a solar module factory in Georgia next year, though it did not detail job creation.
SunPower Corp., meanwhile, purchased U.S. manufacturer SolarWorld's Oregon factory after the tariff was announced, saving that facility's 280 jobs. The company said it plans to hire more people at the plant to expand operations, without specifying how many.
But SunPower has also said it must cut up to 250 jobs in other parts of its organization because of the tariffs.
Jobs in panel manufacturing are also limited due to increasing automation, industry experts said.
Heliene — a Canadian company in the process of opening a U.S. facility capable of producing 150 megawatts worth of panels per year — said it will employ between 130 and 140 workers in Minnesota.
"The factories are highly automated," said Martin Pochtaruk, president of Heliene. "You don't employ too many humans. There are a lot of robots."
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279cc2e1e583ae6496345a6e4b91babb | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/canada-pushes-trans-mountain-pipeline-to-sell-oil-to-asia.html | Canada pushes Trans Mountain pipeline to sell oil to China far beyond US shores | Canada pushes Trans Mountain pipeline to sell oil to China far beyond US shores
Demonstrators use a mock oil pipeline to block the entrance to the Canadian Embassy in central London on April 18, 2018, as they protest against the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from Alberta's oil sands to the Pacific Ocean.Tolga Akmen | AFP | Getty Images
As it battles over trade with its big southern neighbor, Canada is looking westward for new markets for its oil.
In the thick of a bitter trade dispute with the United States, the only customer for its crude oil, the Canadian government has opted to buy a pipeline project that will more than double the oil it can send to the West Coast — and then on to new markets in Asia.
While the pipeline project has been moving on its own timeline, the purchase coincidentally comes during one of the thorniest periods in U.S.-Canadian trade relations. Analysts say ironically that should in fact help Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau find some support for the controversial project, which has pit the province of British Columbia against Alberta and has prompted protests across the country.
The construction is slated to begin this summer, but it is opposed by the British Columbia government, local governments, environmental interests and even groups in Washington state. Canada has long sought a pipeline solution, both to the east and west coast, and has so far failed. There is a lot to gain from moving its oil resources outside of North America, including much higher prices and access to the world's fastest growing market.
Trudeau's government late last month announced it would buy Trans Mountain pipeline, its British Columbia terminal and expansion project for about $3.5 billion, after owner Kinder Morgan Canada found the project too risky. Trudeau has said he wants to make sure the pipeline expansion gets built and then sold to a new operator so Canada can send oil on to new customers in Asia.
"We are going to ensure that it gets built so that we can get our resources to new markets," Trudeau told Bloomberg News.
If [the pipeline] doesn't get pushed through, it changes the trajectory of what the Canadian energy industry looks like.Michael Tranenergy analyst at RBC
The Canadian government has long said it wants a way to expand its export horizons. The current 715-mile pipeline carries oil to markets on the U.S. West Coast, and the expansion along 610 miles would also provide more oil to the United States, in addition to Asian customers, like China. The pipeline runs from Alberta to Burnaby, a port city in Vancouver suburbs.
"Canada is the fifth largest in production and third-largest oil exporter in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Russia," said Jackie Forrest, vice president of energy research at Arc Financial Group. She said Canada produces 4.6 million barrels a day and exports 3.8 million barrels a day to the United States. "When we get to be the third-largest exporter, it makes sense to have more than one customer."
By selling oil into Asia, Canada would immediately benefit from a higher international price and free some of the currently landlocked crude that is also shipped by expensive rail freight to the United States. There have been small intermittent purchases by Asian buyers in the past, but nothing consistent, and the United States is viewed as the current sole customer for Canadian crude.
Forrest said with the government's purchase, odds have increased for the pipeline's construction, which would place a second line parallel to an existing one. The enlarged Trans Mountain would be able to transport 890,000 barrels a day, up from 300,000, at a cost of $7.4 billion.
"I think this greatly increases the chances. It's not for sure, but it's likely the pipeline gets built. Now with the patient capital of the federal government, I do expect that with them making this type of capital investment, it will eventually get constructed," she said. "The plan is, construction will start this summer regardless. It seems the government is willing to take that risk and start that construction without all of these challenges not being resolved. The former owner didn't want to start construction with some of these challenges out there."
Being owned by the Canadian government should also give the pipeline more sway with the courts. "As a crown corporation, it would have a better standing in these challenges," she said.
Canada is producing high levels of heavy tar sands oil, and without easy transport, the oil production has turned out to be a glut of crude that sells for about $15 a barrel less than West Texas Intermediate crude in the United States.
"You could argue the timing was intentional, but this was going on well before Nafta [renegotiations]," said Dana Peterson, U.S. and Canada economist at Citigroup. "The Canadian government needs another venue for evacuating oil, and that's westward. They need another buyer, and that's Asia."
The United States has been sparring with Canada over lumber and dairy products, but the tariff war got a lot bigger when the United States last week slapped tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum. That prompted retaliatory tariffs and has made negotiations toward a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement even trickier.
Oil, and energy in general, has stayed out of the fray between the United States, Canada and Mexico, who are reliant in many ways on each other's output.
The changing role of the U.S. oil industry has provided an even bigger catalyst for Canada to diversify its customer base. The United States produced a record 10.8 million barrels a day last week and exported about 1.7 million barrels.
"This move by the Canadian government to build the pipeline sets up a future U.S.-Canadian rivalry for Asian market share," said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital. "There's been a lot of pushback on this from a lot of groups. It's smart to merely expand the existing footprint."
The pipeline expansion would change the game for Canada's industry, even though it's not a huge amount of oil.
"This could be as transformative as the Dakota Access Pipeline has been for the U.S.," said Kilduff, noting that the pipeline freed barrels from the landlocked Bakken in North Dakota.
Canada also will be helped by the Keystone pipeline, controversial in the United States but finally expected to be built to take Canadian crude through North Dakota and then south to meet an existing pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
As U.S. production grows, the need to import oil has shrunk. China has surpassed the United States as the biggest energy importer, at more than 8.4 million barrels a day. U.S. oil imports, in weekly government data from last week, amounted to 8.3 million barrels a day, up from 7.6 million barrels a week earlier, but those figures vary and have been declining.
"If [the pipeline] doesn't get pushed through, it changes the trajectory of what the Canadian energy industry looks like. We talk about how Canada is handicapped by only having one buyer, just sending crude to the U.S. They're affected by differentials that are very wide," said Michael Tran, energy analyst at RBC. He said at the start of this week, the differential between West Canada Select crude resulted in a price about $13 less than WTI.
The pipeline, which could take a couple of years to complete, should be a boon for Alberta's oil producers. "Today, heavy oil producers are realizing, if you look at the first quarter, they're getting $10 a barrel less than they should. If all that goes to cash flow, it should help the companies and the value of the companies as well," Forrest said. The Canadian government would also receive more royalties and tax revenue.
"In a world without pipelines pointing west and moving Canadian oil to places like Asia, they're held captive to one buyer: the U.S. gulf coast. When you look at where demand growth is coming from, it's all about Asia. It's all about China," said Tran.
"The Canadian energy industry has become a victim of its own success. Canadian production over the past number of years has become extremely prolific. Unfortunately Canada has become hamstrung with a limited amount of takeaway capacity," said Tran.
Trudeau has been criticized by environmentalists who don't believe the government should be in the oil business. "Access to new markets across Asia will make us better able to develop responsibly our resources, better able to invest in the kinds of renewables and protections we need," the prime minister told Bloomberg.
Canada has diverged from the United States in other trade matters, as it remained part of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a pact that includes nations around the Pacific rim, while the United States pulled out.
"I think access to new markets is important to industry and the government. The prices to Asia, minus the transportation costs, means every barrel that goes to Asia would get a higher price than it would in North America. Because of the discount for WTI (West Texas Intermediate), selling it to North America is not nearly as profitable as selling into Asia," Forrest said.
West Texas Intermediate, trading in the futures market Thursday, was at about $65 per barrel, more than $10 less than Brent crude futures, the international benchmark that reflects the price on the world market.
"If the pipeline gets built, Canada is finally getting a seat at the table. People talk about Canada being an energy superpower, but they've never had a seat at the table at what is now the world's fastest-growing demand center," Tran said.
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86c462c23991865bbe373892f1d71cfa | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/cnbc-transcript-nguyen-le-quoc-anh-ceo-techcombank.html | CNBC Transcript: Nguyen Le Quoc Anh, CEO, Techcombank | CNBC Transcript: Nguyen Le Quoc Anh, CEO, Techcombank
Below is the transcript of an interview with Techcombank CEO Nguyen Le Quoc Anh. The interview will play out in CNBC's latest episode of Managing Asia on 8 June 2018, 5.30PM SG/HK (in APAC) and 23.00 BST time (in EMEA). If you choose to use anything, please attribute to CNBC and Christine Tan.
Christine Tan: Shares of Techcombank went public on the Ho Chi Minh stock exchange this week, as CEO, are you finally relieved and happy that the IPO is finally done?
Nguyen Le Quoc Anh (QA): It's merely a first step. So, yes there's a lot of hard work preparing up to it, but the common refrain is that if you know Quoc Anh, the fact that this stage is over merely means that we are going for another big stage.
C: Shares of Techcombank dropped as much as 20% on its trading debut, are you worried about the market volatility and the broader selloff you're seeing in emerging markets?
QA: Not at all. I'll share a little bit, there's a little bit of price discovery that the local market needs to find. So when we went on the roadshow we did the 144A so in technical terms what we are doing is that we only sell to the qualified institutional buyer. With that rule it's actually very strict and we are not allowed to communicate to the local community or the local investor community what the bank is about and what our strategies and practices are. So insofar as the local investment community is concerned over the last 1-2 months, there has been a huge blackout in information and the shares have not been traded so I think there is some profit taking because the listing is very high in terms of where it was before the lockdown and they took it as some sort of price discovery. So I'm not so concerned about that, another way of saying is for the institutional buyer they have more than 2 months to digest that information, and so there's some nervousness from other people, but to me it's part of the discovery.
C: So what are you going to do with the 922 million dollars in proceeds?
QA: Actually we do have a lot of capital investments that we've planned and we do have a big transformation plan. About 300+ million of that over the next 3 years will be invested into technology, upgrading our platform and beginning to really truly build up our digital banking to reach the hard to reach population areas. As you know in Vietnam actually 2/3 of the population does not have banking services and it's impossible to serve the rural population through the standard banking offices and whatnot so digital media is practically the only way that you can serve people the way they want it and at the lowest cost possible. So that's a huge investment.
C: When you look at concerns in the market there're also worries about the slowdown in Vietnam given the strong growth we're seeing in the first quarter. As one of Vietnam's largest private lenders do you get a sense that demand for financial services won't get affected?
QA: Actually as far as our client base is concerned, and we have a strong client base, we don't see a change in their economy at all. But then again what I want to share is in terms of the way the economy of Vietnam is going, I think everything is going very well from our indication. This is especially in our client base both in terms of retail which is mostly the affluent and upper middle class and middle class. For the SMEs as well, all of their businesses are moving very well and all of their cash flows are very strong. So insofar as we can tell, there's nothing afoot. I think the government sector is trying to work through some of the elements however and some of the government projects may experience some slowdown. But for us we don't actually serve very much in the government sector so it doesn't affect us in any way.
C: The Vietnamese central bank cut rates last year to spur growth. From where you sit as CEO of Techcombank, where do you see growth in the country?
QA: Vietnam actually is a very broad-based economy. It is mostly an exporting country, but there's also a lot of in-country consumption as well, so from where we sit, a significant portion of the foreign direct investment is spurring growth in Vietnam. Most of the exporting is high-end product exports such as the high end Samsung phones like the Galaxy or the Note, or the high end Samsung TV. It's the same for Intel for too. Vietnam is also a big place with a lot of manufacturing for clothes and shoes and a lot of those continue to grow. For in country consumption, a lot of middle class consumption is rising so the food and beverages and a lot of household goods are growing.
C: So Vietnam is projected to grow about 7% in 2018, what does this mean for the bank in terms of loan growth?
QA: Yeah, so the rule of thumb for me is the bank loan growth normally goes to about 2 times the GDP, or 2-3 times. So we will see about 16-18% and on the high end probably exceeding 20% loan growth. Now, the Central Bank wants to limit the bank's loan growth so they want to look at it from a case-by-case basis, so at the beginning of the year the Central Bank tells everybody how much they should be able to grow. For us then what we do is we look at our strategy, we look at our plan, and we will then by the 3rd or 4th quarter work with the Central Bank to show our solid growth areas, tell them we would like to continue and then they will do a case-by-case evaluation.
C: So does this mean that it limits how much you can grow your net interest margin?
QA: Absolutely, so there's 2 ways of looking at it. In the country in terms of interest rate to the customer, we are a market-taker just like everyone else. So in order for us to grow our NIM, what we have to do is manage our cost of fund, how we take deposit and the structure of the deposit. Another key element is how we manage our reputation and that affect the deposits and less so on setting the rate on the real customer.
C: So the bank returned to profitability after 5 years of winding up its balance sheet, writing off bad debts. How do you see the bank this year? Where do you see profitability?
QA: Our strategy is that we would achieve about 20% plus in Return on Equity year over year, so the way that we get that is that we would normally see and plan for about 30% year over year growth in revenue. And then we would have what I call an overspending of investment on the people and the infrastructure, so then the net gain we would have is about 20% in Return on Equity, so with that the way that we structure the income though is that a significant percentage of our revenue should come from the fee base or from the banking services.
C: Give me a breakdown?
QA: Ok, say for example - I would say a little bit more than 50% of our income should come from the interest based, or lending based businesses, a good 30%-40% will come from strict fee based businesses and then about 10-15% of that will come from businesses such as credit cards and whatnot so those are the areas where we want to have a very balanced growth, and a balanced revenue.
C: So the bank has spent the last few years winding down its bad debt, NPLs have come down from its peak of 3.7% in 2013. What is the NPL ratio now?
QA: So we are below 2% for this year, and every year we target below 2%
C: Can you go lower?
QA: Yes, and we are quite below that, I think we are probably 1.6 or 1.7 or so and by year-end I'm looking for it to be even lower.
C: How much lower?
QA: Well, I guess I can't predict that very well but I will aim for between 1.5-1.6%. The key indicator for us especially for the local market is the net charge after the bad debt, so a significant percentage of our loan has actually recovered nicely. Our goal is to work with the borrowers to make sure that they're cured and they get back to being able to repay their loans properly
C: Under your leadership you're making a shift away from a corporate base fund to a retail-focused fund, recently you had an exclusive partnership with Manulife to beef up your insurance offerings. What else are you doing to expand your retail banking services?
QA: The key word that you're using there was partnership, and that is actually a very, very important part of our strategy. So as I mentioned, the bulk of our business, 90%+ of our business spans just 6 sectors of the economy. In each sector we choose a large corporate as a primary partner with the objective of understanding and servicing their end-user to the best of our ability. So let's say for example with Vietnam Airlines, they are one of our large corporate partners and we used their frequent flyer program in order to help them service their customer better. At the same time we also have the co-branding card, one of the most successful co-branding cards in the country, and we used their program to help them service their customer and our customer as well. So the partnership is key and Vietnam Airlines is a key element. We also work very, very closely with VinGroup, the real-estate developers. We've worked with them very closely on the residential real-estate development with the objective of servicing the end buyers. So you're right when you said that we are shifting away from large corporates. What we're doing is shifting away from lending to large corporates to focus on lending to the end-user base of the large corporates. Now this is a win-win situation, because a large corporate's final objective is to service the end-user and they borrow to do so. We actually go further in terms of customer record, customer data, and customer understanding so we have a much better understanding of our large customer base of 5 million plus. When we work with Vietnam Airlines, they don't have 5 million frequent flyer customers. So they would love to be able to understand how to service their different customer segments better, and that's what we bring to them.
C: Your overall vision is to be the leading bank in Southeast Asia, but in terms of asset-size you're about a fourth of the biggest state-owned bank in Vietnam and Singapore's DBS is the largest bank in Southeast Asia. Can you clarify for us what it means to be No.1? What are the key metrics you're using?
QA: Right, so the key metric for me is actually what I would call the efficient use of capital or the highest return of capital to the investment
C: You're talking about ROE?
QA: Correct. So for us the 2 key metrics that we focus on are the Return on Asset and Return on Equity. Return on Asset meaning how we book the asset, whether they are of high quality and if they are of low risk weight. Return on equity meaning in terms of the profit we book, are they of high quality profit relative to the equity that the investor has entrusted in us. So efficient use of capital is key, and to drive that what we need to do is manage our cost to income ratio, and the way to drive cost down is actually to leverage more on technology to improve our operations.
C: How much can you drive cost down, from here?
QA: We are actually pretty low, so our strategic objective is to make our cost-income ratio around 35%. That is a very low number both across the region and globally.
C: You talked about the ASEAN economic integration. Any plans for Techcombank to expand outside of Vietnam?
QA: The short answer is, at least not in the next 2 or 3 years but you can never say never. So the reality is once ASEAN is fully integrated then we have to look at cross-border partnerships, and that could be just a hybrid form of a partnership in terms of the joint venture or it could be a full merger so we will have to evaluate that when the time comes.
C: ASEAN integration also means that it brings more competition into the Vietnamese banking system itself. Are you ready for that? How long can you maintain your local competitive edge?
QA: To be honest I would have to say that we aren't ready to take on the biggest and the best across the region now but I think we will be able to in 2 or 3 years' time. So with the new infusion of capital, with the strategy that we have and with the talent pool that we have assembled, now is just a matter of execution, and grinding it out day in and day out.
C: What do you mean by getting ready? Any plans to pursue inorganic growth to get yourself ready, to make yourself bigger in Vietnam?
QA: The short answer is yes, we will look for opportunities basically to position ourselves. So within Vietnam two-thirds of our branches are across Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and about a third is spread all around the country to the degree that there are opportunities for what I call value accretive acquisition.
C: What are your criteria?
QA: Well, they have to be low loss, and they have to be similar to us in terms of management and corporate culture which is striving forward and continuing to move forward. I think those are some key criteria and then once we have that and to the degree that both sides see the value creation that can be taken then we will absolutely welcome that.
C: A lot of focus on of course trade flows coming from China, are you worried about all this talk we're hearing about US-China trade tensions?
QA: It's always on the back of everybody's mind, so as of right now we don't see any impact yet. But we do a lot of what I call stress-testing or scenario planning to understand which sectors of the economy will be more affected and which will be less so. And then insofar as we are concerned, we need to have a closer dialogue with our clients and their partners to understand whether any of those things will affect them directly and the degree to which it affects them and we will have to come up with a plan to help them navigate through those complexities, so it's still a big unknown but at the same time we are proactively probing and understanding the situation.
C: So I hear you're both marathon fanatics, you call yourself the chief fitness officer, CFO?
Bang Trinh: Yes, I do. What QA doesn't realize is when he hired me as CFO I thought the role was Chief Fitness Officer, but he said Chief Financial Officer and somehow we've managed to align the 2. But as an organization I think it's actually great. We're a sponsor of the Techcombank Ho Chi Minh City International Marathon and the Ironman, both activities which I'm very passionate about. A lot of it is helping not only the community understand what it's like to be healthier and more active but also helping the organization and the young people within overcome challenges and understand the journey to getting to the finish line. QA likes to say to run faster you usually run by yourself, but to run further you've got to run together, and my goal is always that we're going to help everyone run further and faster together.
C: So you guys run together in marathons?
QA: 30 of us were at the Ho Chi Minh City Marathon and Bang was at the finish line so he was waiting for me and waiting for me and waiting for me and I didn't finish.
C: You didn't show up?
QA: Well actually, I didn't finish until like 6 hours and 20+ minutes later, but actually the nice thing with the marathon is that it's not about how fast you are but about everyone who started with you finishing. So there were 6 top executives at Techcombank who signed up and ran and every single 1 of them crossed the finish line
B: And so I saw, I actually told his wife at the finish line, I bet you he's just running and waiting for his team and sure enough right after that comment we saw a whole group of Techcombank employees led by their CEO across the finish line. It was a great ending.
C: So you weren't worried that you lost him for a sec?
B: I was a little worried. I had not joined the bank at the time but everybody was there and it turned out to be OK.
C: So Bang let me get this straight. You actually beat the CEO when it comes to Marathon? Is he giving you harder targets to meet as a result? Is he punishing you?
B: It wasn't a good career decision, haha. But he instils a competitive nature in all of us, so you know you got to push harder but then as you said the targets will be higher and harder and faster but that's in our DNA so that's still fun.
C: So Bang, you're the CFO. What's it like working with QA gearing up to list Techcombank?
B: I have to say it's actually been a lot of fun. Before I came to work with QA as a CFO, he was actually a client of mine
C: Really?
B: Yes, so we had a chance to actually spend some time together and get to know each other through an insurance deal that the bank did right before I joined with Manulife. So along the way QA said one day, "Hey, you should come on and join me as CFO."
QA: 18 months
B: Yeah, well I played hard to get
C: So wait a minute, he actually courted you to jump ship and work for him as his CFO?
B: He did, he did
QA: For 18 months straight
C: Did you play hard to get?
B: Absolutely. I told QA that what he was doing was very exciting but I was very happy to stay where I was and support him but he was relentless as QA is and eventually I capitulated
C: You finally got yourself a CFO?
QA: Absolutely, you'll remember, its objective driven and its goal driven. So I needed someone who can actually articulate the vision and have credibility with the market and also work with the internal team. The internal team really loved him so I kept telling him, "Hey you've got to come and work from the inside, drive the revolution," so it worked out very well.
C: I love this bromance, I really love this bromance. So as CFO and CEO, now that your job is complete listing Techcombank, what's your next priority?
B: Well, QA likes to speak in sports analogies, so we talk a lot about how this is a marathon, not a sprint, there's a lot we can do given the inflection point in the economy, it's an extremely exciting time in the Vietnamese economy and the banking industry itself is very young so there's just so much growth that's happening. So for us as we lay out the vision and execute on the vision that QA's laid out it's just literally going from milestone to milestone in terms of execution.
C: You giving him new targets?
QA: All the time and it's getting harder and harder every day. On the flight here this morning we were talking about asset and liability management and how to make sure that the deposit keeps going in. It's an uphill climb I think to the point, where to use a sport analogy, it's like climbing the hill. You don't ever want to break the momentum and it gets harder as you climb higher but then you keep on powering up
C: So both of you are Vietnamese, you spent many years working overseas, was it national service that made you guys come back to work for Techcombank?
B: Well I've been back in Vietnam a little bit longer than QA. I've been back for about 10 years in Vietnam, and what attracted me back was the opportunity to create an impact and share my knowledge and experience at a time when the country was in a lot of need of people with experience. So it's not so much National Service but a sense of pride and a chance to give back, that's what really attracted me to come back
C: Was it national service for you?
QA: Yeah, to a large degree but I also want to share, similar to what Bang said I learn and work a lot, and what I do see is that there's a lot of young people eager for the experience and they really want to learn. So what I can provide is a little bit of experience. A little bit of grey hair goes a long way and what I really love is the fact that people really love to learn so my experience and learning that I bring to the team helps them go a long way, I think that is the key. Just like Bang said, it's an impact and just a little bit to spur the creativity, spur a little bit of inspiration and then they themselves will take it wherever that they want to
C: You know many Vietnamese banks have hired foreign CEOs in the past. Is there a shortage of leadership in Vietnam right now behind this trend?
QA: Actually the banking industry in Vietnam is very, very young. So Techcombank itself is 25 years old, and if you think about it, for people to be a CEO they have to be like 40+ to 50 and have to have at least 20 years of banking experience. So if you have 20 years of banking experience then you've got to be starting out as 5 in Vietnam. So there's not that many and I think that is the difficult part. But I think over the next generation for the next 10 years I will see an explosion of talent and growth from the country as well. Like I mentioned earlier my goal is that 5 years or 10 years from now we will have another 5 or 6 CEOs that started from Techcombank and have become CEOs at other banks.
C: But many of these foreign CEOs don't end up staying for very long. Why is that?
QA: So a lot of the time the labor contract for CEOs last about 3 years or so, and after that people either have family commitments or other opportunities so they move on. So a lot of the time it is much more about the contractual nature rather than the opportunity.
C: Ok so both of you are Vietnamese, as part of the core leadership team now at Techcombank does that mean that both of you are now here to stay for the long haul?
QA: That's our game plan
B: That is the game plan. So, I was going to say, to add to what QA said earlier and your question Christine, there's not a lot of experienced bankers that understand what the outcome should look like, so being able to bring back developed market outcomes and understanding what the outcomes look like, that's something that we're sharing within the organization. So for us in many ways at this stage in our careers it's more about making an impact and sharing the experience with the next generation, helping as QA said, mint that next generation of bankers, making leaders in the market and certainly those that come up through the ranks in Vietnam or are Vietnamese are more likely to stay and have that same commitment whether it's national service or just an opportunity to create an impact on that scale. For us in many ways I see it as a privilege, an honor and a responsibility to do this and so it's incredibly exciting.
C: So you guys are here to stay for the long haul?
QA: Absolutely
B: I absolutely will be staying in the long haul
QA: Yep, we'll be here
ENDS
For more information contact Clarence Chen, Communications Manager APAC, CNBC International
D: +65 6326 1123
M: +65 9852 8630
E: Clarence.Chen@cnbc.com
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5591a0d43a4d6b5f79b12232e6d17b0e | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/dennis-rodmans-trip-to-the-north-korea-summit-may-be-funded-by-an-obscure-cryptocurrency-used-to-buy-marijuana.html | Dennis Rodman will attend the North Korea summit, and an obscure cryptocurrency used to buy marijuana is paying for it | Dennis Rodman will attend the North Korea summit, and an obscure cryptocurrency used to buy marijuana is paying for it
VIDEO0:5700:57Dennis Rodman will attend the North Korea summitNews Videos
Former basketball star and de facto diplomat Dennis Rodman will travel to Singapore next week for a summit between North Korea and the United States, and a cryptocurrency company that lets you buy marijuana is footing the bill.
"Thanks to my loyal sponsors from @potcoin and my team at @Prince_Mrketing, I will be flying to Singapore for the historical Summit," Rodman wrote on Twitter Friday. "I'll give whatever support is needed to my friends, @realDonaldTrump and Marshall Kim Jong Un."
TWEET
Rodman's team at Prince Marketing Group confirmed the trip to CNBC. The Washington Post first reported his interest in attending the summit Thursday, and Rodman's agent told reporters he would provide "moral support" to President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
The former Chicago Bulls player's past trips to North Korea have been paid for by the cryptocurrency company. During his 2017 trip, Rodman was photographed wearing a PotCoin T-shirt and baseball cap, sending the cryptocurrency up more than 90 percent from the previous day. It rose roughly 5 percent Thursday following the news, and was trading near 10 cents as of 11:30 am.m ET Friday, according to CoinMarketCap.com.
https://twitter.com/potcoin/status/941078916827176960?lang=en
https://twitter.com/potcoin/status/874429794838081536?lang=en
The U.S. has been pushing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programs, and the June 12 summit would mark the first time a sitting American president and North Korean leader meet face to face.
Rodman has been criticized for visits to North Korea in the past amidst the high political tension. In 2014, Rodman arranged a basketball game with other former NBA players and North Koreans, singing the North Korean dictator a rendition of "Happy Birthday."
VIDEO3:1303:13How to start your very own cryptocurrencyDigital Original
A spokesman for PotCoin said it is "in discussions" with Rodman to facilitate this year's trip and that Rodman "deserves the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with President Trump and the Marshal Kim Jong Un," the Washington Post reported.
"The PotCoin team as a community has been incredibly supportive of Rodman's peace mission from the beginning," a PotCoin spokesman told The Washington Post. "We're thrilled to see how the political climate has improved between North Koreans and the U.S. since he became involved."
The digital currency, founded in Canada in 2014, is designed to give legalized cannabis dispensaries and farmers access to banking services.
PotCoin did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
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039ee6e468f81ac52cf5c9a6e6a27686 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/europe-requests-exemptions-from-trumps-iran-sanctions-for-eu-industry.html | Europe requests exemptions from Trump's Iran sanctions for energy, aviation and more | Europe requests exemptions from Trump's Iran sanctions for energy, aviation and more
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel before the first working session of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017.Kay Nietfeld | Pool | Getty Images
European powers say they are willing to work with the Trump administration to tackle Iran's "destabilising actions." However, they first want Washington to agree not to punish the Continent's industries over their business dealings with the Middle Eastern country.
They are seeking broad carve-outs for sectors from health care to energy, as well as assurances that financial institutions can facilitate transactions with Iran's central bank without fear of reprisal. Firms including French oil giant Total and aircraft maker Airbus have announced billions of dollars in deals with Iran since sanctions were lifted in 2016.
Ministers from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union laid out their reqeusts in a letter to top Trump officials obtained by The New York Times and posted online on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the letter.
As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's security interests.British, French, German and EU ministers
The letter is the latest move in a standoff between the transatlantic partners after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and restored wide-ranging sanctions on the country. The Trump administration also plans to enforce so-called secondary sanctions, which threaten to lock firms that do business with Iran out of the much larger U.S. market.
The EU opposes that decision and is taking steps to protect their firms. However, the large corporations and banks that Iran is depending on to bolster its economy say they cannot stomach the threat of U.S. sanctions and will drop business ties with Tehran unless Washington grants them waivers.
The finance, economy and foreign ministers acknowledged their limited ability to counter U.S. influence over global markets in the letter.
"In their current state, U.S. secondary sanctions could prevent the EU from continuing meaningful sanctions relief to Iran," the ministers said.
Iran says it will leave the deal if it no longer accrues enough economic benefits to continue accepting limits on its nuclear program and opening its facilities to inspections. Tehran agreed to those terms in 2015 after enduring years of international sanctions spurred by evidence that it conducted secret research into developing nuclear weapons.
VIDEO2:1702:17It was a 'mistaken decision' for the US to pull out of JCPOA: ExpertCapital Connection
On Tuesday, the ministers requested that Trump give sanctions waivers to key European sectors, specifically naming energy, automotive, civil aviation and infrastructure. They asked the administration for public acknowledgement that industries like pharmaceuticals and health care will not be sanctioned.
They requested exemptions for transactions with the Iranian central bank and banks not subject to EU sanctions. They also asked Washington to preserve Iran's access to the SWIFT financial messaging service, give European companies more time to wind down business in the country and allow foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies to continue transacting with Iran.
According to the Europeans, the U.S. sanctions put the Continent at risk by threatening their ability to preserve the nuclear deal, which they say would make it easier for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and inflame wars and rivalries in the Middle East.
