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9358c288ba9e48495bd807b9e8ed05bd | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/power-play-why-q4-will-be-better-for-investors.html | Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
Stocks are selling-off on Tuesday as investors worry about the drop in commodity prices and when the Fed will raise interest rates. With today's decline, the S&P 500 is down about two percent this month.
But Kevin Mahn, president and chief investment officer at Hennion & Walsh Asset Management, tells CNBC's "Power Lunch" a choppy September could lead to a strong Q4.
Read More Cramer: Markets got a wake-up call
"Over the last 25 years, the S&P 500 index has gained more on a total return basis during the 4th quarter than the other 3 quarters combined. These historical trends bode well for both our short-term "nearlook" for a likely volatile month of September in the markets and our longer-term "outlook" for a strong 4th quarter and continuation of this secular bull market cycle ahead," Mahn said.
Despite his expectations for stronger market performance in the last quarter, Mahn believes this is not the time to try and time the market.
"Moving a portfolio from fully invested to cash or from cash to being fully invested (i.e. traditional attempts at market timing behavior) is often an inefficient and costly way to manage an investment portfolio," Mahn said.
The Dow, and Nasdaq are all lower during trading.
Disclaimer
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2cc6186983c98027aac9216d8c7a282b | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/putins-banker-pugachev-files-10-billion-claim-against-russia.html | 'Putin's banker' Pugachev files $10B claim against Russia | 'Putin's banker' Pugachev files $10B claim against Russia
Sergei Pugachev, a tycoon once dubbed "Putin's banker" because of his influence in the Kremlin, has filed a claim against Russia for more than $10 billion after his business empire was carved up when he fell out of favour with President Vladimir Putin.
Lawyers for Pugachev on Monday issued notice of a claim against Russia that is likely to be heard in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, a source close to Pugachev told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Pugachev's lawyers will outline his claim against Russia on Tuesday in Paris, the source said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.Getty Images
It was not immediately possible to get a response from the Russian government, which is seeking Pugachev's arrest for embezzlement and misappropriation of assets, charges he denies.
Moscow is already fighting a separate ruling by the same court in 2014, which ordered it to pay $50 billion for expropriating the assets of Yukos, once Russia's biggest oil producer and run by Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
"Mr Pugachev has patiently waited for this moment to strike with this massive investment claim second only to Yukos," said a person close to Pugachev who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"He wants to ensure that those persons responsible for the unlawful taking of his businesses, including those in the Kremlin, are named and shamed," the source said.
Putin confidant Yakunin to resign as railways chief
Since leaving Russia in 2011, Pugachev, 52, has accused Putin's allies of bringing his multi-billion dollar business empire to its knees before picking off some of its best assets.
Pugachev founded Mezhprombank, or International Industrial Bank, in 1992, just a year after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It grew to become one of Russia's biggest banks, with stakes in the 'Northern' and 'Baltic' shipyards, the latter of which built the Tsar's battleships and Soviet nuclear-powered icebreakers, and a giant Siberian coal deposit.
But having helped Putin ascend to Russia's top job in 1999 during the last days of Boris Yeltsin's presidency, Pugachev fell out with some of Putin's most powerful allies in the years after the 2008 financial crisis.
Russian authorities say Pugachev, who once represented Siberia's Tuva Republic in the upper house of parliament, helped himself to over $700 million in Russian central bank bailout money intended to help Mezhprombank through the crisis.
At Russia's request, Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Pugachev.
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ed6c3d9482446c831f8b82ff0ac6b98e | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/reckitt-benckiser-chief-targets-india-condom-price-curb.html | Reckitt Benckiser chief targets India condom price curb | Reckitt Benckiser chief targets India condom price curb
Packets of Durex fetherlite condoms, produced by Reckitt Benckiser Group, are seen on a supermarket shelf in London, U.K.Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of Durex condoms, Disprin aspirin and Dettol antiseptic, is calling on India to axe price controls on the products — curbs that it said are both undermining its profits and hindering wider access to healthcare products.
Like many other companies, Reckitt is relying on India as a driver of growth and in 2010 bought India's Paras Pharma for 460 million pounds to gain access to a clutch of over-the-counter medicines.
The company's India sales have grown "in the mid-to-high teens" annually for a decade, said Rakesh Kapoor, the company's India-born chief executive. adding that the country was poised to become Reckitt's third-largest market, after the US and UK, within "a couple" of years.
But Mr Kapoor said India's price controls on key products — such as aspirin and condoms — meant that Reckitt makes little or no money on these items, and thus lacked the incentive to invest in promotional activities to expand the market, raising awareness of the potential benefits of the items.
VIDEO1:2001:20Sex does not increase heart attack risk: StudyPower Lunch
"Companies that do not make money do not invest behind those brands," he said. "This idea that companies work for something that is bigger than just profits is misplaced. Companies work for something bigger — and for profits. Only when those two causes are highly aligned does it work."
"We make no money on Disprin," he said. "As a result of price control, there is no motivation for anyone to talk about the goodness of aspirin and how it can be used to improve health outcomes, whether it is to bring cardiac benefits or everyday benefits of relief from pain."
More from the Financial Times:
Reckitt given UK go-ahead for K-Y merger Reckitt / Merlin Entertainments / Qatar goodwood Upbeat Reckitt raises growth forecasts
During India's socialist era, nearly 90 per cent of drugs were subject price controls, which policymakers believed would ensure that medicine was accessible to all. In the 1990s, price controls were rolled back to just 74 drugs deemed "essential medicines", mostly used for life-threatening conditions.
But India has recently expanded its drug price controls, amid a furore over high healthcare costs. In November 2013, New Delhi imposed price curbs on 348 more medicines. It also added condoms to the list of essential medicines and capped their price at 6.5 rupees ($0.10) per piece, though that was later raised to 8 rupees.
Reckitt and rival JK Ansell had been selling their premium condoms — often with various flavours, colours and textures — at 15 rupees or more each, and both launched a legal challenge to the price control order issued by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Agency.
Read MoreReckitt Benckiser in sticky situation over lube deal
In court, Reckitt said that Indian authorities' were distributing millions of free and subsidised condoms to the poor, while arguing that its Durex condoms were to enhance "pleasure" and aimed at better-off, more aspirational youth.
The Delhi High Court scrapped the condom price caps in July, but affirmed that the contraceptives should treated as "essential medicines" and their prices should not be increased more than 10 per cent a year, which Reckitt said still constituted a constraint.
"Manufacturers should be encouraged to actually promote safe sex, particularly in a fast-growing country such as India," Mr Kapoor said. "India is moving forward and part of the moving forward is that people are going to have sex, and they need to be protected."
With its young population, India is a huge potential market for condoms, but their use remains limited — their take-up hindered partly by restrictions on their advertising and marketing, as well as price controls.
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f876cd4b810cde865b71e544d508df6c | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/renters-get-ready-to-take-it-on-the-chin.html | Renters, get ready to take it on the chin | Renters, get ready to take it on the chin
VIDEO1:2601:26Rental affordability worsensPower Lunch
VIDEO2:0502:05Renting vs. buyingPower Lunch
VIDEO0:2600:26US rental prices still on the rise
Think rents are getting unaffordable? It's about to get even worse, a new study has found.
The number of households severely burdened by rent—or those spending more than 50 percent of their income on rent—is set to rise at least 11 percent from an estimated 11.8 million this year to 13.1 million by 2025, with the largest increases expected among older adults, Hispanics and single-person households, according to new research from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) and Enterprise Community Partners.
More than one in four renters, or around 11.2 million households, were severely burdened, according to 2013 data, up by more than 3 million since 2000, the study noted. Adding in those facing "moderate" burdens—or spending 30-50 percent of income on housing—brings the total to just under half of all renters, the study said.
Read More Rents rise to 'crazy' levels: Zillow
"Even in the unlikely event that income growth greatly outpaces rent gains, the number of severely cost-burdened renters will remain near current record levels," said Christopher Herbert, managing director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, in a statement.
The study's base case—which assumes both rents and incomes rice 2 percent annually—expects the number of severely rent-burdened households of those over the age of 65 will rise by around 39-42 percent over the next decade, compared with an around 27 percent increase among Hispanic households and around 12 percent for single-person households.
Part of the reason for the increase in burdened households is a rise in the number of renters.
"We are now seeing more renters than at any other time in U.S. history," the study noted, citing figures showing homeownership rates have fallen from a peak of 69.2 percent of householders in 2004 to 63.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, the lowest since 1967.
Those renters are chasing a tight market, with neither the private sector nor the government able to supply enough affordable units.
Read More Investors snapping up new homes for rentals
"The need for affordable housing is already overwhelming the capacity of federal, state and local governments to supply assistance," the study said, noting 11.2 million extremely low-income households are competing for 7.3 million affordable units.
Only around a quarter of the eligible very low income households received rental assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
At the same time, "the private sector is unable to supply new units at rents low enough to reach low-income renters," the study noted, with the median rent of newly constructed units at $1,290 in 2013, about half the median renter's monthly household income.
This isn't the first study to note renters are taking it on the chin.
A study released in August by property website Zillow found the cost of renting a home in the U.S. has risen to its least affordable levels ever, taking up a record proportion of income in most major cities. Renters in the U.S. can now expect to pay around 30.2 percent of their monthly income for rent, the highest percentage ever, up from pre-housing boom levels of around 24.4 percent, according to Zillow's analysis of second-quarter data on rental and mortgage affordability.
Zillow's historical comparison period covered 1985-2000.
Rents and occupancies are currently hovering at historic highs as supply isn't keeping up with demand. While apartment construction has seen strong growth over the past three years, construction of multifamily homes, such as apartment buildings, fell to next to nothing amid the housing bust and the new units are meeting with pent-up demand.
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7d048753de46c4ca8663a902f4c23c09 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/schiff-im-right-about-the-fed-ill-be-right-about-stocks.html | VIDEO3:2203:22Schiff: I'm right about the fed and i'll be right about stocksFutures Now
VIDEO15:5315:53Peter Schiff on Fed's next moveFutures Now
VIDEO22:0722:07Futures Now, September 22, 2015Futures Now
Peter Schiff has a strong message for investors: It's time to wake up.
The longtime Fed foe took a victory lap on CNBC's "Futures Now" Tuesday, days after Fed chair Janet Yellen announced she would leave interest rates unchanged for the time being.
"The whole world has been fooled by this Fed con," said the Euro Pacific Capital CEO. "Most people believe the Fed. They believe the Fed is going to raise rates," he added.
Schiff has long posited that the Fed will never raise interest rates, contrary to general consensus. In fact, Schiff believes the likelihood of another round of easing is greater than a rate hike. "I don't think she ever intended to hike rates," he said. "They are in a monetary roach hotel, and they will never be able to raise rates back up."
Read More China has a message markets don't understand
Recent turmoil in global equities is just the latest reason for the "data dependent" Fed to hold off on its first hike in nearly a decade. But for Schiff, this isn't anything new, as he has been calling the Fed's bluff long before the latest bout in volatility.
"This economy is rapidly decelerating and the Fed just doesn't want to acknowledge that its monetary medicine didn't work and the patient is now sicker than ever," said Schiff. "So the Fed just wants to maintain the pretense that they are going to raise rates but in the end they don't actually want to do it," he added. "[Yellen] is going to pretend they can raise rates and pretend it's right around the corner but will keep coming up with one excuse after another to why they aren't doing it."
Read MoreThis is why stocks are stuck in low gear
According to Schiff, if the Fed continues to kick the can down the road eventually "foreign exchange markets are going to get wise to the Fed's con," and "there's going to be a currency crisis." For him, the air is already being let out of the , and once the rally reverses, the bond market will collapse along with it. "There's a bubble in the dollar," and "people get trapped in this bubble and they can't see it."
To his naysayers, Schiff concluded, "It's not the first time I've been against consensus and it won't be the last. And I'm usually right."
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40b3ca17e6e8dbbe11590052242bad35 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/scientists-put-dna-for-over-3000-rice-varieties-on-amazon-cloud.html | Asia scientists take big leap toward 'rice of the future' | Asia scientists take big leap toward 'rice of the future'
VIDEO0:4000:40Rice breeders create more productive riceRough Rice Commodity Market Trades, Charts
Scientists have made major strides towards creating new breeds of rice that could be more sustainable, as well as more resilient to environmental stresses.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and BGI (formerly known as the Beijing Genomics Institute) have identified the exact genetic makeup of more than 3,000 different families of rice for the first time in what is being heralded as a major advancement in rice science.
Now, rice breeders can use these varieties as building blocks, using the sequence data to identify genes that represent favorable traits that can be transferred to other varieties, Marco van den Berg, chief technology officer at IRRI, told CNBC.
Read MoreHere's how rice can light up homes
By identifying the DNA of these rice varieties, researchers hope to improve the overall quality of rice cultivation while also reducing the crop's environmental footprint. Traits targeted for improvement include higher nutritional quality and greater tolerance of pests, diseases, floods and drought, as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
"This dataset provides access to millions of genetic markers that can be used to design sustainable crops for the future - ones that are high-yielding while at the same time requiring less water, fertilizer, and pesticides," said Rod Wing, director of the Arizona Genomics Institute at the University of Arizona and IRRI scientist.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and Global Rice Science Partnership, the international research project produced a massive data set of 120 terabytes that will be hosted on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.
Accessing the data is free and AWS hopes it will help global researchers accelerate the breeding process.
VIDEO2:3102:31How rice can light up homesSustainable Energy
"We do this to help build communities and tools around data sets that drive new businesses, accelerate research, and improve lives," explained Peter Moore, AWS' Asia Pacific managing director for the APAC global public sector.
It's also the first time this many varieties of a major food crop were sequenced and made publicly available, noted van den Berg.
As an agricultural practice, crop breeding and modification have significantly evolved in recent years after gaining prominence in the 1960s, according to the United Nations.
Read MoreGlobal food prices hit lowest level in over 6 years
The main purpose is to develop more productive crops amid growing environmental threats.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted global rice production would fall in 2015-2016 for the first time in five years due to consumption outpacing supply as major producing countries deal with flooding, drought and extreme heat.
"Combined carry in stocks held by top exporters - India, Pakistan, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam - are the smallest in four years, contributing to reduced global supplies."
But scientists say breeding is also aimed at improving global food security. Rice is a staple food for more than half of humanity, the United Nations estimates, and improved crops could help meet rising food demand with the global population estimated to exceed 9.6 billion by 2050.
"Rice breeding has made sure that Asia's growing population has been fed despite doomsday predictions of massive famines in the 1960s," van den Berg said.
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e94c2c67a7b6e4ca626f53ebd7ef22ff | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/sean-penn-sues-lee-daniels-for-defamation.html | Penn files $10M defamation suit against Lee Daniels | Penn files $10M defamation suit against Lee Daniels
Actor Sean Penn filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against filmmaker Lee Daniels on Tuesday.