Iran's exit from the deal would "unsettle a region where additional conflicts would be disastrous," the European ministers warn. They say the 2015 accord gives them a foundation to address concerns they share with the United States over Iran's ballistic missile program, its involvement in Middle East conflicts and the scope of its nuclear program after parts of the 2015 deal expire in 2025.
"As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's security interests," the ministers said.
"We therefore ask for your assurances that the US will not take actions that might undermine the ability to," preserve the nuclear deal, they say.
The letter was sent to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
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2a6ae38a196af3d0f7460b2a83c37a92 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/forecasting-quarterly-earnings-isnt-the-issue-its-ceos.html | Forecasting quarterly earnings isn't the issue, it's CEOs | Forecasting quarterly earnings isn't the issue, it's CEOs
VIDEO2:5902:59Buffett and Dimon's warnings on short-termism will drive change, says expertSquawk Alley
Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon want companies to get away from a short-term approach to management and are therefore suggesting they ditch quarterly financial forecasts.
But quarterly guidance — which only 28 percent of companies offered in 2016 — is only part of the problem. The bigger problem for boards and CEOs is a fear of rattling a company's stock price.
"This price decline we believe CEOs are terrified of ... they find that embarrassing ... instead of telling the truth, they try to strengthen [their quarterly numbers] and by doing so, they can damage the firm," B. Espen Eckbo, the Tuck Centennial chair in finance at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Getting rid of quarterly guidance does not get rid of analysts creating benchmarks for a company to miss or make. It doesn't prevent share dips of a company when it announces that a new drug trial was not successful or it must close stores.
A CEO's job is to brave that impact and the board's role is to give a CEO leeway. The best a company can do is to prepare the market for the reality. The ability to do so is particularly important in industries like food and retail, which are in the process of reshaping their portfolios and business models in the glare of the public eye. Those efforts are costly and not always predictable.
Kroger, which has been making investments its e-commerce business to battle Amazon, weathered an 11 percent drop in its share price in March when it warned analysts of lower profit margins for 2018.
"You should expect gross margin to decline somewhat in 2018," Kroger CFO Mike Schlotman told analysts. "We aren't giving guidance on the individual amounts."
Kroger shortly thereafter announced two significant e-commerce acquisitions, putting more context around that caution — and Kroger's broader plans.
Meantime, there are other changes a company can make: getting rid of payment incentives based on earnings, and changing corporate culture to shift focus away from the stock price.
"Implicitly [Dimon and Buffett] are telling CEOs we need to change things — we can't have you manipulate internal earnings just to fit some predictions. You're supposed to tell the truth, the way things are, without cutting short on any investment," said Eckbo.
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8cdc5c1fa4651d4c77ad86cd2982026c | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/gold-markets-investors-wait-for-next-weeks-fed-meeting.html | Gold edges up ahead of G-7, but dollar recovery caps gains | Gold edges up ahead of G-7, but dollar recovery caps gains
Getty Images
Gold prices increased on Friday, gaining support in risk aversion ahead of G-7 talks this weekend, but remaining hemmed within its narrowest weekly range in more than a decade as the dollar recovered.
Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce another rate increase next week are also weighing on gold. Higher rates lift the opportunity cost of investing in non-yielding assets such as bullion. Spot gold was up 0.15 percent at $1,298.70 an ounce by 2:45 p.m. ET, while U.S. gold futures for August delivery settled down 30 cents at $1,302.70.
Gold has moved little since last Friday's close, with the spread between its highs and lows the narrowest of any week since August 2007 at just $13.70 an ounce
"There are offsetting factors - now you have some upside to the dollar, but at the same time you have a bit of noise coming up on the trade side with the G-7 upcoming," ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said.
Next week's Fed meeting, and a meeting of the European Central Bank, are also in focus, she added.
"It'll be important what the direction from the Fed is," she said. "We are still expecting two more hikes after next week."
World stocks fell on Friday as expectations of trade tensions dominating this weekend's summit of G-7 countries weighed on risk sentiment.
The dollar edged off a three-week low to rise a quarter-percent against the euro.
Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations headed for a summit in Canada more divided than at any time in the group's 42-year history, as U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" policies risk causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms.
Trump is set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, the same day as the Federal Open Market Committee starts its two-day meeting on interest rates.
"We also do not expect gold to make any lasting gains ahead of next week's Fed meeting," Commerzbank said in a note. "Price-supportive factors are in short supply at present."
Silver was up 0.35 percent at $16.72, after hitting its highest in more than six weeks on Thursday. It was on track for a 2.2 percent rise for the week, its biggest in seven weeks, in line with gains in industrial metal copper.
Palladium rose 0.89 percent to $904.50, while platinum was up 0.11 percent at $1,013.10.
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b5f841d448e3eac9056d963ad2ffa55d | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/japans-economy-contracted-as-expected-in-the-first-quarter.html | Japan's economy contracted as expected in the first quarter | Japan's economy contracted as expected in the first quarter
Aerial view of Tokyo from the Skytree Tower, a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo on March 17, 2015.Frederic Soltan | Corbis | Getty Images
Japan's economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.6 percent in January-March, unchanged from a preliminary estimate issued last month, revised gross domestic product data from the Cabinet Office showed on Friday.
The result compared with the median estimate of a 0.4 percent annualized contraction in a Reuters poll of economists.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP fell 0.2 percent in real, price-adjusted terms, also unchanged from the initial reading.The median estimate among economists was for a 0.1 percent decline.
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a79d795a6fad0f743258b518ea5b8ac9 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/jp-morgans-dimon-says-he-has-no-intention-of-running-for-president.html | JP Morgan's Dimon says he has 'no intention' of running for president | JP Morgan's Dimon says he has 'no intention' of running for president
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase.Grace Williams | CNBC
J.P. Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon attempted to put the question about his political aspirations to rest Thursday on CNBC, saying, "I have no intention of running for president."
Earlier this week, Starbucks' former CEO, Howard Schultz, said he would leave the coffee chain giant later this month, prompting immediate speculation that he was gearing up for a run for high office, something that he didn't entirely deny.
When The New York Times asked him point-blank if he was considering a run for president, Schultz replied, "I intend to think about a range of options, and that could include public service. But I'm a long way from making any decisions about the future."
Dimon said business leaders have a role working with government and getting involved in politics, but it's difficult, and he's not sure being a CEO naturally translates into that role. He added Schultz "would be a great chief executive or governor or senator or mayor or whatever he wants to do."
But, he told CNBC's Becky Quick: "You've got to want it. You're not going to be ordained to be the president of the United States. You've got to get out there and fight for it."
Dimon has been J.P. Morgan's chairman and chief executive for more than a decade.
Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett chimed in during the same CNBC interview on "Squawk Box," "And i'm not running for vice president, either."
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91a17539df6d0771a8be1a441ff5e6db | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/peoples-student-loan-balances-are-spiraling-out-of-control.html | For some students, what they borrow can end up being a fraction of what they wind up owing | For some students, what they borrow can end up being a fraction of what they wind up owing
VIDEO1:2301:23Student debt could hold back economic growth, Fed chief saysThe Fed
Debbie Baker took out $35,000 in federal student loans while at the University of Tulsa in the 1990s, to become a music teacher in Oklahoma's public schools.
She didn't know how she was going to make her monthly student loan payments on a new teacher's salary, though.
"I graduated and I got a bill for $500, but I was only making $27,000 a year," Baker, 55, said.
Navient, previously Sallie Mae and currently one of the biggest loan servicers, encouraged her to put her loans into forbearance, she said.
Her loans stayed that way for three years. When she had to start making payments on them, her monthly bill had swelled to $700, she said.
Persis Yu, director of the Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project at the National Consumer Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the student loan system is structured in a way that encourages people's debt to balloon.
"Loans doubling, tripling, quadrupling, it really does happen all the time," Yu said.
Outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. has tripled over the last decade, surpassing auto and credit card debt and only second to housing debt, and now stands at $1.5 trillion. That's in part because many people are seeing their individual balances spiral out of control.
Rick TalliniSource: Rick Tallini
Rick Tallini didn't worry much about the $55,000 in federal student loans he took out for law school in the 1990s. His future seemed bright.
Yet in the decades since he graduated, he's struggled to find employment and pay the bills. His original student loan balance, meanwhile, has soared to well over $300,000.
"They'll tack this thing to my coffin at this point," Tallini, 61, said.
The biggest reason Tallini's student loan debt increased so much is because of his extended periods of nonpayment, during which his debt was growing at between 8 percent and 9 percent interest. (Tallini provided his student loan records to CNBC, which were analyzed by Mark Kantrowitz, president of Cerebly, Inc. and a student loan expert).
Back in the 1990s, he said he was told by staff at his law school that he'd pay back his education debt within two years.
"You're looking at your education, and you're not focusing on the money," Tallini said. "All the while, you're being told, 'Don't worry about it. Whatever you borrowed will go away quickly'."
But his job searches never led to a high-paying position, he said. Instead, he ended up working on and off for the government.
Around a decade after he graduated, his loans were in default, a fate expected to claim 40 percent of student loan borrowers by 2023, according to the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.
Tallini was starting his own law practice, and desperate to bring his loans back into good standing.
"I couldn't have that over my head," he said.
"Consolidation" and "rehabilitation" are the ways student loan borrowers can rescue their debt from default — but the processes can come with hefty fees.
Tallini consolidated his federal education debt, and when he saw his new balance he was taken aback.
He learned that he now owed the government more than $150,000, more than three times what he'd originally borrowed.
Kantrowitz provided the math of a hypothetical rehabilitation to illustrate how the process leads to a larger debt.
Imagine a person has borrowed $40,000 in federal student loans, at a 7 percent interest rate and with a 25-year repayment period. If she made four years of on-time payments, but then fell into default, interest would accrue at a rate of around $230 a month during her nonpayment.
If the borrower then went through rehabilitation to take her loan out of default, a collection fee of 16 percent would be added to her new loan, increasing her debt to around $50,000.
In other words, even after the four years of on-time payments, her debt would still be $10,000 more than she'd first borrowed.
And more than 40 percent of borrowers who go through rehabilitation will fall back into default within three years, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
"Student loan rehabilitation is one of the cruelest of all tricks being played on the citizens by the Department of Education and its financial partners," said Alan Collinge, founder of the advocacy group Student Loan Justice.
Many student loan borrowers thought they were paying their way toward student loan forgiveness, only to learn they are not eligible for one technical reason or another.Emily Rose Bennett | The New York Times
Schools can lose their ability to participate in financial aid programs if too many of their students default on their loans within their first three years of repayment. In 2016, 10 schools were subject to the Education Department's sanctions.
In response, many schools hire consultants to encourage struggling borrowers to put their loans into forbearance — a temporary postponement of their payments, for that three-year window, according to an April report by the Government Accountability Office.
Although forbearance does avoid a default, the solution is temporary, and is sometimes suggested over other, potentially more affordable options for borrowers, such as income-driven repayment plans, the GAO found.
Nearly 70 percent of people who began repaying their student loans in 2013 had their debt in forbearance for at least a period of time.
When student loan borrowers take their loans out of forbearance, they're often startled by the new, higher balance, like Baker, the public school teacher, was.
Struggling borrowers can be tempted by the option to hold off payments, said Kantrowitz, but it's always going to mean a higher bill in the end.
"A forbearance is bad because interest continues to accrue and will be capitalized, digging the borrower into a deeper hole," Kantrowitz said.
Student loan rehabilitation is one of the cruelest of all tricks being played on the citizens by the Department of Education and its financial partners. Alan Collingefounder of the advocacy group Student Loan Justice
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Nikki A. Lavoie, a spokeswoman for Navient, said the majority of customer complaints over student loans are related to federal loan policies, that as a servicer, Navient cannot control.
"As a servicer, we are proud of our track record to assist customers in successfully managing their student loans," Lavoie said.
Debbie BakerSource: Debbie Baker
It wasn't just forebearances that resulted in Baker owing more than she had expected.
Baker said she was going to enroll in the standard repayment plan, which comes with higher monthly payments but less interest because the debt is paid off in 10 years.
However, in 2007, she was ecstatic to learn about a new program called Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which allows student loan borrowers in government or non-profit public service jobs to wipe out their remaining debt after 10 years of on-time payments.
The program allowed her to be on an income-driven repayment plan, which caps monthly loan bills at a percentage of the borrowers' income. Repayment takes longer and comes with more interest, but Baker didn't worry about that because she believed her debt would be erased after 10 years.
"Year after year I would tell them, 'Now I'm going after Public Service Loan Forgiveness,' and they'd say, 'Okay. Well you can't apply until 2017,'" Baker said, about her conversations with Navient.
A forbearance is bad because interest continues to accrue and will be capitalized, digging the borrower into a deeper hole. Mark Kantrowitz student loan expert
In July, after she'd made 10 years of payments, she tried to certify her forgiveness, but was told that she didn't qualify because she had the wrong type of federal student loan.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a report last year about how many people believe they're paying their way toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness only to learn they don't actually qualify for one technical reason or another.
Since the DOE first began accepting requests in October 2017, some 16,000 people have applied, a DOE spokesman told CNBC. But fewer than 1,000 people are expected to be eligible.
"I almost threw up," Baker said. "I've been teaching 18 years and I still don't make $40,000 — and now I have to start all over."
Today, Baker still owes nearly $80,000 in student loans, double what she originally borrowed.
More from Personal FinanceThese are the ways student loans stop people from buying a houseStudent loan nightmare: Some borrowers have to start overPeople with massive student debt hope Trump will let them declare bankruptcy
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1ea88c02118e504061579841c9325b6b | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/retail-stocks-are-on-track-for-their-best-quarter-since-2014.html | Retail is having its best quarter in nearly four years, and one technical analyst sees more 'room to run' | Retail is having its best quarter in nearly four years, and one technical analyst sees more 'room to run'
VIDEO2:5302:53Trading Nation: Retail’s winning weekTrading Nation
A rally in retail stocks has Wall Street hopeful the industry's worst days are behind it. One technical analyst says the charts support investors' optimism.
"The retail rally has room to run here, perhaps not every day as has been the case, but for the first time in years you are buying weakness not selling strength," Rich Ross, head of technical analysis at Evercore, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Wednesday.
The XRT retail ETF is up nearly 5 percent for the week, putting it on track for its best weekly performance since December. A 10 percent rise for the second quarter is its best since the fourth quarter of 2014.
The XRT ETF's performance over the past few months has established a solid technical picture, says Ross.
"A beautiful run, a nice base of support, right back into obvious resistance at the January highs, that's a convenient place for a pause at $49, but our work tells us that we break out there," Ross said of its recent performance. "Keep in mind, short interest high, positioning is low. That's a recipe for a breakout."
Kohl's is one retail name Ross sees getting a big boost on the back of his expected industry rally. A breakout in the stock would put its shares above $80, breaking through a triple top that stretched back to 2002, he says. Once it breaks through $80, Ross targets $95 to $100, implying as much as 31 percent upside from current levels.
Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, is not sold on the retail rally. To him, nothing has really changed since the fears of a retail apocalypse in 2015 sent the XRT ETF to multiyear lows.
"This is a rally that is ultimately going to fade simply because retail itself is under a relentless assault and it's going to re-establish itself after a few more quarters," Schlossberg said on Wednesday's "Trading Nation." "The market now is buying what was a really oversold market, but now that we've reached all these levels, it's pretty much fully valued."
The headwinds that have faced retail in recent years should continue, says Schlossberg. Hurdles include internet competition, a millennial demographic not buying into the "shopping experience," and rising gas prices and interest rates eating into discretionary income.
The XRT ETF has surged 8 percent this year. It is still 5 percent from its March 2015 peak.
Disclaimer
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f80ee4c8b4bf6c83c3e5e08ff8155458 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/revolut-has-2-million-users-to-launch-commission-free-trading-service.html | Fintech start-up Revolut grabs 2 million users and plans to launch commission-free trading service | Fintech start-up Revolut grabs 2 million users and plans to launch commission-free trading service
Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky.Revolut
Financial technology firm Revolut now has 2 million users signed up to its platform and is planning to launch a commission-free trading service.
The London-based start-up said Thursday that its trading platform, called "Wealth," would let users invest in a range of firms listed publicly in the U.K. and the U.S., in addition to other instruments including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and options.
ETFs are securities that let traders invest in a basket of assets such as shares or bonds. Options are contracts that give investors the right — but not the obligation — to buy or sell an asset at an agreed price and date, allowing for price speculation or risk reduction.
Revolut doubled its user count just months after it said it had passed the 1 million user mark in November 2017. Its planned commission-free trading service would compete with the likes of the U.K.'s Trading212 and U.S. firm Robinhood.
"For many years, people have felt frozen out of trading by high fees and clunky interfaces, so Revolut are aiming to make investments cheap, simple and completely mobile," Nikolay Storonsky, Revolut's co-founder and chief executive, told CNBC.
The company has widened its product offering into new areas such as cryptocurrency and savings as of late. It started out predominantly as a money management app offering currency exchange at the live currency conversion rate and has since signaled further expansion into banking by offering current accounts and last year applied for a European banking license.
"While the cryptocurrency feature has definitely played a part in our growth, our financial marketplace of products have also helped hugely in enticing people to join Revolut," Storonsky said. Revolut's marketplace gives users access to insurance and credit products from a variety of providers, similar to a feature offered by rival fintech firm Starling.
It is currently only available in Europe, and is most widely used in the U.K. The firm is looking to expand its presence to the U.S., Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand within months.
Revolut's commission-free trading platform "Wealth."Revolut
Revolut said it expects to launch the trading platform next year and is in the preliminary stages of building it. The service will be available to all of its customers, including those in the new markets it plans to expand to.
The firm counts itself among several of Europe's so-called challenger banks — predominantly digital banks looking to compete with larger lenders. German challenger bank N26 recently announced it has 1 million users signed up to its platform. Revolut generates $2 billion a month in transaction volume, while N26 has a monthly transaction volume of $1.17 billion.
Storonsky said Revolut was not concerned by such fintech competitors because it expects its main competition to come from tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google.
"They have huge amounts of customer data, capital and employees that can help them to easily begin breaking into the banking space," he said.
Revolut recently joined the ranks of Europe's unicorns by surpassing $1 billion in market value after a $250 million investment led by venture capital firm DST Global.
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dba3e7d9d5434fa157f2d8c6f6320240 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/skittishness-hits-emerging-markets-and-the-feds-getting-the-blame.html | Skittishness hits emerging markets, and the Fed's getting the blame | Skittishness hits emerging markets, and the Fed's getting the blame
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Emerging markets were rattled Thursday as a range of fears rippled through financial markets — ranging from U.S. trade wars to Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes.
Brazil was the meltdown du jour, but the European Central Bank was also a major factor, with fears it would move to end its bond buying or quantitative easing, sending the euro higher. Italian bond yields reversed and moved higher amid chatter the ECB could decide at its meeting next week to curb easing at a time when its weakest links, such as Italy, need help.
A nervousness spurred in part by higher rates has rolled through emerging markets, such as Turkey and Argentina. Now Brazil was the latest to see capital flight, a floundering currency and stock market sell-off. Its stock market was down more than 7 percent at the low point Thursday, before cutting losses in half, and its currency fell as much as 3 percent against the dollar, as fears circulated about its fiscal outlook amid political uncertainty.
"I think everything started in mid-April, with the IMF meeting. Everyone went there with one theme in mind — synchronized global growth which would work with rising rates in the U.S.," said Claudio Irigoyen, head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Latin America economics and fixed income strategy.
VIDEO3:3203:32Stockman: Trump tax cuts are ‘irresponsible crazy,’ a financial shock is comingFutures Now
But Irigoyen said growth has turned out to be questionable in Europe and China and that has made markets nervous. "Everyone was on the wrong side of the trade. The trade was crowded. Then they started to unwind risk in EM. As they say, when the tide goes out you know who was swimming naked, and the guys swimming naked were Argentina and Turkey."
But he said now Brazil is joining in, and Mexico is on the edge, affected by the fact the North American Free Trade Agreement is not likely to be renegotiated for longer than expected, and it may be decided by a new leftist government. The Mexican peso lost another percent Thursday. The EM sell-off was widespread, with the South African rand down about 2.5 percent against the dollar.
Irigoyen said adding to uncertainty in emerging markets are the trade strategies of the Trump administration, which if they bring about trade wars could lead to slower global growth.
Alejo Czerwonko, an emerging market strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office, said Brazil's problems are coming from a combination of global central bank tightening and domestic issues ahead of its October election.
In the last four weeks, there's been "a worsening of the social and political dynamics that forced most analysts and investors to reassess their growth outlook, and importantly their electoral outlook. We think recent developments push downward the probability of a centrist candidate, and that pushes upward the probability of a candidate on either the extreme left or extreme right," he said. The recent trucker strike over high diesel costs exacerbated the situation.
IShares MSCI Brazil ETF was down 5.1 percent Thursday. The EEM, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, fell 1.5 percent Thursday.
The worries also added to a weakening in U.S. stocks, which closed mixed. The was off 1 point to 2,770, and the Dow was up 95 at 25,241. Treasury yields fell after the 10-year peaked at 2.99 percent early in the day. In late trading, it was at 2.92 percent.
"When the Fed gets deeper into a tightening cycle, it exposes vulnerabilities that were there to begin with, but people become less tolerant," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer with Bleakley Financial Group. Both the Fed and ECB meet next week.
"The ECB ending [quantitative easing] on top of the interest rate pickup in the U.S. is a tough combination to maneuver," he said, adding the Fed also is reducing its balance sheet at the same time.
"That's a double tightening. Two weeks after the Fed meeting next week, it's going to be reducing its balance sheet by $120 billion a quarter from $90 billion a quarter, so tightening is taking two forms here," Boockvar said. "A lot of these overseas companies and countries have debt in dollars, and if there's a rally in the dollar, this dollar-denominated debt costs more to carry."
VIDEO3:3203:32Siegel: I still think there will be four Fed hikes this yearClosing Bell
Larry McDonald, head of U.S. macro strategies at ACG Analytics, said he believes the Fed is a big factor in the woes of the emerging markets. "It started with the offshore dollar crisis. There's a shortage of dollars globally in the world. When the dollar moves higher, that makes the shortage more extreme," he said.
McDonald said part of the problem is that the Fed misjudged its program to reduce its balance sheet, and he expects it may make some comment on it after its meeting next week.
"I think they're going to be embarrassed. They're going to have to walk this balance-sheet reduction back," he said.
"They've been called out this week by central banks from emerging markets, to the point where you had an op-ed in the Financial Times from the governor of the central bank of India," he said.
Urjit Patel wrote in the Financial Times that dollar funding of emerging market economies has been in turmoil for months. "The upheaval stems from the coincidence of two significant events: the Fed's long-awaited moves to trim its balance sheet and a substantial increase in issuing US Treasuries to pay for tax cuts," he wrote.
He also noted that if the Fed does not slow down its balance-sheet program, "Treasuries will absorb such a large share of dollar liquidity that a crisis in the rest of the dollar bond markets is inevitable."
McDonald said the issue is the unintended consequence of tax cuts and of the Fed's balance-sheet action. The Treasury has increased its issuance to pay for the tax cuts. McDonald said also speculators have been targeting vulnerable markets.
The selling in emerging markets could continue. "Their debt is tied to dollars, and they need to fund themselves. Each one is having to raise interest rates in order to defend their currencies," said Andrew Brenner of National Alliance. "It gets worse and worse, and feeds on itself, and then all of a sudden you have systemic risk."
VIDEO5:5705:57Fed’s Quarles on Trump’s new tariffs and interest ratesPower Lunch
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a86b44d746e7726e2508ede827dcaaf8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/the-solar-industry-is-entering-a-downturn-says-goldman-sachs.html | Goldman Sachs: Solar industry heading for a downturn after major Chinese policy shift | Goldman Sachs: Solar industry heading for a downturn after major Chinese policy shift
Workers install solar panels on a residential home in Santa Monica, Calif.Getty Images
Solar power equipment makers are about to hit a rough patch, and it's time to sell many stocks in the space, according to Goldman Sachs.
Demand for solar power equipment is drying up in key markets just as supplies are booming, the investment bank warns. The industry has long been governed by boom-and-bust cycles, and Goldman thinks a looming glut of solar modules is pushing the sector into a downturn.
"Against this backdrop, we see both volume and pricing risk intensifying in the near-to-medium term, and now forecast 0% average upside across the group," Goldman said in a research note. The catalyst for its downbeat view is last week's major policy shift in China. Beijing has suspended subsidies for large-scale solar farms for the remainder of 2018 and will require these plants to set power prices in competitive auctions.
Goldman now expects a 40-percent drop in sales volumes in China, which accounts for half of the global market for solar modules and other equipment. Heaping more pressure on the industry are anticipated declines in other key markets like Japan, India and the United States, where the Trump administration has dented demand by slapping tariffs on imported solar panels and modules.
VIDEO2:5202:52Seeing accelerated investment in renewables, CIO saysStreet Signs Europe
Renewable energy companies have scrapped or suspended plans worth more than $2.5 billion to install solar panels since Trump imposed the tariffs, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Overall, Goldman anticipates a 24 percent drop in solar installations around the world this year. Meanwhile, it expects supplies across the entire supply chain to rise by 12-32 percent, with big increases of 24-32 percent in the segment that manufactures individual solar cells.
"To put this into perspective, at current 4-4.5 g/W conversion rates, this would imply 25-35GW of new supply potential vs. what we now forecast to be a roughly 25GW decline in yoy demand," Goldman said.
Solar modules and cells will probably fetch about 15 to 30 percent less than they did for manufacturers last year, according to Goldman.
Those forecasts led Goldman to take a more bearish view of solar manufacturers exposed to the Chinese market and firms throughout the supply chain.
The bank slashed its 12-month price target for JinkoSolar, which earned 37 percent of 2017 revenue in China, from $15 a share to $10. The stock fell 3.4 percent on Thursday, bringing its one-week loss to 34.2 percent.
Shares of First Solar plunged 5.5 percent after Goldman slapped a "sell" rating on the stock and slashed its target from $75 a share to $48.
Canadian Solar maintained its neutral rating with the bank, but had its target knocked down from $18 to $13. Shares were down nearly 2.7 percent in afternoon trading.
However, the cyclical factors that will buffet those stocks could boost companies that sell solar energy to residential users by reducing equipment prices. The bank recommends exposure to Sunrun and Vivint Solar.
VIDEO1:1201:12California regulators approve plan to mandate solar panels on new home constructionNews Videos
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77079af6402d00dea7a37dceb3f3cbd4 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/trump-is-doing-some-really-brave-things-on-trade-says-billionaire-investor-peltz.html | Trump is 'doing some really brave things' on trade, says billionaire investor Peltz | Trump is 'doing some really brave things' on trade, says billionaire investor Peltz
Nelson PeltzCameron Costa | CNBC
Trian Partners' Nelson Peltz praised President Donald Trump on Thursday for his tough stance on trade.
"The president is doing some really brave things," Peltz said at The Deal conference in New York City, run by CNBC's "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer.
The Trump administration is pushing several countries on trade, including China, where it just announced tariffs on $50 billion worth of imported goods, and Canada, the EU and Mexico. The three have threatened to retaliate on imports of a number of American goods after Trump imposed tariffs on their steel and aluminum imports after briefly exempting them.
Negotiations with Canada and Mexico on the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement are also underway, though any resolution might not come until next year. Earlier this week, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told "Fox & Friends" Trump was considering talking to the two countries separately on trade. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already said no to that.
Peltz's $9.9 billion fund company has stakes in companies including General Electric, Mondelez International, Procter & Gamble, Sysco and Pentair.
"At the end of the day he's a great negotiator," the activist investor said. "I don't think we will end up with a trade war."
— CNBC's Liz Moyer contributed reporting
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow made the remarks about separate trade talks with Canada and Mexico on "Fox & Friends."
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3a6e6ad46f935280b3a6df3a79925142 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/trump-says-he-would-invite-kim-jong-un-to-the-us-if-singapore-talks-go-well.html | Trump says he would invite Kim Jong Un to the US if Singapore talks go well | Trump says he would invite Kim Jong Un to the US if Singapore talks go well
VIDEO4:2804:28Trump: Would invite Kim Jong Un to the US if talks go wellPower Lunch
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would "certainly" invite North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to the United States if next week's nuclear summit in Singapore goes well.
A visit to the U.S. — which Trump added could take place at the White House — would be remarkable after decades of minimal contact between the U.S. and the communist dictatorship. The talks next week will mark the first time a sitting American president and North Korean leader meet face to face, as the U.S. aims to push Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programs and ease concerns about the prospect of armed conflict.
At a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, the president said he wants to eventually establish normal relations with North Korea if the regime commits to denuclearization. Abe also stressed that Japan — which has long had tensions with North Korea — is ready to normalize its links to Pyongyang, as well.
"Normalizing relations is something that I would expect to do, I would hope to do," Trump said.
While Trump said he sees the "potential to make a deal" with North Korea to get the isolated regime to abandon its nuclear ambitions, he stressed that he is "totally prepared to walk away" from the summit. Trump already canceled the meeting once before it was rescheduled, following a key North Korean official's trip to Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office of the White House on June 7, 2018.Getty Images
The summit brings the opportunity for a potential breakthrough in talks to reduce tension in East Asia. However, the North Korean regime has long proven unreliable in international negotiations, sparking concerns about what concessions Trump and American allies such as Abe can get from Pyongyang.
Further stoking concerns in America is Trump's preparedness for the summit. Earlier, he raised those fears by saying, "I don't think I have to prepare very much" for the summit.
On Thursday, Trump said he stopped using the "maximum pressure" language previously employed to describe international economic sanctions against North Korea, "because we're going into a friendly negotiation." When Trump stopped using the term in recent days, it reportedly concerned Abe.
The Japanese prime minister said Thursday that Trump will not lift "very strong sanctions" on North Korea until it takes actions toward denuclearization. He added that he wants any deal between Trump and Kim to address all weapons of mass destruction and midrange ballistic missiles.
Trump stressed that he kept all existing economic sanctions on North Korea. The president has a long list of new sanctions prepared, should talks go awry, he said.
"Maximum pressure is absolutely in effect," he said.
Abe also said he stressed to Trump the need to bring up Japanese citizens being held hostage in North Korea during the summit next week. He said the president "fully understands" the issue's importance.
Later Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the only outcome we will find acceptable." Kim personally "indicated" to Pompeo that he is prepared to denuclearize, the top American diplomat said.
Pompeo said Trump is "hopeful" but is "going into the summit with his eyes wide open" about possible duplicity.
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505089564bdaedcbfad7daf617b2f6d7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/ukraine-passes-crucial-vote-to-unlock-imf-financial-lifeline.html | Ukraine passes crucial vote to unlock financial lifeline, but the IMF has yet to approve it | Ukraine passes crucial vote to unlock financial lifeline, but the IMF has yet to approve it
Independence square in Kiev, Ukraine as protests continue on March 2, 2014.Louisa Gouliamaki | AFP | Getty Images
Ukraine's parliament on Thursday successfully voted to establish an anti-corruption court, a key requirement of unlocking a $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) relief package designed to bolster the country's struggling economy.
But the international lender has yet to greenlight the funds, as it remains to be seen whether the law for the anti-corruption court is, in fact, IMF compliant.
Tensions ran high in the lead-up to the vote amid political infighting between Ukraine's finance minister and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, the latter of whom asked parliament on Wednesday for the former to be fired. The IMF bailout fund has been frozen since last year and its disbursement delayed multiple times as Ukraine fell behind on its reform requirements.
Corruption has plagued the eastern European country's economy and remains practically undented since popular protests unseated the pro-Moscow government of Viktor Yanukovych nearly four years ago. It remains burdened by $20 billion in outstanding dollar debt, and its ability to tap capital markets — now made harder due to rising interest rates in the U.S. — will rely heavily on the IMF's support and its ability to effectively reform.
The breakthrough, which saw 315 of 450 parliamentarians voting in favor, likely gave some relief to investors holding Ukrainian debt. The yield on the country's dollar-denominated 2027 bond fell 17 basis points while that on the 2019 bond fell 12 basis points.
But Ukraine has tried to push through legislation before in attempts to placate IMF demands and unlock funds, only to slip in items that went against the lender's rules. A previous attempt at setting up an anti-corruption court failed after the IMF deemed its appointed judges as not sufficiently independent.
"While most people are in favor (of the bill), some of those in favor only want a court they can strip all power from," cautioned Max Hess, senior political risk analyst at London-based consultancy AKE Group. "They want the benefits that will come with passing it, being able to claim they are pushing through reforms to appeal to voters, when in reality they are just obstructing."
Timothy Ash, senior emerging markets strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, said that there was so far zero visibility as to the law's IMF compliance.
"My sense is that the IMF will want to read and study the final text very carefully before committing, to make sure no funny business was included at the last minute," he said.
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6b8c4a10b6c507e11ac1d180015e2915 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/cramer-remix-after-five-belows-monster-move-wait-to-pounce.html | VIDEO1:0401:04Cramer Remix: After this stock’s monster move, wait to pounceMad Money with Jim Cramer
CNBC's Jim Cramer said investors can afford waiting to buy the roaring shares of off-price retailer Five Below.
With the stock up over 40 percent just in the past week, the "Mad Money" host said on Friday that it could actually be smarter for investors to wait until the hype dies down.
"At these levels the stock isn't exactly cheap — it's [selling for] 33 times next year's earnings estimates," he said. "If you owned Five Below going into this amazing quarter ... I want you to feel free to ring the register on part of your position."
For investors who want to buy Five Below, Cramer recommended they wait until the next marketwide pullback.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you get a better buying opportunity here, as long as you're patient," he said. "Five Below is a phenomenal long-term story, which is why you don't need to feel any pressure to buy it immediately. I want you to take your time after this monster move, wait for a better entry point, and then, and really only then, you can pounce."
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and France's President Emmanuel Macron chat during a family photo at the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018.Yves Herman | Reuters
After a muted Friday trading session following a largely successful week for the stock market, Cramer wanted to redirect investors' attention to what could make or break this market.
"In many ways, next week will determine if this run can continue. Not because of earnings — we have almost no reports — but because of the president and the Fed," he said.
But Cramer cautioned against trading around President Donald Trump's tweets and his administration's talks with U.S. trading partners. He argued that trade talks were "a work in progress," saying investors should buy on trade-related downturns rather than fret about them.
"Think of it this way: we've had the best action in three months for the Dow and that occurred ahead of the Fed meeting, ahead of the G-7 meeting and ahead of the North Korean summit," he said. "Worry has not been paying off here."
With that in mind, Cramer turned to his weekly game plan, complete with his predictions about Trump's summit with North Korea, some retail earnings and a glimpse into Apple's business.
Tim ArmstrongCameron Costa | CNBC
Verizon Communications' CEO change has Wall Street buzzing about what's next for the mobile giant, but for Tim Armstrong, CEO of Verizon subsidiary Oath, the move sends a clear signal.
"This is just a pure signal, a pure leadership sign that Verizon's going to be a leader in 5G," Armstrong, formerly CEO of AOL, told CNBC in an interview with Cramer.
Verizon CTO Hans Vestberg will become CEO in August. Current CEO Lowell McAdam, who has run Verizon since 2011, will take on the role of executive chairman of the company's board.
"Verizon's been a leader in 1G to 4G," Armstrong said. "5G is really where the world's going and today's announcement, with Lowell stepping up to executive chairman and Hans coming in as CEO, really tells you how serious we are about 5G and building out the next layer of connected consumers."
Adi Tatarko, CEO, Houzz on CNBC's "Mad Money" with Jim Cramer.Scott Mlyn | CNBC
Technology-home-design hybrid Houzz is using augmented reality to help consumers visualize furniture and decor in their home — and it's paying off in droves.
In an interview with CNBC, Houzz CEO Adi Tatarko, who founded the online platform with her husband Alon Cohen in 2009, said that users of Houzz's new 3D tool in its app are 11 times more likely to make purchases on the website.
"We're very proud as a technology company that we can always be in front of the best technologies and apply them very deeply into our own industry," Tatarko told Cramer.
The tool, View in My Room 3D, lets users put virtual items in their rooms at any angle using their devices' cameras. It allows users to put multiple products into their rooms to see how they'd look together.
For more on the interview and Houzz, a 2018 CNBC Disruptor, click here.
Finally, Cramer reflected on his experience at TheDeal's Corporate Governance conference, where he spoke to CEOs across industries about their leadership tactics and businesses.
The "Mad Money" host was particularly struck by Jeff Gennette, who has been CEO of Macy's since early 2017 and been working on a turnaround at the old-line retailer, bringing in a former eBay executive, real estate experts and bankers to fix the company's operations.
"Retail has caught fire of late and Jeff's thoughts made it clear to me that the survivors here are the chains that are using technology to fend off Amazon and bring back their old customers," Cramer said, commending the "remarkable humility from a CEO who engineered, I've got to tell you, one of the greatest turnarounds I've ever seen."
In Cramer's lightning round, he zoomed through his take on callers' favorite stocks:
Cisco Systems: "People didn't really care for the last quarter, to be honest. They felt that the guidance wasn't as strong, either. You know what I say? I say use that to buy [CEO] Chuck Robbins' great company. You're getting a rare opportunity to buy a high-quality technology stock below where it should be."
Colgate-Palmolive: "Look, the last quarter was not good, but the stock has now overcompensated and I do think that you should buy it. And I'm going to give you a two-fer: I think buying PepsiCo right here is brilliant."
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Apple, Amazon and PepsiCo.
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 - Instagram - VineQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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75f4188d61248d8a8040b849d9b956b1 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/delta-makes-changes-to-new-uniforms-after-employees-report-irritation.html | Delta makes changes to new uniforms after employees report irritation | Delta makes changes to new uniforms after employees report irritation
Delta employees debuted new uniforms on May 29.Source: Delta Airlines
Delta Air Lines is making some adjustments to newly debuted uniforms after employees at the carrier complained about skin irritation.
The airline unveiled the Zac Posen-designed uniforms for its 64,000 employees late last month, featuring dresses in "passport plum" and suits in "ground speed graphite."
But the airline has received more than two-dozen complaints from employees about the uniforms. Some flight attendants said their aprons were irritating and spokeswoman Ashton Kang said the airline is working "to make it softer to the neck."
The airline also received 25 other complaints of irritation from the uniforms such as chafing and Delta is offering alternative blouses made of 100 percent cotton instead of the standard shirt that is a cotton-Spandex blend, as well as items that are free of wool, said Kang.
Michele Casper, a spokeswoman for Lands' End, which manufactured the uniforms, said that "to the best of our knowledge, these are isolated concerns."
The company is working with Delta to resolve the problems, she said.
Some 25,000 Delta employees out of the some 64,000 opted for in-person fittings in cities around the world, Kang added. Some 1,000 Delta employees tested the uniforms for three months before their debut.
American Airlines earlier this year named Lands' End a new uniform supplier after flight attendants complained of rashes and hives from a previous uniform.
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80baaa09cb7bb8d9099a66ab066ffdb5 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/europe-markets-g-7-summit-in-focus.html | European stocks close lower as trade tensions mount ahead of G-7 summit | European stocks close lower as trade tensions mount ahead of G-7 summit
European bourses closed lower Friday as investors were worried about world trade ahead of this weekend's G-7 meeting in Canada.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was off by more than 0.2 percent with most sectors losing value. Autos stocks were the worst performers, down 1.17 percent, as worries mounted over the impact of a potential trade war on the sector.
The FTSE 100 index closed 0.30 percent lower.
Italy's FTSE MIB was the worst performing index in the continent, down 1.89 percent. Traders continued to monitor political developments in the country, which has seen anti-establishment parties Five Star and Lega rise to power. The new government won a vote of confidence in parliament earlier this week.
European chipmakers slipped on a report that Apple asked suppliers to make less parts for new iPhones and is expecting to ship less units than it had placed orders for. Apple suppliers STMicroelectronics and Austria Microsys were down by 1.18 percent and 6.13 percent respectively.
Looking at individual stocks, Standard Life Aberdeen dropped more than 3.6 percent after Lloyds Banking sold its remaining stake in the business. Deutsche Bank was also off by 0.68 percent after renewed reports over a potential merger with Commerzbank.
Meanwhile, BT shares were up 0.99 percent after the company announced that CEO Gavin Patterson is leaving the firm.
On Wall Street, stocks were lower, with market sentiment offset by trade concerns with investors focused on this weekend's summit of G-7 world leaders in Quebec.
President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have caused upset among other G-7 members, including Canada and France.
While Trump may not mind being isolated, "we don't mind being six, if needs be," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters ahead of the summit, according to Reuters. Trump accused Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau via Twitter of "charging the U.S. massive tariffs and (creating) non-monetary barriers."
Back in Europe, Thursday marked a tumultuous day for Brexit news. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May revealed a backstop plan for the Irish border, and also said that the U.K. expects to have a permanent solution on customs arrangements after leaving the European Union implemented by the end of 2021 at the latest. But, foreign secretary — and leave campaigner — Boris Johnson was covertly recorded Wednesday saying that there may be a Brexit "meltdown."
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz sought to calm views among Germans over fellow euro zone member Italy's precarious economic situation. "I am very certain that Italy will not fail," Scholz told broadcaster ZDF on Thursday night, as reported by Reuters.
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5d534c275542cf644f20f458bac8cd12 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/if-you-rent-out-your-vacation-house-dont-forget-to-give-the-irs-a-cut.html | If you rent out your vacation house, don't forget to give the IRS a cut | If you rent out your vacation house, don't forget to give the IRS a cut
With the summer travel season heating up, many vacation-home owners get to look forward to some extra income from renting out their slice of paradise.
These part-time landlords need to remember that in many cases, the Internal Revenue Service expects to hear about that extra cash.
Generally speaking, if you rent your vacation home for fewer than 14 days out of the year, the income you earn is tax-free.
Emile Wamsteker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
"In that event, you don't get any deductions, but you also don't pay tax on the income," said Stephen Fishman, author of "Tax Guide for Short-Term Rentals."
If your rental days are above the 14-day threshold, you need to report the income. The good news is that you also get some tax breaks to reduce the amount you pay taxes on.
For starters, the new tax law that took effect this year allows a 20 percent deduction for so-called pass-through businesses. For the vast majority of people who rent their property, income from that activity is "passed through" to the owner's (or owners') individual tax return.
More from Personal Finance:These are the top 10 airlines in the world10 US budget travel destinations to consider this summer Say goodbye to that tax break for steak dinners and game tickets
This means there's a chance you could qualify for that 20 percent write-off on net rental income, as long your total income is below $157,500 ($315,000 for married couples who file joint tax returns). The deduction starts phasing out at that level and disappears altogether for incomes above $207,500 ($415,000 for joint filers).
However, consult with a tax advisor before assuming you qualify for that 20 percent break.
You also get to deduct a variety of expenses related to your rental activity. Costs such as local licensing, fees you pay to online platforms, advertising and marketing are all associated business costs that could be deductible.
VIDEO2:0702:07Marriott CEO on new home sharing programSquawk on the Street
Other expenses — repairs, mortgage interest, property taxes, utilities — are deductible on a prorated basis tied to the number of days you rented your home out.
For example, if you rent your house for 20 percent of the year, or 73 days, you can deduct 20 percent of expenses related to the house (i.e., utilities).
Some part-time landlords might just rent a room in their home instead of a whole house. In that case, the same expenses are deductible, but to a lesser degree.
If you ever get audited, they can check your bank records and other records. The evidence is there.Stephen FishmanAuthor of "Tax Guide for Short-Term Rentals"
Say the room takes up 25 percent of the space in your home. You could deduct 25 percent of expenses allocated to those days. (Using the example above: You could deduct a quarter of that 20 percent total.)
Fishman cautions that while it might be tempting to avoid reporting your rental income to the IRS, you're breaking the law if you don't.
"If you ever get audited, they can check your bank records and other records," Fishman said. "The evidence is there."
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0fcffec5c23f3502ad3a5854a4233425 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/juggling-ties-with-china-and-india-is-a-struggle-all-small-states-face-maldives-ex-president-says.html | Juggling ties with China and India is a struggle all small states face, Maldives ex-president says | Juggling ties with China and India is a struggle all small states face, Maldives ex-president says
Maldives President Abdulla Yameen (L) shakes hand with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on December 7, 2017.Fred Dufour | AFP | Getty Images
Small states in the eastern hemisphere are at risk of being dragged into the orbit of either China or India, a former Asian president said Friday.
But Mohamed Waheed Hassan, who led the Maldives in 2012 and 2013, added that there's an area the region's superpowers and its smaller nations could easily work together on.
"Emerging markets are caught between big powers," he told CNBC. "All small states, whether they are developed or underdeveloped, are going through this experience," he said, citing Singapore and Sri Lanka as fellow Asian nations facing the same challenge of appeasing both their Chinese and Indian neighbors.
But, according to Waheed, an area that all countries could collaborate on is security.
The Maldives has traditionally relied on India, and by proxy its historical ally the U.S., for regional security. However, "if China can contribute to that kind of collective security arrangement it should be welcome," Waheed said. "Why would they have separate exercises?"
A view of the China-led bridge construction project connecting the Maldives' capital island of Male to its airport island of Hulhule on October 27, 2016, in Male, Maldives.Aishath Adam | Getty Images
China and India were both present on the sidelines during a political crisis in the Maldives in February. The nation's current president, Abdulla Yameen, imposed a state of emergency following a disagreement with the supreme court over the release of political prisoners.
India moved aircraft and ships to its southern bases to potentially intervene, according to Reuters' sources. A Chinese naval combat force was also present in the Indian Ocean for the first time in four years.
While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ultimately abstained from intervention, China’s defense ministry told Reuters that its presence in the area was “not aimed at any third party.”
The Maldives, a tiny nation located on a cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean and best known as a tropical holiday destination, has close ties to India given both its proximity and cultural heritage. But, the dynamic of its relationships in Asia has changed in recent years.
"China was very distant from us but over the last few years we've gotten closer to China purely for economic reasons," Waheed said.
China had been "very helpful" in providing loans for the infrastructure the Maldives badly needs, he said. The state's coffers are heavily reliant on tourism but outside of the capital any incoming wealth is not felt. During Waheed's 2012-2013 tenure as president, he announced $500 million in loans from China, a significant portion of which was dedicated to infrastructure and housing projects.
An aerial view of the Maldives' capital Male on January 1, 2005.Wolfgang Kaehler | LightRocket | Getty Images
As part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, a multi-billion dollar spending plan to revive ancient trading routes, it is "heavily involved" in a $830 million plan to upgrade the Maldives' international airport in the capital Male. China is also financing the building of a new population center and bridge nearby costing $400 million, according to a March report by Washington-based think tank the Center for Global Development.
"India can provide assistance, but it's more complicated. Not that it doesn't have the resources, but the procedures are more complicated," Waheed said. China is an easier friend to maintain "for economic reasons," but he added that the Maldives was closer to India on security issues.
The Maldives' relationship with both China and India has met difficulties.
In May, Indian navy chief Sunil Lanba said that the Maldives presented a "challenge." "The present government in Maldives is more inclined towards China. The constitution has been tweaked and some islands have been given to the Chinese for development," he said, as reported by local media.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldives Abdulla Yameen at Hyderabad House on April 11, 2016, in New Delhi, India.Mohd Zakir | Hindustan Times | Getty Images
"The Maldives wants to be close to India but both the local opposition in the country and also the press in India has not made it easy," Waheed said. "Speculation within the media that the Maldives is getting closer and closer to China doesn't make it any easier."
China has created a "debt trap" that it will use as a "disciplining agent" on the Maldives, former President Mohamed Nasheed, who lives in exile in Sri Lanka after being ousted in 2012, told Reuters in an interview earlier this week. "We would have to renegotiate. It is a big cheat," Nasheed said, as he attempts to campaign ahead of an expected election in September.
But China has hit back on similar claims made by Nasheed earlier this year. Responding in February to an article by the former leader, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that Beijing never attached any political conditions to loans to the Maldives, dismissing Nasheed's view as "nonsense."
VIDEO0:4400:44China is pumping money into countries around IndiaNews Videos
Regardless, the Maldives financial situation is precarious. In October 2017, the World Bank estimated the Maldives' overall debt to rise to 66.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). "The vulnerability of the overall debt portfolio remains elevated," the institution said. Despite the government's intention to expand tourism, it is also battling vulnerability to rising sea levels.
"I think it's time for the traditional Western countries to begin to see how they could support developing countries more, so that developing countries are not forced into just relying entirely on China's assistance," Waheed said.
Nonetheless, adopting a balanced approach when dealing with Asia's superpowers China and India — no matter how pressured a smaller state's government may be — is advisable, he added. "We have to manage that in such a way that we don't upset any one of them."
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3ed6d5c658c9375ff5fae53072ad8d22 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/oath-ceo-verizons-ceo-shift-is-a-pure-signal-that-itll-lead-in-5g.html | VIDEO0:5600:56Verizon's CEO shift sign it'll lead in 5G: Oath CEO ArmstrongMad Money with Jim Cramer
Verizon Communications' CEO change has Wall Street buzzing about what's next for the mobile giant, but for Tim Armstrong, CEO of Verizon subsidiary Oath, the move sends a clear message.
"This is just a pure signal, a pure leadership sign that Verizon's going to be a leader in 5G," Armstrong, formerly CEO of AOL, told CNBC in an interview with "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer.
Verizon CTO Hans Vestberg will become CEO in August. Current CEO Lowell McAdam, who has run Verizon since 2011, will take on the role of executive chairman of the company's board.
"Verizon's been a leader in 1G to 4G," Armstrong said. "5G is really where the world's going and today's announcement, with Lowell stepping up to executive chairman and Hans coming in as CEO, really tells you how serious we are about 5G and building out the next layer of connected consumers."
Most major telecommunications companies are racing to establish 5G networks, which will represent the fifth generation of mobile internet connection and offer faster speeds and better connectivity for smartphones and the Internet of Things.
Armstrong argued that 5G will help Oath, the digital media giant that owns Yahoo and AOL, become "the largest media company ... connecting directly to mobile consumers."
Additionally, 5G will offer higher computing power that Oath hopes to leverage in its augmented reality and virtual reality ventures, the CEO said.
"For our business, [5G] represents a really quantum shift," Armstrong told Cramer on Friday. "If you like fantasy [sports] now, you're going to love VR, AR fantasy in real time, being able to follow not just the game, but individual players."
"5G is going to bring an enhancement that will feel like AR-VR-type-level content and services," the CEO continued. "That's why 5G is important. It's more speed, but it's also amazing amounts of compute power for us to do different types of content."
And while the $8 billion Oath doesn't have billions to spend on original content like entertainment juggernaut Netflix, Armstrong said that Verizon's sprawling mobile presence would help Oath get its original and branded content to consumers.
"What consumers want at the end of the day is they want to have a really good use of time, they want to know where they're getting their information from and they want to trust it," Armstrong said.
"There's 3 billion people connected right now. There's another 3 billion that are going to get connected. The vast majority of those are all going to be mobile connections, he continued. "If we can be the first company to bring trusted brands to that size audience overall, that represents an unbelievable opportunity for us as a business and that's what our global team is really excited about."
VIDEO10:5110:51Oath CEO Tim Armstrong: Verizon's CEO shift is a 'pure signal' that it'll lead in 5GMad 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 - Instagram - VineQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com
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e66c569ddad82b7f9de89f2e57b2fb88 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/russian-sanctions-are-helping-to-prevent-another-crimea-natos-stoltenberg-says.html | Russian sanctions are helping to prevent another Crimea, NATO's Stoltenberg says | Russian sanctions are helping to prevent another Crimea, NATO's Stoltenberg says
VIDEO1:2801:28NATO secretary general: Sanctions on Russia are necessaryStreet Signs Europe
NATO has defended the use of economic sanctions against Russia, suggesting they could prevent Moscow from invading other countries.
After annexing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that has not been recognized internationally, Russia said it would not return the region. In response, the United States and European Union have imposed economic sanctions on Russian companies and individuals.
Speaking in Austria on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the measures were counterproductive as they had proved harmful to all parties involved.
But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told CNBC's Willem Marx on Friday that the sanctions were necessary to thwart Russian bullying.
"I think it is at least obvious that if we hadn't done anything it would have lowered the threshold for Russia to do similar things against other countries," Stoltenberg said at the close of a two-day meeting of defense ministers in Brussels.
"Russia has violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighbor Ukraine and has continued to destabilize eastern Ukraine. It has to have consequences, it has to have a cost," he added.
Ukrainian, Russian, German and French foreign ministers are due to meet in Berlin on Monday to discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
VIDEO3:2003:20NATO secretary general: See more US troops in Europe nowStreet Signs Europe
While the total defense spending by NATO allies has risen for four consecutive years, it received harsh criticism from President Donald Trump in 2017. Trump highlighted the outsized contribution from the United States while noting that Germany in particular wasn't hitting the 2 percent of GDP target.
NATO has now unveiled higher expenditure estimates for 2018, with spending among European members, Canada and Turkey forecast to rise by more than 3.8 percent this year.
Stoltenberg told CNBC on Friday that he had personally thanked Trump for helping to force the bigger budgets.
"I met President Trump in the White House and thanked him for his leadership on defense spending because that message has helped me as I travel around NATO capitals," he added.
Stoltenberg said that a "corner had been turned" on the financial commitments to NATO and that in turn had helped to place more U.S. troops in Europe.
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eca7d02c0137e5f923d8d6dcfda0dd10 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/secret-to-surging-wine-sales-could-be-the-intriguing-label-designs.html | The secret trigger that makes you reach for your favorite bottle of wine | The secret trigger that makes you reach for your favorite bottle of wine
VIDEO0:0000:00The secret weapon in the $63 billion wine market is an eye-catching labelBusiness of Design
Grabbing a bottle of wine can be an intimidating task.
There are so many factors to consider: price, terroir, vintage, reputation, varietal. It's enough to give even the most serious oenophile pause. All too often, the choice ultimately comes down to the label.
Winemakers know this. (It might hurt their pride a little, but they know it.) And, increasingly, they're looking for innovative ways to stand out on crowded store shelves by doing everything from incorporating augmented reality into their labels to designing labels to appeal to different age and demographic groups.
"People buy with their eyes," said James Harder, co-founder of Tank Garage Winery in Napa Valley. "When I see something — I don't care if it's a new car or what — if the design is beautiful, I want one. I don't care what's under the hood. You're captured with that first moment."
Treasury Wine Estates' 19 Crimes features a criminal on their bottle. Its Living Wine Lables app, available on the Apple App and Google Play stores, gives a voice to the band of rogues as they tell their infamous stories when the label is viewed through your smartphone.Treasury Wine Estates
Last year the wine industry filled 717,866,271 bottles, according to the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. And much to the chagrin of winemakers looking to sell those, there's no magic bullet for making a great label. Some vineyards, like Tank, opt to keep the designs in-house, sometimes working with outside artists. Others rely on design studios, like CF Napa, to differentiate their look.
But whether they work on the labels in-house or with an outside firm, part of the key to finding what resonates with the customer is knowing what vintners want their wine (or their winery) to stand for. That's key for the more than 9,600 wineries that make up the $63 billion U.S. wine market that have seen sales rise for the past 25 consecutive years.
Harder, for instance, tells the story of the inspiration behind Tank Garage Winery's Lost At Last, a skin-fermented white wine blend. The California winery found itself with a rare lull in harvest season, so he and the winemakers took advantage of the downtime with a trip to Joshua Tree, the well-known national park near Palm Springs, California. There they met a photographer friend when their flight landed and decided to see what fate had in store for them.
They had a chance meeting with fans of musician Gram Parsons, who took them to the spot where the singer/songwriter's body was cremated. They explored the park. And for a short period they forgot all about the looming work of the next phase of harvest as they took photos of the unique plants that grow there.
One of those shots was a black-and-white sunrise picture with a Joshua tree framed in the background. And that, along with the trip, proved to be the theme — and look — of the wine.
"The idea is, in order to find yourself, you have to go get lost," said Harder.
Shoppers, of course, don't know the backstory of the wine unless they go onto Tank's website. But that's intentional.
"We keep the labels really subtle," he said. "We don't want to give too much way. I think in the corporate branding world, they give too much away. Instead, we try to pull back and pique your interest."
Universally, though, label designers say the right label depends on the customer you're trying to attract. In other words, the label on a $100 bottle of wine, such as a Cakebread Cabernet. is going to be a lot different than a $20 bottle of Clois du Bois Merlot.
"You can typically put far less information on the front label [of a $100 bottle]," said Dave Schuemann, owner and creative director at CF Napa, whose extensive client list ranges from Jordan Vineyard to Kendall-Jackson to J Vineyards and Winery. "They tend to be more conservative, in general. That price point is a place you don't need to be as reassuring to the consumer. ... [For $20 bottles] there has been a strong trend toward developing lifestyle brands, something that has its own personality, and it tires to own that. It's less about the winemaker and more about an attitude."
Schuemann points to the Ménage à Trois line of wines as an example of that. There's no talk of the wine's region of origin (beyond California) or the experience of the wine maker. Instead, the label talks about taking "a walk on the wild side" and gives brief tasting notes. It's designed to appeal to younger adults, who don't especially care about the details a wine enthusiast would.
Two others might include Treasury Wine Estates' 19 Crimes and The Walking Dead wine. Neither focuses on technique or vintage on their label. Instead, both offer an augmented reality experience. (The Walking Dead wines show characters and zombies coming to life, while 19 Crimes feature a criminal on the bottle who tells the story of their crimes.)
The Living Wine Labels app for The Walking Dead wines, introduced in February, builds on the popularity of the 19 Crimes wine app.Treasury Wine Estates
"Storytelling is a critical way to engage with consumers," says Andrew Floor, vice president of brand and digital marketing at Treasury. "It's a way to engage on an emotional and rational level. It's as important for Beringer as it is for 19 Crimes. With 19 Crimes, though, the consumers aren't that involved in the wine category or the wine experience. They know they like wine. They have a flavor category in wine they enjoy. They're much more emotionally led."
It was, in fact, emotion that led to the creation of the 19 Wines label. John Boyle O'Reilly fronts the flagship red. The Irish poet and rebel was sent to Australia in lieu of the gallows in 1867 and went on to be national hero there for his later literature and early work with civil rights.
Seven years ago, Treasury was looking for a way to make its Australian wine stand out as the category suffered and was struck by O'Reilly's story. The company began talking with biographers and family members to learn more about his journey from rebel to hero.
"It's a story that's very true to our hearts," he says. "It's very emotional. It's full of qualities like persistence and patriotism. We thought this is a great way to tell the country of origin story, to tell the history of Australia and how it came to be through the heroes and heroines, who happened to be convicts at the time. ... We wanted to make a hero of the people who led that life. It was about going out and finding real-life heroes who inspired us, whose story was very interesting. And it was a great way to encapsulate the story of Australian colonization."
A few years after launch, the company incorporated augmented reality into the labels, using the Living Wine Labels app. The technology brings the stories of each wine bottle to life by animating the labels' photographs and prompting characters to give monologues to reveal the story behind each bottle. That has led to an even greater explosion of business.
Augmented reality might just be the future of wine labels, in fact. Schuemann says that there's a "huge opportunity" - and not just for low cost wineries.
"I can see a message from the winemaker in a $100 wine, where he's talking about the vintage or maybe how long he suggests you lay this wind down," he says. "And it can change, so you can check back to see the notes on how the wine is tasting now. We're just scratching the surface of AR."
It's catching on fast, though. The Living Wine Labels app, which supports five wine brands now, has been downloaded more than 1.3 million times globally. And there are more than 200,000 videos of the app in action on social media platforms.
Sometimes, though, the label is less about the artwork on it and more about location. Local wineries that are located in areas where the "Buy local" movement is especially strong can use the label to help catch the eyes of shoppers with those passions.
Macari Vineyards
"The wine label helps in New York City and in retail. The design process is intimate and wants to capture the feeling of a family-owned special wine," said Gabriella Macari, director of marketing and sales at Macari Vineyards, a family-owned winery in Mattituck, Long Island.
High-end wine labels often feature serene images. Mid-level wines regularly feature flowing descriptions of the tastes to expect. And inexpensive options may focus on experience. There are, however, a few universal truths when it comes to wine labels.
First, you have limited space — and you have to be aware of exactly what's acceptable, as all labels must be preapproved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau before they go on store shelves.
Second, the label should be sufficiently unique, so if consumers love the wine, they can easily describe the bottle to friends when making a suggestion. (The wine world recently has started taking a lesson from the craft beer industry in how it utilizes word of mouth to boost sales.)
Finally, the label should make the wine look more expensive than it actually is. That way, whoever brings the bottle to a dinner can impress their friends.
"We try to make labels that look $10 to $15 more than the price point to make a value proposition built in," said CF Napa's Schuemann. "The consumer wants to know, Does it look like I spent money on it?"
So how much does a good label impact sales? That's not as easy a question as it seems. Relabeling a wine usually comes as part of a larger marketing push, so is it the label? The refocused message? The marketing?
Treasury Wine Estate's Floor points to the rejuvenation of Sterling last year. The bottles went from a dark rectangle with a sedate image to a brushed silver/chrome flowing label that features an embossed seal of the winery. That gave the wine a more sophisticated look that went hand in hand with its new slogan: "Always polished, never dull." But Floor stops short of giving the label all the credit for the brand's revival (which he declined to detail financially).