The complaint stems from a recent Hollywood Reporter interview in which Daniels suggested Terrence Howard, a star of his show "Empire," gets treated like a "demon" for past domestic violence allegations but has done "nothing different" than Penn or late actor Marlon Brando.
Daniels, who directed films such as "Precious" and "The Butler," added that Howard's treatment relative to Penn's is "a sign of the time, of race, of where we are right now in America."
Sean PennGetty Images
The complaint filed Tuesday in New York calls Daniels' statements "egregious" and attempts to distance Penn's behavior from Howard's.
"Daniels falsely equates Penn with Howard, even though, while he has certainly had several brushes with the law, Penn (unlike Howard) has never been arrested, much less convicted, for domestic violence, as his ex-wives (including Madonna) would confirm and attest," the filing reads.
Read MoreControversial drug CEO was accused of serious 'harassment'
Howard has been arrested for violence against women, according to various media reports and Penn's complaint. Penn has been accused of abusing pop star Madonna when they were married, according to multiple media reports.
The lawsuit goes to great lengths to describe Penn's contributions to society, calling him "one of this generation's most highly acclaimed and greatest artists and humanitarians." It also contends that Daniels "seems to condone Howard's reported misconduct" and suggests he used the interview to generate buzz around "Empire" before Sunday's Emmy Awards. "Empire" returns to TV for a second season this week.
Daniels' representatives did not immediately respond to CNBC's request to comment.
—CNBC's Jim Forkin contributed to this report.
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ba8c6cbfc6bc811aa8fa689729fb6ec1 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/small-headlines-add-up-to-big-stock-losses.html | Trader Talk | Trader Talk
VIDEO3:5503:55Pisani's market opens to the downside
You might have woken up this morning and checked U.S. stock futures. You might have noticed they were down roughly 1.5 percent and wondered, "What happened between the close yesterday and overnight that made futures go down 1.5 percent?"
The answer is, not much. There have been no big headlines. Just a few small ones that, collectively, have added up.
Some traders have pointed to a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that lowered Asian growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016 on softer prospects for India and China.
The ADB now sees GDP for China at 6.8 percent in 2015, down from 7.2 percent earlier. India is projected to grow 7.4 percent, down from an earlier 7.8 percent forecast earlier.
Read More ADB slices Asia growth forecasts
There was the usual discussion of the knock-on effects of slower China growth on Southeast Asia, as well as soft global commodity prices which puts pressure on Asian commodity-focused export economies like Mongolia, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.
Still, stocks in China ended up fractionally.
European markets opened down modestly and have drifted steadily lower. The dollar is modestly higher, but commodities like copper also began trading lower overnight and have also drifted lower through the morning.
Credit Suisse was also out with a cheerful report on commodities entitled, "Race to the Bottom."
"There is little to like about most commodities over the medium-term, just relative degrees of unloveliness," the report concluded, citing the long-term problems of falling demand and rising supply.
Anglo-American and other miners had their ratings cut.
Of course, commodity stocks have been especially weak in Europe. Glencore has dropped to a new low in London, down 14 percent.
Read More It could be a long time before it's safe to buy oil
Finnish stainless steel manufacturer Outokumpu is also down 14 percent after cutting third quarter guidance, citing lower stainless steel deliveries and a poor nickel price environment.
To add fuel to the fire, car manufacturers are weaker across the board after French Finance Minister Michel Sapin called for a probe of the entire sector in Europe on the heels of the Volkswagen scandal.
Oil, of course, has given up a large part of yesterday's gains. Energy stocks are lower. Weatherford, which yesterday was down big on its announcement that it would float a $1 billion equity offering and debt raise, canceled that offering after the big unfavorable reaction, and who could blame investors for screaming? A $1 billion capital raise is a lot for a company with a $6 billion market cap.
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40072ca400cd637243b5fd186f5c825a | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/spotify-apple-music-rival-deezer-plans-for-ipo-in-streaming-battle.html | Spotify, Apple Music rival Deezer plans for IPO | Spotify, Apple Music rival Deezer plans for IPO
VIDEO0:3100:31Deezer plans for IPO
French music streaming service Deezer is planning a flotation, the company announced on Tuesday, as it looks to step up its fight against larger rivals Apple Music and Spotify.
Deezer has filed a registration document with the French financial authorities, the first step towards an initial public offering (IPO) on the Euronext exchange in Paris.
"We have everything in place to scale up the business and be a part of the fast growing market, accelerate growth, invest in core market in terms of sales and products and be part of the streaming revolution," Deezer chief executive Hans-Holger Albrecht, told CNBC by phone.
Deezer
Albrecht added that the money raised will be used to invest in sales, distribution networks, more aggressive customer acquisition, and partnerships with telecoms companies to help push the product to more people.
The CEO said he hoped the IPO would be completed by the end of the year "subject to market conditions. He was not able to reveal how much the company was hoping raise.
Deezer's flotation plans come amid increasing competition in the music streaming space with Apple recently launching its own platform.
The French startup was founded in 2007 and said revenues surged 53 percent in 2014 to hit 142 million euros ($158.5 million). Deezer boasts 6.3 million subscribers and over 35 million tracks, but this still puts it behind some of its rivals.
Spotify for example has over 75 million active users while Apple said it had signed up 11 million trial members.
But Albrecht is convinced Deezer can stay ahead of the competition.
"It's a competitive market and there are a lot of people who want to join the race. But at the same time it's a complicated product and can't be built overnight," the chief executive told CNBC.
"We are the first pioneers in the industry, and if you look at our product, if you look at our localized content strategy, we are very well-positioned and it's not easy to catch up."
Deezer's current shareholders include Access Industries, Warner Music, Sony Music and Universal Music. They will not sell their shares but instead only new shares will be issued.
Albrecht said that Deezer went the IPO route rather than tapping venture capital because demand was strong on the public markets.
Music streaming has been a focus for investors. Spotify recently raised a $526 million in a funding round valuing it at over $8.5 billion, according to media reports.
"First of all, we took the decision early, we saw high demand when we it comes to streaming on the IPO market. Secondly, it gives us a much broader shareholder base which we like. Third, for Deezer, it is good to get the exposure and marketing boost," the CEO said.
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630ec61a115e05b7e1d511662c0f090a | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/talk-of-more-qe-is-just-plain-bad-for-the-euro.html | Talk of more QE is just plain bad for the euro | Talk of more QE is just plain bad for the euro
There's growing talk that the European Central Bank is likely to have to prolong its monetary stimulus programs to lift inflation and growth in the euro area. And it's not doing the euro any good.
The single currency tumbled to a one-month low against sterling on Tuesday and has shed 2.5 percent of its value against the dollar since hitting a three-week high on Friday. It was last trading at about $1.113.
Adam Gault | Getty Images
The renewed fall in the euro comes amid speculation that the ECB will keep its massive bond-buying program in place for longer than originally anticipated. Meanwhile the U.S. Federal Reserve looks likely to raise interest rates in the months ahead even after keeping rates at a record low last week.
"Between Friday and Monday, euro/dollar dropped close to 300 pips and there's a very good chance that this week, we will see a deeper slide in the currency," Kathy Lien, managing director of FX strategy for BK Asset Management, said in a note late Monday.
"Over the past month there has been an extremely consistent message coming out of the European Central Bank. Policymakers expressed their unified frustration with the region's fragile recovery, low level of inflation and global market uncertainty," she said.
One example of the ECB's "consistent message" was a remark made by ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny Monday on how ECB rates would stay low as long as growth did.
Fed's Bullard: October rate hike possible, but ...
How low?
In a note dated September 20, Goldman Sachs meanwhile said the euro could fall up to 10 U.S. cents as the ECB considers extending its stimulus program.
The central bank is in the midst of buying 60 billion euros ($67 billion) worth of assets a month in a bid to boost inflation and growth in the 19-member euro zone. The program is due to end in September 2016.
Goldman, however, thinks the ECB will continue the program through the end of next year and only end it in mid-2017.
Monetary stimulus tends to weaken a currency, while the prospects of higher interest rates tend to draw foreign cash into a country – hence the prospect of monetary tightening in the U.S. and U.K. has lifted the dollar and sterling this year.
The Bank of England is expected to follow the Fed in a rate hiking cycle.
On the flip side, a weaker currency lifts the price of imports and helps reflate an economy as well as give exporters an edge in overseas markets.
Mind the (rate) gap
"Essentially the interest-rate differential theme is still there, with talk of more QE from the ECB reinstating that argument," Jane Foley, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank, told CNBC.
Rabobank's 12-month view on the euro falling to $1.05 remained unchanged, Foley said.
But she added that a fall in the risk appetite seen at the start of the year that had encouraged investors to use the euro as a funding currency for riskier trades had declined and this should prevent the euro from falling too far.
"We don't expect the euro to fall to parity against the dollar," Foley said.
Still, analysts added that bearish sentiment towards the euro, which has declined 7.5 percent so far this year, was reasserting itself.
"Euro/dollar was net sold for the first time in over a month, with asset managers leading the selling," UBS currency strategist Geoffrey Yu said in a note on Monday assessing flows in the currency markets.
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f5b3a4ed1ed7bdcb2e8b3e1e43e912fa | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/this-is-why-stocks-are-stuck-in-low-gear.html | This is why stocks are stuck in low gear | This is why stocks are stuck in low gear
VIDEO2:5202:52Will crushed commodities exacerbate uncertainty?Closing Bell
A big downdraft in commodities is weighing on stocks and feeding fears of global deflation.
Shares in the U.S. and Europe fell sharply Tuesday, as the chill of China's economic slowdown rippled through world markets. Copper, oil, silver and platinum were down during the afternoon, prompting stock traders to sell miners and materials companies on worries the declines could continue.
Read More
Earlier in the day, the Asian Development Bank trimmed its 2015 forecast for Chinese growth to 6.8 percent from 7.2 percent, and said lower demand from China will affect growth rates in developing Asia through reduced trade and lower commodity prices. Credit Suisse on Tuesday cut its outlook for Chinese demand as well as commodities prices and mining stocks. Mining names weakened, and Glencore, for instance, was down as much as 10 percent.
Copper production in Johor, MalaysiaMunshi Ahmed | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The S&P 500 slumped 1.2 percent, falling to 1,942. A number of analysts say it could soon retest its August low of 1,867. There are 200 stocks in the S&P 500 that are in bear market territory, or more than 20 percent off their highs. Among the 200 are 35 energy companies and 17 materials names.
"This latest leg down (in commodities) seems to be about demand," said Marc Chandler, chief currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. Chandler said the selloff is the result of the Fed's focus on China at its rates meeting last week and downward revisions for Chinese growth and demand.
"At the beginning of this year, China was 10 feet tall. The swing in sentiment toward China has been so dramatic," he said. "China never really was 10 feet tall but it's not going to fall off the face of the Earth either."
Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting the U.S. and traders are looking to him to make some clarifying comments on the Chinese economy and its policy. Xi speaks Tuesday night to business leaders in Seattle, and then with President Barack Obama on Thursday.
The Credit Suisse analysts wrote that China's outsized investment in infrastructure needs to decline by 30 to 50 percent over the next five years, and that will have negative impact on demand for commodities like iron ore, coal and zinc. They said that copper needs more curtailments in production and that will send prices lower.
"There is little to like about most commodities over the medium term, just relative degrees of unloveliness," the Credit Suisse analysts wrote. They noted, "Until China demand and emerging market currencies hit a floor, it will remain challenging to put an absolute floor on commodity prices."
Read MoreXi has chance to clarify China role on world stage
Wall Street strategists are quick to note that the China slowdown story is nothing new but the market's obsession with it is, especially now that the Fed identified China as a cause of concern for even the domestic U.S. economy. The U.S. central bank noted its concerns about international developments and it also chopped its own growth and inflation forecasts when it held off hiking rates last week. The Fed now sees inflation this year at 0.4 percent, from 0.7 percent.
VIDEO3:3703:37We're headed for a global recession: AdvisorClosing Bell
The Fed has targeted 2 percent inflation and has said it expects to get there. But the selloff in commodities has made it difficult for markets to expect inflation to pick up.
"I'm not even convinced it's just China," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management. "I think it's that the market can no longer trade at 19 times earnings ... I think this is a market in search of a new level that can handle lower earnings growth, higher interest rates and some margin pressures."
While Credit Suisse sees a shallow recovery in some metals, it expects iron ore to see the most decline.
Paulsen said it appears that commodities may be bottoming, and lower commodities prices should be a tail wind ultimately for stocks. But he also expects the stock market to continue lower.
"I think we're going to maybe break 1,800 (on the S&P) and have sheer panic, and then find a bottom," he said.
Barclays on Tuesday also trimmed its expectations for Chinese growth, cutting it to 5.3 percent in the third quarter and 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter. China GDP grew by 7 percent in the second quarter.
The Chinese slowdown is not expected to land a direct hit on the U.S. economy, but emerging markets could be a transmission point, as demand in those markets drops off and the pressure on the U.S. economy comes via trade.
JPMorgan economists in a report said a 1 percent GDP shock in China equates to a half-point drag on global growth. The hit to emerging markets is one for one, but the drag on developed markets is more like 0.2 percent, according to JPMorgan.
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83c69d8c0ec8a204137f75ec30649696 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/time-to-talk-taxes.html | Now is the time to talk taxes | Now is the time to talk taxes
VIDEO2:1102:11Get ready! It's tax time (yes, already)Personal Finance
When's the best time to start planning for your 2015 tax return? There's no time like now, said certified financial planner Stacy Francis, president and CEO of Francis Financial.
She recommends four key steps that can help reduce your annual tax burden.
First, be sure to take advantage of any available qualified retirement savings plan at work, such as a 401(k) or 457.
Second, consider tax-loss harvesting. "If there are certain stocks in your portfolio that have had losses and they no longer fit your investment strategy for the long term, it's ideal to sell those to offset some of the areas in your portfolio that have gains," Francis said.
Jeffrey Hamilton | Getty Images
Next, up your charitable giving or start donating now. There are two tax-efficient ways to give to good causes: You can write a check or "you can also be really smart about it," said Francis, and donate investments that have appreciated in value. "You donate that investment and get to deduct the full amount of that account," she added. "At the same time, you don't have to pay taxes on the large gains that you might have."
Read MoreCan you handle high-risk investments?
The final step Francis recommends is accelerating deductions for 2016. "If you have property taxes due in January 2016, it's a great strategy to go ahead and prepay those in December," she said. "It's going to increase the amount of money back in your pocket when it comes to your tax return."
You have until Dec. 31 to take advantage of these recommendations, but remember that time flies, said Francis. "Make sure you don't wake up with your New Year's hangover realizing you forgot to do something important."
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e44a658376a6efe211980b60f1e48c5f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/trader-bets-54-million-against-pandora.html | Trader bets $5.4 million against Pandora | Trader bets $5.4 million against Pandora
VIDEO1:1701:17Options Action: Hit pause on Pandora? Options Action
It's been a wild ride for Pandora investors.