"There's a myriad of things that rejuvenated the brand," he said. "Without a doubt, the label and packaging is important [though]. It's one of the first things that draws people's attention."
VIDEO0:5900:59Kevin O'Leary: Here's how to pick a great bottle of wine for under $20Make It
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0abdbcae8e2dbb53606b149f78f0f960 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/tariffs-make-no-sense-for-business-national-retail-federation-ceo.html | Tariffs make 'no sense' for businesses, the National Retail Federation CEO says | Tariffs make 'no sense' for businesses, the National Retail Federation CEO says
VIDEO1:0401:04Don't want Trump's trade rhetoric to outrun reality, says NRF CEOSquawk Box
Tariffs could end up reversing the benefits from President Donald Trump's tax reform, the head of the National Retail Federation told CNBC on Friday.
Matthew Shay, the association's president and CEO, said businesses and consumers have been faring well from the reform, but that's now in jeopardy.
"[Companies are] investing in their businesses. They're investing in their people. They're expanding. They're doing all these great things," Shay said on "Squawk Box." "And we're going to erase it all with a potential trade war."
"It makes no sense to go down this road when we have all this momentum," he added.
Shay said individuals' gains have been reflected in strong consumer confidence.
Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act last December, slashing the corporate tax rate — as high as 39 percent for some businesses — to a flat rate of 21 percent. Since then, unemployment has fallen to historic lows and there are now more jobs in the U.S. economy than people looking for work.
But in March, Trump announced steel and aluminum tariffs for select countries to correct what he deemed were unfair trading practices.
Since then, the market has continued to fluctuate wildly since as investors fear possible trade wars.
On May 31, the Trump administration announced its decision to move ahead with the metal tariffs on the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
Market watchers are on edge in fear of retaliatory tariffs.
Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman and senior partner at PwC, said on "Squawk Box" that relationship-building is an important part of any business.
Ryan, whose firm consults CEOs from a wide range of industries, said: "They love tax reform. They love regulatory reform. And they do think we need better trade deals."
"Now, having said that, they also believe we need long-term and global relationships in order to be sustainable businesses and take care of our own workers," Ryan said.
Shay said individuals and businesses will ultimately end up paying for the tariffs: consumers with higher prices and businesses with the uncertainty the tariffs create over sourcing and supply chain issues.
He acknowledged that Trump runs "an unconventional administration," with new negotiating tactics.
"But in the meantime, you're going to see prices start to creep up for consumers," Shay said.
"Our trade policies ought to hit the right target, and the right target is China," he said. "The right target is not American consumers."
WATCH: PwC U.S. Chairman Tim Ryan talks CEOs and business.
VIDEO2:5002:50CEO survey shows pledge to implement diversity planSquawk Box
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18ba8099080a4727c10b9e1f3a7278c6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/tech-sector-now-is-reminiscent-of-the-1990s-dotcom-bubble-jim-paulsen.html | The tech sector now is reminiscent of the 1990s dotcom bubble: Wall Street's Jim Paulsen | The tech sector now is reminiscent of the 1990s dotcom bubble: Wall Street's Jim Paulsen
VIDEO8:5108:51Markets feeling dot-com déjà vu?Squawk on the Street
Warning signs in today's tech sector are reminiscent of the dotcom boom of the late 1990s that eventually went bust, market veteran Jim Paulsen told CNBC on Friday.
The current "character and attitude of the marketplace" are similar to the belief then that "tech can't lose," said the chief investment strategist at The Leuthold Group.
"What I find interesting, is that there's been significant narrowing of participation in the S&P 500 as these FANG stocks have really taken over," Paulsen said on "Squawk on the Street."
In 2013, Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money," popularized the term FANG, which stands for shares of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, now part of Alphabet. More recently, another "A" was added to FAANG, representing Apple, and there's been talk about how to incorporate an "M" for Microsoft.
Excluding tech stocks, the rest of the S&P has consistently, since 2013, been underperforming, compared with the overall market, Paulsen said.
"You could argue the contemporary fascination with technology stocks has just completed an entire dotcom cycle," Paulsen wrote in a note to clients. "That is, for five years, tech has dominated the S&P marketplace which is surprisingly close to how long tech dominated during the dotcom run in the 1990s."
"I just wonder if it might end similarly," Paulsen told CNBC Friday. "Not to the same magnitude, but similarly."
The "dotcom bubble" from about 1995 to 2000, was a time of rapid grow in the equity market fueled by internet company investments. The bottom fell out in March 2000, which saw the Nasdaq, a index of with lots of tech stocks, lose nearly 80 percent of its value by October 2002.
Larry Haverty, managing director at LIH Investment Advisors, said there are "a lot of warning signs" in the market right now, such as increased regulatory scrutiny in the tech sector.
"Eventually the law of large numbers is going to get [the FANG stocks]," Haverty said on "Squawk on the Street." "With Amazon, I think the demon is antitrust."
But Paulsen pointed out a clear distinction between today's technology sector and the 1990s is the Russell 2000. Within the small-cap index, he said, tech stocks are matching overall market performance, "rather than significantly outperforming it."
He added, "Unlike the dotcom in the late 90s, where both small-cap and large-cap stocks were far outperforming the average stock, that's not happening in the small cap universe."
If investors want to maintain a technology weight in their portfolios, Paulsen said, "Do it in small- and mid-cap stocks as opposed to the popular FAANG names."
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c0bfed6f7d6a347b2edff6ef774a9441 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/tensions-rise-at-the-world-cup-as-nike-refuses-to-supply-iranian-players-with-cleats.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain | Tensions rise at the World Cup as Nike refuses to supply Iranian players with cleats | Tensions rise at the World Cup as Nike refuses to supply Iranian players with cleats
Vahid Amiri (C) of the Iran national football team during a training session at Lokomotiv Bakovka Training Centre, on June 6, 2018, ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.Sergei Bobylev | TASS | Getty Images
A week away from the first games of the World Cup and geopolitical tensions are making their way into the event.American sportswear brand Nike said they would not provide cleats to the Iranian National team this year. The decision followed the Trump administration's plan to reimpose sanctions on the Middle Eastern nation, the company said.
President Donald Trump announced a new set of sanctions last month after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal.Sportswear companies like Adidas, Nike and Puma vie for sponsorship deals with some of the world's best soccer teams ahead of the World Cup, one the most highly watched sporting events around the globe.
VIDEO3:3603:36Veteran sportscaster Andres Cantor on World Cup hypePower Lunch
Nike said this year about 60 percent of the players at the World Cup would be wearing the company's cleats, while competitor Adidas will be outfitting 12 of 32 teams in this year's games.
Despite Iran being ranked the top team in the Asian Football Confederation, the team has struggled through the years in gaining sponsorships as a result of international sanctions. Nike does sponsor individual Iranian players who compete in soccer clubs outside of their home nations like Swedish-born Iranian player Saman Ghoddos. It is unclear if he will also be effected by Nike's decision.This move comes right before Iran's first game against Morocco and is being condemned by Iranian interest groups and Iranians.
"For many Iranian Americans, the World Cup is a rare chance to put aside the politics that complicate our relationship with our ancestral homeland and just enjoy rooting for Team Melli," the National Iranian American Council told CNBC. "Nike is dragging politics back into the picture and souring what should be a global celebration. Nike was an outspoken opponent of Trump's Muslim ban that targets Iranians, yet now here they are helping enforce this new shameful policy against Iranians. We hope they will join us in pressing for the Trump administration to reverse course and ensure sports aren't turned into a political tool."Along with NIAC, Iran's team manager Carlos Queiroz has called on FIFA, the sport's governing body, to step in.
"Players get used to their sports equipment and it's not right to change them a week before such important matches," he said. FIFA has yet to respond.Nike, however, is not the only company to wade into geopolitical hot water. This past winter South Korean tech company Samsung refused to give commemorative phones to Iranian and North Korean athletes, citing United Nations sanctions on luxury goods. The move not only went to the Olympic governing body, but prompted Iranian governmental officials to threaten trade ramifications.
Samsung did eventually reverse course, apologizing for the decision.
Adidas, the German-based sports retailer, also cited sanctions at the last World Cup as the reason for not outfitting the Iranian soccer players. This year the company, according to head of the Iranian football federation, gave a steep discount to the Iranian team to buy uniforms, although it does not officially sponsor the team.CNBC reached out to Adidas for comment. Nike said: "The sanctions mean that, as a U.S. company, we cannot provide shoes to players in the Iran National team at this time."
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24ba3dda855e3b33a8f2d9184030f068 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/trump-is-helping-putin-with-a-key-goal-when-he-spurns-us-allies.html | Trump is helping Putin with a key goal when he spurns US allies | Trump is helping Putin with a key goal when he spurns US allies
VIDEO3:4903:49Historical alliances in question as Trump reluctantly attends G-7Squawk Alley
Vladimir Putin tried to help Donald Trump win the presidency. As president, Trump is helping Putin achieve a top strategic goal.And the question is: Why?That mystery deepened Friday when Trump, as he openly attacked U.S. allies while heading for meetings with them, called for Russia to be readmitted to the G-7 club of advanced industrial democracies. The U.S. and its allies ejected Russia after its 2014 seizure of Crimea.With that concession, Trump capped a whirl of activity advancing Russia's objective of splintering the alliances undergirding the Western world's security and prosperity for the past 70 years. French President Emmanuel Macron, incensed by the trade conflicts Trump instigated, declared that G-7 partners gathered in Canada this weekend might cut out the U.S. for purposes of the summit communique.
This followed the president's earlier reluctance to embrace North Atlantic Treaty Organization commitments safeguarding Europe against Russia, his delay in implementing new congressional sanctions against Russia and his praise of Putin himself. Those actions, according to U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials, followed criminal interference by Russian operatives to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
The starkness of Trump's words — he stated no conditions for returning Russia to international favor on the same morning he impugned Canada's honesty — unsettled observers across the political spectrum.
VIDEO4:2104:21Sen. Heitkamp: Congress should have a role in national security-designed tariffsSquawk Box
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona flatly rejected Trump's idea, which Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio said "does not protect or defend the national security interests of the United States or our allies." Others cast Trump's unusual battles with historic friends while reaching out to an existential historic enemy as part of a corrupt bargain that put him in the White House in the first place.
"This transatlantic rift is a gift to Russia that amply repays Vladimir Putin's investment in helping the Trump campaign," wrote the conservative foreign policy expert Max Boot.
Former aides to President Barack Obama spoke out just as bluntly.
"If Putin were giving Trump instructions, it's hard to imagine how he could do more damage to America's alliance and global leadership than Trump has already done," ex-national security advisor Susan Rice said on Twitter.
"He doesn't even try not to seem like the Manchurian candidate," tweeted Samantha Power, Obama's former ambassador to the United Nations.
"Trump picks fights with our allies and bends over backward to appease Putin," noted former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. "Why?"
Only Trump knows the answer. He insists he's been "much tougher on Russia" than Obama was and that his campaign did not conspire with Russia to tilt the 2016 outcome.
Nor has Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller alleged such a conspiracy. But Mueller has indicted the Trump campaign's former chief executive Paul Manafort, Manafort's top deputy, a foreign policy advisor, three Kremlin-linked companies and 13 Russians for other crimes.
On Friday, he filed obstruction of justice charges against someone new: Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian associate of Manafort's with ties to Putin's intelligence service.
Richard Haass, a foreign policy advisor to both presidents Bush, stops short of connecting Trump's policies with Putin's election help. He notes "parallel impulses" shared by both leaders.
Putin decided in recent years to boost Russia's power by disrupting Western democratic rivals, rather than becoming more like them. Trump decided to disrupt a post-World War II international order that he insists shortchanges American economic and security interests.
Yet Haass, who now runs the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, still considers Trump's choices mystifying. That's largely because, like economists and defense experts on both parties, he considers the benefits to America of the trade and security alliances postwar leaders built so obvious.
Whatever motivates Trump's approach, "We will pay a price across the board," Haass says. "I can't account for it. I can't explain it. I don't believe he's explained it."
VIDEO2:4302:43What the G-7 summit is aboutDigital Original
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5b7daa1ecf1d31054cd18682afe24aa6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/trump-vs-world-tariff-dispute-likely-to-cast-a-chill-over-g-7-summit.html | Trump vs. world: Tariff dispute likely to cast a chill over G-7 summit | Trump vs. world: Tariff dispute likely to cast a chill over G-7 summit
President Donald Trump Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
There will likely be a chill in the air at Friday's G-7 meeting in Quebec following President Donald Trump's decision to press ahead with tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
The two-day summit will see Trump meet with his counterparts from Canada, Japan, the U.K., France, Germany and Italy.
Given that last week the U.S. announced it would impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports from countries attending the G-7 summit, the meeting is unlikely to be pleasant.
One strategist, Craig Nicol at Deutsche Bank, said in a note Tuesday that "all eyes appear to be on this Friday and Saturday's G-7 meeting in Quebec and whether or not it will be a united G-7 meeting or more a G-6+1."
The countries affected by Trump's tariffs have already responded. The EU said it would retaliate, having already indicated in March what goods, ranging from cranberries and orange juice to Bourbon and motorbikes, it could target. It said its tariffs could take effect on July 1.
VIDEO3:1103:11Tariffs could lead the US into the next recession, economist saysStreet Signs Europe
Mexico announced Wednesday that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on U.S. pork imports. Canada, meanwhile, is looking to coordinate its response to the tariffs with the EU.
China, too, said last weekend that it would scrap any deals aimed at mitigating trade tensions if Trump's threatened tariff hike on Chinese goods goes ahead.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron met Wednesday to discuss their next move and said in a statement Thursday that they both "support a strong, responsible, transparent multilateralism to face the global challenges."
Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist at BNY Mellon, said the summit was looking like it could be "one of the liveliest summit meetings in several decades." He said the crux of the matter was a different approach taken to trade negotiations by the U.S
"I think the problem is that there are two very different approaches here. Within the U.S. it seems to have an approach of, 'Well, this is how we would negotiate in a business situation,' whereas the rest of the world is looking at this and saying, 'This is how we deal with situations like this on a diplomatic basis,' and they're two entirely different approaches," Derrick told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Thursday.
VIDEO3:0103:01Trade spat could strengthen dollar in short term, strategist saysStreet Signs Europe
"We don't know how it's going to work out, but you'd probably think that the diplomatic approach, which is the tried and tested one for several hundred years in these circumstances, is probably the right one."
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow tried to down play trade tensions Wednesday, noting that Trump will hold bilateral meetings with his French and Canadian counterparts during the summit. He described the trade disputes as "a family quarrel" but said Trump would not back down.
U.S. economist Carl Weinberg, from High Frequency Economics, told CNBC on Thursday that the Trump administration had put itself "at angst with all our political and economic allies" and that Kudlow's comments were not reassuring.
"Mr Kudlow suggests that if we're patient we'll see results, but maybe he knows something we don't, but I don't think the Chinese are afraid of U.S. tariffs. I think they have a lot less to lose in this game than the Americans do both politically and economically and I don't think this American strategy is going to succeed in doing anything except encouraging our allies to pivot away from their relationships with us and closer to relationships with China," he said.
Despite criticism of Trump's breaking of the status quo regarding trade relationships, the data highlight persistent imbalances between the U.S. and the rest of the world.
VIDEO3:4503:45Trump administration has put US at odds with all economic and political allies: ProSquawk Box Europe
U.S. commerce department data from April showed that the U.S. trade deficit (the amount by which its imports outweighed its exports) dropped 2.1 percent to $46.2 billion, a seven-month low, thanks to a rise in exports.
A protectionist stance over trade — albeit to protect domestic industries — and retaliatory measures by other countries could reverse the positive trend seen in export growth, however.
Whether Trump will modify his course at the G-7 summit is unlikely, however. James Knightly, chief international economist at ING, said in a note Wednesday that Trump would not cut G-7 nations any slack given trade data and persistent deficits.
"Year-to-date, the trade deficit shows little sign of narrowing," Knightly said in a research note.
"The deficit with China over the first four months of 2018 is $119 billion up from $106.5 billion in the first four months of 2017. The deficit with the EU is up nearly $11 billion over the same period and the deficit with Mexico is up by $1.1 billion," he said, noting that only the deficits with Korea and Canada have narrowed.
"As such, Trump is likely to keep the pressure on China and the EU at the forthcoming G-7 meeting on Friday."
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371aab6ce06be1b043a0ed25d8766ee9 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/us-stock-futures-dow-data-geopolitics-and-international-markets-on-the-agenda.html | Stocks rise more than 1% this week, but gains capped by trade tensions | Stocks rise more than 1% this week, but gains capped by trade tensions
VIDEO8:5108:51Markets feeling dot-com déjà vu?Squawk on the Street
Stocks rose on Friday, adding to solid weekly gains, but their rise was kept in check amid increasing tensions between the U.S. and key trade partners as the G-7 summit kicked off.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed 75.12 points higher at 25,316.53, as UnitedHealth and Home Depot contributed the most to the gains. The gained 0.3 percent to 2,779.03 as consumer staples rose more than 1 percent. The Nasdaq composite closed 0.1 percent higher at 7,645.51.
For the week, the major averages all rose at least 1.2 percent.
On Friday, President Donald Trump arrived at the meeting, along with other world leaders — including those who currently govern nations that Trump has inflicted tariffs upon.
One aspect that's put investors on edge is a fresh tweet by Trump, in which he accused France and Canada of levying "massive tariffs" and establishing "non-monetary barriers."
Tweet
This came after French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters that while the U.S. incumbent may not mind being isolated, the other leaders could sign a six-country agreement if needs be.
This is "historically unprecedented," Benn Steil director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Friday. "This G-7 summit is really shaping up to be more of a G-6 tribunal with America in the docket."
"We are moving in the direction of a trade war. It's really quite remarkable. Despite the fact that the president's advisors have identified China as the villain of the peace on trade, Trump's tariffs disproportionately hit America's G-7 allies," Steil said.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The moves Friday come after U.S. markets finished Thursday's session on a mixed note. While the Dow closed in the black on Thursday, the Nasdaq fell from a record high and the S&P also closed lower. The mixed session was driven in part by a sell-off in tech shares and concerns over emerging markets.
"Yesterday's minor hiccup … should offer a reminder that the road that stocks will take to refresh their historic peaks from late January will not be linear especially with emerging markets struggling with a stronger dollar and the rhetoric surrounding global trade amplifying," said Jeremy Klein, chief market strategist at FBN Securities.
"Nevertheless, the favorable prospects for corporate executives to churn out windfall profits should ultimately drag the broader indices beyond their previous highs," said Klein.
In corporate news, Apple dropped 1 percent after Nikkei reported the company is warning suppliers about a sharp decline in parts orders.
Despite Friday's decline, it was a solid week for Apple and the rest of the technology sector. The overall technology sector gained 0.7 percent this week, led by shares of chip maker Advanced Micro Devices and Micron, which rose more than 5.5 percent. Meanwhile, Apple is also up 0.7 percent this week.
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51918f65ca18827d02d9e6991f427d68 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/08/women-are-using-fertility-apps-as-contraception-but-experts-are-skeptical.html | Women are using fertility apps as contraception, but experts are skeptical | Women are using fertility apps as contraception, but experts are skeptical
VIDEO3:4603:46Fertility apps are on the rise, but should we trust them? Digital Original
Millions of women are turning to their smartphone to track their menstrual cycles.
There are almost 100 apps to help them. Some are pretty simple, designed primarily to help women track their periods and predict ovulation. But others have more detailed features and bill themselves as an effective means of natural contraception.
One app, Natural Cycles, used its own basal body thermometer and fertility prediction algorithm to become a certified method of contraception in Europe last year. Natural Cycles is currently awaiting a decision from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on whether it can market the app as contraception in the U.S.
In December, Natural Cycles released a study demonstrating that its app is 99 percent effective with perfect use and 93 percent effective with normal use, which is better than the pill. However, the app sparked criticism after 37 Swedish women got pregnant while using Natural Cycles as their primary form of birth control.
The Natural Cycles app uses an algorithm to predict fertility.
Experts like Dr. Ruth Ann Crystal are skeptical. The Bay Area-based obstetrician and gynecologist said she doesn't believe a fertility tracking app could ever be 99 percent effective.
"I would say all OB/GYNs would agree with me on that," she said. "There's just too much variation in the human body as to when people ovulate, be that from stress or travel or being up late or sickness."
Crystal said the Natual Cycles study was problematic from the start because the founders of the company co-authored the paper alongside members of its advisory board. Now there's a backlash from women who trusted the numbers but still wound up pregnant.
In the U.S., there are no FDA approved contraception apps. But dozens of apps like Glow, Kindara, Daysy and Groove offer fertility tracking options for women who are seeking to avoid pregnancy.
Francine Aguerre Herrera, a San Francisco-based acupuncturist, said she started using an app because she wanted to regulate her cycle in a more natural way.
"I went ahead and went off birth control with acupuncture and herbs, and started doing it the old-fashioned way, where you track your cycle on paper," she said.
Five years ago, Herrera discovered Kindara, which she says helps her track her cycle more efficiently and responsibly. She calls herself "living proof" that you can use the app as contraception, though she admits that doctors are usually shocked to hear she's using it as her primary form of birth control.
Apps like Kindara promote fertility awareness, a natural contraceptive method that, at its most rigorous, requires users to track their cycle length, basal body temperature and the appearance of cervical fluids. For women seeking to prevent pregnancy, Kindara doesn't make fertility predictions but instead requires users to interpret their own fertility charts according to a specific set of guidelines outlined on its website.
A sample fertility chart on the Kindara app, based upon basal body temperature and cervical fluids.
Clinical trials of the fertility awareness method demonstrate low failure rates for perfect use. However, there's a lot of diligence involved and education needed to correctly interpret the body's signs and rhythms, Crystal said.
"I would worry that people don't remember to do all these steps for these apps," she said. "It's going to be hard to be perfect and do it on clockwork always, and that's one of the reasons these methods won't work as well."
Whether or not daily tracking is feasible, doctors and some fertility awareness advocates find common ground when it comes to relying on an app's predictive algorithms.
"Your phone is kind of averaging everything out, but it's not really tracking you," said Laura Brown, a women's holistic healer and a user of the Kindara app.
Some fertility awareness advocates like Brown encourage women to educate themselves to the point where they can trust their own body and interpretation of the data over an app like Natural Cycle's predictions.
But with so many women already tracking their cycles on their phones, and a desire among many to avoid hormones or implants, Crystal predicts that the prevalence of app-based family planning will continue to rise.
She emphasized the need for more randomized clinical trials. And she said it's unlikely that an app could ever outpace other traditionally reliable methods of birth control.
"Do I think that someday an app such as this could be as effective as the pill or an IUD?" she said. "No, I don't. I really think that the human body has too much give and take."
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1e2d2a35c32d81664d98b2aac5b18a26 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/09/kate-spades-legacy-a-new-style-for-the-quintessential-american-woman.html | Kate Spade suicide defies a lighthearted, all-American style that forever changed fashion | Kate Spade suicide defies a lighthearted, all-American style that forever changed fashion
Designer Kate Spade poses for a portrait in her new handbag store on Newbury Street in Boston on June 25, 1999.Boston Globe | Getty Images
The polka-dot studded handbags of the Kate Spade accessories line weren't always in the glamorous storefront windows of SoHo; for the namesake designer, her luxury handbag business began in an apartment attic. Spade's accessories line was known for its quintessential pop of color and bright patterns, and it was the originality of Spade's business model that allowed the entrepreneur to carve out a foothold in the well-established world of luxury handbag brands.
The 55-year-old designer was found dead Tuesday in an apparent suicide, hanging from a red scarf on a bedroom door. Although she is best known for her quirky handbags, Spade was also remembered in the fashion industry for her business model and rags-to-riches origins.
Spade's eponymous brand skyrocketed after establishing its standout qualities; in the era of classic European luxury brands, she became a fashion icon through accessories that were both visually appealing and affordable. Spade built the brand with her husband Andy Spade in the early 90's, most recently starting a new accessories line called Frances Valentine.
"When Kate introduced her line back in the 90's her approach was drastically different from anything else on the market in both aesthetic and price point," Bloomingdale's CEO Tony Spring said. "At the time the handbag industry was dominated by European luxury and Kate entered with a simple yet fun design sensibility, high quality and approachable pricing. She introduced a levity into the fashion space that I think the customer found refreshing. She also shared her personality as the face of the brand. Her lighthearted quirkiness and all-American style was relatable to many women."
A model poses at the Kate Spade New York Fall 2012 presentation during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at 137-139 West 26th Street on February 10, 2012 in New York City.Eugene Gologursky | Getty Images
But Spade wasn't always a big player in the handbag industry—she began designing handbags after quitting a magazine publication and finding herself scrambling for income. She scoured Yellow Pages and became a de facto apprentice to a homespun pattern maker, using supplies of clipped sheets of paper and fabric samples to practice designs. She didn't make profit for the first three years, and when the Barneys and Fred Segal retail chains found her at a trade show, the first batch of bags were exported from crammed cardboard boxes in the Spades' Tribeca loft.
"As a woman entrepreneur, in an industry that still has glass ceilings for women in its leadership positions, she was one of its pioneers," Fashion Institute of Technology Professor Eileen Karp said. "She was a hands-on designer who understood the nuances of what was involved in actually making bags—how the selection of fabrications, the balance of the designs, the structure and engineering of the bags affected their ultimate quality and appearance. Besides having a strong creative vision, Kate Spade understood the business of fashion."
Spade's brand became known as the symbol of the quintessential American woman; she re-vamped what most women simply glanced over, according to Parsons Fashion Studies Professor Hazel Clark. Spade brought the handbag back into focus after the trend dipped in the '50s; she was the first to bring color and function to American accessories, making even the diaper bags fashionable to carry, Clark said.
"Kate Spade's designs reached all ages, often serving as a rite of passage for many, a milestone marker – for a girl becoming a young woman, a young woman becoming a career woman, and, for others, a bag to be savored for use on special occasions," Karp said.
Models pose at Kate Spade New York Spring 2017 Fashion Presentation at Russian Tea Room on February 10, 2017 in New York City.Cindy Ord | Getty Images
Spade's designs not only caught the eye of American women; just as she was about to give up the company, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus discovered Spade's bags, quadrupling her business and taking her platform to large-scale retail. Later, other fashion giants caught on, including Macy's and Bloomingdale's, and her company ultimately sold to Coach (now Tapestry) in a $2.4 billion deal.
Bloomingdale's CEO reminisced on Spade's debut at the store: "Bloomingdale's has a long history and friendship with Kate Spade extending back to the early days of the brand," Spring said. "Her designs injected refreshing originality into the accessory industry which resonated deeply with women. Bloomingdale's continually seeks to offer products our customer feels a connection to and Kate's designs provided just that."
But Spade stayed true to her small-attic roots; her winning business tactic was preserving the brand in dedicated stores even after being picked up by retailers, according to Clark, developing the small-shop experience to be as visually appealing as her handbags.
Display at the Kate Spade flagship store in New York City in 2006 for a Kate Spade & Jack Spade spring accessory collection.Rob Loud | Getty Images
"I remember being very struck by the shops, that visual presence," Clark said. "There was a real coherence. I was just struck by the stores; they were just a really stunning place to go and look around. They were such a range and delight. That was really one of the great successes."
For a designer who started from cutting fabrics in her New York City attic to studding the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue, Spade continues to serve as a fashion and business inspiration, capturing the idealism of the American businesswoman. For fashion corporations and young entrepreneurs alike, her legacy carries on with the millions of handbags still on the arms of many.
"Kate Spade was a true innovator," Spring said. "She was immensely talented, passionate about her brand and introduced a product line that was unlike anything else at the time. Quality, unique product coupled with creative marketing was Kate's winning formula. She leaves behind an indelible mark on women's fashion."
More from the Business of Design:
Apple's secret weapon in making Watch a fashion successHow label design has become crucial to selling winePuma and MIT invent a sneaker that's living
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2c98a4e4c2f00cb01933eb5bda19a3bc | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/09/romanian-simona-halep-beats-american-sloane-stephens-to-win-french-open.html | Romanian Simona Halep beats American Sloane Stephens to win French Open | Romanian Simona Halep beats American Sloane Stephens to win French Open
World number one Simona Halep of Romania recovered from a sluggish start to clinch her first Grand Slam title with a 3-6 6-4 6-1 win over American Sloane Stephens in the French Open final on Saturday.
Stephens, seeded 10th, used her powerful game to full effect to take the first set but then ran out of steam to allow Romania's Halep to complete a memorable victory.
Roland Garros tweet
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64ea54fe23a26123f181443900867457 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/10/businesses-capitalize-on-trump-kim-summit-with-impersonators-and-more.html | Impersonators and kimchi burgers: Businesses capitalize on the Trump-Kim summit | Impersonators and kimchi burgers: Businesses capitalize on the Trump-Kim summit
Businesses are getting a case of summit fever as Singapore gears up to host a historic meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Cash registers are ringing for some of them, too, as they take advantage of the hype around the summit, set to be held in the city-state on June 12.
Tech start-up Vybes hired Trump and Kim impersonators — American Dennis Alan and Australian-Chinese Howard X, respectively — for the weekend to promote its mobile app. At the event held in a downtown mall on Saturday, people were asked to download the app to pay for a selfie with one or both of them.
Hannes Santana, director of marketing at Vybes, said the company decided to bring the impersonators to Singapore because "Trump and Kim are the biggest influencers on the planet."
Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump impersonator hug each other during a promotional event on June 9, 2018 in Singapore.Toh Ting Wei | AFP | Getty Images
He said "thousands" of users downloaded the app on Saturday. More than 500 selfies were sold through the app in roughly three hours.
There has been a wide array of summit-themed offerings and marketing campaigns capitalizing on the historic meeting.
For one, cannabis cryptocurrency company PotCoin sponsored basketball star Dennis Rodman to be in Singapore for the summit.
Dennis Rodman tweet: Thanks to my loyal sponsors from @potcoin and my team at @Prince_Mrketing , I will be flying to Singapore for the historical Summit. I'll give whatever support is needed to my friends, @realDonaldTrump and Marshall Kim Jong Un.
Rodman has made several visits to North Korea, and said in a recent tweet that he will give "whatever support is needed" to Trump and Kim.
Meanwhile, global fast food chain KFC renamed a fried chicken box to a "Four Peace Meal" on its Singapore-oriented Facebook page, and Singapore-based Mexican restaurant Lucha Loco made special tacos named "El Trumpo" and "Rocket Man." That latter dish is a reference to what Trump once called his North Korean counterpart.
Will Leonard, group general manager of the Loco Group, said the restaurant had sold out of the $7.50 (S$10) tacos every night since they launched on Monday.