Shares of the streaming giant fell more than 4 percent Tuesday and are now down 25 percent from their 52-week highs. Despite the sharp move, the stock has rallied more than 7 percent in the last week amid favorable . But some traders are sensing more pain to come, and they are betting aggressively against the stock.
On Monday, when options put volume ran more than 13 times its daily average, one trader bet $5.4 million that Pandora shares will plummet into the end of the year. Specifically, that trader purchased 20,000 of the January 20-strike puts for $2.70 each. Since each contract accounts for 100 shares of stock, and buying a put option allows for a trader to sell a stock at a set price at a given time, this trade is profitable if Pandora falls below $17.30, or roughly 13 percent lower, by January expiration.
"I think the takeaway for investors here is to take a look at how high options premiums are," Mike Khouw said Monday on CNBC's "Fast Money," meaning the price of puts and calls are trading higher than its historical average. "Right now the options market is implying that this stock is going to move 30 percent in either direction between now and January expiration," added the CNBC contributor and founder of Optimize Advisors. That puts the stock near a 52-week high around $26.50 or near a one-year low around $13.50 in less than four months. "It's clear the options market is expecting plenty of movement from this stock," said Khouw.
Volatile moves aren't foreign to the stock, which has surged more than 20 percent in the last three months.
Nonetheless, Wall Street seems appears to believe the move will result higher. Of the 29 analysts that cover the stock, the average price target is $22.08 with an overweight rating, according to FactSet.
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18d1f1995f622e7148668572e95d0dad | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/uncertainty-rules-but-bull-market-not-over-strategist.html | Uncertainty rules, but bull market not over: Strategist | Uncertainty rules, but bull market not over: Strategist
VIDEO2:2402:24Fed was right on rates: Pro Squawk Box
The selloff in U.S. stock futures during premarket trading on Tuesday is another sign that volatility is here to stay, said Julian Emanuel, U.S. equity and derivatives strategist at UBS.
Dow futures were down about 230 points on Tuesday, while S&P futures traded about 30 points lower. Both indexes signaled a decline of about 1.5 percent.
"We think that the calm that we saw for most of this year and actually since 2012 has shifted, but it doesn't mean that the bull market's ended by any stretch," Emanuel told CNBC's "Squawk Box."
Emanuel marked China's surprise devaluation of its currency last month as the start of the extreme volatility, noting that it played into the Federal Reserve's decision to leave rates near zero last week. He said he now expects the Fed to raise rates between December and March.
Read More Wall Street set for a tumble
Now, Washington is contributing to uncertainty as it moves toward an Oct. 1 deadline to fund the federal government, Emanuel said. Negotiations have been stalled by Republican lawmakers who have promised not to approve any spending bill that funds Planned Parenthood.
Lawmakers may also become embroiled in another debt ceiling debate December, Emanuel noted.
However, he advised investors to minimize the obsession with day-to-day swings.
"It's going to be a more volatile environment, but the underlying facts are that the economy remains strong," he said. "When the 10-year is yielding around 2.2 percent, we think investors are going to get paid to wait to see an earnings recovery."
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257ebb18124fdc1a753b12fb9139b5af | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/us-bonds-regain-footing-for-now.html | US Treasury yields hold lower after 2-year notes sale | US Treasury yields hold lower after 2-year notes sale
U.S. government bond prices held higher on Tuesday, after the Treasury Department auctioned $26 billion in two-year notes at a high yield of 0.699 percent on Tuesday, its highest since December.
The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 3.27, higher than August's 3.16, but below a recent average of 3.41.
Indirect bidders, which include foreign central banks, were awarded 43.2 percent, the smallest since May, while direct bidders, which include domestic money managers, brought 13.3 percent, the highest since May.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was down 6.2 basis points at 2.14 percent after hitting a session low of 2.1135 percent, while 30-year yields were down 7.6 basis points at 2.9484 percent, after hitting a session low of 2.9178 percent. The two-year yield traded down about 4 basis point at 0.6697 percent.
Yields traded lower as bonds recovered some of the previous day's losses made after comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials suggested a near-term rate rise remains on the cards.
Treasury prices rose last week, pushing yields on short-dated bonds to three-week lows, after the Fed held interest rates at record low levels amid concerns about the outlook for global economic growth.
Treasurys
But on Monday, St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard told CNBC that a "powerful case" could be made for tightening monetary policy as the U.S. economy strengthens.
San Francisco Fed President John Williams said at the weekend that the Fed's decision to leave rates near zero was a "close call."
Fed's Bullard: October rate hike possible, but ...
Analysts said the direction of the bond market would remain uncertain until there was more clarity on the timing of a U.S. rate rise – widely anticipated as the U.S. economic recovery gathers strength.
"Fixed income is very difficult to call right now and I don't envy any fixed income manager," Tom Elliott, international investment strategist at DeVere, a financial consultancy group, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe."
"It's difficult to make a big call such as overweight equities, underweight bonds until something happens," he added.
The session is light on major U.S. economic data, while U.S. stocks fell more than 1.5 percent in afternoon trade.
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d1cae1bebb219372b497610e9181a3dd | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/volkswagen-probe-spreads-globally-recall-fears.html | Volkswagen probe spreads globally, raising recall fears | Volkswagen probe spreads globally, raising recall fears
Squawk Box Live had the latest developments on Volkswagen, amid allegations the automaker used software to trick U.S. regulators measuring toxic emissions on its diesel vehicles.
Volkswagen said Sunday that it had launched an internal investigation, which sent shares plunging nearly 20 percent on Monday.
The German government has called for an urgent probe into the emissions scandal and South Korea says it will launch an investigation.
Here's how the morning unfolded.
(App users please click here).
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8a3c1eed451055834f35756a0804d1d0 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/vw-scandal-germanys-reputation-on-the-line.html | VW scandal: $7.3B profit warning but damage could hit Germany | VW scandal: $7.3B profit warning but damage could hit Germany
VIDEO0:3500:35VW probe spreadsAutomobiles and Components
VIDEO3:4903:49Volkswagen: 'A big story, big brand, big mistake'?Street Signs Asia
VIDEO4:2304:23'We screwed up': Volkswagen's US chiefStreet Signs Asia
VIDEO3:2403:24Volkswagen could face $18B in fines
VIDEO0:2500:25VW, RSA hammered as Europe ends higher
German carmaker Volkswagen has announced that it will make a provision of 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) in the third quarter following the revelations last week that it had misled authorities over the emissions of its diesel cars.
The company added Tuesday that this provision was subject to revaluation and that it was working with the relevant authorities to clarify the irregularities in the software that recorded emissions in the carmaker's diesel engines.
Up to 11 million vehicles could be affected in the scandal, the German auto giant added.
Frankfurt-listed shares in Volkswagen closed down nearly 20 percent on Tuesday on the news of the profit warning. This followed declines of 18 percent on MOnday.
The scandal surrounding Volkswagen's emissions data has raised fears that damage may not be limited to the automaker. There could be another casualty: Germany's hard-won reputation for reliability, efficiency and trustworthiness is at stake.
Handelsblatt, the German financial newspaper, dubbed the scandal "eine Katastrophe für die gesamte deutsche Autoindustrie" ("a catastrophe for the entire German car industry") in an editorial Monday, and with good cause.
Vorsprung durch Technik (advancing through technology) may have originally been an Audi slogan, but it came to epitomize much of what was believed about German manufacturing capability and reliability across its car industry, the cornerstone of Germany's post-war economic miracle. Close to a fifth of German exports are in some way linked to the industry.
Volkswagen's US boss: We totally screwed up
The Volkswagen scandal looks set to permanently damage that image. Small wonder that Germany's politicians are calling for blood, with Lower Saxony's Economy Minister Olaf Lies warning of "personnel consequences" already.
Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, downgraded its forecast for the entire Dax index in 2015 on Wednesday, as the scandal unravelled. Deutsche analysts described it as a "huge head-wind to our current view" on the DAX and downgraded their forecast for the index to 10,300 at the end of 2015.
"The whole structure of the VW company looks a bit strange," Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, professor at the Center for Automotive Research, Universität Duisburg-Essen, told CNBC, as he called for an outside appointment to solve the scandal.
There have even been calls for a special debate in the national parliament over the issue. The German state of Lower Saxony still owns around 20 percent of Volkswagen – a shareholding which has lost close to a fifth of its value since Monday morning.
The escalating scandal was big enough to drag the country's entire stock market down on Monday, while stock markets elsewhere in Europe rebounded from a week of uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates.
"We expect a widening scandal and an economic impact," Wolfgang Munchau, president of Euro Intelligence, warned in a tweet Tuesday.
There are concerns that, much like the Libor scandal was initially publicized by Barclays but then found to include other top investment banks, the emissions tampering will not have been confined to Volkswagen. Other manufacturers with diesel as a large part of their business include BMW, with 35 percent of its fleet; Daimler, 45 percent; PSA Peugeot Citroën, 40 percent; and Renault Nissan, 25 percent, according to JP Morgan estimates. The European industry will be disproportionately hit if this is found to have been a problem across the diesel automakers.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
As German automakers have been trying to convince the U.S. of the delights of "clean diesel", a field where they can claim to lead, analysts are worried that these revelations will likely taint their claims for decades.
South Korea - where Hyundai, one automaker that could benefit from the VW fallout, is based -- has already announced that it could expand its investigation of VW emissions to potentially include other German manufacturers.
Volkswagen has already come through one high-profile scandal, involving bribery, brothels and a high-profile trial, which shone an unedifying light on German corporate culture. If this carmaker, potentially the brand most associated with Germany, faces charges which cannot be dismissed as the work of a few rogue employees, the consequences may be felt across German industry.
- By CNBC's Catherine Boyle
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351a4cd8d37e9bb4e443650d9ee616c6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/why-this-might-not-be-the-best-strategy-for-stock-investors-now.html | Why this might not be the best strategy for stock investors now | Why this might not be the best strategy for stock investors now
VIDEO2:5202:52Will crushed commodities exacerbate uncertainty?Closing Bell
VIDEO1:2301:23Commodities, auto investigation talk lead market lower Closing Bell
VIDEO3:2203:22Schiff: I'm right about the fed and i'll be right about stocksFutures Now
"Buy the dip" may not be the best stock market strategy just now, some analysts say.
Shares were rocked Tuesday as commodities fell on a new bout of global growth fears and forecasts of softer demand from China. While the market closed off its lows, analysts expect the choppiness to continue and the S&P 500 to retest its August low of 1,867.
Trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
"Even after the selloff, the market is expensive," said Jack Ablin, CIO of BMO Private Bank. "The low from August wasn't low enough to complete a correction. The financial crisis-level Fed policies are pushing financial assets to decouple from fundamental value."
The S&P 500 fell 1.2 percent to 1,942 on Tuesday, while the Dow lost 1.1 percent to 16,330. Stocks have seen their deepest correction in four years, breaking a pattern of shallow selloffs that were met by buying.
Read MoreChina has a message markets don't understand
But this time there is a higher level of uncertainty given fears about the potential of a slower China hitting the global economy, and the fact that the Fed expects to begin to reverse its near-zero rate policy.
"Investors who latched onto 'buy the dips' may be getting hurt in here," said Ablin. "They're getting bruised so maybe it's not a good time for that strategy."
Read MoreGlobal slowdown fear accelerates; How to trade it
The S&P 500 closed just above a support level—1,937 to 1,941—after trading below it much of the day. So far, there are slightly more than 200 S&P 500 companies with declines of 20 percent or more. Materials was the worst sector, down 1.8 percent.
"I think you're seeing some change in sentiment," said Art Cashin, director of floor operations at the NYSE for UBS. "I think the dip buyers are very nervous. I don't think they're quite extinct."
Cashin said the market was worried by deflationary pressures from falling commodities prices and the fallout on emerging markets economies. He noted that oil was dropping with other commodities, a negative for the market. "There was also concern that the Volkswagen thing might turn into a criminal fraud suit."
Volkswagen shares were down another 20 percent Tuesday in a second day of selling after it was revealed that some cars were rigged to get around U.S. emissions law.
"I still think most people believe if the market does test its low, it's a buying opportunity," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital. "I still think it feels calm." He expects the market selloff to end when the S&P hits 1,800 and investors begin to panic.
Read MoreLook out below—where stocks could bottom: Paulsen
"I do think there's been just a huge recommendation about buy on the dips," said Paulsen. "There are less now, but there's not a lot of sell calls."
Markets are looking ahead to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's comments Thursday afternoon, after the central bank held back on raising rates last week because of its concerns about China's slowdown.
"One or two days more of this, and Janet Yellen on Thursday will take a victory lap," said Cashin.
Read MoreThe Fed just made a gigantic mess
There is manufacturing PMI, released at 9:45 a.m. ET on Wednesday, and there is also manufacturing PMI form China overnight and from the euro zone. In Europe, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi speaks at 9 a.m. ET.
Traders were monitoring Chinese President Xi Jinping's U.S. visit, which included a speech Tuesday evening and a meeting with business leaders.
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d0ad4a7a9fb6c1cc8915b7e709a47b9f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/win-or-lose-bank-of-america-vote-shows-new-shareholder-muscle.html | Win or lose, Bank of America vote shows new shareholder muscle | Win or lose, Bank of America vote shows new shareholder muscle
A group of shareholders is looking to strip Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan of his chairman title on Tuesday in an investor vote and whether they fail or succeed, they have notched a victory just by getting the bank to hold a special meeting on the matter.
Tuesday's vote is the culmination of months' of work by investors including the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the largest public pension system in America, after the bank's board said last October that it was giving CEO Moynihan the title of chairman as well.
CalPERS, the California State Teachers' Retirement System and other major public pension plans are troubled that the bank decided to ignore a 2009 shareholder vote to separate the chairman and CEO positions, meant to give the CEO more independent oversight.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.Getty Images
The pension plans rallied support, though the bank initially ignored them. But days before Bank of America's annual meeting, it reversed course and said it would let shareholders vote on the matter sometime over the next year. In August, it said it would hold a special meeting, usually reserved for urgent matters like whether to sell the company.
The bank's unusual decision to hold the special meeting signals that company leaders can no longer expect investors to rubber-stamp their decisions, said Anne Simpson, global governance director for CalPERS.
"I can't remember an occasion where a company has called a special meeting to address a governance issue. That's a sign of how far we have come," Simpson told Reuters in an interview.
The vote is expected to be close and the bank says it will honor the outcome. CalPERS hopes to rally support from a broad array of investors—not just public pensions and other traditionally vocal shareholders - who have been paying much closer attention to governance matters since the financial crisis, Simpson said. It is hard to ignore so many investors, she added.
Asked about Simpson's comments, bank spokesman Lawrence Grayson said "The board and management have engaged extensively with shareholders and recognize that there are varying views on board leadership models, which is why the board committed to holding a vote."
Much is at stake in the outcome of the vote. If Moynihan loses, it could mark a key point in the demise of the imperial CEO, who runs his or her company with essentially a free hand.
Similar votes at JPMorgan Chase's annual meetings in 2013 and 2012 failed to strip CEO Jamie Dimon of his chairman title, just like votes at Wells Fargo from 2005 through 2007 fell short of stripping CEO Richard Kovacevich of his additional role as chairman.
Typically, chief executives lose chairman titles as part of broader campaigns by activist investors to change a company. In 2013 for example, oil and gas company Hess relieved CEO John Hess of his chairman duties to appease activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which was campaigning to break up the company.
Investors may have reason to be upset with Moynihan's performance. The bank's shares have lagged major rivals, including Citigroup's and JPMorgan Chase's, for the nearly six years that Moynihan has been chief executive, and over the last year.
Profits have been much lower than those rivals, too, in large part because of Bank of America having paid out more than $70 billion to settle crisis-linked claims and suits. Many of these difficulties stem from decisions made by Moynihan's predecessor, Ken Lewis.
His ill-timed acquisitions, including buying subprime mortgage lender Countrywide Financial at the height of the housing crisis, forced the bank to seek at least two government rescues. Shareholders decided in 2009 that he needed better oversight, and voted to separate his duties.
Knowing 1,000 times more
Some executives and investors believe that activists are foolish to focus on splitting Moynihan's roles now.
Executives have better information about what is happening in a company, and do not necessarily benefit from better oversight, former Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich told Reuters in an interview last week.
"If I don't know 1,000 times more than any stockholder what's best for Wells Fargo, I should be fired," he added.
Still, independent chairmen are becoming more common, according to executive search firm Spencer Stuart. Twenty-eight percent of S&P 500 boards had independent chairmen in 2014, up from nine percent in 2004, a report from the recruiter states.
The financial crisis spurred some investors to pay closer attention to management. So has the rise of passive investing, said Boston University law professor Cornelius Hurley, who studies governance matters. Index investors cannot just sell shares of a company they dislike, forcing them instead to engage more with company managers he said.
Public pension funds have long been more vocal about governance matters, but investors like BlackRock and Vanguard Group, the top two U.S. asset managers, have lately grown much more publicly outspoken about the companies in which they invest. For a long time, they would only press management behind the scenes.
"The sleeping giants of Wall Street are stirring," CalPERS' Simpson said, referring to big investors. BlackRock and Vanguard declined to comment for this story.
Signaling their discontent, at Bank of America's annual meeting on May 6, various mainstream mutual funds cast unusual votes "against" directors on the bank's corporate governance committee, recent securities filings show. These include American Funds' Growth Fund of America and some index funds sponsored by Fidelity Investments.
Technically, Bank of America investors will vote on whether to approve bylaw changes the bank made last year to give Moynihan the chairman title when previous chair Charles Holliday stepped down. The bank has said it will return to its previous structure of having an independent chair if it loses the vote.
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1b7cc89436c3779aff9e51aa78bc2ae0 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/xi-jinping-says-china-economy-markets-will-remain-stable.html | China's Xi defends economy, markets at US address | China's Xi defends economy, markets at US address
VIDEO5:0805:08Xi Jinping: Reform key to China's developmentSquawk Box Asia
VIDEO4:0104:01Was Xi Jinping's speech effective?Squawk Box Asia
VIDEO4:1604:16Xi's address focused on confidence: ProSquawk Box Asia
In his first policy address during a landmark visit to the United States, Chinese President Xi Jinping defended his country's growth pace and reassured the world that China's financial markets will remain stable.
"China's economy will stay on a steady course with fairly fast growth. It's still operating in a proper range with a growth rate of 7 percent...Our economy is under pressure but that is part of the path on the way toward growth," the 62-year old leader told U.S. diplomats and corporate leaders at a dinner in Seattle on Tuesday.
His comments preceded data showing a preliminary gauge of Chinese manufacturing activity falling to a six-and-a-half-year low in September.
Among the high-profile guests in attendance at Tuesday's dinner were former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and a number of C-suite executives from Microsoft, Ford, Apple, Starbucks, IBM and many more.
While President Xi's speech touched on a range of hot-button topics from cyber crimes and human rights issues, his commentary on Chinese markets was perhaps the most key to international investors.
Xi said the Chinese stock market has now reached a phase of self-recovery and self-adjustment after a period of extreme volatility that caused worldwide ruptures.
Read MoreChina has a message markets don't understand
Despite his optimistic tone, indices in Shanghai and Shenzhen opened more than 1 percent lower during Asian trade.
He also said China will not lower the renminbi exchange rate to boost exports, reiterating Beijing's stance that there is no basis for the continued depreciation in an attempt to quash fears of an Asian currency war after the renminbi's surprise devaluation in August.
Just last week, research firm IDEAglobal said China was mulling a 15-20 percent devaluation of its currency by the end of 2016, citing an interview it had conducted with a "reliably-informed Asian source."
The yuan showed little reaction to Xi's comments however, trading flat around 6.38 per dollar in early trade but analysts said markets will appreciate Xi's vote of confidence in the long-term.
"The words we hear today will reassure investors that you may not actually see big currency moves. Stability will come first and I do think the equity market will appreciate that," Frederic Neumann, HSBC's managing director and co-head of Asian economic research, told CNBC.
To be sure, some skeptics still remain.
"When Xi says he won't devalue to boost exports, that's G-20 code. He can devalue for domestic growth. And he will," tweeted Jim Rickards, chief global strategist at West Shore Funds, after the speech.
On the economic front, the President said development remained Beijing's top priority: "We must focus all our resources on improving living standards. We want to double per capita gross domestic product (GDP)."
Chinese President Xi Jinping during his welcoming banquet at the start of his visit in Seattle on September 22, 2015MARK RALSTON | AFP | Getty Images
He noted that China's per capita GDP is only one-seventh of the United States, with 70 million Chinese living under the poverty line.
He described how as a teenager, he was sent to work in the countryside for seven years where villagers lived in earth caves, and applauded the progress rural areas have made since then.
"I recently returned. The roads were paved, the villagers had internet access and meat."
The key to development lies in reform, he warned, adding that China has the resolve to press ahead with structural and market-oriented reforms.
Read MoreHank Paulson: China economy has 'run out of steam'
On the topic of China-U.S. relations, President Xi said he wants to deepen understanding and reduce mistrust, warning that any conflict would lead to "disaster."
The two heavyweight nations must conclude a high-quality bilateral investment treaty as soon as possible, he proclaimed.
Beijing is also ready to co-operate with Washington on fighting cyber crimes and is willing to set up a joint dialogue, he said. Ahead of Xi's visit, Washington confirmed it won't impose after hinting at them earlier amid allegations Beijing launched hacking attacks against U.S. targets.
For years, U.S. authorities have expressed their concern at the level of attacks originating in China even when Beijing insists that it does not engage in such activities, and it is only the victim of digital U.S. invasions.
Last week, President Barack Obama called for an international framework on cyber security to prevent the Internet from being "weaponized."
In terms of Chinese politics, President Xi said the strict anti-corruption campaign that has sharply hurt profits of luxury retailers and casinos has nothing do with an internal power struggle. "There is no House of Cards," he said, referring to the hit television series portraying a tyrannical U.S. president.
Read More A 'perfect storm' for Chinese President Xi Jinping
The ruling Communist Party would also lose the support of people if graft went unchecked, he added.
During the 40-minute speech, experts seemed relatively pleased with Xi's performance.
"He really covered the whole litany of acute concerns that Americans have. He's obviously done his homework and I think the speech will be very reassuring to people" Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, told CNBC.
Xi's promising a warmer, friendlier, more accommodating China but the question is of course, how much of that he can deliver on, Schell added.
"He touched upon all of the key issues in his remarks and closed with a strong statement supporting greater trust and confidence in the U.S.-China relationship," echoed John Frisbie, president of the US-China Business Council in a statement.
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634de458ca0ab7d3970ceb7b65beac58 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/xiaomi-launches-mvno-service-takes-wraps-off-mi-4c-smartphone.html | Xiaomi launches MVNO service; takes wraps off Mi 4c smartphone | Xiaomi launches MVNO service; takes wraps off Mi 4c smartphone
VIDEO0:4000:40Xiaomi lauches Mi MobileMobile
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is branching out as a mobile operator, offering users $10-per month phone contracts as it looks to diversify its business away from just hardware.
The rapidly growing company announced a service called "Mi Mobile" which will allow users in China to buy SIM cards online.
Xiaomi is offering two packages. The first is a pay-as-you-go model which charges 0.10 yuan or $0.02 per voice minute, text message and 1 megabyte of data. This will be available starting September 23. The second deal is a 59 yuan (under $10) package that gives users 3 gigabytes of data and charges customers 0.10 yuan ($0.02) per call minute, text message or for each 1 megabyte that exceeds the 3GB data limit. This will be available for public beta in October.
The announcement is seen as a big move for Xiaomi, the world's fourth biggest smartphone maker, as it looks to move away from relying on hardware in a slowing smartphone market to pushing its services.
"This makes total sense in terms of strategy. Most people think that Xiaomi is a hardware company trying to sell cheap handsets. Xiaomi is not just a hardware company, but phones provide a way into the services they will be developing in the future," Francisco Jeronimo, research director for European mobile devices at IDC, told CNBC by phone.
Getty Images
Xiaomi's market share has been growing rapidly over the last few years but its growth in terms of smartphone unit shipments has slowed down recently. Still, in the second quarter of this year, the company shipped 17.9 million units and commanded a 5.3 percent market share. The past few years have seen Xiaomi selling high-spec low-cost smartphones to users to build up an install base in order to be able to launch a service like Mi Mobile, analysts said.
"This service is one of the first services to address the long-term strategy. But to be able to succeed in that they need the install base and that has what they have been creating and not just in China but abroad too. When Xiaomi moves to other countries I expect to see similar services," Jeronimo added.
Read More
The Mi Mobile service makes Xiaomi a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). In order to run this operator service, Xiaomi is essentially renting capacity from existing carriers -- in this case, China Unicom and China Telecom. This means that it won't have to build costly infrastructure.
Xiaomi's SIM cards are also able to be used in different phones, meaning it will be able to attract users who are using other devices to its services. This could open up the potential for bundle deals where Xiaomi sells its Mi Mobile service with one of its handsets for a cheaper price.
Xiaomi is not the the only smartphone manufacturers that is also an MVNO. Earlier this year, Google announced it was building an MVNO service on a "small scale" in the U.S.
At the same time as announcing its MVNO service, Xiaomi also took the wraps off its new 5-inch Mi 4c flagship smartphone that costs 1299 yuan ($204).
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88c2db7ae7c16ac3284d6c91267ed958 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/your-money-or-your-life.html | More outcry surrounding Turing Pharmaceuticals and its decision this week to suddenly increase a single dose of the drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 dollars.
Read MoreDrug-gouging debate isn't CEO's first controversy
CEO Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, told CNBC's "Power Lunch" Monday he thought the 5,000 percent price hike "wasn't excessive at all," and insisted the drug was priced where the company could make a "comfortable profit."
Wendy Maeda | The Boston Globe | Getty Images
Peter Bach, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering's Center for Health Policy and Outcomes, is a physician, epidemiologist, researcher and health care policy expert whose work focuses on the cost and value of anticancer drugs.
Appearing Tuesday on "Power Lunch," Dr. Bach said Turing's eye-popping price hike was merely "financial engineering," not a true step forward or innovation for the pharmaceutical industry.
VIDEO2:5402:54Your money or your life?Power Lunch
"Companies for a long time have been able to get away with charging whatever they wish for drugs," said Bach. "in this particular case, it was clearly locking out competitors and raising prices where there is no innovation, no value to patients, only arbitrage."
"Drug prices are moving in the wrong direction," said Bach. "We need a comprehensive approach that actually involves the industry, and both political parties, to come up with a system, a formula for finding appropriate prices for drugs so we don't these swings in price, or aggregious capitalization on a broken system."
Read MoreHillary Clinton calls drug price hike 'outrageous,' vows plan
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1d43a42a700b4359b0f1c635c2a856c8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/24-year-old-costco-shopper-charged-with-punching-78-year-old-over-nutella-waffle-samples.html | 24-year-old Costco shopper charged with punching 78-year-old over Nutella waffle samples | 24-year-old Costco shopper charged with punching 78-year-old over Nutella waffle samples
A 24-year-old man has been charged with elder abuse after authorities say he punched a 78-year-old man over free Nutella waffle samples at a Los Angeles-area Costco store.
Prosecutors say Derrick Gharabighi, of Burbank, was charged Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty in an afternoon court appearance.
He is being held on $50,000 bail, and he faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison if convicted.
Read More Don't count on a very merry Christmas
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office says he was hoarding samples of the waffles at the Burbank Costco on Sunday morning when the 78-year-old told him to take just one.
Prosecutors say Gharabighi then punched the older man in the face.
Police say the senior citizen was hospitalized with a 1-inch cut and swelling above his eye.
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504333fc1f78ba1029a10a76677b48c9 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/4-stocks-to-buy-and-hold-for-the-long-term.html | VIDEO2:1002:10Divine Trades: 4 stocks that are must-buysFast Money
Markets remain shaky this week, and CNBC "Fast Money" traders looked for stocks that provide long-term stability.
U.S. markets closed slightly lower Wednesday in light volume, continuing a run of up-and-down trading in recent weeks. In that environment, trader Pete Najarian looked to Gilead Sciences, which has fallen recently with the wider biotech sector amid drug pricing concerns.
He pointed to a valuation at around 11 times earnings and "great dividend yield," as well as promising revenue growth.
Getty Images
Trader David Seaburg also looked to buy into a beaten down sector moving forward. He highlighted Exxon Mobil, which has fallen more than 20 percent this year amid sustained lower oil prices.
Read MoreRefinery trouble will keep CA gas prices higher
Trader Steve Grasso, on the other hand, believed high-flier Home Depot made a solid play, as it seems stable regardless of the strength of the overall housing market.
Lockheed Martin could also hold upside moving forward because of its dividend yield and "unbelievable balance sheet," trader Guy Adami added.
Disclosures:
Pete Najarian
Long AAPL, AMAT, BAC, BMY, BP, CSX, DISCA, DKS, FOXA, GE, KKR, KO, LLY, MRK, PEP, PFE, he is long calls AA, AAL, BEE, BMY, DAL, FL, MPEL, PFE, SWFT, UAL, XLF, XOM, ZIOP, he is long puts DISH, FCX
Steve Grasso
Steve is long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, FIT, KBH, MJNA, MU, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX, firm is long AMZN His kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY.