A Mexican restaurant in Singapore created the El Trumpo and Rocket Man tacos for the Trump-Kim summit.Ore Huiying | Getty Images
Zach Wen, the owner of Singapore's OSG Bar + Kitchen, came up with a Korean and American twist on the traditional Singaporean dish of nasi lemak, a dish of coconut rice and chili sauce. He insisted that his dish — which he dubbed Harmony Nasi Lemak — is not a gimmick and will be on his menu permanently.
"Harmony is a daily effort," he said.
Wen added that more people have been taking photographs rather than buying the $16 (S$21) dish.
"Maybe I don't make much, but that doesn't matter," he said. "We want to spread harmony, so we don't want to be seen as ripping off this summit commercially.
A man looks at a promotional poster outside a local eatery, Harmony Nasi Lemak, which offers a special Trump Kim-Chi dish to its menu on June 6, 2018 in Singapore.Getty Images
He even paid tribute to the U.S. leader's trade posturing, saying that the dish used U.S. beef "to make Mr. Trump happy."
As for the hospitality industry, hotels are cashing in on the influx of visitors for the summit.
The Royal Plaza on Scotts, a hotel in the heart of Singapore's shopping district, has seen about a 20 percent increase in bookings since the summit was first announced in April. Patrick Fiat, general manager of the hotel, said he was expecting more bookings to come in over the weekend and that the occupancy rate should be in "the high 90s."
That hotel is about a 15 minute walk to the Shangri-La, where Trump is expected to stay, and it's only a 10 minute walk to the St. Regis, where Kim is reportedly staying.
To commemorate the event, the Royal Plaza created a special kimchi burger, which will only be sold for one week. The dish was only launched on Friday, but Fiat said the burger has increased traffic at the restaurant by 20 percent.
The Trump Kim burger, in Singapore June 7, 2018.Edgar Su | Reuters
The general manager said he expects to sell 500 burgers by the end of the week, adding that the hotel it will give away bite-sized versions of the burger on June 12 to "share the excitement of the summit."
Singapore businesses may seem like they are profiting from the event, but Singapore as a whole may be paying a price for the prestige of hosting the event.
In fact, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told local media on Sunday that the Trump-Kim meeting will cost about $20 million Singaporean dollars (nearly $15 million) to host.
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66a3febc5d89a5f81bae9856e5d8cfa6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/10/forex-yen-canadian-dollar-in-focus-after-g-7-trade-fracas.html | Dollar, euro range-bound ahead of central bank meetings, N.Korea summit | Dollar, euro range-bound ahead of central bank meetings, N.Korea summit
Torsakarin | iStock / 360 | Getty Images
The U.S. dollar and euro on Monday were range-bound ahead of decisive meetings of both central banks this week and President Donald Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday.
The greenback was up 0.03 percent against a basket of six currencies during Monday's session, despite heightened worries about a global trade war following a spat at the Group of Seven summit in Canada between Trump and other leaders over automobile tariffs and other issues.
The move was muted by uncertainty about the outcome of Trump's meeting with North Korea. Trump said on Monday his historic summit with the North Korean leader could "work out very nicely" as officials from both countries sought to narrow differences on how to end a nuclear stand-off on the Korean peninsula.
In early trade the euro approached a near-two-week high of $1.1820 after assurances from Italy that it would not leave the European Union calmed investors' nerves. But the euro ultimately settled around $1.1785 before the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday.
Italy's Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said on Sunday his new coalition government would not leave the euro or issue securities to pay off companies owed money by the state, a plan investors viewed as a first step toward exiting the bloc.
"Today has mostly been ranges. The euro has been 1.1805, 1.1810, bouncing back and forth. I think a lot of that has to do with confirmation that were going to be getting some indication from the ECB about the ending of QE," said John Doyle, vice president of dealing and trading at Tempus, Inc in Washington D.C., referring to quantitative easing.
Investors are raising their bets that the ECB will signal at a policy meeting later this week a tapering down of its 2.55 trillion euro bond-buying program as early as September, following a flurry of hawkish comments by officials last week.
Before the ECB meeting, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates for the second time this year on Wednesday. The market's focus will be on the Fed's projection on the path of future interest rates.
Futures markets implied traders expect the Fed to raise overnight borrowing at least one more time in 2018 after a possible rate increase on Wednesday, according to CME Group's FedWatch program.
The dollar index was steady at 93.580, rising further from a three-week low set last Thursday.
VIDEO3:4303:43These are the next key levels for the dollar, says BofAFutures Now
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c252fb86108ec2a819ddfe7f3c437a8e | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/10/us-north-korea-summit-may-decide-a-china-trade-war-jack-ablin.html | VIDEO2:2902:29If North Korea talks fail, China tariffs will be back on the table, investor Jack Ablin saysFutures Now
Talks of a trade war with China have momentarily taken a backseat to increasingly acrimonious negotiations with Canada, Mexico and the European Union, as President Donald Trump spent much of the last week exchanging barbs with major economic partners.
However, one veteran market watcher warned that investors should stay vigilant on the threat from China – because it could roar back to roil markets if the U.S.-North Korea summit goes awry.
"We're relying on China for help there so I don't expect Trump and company to start blasting China with tariffs in anticipation of this meeting," Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors, told CNBC's "Futures Now" on Thursday. "If China is smart what they're going to do is string Trump and Company along with North Korea."
China has positioned itself as an invaluable resource to the U.S. in pressuring North Korea to denuclearize, Ablin said. That has given the country a bargaining chip against any trade threats, and the Trump administration may be loath to antagonize Beijing if the Chinese can help sway Pyongyang.
Trump is set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un face to face in Singapore on Tuesday. The Trump administration has said the aim is full denuclearization, something North Korea is not expected to give up without a fight.
"But, if these negotiations go south or there's some disappointment, I expect these tariffs will be back on the table," Ablin added.
Meanwhile, the chances of a trade conflict with China are far higher than the markets anticipate, says Ablin.
"The likelihood of an outright trade war with China is probably 30 to 40 percent," the investor told CNBC. "So it's not a main, huge risk but I will say if you ask the average investor about the possibility of a trade war with China, they'd probably tell you it's 10 percent."
He added: "I do think I want to err on the side of caution."
Ablin said tariffs on China, the world's second-largest economy, would be "enough to create a sizable [downward] catalyst" for the U.S. stock market.
As for the potential for the North Korea summit itself to be market-moving, Ablin says expectations are so low that any development would be a positive.
"It's really only upside pretty much," he said. "Most observers are not expecting much and so if anything comes of it, it will be positive but that said it will likely just kind of string things along."
Markets have not moved as much on North Korea-U.S. developments recently. When Trump called off the summit on May 24, the ended the day 0.4 percent lower. After the June 1 announcement that it was back on, the S&P gained 1 percent.
VIDEO11:2911:29Markets pricing in a small chance of China trade war, but reality much higher: AblinFutures Now
Disclaimer
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db698af90dfd188e4bef329d594765b6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/4-things-to-avoid-after-receiving-an-inheritance.html | 4 things to avoid after receiving an inheritance | 4 things to avoid after receiving an inheritance
Many people do not anticipate receiving an inheritance, or know what to do with it when they receive it. The amount of the inheritance may even be a surprise. If you've recently received an inheritance, it's probably not under the best circumstances. Dealing with paperwork regarding financial and legal issues are usually not a priority during an already emotional time, and it can be easy to put off making decisions.
Cristian Batig | Getty Images
Unfortunately, while a large lump sum may seem like a lot at the time, the money may not go as far as you think. Here are four examples of poor decisions made by those who have received a large inheritance.
1. Spending the entire inheritance immediately. This is the obvious one, but it's easy to see why it would happen. When your bank balance goes from almost nothing to suddenly having hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in it, it becomes very enticing to start looking at new homes, new cars and lavish vacations. And hey, who's to judge and say that isn't perfectly okay for you to do? You're certainly entitled to spend your money however you choose.
Just make sure you are on track to reach your basic financial goals before allocating money toward "extras." If you have verified you can sustain a large withdrawal for one of the big expenditures listed above and still be on track to reach your financial goals, go crazy! But it's important to also remember that with more expensive houses comes higher property taxes. And with more expensive cars comes more expensive car insurance, and so on. So if you have not evaluated your progress toward your basic financial needs, or if you find you are behind where you should be, it may be prudent to hold off on elevating your lifestyle so quickly.
More from Straight Talk: How money can, in fact, buy you some happiness 3 ways to keep your Social Security number secure 4 ways retirees botch their Social Security claims
2. Investing prematurely in a business. Once you have received your inheritance, you may also find yourself with opportunities to invest in business opportunities. These opportunities may be with a friend or family member's small business, or perhaps with a business of your own you've considered starting for years. But like any investment, it is crucially important to carefully evaluate the business and do your due diligence before making any decisions.
If your friends or acquaintances become aware of your newly acquired wealth, they may try to obtain financing or garner an investment from you at your kitchen table after a 30-minute pen and paper presentation. You need to set a standard or a policy for how you'll evaluate those "opportunities." And don't forget the age-old investment advice of never putting all of your eggs in one basket, which is something you should certainly consider when you think about how much, if any, of your inheritance you plan to invest in a start-up or small-business opportunity. As mentioned above, if you do your due diligence and the business plan looks strong, it could be a fantastic opportunity for you. But you should be slow in making these decisions.
3. Loaning people money. Unfortunately, when you acquire wealth, you become a target for some of those around you. And you may even be approached by a friend or extended family member who is in need of financial help. For some it might be easy to say no. For others you may really want to help.
But, like everything else mentioned previously, you must truly evaluate your own long-term picture first. Individuals are having to carry a heavier load than ever regarding funding their retirement. More and more workers have access only to defined-contribution plans, which they have to contribute to on their own, and Social Security continues to have an unknown future.
If you can confidently confirm, after gifting or loaning money to your friend or family member, you are still on track toward your financial and retirement goals, then there is no shame in helping someone out. If you would prefer to not provide financial assistance, it may be beneficial to create a policy for your wealth and respond with your intentions to follow your policy. For example, "I don't do personal loans." Or you could enlist the help of a trusted advisor and explain your intentions to follow the advice given to you by the advisor.
4. Leaving it in the bank. With all of the above examples of things to not do with your inheritance, how can leaving it in the bank be a bad thing? Depending on when you'll need to access the assets from the inheritance, leaving the money in the bank could be a very bad thing. Investing and wealth management is all about risk and reward.
Receiving an inheritance might sound like a great thing, and it certainly has its benefits, but it also comes with the responsibility of making the right decisions.
When you leave your money in the bank, you generally are taking very little risk, but you are also getting very little reward. If you plan to withdraw the majority of the inheritance in a short time period, the bank is a great place for your money. Hopefully, after reading the first three points, you wouldn't plan on doing that for any reason. If you plan on using your inheritance as retirement income and retirement is 10, 20 or even 30 years away, leaving your inheritance in the bank could cost you an enormous amount in opportunity cost.
In other words, if you invest your inheritance for the long term, you will give your money a chance to grow and compound over time. Mathematically, the more time you allow the money to compound at a positive growth rate, the more significant the growth becomes. For those in your 20s, 30s, 40s and even 50s, you should evaluate your time horizon.
Receiving an inheritance might sound like a great thing, and it certainly has its benefits, but it also comes with the responsibility of making the right decisions.
(Editor's Note: This column originally appeared on Investopedia.com.)
— By Joe Allaria, CFP, partner at CarsonAllaria Wealth Management
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1f4192c2effcc851a64427789efac37f | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/cctv-script-110618.html | CCTV Script 11/06/18 | CCTV Script 11/06/18
— This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on June 11, 2018, Monday.
The meeting of Trump and Kim Jong Un has not started yet, but in Singapore, many restaurants and bars grasp the special business chances from this event, introducing the special menu featuring "Kim-Trump meeting", kicking off a "restaurant war"
[Waiter] "Here's your special dinner of xxx (name of the set)."
[Qian] "Thank you!"
This is the "Trump-Kim Meeting menu" offered by Royal Plaza on Scotts from 8th to 15th this month. The burger is made from Chicken, Kimchi, and seaweed, sushi and fries are also included; in addition, the specialized Summit Iced Tea is made of US traditional ice tea and Korean honey-pomelo tea. Prices for ice tea and burger are 6 Singapore dollars and 12 Singapore dollars.
[Abraham Tan Culinary Executive Chef, Royal plaza on scotts] "As the very significance of the two days' meeting, by combining these two together, fashion, it works very well. With the first bite, obviously it's very tasty."
After this meal, I still think something is missed, it comes to my mind suddenly that alcohol is closely related to business talking and celebration in any cultures. And these 2 cocktails named by Kim Jong Un and Trump, which are limited editions, was assumed the bartender's hope that this meeting can hold successfully.
"For Trump and Kim to come down to Singapore to meet up for the summit. For these, we are selling it for a period of time from June 1 to 16"
The cocktail named by Trump is based on Kentucky's most common bourbon, "Blue-White-Red" represents US flag, with a mild taste, and its colorful outlook is really attractive. The cocktail named by Kim Jong Un is based on North Korea's popular Shochu, with red color and refreshing taste. In order to avoid the controversy caused by comparing the alcohol degree, these 2 cocktails are with same alcohol degree and with same price. 12.6 Singapore dollars each.
Escobar's owner told me that these 2 cocktails are popular after launch; many customers will order 2 at the same time, using this special approach to celebrate this important meeting between US leader and North Korea leader that is hold in Singapore. Cheers!
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99679ea3f42aec2f123483dc9ae49da4 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/charts-point-to-a-big-breakout-for-dow-stock-home-depot-technician-says.html | Charts point to a big breakout for Dow stock Home Depot, technician says | Charts point to a big breakout for Dow stock Home Depot, technician says
VIDEO5:2705:27Chart points to big breakout for major Dow stockOptions Action
As the homebuilders begin to show signs of life, one top technician says it's Home Depot that's gearing up for an even bigger breakout. The XHB ETF that tracks the homebuilders, has jumped more than 7 percent after hitting its lowest level of the year in May. According to Carter Worth, head of technical analysis at Cornerstone Macro, the rally may just be getting started.
Worth first references a chart of the 10-year Treasury yield, which has surged more than 23 percent since January. A rising yield, which moves inversely to bond prices, tends to hit homebuilders the hardest due to its correlation with fixed-mortgage rates.
However, despite a major run-up into the year, the 10-year yield has fallen more than 4 percent from its May high of 3.1 percent. Worth's analysis suggests the move below a key uptrend level implies the rally in rates could be overdone.
"I think the takeaway here is that after a well-defined bounce off trend, we have undercut," Worth said Friday on CNBC's "Options Action." "It has all the look of a [bearish] topping-out formation."
Conversely, Worth references the recent weakness in the homebuilders ETF, which is now down nearly 13 percent from its multiyear high in January. Nonetheless, Worth believes the ETF's recent break above a key $38 level could be setting the group up for a bullish reversal.
"Once you break trend in principal, [you can] make the bet that it will continue," he said. The XHB ETF has rallied more than 7 percent from its lows in May, and more than 11 percent from its 52-week low. Home Depot, the third-largest holding in the XHB, also has shown signs of resurgence. The Dow stock fell to an eight-month low in March but has soared back, now up more than 18 percent since.
Worth pointed out that shares of Home Depot have seen just three double-digit drawbacks over the last two years, all of which the stock has managed to recover from. Worth believes this reoccurring bounce off a key uptrend level suggests the Dow stock is poised to "ultimately make a new high."
"I want to play Home Depot on the long side," he said.
Shares of Home Depot are up 31 percent in the past year and were higher Monday afternoon at around $200.
Disclaimer
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dd8b7fc272d64e021ae1ada9b84987fe | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/donald-trump-meets-with-singapore-prime-minister-lee-hsien-loong.html | Trump on meeting Kim Jong Un: 'Things could work out very nicely' | Trump on meeting Kim Jong Un: 'Things could work out very nicely'
President Donald Trump with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his visit to The Istana, the official residence of the prime minister, in Singapore on June 11, 2018.SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Speaking in Singapore on Monday, President Donald Trump said he believed Tuesday's meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un "could work out very nicely."
"We've got a very interesting meeting in particular tomorrow, I think things could work out very nicely," he said during a bilateral meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who he thanked for the country's hosting of the event.
The wealthy island-nation is spending around $20 million Singapore dollars — mostly on security and logistics — to host Tuesday's historic summit, Lee confirmed this weekend.
Trump added that the milestone meeting "was a choice that we made very consciously."
The meeting is considered a diplomatic breakthrough given the hostility that's long existed between Pyongyang and Washington. And while concrete results aren't widely expected, a realistic goal is for both parties to agree to initial confidence-building measures that will narrow the massive trust deficit that currently exists between them, according to geopolitical analysts.
Trump also reaffirmed his continued commitment to engage the Asian region and accepted an official invitation to make a state visit to Singapore in November.
The U.S. leader, who arrived in the Southeast Asian nation on Sunday, is expected to return to his hotel — the Shangri-La, located in the shopping district of Orchard — later in the day and participate in a meet and greet with the U.S. embassy in the city-state.
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8f383353318875b3badae86023a3f49d | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/ex-obama-ambassador-to-singapore-trump-kim-summit-very-good-thing.html | Ex-Obama ambassador to Singapore: Trump-Kim summit is a 'very good thing' and a 'unique moment' | Ex-Obama ambassador to Singapore: Trump-Kim summit is a 'very good thing' and a 'unique moment'
VIDEO4:1704:17Any US president could have meet with North Korea, says former AmbassadorSquawk Box
Tuesday's summit in Singapore between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should be a viewed as a positive development but is unlikely to be a "momentous event," said Kirk Wagar, U.S. ambassador to Singapore under former President Barack Obama.
"This is a very good thing," Wagar told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. But he said that any past U.S. president could have gotten a one-on-one meeting with the leader of North Korea.
"The issue is, of course, is that the stated foreign policy goal for almost 30 years has been a one-on-one with meeting with the United States president to elevate their stature," he said.
There have been failed diplomatic attempts by U.S. presidents for decades to stifle North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Trump's predecessor, Obama, turned up sanctions in an unsuccessful bid to force Pyongyang to the negotiating table.
Wagar told CNBC that until Trump, the recent U.S. position had been "we will have six-party talks that included Japan, [South] Korea, China, the United States, and North Korea … [and] Russia was the other one." That's why direct talks with North Korea never happened, he said.
It's not a matter of giving or denying Trump "credit" for the meeting but about results, Wagar said. "I don't think we're going to see a momentous agreement." But he predicted the meeting could be the beginning of a discussion that "puts us on a diplomatic path."
The Trump administration's desire for a win "increases the chances that this goes forward, which I think is a very positive moment," Wagar said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday said the Singapore summit is "truly a mission of peace," adding the U.S. is "eager" to see if Kim is "sincere" about denuclearization. "If diplomacy does not move in the right direction ... [sanctions] will increase," Pompeo warned.
Going into the meeting — which is set for 9 a.m. local time in Singapore (9 p.m. EDT Monday) — the president should remember that North Korea only looks out for itself, Wagar said.
"Given the fact that more information is coming from the outside world into their population, I think the worry of the regime is always going to be whether there's going to be an uprising that knocks them out of power," he said.
"The nuclear testing has got them to the point where they now get this meeting," he said. He added that he believes the White House is correct in saying that "'this is a unique moment in history.'"
Scott Snyder, a U.S.-Korea policy specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC earlier on Monday that the summit is "essentially the normalization of Kim Jong Un and North Korea on the international stage."
The Trump administration's challenge will be to make sure the U.S. is not normalizing the isolated country as a nuclear weapons state, Snyder added.
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2e4efcb1385d18145e70d7a8e7d245dd | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/fed-will-ignore-g-7-trade-spat-and-announce-new-rate-hikes-economist-says.html | Fed will ignore G-7 trade spat and announce new rate hikes, economist says | Fed will ignore G-7 trade spat and announce new rate hikes, economist says
The U.S. Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C.Adam Jeffery | CNBC
The Federal Reserve is due to announce another rate hike this Wednesday and won't take any notice of the spat between the U.S. and its Western allies over trade tariffs, an economist told CNBC Monday.
Market players are monitoring the rhetoric surrounding trade between the U.S. and the other six world-leading economies after divergences at the Group of Seven (G-7) summit over the weekend.
U.S. President Donald Trump revoked his support for a joint statement after the meeting, following comments from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The latter said though he did not want to "punish American workers", he would be pressing ahead with retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.
As a result, President Trump called Trudeau "dishonest and weak" and warned the other G-7 leaders that retaliation against his tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, first announced in March, would be a mistake.
However, the trade tensions are likely to be ignored by the Fed given the positive economic data in the U.S., according to Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, who told CNBC that the Fed meeting "will almost certainly result in another rate hike, along with the message that continued tightening is likely."
Speaking to CNBC's Squawk Box Europe, O'Sullivan said that the G-7 leaders "are playing with fire here in terms of all the protectionist talk. The hope is, in the end, that a serious trade war is averted, not to say that there won't be tariffs on a small amount of goods compared to the overall size of the economy."
VIDEO3:2303:23Economist: Hope sense will prevail on trade policySquawk Box Europe
Earlier this month, data showed that the U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs in May. Economists had estimated 188,000. Last week, initial claims for state unemployment benefits also decreased 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000 — economists had estimated an increase. The positive data has confirmed expectations that the Fed is on track to deliver another rate hike this Wednesday.
"The Fed is expected to raise policy rates by 25 basis points. That's largely priced in," Tai Hui, chief market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management told CNBC via email Monday. "More importantly, its updated projections on growth, inflation, jobless rate and policy rate will be closely scrutinized," he said.
However, experts warn a potential trade war carries risks for global growth and markets.
"The biggest source of downside risk here … is a trade war mongering... It is disturbing the way this is developing," O'Sullivan told CNBC.
"Without all this trade mongering, the U.S. equity market would be higher than what it is today, and maybe the economic numbers would be even stronger than what they are, but the net result is, the U.S. economic data continue to be strong, more than strong enough to keep the employment rate coming down," O'Sullivan said.
Commenting on the G-7 meeting, Hui said "business confidence and, subsequently, capital spending is at risk if this (trade) tension continues through the summer. This could cast a long shadow over global growth, which has rebounded in recent weeks after a soft start to the year."
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1b4e1451be6ec2e14c37a6118d1237ae | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/goldman-hide-out-in-strong-balance-sheet-stocks-like-nvidia-home-depot.html | Goldman: Borrowing is getting out of control so hide out in strong balance sheet stocks like Nvidia, Home Depot | Goldman: Borrowing is getting out of control so hide out in strong balance sheet stocks like Nvidia, Home Depot
Household appliances are offered for sale at Home Depot in Chicago.Getty Images
Companies with healthy balance sheets like Home Depot and Nvidia are investors' best bet as the rest of corporate America loads on debt to unsafe levels even as the Federal Reserve continues hike rates, according to Goldman Sachs.
"Strong balance sheet stocks have historically outperformed weak balance sheet stocks during environments of rising leverage," wrote David Kostin, the investment bank's chief U.S. equity strategist. "We expect financial conditions will continue to tighten from record easy levels. ... We have recommended investors own strong balance sheet stocks given the backdrop of record corporate leverage and Fed tightening."
VIDEO1:1201:12Kevin O'Leary: Here's the age by which you should have your debt paid offMake It
Among stocks with the best balance sheets are home improvement retailer Home Depot and chipmaker Nvidia, Kostin added, arguing that the outperformance both companies have posted so far this year is likely to persist. Home Depot is up 5.4 percent since January, while Nvidia and the S&P 500 have gained 35 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.
Part of the reason companies like Adobe and Costco may be set for outperformance is their ability to withstand rising interest rates. Borrowing costs have climbed over the past 12 months as the Federal Reserve moves to rein in its expansive purchasing program, originally introduced to help support the economy during the financial crisis.
Meanwhile, net debt to EBITDA, a measure of leverage used by Goldman, for the median S&P 500 company has reached a record level, according to the firm.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note has climbed roughly 100 basis points to 3 percent in less than one year. The note's rate is important given its role as a benchmark for mortgage rates and other financial instruments.
In their next move to normalize policy, Fed members are expected to hike the federal funds rate another 25 basis points on Wednesday, at the end of their two-day monthly meeting in Washington.
VIDEO0:4900:49Apple and Goldman Sachs planning a new joint credit card, says Dow JonesSquawk Alley
For its part, Goldman Sachs economists believe Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues will hike rates three more times before the end of the year, more times than Wall Street is currently estimating.
"In contrast with history, many of the companies with the strongest balance sheets today are also the companies with the strongest growth," Kostin added. "In our base case, a healthy economy will lead the Fed to tighten financial conditions, lifting interest costs. If economic growth slows, however, currently healthy interest coverage ratios will weaken as earnings decline. Both environments should benefit firms with strong balance sheets."
Disclaimer
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b0637ebfa4ce29be8f7ff1e1d2a6498c | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/hsbc-to-invest-15-17-billion-as-strategy-swings-from-shrink-to-grow.html | HSBC to invest $15-17 billion as strategy swings from shrink to grow | HSBC to invest $15-17 billion as strategy swings from shrink to grow
HSBC building in the Canary Wharf district of London, U.K.Leon Neal | AFP | Getty Images
HSBC will invest $15-17 billion in areas including technology and its core Asian markets of Hong Kong and China as it swings from a strategy of cost-cutting to growth, new Chief Executive John Flint said on Monday.
The announcement is Flint's first public indication to shareholders of the strategy he intends to pursue at HSBC, which has struggled to meet its profit goals in recent years after a shrinking of its global empire also cut income.
The bank is targeting a return on tangible equity of 11 percent by 2020, Flint said, and will sustain its dividends at current levels.
"After a period of restructuring, it is now time for HSBC to get back into growth mode," Flint said.
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76414f694a2e783cceecaa10f4773b39 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/in-photos-donald-trump-and-kim-jong-uns-u-s-north-korea-summit.html | Photos of Trump and Kim Jong Un's historic first meeting at US-North Korea Summit | Photos of Trump and Kim Jong Un's historic first meeting at US-North Korea Summit
President Donald Trump (R) and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) sit down for their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met face-to-face Tuesday morning for their highly anticipated summit.
Some of the images from the event are sure to live on in the history books recounting the first-ever meeting between sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders. Take a look.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) shakes hands with US President Donald Trump (R) at the start of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Kim and Trump share a handshake in their initial encounter as the historic meeting kicked off at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore.
President Donald Trump (R) meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) at the start of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
The two leaders pose for photographs as press congregate at the 5-star hotel to capture the momentous moment.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) walks with US President Donald Trump (R) at the start of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Kim and Trump walk along an external passage of the hotel.
President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un as they meet at the start of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
North Korea's young leader looks jovial beside his U.S. counterpart, who is roughly twice his age.
South Koreans watch on a screen reporting on the U.S. President Trump meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Seoul Railway Station on June 12, 2018 in Seoul, South Korea.Getty Images
South Koreans watch on a screen reporting of the meeting at the Seoul Railway Station. South Korea has shared a fractured history with its northern counterpart since the two countries were separated at the end of World War II in 1945. The division led to the Korean War, which ended in an armistice in 1953.
President Donald Trump (R) waves as he and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un look on from a veranda during their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Trump waves as he and Kim look on from the Capella hotel before continuing their summit.
President Donald Trump (3rd R) shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (3rd L) as they sit down with their respective delegations for the US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
The U.S. president and North Korean leader shake hands again as they sit down with their respective delegations to begin talks.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore June 12, 2018.Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
The U.S. and North Korean flags are seen side-by-side for what is widely believed to be the first official time as the two country's respective leaders reach out to share a highly symbolic handshake.
Press watch as television screens display a news broadcast of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from inside a temporary media center in Singapore on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.Bloomberg | Getty
Members of the press watch and photographic the historic first handshake between Trump and Kim from inside a temporary media center set up in Singapore for the summit.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) walks with US President Donald Trump (L) during a break in talks at their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Anthony Wallace | Getty
Trump and Kim walk through the gardens of the Capella hotel during a break in the summit.
US President Donald Trump (2nd R) and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (2nd L) sign documents as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (R) and the North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo Jong (L) look on at a signing ceremony during their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Saul Loeb | Getty
After a morning of negotiations and a working lunch, Trump and Kim sit down in front of the media and sign what the U.S. president described as a "very comprehensive" deal. Behind, to the left, stands Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong, and, to the right, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) shakes hands with US President Donald Trump (R) after taking part in a signing ceremony at the end of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.Anthony Wallace | Getty Images
Kim and Trump shake hands after their landmark signing ceremony, concluding their summit in Singapore.
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610ded65fd84f86f9d230738b6d13ca4 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/kilauea-eruption-hurt-bookings-hawaiian-airlines-warns.html | Hawaiian Airlines warns volcanic eruption hurt bookings; shares tumble | Hawaiian Airlines warns volcanic eruption hurt bookings; shares tumble
Hawaiian Airlines planeLouis Nastro | Reuters
Shares of Hawaiian Airlines' parent company tumbled Tuesday after the airline warned a volcanic eruption in Hawaii has dented bookings and revenue in the second quarter.
A powerful eruption at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano started early last month, forcing evacuations of nearby residents. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed.
Late Monday, Hawaiian warned second-quarter revenue for each seat it flies a mile, a key industry metric, will come in 0.5 percent lower to 1.5 percent higher than it did a year ago. The airline previously estimated revenue would be flat to up as much as 3 percent.
Hawaiian Holdings shares were down nearly 5 percent in early afternoon trading Tuesday, more than the carrier's peers.
The airline also said it is facing higher-than-expected fuel costs, an issue that has hit the airline industry broadly.
VIDEO4:1604:16Hawaiian Airlines CEO: Vast majority of Hawaii tourism infrastructure ‘open for business’Squawk Alley
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4f007b5489d393fbb07668d6df7be713 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/knauf-is-buying-building-products-maker-usg-for-about-7-billion.html | Knauf is buying building products maker USG for about $7 billion | Knauf is buying building products maker USG for about $7 billion
US Gypsum (USG) dry wall board plant at Plaster City, near El Centro, Calif.Getty Images
German building materials maker Knauf is buying American building products maker USG in an approximately $7 billion deal.
Gebr. Knauf will pay $44 per USG share. That includes $43.50 per share in cash payable once the transaction closes and a special dividend of 50 cents per share that would be paid after shareholders approve the deal.
Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries, which own about 31 percent of USG's outstanding stock, have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction.
USG will keep its headquarters in Chicago.
The deal is expected to close early next year.
Shares of USG rose more than 3 percent in Monday premarket trading.
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759fccbbcc744c95df805e1a0525dcba | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/microsoft-e3-xbox-18-exclusives-include-halo-infinite-and-forza-horizon-4.html | Microsoft boosts focus on exclusive games for the Xbox console in battle with Sony PlayStation | Microsoft boosts focus on exclusive games for the Xbox console in battle with Sony PlayStation
VIDEO3:3603:36Microsoft makes big bet on gaming with Xbox One XSquawk Alley
Microsoft unveiled a string of exclusive games for the Xbox console and the acquisition of four content studios, as it tries to regain lost ground against the Sony PlayStation.
On Sunday at E3, the biggest gaming event of the year, the U.S. technology giant showcased 52 games, 18 of which will launch as exclusives, meaning they will not be available on rival consoles. Exclusives are crucial for consoles to differentiate their offering from rivals and Microsoft in the past has been criticized for not having enough.
It teased a game called "Halo Infinite" without giving a timeline for release. The first "Halo" game was released in 2001 and was a key reason for the success of the original Xbox. Other key exclusives include racing video game "Forza Horizon 4" and "Gears 5."
VIDEO3:3603:36Microsoft makes big bet on gaming with Xbox One XSquawk Alley
Microsoft also announced further investment in original games. It said that it was forming a new studio called "The Initiative" and announced the acquisition of U.K.-based Playground Games, the developer behind the "Forza" franchise. Microsoft also signed letters of intent to acquire another three game studios.
Analysts said the focus on more first-party content will help Microsoft's gaming unit in the future.
"It will take time to reap the rewards of this more expansion strategy, but puts Microsoft on a much stronger footing," Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at IHS Markit, said in a note Sunday.
Microsoft's latest generation of console is the Xbox One which was originally released in 2013. The company refreshed the line up with the Xbox One X, a more powerful version of the device last year. Sony's PlayStation 4 was also released in 2013 and it too has recently brought out a souped up version of the console called the PS4 Pro.
Since the release of the consoles, Sony has taken the lead. There were 39.1 million Xbox One consoles in the market versus 76.6 million PS4s at the end of March 2018, according to IHS Markit data. Sony has been able to consistently deliver blockbuster exclusive games that has helped boost its market share.
Microsoft also announced plans to launch a game streaming service on Sunday. This would mean that users could select a game online and play it immediately without the need to buy a disc or download the title. Sony currently has its own streaming service called PlayStation Now for $19.99 a month.
Harding-Rolls said the streaming service is likely "a few years away from launch." But Microsoft's strength in cloud computing should put it in a good position.
"A number of publishers are showing renewed interest in cloud gaming and subscription business models. As the market shifts, Microsoft is strongly positioned due to its Azure capability," Harding-Rolls said.
As the life cycle of a console continues to increase, Microsoft and Sony are relying more heavily on subscription based models. Microsoft has a $9.99 a month subscription service called Xbox Game Pass which gives users access to new games.
"We've been thrilled to see the positive impact Xbox Game Pass is having on the gaming ecosystem, including increasing the number of titles gamers play nearly 40 percent and increasing gameplay hours by almost 20 percent," Mike Nichols, chief marketing officer for gaming at Microsoft, said in a press release on Sunday.
Sony will hold its E3 press conference on Monday.
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cc54ac037fcfa332f9c9c7041e62fef5 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/popular-ford-and-jeep-suvs-rated-as-poor-in-latest-crash-tests.html | Popular Ford and Jeep SUVs rated as poor in latest crash tests | Popular Ford and Jeep SUVs rated as poor in latest crash tests
VIDEO0:4900:49Popular Ford and Jeep SUVs rated as poor in latest crash testsNews Videos
Two of the most popular midsize SUVs in the U.S. were given a "poor" rating in the latest round of crash tests that measure how well sport utility vehicles protect front-seat passengers in certain front-end collisions.According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2018 Ford Explorer had difficulty preventing some injuries when the front right corner of the vehicle collides with another vehicle or object while going 40 miles per hour."Somebody who is considering buying a brand new SUV, I would recommend that they choose something other than the Grand Cherokee or the Explorer," said Dave Zuby, senior vice president of vehicle research at Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "There are clearly better choices out there especially if you are concerned about the safety of your family."
VIDEO1:0001:00John Cena bought a 1989 Jeep Wrangler with his first WWE paycheckMake It
A "poor" rating is the lowest grade the IIHS gives during crash tests. It comes in below designations of "marginal," "acceptable" and "good," which is the highest rating awarded. In the latest crash tests of eight 2018 midsize SUVs, the Toyota Highlander, Nissan Pathfinder and Honda Pilot received overall ratings of "acceptable," while the Kia Sorento, Volkswagen Atlas and GMC Acadia were given overall ratings of "good.""One of the things we observed is that the three good-rated vehicles are newer designs than the poor-rated Grand Cherokee and Ford Explorer," said Zuby. "Ford and Jeep are just behind in making the improvements that we would like to see."IIHS rated Fiat Chrysler's Jeep Grand Cherokee as "poor" in protecting front seat passengers from lower-leg and foot injuries. During the safety organization's crash test, the side curtain did not deploy and the vehicle's door opened.A spokesperson for Fiat Chrysler says, "All FCA US vehicles meet or exceed federal safety standards. FCA US vehicles are engineered to address real-world driving situations. No single test measures overall vehicle safety."To drive home that point, FCA points out the Grand Cherokee has received good ratings from IIHS on four other crash tests.It's a similar story for the 2018 Ford Explorer. The IIHS gives the SUV good ratings in four other crash tests, but in the most recent one, the agency gives the Explorer "poor" grades for the vehicle's structure and its ability to protect front-seat passengers from hip and thigh injuries in this particular crash."Customer safety continues to be one of our highest priorities when we design any of our vehicles and we continually make improvements to our vehicles to help our customers stay safe on the road," said Dan Barbossa, spokesperson for the Ford Motor. "We fully expect next year's all-new 2020 Explorer will perform well on both the small overlap test and other tests."The IIHS admits it's hard to know how many fatal front-end collisions involve the passenger side front corner of the vehicle hitting another automobile or object. In 2016, almost 4,000 front-seat passengers were killed in auto accidents. That's just over 16 percent of all the people killed that year while riding in a vehicle.
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fe86b2cfcc01bf711de2a77d12d46be2 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/reuters-america-interview-mayor-khan-says-booming-tech-sector-to-help-london-through-brexit.html | INTERVIEW-Mayor Khan says booming tech sector to help London through Brexit | INTERVIEW-Mayor Khan says booming tech sector to help London through Brexit
LONDON, June 11 (Reuters) - London's status as Europe's leading hub for the tech sector will help it weather Brexit despite the best efforts of Paris, Berlin and others to compete, the British capital's mayor Sadiq Khan said on Monday.
Britain has for years been the top European destination for foreign investment, but a survey by accountancy group Ernst & Young (E&Y) on Monday showed Germany and France closing the gap.
According to 450 global investors surveyed by E&Y, Germany was considered the most attractive place in Europe for future investment, with France second and Britain third. Paris was named the most attractive city for investment, overtaking London for the first time since the survey began in 2004.
But Khan said investments in London's tech sector, from the likes of Facebook, Amazon and Google, plus the city's strength in new technologies including artificial intelligence, gave him hope that London would keep on attracting entrepreneurs and funding from around the world.
"Berlin and Paris start from a low base, and frankly speaking can only go one way," Khan told Reuters on Monday at the London Tech Week conference.
"London is different to the rest of the UK. Our underlying strengths - we're the financial capital of the country, the cultural and political capital - that's not going to change."
Britain is due to exit the European Union on March 29, 2019 but with a transition period to ease the process.
A survey released last week by London's promotional agency showed Britain remains the leading European destination for international tech investors, attracting almost three times more venture capital investment than any other European country over the past two years.
UNCERTAINTY
But Khan, who campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU, said he worried about the rest of the country and whether it could attract foreign investment at a time of such uncertainty.
Campaigners for remaining in the EU warned before the referendum that investment in Britain would fall if it voted to leave the world's biggest trade bloc.
While some international finance jobs have moved to Europe, Khan said investment in new technologies gave him faith for the future.
But Khan added that he would continue to hold tech companies to a high standard, demanding that social media groups take responsibility for the content that appears on their site.
Khan has also previously backed transport officials in their move to strip the ride-hailing company Uber of its license.
"Social media companies ...need to do more," he said. "They need to make sure that they themselves take responsibility for these problems rather than regulation being imposed on them." (Reporting by Kate Holton Editing by Gareth Jones)
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53d929a878d7339027c9b92236cd1ddd | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/robert-de-niro-bleeped-at-tony-awards-for-trump-f-bomb.html | Robert De Niro bleeped at Tony Awards for Trump F-bomb | Robert De Niro bleeped at Tony Awards for Trump F-bomb
Robert De Niro speaks onstage during the 72nd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 10, 2018 in New York City.Kevin Mazur | Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
With a bleep on live television and double fists raised in the air, Robert De Niro got the theater crowd on its feet at the Tony Awards with a rousing political introduction of his old friend Bruce Springsteen that was focused squarely elsewhere: on President Donald Trump.
De Niro, a staunch Trump opponent, dropped a couple of F-bombs heard clearly by the Radio City Music crowd Sunday night. The CBS television audience heard dead silence instead before he raised his arms — twice — and earned a sustained standing ovation.
The legendary actor urged the audience to vote in November and lauded Springsteen for his own political commitment before the singer sat at a piano for a moving performance based on his "Springsteen on Broadway" show that had him singing his classic hit, "My Hometown."
De Niro said of Springsteen: "Bruce, you can rock the house like nobody else and even more importantly in these perilous times, you rock the vote, always fighting for, in your own words, truth, transparency, and integrity in government. Boy, do we need that now."
The anti-Trump sentiment swept backstage as playwright Tony Kushner and others from "Angels in America" spoke to reporters about its three big wins: best play revival and acting trophies for Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.
"I agree," Kushner said when asked about the De Niro moment, dropping an F-bomb of his own in relation to the president.
"I can't believe De Niro did that," Kushner said. "Good for him. I mean, it's Robert De Niro. Who's gonna argue with him?"
Kushner went even further, calling Trump's presidency "the Hitler mistake" that put a "borderline psychotic narcissist in the White House."
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55b1c25f6c13338a31784c5fccd77583 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/the-big-bitcoin-investing-decision-coin-or-futures-contract.html | For brave investors there's two ways to bet on bitcoin | For brave investors there's two ways to bet on bitcoin
Not many experts would recommend packing investment accounts like 401(k) retirement plans with bitcoin. The digital currency is just too volatile. But there's nothing wrong with setting a little aside — money you can afford to lose — for wild bets, like gambling a few bucks at a casino.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Bitcoin certainly offers an adrenaline rush. In 2017 the price of the cryptocurrency soared from less than $1,000 to nearly $20,000, then tumbled to a low of $6,647.33 over the weekend after a South Korean exchange said it was hacked. At press time on Monday it was trading at $6,768.00.
The investment signals remain mixed: Google search activity on bitcoin has declined by 75 percent as the price swooned from that $20,000 high, but major Wall Street firms are making investments that show they expect cryptocurrency to remain a part of the financial landscape.
There are two ways to bet on bitcoin: the "old-fashioned" way, through a specialized exchange; and, since late last year, buying or selling futures contracts.
Here's a look at what to consider in choosing one over the other.
New coins are awarded to "miners" for solving complex mathematical problems. Then the coins are bought and sold for dollars or other fiat currency in an account called a wallet, kept at a cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase, Bitstamp or Kraken.
Trading on this spot market is a lot like trading a stock, with prices governed by supply and demand, and no role played by a central bank, like the Federal Reserve. Since bitcoin is not yet accepted by many merchants, its value depends on speculators' view on what others will pay in the future. To detractors, that encourages bubbles. Advocates see huge potential profits.
Most of the more than 100 bitcoin exchanges are only a few years old, and some have been victims of fraud, theft, hacks and growing pains, like halts during heavy trading.
A very cautious investor can buy on an exchange and then store the bitcoin code off the site or even on a piece of paper — that's what the Winklevoss twins and bitcoin early adopters have done, going so far as to cut up their code into pieces and store it in a vault using a system that only they understand to put the actual bitcoin code back together.
Bitcoin itself is full of risk, even if the trading and storage system is safe.
Unfortunately, bitcoin exchanges don't work as efficiently as the stock exchanges, said Param Vir Singh, professor of business technologies for the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.
"Bitcoin prices are volatile; the transaction speed is slow; the bitcoin trading platform is illiquid," he said, noting that, unlike stock exchanges, the bitcoin exchanges are generally not well regulated by the government.
The Nasdaq has expressed interest in offering cryptocurrency trading, while the NYSE has expressed interest in bitcoin ETF trading. The NYSE's parent company, ICE, is moving into bitcoin swaps and already offers a cryptocurrency data feed.
Since late last year, bitcoin futures have been traded on two long-established futures markets, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the CME Group exchange. These heavily regulated exchanges solve many of the problems found on the newer bitcoin exchanges, according to Singh.
"Because the future can be traded on regulated markets, it will attract investors, making the market liquid, stabilizing prices, and [it will] not suffer from low transaction speeds of bitcoin [exchanges]," he said, adding, "If prices stabilize, we may start seeing more companies accepting bitcoin as a mode of payment. This may further bring liquidity to the market."
More from Quarterly Investment Guide:
Companies sweeten dividend payoutsVolatility creates opportunity in bitcoin futuresHow much cash Tesla needs is the $10 billion riddle
William Vranos, CEO at Green Key Partners, a New York City-based investment firm, said that the futures market is better equipped to handle spikes in volume, and that because futures traders don't own bitcoin itself, they need not worry their bitcoin will be hacked or stolen.
A futures contract commits its owner to buy or sell an underlying commodity, currency or market index at a set price on a given date weeks or months in the future. In most cases the trader never takes possession of the corn, crude oil or bitcoin covered by the contract. Instead, gains or losses are reflected in the changing price of the contracts themselves as the underlying asset rises or falls.
To close a position, the trader sells the contract or buys an offsetting contract to profit on the difference between the current market price and the one the original contract specifies. A bitcoin trader who keeps a contract to the end receives a cash payment for a win or must ante up for a loss.
"There are a plethora of issues in the cryptocurrency exchange space at the moment," said Kunal Desai," CEO of Bulls on CryptoStreet, a site for cryptocurrency education. "One of the main pros of trading bitcoin futures is being able to speculate on its price without having to deal with the shortcomings of the cryptocurrency exchange space."
Most individual investors should stay away from the futures market because of its volatility and complexity.
On a bitcoin exchange, the investor trades at the coin's full price. For example, if bitcoin is trading at $8,000, an investor spends $8,000 on every coin priced at that amount. Most futures contracts involve leverage, allowing the trader to put up only a small fraction of the asset's price, but for bitcoin this "margin" is unusually high, at more than 40 percent. So the investor could control one $8,000 bitcoin for just over $3,200, plus a small fee for the transaction. If the price jumped 12.5 percent to $9,000, the gain would be 32 percent of the sum invested.
Of course, it works the other way too – leverage amplifies losses when things go wrong.
"The futures market can ravish even the most experienced traders, thus those new to bitcoin investing should look to invest on traditional bitcoin exchanges," said Andy LaPointe, founder of the education site BitcoinLearningCenters.com.
Some futures brokers can have bigger margin requirements, and some require high minimums to open an account, like $25,000 at TD Ameritrade. The futures exchange guarantees traders will get what they are owed but can demand more cash be put into the account if the bet is losing money. That's a serious risk when speculating on a volatile asset like bitcoin, LaPointe says.
VIDEO3:4903:49Volatility creates opportunity in bitcoin futures, says CEOSquawk Box
A $10,000 purchase on a bitcoin exchange would typically require a commission of at least $100, according to Michael Mollet, director of product development at the CBOE, and potentially even more. After the purchase, there would be no cost for holding the bitcoin as long as the investor wanted.
A long-term investor using futures would have to buy a series of contracts to keep the position, but the futures exchange's customer fees tend to be small — as little as 50 cents for one futures contract — and the investor could stay in the market a long time before the costs exceeded those on a spot exchange, Mollet said. Brokerages like TD Ameritrade advertise commission-free futures trading, but would charge interest for margin loans, with the rate based on the size of the loan.
"The longer your time horizon the more likely it is that buying the physical coin and holding is going to look a bit more appealing" than using futures, the CBOE executive said, but he stressed that he meant a very long time before the cost of holding futures would overtake spot market bitcoin purchase commissions.
Some bitcoin exchanges allow account holders to short — bet that bitcoin will fall in value — but the ordinary investor cannot do this as easily with bitcoin as with stocks or exchange-traded funds. Shorting is easy on the futures markets, however, as the trader simply buys a contract to sell a block of bitcoin at today's price sometime in the future. If it works out the price will fall and the bet will pay the difference.
"In all, speculating through futures has been a nice addition for traders," Vranos said. "Going short is much harder to do in spot markets."
Bitcoin exchanges are pretty easy to deal with if you have traded stocks, but futures exchanges are alien territory for many ordinary investors and require a much deeper understanding of the issues that determine risks and returns, things like time to expiration, volatility and the day's news. Futures traders need to stay on top of the situation all the time and be ready to buy or sell on short notice.
Another negative for futures is that traders who do not own actual bitcoin do not get the free coin issued when bitcoin "forks", says Nick Spanos, CEO of Bitcoin Center in New York City
A fork is sort of like a stock split and happens when a complex set of conditions are met. On August 1, 2017, for example, bitcoin speculators received one unit of bitcoin cash for every bitcoin already owned. The fork occurred after a number of big players called "developers" agreed to modify the algorithm to speed transactions as trading volume grew. Today, bitcoin cash trades at around $1,100, compared to under $7,000 for bitcoin itself.
The bottom line is that futures markets are generally more suitable for sophisticated investors who like risk and are likely to buy and sell frequently. Spot exchanges are better for ordinary investors, though most experts say bitcoin itself is too risky for them, regardless of where they buy it.
"Investors who do not want volatile investments should stay far away from anything to do with bitcoin in general," said Desai of Bulls on CryptoStreet.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the price of bitcoin plunged to a low of $6,647.33 over the weekend after a South Korean exchange said it was hacked.
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a113e95c2326ef7d98c3249f211e1c43 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/twodictators-lights-up-twitter-after-fox-news-host-accidentally-uses-term-for-trump-and-kim.html | #TwoDictators lights up Twitter after Fox News host accidentally uses term for Trump and Kim | #TwoDictators lights up Twitter after Fox News host accidentally uses term for Trump and Kim
VIDEO0:5000:50#TwoDictators lights up Twitter after Fox News host uses term for Trump and KimNews Videos
The hashtag #TwoDictators erupted on Twitter after Fox News host Abby Huntsman on Sunday mistakenly used the term to describe President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The "Fox and Friends" presenter apologized to viewers after referring to the leaders as "two dictators" ahead of their historic meeting in Singapore Tuesday.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.Getty Images
Speaking on "Fox and Friends Weekend," Huntsman mistakenly suggested to former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci that the upcoming summit would be a historic moment for two autocratic powers.
"Regardless of what happens in that meeting, between the two dictators, what we are seeing right now, this is history," Huntsman said.
VIDEO2:1502:15Trump and Kim Jong Un arrive in SingaporeSquawk Box
The slip-up appeared to go unnoticed by Scaramucci, who responded "yeah" and went on to describe Trump as a "disruptive risk-taker."
"[Trump] is a disruptive risk-taker, he's willing to break the usual bonds ... because he knows that if he goes to a meeting like this, he increases the chance of peace and prosperity," said Scaramucci.
Huntsman, who is the daughter of U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman Jr., later apologized on the show.
"I do want to point out that earlier, as you know sometimes on live TV sometimes you don't always say things perfectly," said Huntsman. "I called both President Trump and Kim Jong Un a dictator. I did not mean that, my mistake, so I apologize for that."
Abby Huntsman tweet: Apologized on the show. I'll never claim to be a perfect human being. We all have slip ups in life, I have many :) now let's all move on to things that actually matter.
However, netizens quickly picked up on the gaffe, spawning a stream of memes and prompting the hashtag #TwoDictators to trend on Twitter.
Trump, a regular proponent of Fox News, had not responded to the error at the time of publishing.
Trump is due to meet with Kim on Singapore's Sentosa Island Tuesday to push for a denuclearization plan for North Korea.
It will be the first-ever meeting between sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders.
VIDEO7:5607:56The Trump-Russia ties hiding in plain sightDigital Original
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08400f80a5fd583fb9fc08093649fd10 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/uber-envisions-technology-that-identifies-drunk-passengers.html?__source=yahoo%7Cfinance%7Crelated%7Cstory%7C&par=yahoo&doc=105265969 | Uber envisions technology that identifies drunk passengers | Uber envisions technology that identifies drunk passengers
Martin Ollman | Getty Images
Ride-hailing apps, like Uber, have become known as safer alternatives to driving when intoxicated. Now the company is looking to learn a lot more about its late-night riders.
Uber filed a patent application Thursday, first spotted by CNN, that envisions using machine learning to detect whether a potential passenger is behaving abnormally. The patent application is vague about what exactly constitutes an "abnormal state," but seems to be referring to intoxication and fatigue.The system tracks user behavior based on typing speed and accuracy, device angle, walking speed and more. It plugs that information into an algorithm, along with additional information details about when and where the ride was requested.
If a request comes in late from an area packed with bars, and the user keeps dropping their phone, it is a pretty good indicator that passenger is drunk.
When an altered user is identified, the application explains, there are a number of different options, including matching the user with specific drivers, alerting the driver about a user's possible intoxication, and modifying pickup or drop-off locations. The application says the technology is a means to avoid "safety incidents and personal conflict incidents, [that] can occasionally occur when users and/or providers behave uncharacteristically."
Uber has come under fire in the past few months after a CNN investigation found 103 Uber drivers have been accused of sexual assault or abuse within the past four years. In many cases, passengers were intoxicated. An Uber spokesperson in a statement to CNN said safety is the company's top priority this year and cited recent protocol updates such as rerunning driver background checks annually moving forward.
The patent application was drafted by current or former members of Uber's Trust & Safety team in 2016 and published Thursday. At the moment it is just a patent application and may never make it to Uber's app.
Uber did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
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5a4422d110bbf63f64e55f08a5d29c09 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/us-stock-futures-geopolitics-trade-and-international-markets-on-the-agenda.html | US stocks close slightly higher after turbulent G-7 meeting; N. Korea summit in focus | US stocks close slightly higher after turbulent G-7 meeting; N. Korea summit in focus
U.S. stocks closed slightly higher Monday as investors shrugged off concerns over a tumultuous G-7 meeting over the weekend at which President Donald Trump lashed out at U.S. allies.
Wall Street also prepared for the hotly anticipated meeting between Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, set to occur on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished 5.78 points higher at 25,322.31, with gains in UnitedHealth, Home Depot, and Boeing offsetting losses in McDonald's and 3M. The rose 0.11 percent to close at 2,782 as a rise in telecommunications and consumer staples led the 11 sectors higher.
The Nasdaq composite finished up 0.19 percent at 7,659.93 amid a 1.29 percent rise in shares of Facebook and a 0.72 percent gain in Google-parent Alphabet.
President Trump and his administration escalated criticism of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and international trade over the weekend at the annual G-7 summit that took place in Quebec, Canada.
The conclusion of the two-day summit, where Trump met with leaders from Europe and Canada, resulted in the U.S. incumbent refusing to endorse the joint G-7 statement that called for a reduction of tariffs — sparking tensions between him and fellow G-7 leaders.
He criticized Canadian counterpart Trudeau of "betrayal," saying that the prime minister's comments on U.S. tariffs were "very dishonest & weak."
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"Trump doesn't care about convention at all. Therefore it creates an air of unpredictability that markets don't really like," said Maris Ogg, president at Tower Bridge Advisors. "Politics doesn't usually play a chance in short-term market movement. But there's a chance this week it could spill over and impact sentiment."
Ogg added that while trade tensions or geopolitics could impact markets this week, second-quarter earnings — and how Wall Street reacts to them — are likely the most important factor for investors.
The Canadian dollar, plagued by fear of further trade tension, fell 0.4 percent against the dollar to C$1.298. The Mexican peso also weakened 1.4 percent to 20.575 pesos per dollar.
The global trade talks ended as the U.S. president headed to Singapore, where he's set to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a historic sit-down on Tuesday. The two are expected to discuss future relations and denuclearization, alongside other subjects.
While no major results are expected to come out of this initial meeting, investors hope the meeting will reinforce relations between the isolated state of North Korea and the rest of the world.
Despite trading woes and the summit with North Korea, U.S. Treasurys slipped across the board Monday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note rising to 2.95 percent. Bond yields move inversely with their prices.
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Kevin Hagen | Getty Images
Investors were also looking ahead to a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve, due to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues are expected to announce a quarter-point increase in interest rates as it seeks to normalize monetary policy with the economy showing signs of health.
"Powell is likely to walk a very delicate line, continuing to fuel optimism in today's moderate economy and providing justification for further Fed action, while at the same time giving a voice to the lingering skeptics that question the directional momentum of inflation," said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel Nicolaus.
Earlier this month, data revealed that the U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs in May, well ahead of economist expectations of 188,000 and adding to a growing pool of evidence that the economy is nearing full employment.
Last week, initial claims for state unemployment benefits also decreased 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000; economists had estimated an increase.
"The chairman will want to convey conviction in the committee's decision to hike this week as well as in the implied rate hike anticipated come September," Piegza added.
"They have broadly judged the U.S. economy to be sound with a further expected rise in price pressures while assuring market participants that they are entering further into higher rates with eyes wide open aware of the lingering risks."
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584f3ef5cb5b2b5b447b9ba3c6bc3fec | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/white-house-economic-advisor-larry-kudlow-suffers-heart-attack-trump-tweets.html?utm_source=wnd&utm_medium=wnd&utm_campaign=syndicated | US economic advisor Larry Kudlow in good condition following heart attack, White House says | US economic advisor Larry Kudlow in good condition following heart attack, White House says
VIDEO1:0301:03Larry Kudlow in good condition following heart attack: White HouseSquawk Box
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow, an important voice in U.S. trade policy, suffered a heart attack and is in good condition at Walter Reed Medical Center.
"Earlier today National Economic Council Director and Assistant to the President Larry Kudlow, experienced what his doctors say was a very mild heart attack," press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Monday evening.
"Larry is currently in good condition at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and his doctors expect he will make a full and speedy recovery. The president and his administration send their thoughts and prayers to Larry and his family," she said.
President Donald Trump tweeted the news earlier, literally minutes before his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un:
Our Great Larry Kudlow, who has been working so hard on trade and the economy, has just suffered a heart attack. He is now in Walter Reed Medical Center.
Kudlow, a former CNBC contributor and Wall Street economist, has played a leading role in crafting policy toward America's major trade partners, including China.
Just last weekend, Kudlow accused Canada of directing "polarizing" comments toward the United States following a fractious G-7 meeting of advanced economies. The conclave in Quebec pitted the United States against its traditional allies, which are trying to head off a full-blown trade war.
"Here's the thing," he told CNN, speaking of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "He really kind of stabbed us in the back."
Health concerns for Kudlow are unlikely to alter ongoing talks between the United States and its global commerce partners, said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank.
"I probably would venture to answer that it wouldn't materially affect anything around the trade talks," Varathan said. The U.S. is negotiating trade disagreements with the European Union, China and NAFTA partners including Mexico, among others.
"A lot of the trade thoughts and the trade motivations were formed long before Larry Kudlow joined the team," Varathan said. "They were already formed. You've got people like (trade advisor) Peter Navarro and all — hawkish views on trade."
VIDEO2:5602:56Kudlow: US would welcome talks about unfair trading practicesSquawk on the Street
Kudlow replaced Gary Cohn in the post of National Economic Council director in March.
Kudlow, 70, took the job after Cohn resigned following a fight against tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Prior to assuming his current role, Kudlow was a vocal free trader and was generally opposed tariffs, but he has strongly supported Trump's hard line on international commerce.
"This president's got some backbone, others didn't, and he's raising the issue in full public view, setting up a process that may include tariffs," Kudlow told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" in April.
"Somebody's got to do it," Kudlow continued at the time. "Somebody's got to say to China, 'You are no longer a Third World country. You are a First World country and you have to act like it. The president's got to stick up for himself and the United States."
Word of Kudlow's hospitalization came in the moments before Trump and Kim shook hands in Singapore, marking the first meeting between sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders in history.
Walter Reed Medical Center is located in Bethesda, Maryland.
Prior to the White House statement, Kudlow's wife, Judy, said he was "doing fine," according to Robert Costa, a reporter at the Washington Post.
Judy Kudlow to WashPost tonight. Note: she always wants to avoid being in public spotlight, but understands there is misinformation out there. "He's doing fine. Doctors here are fabulous."
—CNBC's Saheli Roy Choudhury contributed to this report.
VIDEO1:2001:20Trump and Kim meet for the first timeSquawk Box Asia
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3c9ce626756b66c7fd3e5aa6ac0b5825 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/amazon-deeplens-use-case-helping-people-with-memory-loss-alzheimers.html | Amazon's A.I. camera could help people with memory loss recognize old friends and family | Amazon's A.I. camera could help people with memory loss recognize old friends and family
Amazon Web Services
Sachin Solkhan, a veteran software engineer who works with Fidelity Investments, has thought a lot about how technology can help people with dementia recognize their loved ones.
So when Amazon launched its DeepLens camera in November 2017, he got the idea to use its artificial intelligence software to do just that. Ahead of the device's official launch later this week, he attended a hackathon on his own time to build a system that records a user's experiences and recognizes the person right in front of them.
"I wanted to find a way to use the device to help out someone who is struggling," he said.
DeepLens is Amazon's equivalent of Google's Clips "smart" camera, but it's targeted to developers instead of consumers. The idea is to use artificial intelligence technology to make it easier for the camera to do things like recognize objects or characters that appear in a video stream.
VIDEO2:0002:00Google debuts a wireless, hands-free camera that pairs with smartphonesDigital Original
Solkhan is hoping that people experiencing memory loss will someday carry around the camera with them wherever they go.
Here's how it would work: The DeepLens system would store photographs and names of a user's family and friends in Amazon's cloud service. The camera would then record interactions. And if it all goes right, the AI would then recognize the person and issue a verbal prompt.
Solkhan is testing it out with friends and family members as a side project.
In recent years, Amazon has increasingly been looking for ways to use tools like artificial intelligence in health care for people with complex medical needs.
The company isn't alone. Apple and Alphabet also see opportunities in health, a $3 billion sector that lags far behind other industries in adopting technology.
"We see a lot of usage for machine learning from primary care to medical screening," Amazon's machine learning and AI general manager, Matt Wood, said in an interview with CNBC.