David Seaburg
Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc
Guy Adami
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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6816538c554afe514f46f902d932a9ec | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/apple-releases-new-ios-fix-after-rocky-rollout.html | Apple releases new iOS fix after rocky rollout | Apple releases new iOS fix after rocky rollout
VIDEO3:2203:22iOs 9 troubles? You're not aloneClosing Bell
Frustrated Apple users asked, and the tech giant has answered.
Apple on Wednesday released a fix for its recent iOS 9 update. Small issues with alarms and timers, the Safari browser and other features had given some users fits on the software's release last week.
Problems with the rollout, which left some users unable to download it, happened around the same time that Apple had to temporarily delay the launch of a new operating system for its Apple Watch due to a glitch.
Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller speaks on stage during a Special Event at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium September 9, 2015 in San Francisco, California.Getty Images
The fix also comes two days before Apple's next generation iPhones, the 6s and 6s Plus, are slated to go on sale in U.S. retail stores. On Monday, Apple said that users had adopted iOS 9 more quickly than any previous version, with more than 50 percent of devices already using it.
Read MoreApple devices experience issues when updating to iOS 9: Report
The company's shares were trading about half a percent higher Wednesday afternoon.
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ee7d1914f9bd9149f63619243bf31006 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/as-clock-ticks-senate-seeks-way-to-avert-shutdown.html | As clock ticks, Senate seeks way to avert shutdown | As clock ticks, Senate seeks way to avert shutdown
Plans to avert a U.S. government shutdown began taking shape in the Senate on Tuesday, but it was still far from certain whether a dispute over funding for women's healthcare group Planned Parenthood could be overcome.
With only days remaining before an Oct. 1 deadline, Senate leaders said they were pursuing a stop-gap funding bill to extend the present federal budget for about 10 weeks beyond the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.
Known as a continuing resolution, or CR, this approach was gaining traction, said senior senators from both parties.
Senate Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (2nd L), Senate Minority Whip Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator John Thune (R-SD).Getty Images
Meanwhile, the White House budget office began working with government agencies on shutdown plans.
"Prudent management requires that the government plan for the possibility of a lapse," a spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement, emphasizing that the White House believes there was still time to prevent a shutdown.
The Senate's CR approach may fail if conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives stand by their threat to oppose any spending plan that preserves federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which is under attack over allegations that it improperly sells aborted fetal tissue.
President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats oppose defunding the group, which has said it has done nothing wrong and blasted the allegations as deceptive and unfair.
"Given the president's opposition and Democrats' opposition, at some point I anticipate there will be a clean CR," said Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid largely concurred saying, "We're going to move to a clean CR on Thursday."
There were no signs, however, that House Republicans would go along with this plan. Abortions are a small part of Planned Parenthood's services, making it a perennial target for anti-abortion forces among conservative Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote on Thursday on a CR keeping federal agencies funded through Dec. 11 and giving Congress time to work out a longer-term budget deal.
McConnell's measure would try to strip the portion of Planned Parenthood funding from discretionary programs. Democrats were expected to block that version of the bill.
Conservative Republicans have called for an end to the group's current funding of about $500 million a year, mostly from Medicaid healthcare reimbursements independent of annual spending bills. McConnell's bill would attack a much smaller portion, about $50 million.
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e21e3e50fa175f818197a23c6953f0b8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/asia-may-see-weaker-start-on-us-lead-nikkei-reopens.html | Asian shares mixed, with Nikkei at more than 2-week low | Asian shares mixed, with Nikkei at more than 2-week low
Pedestrians stand in front of a board showing share prices on the Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo.Kazuhiro Nogi | AFP | Getty Images
Asian shares traded mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index lagging behind its regional peers after returning from a three-day national holiday earlier in the week.
The triple whammy of an uninspiring lead from Wall Street overnight, a modestly stronger yen and lackluster manufacturing activity out of Japan likely added to the nervousness of traders in Tokyo.
The Markit/Nikkei Japan flash manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) stood at 50.9 in September from a final 51.7 in August, data released on Thursday showed. The index remained above the 50 threshold that separates expansion from contraction for the fifth straight month, but fell for the first time in three months.
Major U.S. averages closed down slightly overnight, with materials shares among the hardest-hit for the second session as bleak factory activity data out of the world's top two economies added to growth fears.
China's flash Caixin PMI for September fell to a six-and-a-half-year low of 47.0 in September. Growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector showed no on-month change during September, staying at August's sluggish pace of 53, which was the weakest in almost two years, according to Markit's preliminary U.S. manufacturing PMI for September.
Nikkei skids 2.8%
The Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange widened losses in the final hour of trading to finish at a fresh two-week low of 17,571.8.
Auto stocks were among the biggest laggards, as they reacted to news that Volkswagen cheated on U.S. vehicle emissions tests. Toyota Motor slid 1.9 percent, while Nissan, Suzuki Motor and Honda slid between 2.2 and 4.1 percent.
Japanese manufacturers of diesel particulate filters, namely Ibiden and NGK Insulators, plummeted 7.8 and 7 percent respectively.
Index heavweights also dragged down the index, with SoftBank tumbling over 6 percent and Fanuc plunged 2.8 percent.
Mizuho Financial led losses within the banking sector with a 2.2 percent slump, while Nomura Holdings, which said it could incur 34.5 billion yen ($287 million) loss in the second quarter in relation to a settlement with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, lost 3.2 percent.
Bucking the downtrend, Oracle Corporation Japan surged 3.4 percent, lifted by strong earnings by its parent company for the June-August quarter.
Read MoreChina GDP—how bad could it really be?
Mainland mostly higher
China's share markets steadily widened gains in the afternoon trading session, with the Shanghai Composite index closing up 0.9 percent.
However, weakness in the blue chips limited the bourse's advances. Bank of China ticked down 0.3 percent, while China Vanke slipped 0.5 percent. China Merchants Property tumbled by the daily maximum allowable of 10 percent on its first day of trade following a restructuring that made it the country's biggest listed developer.
Among other indexes, the benchmark CSI300 Index notched up 0.7 percent, while the Shenzhen Composite bounced up 1.2 percent in relatively muted trade.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index remained on the back foot, down nearly 1 percent to a two-week low, with financials and energy stocks leading the declines.
Clothing retailer Esprit, which swung to a loss for the year ended June, gave up early gains to tumble 1.6 percent.
VIDEO2:5502:55Esprit CEO: We expected a 'complicated year'
ASX rises 1.2%
Australia's S&P ASX 200 index recouped more than half of Wednesday's losses to bounce back above the 5,000 mark, but analysts say the rally could be short-lived as concerns regarding growth lingered.
"With the Chinese and Australian economies slowing, and the global commodities market still in the doldrums, there are significant risks that the ASX could dip below 5000 for a far more extended period," IG's market analyst Angus Nicholson wrote in a note.
Major lenders led the charge after being heavily sold-off in the previous session; National Australia Bank led gains with a rise of 1.2 percent, while Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Australia and New Zealand Banking elevated between 0.9 and 1.1 percent.
With the price of precious metal up 0.6 percent overnight, Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining advanced more than 2 percent each.
The Australian dollar fluctuated around 70 U.S. cents in Asian trade, holding near a year-to-date loss of 14 percent.
According to Kathy Lien, managing director of FX strategy for BK Asset Management, worries that a slower-growing China could take a toll on key parts of the Australian economy such as mining, plus the long rout in commodities prices and a strengthening dollar are the bearish factors keeping a lid on the Aussie.
Kospi adds 0.1%
South Korea's Kospi index narrowed gains to hover near Wednesday's one-week low.
Automotive parts supplier Hyundai Mobis rallied 0.9 percent, thanks to plans for share buybacks. Logistics company Hyundai Glovis surged 4.3 percent, while Hyundai Motor gained 0.6 percent on the back of expectations that the ongoing probe into Volkswagen's emissions-cheating scandal will deliver a boost to local carmakers.
Shares of Kia Motors erased early gains to close flat.
Stationery maker Monami soared 3 percent, adding on to gains of nearly 30 percent from Wednesday following news that the company is launching a new writing utensil.
VIDEO3:1403:14Tracking the repercussions of Volkswagen scandal
Central bank-watch
Policymakers in the Philippines and Taiwan are due to announce their policy decision later in the day.
According to Moody's Analytics, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will likely be "comfortably on hold," keeping its benchmark interest rates unchanged at 4 percent.
"The outlook has improved with public spending programs getting under way. The Philippines also has its booming and relatively stable services sector, specifically the strong performing business process outsourcing industry to fall back on," Sydney-based Moody's economist Katrina Ell wrote in a note issued Wednesday.
Ahead of the decision, the PSE Composite Index fell 0.9 percent to its lowest level since September 8.
By contrast, calls are heightening for Taiwan's central bank to unveil a rate cut at its quarterly meeting on Thursday, after having kept its policy interest rate at 1.875 percent since 2011.
"The recent string of poor data from Taiwan has raised concerns that external demand will remain sluggish. We now see a 60 percent chance of a 12.5 basis-point cut in the discount rate at the September meeting," Societe Generale economist Claire Huang wrote in a note Friday.
Taiwan's weighted index surrendered gains to finish 0.9 percent lower at a two-week trough.
Large-cap Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) outperformed the bourse with a rise of 2 percent after it announced a higher guidance for third-quarter revenue.
Meanwhile, markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are closed for the Hari Raya Haji holiday.
— CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report
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c5a4941e0c4eaba433a6caa55ec44442 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/bill-gross-to-the-fed-get-off-zero-now.html | Bill Gross to the Fed: 'Get off zero, now!' | Bill Gross to the Fed: 'Get off zero, now!'
VIDEO0:3900:39Bill Gross to Fed: Get off zero, get off quickSquawk Box
Bill Gross wants the Federal Reserve to end its zero interest rate policy immediately.
In his monthly letter to clients, the widely followed bond fund manager at Janus Capital said the U.S. central bank's aversion to normalizing rates is having negative effects throughout the economy, but primarily to savers and investors.
"The developed world is beginning to run on empty because investments discounted at near zero over the intermediate future cannot provide cash flow or necessary capital gains to pay for past promises in an aging society," wrote Gross, who manages the $1.4 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund.
Bill GrossTim Boyle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
His latest screed against Fed policy comes six days after the Federal Open Market Committee voted once again to keep its key funds rate near zero. The rate has remained there since late 2008, a move meant to provide support to the economy during the Great Recession but kept there long since the accompanying financial crisis ended.
Read MoreThe Fed has to deal with its own zombie apocalypse
Gross cited a litany of losers under zero rates—pension funds, insurance companies and 401(k) investors, primarily—who will see lower returns ahead unless the Fed starts to normalize.
"Expecting 8-10 percent to pay for education, health care, retirement or simply taking an accustomed vacation, they won't be doing much of it as long as short-term yields are at zero," he wrote. "They are not so much in a pickle barrel as they are on a revolving spit, being slowly cooked alive while central bankers focus on their Taylor models and fight non-existent inflation."
The Fed, though, isn't fighting inflation, as in days of Former Chairman Paul Volcker, who famously engineered a spike higher in rates in the early 1980s to thwart it. Instead, the Fed is looking for a healthy level of inflation, a search that so far has been unsuccessful, prompting the FOMC to keep the zero-bound rate while disinflation persists and global growth remains a concern.
In Gross' view, though, monetary policy has lost its bite.
While providing much-needed liquidity during the financial crisis and a 200 percent or so boost to major U.S. stock market averages, economic growth has remained tepid and corporations remain reluctant to commit huge sums of capital to their core businesses.
"If companies can borrow close to zero, why wouldn't they invest the proceeds in the real economy? The evidence of recent years is that they have not," Gross said. "Instead they have plowed trillions into the financial economy as they buy back their own stock with a seemingly safe tax advantaged arbitrage.
"But more importantly, zero destroys existing business models such as life insurance company balance sheets and pension funds, which in turn are expected to use the proceeds to pay benefits for an aging boomer society."
Up until a month or so ago, the Fed had been expected to use this month's meeting for a decidedly gradual liftoff from zero.
However, the environment for a 2015 move looks difficult now that the FOMC passed on September. Fed funds traders assign just a 35 percent chance to a December move and a 45 percent probability in January, with March 2016 now the most likely candidate at 60 percent.
Read MoreFed's window for 2015 rate hike is closing quickly
Gross thinks the delay has been a mistake.
"Will 2 percent fed funds harm corporate America that has already termed out its debt? A little. Will stock and bond prices go down? Most certainly," he said. "Near-term pain? Yes. Long-term gain? Almost certainly. Get off zero now!"
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551fa9281db84b52394247dee4ff0bb1 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/biotech-bounce-after-hillary-smackdown.html | Biotech bounce after Hillary smackdown? | Biotech bounce after Hillary smackdown?
Adam Gault | Getty Images
Some biotech stocks may be poised to rise in the days ahead as technical traders step in to buy oversold names in the space.
Technical analysts often look for extreme levels in the market as a way to find buying or selling opportunities. The idea is that, statistically, asset classes tend to revert to their moving averages.
One of the oversold areas of the market right now is biotech, which took a beating Monday, after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton published a tweet about "price gouging" in the industry.
Tuesday, Clinton unveiled a plan to curb drug costs.
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b45163da7bf572d45fad1e9afeca0448 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/biotech-ceo-blasts-turing-over-5000-price-hike.html | Biotech CEO blasts Turing over 5000% price hike | Biotech CEO blasts Turing over 5000% price hike
VIDEO2:2802:28Biotech CEO speaks out after Turing price hikeSquawk Box
VIDEO2:2502:25Turing CEO: Will lower drug price ... eventuallyPharmaceuticals
VIDEO5:5705:57Turing CEO: Drug priced where we could make 'comfortable profit'Power Lunch
John Maraganore, CEO of biotech Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, said Wednesday his industry focuses on innovation, not pushing prices on decades-old drugs higher to make a profit.
Maraganore was responding to outrage over how Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager, had jacked up the price of Daraprim, approved by the FDA in 1953, by more than 5,000 percent overnight.
In an interview Monday on CNBC, Turing CEO Martin Shkreli said the drug had been priced too low and his company needed to generate profits to spend on new research and development.
A day later, Shkreli said he would lower the cost of the drug used to fight toxoplasmosis, a parasite infection that can cause serious problems for people with weakened immune systems as a result of AIDS, chemotherapy, or pregnancy. He told NBC News the price, which had been raised to $750 a pill, would return to $13.50 in a few weeks.
Read More Drug-gouging debate isn't CEO's first controversy
"This is not what we do in the biotech industry," Alnylam's Maraganore told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. "We're about innovation, patience and 21st century medicines. We're not about repricing drugs from the 1950s to make a profit. It's not how we focus our R&D investments."
"Most Americans get it when people work hard, they take risks and then they get rewarded. But people do tend to hate it and dislike it when people try to cheat the system," he said.
The outrage sparked by Turing, which bought Daraprim from Impax Laboratories in August for $55 million, also drew the attention of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whose tweet on the issue Monday knocked biotech stocks sharply lower.