Wood said the camera literally put Amazon's advanced technology, like machine learning and artificial intelligence, into the hands of developers.
He described some of the first applications as "fun," like recognizing species of pet dogs. But others are targeted to helping seniors and people with serious medical problems, like Solkhan's device.
"We're motivated to use it (machine learning) to improve elder care, and care in general," he said.
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7b8ee4641f9fa07ca1a4e44db2e8dde3 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/charitable-giving-hits-record-410-billion-here-are-the-richs-favorites.html | Giving to charity hits a record $410 billion. Here are the favorite causes of the rich | Giving to charity hits a record $410 billion. Here are the favorite causes of the rich
Priscilla Chan (R) and her husband Mark Zuckerberg announce the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to "cure, prevent or manage all disease" by the end of the century during a news conference at UCSF Mission Bay in San Francisco.Beck Diefenbach | Reuters
Americans gave a record $410 billion to charity last year, driven by a soaring stock market, strong economy and a charged political environment.Total giving was up 5 percent in 2017, according to the Giving USA annual report. Giving by individuals represented 70 percent of all contributions, although donations by foundations, bequests and companies also increased."Americans' record-breaking charitable giving in 2017 demonstrates that even in divisive times our commitment to philanthropy is solid," said Aggie Sweeney, chair of Giving USA Foundation and senior counsel at Campbell & Company. "Contributions went up nearly across the board, signaling that Americans seem to be giving according to their beliefs and interests, which are diverse and wide-ranging."
Giving to every major category increased in 2017, with the exception of donations to international affairs, which saw a 4 percent decline.
Religion is still the largest charitable cause in America, with donations up 3 percent to $127.4 billion — or more than a third of the total. Education ranked second at $59 billion, up 6 percent.
That was followed by human services, at $51 billion, foundations at $46 billion, health organizations at $38 billion and public-society benefit organizations at $30 billion. Giving to the arts and culture increased to $20 billion and giving to the environment and animal groups rose to $12 billion.
Foundations saw the biggest growth, up 16 percent, due to massive gifts from super-rich donors to their foundations. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave $1.9 billion to the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation and Dell computer founder Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, gave $1 billion to the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation."This tells us that some of our most fortunate citizens are using their wealth to make some significant contributions to the common good," said Amir Pasic, dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.
It's unclear how the new tax law will affect giving this year and beyond. While the charitable deduction was preserved, the increase in the standard deduction to $24,000 for families will make it less attractive for less-wealthy donors to give to charity. Some estimate that the tax change will lead to a $14 billion decrease in charitable giving in 2018 by middle-class households.
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29439ddf0c9d492deaed73cc7cde9db7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/epic-games-company-behind-fortnite-was-founded-by-a-college-kid.html | 'Fortnite' launched battle royale a year ago today — here's how the company behind the billion-dollar game was founded by a college kid | 'Fortnite' launched battle royale a year ago today — here's how the company behind the billion-dollar game was founded by a college kid
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ec6f9bc9eb5f50c8e2d539643fae7bc3 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/experts-weigh-in-on-trump-kim-nuclear-pledge.html | 'Now the real work begins:' Experts weigh in on Trump-Kim nuclear pledge | 'Now the real work begins:' Experts weigh in on Trump-Kim nuclear pledge
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore June 12, 2018.Anthony Wallace | Pool | Reuters
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a deal on Tuesday committing the two leaders to establishing new ties "in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity."The agreement, which the two leaders signed at the historic nuclear summit in Singapore, has been criticized for being short on detail. Among the four points the two leaders agreed to was the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," which experts have said has a different meaning to North Koreans than it does to Americans. But experts say the next steps in the negotiating process will be key to the deal's implementation.
More coverage on the Trump-Kim nuclear summit:Read the full text of the Trump-Kim agreement here Trump says North Korea will keep its promises, and the US will stop war games US stock futures flat after Trump-Kim summit ends
"It is the steps that follow — or lack thereof — that will determine if this meeting was a success or failure," Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, told CNBC. YJ Fischer, who worked on nuclear weapons policy at the State Department under former President Barack Obama, said, "The most important thing is what comes next."
Below, 14 experts weigh in.
Catherine Dill, senior research associate, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies "The most important thing to consider is that working out the details is the hardest part. The 4-point agreement is quite vague, likely intentionally, and now the crucial part that comes next is developing an implementation plan with concrete steps. Supposedly Pompeo and Bolton will continue to meet with North Korean officials in coming weeks to work out the details. After Trump's remarks in the press conference about suspending U.S.-ROK exercises, the U.S. will need to carefully manage the alliance relationship with Seoul as well." R. Scott Kemp, director of the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy "This is a perfect outcome. While some may complain that the agreement is devoid of actionable substance — this is fine. Neither Trump nor Kim were in a position to discuss details. A realistic agreement will probably take years to hash out, as there is much to learn about North Korea's program first. The Trump-Kim statement of principles is exactly what is needed to get started."
Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association"The document Trump and Kim signed is a mediocre reiteration of North Korea's past commitments to denuclearize. It is far too soon to characterize this vague, aspirational pledge as a success or a failure. The critical question is what comes next? It is imperative that this summit is not a one-off meeting and that it jump starts a process that trades concrete actions to reduce and roll back North Korea's nuclear program in return for security assurances. In the follow-on negotiations, the Trump administration should focus on closing the gap between the United States and North Korea on the definition of denuclearization and laying out specific, verifiable steps that Pyongyang will take to reduce the threat posed by its nuclear weapons. It is the steps that follow — or lack thereof — that will determine if this meeting was a success or failure."
Steve Andreasen, the director for defense policy and arms control on the National Security Council staff from 1993 to 2001 "The Trump-Kim summit, along with renewed North-South diplomacy, has at least given pause to war. We can always hope for more and more faster, but the reality of where we are today with North Korea is simply this: A new process of dialogue and negotiation will take time. It will be fluid and unpredictable. We will learn more as negotiations unfold that will inform our judgments about what can and cannot be achieved. More likely than not, there will be agreements in stages — and in each case, more than one way to achieve our vital interests, including diluting North Korea's threat to the U.S., South Korea and Japan and avoiding a devastating war on the Korean Peninsula." James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"I support diplomacy to reduce the risk of a war, and I would much rather that Trump and Kim exchange civil words rather than nuclear threats. That said, this summit was a farce. The language on denuclearization was weaker than in previous agreements involving North Korea, and Trump appears to have made significant concessions on US-ROK joint exercises without getting anything concrete in return."
Steven Pifer, nonresident senior fellow in the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative at the Brookings Institution "This was a good summit for Mr. Kim. He got a sit-down with the American president and, apparently, a suspension of military exercises. Whether this was a good summit for Mr. Trump and for U.S. security interests depends on future steps. Mr. Kim committed 'to work toward' complete denuclearization if the Korean Peninsula. What that means in reality remains to be seen." Togzhan Kassenova, Nuclear Policy Program fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace "When you strip all the theatrics, there is not much substance to celebrate. Only if the follow-on engagement results in something tangible – North Korea's firm commitment to denuclearization, ways to verify it, and a strict timeline with the milestones, would we be able to say the summit was worth it. As of this very moment, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has a reason to feel pleased with the summit. President Trump doesn't."
Sergey Radchenko, professor of international relations at Cardiff University "For the moment I think there's too much excitement here for no good reasons. Of course it's great that the two leaders have met ... But in the long term I would say that trust in North Korea to fulfill its obligations or to stick to the letter of agreement is not a very reliable prospect."
YJ Fischer, former assistant coordinator for Iran nuclear implementation at the State Department "I think the most important thing for readers to be considering going forward is that this was the first step in what is going to be a long process.The vagueness of the statement signed by President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un indicates just how much work there is still is to be done. The two sides still need to agree on principles of disarmament, a timetable for implementation, and stringent verification measures -- or put another way, all the hard work remains to be done.
"The fact that so little was achieved is OK. Diplomatic processes such as these take time. President Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev took three years and three high-level summits to reach an arms control agreement. President Nixon's meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong was important but it took six more years until relations were normalized with China.
"The most important thing is what comes next. It would be a mistake to rush to schedule a White House level summit between Trump and Kim anytime soon. Instead Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should continue the meetings at his level to reach agreement around the key issues. The Pompeo level meetings don't need to solve everything but the next time Trump and Kim meet there should be a greater foundation for the framework of an arms control agreement.
"The Trump administration should also use this time to work closely with the players in the region, including Japan and especially China and South Korea. Trump touted the success of his 'maximum pressure.' Well the era of maximum pressure is over because China and South Korea want reduced tensions and greater economic collaboration with North Korea. If Trump changes his tune on North Korea, he is unlikely to have China and South Korea with him. That's why it's essential that Trump ensures the three countries stay closely aligned."
Laicie Heeley, editor-in-chief of foreign policy magazine Inkstick, and host of the podcast Things That Go Boom"The summit was an exercise in pageantry that one can only hope will lead to meaningful progress down the road. At this point, unfortunately, the Kim regime has not agreed to additional concessions, leaving the details of its previously stated commitment to 'denuclearization' to be worked out down the road. And while both leaders will tout the success of the summit at home, Kim walks away at a clear advantage, having met as a nuclear-armed equal with the president of the United States and been guaranteed a 'freeze for freeze' agreement the U.S. had previously eschewed. That said, Trump didn't give up the farm, as many feared he would. While his characterization of joint military exercises as 'provocative' was unnecessary and plays, once again, into Kim's narrative, the step to freeze such exercises is easily reversed. For now, the two countries remain engaged in amicable diplomacy, which is far preferable to talk of 'fire and fury' and 'dotards' on Twitter. "Now, the real work begins. Trump and Kim have agreed only in principle to real progress. First and foremost, the two leaders must agree to a clear, shared, and detailed definition of denuclearization. Diplomacy is a long, hard path, but worth the effort. I hope to see the Trump administration continue to engage in a constructive way."
Frank N. von Hippel, senior research physicist and professor of public and international affairs emeritus at Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security "There is not much for a nonproliferation expert to say yet because there are no specifics, but I am glad we are negotiating rather than making nuclear threats.
"I do think that a deal is possible but also that it will be a long time before we see the DPRK fully eliminate its nuclear and missile capabilities.
"That is not a technical judgement – technically it could be done relatively rapidly with full DPRK cooperation – but politically, DPRK's nuclear capability is its main asset and it is hard to see it giving that away before there are a lot of other changes.
"In that regard, I think that suspending the annual US-ROK wargames is a good move on Trump's part. Those games were very aggressive and included nuclear threats. We can maintain readiness in less scary ways."
Sharon Squassoni, former director of policy coordination in the State Department's Nonproliferation Bureau "The statement gets the relationship off the ground. Secretary Pompeo and his North Korean counterparts will take up four baskets of issues in the future: diplomatic relations, security and peace on the Peninsula, denuclearization and efforts to recover POW/MIA remains. Trump and Kim made personal commitments to security assurances and denuclearization but the statement didn't say how, why or when.
"There was no reference to a peace treaty, which will be a tricky effort, but it will likely be part of the follow-on negotiations. And, there was no reference to complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. Thankfully, this suggests a more practical approach to reducing the risks from Kim's nuclear weapons. However, the linkage of denuclearization to the Kim-Moon summit document could mean that the United States might be kept at arms-length in that process. Of course, South Korea has to play a key role in building peace and security on the Korean peninsula, but the nuclear weapons that Kim worries about are American."
Eunjung Lim, assistant professor at the College of International Relations at Ritsumeikan University "The statement was reaffirming the Panmunjon Declaration [between North and South Korea], and explicitly clarifies the DPRK as the subject who should commit to work towards 'complete' denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Since the 1992 Joint Declaration of Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea has removed every nuclear weapon, which means that the remaining task is for North Korea. That is why, I think, this specific sentence is tremendously important."
Richard Nephew, adjunct professor and senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy "Setting aside the implications of Trump's apparent decision to cancel future U.S.-ROK military exercises due to their 'provocative' nature and expense, the summit largely conformed to my expectations.
"One fear I had in advance of the summit was that Trump and Kim would commit to continue negotiating directly at their level, which would have created the real risk of inadvisable U.S. concessions with respect to the technical aspects of the DPRK nuclear program. Consequently, the most important element of the statement that Trump and Kim signed was the delegation to Pompeo and 'a relevant high-level DPRK official' to continue the negotiations, ensuring that there will be a reversion to more technical and detailed talks.
"Any realistic resolution to the DPRK nuclear and missile threat will require complex negotiations regarding any restrictions and dismantlement activity to be undertaken, verification measures, and sanctions relief.
"This will take time and the process needs political space in both countries. The tasks now, especially in light of the exercises decision and de facto moratorium on new sanctions, are all reassurance and coordination on the content of the actual agreement to be negotiated. This is the most important next step, since the exercise decision and its casual, offhand announcement are going to terrify our allies in the region and beyond."
— CNBC's Weizhen Tan and Yen Nee Lee contributed to this report.
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71fee2e4de7ac60bc53606dcfc9d66a9 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/j-p-morgan-weight-watchers-stock-to-rally-thanks-to-influencers.html | JP Morgan sees Weight Watchers rallying more than 20% as it adds more 'influencers' like Oprah | JP Morgan sees Weight Watchers rallying more than 20% as it adds more 'influencers' like Oprah
Oprah Winfrey poses backstage with her Cecil B. DeMille Award, January 8, 2018.Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
J.P. Morgan added Weight Watchers to the firm's list of "overweight" stocks, saying the weight loss company is poised for "outsized" growth as it looks to add more big-name celebrities through its partnership with Oprah Winfrey.
"Management stabilized the trajectory ... by revamping its points program, significantly improving the mobile platform, and recruiting pivotal social media influencers," J.P. Morgan analyst Christina Brathwaite wrote in a note.
"Winfrey is and will continue to be a key advertising partner [as the company expands] by broadening its social media influencer base," Brathwaite said, adding that Weight Watchers this year signed record producer DJ Khaled, chef Eric Greenspan, comedian Kevin Smith and singer Hélène Ségara as influencers.
Shares of Weight Watchers rose more than 5 percent in early trading Tuesday. The stock was up 96 percent in the past year through Monday's close at $86.90. J. P. Morgan's price target of $105 a share is 21 percent higher than that closing price.
Partnering with Winfrey was one of "three key events" in 2015 that "helped stabilize sales" in 2016, Brathwaite wrote. Combined with the other two key events – overhauling its points program and the new WW mobile application – Weight Watchers is now heading steadily toward is annual revenue target of over $2 billion by 2020, according to Brathwaite.
Winfrey, who owns about 8 percent of Weight Watchers' stock and is on the board of directors, signed a promotional deal that lasts until October 2020. Her role as a Weight Watchers spokeswoman is a critical asset "for the company given her marketing clout in the U.S.," Brathwaite wrote.
J.P. Morgan said it believes the company benefits from "Winfrey's wide network of influential senior leaders across companies in the U.S."
The company reaches members as they follow the progress of celebrity endorsers who are going through weight loss and health improvement programs. It aims to increase engagement with specific demographics through the steady sharing of information on social media "rather than traditional weight loss ads" depicting before and after pictures, Brathwaite wrote.
It also has been trying to expand beyond a distinct customer demographic, as the average member is dominantly female, white and about 50 years old. Instead of marketing specifically toward men, Brathwaite wrote that J.P Morgan believes that Weight Watchers' rebranding as "WW" showcases the company "as a lifestyle brand," while the addition of male influencers like Khaled and Greenspan will also help increase male membership.
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02e1c3bf4f615f8cb59890d37239934e | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/north-korea-commits-to-complete-denuclearization-doesnt-define-it.html | North Korea committed to 'complete denuclearization' — but didn't define what that means | North Korea committed to 'complete denuclearization' — but didn't define what that means
VIDEO4:4304:43North Korea progress should be measured in years, not days, says former ambassadorSquawk on the Street
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday signed an agreement that "reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
That may sound promising, but many experts warned ahead of the historic summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump that North Korea likely has a different understanding of what denuclearization entails.
For the U.S., the term means North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons — but Pyongyang may agree to do so only if certain conditions are fulfilled.
Possible conditions include ending the American military presence in South Korea. It may also mean scrapping the U.S. regional nuclear umbrella, an arrangement under which Washington promises to retaliate if its allies are attacked with nuclear weapons.
North Korea's concept of denuclearization, made clear through years of failed discussions with the international community, "bears no resemblance to the American definition," Evans J.R. Revere, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, wrote in a note.
In agreeing to meet with Trump, Kim resuscitated the approach his country has pursued in previous negotiations, Revere warned.
In their agreement, the United States "committed to provide security guarantees" to North Korea. Both leaders committed to "follow-on negotiations."
For North Korea, denuclearizing the peninsula means it gives up nukes if the United States ends its alliances in Asia and pulls ground troops out of South Korea, Victor Cha, a Georgetown University professor and senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said at a Washington event before the summit.
Negotiators in Trump's administration should seek a written commitment that North Korea will abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs, Cha said at that time.
The document signed on Tuesday doesn't include that language, but it does commit to further talks.
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16c611aca0df9f4d80eb77f94c379407 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/oculus-founder-palmer-luckey-on-facebook-be-careful-who-you-trust.html | Oculus founder Palmer Luckey on his time at Facebook: 'Be careful who you trust' | Oculus founder Palmer Luckey on his time at Facebook: 'Be careful who you trust'
Palmer Luckey, Founder, Oculus VR, on the Centre Stage during Day 1 of the 2015 Web Summit in the RDS, Dublin, Ireland.Stephen McCarthy | Sportsfile/Corbis | Getty Images
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey says his time at Facebook taught him to "be careful who you trust," in a new feature Wired published Monday.
The virtual reality executive left Facebook in March 2017 after a tumultuous tenure at the social media giant. Facebook bought Oculus, which develops virtual reality technology, for $2 billion in 2014.
Luckey had come under scrutiny for right-leaning political donations and sat at the center of a lawsuit against Facebook that claimed Luckey "commercially exploited" computer code and trade secrets.
The other lesson he learned from his three years at Facebook: "Be careful who has control," Luckey told Wired.
It's a familiar theme from former Facebook executives.
Several former members of the company's upper ranks have spoken out against Facebook in recent months, claiming the platform is "ripping apart" society and that executives consciously exploited human vulnerabilities in designing the service.
Most recently WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum left the company, reportedly over disagreements about Facebook's ad-based business model. Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 bilion in 2014, its biggest acquisition ever.
Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have also faced questions of political bias against Republican views — particularly during a two-day appearance before Congress in April. Zuckerberg said then Luckey's dismissal was not related to his personal politics.
Luckey now heads a Peter Thiel-backed VR venture to build a virtual border wall and curtail unauthorized border crossings.
Read the full Wired feature here.
VIDEO6:5506:55Trump Vortex: Why Facebook's business model is only now coming under fireDigital Original
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72395f06d2fbe2781f45313d6b6045ad | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/regulations-and-keep-food-trucks-from-cruising-down-easy-street.html | Regulations and permit headaches keep food trucks from cruising down Easy Street | Regulations and permit headaches keep food trucks from cruising down Easy Street
Getty Images
For the first time since Iowan Shon Bruellman started The Big Red Food Truck four years ago, he doesn't have a permit to set up shop in Des Moines. The former hog farmer turned entrepreneur said the $2,000 for required city paper work and fees isn't worth it, because he can spend half as much and get multiple permits for numerous suburbs nearby.
While the Des Moines truck scene booms, his pub-food cuisine, including tacos, ternderloins and cheeseburgers, is on the sidelines in the city limits. The entrepreneurial spirit of the business, the relative ease of the set-up and the lure of trying unusual foods make it an appealing way to break into the restaurant industry, especially as the economy continues to rebound, Consumers are spending more on dining out and specialty foods that are both convenient and hip, fill that demand perfectly.
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Food trucks are a $960 million business and are projected to hit $1.1 billion in 2022, according to a report by IBISWorld. But the researcher also found that growth in the food truck industry is slowing — 7.3% in 2012 through 2017 and now expected at 3% through 2022 -- due to increased competition, low profit margins and the sorts of municipal regulations that irk Bruellman.
Municipalities don't make it simple
'A lot of food trucks are disappointed and much more so, the people are disappointed," said the 46-year-old who in the spring launched a second food truck, Hotsy Totsy, which serves tater tots topped with everything from barbecued brisket to buffalo chicken, and employees seven people. "Des Moines was on the map. We're cool and we've got food trucks. Then, it was, well, where are all the food trucks?'
The city of Des Moines could not be reached for comment.
But Iowa's capital is hardly the only American city with less-than-hospitable rules or fees for four-wheeled eateries. A study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that Los Angeles food truck operators must move their vehicles hourly, aspiring New York food truckers can wait as long as 15 years for a permit and Boston owners can pay as much as $38,000 annually in regulatory costs.
Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed to hear the case brought by a Chicago food truck owner who contends the rule that food trucks must be 200 feet away from other businesses serving food, like restaurants and convenience stores, is unfair. And in March, after confronted by a federal lawsuit it seemed poised to lose, the city of Louisville got rid of an ordinance requiring food purveyors on wheels to be at least 150 feet from restaurants with similar menus unless the restaurateurs gave their permission.
"You're not allowed to impose restrictions that hurt a business over another," said Sam Bracken, 52, owner of The Celtic Pig, a Louisville food truck selling barbecue, Irish and Scottish fare. "That's not fair to us…. Now, we can park anywhere I want. I could park in front of a barbecue restaurant or an Irish restaurant."
Bracken traded in his landscape business for the food truck in 2014 together with his girlfriend Melissa Ingram, 49, a former executive chef at a local college. The pair had spent the previous year selling food out of a smoker they set up in the parking lot of a local tire shop.
Not as easy as it looks
"There's a romanticism about food trucks. I can't tell you how many people come up to our food truck, order and say, 'It's my dream,'" he said. "Thanks to the Food Network and food truck TV shows there, people see a line and think, 'They're making money.' People don't see it as a real restaurant, but as an easier thing to break into."
To show them otherwise, Bracken invites anyone who confesses they wished they owned a food truck to work at The Celtic Pig for a day. A few have taken him up on the offer; he recalls one person who lasted only three hours on a 95-degree day.
Weather is just one challenge food truck operators face that their brick-and-mortar brethren don't. They must work in tight spaces that can't be air-conditioned in hot weather and don't have a year-round work season due to cold winter temperatures that keep outdoor diners away.
It's also hard to find staff OK with short shifts and there's no between-meal down time to, say, dust or roll napkins and maintaining expensive equipment. The truck must be durable, but so does the kitchen equipment inside, which has no back-up infrastructure
"You build a little restaurant on wheels -- an electric generator, propane, hot and cold water, fridges, freezers -- and then, you drive it over potholes at 50 miles per hour and things break," Kirk Francis, who co-founded the now quartet of Captain Cookie & the Milkman food trucks that sell cookies and made-to-order ice cream sandwiches in the Washington, D.C. area. "Your transmission never goes out in a brick-and-mortar store. It could go out in a food truck in the middle of the business season and you're out for three weeks."
23 trips to get permits
Three of his trucks have been broken into, Francis said. Local government regulations are an issue for him, too; he cited the huge amount of paper work D.C. requires food truckers to fill out -- a total the Chamber Foundation study put at 23 separate trips to local agencies to obtain permits.
Timothy Wilson of the district's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs declined to comment on the exact number of trips needed to complete the necessary paperwork, but said due to security concerns, setting up a food truck business is more complicated than in other municipalities.
Regardless of what city it's in, the food truck business has grown fiercely competitive. Francis, for example, has seen his lunch revenue drop as much as 50% over the last three years.
"It's kind of ebbing a bit. We're not going away anytime soon, but we're no longer the hottest kid on the block," said Francis, 32. "It's just a normal food trend. Cupcakes were biggest thing ever for about five years. Then, food trucks were greatest thing ever.
His trucks now are seguing to a physical business; he and his wife, Juliann, a former reporter, have opened two stores and boast more than 50 employees.They started selling cookies wholesale in 2008 after he left his job as a U.S. Department of Homeland contractor. In 2012, their first truck debuted.
The door to the food truck world won't close behind him. The concept of mobile food is ancient from the wandering bread peddlers in ancient Rome to the immigrant pushcarts in New York City in the late 1880s and early 1900s, according to Jonathan Deutsch, a professor of culinary arts and food science at Drexel University.
"It's capitalism. When there's an opportunity to make money bringing deliciousness to someone, we like that," he said. "I don't know anyone who's had a burning passion to do this who found it insurmountable, while I know plenty of people who dream of opening a restaurant and it remains a dream."
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b6e651e9b813b57a8955fba241b84bd0 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/seattle-repeals-tax-law-after-amazon-pressure.html | Seattle votes to repeal new tax law following pressure by Amazon and other local businesses | Seattle votes to repeal new tax law following pressure by Amazon and other local businesses
Amazon corporate office building in Sunnyvale, CaliforniaLisa Werner | Moment Mobile | Getty Images
Seattle city officials voted on Tuesday to repeal a new tax measure on large companies following mounting pressure from Amazon and other local businesses.
Sitting in front of a raucous crowd, including many who opposed the repeal, the Seattle City Council members voted 7 to 2 in favor of overturning the law, which was just passed four weeks ago.
The so-called head tax, designed to help fund the city's effort to solve its homelessness problem, would have charged companies with more than $20 million in annual revenue $275 per full-time employee every year. The city was expecting to raise roughly $48 million a year through the new tax measure.
Some of the largest Seattle-based companies, including Amazon and Starbucks, sharply criticized the law and formed a coalition to launch the No Tax On Jobs campaign that would have put a repeal referendum on the November ballot.
Amazon temporarily stopped construction of an office building in downtown Seattle to protest the decision, and more than 100 local businesses signed an open letter last month to oppose the new law.
Amazon's spokesperson said in a statement that the repeal is "the right decision for the region's economic prosperity."
The coalition said through its spokesperson that it's glad to see the "Seattle City Council has heard the voices of the people loud and clear and are now reconsidering this ill-conceived tax," according to the Associated Press.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan issued a statement on Monday acknowledging the city's decision to repeal the head tax proposal.
"It is clear that the ordinance will lead to a prolonged, expensive political fight over the next five months that will do nothing to tackle our urgent housing and homelessness crisis," Durkan said in a statement. "We heard you."
The controversy is Amazon's latest tussle against state and government tax policies.
Amazon is in a tax fight with a number of states, including South Carolina, on how to charge sales tax on products sold by third party sellers on its marketplace. Last month, Amazon also said it would block shoppers in Australia from buying from its international sites after the country said it would impose tax on products shipped into the country.
And then there's Amazon's plan for its second headquarters, which has has created a bidding war from cities and states offering tax breaks and incentives to win the bid.
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c8f74b37402b2dabb1f9e9aeb896a779 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/trump-says-trudeaus-comments-are-going-to-cost-canada-a-lot-of-money.html | Trump says Trudeau's comments are going to cost Canada 'a lot of money' | Trump says Trudeau's comments are going to cost Canada 'a lot of money'
VIDEO1:0001:00President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are at odds News Videos
President Donald Trump is still angry at Justin Trudeau for a perceived slight during a speech by the Canadian Prime Minister following the G-7 meeting.
Trump explained the situation Tuesday when asked about the G-7 gathering at a press conference in Singapore following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un:
"When I got out to the plane, I think that Justin probably didn't know that Air Force One has about 20 televisions. And I see the television and he's giving a news conference about how he will not be pushed around by the United States and I say push him around? We just shook hands. It was very friendly. ... No, I have a good relationship with Justin Trudeau. I really did, other than he had a news conference, that he had because he assumed I was in an airplane and I wasn't watching. He learned. That's going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada. He learned. You can't do that. You can't do that."
VIDEO9:2409:24Trump: I had a very good meeting with G-7Squawk Box
The comments dashed hopes that Trump had moved on from what he believed to be was a "dishonest" action by Trudeau. The ire directed at the prime minister by Trump and his advisors had confused some trade observers since the comments seemed to be just a reiteration of what the prime minister had said previously and not a personal insult.
Trudeau said after the G-7 meeting that the aluminum and steel tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canada on national security grounds were insulting and that "Canadians are polite, we're reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around."
Trump then tweeted Saturday evening, "PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, 'US Tariffs were kind of insulting' and he 'will not be pushed around.' Very dishonest & weak."
The president also withdrew U.S. support for a G-7 communique.
The president's staff then blasted Trudeau on Sunday with economic advisor Larry Kudlow accusing Canada of stabbing the U.S. in the back. Trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News, "There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad-faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door."
"We are being taken advantage of by virtually every one of those countries," Trump said Tuesday of the G-7.
On Canada, Trump continued:
"We have a big trade deficit with Canada. ... It's either 17 but could actually be 100 billion. You know they put out a document, I don't know if you saw it. They didn't want me to see it, but we found it. Perhaps they were trying to show the power they have. It's close to $100 billion a year loss with Canada. They don't take our farm products — many of them."
It's unclear what additional action the U.S. would take against Canada. The U.S. at the end of May imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports against Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
The U.S. and Canada are in the middle of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement along with Mexico. The U.S. had a trade surplus with Canada of $8.4 billion last year, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. That figure adjusts to a $17.5 billion trade deficit when services are excluded, according to the USTR.
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17217632ef2babd4640ed63a31fb2629 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/us-stocks-set-for-flat-open-after-trump-kim-sign-agreement.html | US stocks close little changed after Trump-Kim summit | US stocks close little changed after Trump-Kim summit
VIDEO3:1903:19US stocks open higher after Trump-North Korea summitSquawk on the Street
U.S. stocks closed little changed Tuesday after President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement aimed at establishing a "peace regime" on the Korean peninsula and better relations between the two states.
Lack of detail in the agreement about the path to denuclearization on the peninsula kept the market's moves in check throughout the day.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished 1.6 points lower at 25,320.73, weighed down by losses in Travelers Companies and Goldman Sachs. The closed 0.17 percent higher to 2,786.85 helped by utilities, which ended the day 1.3 percent higher.
The Nasdaq composite closed 0.57 percent higher at 7,703.79 thanks to upticks in Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet.
"I don't think there's any surprises here, which is why the markets aren't reacting that much," said Paul Tudor Jones, the famed and reclusive hedge fund manager who called the October 1987 market crash. "We've been trading it the past 12 months leading up to this point so this is semi-anticlimactic."
However, Tudor Jones added that a big rally in stocks was coming later this year.
Trump said the sanctions will remain on Pyongyang until "the menace of nuclear weapons" is gone. Japan's Nikkei 225 finished 0.33 percent higher on hopes for greater peace in the region.
AT&T shares ended the trading day 0.5 percent higher ahead of U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon's decision on whether to permit its $85 billion deal for Time Warner. While the government or AT&T could appeal Leon's decision, the ruling will have far-reaching implications for dealmaking across the telecommunications and media world.
Several other players in the industries, including Twenty-First Century Fox and Disney, are actively pursuing deals of their own; others, like Verizon, could interpret the ruling as a go-ahead to buy a large content company to compete with AT&T.
Asked to comment on movement in equity markets, Tudor Jones said he believes the U.S. stocks will rally near the end of this year.
"I think we'll see rates move significantly higher beginning some time late third quarter, early fourth quarter," Tudor Jones told Andrew Ross Sorkin. "And I think the stock market also has the ability to go a lot higher at the end of the year. ... I can see things getting crazy particularly at year-end after the midterm elections ... to the upside."
Investors are also awaiting the culmination of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting, set to conclude on Wednesday.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues are expected to announce a quarter-point increase in interest rates as the central bank seeks to normalize monetary policy with the economy showing signs of health.
Closely watched consumer pricing data, often viewed as an inflation barometer, increased 2.8 percent in the 12 months through May, the biggest advance since February 2012, after rising 2.5 percent in April.
A slowdown in the climb of gasoline prices helped dampen the movement upward, though core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, also rose 0.2 percent. The year-over-year increase in core CPI is now 2.2 percent.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore June 12, 2018.Anthony Wallace | Pool | Reuters
"It does seem as though this trend of low inflation is evolving a little," said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist for State Street Global Advisors. "The economic data has been good, but in order to hike rates a fourth time this year, you're going to have to see a big pick-up in economic growth."
U.S. Treasurys yields rose following the report, with the benchmark 10-year note rate at 2.966 percent. The U.S. dollar index, which compares the greenback against a host of foreign currencies, rose 0.25 percent.
"What the market wants to know regarding the Fed is whether they want to see a fourth rate hike, do they even see it as a possibility," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. "There are those who suggest the economy will gain momentum, but there are those who think the economy is not strong enough."
"The point is every time we have rate hikes, emerging markets come under pressure," Krosby said. "It reminds me of an old trading floor adage: When rates rise, something always breaks."
While U.S. markets have remained comparatively calm over the past two weeks, stricter monetary policy from the Fed, as well as more hawkish commentary from the ECB, appeared to stress certain debt-heavy economies like those of Italy and Brazil.
The ECB will hold its policy meeting on Thursday. The institution's chief economist, Peter Praet, said last week that the central bank will discuss how it will wind down its bond-buying program at the meeting, a move that could affect rates worldwide.
Concerns about global credit contagion weighed on financial stocks two weeks ago after a populist rift in Italy threatened to prevent the country from forming a government. The developments spurred dormant fears concerning the stability of the euro zone and default risk concerning Italy's €2.3 trillion ($2.68 trillion) in debt.
— CNBC's Everett Rosenfeld, Nyshka Chandran, Tae Kim, and Alex Sherman contributed to this report.
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0039d53bccf874d3422f0a028622f5f7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/valve-forges-deal-to-launch-its-popular-gaming-platform-steam-in-china.html | Valve forges deal to launch its popular gaming platform Steam in China | Valve forges deal to launch its popular gaming platform Steam in China
Gabe Newell, right, co-founder of video game developer and distributor Valve.Ethan Miller | Getty Images
U.S.-based firm Valve partnered with Chinese developer Perfect World to launch its popular online PC games store Steam in China.
The company, known for popular titles like "Half-Life" and "Left 4 Dead," announced Monday that it will establish a new company called Steam China to bring its games and other products to the world's second-largest economy.
Valve and Shanghai-based Perfect World have collaborated in the past to distribute two Valve games, "Dota 2" and "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive," in China. The firms did not provide a launch date for this new China unit.
Valve and Perfect World announced the tie-up as major console companies including Microsoft and Sony are pitching their new games at E3, the biggest trade show of the year for the industry.
China is a huge market for video games. It is expected to account for a quarter of all global game revenues, bringing in $37.9 billion this year, according to a forecast by market research firm Newzoo. PC gaming also generates massive revenues, according to Newzoo, which predicted the sector will bring in $32.9 billion globally this year, compared to the $34.6 billion expected to come from consoles.
An official move to China would see Steam compete directly with Tencent, which posted a first-quarter beat last month on the back of strong revenues from games. The company saw mobile game sales jump, with revenues up 68 percent year-on-year to 21.7 billion Chinese yuan ($3.4 billion). Tencent has its own Steam-like PC games distribution platform called WeGame.
Last year, Valve revealed it had 33 million daily active users playing Steam games, and 67 million monthly active users. It said that the U.S. accounted for 34 percent of Steam sales, while Asia accounted for 17 percent of sales.
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20c28dc91d46bd94a844143743a00fbb | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/wave-of-calm-coming-to-markets-and-credit-suisse-has-a-way-to-profit.html | A wave of calm is about to wash over stocks, and Credit Suisse has a way to profit | A wave of calm is about to wash over stocks, and Credit Suisse has a way to profit
VIDEO1:0301:03Fundamentals to trump geopolitics in return to calmer trading: Credit SuisseTrading Nation
Just as investors have grown accustomed to bigger market swings, one strategist says we should return to calmer trading in the back half of 2018.
Jonathan Golub, U.S. equity strategist at Credit Suisse, expects a situation reminiscent of 2017, one of the smoothest periods of trading in Wall Street history. He anticipates this even as President Donald Trump lobs geopolitical curveballs at markets such as trade tariffs against some of the nation's closest allies.
"We're kind of trained to think that volatility is driven by news flow, and if that were the case then 2017 would have been a year of tons of volatility with Trump as president," Golub told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Monday. "The reality is the most important thing is the business cycle and the economics."
For example, as Trump has antagonized G-7 members over trade, the VIX volatility index has plummeted more than 20 percent to trade at levels not seen since January. Volatility had picked up during wild sell-offs in February and March, even hitting its highest level since mid-2015 on Feb. 6, before easing again in June.
Volatility should be muted, as it was in 2017, for the rest of the year as investors favor a focus on fundamentals, says Golub.
"Right now the likelihood of recession between now and anytime, let's say, between late 2019 or even much later is probably low," said Golub. "The business cycle is going to extend itself. We're not looking at a recession. The economic data is ticking up, getting stronger, not weaker. And all of those things, no pun intended, they trump the geopolitics."
Earnings growth should continue to drive markets, according to Golub. He recently upped his profit estimates to $158 a share from $155 for 2018. His updated estimates represent 19 percent earnings growth for the S&P 500.
By sector, Golub says he has the greatest conviction in the technology space, a group already leading markets for the year.
"Tech I think is just the absolute most attractive group even after it continues to run up. The earnings story there is terrific. It's incrementally more expensive than the market but for a ton more earnings," said Golub. "I also like discretionary and the banks but nowhere near as much as I like tech."
The tech sector is up more than 13 percent for the year and the best performer on the S&P 500. Consumer discretionary is the S&P 500's second-best sector with a nearly 12 percent gain. Financials are flat.
VIDEO5:4205:42Credit Suisse’s Golub says we’re set to return to the calm waters of 2017Trading Nation
Disclaimer
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2923e3fc8fd96662b5639ea34356d811 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/a-hated-sector-is-showing-signs-of-life-and-two-names-may-lead.html | One of the most hated sectors is showing signs of life, and two stocks could lead the recovery | One of the most hated sectors is showing signs of life, and two stocks could lead the recovery
VIDEO4:0504:05Consumer staples are seeing their best month since November. Here’s how to play it Trading Nation
Call them the cereal killers.
Investors have dumped shares of so-called soup and cereal stocks over the past year on fears of changing consumer tastes and rising rates, and that has caused the consumer staples sector to fall more than 10 percent in 2010.
But the group has recently been showing signs of life, bouncing 3 percent in June and one chart watcher sees two names that could lead the group higher.
The first, Costco, "has been in an uptrend no matter what time horizon you look at, going all the way back to 2009," Frank Cappelleri, senior equity trader at Instinet, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Tuesday. "Costco has outperformed consumer staples eight out of the last 10 years."
That trend is holding this year, too. Costco shares have added 10 percent in the year to date, while the XLP consumer staples ETF has declined 10 percent.
"It has formed some higher lows along the way so I think we wait for weakness and buy it there," added Cappelleri.
Costco shares hit a higher low in early June, roughly 2.6 percent above the previous low made in early May. The stock hit its highest level on record in intraday trading Wednesday.
Conagra's sideways trading his year has Cappelleri waiting for signs of a move higher before he commits to a buy.
"We haven't seen a breakout here yet in Conagra but that's the key," he said. "I wouldn't jump in and buy it just yet until we have the breakout so the best-case scenario would be seeing Conagra break out on a relative basis and also an absolute basis."
Conagra shares have moved more than 1 percent higher for the year, outperforming the XLP ETF but underperforming broader markets. The has added 4 percent in 2018.
Gina Sanchez, CEO of Chantico Global, is growing more bullish on the entire sector based on its position as a defensive play against slower economic activity.
"If you think about the big picture, consumer staples are late-cycle performers so they tend to perform once an economic expansion has already pretty much gone through its process, peaked and is starting to slow," Sanchez said on Tuesday's "Trading Nation." "We believe that that is probably happening as we speak."
Sanchez anticipates slower U.S. economic growth by the end of 2018 and into 2019. Economists surveyed by FactSet expect domestic GDP of 2.7 percent in 2018 to contract to 2.4 percent growth in 2019.
"This is exactly the time when consumer staples should start to benefit. Investors are getting tired of their growth trades, they're starting to rationalize those multiples and we've already seen the S&P generally roll over," she said.
Sanchez is placing her bets on defensive names with solid revenue streams such as food retailers and soda companies.
Disclaimer
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a7fabd89ad775496b08dd8d01e30bf92 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/alphabet-waymo-testing-early-riders-interview-with-saswat-panigrahi.html | Waymo has been testing self-driving cars with 400 riders in Phoenix for a year. Here's what it's learned so far | Waymo has been testing self-driving cars with 400 riders in Phoenix for a year. Here's what it's learned so far
Students use the Waymo driverless vehicles to get to school.Source: Waymo
For slightly more than a year, 400 volunteers have tested out Waymo's self-driving car service in Phoenix, Arizona, for free, letting the driverless vehicles whisk them to work, shopping centers, the bar, or anywhere else within a 100-square-mile area.
In that time, these riders have been filing the non-technical equivalent of bug reports, using the cars' rider support call buttons and in-app feedback forms to point out issues with the service and highlight use cases that Waymo researchers might have missed.
Through their experiences, Waymo has learned a few things:
It needs to get better at designating specific pick-up entrances at a store so that frustrated riders won't have to lug shopping bags through the hot sun to reach a carOn narrow streets, riders prefer to cross the road to reach a car, instead of having it drive to the end of a road, turn around and come backIt needed to figure out how to accommodate people with service animals (it figured this out after a query from a passenger)The best way to wake sleeping passengers is with a little chime sound.
Not all the rides have been seamless, which is kind of point of this experimental phase.
"We're taking each element of their feedback and weaving it into the car's design and its behavior," Saswat Panigrahi, a Waymo product manager, tells CNBC.
Waymo, which started as Google's self-driving car project and is now an independent part of parent company Alphabet, is expected to launch a paid self-driving car service to the public in Phoenix before the end of the year, although it hasn't announced an official date or price. This pilot is part of the tech giant's ambitions to use its AI chops to get an early lead in self-driving vehicles, a space expected to generate $800 billion per year in revenue by 2030.
While only 400 people have been accepted into Waymo's early rider program so far, the company has received more than 20,000 online applications. Its passengers have ranged from age 9 to 69 and Panigrahi says they were deliberately chosen to represent a wide spectrum of use cases. There are parents who want to cut out rides to school, single people running errands and riders who don't have drivers licenses for medical reasons.
Here's the main part of Waymo's early rider application
Waymo is closer than any other company to making fully autonomous vehicles a real product, even as the industry is facing increased scrutiny.
Americans are more afraid of riding in self-driving cars this year than last year, according to recent AAA surveys, and Uber temporarily halted all of its self-driving tests after one of its cars hit and killed a pedestrian in Arizona in March.
After that accident, Waymo's CEO said that its own technology would have prevented the crash and reiterated that safety is the company's top priority.
Panigrahi emphasizes that its early rider tests in Arizona have proven how much time driverless cars can save for people who usually commute.
"Once the excitement of being in the car wears off, people realize how taxing driving actually is," he says. Parents have reported feeling like they could focus more fully on their childrens' stories while riding together and one woman discovered a neighborhood park that she'd driven past for years but never noticed.
But for ride-hailing services like Waymo's, that time savings could come at the cost of a human driver's job. In a Phoenix-specific Reddit thread about the service's upcoming launch, many expressed hesitation about using it over Lyft or Uber, unless they saw a significant cost difference.
"I'm not going to take someone's livelihood away and not save money," one user wrote.
Besides Arizona, Waymo has also filed a permit for driverless testing in California.
VIDEO2:0802:08Behind the scenes at Waymo's top-secret testing siteSquawk Box
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b30bfe4665876e03668b0a54881d4636 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/an-unlikely-winner-from-the-att-time-warner-decision-cvs-health.html | An unlikely winner from the AT&T-Time Warner decision — CVS Health | An unlikely winner from the AT&T-Time Warner decision — CVS Health
VIDEO0:5100:51CVS is an unlikely winner in the AT&T-Time Warner decision News Videos
Shares of drugstore CVS Health jumped Wednesday, a day after a federal judge decided to permit AT&T's bid for Time Warner in what many on Wall Street are considering a tacit go-ahead for other so-called vertical mergers.
The ruling may clear potential roadblocks ahead of the $69 billion tie-up between CVS and health insurer Aetna, a deal confirmed by the companies in late 2017. Shares of CVS and Aetna both jumped 3 percent on Wednesday.
Though the outcome in the six-week AT&T trial will undoubtedly encourage a wave of deal-making in the media and telecommunications industries, it will also likely facilitate future vertical mergers, whereby one company mergers with another in its supply chain.
VIDEO3:3403:34Health-care stocks lead market at the openSquawk on the Street
"U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner is legal and did not impose conditions on the merger's approval, which we think bodes well for CVS' pending acquisition of Aetna," Cowen's Charles Rhyee said in a note.
The Department of Justice sued to block the media deal, claiming that AT&T, owner of satellite television provider DirecTV, could abuse its market share by charging rival distributors more for Time Warner content and thereby harm consumers.
"Given the favorable ruling of the AT&T/Time Warner merger, we expect shares of CVS to trade up tomorrow, as well as shares of ESRX [Express Scripts] which is being acquired by CI [Cigna]," the Cowen analyst said in the note Tuesday.
CVS Health expects the deal to close in the second half of 2018.
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12d353f838bcd114670c5a15dd1dc843 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/bonds-and-fixed-income-investors-turn-to-fed-rate-decision.html | US 2-year yield rises to highest since 2008 after Fed hikes rates; 10-year yield jumps back above 3% | US 2-year yield rises to highest since 2008 after Fed hikes rates; 10-year yield jumps back above 3%
U.S. government debt yields rose Wednesday after the Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark short-term interest rate a quarter percentage point and indicated that two more increases are likely in store.
The 2-year yield hit its highest level since 2008 and the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3 percent, following the Fed's announcement. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also in the green at 3.095 percent while the 5-year yield hit a fresh high of 2.857. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
"This was expected, I think it could have been more of a dynamite reaction if consensus was more firm and if the number of participants thinking they would hike four times this year was higher," said Chief Financial Economist at MUFG Chris Rupkey. "In reality, there are still seven foot draggers."
Treasurys
Members of the committee, which sets monetary policy for the Federal Reserve, each quarter issues its so-called dot plot of member expectations for interest rates. The median of those dots moved the overall forecast to equate to two more hikes this year – likely in September and December. The group is still split though, MUFG's Rupkey pointed out, with just one more member shifting in favor of four rate hikes.
"Consensus isn't overwhelming, that's what slowed the bond market down," he said.
Yields came back slightly after their initial rise. The 10-year yield fell back below 3 percent, to around 2.985 as of 5:04 p.m. ET and the 30-year yield pared gains to about 3.09 percent.
"The markets demonstrated this is a little more hawkish and the Fed proved the value of press conference, about half the initial rise in interest rates has been unwound," said Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist at PGIM Fixed Income. "I think market reaction is understandable and consistent with what we've seen the past."
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was widely expected to announce that it would raise interest rates, and analysts were predicting a quarter-point increase.
The move pushes the funds rate target to 1.75 percent to 2 percent. The rate is closely tied to consumer debt, particularly credit cards, home equity lines of credit and other adjustable-rate instruments.
Following the two-day meeting in Washington, the European Central Bank's governing council holding its own monetary policy meeting on Thursday, and markets will be watching to see if it announces anything on the conclusion of quantitative easing.
U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in May, and led to the biggest annual increase in inflation in nearly 6-1/2 years, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Still, underlying producer inflation remained moderate.
The upward move in producer prices boosts expectations that inflation will pick up this year, and likely breach the Fed's 2 percent target.
On Tuesday, closely watched consumer pricing data, which is often viewed as an inflation barometer, rose 0.2 percent in May, matching expectations. In the 12 months through May, the CPI increased 2.8 percent, the biggest advance since February 2012, after rising 2.5 percent in April. U.S. government debt prices rose following the release of that data.
Weekly mortgage applications dropped 1.5 percent last week as rates continue to move higher. Volume was 15.4 percent lower than a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday, and refinance volume fell 2 percent for the week, off nearly 34 percent from a year ago.
— CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
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3c2f72d695a0c9daac985392b83359de | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/cnbcs-top-states-for-business-2018-methodology-and-sources.html | CNBC's America's Top States for Business 2018: Methodology and sources | CNBC's America's Top States for Business 2018: Methodology and sources
VIDEO4:1004:10Crunching the numbers for Top States honor rollSquawk Alley
Our exclusive study scores all 50 states on 64 metrics across 10 categories of competitiveness. Our study is not an opinion survey; we measure actual performance by the states.
Our aim is to grade the states based on the qualities they deem most important in attracting business. To do that, we assign a weight to each of our 10 categories by analyzing every state's economic development marketing materials. The more the states cite a particular category as a selling point, the more weight that category carries. For example, if more states are talking about their workforce, the Workforce category carries more possible points.
New for 2018, states receive a letter grade in each category to measure their performance relative to the competition. Grading is scaled, with the high score equal to 100 percent and the low score equal to 50 percent. However, each state's overall ranking, as well as its ranking within each category, is based solely on the number of points scored.
Getty Images
Here are this year's categories and weightings, along with an explanation of each.
Workforce (425 points)
Most states point with great pride to the quality and availability of their workers, as well as government-sponsored programs to train them. We rate states based on the education level of their workforce, the numbers of available employees, and net migration of college-educated workers. We consider each state's concentration of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) workers, increasingly in demand by business. We measure workforce productivity based on each state's economic output per job. We look at the relative success of each state's worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs. We also consider union membership and the states' right-to-work laws. While organized labor contends that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, does not resonate with business.
Infrastructure (400 points)
Access to transportation in all its modes is a key to getting your products to market and your people on the move. We measure the vitality of each state's transportation system by the value of goods shipped by air, waterways, roads and rail. We look at the availability of air travel in each state, the quality of the roads and bridges, and the time it takes to commute to work. We also consider the condition of each state's drinking water and wastewater systems.
Cost of Doing Business (350 points)
Cost is a major consideration when a company chooses where to do business. We look at the competitiveness of each state's tax climate, as well as state-sponsored incentives that can lower the cost of doing business. Utility costs can add up to a huge expense for business, and they vary widely by state. We also consider the cost of wages, as well as rental costs for office and industrial space.
Economy (300 points)
A solid economy is good for business. So is a diverse economy, with access to the biggest players in a variety of industries. We look at economic growth, job creation, consumer spending, and the health of the residential real estate market. We measure each state's fiscal health by looking at its credit ratings and outlook, its overall budget picture, and pension and retiree health-care obligations. Because of their own economic impact as well as the ripple effect, we consider the number of major corporations headquartered in each state.
Quality of Life (300 points)
One way to attract qualified workers is to offer them a great place to live. We score the states on livability including several factors, such as the crime rate, the quality of health care, the level of health-insurance coverage and the overall health of the population. We measure inclusiveness by looking at statewide anti-discrimination protections, as well as the ability of local jurisdictions to set their own standards. We evaluate local attractions, parks and recreation, as well as environmental quality.
Technology & Innovation (225 points)
Succeeding in the new economy — or any economy — takes innovation. Truly competitive states prize innovation, nurture new ideas, and have the infrastructure to support them. We evaluate the states on their support for innovation, and the number of patents issued to their residents. We also consider federal health, science and agricultural research grants to the states.
Education (200 points)
Education and business go hand in hand. Not only do companies want to draw from an educated pool of workers, they also want to offer their employees a great place to raise a family. Higher education institutions offer companies a source to recruit new talent, as well as a partner in research and development. We consider the number of higher education institutions in each state as well as long-term trends in state support for higher education. We look at several measures of K-12 education including test scores, class size and spending, and we look at technology infrastructure in the schools. We also look at life-long learning opportunities in each state.
Business Friendliness (150 points)
Regulation and litigation are the bane of business. Sure, some of each is inevitable. But we grade the states on the freedom their legal and regulatory frameworks provide for business.
Access to Capital (100 points)
Companies go where the money is, and capital flows to some states more than others. We look at venture capital investments by state, as well as traditional bank financing for small and mid-sized businesses.
Cost of Living (50 points)
The cost of living helps drive the cost of doing business. From housing to food and energy, wages go further when the cost of living is low. We measure the states based on an index of costs for basic items.
Our Sources
Our rankings are based primarily on publicly available data. Most of the information comes from federal government databases. In the cases where government statistics are not available, we seek neutral and/or ideologically diverse data sources. In addition to the sources listed below, we use data from the most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) issued by each state.
· ACT, Inc.
· American Lung Association
· American Society of Civil Engineers
· U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
· U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
· U.S. Census Bureau
· Cato Institute
· Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness
· U.S. Chamber of Commerce
· The College Board
· CoStar Group
· Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER)
· U.S. Department of Agriculture
· U.S. Department of Commerce
· U.S. Department of Education
· U.S. Department of Energy
· U.S. Department of Justice
· Education Week Research Center
· EducationSuperHighway
· U.S. Employment and Training Administration
· U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
· Federal Aviation Administration
· Federal Highway Administration
· Federal Housing Finance Agency
· Foundation for Excellence in Education
· Fraser Institute
· Good Jobs First
· George Mason University
· Milken Institute
· Moody's Investors Service
· National Association of State Budget Officers
· National Conference of State Legislatures
· National Education Association
· National Institutes of Health
· National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
· National Science Foundation
· National Venture Capital Association
· The Pew Charitable Trusts
· RealtyTrac
· S&P Dow Jones Indices
· Sharecare
· State Higher Education Executive Officers
· Tax Foundation
· U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
· U.S. Small Business Administration
· U.S. Surface Transportation Board
· United Health Foundation
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21443467661017ca76c896748e0eb005 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/homebuilder-stocks-drop-after-report-on-weaker-order-trends.html | Homebuilder stocks drop after report on weaker order trends | Homebuilder stocks drop after report on weaker order trends
A worker carries lumber as he builds a new home in Petaluma, California.Getty Images
Homebuilder stocks are falling after a report from a housing market research firm.
Zelman & Associates sent a note to its clients before the market open Wednesday saying housing orders were seasonally weaker than normal, a person familiar with the report said.
Shares of KB Home, D.R. Horton, Toll Brothers and Lennar all fell by more than 4 percent Wednesday.
Zelman & Associates was founded in 2007 by Ivy Zelman. The firm surveys industry executives with housing market expertise to generate proprietary research for institutional investors and corporate executives. The founder is known for her prescient predictions such as calling the housing peak in 2005 and the housing bottom in 2012.
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240906032a55f96a32f41c88f52b7dce | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/house-flipping-start-up-opendoor-raises-325-million-series-e.html?__source=yahoo%7Cfinance%7Cheadline%7Cstory%7C&par=yahoo&yptr=yahoo | House-flipping start-up Opendoor just landed $325 million to expand across the US | House-flipping start-up Opendoor just landed $325 million to expand across the US
Portrait of Opendoor CEO and co-founder Eric Wu.Opendoor
Opendoor, a start-up that buys and sells homes online, has just pulled in $325 million to expand its team, add more cities and move deeper into residential real estate.
The new funding pushed the San Francisco-based company's valuation past $2 billion and includes capital from homebuilder Lennar, whose COO, Jon Jaffe, will be joining the company's board, Opendoor said on Wednesday.
Founded in 2014 by a roster of tech entrepreneurs, including RentAdvisor co-founder Eric Wu and venture capitalist Keith Rabois, Opendoor aims to help homeowners sell their property more quickly by offering to buy it from them. The company uses a wealth of market data and software tools to understand how much it can make by buying, fixing up, listing and selling homes.
Because of that model, Opendoor is commonly referred to as a homeflipper. But Wu says that's a misconception.
"We want to build the best customer experience at the lowest cost so that people can seamlessly buy, sell, or trade in a home," Wu told CNBC in an interview.
Opendoor
Opendoor has now raised a total of about $645 million in equity and hundreds of millions more in debt. The company assists buyers by providing virtual tours of homes on its mobile app as well as through physical open houses. Opendoor says it purchases about $2.5 billion worth of homes annually, up over 225 percent from a year earlier, and has properties in 10 U.S. cities, with plans to reach 50 by 2020.
It's facing fresh competition from real estate marketplace Zillow, which announced plans in April to begin buying and selling homes. That news initially caused Zillow's stock to plunge on concern about the heavy costs associated with buying homes and because it could put the company in direct conflict with the realtors on its marketplace.
However, the stock price has since recovered and is now trading at a record, with a market value of over $12 billion.
"It's validating and we are flattered," Wu said, of Opendoor's entrance into the market. "We are humbled to have like-minded competition in the category."
General Atlantic and Access Technology Ventures led the round with Lennar. Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, Travis Kalanick's new 10100 Fund and property owner Invitation Homes also invested in the round, joining existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Khosla Ventures, where Rabois is a partner.
Softbank's Vision Fund had been hoping to lead the Opendoor round, but the two sides never came to terms, CNBC reported in April.
Opendoor plans to use the capital to grow from a team of around 650 to nearly double that in the next year. It's investing in technology to expand and scale its suite of services, like mortgages, titles, closing support and, eventually, warranty and home customization.
The company is also bolstering its Trade Up program, which lets customers purchase new homes from builders after selling to Opendoor. The initiative was developed with Lennar, which provided Opendoor with $100 million in debt financing late last year.
"We have spent the last year and a half working closely with the Opendoor team to create a first-of-its-kind 'Trade Up' program to meet the needs of both the consumer and the builder," Lennar's Jaffe said in a statement.
VIDEO6:3806:38Zillow CEO: This has been a wake-up moment for techSquawk Alley
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8f92ce3316024c7b130130ef02ff33d2 | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/japan-is-reportedly-considering-an-abe-kim-summit.html | Japan is reportedly considering an Abe-Kim summit | Japan is reportedly considering an Abe-Kim summit
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a press conference at the Kremlin on May 26, 2018 in Moscow, Russia.Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images
Japan is working on arranging a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with one possibility including the premier's visit to Pyongyang around August, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Thursday.
Citing multiple government sources, the paper said officials from the two countries had been in contact several times in recent months to negotiate a possible meeting between the two leaders.
U.S. President Donald Trump this week agreed to halt joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises after meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, drills Japan's defence minister said were "vital" for East Asian security.
North Korea fired at least two missiles over Japan last year as it sought to develop a weapon capable of reaching the U.S. mainland with a nuclear warhead.
Japan is expected to contribute towards the costs of North Korea's denuclearisation but only after the International Atomic Energy Agency restarts inspections, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
Abe has made the resolution of the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea a political pledge, and has said Japan would hold back economic assistance until those issues, along with denuclearisation, are resolved.
If Abe's visit to Pyongyang proves difficult, Japan is eyeing another scenario for Abe to meet Kim on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum to be held in September in Vladivostok, if the North Korean leader attends, the paper said.
A government source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Japanese officials planned to discuss the summit meeting with North Korean officials at an international conference on Northeast Asian security to be held on Thursday and Friday in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The person added that it was still unclear whether Abe would attend the conference in Vladivostok in September, when his ruling Liberal Democratic Party is due hold a leadership race.
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a0e488b4b9316e6a418a8e7078572cbe | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/trump-criticizes-opec-again-for-high-oil-prices-not-good.html | Trump criticizes OPEC again for high oil prices; 'Not good!' | Trump criticizes OPEC again for high oil prices; 'Not good!'
President Donald Trump participates in the signing ceremony for the "VA (Veterans Affairs) Mission Act of 2018" in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 6, 2018.Carlos Barria | Reuters
President Donald Trump is again blaming OPEC for high oil prices, even though crude futures have recently retreated from 3½-year highs on reports that his administration asked Saudi Arabia to manage the market.
"Oil prices are too high, OPEC is at it again. Not good!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
U.S. crude oil futures were trading near $66 a barrel on Wednesday and have been fallen about 9.5 percent from a multiyear high of nearly $73 a barrel on May 22. Oil prices fell this month on reports that the Trump administration asked Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest producer, to start pumping more as renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran begin to hit the country's exports.
Tweet
Trump restored sanctions on Iran, OPEC's No. 3 producer, last month. The severity of the penalties helped to boost oil prices to new highs. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin assured reporters at one point that Washington had discussed limiting the impact of Iranian disruptions with other producers.
Crude futures began slipping in late May after Saudi Arabia and Russia said they were considering easing an agreement to limit output among two dozen oil producers in light of the U.S. sanctions on Iran and falling output in Venezuela, which has also been sanctioned by Trump's administration.
Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran's OPEC governor, suggested on Wednesday that Trump was glossing over his role in contributing to higher prices.
"You cannot place sanctions on two OPEC founder members and still blame OPEC for oil price volatility," he told Reuters.
Oil prices are also lower than the last time Trump tweeted about high oil prices. On April 20, Trump tweeted that "oil prices are artificially Very High" due to actions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
WTI oil prices traded near $68 at the time, after hitting a then-three-year high above $69 a barrel that week. Prices are up more than 40 percent in the last 12 months.
In 2017, OPEC and some non-OPEC producers, including Russia, started withholding output in an effort to curb global oversupply. OPEC and other producers are set to meet on June 22-23 in Vienna to discuss future policy on production.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia reported that its oil output jumped by 161,000 barrels per day in May to more than 10 million bpd, just below the ceiling it agreed to in November 2016.
In oil markets, the Energy Information Administration is set to release domestic production and inventory data later Wednesday.
— Reuters contributed to this report.
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