Read MoreAllergan CEO fires back on Hillary Clinton tweet
Clinton on Tuesday outlined a plan that she said would limit how much patients have to pay out of pocket for medications each month.
Maraganore said prices for new drugs are not too high. "The focus should be on value and access. There's a lot of data that shows that drugs actually reduce overall costs," he contended—claiming money spent on medications can lower health-care expenditures.
—NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.
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7cd444cf9b0ceb1c5d89f3f820d069ba | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/catholic-church-missing-out-on-billions.html | Catholic church missing out on ‘billions’ in donations every year | Catholic church missing out on ‘billions’ in donations every year
As Pope Francis arrives in the U.S. for a six-day visit, Catholic churches across the country have high hopes that his stopover will reinvigorate and offer fresh inspiration and spiritual guidance to their congregations.
But when it comes to the church's approach to receiving donations, its failure to adapt to easy online and mobile payment options means it is missing out on billions of dollars and suffering a "30-year dramatic downward slide," experts warn.
Read MoreCapitalism is moral, and it works: Catholic priest
President Barack Obama welcomes Pope Francis to the Whitehouse on Sept. 23, 2015.Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Some parishes, which still encourage members to give by cash and check, are missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars every year said Patrick Coleman, CEO of online giving platform, GiveCentral, which has a client base that is 80 percent Catholic churches.
"We see that between check givers and online givers the average amount of giving over an entire year period is 35 percent more than those that give via check and about 90 percent more that give via cash," he told CNBC.
Coleman, who is based in Chicago, said in the state of Illinois alone, only around 30 percent of Catholic parishes are communicating with congregations well about giving and offering a number of ways for their donors to give.
Americans gave a record $358 billion to charity in 2014
"If they all followed the same pattern of even just a monthly email going out we would actually expect that giving in Illinois just in the Catholic community could actually go up by about $75 million and that is one state alone. So what this means across the country is actually billions," Coleman said.
Religious causes in the U.S. received $114.9 billion in 2014, a 2.5 percent increase on the previous year in current dollars, but when adjusted for inflation this comes in at just 0.9 percent growth according to data published by Giving USA earlier this summer.
"Although 2014 donations reached a new high of $114.90 billion, and, as always, (religion) accounted for the largest percentage of donations, the fact is, this category is continuing its 30-year dramatic downward slide as a share of total giving. In fact, it has dropped from 53 percent of all donations in 1987 to 32 percent of the total in 2014," the report found.
Coleman said for churches willing to put in just five-10 hours a month in engaging with its donor community through email or social media, it can repay itself by "500 or 1,000 percent" in terms of gifts.
Mass appeal? S&P launches 'Catholic Values' index
Pope Francis has put a "much higher emphasis" on how global economics affects the poor than previous pontiffs according to Eric LeCompte, executive director of charity Jubilee USA that lobbies for a fairer economic policies and financial reforms to benefit the poor and acts as an adviser to the Vatican on issues surrounding the economy.
Global recession and poverty seen in major Catholic hubs across the globe has naturally dented some churches' coffers, but he stressed that the pope was more concerned about issues such as tax havens, corporate tax avoidance, illicit financial flows and corruption than donations.
"Well there is no doubt when you look at the island of Puerto Rico, an island of 4 million people, in the past few years alone because of the economic crisis, 500,000 people left," LeCompte told CNBC.
Read MorePope as pastor or business basher?
"Half a million people and for a Catholic island like Puerto Rico, when people aren't in the pews they are definitely feeling that in the alms bucket, so I think that is a reality. But I think the church's concern is primarily on tax trade issues – so many people are living in poverty as a result of these policies that are legalised and put in place," he said.
Shrinking church attendance across the U.S. has also been hard ignore, with data showing the share of U.S. Catholics who reported attending Mass at least weekly fell by nearly half – from 47 percent to 24 percent – between 1974 and 2012, according to the General Social Survey (GSS).
The pope's visit comes ahead of the start an "extraordinary jubilee" year for the church commencing in December, a special year called by the church to receive blessing and pardon from God and to forgive debts.
The Catholic church calls jubilee years every 25 or 50 years and has also called special jubilee years from time to time, known as extraordinary jubilee years.
LeCompte, who attends meetings with the pope on occasion said he was resolute that the church must do everything it can to convince world leaders to act on world poverty.
"I have heard him say very clearly in meetings, that if the Catholic church is unable to convince world leaders to do everything they can to create a more sustainable economy, to address poverty and inequality, he thinks the Catholic church should sell everything and give it to the poor. I don't think that will actually happen, but that is how strongly he is making these statements," he added.
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7613ca1af44313b4b35e25f4a836517c | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/cheap-mining-stocks-ripe-for-picking.html | Cheap mining stocks: Ripe for picking? | Cheap mining stocks: Ripe for picking?
As mining stocks from Melbourne to London and Toronto took another pummelling this week, some analysts believe the sell-off has gone too far.
Amid concerns that China's economy is in worse shape than anticipated a few months ago and uncertainty about when the U.S. Federal Reserve will "lift off" on higher interest rates, commodities have come under pressure, dragging mining firms with them.
Carla Gottgens | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Paul Gait, a senior analyst at Bernstein, said in a note on Wednesday that a sell-off in Glencore shares was "overdone."
Mining and commodities trading giant Glencore has tumbled almost 19 percent over the past seven days. Its London-listed shares have tanked just over 60 percent so far this year, bearing the brunt of the drubbing in mining stocks.
London's FTSE 350 mining index meanwhile has shed 44 percent of its value in the past year - reflecting the pain the sector is going through.
According to Gait, the fall in Glencore's share price has overshot Bernstein's valuation for the firm by $10.8 billion. He said that Glencore's industrial assets are "fundamentally sound" and that the firm's trading activity was a "genuine business activity that has to exist in the global economy."
China GDP—how bad could it really be?
Cheap down under
In Australia meanwhile, mining stocks are looking cheap as commodity prices bottom in Australian dollar terms, fund manager Charlie Aitken was quoted saying by Australian media on Wednesday.
According to Aitken, a rise in iron ore and oil prices in the past month and a fall in the Australian dollar suggested the country's commodity prices have bottomed.
The price of iron ore has risen more than 25 percent from a low of about $44.60 a ton in July. The Australian dollar meanwhile has fallen about 14 percent this year against the U.S. dollar and that means iron ore prices are higher in local currency terms.
"Overall, we continue to expect the news from China to improve over the remainder of the year, helping sentiment towards commodities to recover," analysts at Capital Economics said in a note on Wednesday.
China is the world's biggest consumer of many raw materials and it has been a key driver for growth in many emerging markets and large commodity exporters such as Australia in recent decades.
VIDEO2:5202:52Will crushed commodities exacerbate uncertainty?Closing Bell
Not over yet
The preliminary China manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to a six-and-a-half-year low of 47.0 in September, below a 47.5 forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll, data on Wednesday showed.
As more signs of weakness in China's economy – the second biggest in the world after the U.S. – emerged, Australian mining stocks remained under pressure.
Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton extended their falls in Australia on Wednesday, with BHP Billiton closing more than 4 percent lower.
The sneaky way that the Fed may be hurting stocks
Credit Suisse late on Tuesday cut its China demand assumptions, commodity prices and earnings estimates for the metals and mining sector heavily across the board.
"Much of this is a catch-up to current conditions, which remain highly uncertain, but until China demand and emerging market currencies find a floor, it will remain challenging to put an absolute floor on commodity prices," the Credit Suisse note said.
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f6237c2815372ad40a6552bc0a55a093 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/china-and-us-need-each-other-mcnamee.html | China and U.S. need each other: McNamee | China and U.S. need each other: McNamee
VIDEO4:2404:24China & US need each other: McNameeClosing Bell
When it comes to the technology sector, the U.S. and China need to learn to get along, and the sooner, the better, a venture capitalist told CNBC's "Closing Bell" Wednesday.
"Both sides need the other," Roger McNamee, founding partner of Elevation Partners, said. "We cannot pretend we can grow without China as a market, and China cannot possibly grow without the U.S. as its largest trading partner."
Technology business leaders like Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos and Satya Nadella were among those reportedly present in Seattle on Wednesday when Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on cyberespionage policies. Xi's diplomatic visit is expected by McNamee to bring small but positive changes to the business relations between the two nations.
China's Xi to visit US tech—amid tepid expectations
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The technology sector has the most to gain from warmer relations between the U.S. and China, McNamee said, pointing to companies such as Microsoft and Cisco that have struggled with Chinese policies on intellectual property.
"The United States need markets for its technology," McNamee said. "The Chinese need to restore higher rates of growth to their economy. In there is an opportunity for a more positive relationship."
China-U.S. relations had been icy for several years as the American political process was impotent against the rocketing Chinese economy, McNamee said. But with President Barack Obama leaving office soon and growth slowing in China, McNamee said the preconditions for compromise are better now than before.
"Both sides are going to have to compromise in some places," McNamee said. "The question is, is that area for compromise great enough to enable U.S. companies to do more business [in China]?"
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d6ec62b216651efe769ae7e97dafa8cd | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/china-gdp-how-bad-could-it-really-be.html | China GDP—how bad could it really be? | China GDP—how bad could it really be?
VIDEO4:5004:50Debate: The risk of a hard landing in ChinaStreet Signs Asia
VIDEO3:0703:07Can we rule out a hard landing in China?Squawk Box Asia
VIDEO4:3204:32Will China's factory activity recover anytime soon?Street Signs Asia
VIDEO3:3803:38These factors are hurting China's manufacturingCapital Connection
China growth concerns have already pushed global sentiment into a tight corner, alongside uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's rate policy.
But, after weak manufacturing data Wednesday, big global investment banks are highlighting the faults with their own already pessimistic forecasts for the world's second-largest economy.
"We see downside risks to our GDP (gross domestic product) growth forecast at 6.9 percent year-on-year in (the third quarter)," said research analysts at Nomura —after the data release.
Employees work in a textile factory in Suzhou, China.China Daily | Reuters
The Japanese bank expects the official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) to edge lower despite predicting more selective easing from its central bank. Swiss private banking group Julius had similar concerns, revising its economic growth target for China downwards on Wednesday to 6 percent for 2016.
Even before the figures were published, Barclays was also ripping up its previous forecast.
Flash China Caixin PMI falls to 47 in September, a 6-1/2-year low
"We now expect China's growth to slow further in coming quarters, bringing down our annual growth projections to 6.6 percent in 2015 and 6.0 percent in 2016," a team of analysts, led by Christian Keller, said in a note on Tuesday evening.
This scenario from Barclays is below consensus, but it too noted downside risks to its predictions including excess capacities in many industries, an oversupply in the housing market, and high debt in local governments.
Chinese authorities are currently trying to shift to a more consumer-focused economy, but Barclays stressed that service sector expansion and consumption growth were unlikely to fully compensate for other headwinds.
Euro zone business activity contracts in September
Wednesday's flash manufacturing PMI, released by Caixin and compiled by Markit, hit its weakest since March 2009 — the height of the global financial crisis.
Markit suggested that the data meant the pace of economic growth was slowing further in the third quarter of 2015. It also spoke of order books slumping, weakening demand, accelerating job losses and a buildup in inventories in the industry.
Policymakers in China are targeting annual economic growth of "around" 7 percent for this year, which would be the weakest expansion in a quarter of a century, according to Reuters data.
GDP expanded 7.4 percent last year from 7.7 percent in 2013 and has been significantly lower than the double-digit growth experienced in the last decade.
China's Xi defends economy, markets at US address
But there might be reasons for optimism, according to Capital Economics. The London-based economic research consultancy has been one of the few investment houses still taking a positive tone on China.
"We would caution against giving the PMI too much weight," Julian Evans-Pritchard, a China economist at the company, said in a note Wednesday morning.
"Its recent weakness – it fell to its lowest since 2009 in August – has not been corroborated by the broader activity data which currently don't point to a deepening economic crisis."
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e50b3adce6c436066255c07c88a8e53a | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/china-woes-may-hang-over-wall-street.html | Futures fluctuate as Wall Street eyes oil | Futures fluctuate as Wall Street eyes oil
VIDEO4:5004:50Debate: The risk of a hard landing in ChinaStreet Signs Asia
U.S. stocks were expected to open flat to mildly higher on Wednesday, as investors eyed oil. Stocks found some support from a rally in Europe amid further signs of weakness in China's economy.
Crude pared gains to turn mildly lower and trade near $46.30 a barrel, while brent held a touch higher above $49 a barrel.
The preliminary China manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to a six-and-a-half-year low of 47.0 in September, below a 47.5 forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll, data showed.
Asian shares skidded deeper into negative territory following the data, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite stock index closing more than 2 percent lower. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.
European markets, however, reversed early falls to trade higher in morning London trade.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
Those gains offered some support to U.S. stock futures, which reversed early falls to trade flat.
Read MoreWhy this might not be the best strategy for stock investors
Dow Jones industrial average stock futures were down about 10 points. Earlier, futures had indicated a rebound in the blue-chip stock index which closed 1 percent lower Tuesday.
"Investor sentiment has been dealt another blow after the China Caixin manufacturing index slipped to a six-and-a-half-year low, fueling Chinese growth fears at a time when concerns are already quite elevated," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at trading firm OANDA, in a note.
"Falling demand both domestically and abroad is only going to make the task of achieving (the) seven percent growth (target) that much harder and in fact, there has already been a number of revisions to Chinese growth forecasts this year," he said.
The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday said it expected China, the world's second largest economy, to grow by 6.8 percent this year, down from a previous forecast of 7.2 percent.
In addition to the China PMI data, markets also digest PMI readings from Europe and the September U.S. flash manufacturing PMI at 09:45 a.m. ET.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, visiting the U.S. this week, on Tuesday said China's economy would remain on a "steady course" and reassured the world that China's financial markets will remain stable.
Read MoreChina's Xi defends economy, markets at US address
In the wake of last week's U.S. Federal Reserve decision to keep interest rates at record low levels amid concerns about the global growth outlook, attention was also expected to turn to Fed speakers for further insight into when rates may be raised.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart speaks at 12:30 pm ET.
Analysts at Daiwa Capital said in a note that Lockhart is a relatively "centrist" member of the Fed, noting that earlier in the week he suggested a rate hike in the fourth quarter of the year was still on the cards as long as market volatility settles down.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi speaks before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament in Brussels at 9 a.m. ET.
A sharp fall in the shares of German car maker Volkswagen was also expected to continue to weigh on sentiment as investors assess the fallout of an emissions scandal.
Volkswagen shares, which have slid more than 30 percent in the past two sessions, tumbled a further 3.8 percent in early Wednesday trade in Europe.
Read More Early movers: CTSX, INTC, CSCO, FB, JCP & more
Back in the U.S., Steelcase, Worthington Industries are expected to report earnings, while the U.S. Treasury is expected to sell $35 billion worth of five-year bonds later in the day.
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b360847f675f07dcb2411d9768f9de10 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/could-postmates-be-amazons-biggest-nightmare.html | Bastian Lehmann, CEO of Postmates.David A. Grogan | CNBC
Sometimes in order to get a good understanding of the trends happening in the stock market, Jim Cramer goes off the tape to take a closer look at privately held companies disrupting their industry. This way he is not surprised when the trends from the private sector start to impact some of his favorite stocks.
One of those innovative companies is San Francisco-based Postmates, a private company that provides on-demand delivery service for several markets around the country. Some might even call it the Uber for couriers, because you can use its mobile app to get practically anything delivered within an hour for a small fee.
Many are wondering if Postmates will take share from Amazon, as it can now provide delivery from small-businesses around the community that previously did not offer that service.
And while Postmates is not a public company, the large players have started to take note, as it recently secured big deals with both Starbucks and Chipotle.
Want your burrito bowl delivered to you with your favorite Starbucks latte? No problem!
Back in April, Cramer spoke with Postmates co-founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann on how it managed to score these big deals and what makes it different from any other courier service.
"The idea behind Postmates is what if you can use the city as a warehouse," Lehmann said. (Tweet this)
The CEO explained that rather than utilizing the energy to ship an item from out of state through an online purchase, clients can now find a store that will deliver that product through his company.
Cramer speculated on whether Postmates could be dreams come true for small businesses all over America, as they now have the ability to compete with Amazon.
"A huge part of the mission was to give retailers in cities better weapons to fight against Amazon, because you know what? They've been bullied around," Lehmann said.
The CEO added that he has heard feedback from his own friends who work in the retail spaces that they have found employment difficult, along with customers who go to stores and shop and then buy a product on Amazon. He believes that the cumbersome environment of the retail space is what is driving this behavior. "The inventory is locked, and we want to help unlock it," he added.
Postmates also provides opportunity for employment that is unparalleled to the competition. If someone is interested in working for Postmates as a courier, they can simply go to www.postmates.com/jobs and someone will contact them within 24 hours. If they are selected, the company will do an orientation in a car, scooter or bike and then they join the team.
Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer
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"It's America's best part-time job. That's what it is. It is very complimentary income to another job that you are doing," he said.
Lehmann explained that what makes Postmates unique for couriers, is that it matches the insurance that both Uber and Lyft currently offer. That is $1 million liability insurance on both sides, regardless of whether couriers are in a motorized vehicle. It also additionally offers a $50,000 occupational accident insurance, which covers medical expenses whether or not the person has health insurance.
The CEO shared with Cramer that, three years ago, when it initially started offering Chipotle deliveries, it received a cease-and- desist request from Chipotle. However, Postmates ignored it and continued with the deliveries.
"I think what happened is over time that they warmed up to the idea, first of all that there is a very persistent start-up run by a very stubborn, persistent German founder and an equally stubborn American co-founder. And, on top of that, we showed them that we can deliver the quality that they want," he said.
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a1dc5deece19acfd2a4b73b8de7acb53 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/cramer-remix-beware-of-unicorn-private-companies.html | VIDEO1:1701:17Beware of unicorn private companiesCramer Remix
When Jim Cramer sees investors only paying attention to the activity of publicly traded companies, he considers that to be just plain clueless.
"If you just look at the companies with stocks that currently trade, you might not see the oncoming train of a private company coming right at you," the "Mad Money" host said.
That is why Cramer always has his radar on looking for privately held companies, to discover their recent innovations and figure out how they could disrupt industries that many think are stable.
After all, you don't want your portfolio to be taken by surprise when someone comes along with a better mousetrap.
"I think it is my job to bring you these ideas before they IPO, like HotelTonight, because if I wait too long and you don't find out about them until they're about to go public, you will end up having to compete against huge funds that have gotten their orders in early so they will get top priority over you," Cramer said.
Cramer also reminded investors that when he highlights a private company, he often lacks the kind of financials he would normally require before it appears on "Mad Money." He is also not sure if or when the company will make itself public. Thus he remains highly skeptical of the huge valuations from many of the companies, or so-called unicorns, given how difficult the public market has become.
Nevertheless, Cramer has seen a dramatic increase in enthusiasm for some of these private companies. His skepticism was sorely tested when he heard about the growth that these companies have and the prospects that await them.
Read More Cramer: Spot an IPO revolution before it happens
Leah Busque, founder of TaskRabbit.Mark Neuling | CNBC
One of those private companies is TaskRabbit, which connects customers with friends and neighbors to outsource various tasks, ranging from household chores to standing in line at the Apple store.
The "Mad Money" host spoke with TaskRabbit's founder and CEO, Leah Busque, to find out about how the company is disrupting the way people get things done and the future of work.
While the idea of cleaning the house or putting together IKEA furniture may seem like a treacherous task for some, the CEO explained that there is always someone on TaskRabbit to help.
"TaskRabbit is the only mobile marketplace that gives you a breadth of services," Busque explained.
Read More Waiting in line at Apple? There's an app for that
Another hot privately held company out there is one that delivers groceries. Instacart was valued at $2 billion in its most recent round of fundraising. It lets you order groceries online by connecting customers with thousands of personal shoppers who will collect the items from a local supermarket and deliver to your door in exchange for a small delivery fee, sometimes with a small markup.
The company was founded in 2012 by Apoorva Mehta, a former supply chain engineer from Amazon. It has quickly expanded into 15 markets across the country and has even partnered with large grocery chains such as Whole Foods, Costco and newly added Petco.
To find out more about Intacart's innovation, Cramer sat down with CEO Apoorva Mehta.
"We have found that there is customers who have always wanted groceries delivered to their door, and they wanted it in one hour, two hours in the same day. And the fact is, that has never been able to be done before," Mehta said.
Another innovative company is San Francisco-based Postmates, a private company that provides on-demand delivery service for several markets around the country. Some might even call it the Uber for couriers, because you can use its mobile app to get practically anything delivered within an hour for a small fee.
Many are wondering if Postmates will take share from Amazon, as it can now provide delivery from small-businesses around the community that previously did not offer that service. And while Postmates is not a public company, the large players have started to take note, as it recently secured big deals with bothStarbucks and Chipotle.
Back in April, Cramer spoke with Postmates co-founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann on how it managed to score these big deals and what makes it different from any other courier service.
"The idea behind Postmates is what if you can use the city as a warehouse," Lehmann said. (Tweet this)
Read More Cramer: Could this be Amazon's biggest nightmare?
Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos.David A. Grogan | CNBC
Another privately held company is Theranos, a revolutionary diagnostics company with the goal of allowing individuals to take better control of their bodies, while changing the inefficient ways of an older medical system.
Elizabeth Holmes founded the Theranos technology, which allows individuals to provide blood samples in a way that is faster, cheaper and better. As a college dropout from Stanford University when she was a sophomore, Holmes decided to take her money and focus on changing the world instead.
In 2014 Theranos raised $400 million, and the company was valued at $9 billion. As a 50 percent owner of the company, Holmes became the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world in 2014.
"The goal is to empower the individual. We believe strongly that the future of healthcare is in enabling the individual to have the information that they need to take ownership of their health," Holmes said.
Read More World's youngest female billionaire—next Steve Jobs?
Another place that Cramer has seen large changes in are in the ways that people communicate and collaborate. For some, it is hard for them to imagine what life was like before iPhones and smartphones. Email and messages have now become difficult to maintain for companies.
Slack is a company that provides internal real time group chatting across devices, and keeps them in sync. To hear more about what it offers, Cramer spoke with Slack's CEO Stewart Butterfield. The CEO recalled his own working experience when he had to utilize the Outlook email system.
He was constantly worried about not having enough memory to store his emails, and spent a considerable amount of time sorting emails into personal folders as a result.
"That is what we are trying to do in the context of internal communication, is make it so you don't have to worry about filing it or organizing it. You get it all in one big stream, you bring everything together and then make it searchable," Butterfield said.
HotelTonight is also a privately held company with a mobile app that allows clients to book a room at a hotel at the last minute, or up to a week in advance. On any given day, there are various rooms that remain unbooked at hotels, and many are willing to drop those rates dramatically to book it.
This app basically plays matchmaker between those hotels and travelers who are looking for a great last-minute deal. To find out more, Cramer spoke with HotelTonight CEO Sam Shank.
"Everybody wins, you get a deal, you get a great hotel and hotels get incremental revenue," he said.
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9c75f26714d790ede944bc54fab729a2 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/donald-trump-plays-straight-man-to-host-stephen-colbert.html | Donald Trump plays straight man to host Stephen Colbert | Donald Trump plays straight man to host Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert showered thanks on Donald Trump, his "Late Show" guest, Tuesday night.
"I want to thank you not only for being here but for running for president," Colbert told the GOP front-runner. "I'm not going to say this stuff writes itself, but you certainly do deliver it on time every day."
Colbert's gratitude for Trump's comic assistance was well-placed. Peppering Trump with questions and wisecracks during his appearance, the CBS host reduced the usually domineering Trump to straight-man status, an unaccustomed role Trump performed with rare grace.
Donald Trump leaves 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' at Ed Sullivan Theater on September 22, 2015 in New York City.James Devaney | WireImage | Getty Images
Bringing up Trump's proposal to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, Colbert offered his own mocking version of a way to bar illegal immigration: Two walls, and in between them a moat filled with fire and fireproof crocodiles. "Is that enough?" Colbert asked.
And focusing on Trump's insistence that Mexico would pay for the wall, Colbert drew him into a role-playing exercise — a phone call where "you're you, and I'm the president of Mexico."
Colbert noted that Trump is leading the field while he vows to finance his campaign out of his own pocket.
"The Republican Party has been a big pusher of the idea that money is speech, and you're a $10 billion mouth," said Colbert. "You're their worst nightmare."
"I think the establishment in the Republican Party probably isn't that thrilled," he agreed.
Trump repeated his contention, as a former heavy campaign donor, that candidates who accept major contributions are typically "owned" by those donors once in office.
"You gave them a big contribution and you want something and all of a sudden they've very receptive," he said. If you didn't make a healthy gift, "believe me, you get the cold shoulder."
Colbert asked if Trump really wants to be president: "If you actually got the gig, would that be a step down for you? You know what the pay is like, right?"
'Sexy' Donald Trump costume for sale
Trump replied that he is running "not because I want it, but because I think I can do a great job."
When pressed on his past contention that President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States, Trump deferred.
"I don't talk about it anymore," he said.
But he was gung-ho for a game that called for guessing who in the past had made certain outlandish remarks: Trump or the comically conservative blowhard Colbert played for a decade as host of "The Colbert Report."
Trump or Colbert? "Medicare is like a nice pair of cufflinks. Nobody wears cufflinks anymore."
"That's you," said Trump. Correct.
Trump or Colbert? "It's freezing and snowing in New York. We need global warming."
"I think it's you," Trump hedged, "but it's close to being me."
It was Trump.
And finally: "The real strong have no need to prove it to the phonies."
"It's not me," said Trump after a pause. "It COULD be you."
"It's not me, either," Colbert said. "It's Charles Manson."
"Ooooo," said Trump.
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0537c4b964e8c7f9efea6c713a00ac64 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/draghi-more-risks-to-growth-outlook-have-emerged.html | Draghi: More risks to growth outlook have emerged | Draghi: More risks to growth outlook have emerged
Further downside risks to euro area's growth and inflation outlook have emerged as a result of currency headwinds and weakness in commodity prices, President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi warned.
Draghi said slowing growth in emerging markets, a stronger euro and the fall in oil prices were the main factors hurting the outlook for growth, but that more time was needed to assess if the central bank would release further monetary stimulus as a result.
Read MoreTalk of more QE is just plain bad for the euro
European Central Bank's (ECB) president Mario Draghi looks on during a debate on ECB's activities at the EU parliament in BrusselsJohn Thys I AFP I Getty Images
"As a result, renewed downside risks to the outlook for growth and inflation have emerged. For many of these changes, it is too early to judge with sufficient confidence whether they will cause lasting slippage from the trajectory that we initially expected inflation to follow when we decided to expand our asset purchase programme in January," Draghi said in a speech addressed to the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
The central bank chief also said that it was too soon to determine how bad the loss of growth in emerging markets was and whether the economic situation seen in the region was temporary or permanent.
"We will therefore monitor closely all relevant incoming information and its impact on the outlook for price stability," he added.
The Frankfurt-based ECB committed to pump some 1.1 trillion euros into the currency bloc earlier in the year in an effort to revive the euro zone's drooping economy and lackluster inflation outlook.
Read MoreECB's Draghi pledges more QE if needed
In a press conference following the ECB's monthly monetary policy meeting earlier this month, Draghi said the central bank was poised and ready to up the "size, composition and duration" of the bond-buying program if necessary.
His comments on Wednesday come after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates on hold amid heightened global financial markets volatility as fear of a slowdown in China have dented investor sentiment.
Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld
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bedaf4bfd0ec76152995c79b3085c826 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/eu-leaders-pledge-aid-for-syrian-refugees-at-migrant-crisis-summit.html | EU leaders pledge $1.1B to aid Syrian refugees | EU leaders pledge $1.1B to aid Syrian refugees
Philipp Guelland | Getty Images
European Union leaders pledged 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to help U.N. agencies support Syrian refugees who remain in the Middle East at a crisis summit on migration, the meeting's chairman Donald Tusk said early on Thursday.
Other officials said a number of other pledges were made and Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU's chief executive, told reporters that the summit was conducted in an "excellent" atmosphere that was less tense than some had forecast.
Read More US making plans for Syrian migrants
Tusk and Juncker said they would host a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on October 5 as part of efforts to cooperate with Ankara to limit the numbers of migrants reaching Greece. The leaders also agreed to tighten controls using EU-backed border personnel on the bloc's external frontiers.
Tusk said that there were "very substantial and energetic" exchanges during the meeting between the Austrian and Hungarian leaders, whose common border was among those disrupted by chaotic crowds of migrants this summer, but not the mutual recrimination that had threatened to tear apart the bloc's cherished passport-free Schengen zone.
Hungary lies in the path of the largest migration wave Europe has seen since World War Two and has registered more than 220,000 asylum-seekers this year. To stem the flow of migrants, the country's right-wing government has built a fence on the Serbian frontier and is constructing another on Hungary's border with Croatia.
"Today's meeting and this atmosphere are a very positive sign," said Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland. "It's quite a symbolic moment for me as it's clear we have stopped this risky blame game."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, criticized by some eastern neighbors for what they saw as actions that have fuelled the influx of people trying to reach Germany, voiced satisfaction: "We know that the problem is not solved with the decision taken. But we have taken one of many necessary steps. I got the feeling that we want to tackle this task together."
Held at short notice after governments fell out badly over a scheme to share out responsibilities for asylum-seekers around the EU, the summit carried political rather than legal weight. A joint statement read: "We can only manage this challenge by working together in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility."
Among short-term actions before the next regular summit in mid-October, the EU will offer at least 1 billion euros more to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, its World Food Programme and other agencies and increase funding for Syrian refugees in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and other countries - part of a broad push to ease factors driving Syrians to risk sailing to Europe.
"It is close to the scene of the tragedy that the refugees must be kept, welcomed, supported," said French President Francois Hollande, renewing a call for global cooperation by wealthy powers to take in some of the most needy cases.
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3b44b1c174bf4488fb7f8ca97e2e5dcc | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/euro-perkier-as-ecb-dampens-expectations-for-imminent-stimulus.html | Dollar extends drop against euro on global growth concerns | Dollar extends drop against euro on global growth concerns
Sean Gallup | Getty Images
The dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies such as the euro and Japanese yen on Thursday after worries about global growth led traders to sell riskier assets and favor lower-yielding currencies.
Concerns that China and other emerging markets could face more economic weakness led traders to sell the dollar and riskier assets such as U.S. stocks and buy back currencies such as the euro and yen, which are cheap to own since the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are keeping rates low through stimulus measures.
That dynamic weakened the dollar, since the U.S. Federal Reserve's intent to tighten monetary policy by raising rates has made it less favorable as a funding currency, analysts said. Traders also looked ahead to a speech from Fed Chair Janet Yellen at 5 p.m. ET (2100 GMT).
The Fed, by not hiking rates and noting worries about the global economy last week, has exacerbated nervousness in the market, analysts said.
VIDEO2:0402:04What worries Forex most?
"You have all these uncertainties, and on top of that, you had a Fed that had a chance to give you some certainty" but added to uncertainty, said Ihab Salib, head of international fixed income at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh, who is also responsible for currency management at the firm.
The dollar reversed gains against the Mexican peso and Brazilian real, meanwhile, after hitting record highs against the riskier emerging market currencies earlier in the session.
The rebound in the peso and real may have been a result of traders taking profits in the dollar's gains, said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.
The dollar was last down 1.25 percent against the peso at 16.90 pesos after hitting a record high of 17.34 pesos, and was down 2.95 percent against the Brazilian real at 4.0541 reals after hitting a record high of 4.2482 reals.
Read MoreThis currency's collapse is 'astounding': Trader
The dollar was up 2 percent against the Norwegian crown at 8.4503 crowns after hitting 8.4842 crowns, its highest since mid-2002, after Norway's central bank surprised markets by cutting rates.
The euro was last up 0.33 percent against the dollar at $1.12230. The dollar was last down 0.25 percent against the yen at 120.010 yen after hitting a nearly one-week low of 119.210 yen. The dollar was down 0.29 percent against the Swiss franc at 0.97690 franc.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last down 0.10 percent at 95.970.
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2581b397a17235d504b57a1987d225f0 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/european-markets-volkswagon-china.html | Europe ekes out gains as VW CEO steps down | Europe ekes out gains as VW CEO steps down
VIDEO0:2400:24Europe ends slightly higher as VW CEO steps down
European stocks finished marginally higher on Wednesday, as investors digested the latest from Volkswagen and continued to ponder China's economic health.
The pan-European STOXX 600 ended trade around 0.1 percent higher, having pared earlier gains.
London's FTSE 100 outperformed other indexes on Wednesday, finishing up 1.6 percent. The French CAC index, for instance, finished around 0.1 percent higher.
Germany's DAX pared gains at the close, ending up 0.4 percent after Deutsche Bank also cut its target levels for the index and the CEO of Volkswagen stepped down.
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range Wednesday, with investors eyeing oil prices and China's weak manufacturing data.
Martin Winterkorn, the chief executive of Volkswagen, succumbed to increasing pressure on Wednesday by resigning just ahead of the European market close. The world's second-largest carmaker is engulfed in an emissions scandal that has wiped nearly 26 billion euros ($29 billion) off its market value this week.
Shares in the German stalwart close up around 5 percent, down from highs of up to 8 percent prior to Winterkorn's announcement, fueled by bargain hunters. This came after shares tanked around 18 percent on Monday and nearly 20 percent on Tuesday.
"The process of clarification and transparency must continue. This is the only way to win back trust. I am convinced that the Volkswagen Group and its team will overcome this grave crisis," Winterkorn said on Wednesday.
The board has yet to announce a successor to 68-year-old Winterkorn. However, rumors earlier suggested he might be replaced by Porsche CEO and President Matthias Muller, although Volkswagen has denied this.
As a result of the crisis, VW stock on Wednesday received a series of downgrades from the likes of Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan.
"We now rate VW Neutral (OW) with a new December 2016 target price of €179 (from €253), as we lack clarity on the potential total cost of the recall and the risk of additional engine investigations," JPMorgan wrote in a note on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Societe Generale downgraded the European automobile sector to "neutral" from "overweight." Nonetheless, most auto stocks finished trade in the green, with the exception of France's Peugeot Citroen and Renault, which both closed down over 2 percent.
Basic resources stocks pared some of Tuesday's losses, with London-listed Glencore and Anglo American both finishing in positive territory. A number of brokers raised their outlook on Glencore's stock, with Bernstein calling the recent price fall "overdone".
Around the close, oil prices slipped after initially extending gains, as government data showed a second consecutive weekly fall in U.S. crude oil inventories. Brent crude last stood at around $48.30 a barrel, while U.S. light crude was around $45 per barrel.
Shares in healthcare firm Coloplast fell 4.7 percent after it took a further $448 million charge as part of a U.S. lawsuit.
On the macroeconomic front, flash data showed that manufacturing and services output for the euro zone came in below expectations in September. The composite purchasing manager's index (PMI) from Markit came in at 53.9, down from 54.3 in August and below expectations for a reading of 54.1 from analysts polled by Reuters.
In Asia, equities slid deeper into the red on Wednesday, after a preliminary reading of activity in China's mammoth manufacturing sector fell to a six-and-a-half-year low of 47.0 in September, adding to worries over the world's second-largest economy.
The downbeat sentiment persisted even as Chinese President Xi Jinping defended his country's growth pace and reassured the world that China's financial markets would remain stable, in his first policy address during a state visit to the U.S.
Euro zone business activity contracts in September
Flash China Caixin PMI falls to 47 in September, a 6-1/2-year low
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a251a823dc74a86f83f723054ab46b4b | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/flipkart-founders-indias-newest-billionaires.html | Flipkart founders debut on Forbes billionaire list | Flipkart founders debut on Forbes billionaire list
Flipkart's application loading page.Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Images
If there's one indicator India's e-commerce sector is on fire – here it is.
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the co-founders of India's largest e-commerce firm Flipkart debuted on Forbes billionaire list on Wednesday, each boasting a personal fortune of $1.3 billion.
Taking the 86th spot, the Bansal duo are the first billionaires to be minted in India's e-commerce boom, according to Forbes.
While they share the same last name, Sachin and Binny are not brothers. The business partners met while studying at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and later became colleagues at Amazon before launching their e-commerce venture in 2007.
Flipkart, which is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), is valued at $15.2 billion, according to Business Standard.
"This year's list reflects the churn in the global economy and the growing clout of emerging sectors like e-commerce in India," said Sourav Majumdar, editor at Forbes India.
The Bansals were two of 12 new faces on Forbes' India Rich List this year. Dubai-based Sunil Vaswani of the Stallion Group – a conglomerate with business presence in the West Africa – was the wealthiest newcomer, entering the ranking in the 48th spot with a net worth of $2 billion.
Read MoreMore Yahoo brain drain: Exec heads to Flipkart
Another notable debutant was airline veteran and co-founder of IndiGo Rakesh Gangwal, in 70th place with $1.6 billion.
"While the overall wealth of India's wealthiest has remained by and large constant, the democratization of wealth within the list continues," Majumdar said. "Overall, the list reflects the changes in India's economy, and the resilience of Indian enterprise despite continuing uncertainties in some sectors," he said.
There were few changes at the very top of the rich list. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani retained his crown as India's richest person for the ninth consecutive year despite a drop of $4.7 billion in his net worth driven in part by a fall in the company's share price.
Shares of Reliance Industries have declined almost 5 percent so far this year as lower crude prices weigh on the oil and petrochemicals giant. Nevertheless, Ambani's personal fortune totaled $18.9 billion.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Dilip Shanghvi and IT services firm Wipro chairman Azim Premji remained in the second and third spot, respectively.
Cyrus Poonawalla, who recently set a new property record in Mumbai with his purchase of a $110 million heritage mansion in the city, was the biggest gainer on the list. He placed in the 9th spot with a net worth of $7.9 billion.
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98cbc21a29bdcadc1b9b56c6ad7b61ae | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/foreigners-gobbling-up-us-corporate-debt.html | Foreigners gobbling up US corporate debt | Foreigners gobbling up US corporate debt
VIDEO0:5200:52Time to eye high-yield corporate debt?Squawk Box Europe
At a time when fears are high about market liquidity comes a significant shift in the primary players in the corporate bond market.
Households, hedge funds and nonprofit groups, a bunch historically considered to be long-term holders of fixed-income instruments, ditched corporate debt in the second quarter, selling $122 billion after reducing their holdings by just $24 billion over the previous three months, according to data from the Federal Reserve and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Conversely, purchases by foreigners more than doubled, from $80 billion to $172.2 billion. Foreigners now own more than a quarter of the $8.1 trillion corporate bond market, with a 25.9 percent stake that is just shy of the 26.5 percent portion owned by mutual and exchange-traded funds.
Households, a category that for statistical purposes also includes hedge funds, now own just 4 percent of the group.
Getty Images
"Thus the corporate bond market continued to grow largely based on demand from just two types of investors, both of which to some extent are not long-term investors: foreign investors and mutual funds/ETFs," Yuriy Shchuchinov, credit strategist at BofAML, said in a report for clients.
Read MoreBond market's 'slow-moving train wreck'
Ownership of bond funds, and in particular who the principal buyers are in the market nowadays, is important as investors prepare for a changing market ahead.
Rising interest rates will make a more challenging environment for a U.S. bond market valued at $39.5 trillion. But the main challenges will be in the $12.7 trillion Treasury market as well as the corporate space.
Securities and Exchange Commission regulators are poring over debt instruments and rules at funds for making sure liquidity provisions are proper.
Read MoreFisher: Fed rate decision 'discomforted' market
However, a shrinking marketplace could exacerbate a big rush to the door in case of a bond panic. Having fewer buyers in the market, as has been the case as regulations have tightened for investment banks, makes matters more difficult.
The concerns were heightened following Oct. 15, 2014's bond market "flash crash,"in which liquidity vanished momentarily. A subsequent government inquiry found no specific cause for the incident.
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3620dfb2f862f9b6362350ce09264d01 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/happy-birthday-song-now-in-public-domain.html | Why we can now all sing 'Happy Birthday' | Why we can now all sing 'Happy Birthday'
You can now sing "Happy Birthday" without risking a lawsuit after a U.S. federal judge has thrown out a copyright claim to one of the most lucrative and recognized songs in the western world.
On Tuesday, a U.S. district judge in Los Angeles ruled that "Happy Birthday to You" belongs in the public domain, dealing a blow to the music publishing company that has made millions of dollars in royalties from the song.
Judge George H King ruled that the company owned the copyright to a specific piano arrangement of the song, rather than the song itself known today.
The ruling comes after a lengthy court case brought about in 2013 by musician Rupa Marya and filmmaker Robert Siegel against music publishing company, Warner Chappell Music, a division of media giant Warner Music Group.
Matelly | Cultura | Getty Images
They launched after it had asked them for $1,500 (£970) for the right to use "Happy Birthday To You" in a documentary they were making about the song.
But they argued that the song was in the public domain and said that Warner/Chappell Music had been "wrongfully asserting copyright ownership in the Happy Birthday lyrics."
Read More 'Goodfellas' actor sues 'The Simpsons'
Marya and Siegel claimed that the music publisher had thus been charging "millions of dollars of unlawful licensing fees." Warner/Chappell music is reported to have earned around $2 million a year from royalties from the song whenever it was broadcast – technically, anyone singing "Happy Birthday" in public owed royalties.
Warner/Chappell music argued that it had acquired a company in 1988 that owned the original copyright to the song. However, Judge King ruled that that company had never owned the rights to the lyrics and the original copyright -- filed in 1935 by the Clayton F Summy Company -- applied to a specific musical arrangement of the song rather than its lyrics.
The song is believed to have been written by two sisters, Mildred and Patty Hill, in 1893. Alhtough they knew Clayton F Summy, the judge found no evidence they had given him any rights to the lyrics, however.
"The Hill sisters gave Summy Co the rights to the melody, and the rights to piano arrangements based on the melody, but never any rights to the lyrics," Judge King said.
After the ruling, a spokesman for Warner/Chappell said "We are looking at the court's lengthy opinion and considering our options." The attorney for the plaintiffs, Randall Newman, said that "Happy Birthday' is finally free after 80 years," the LA Times reported.
- By CNBC's Holly Ellyatt, follow her on Twitter @HollyEllyatt. Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld
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b10b35351a093a47e38a42562c2ba37b | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/have-investors-given-up-on-buying-the-dip.html | Trader Talk | Trader Talk
VIDEO2:2702:27Pisani: Indeterminate market open
Volume yesterday was slightly on the heavy side, but it's not the selling I'm concerned with, it's the buying. Or the lack of it.
Is "buy the dip" dead?
With the exception of one or two days, there has been precious little buying interest since the three-day drop in the markets from Aug. 21 to 25.
And why should there be? The markets already have had to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing when, if ever, the Fed is going to raise interest rates.
What bulls need now is some evidence that "buy the dip" does not turn into "sell any rally." Two things are necessary to avoid that.
1) Some evidence the global economy is not falling apart, starting with better data on China, which we did not get overnight. China's Flash Manufacturing PMI came in at 47.0, below expectations of 47.5, its seventh straight month of contraction (below 50) and the lowest print since March 2009.
Read More China flash PMI falls to a 6-1/2-year low in September
Every component was weaker, including new orders and employment.
That's not helpful.
The European numbers were a bit below expectations but at least showed modest expansion. Germany came in at 52.5, while France's reading was 50.4. Markit, which publishes the Flash Eurozone PMI, noted "steady growth" in the eurozone economy.
"Moreover, faster growth of new work and backlogs of orders point to continued expansion in coming months," Markit said.
That's a bit more helpful. Europe has been higher most of the morning.
Read MoreEuropean stocks rise despite China fears
Mario Draghi, in a press conference, said the ECB was closely monitoring signs of financial instability, but has not seen any yet.
2) Better earnings commentary. We are going into corporate earnings season. We already know that Materials and Energy are going to have an ugly time of it. Energy, for example, is expected to be down 65 percent, while materials are expected to sink 12.5 percent.
Third-quarter earnings overall are expected to be down 4.5 percent, and analyst see revenues down 3.3 percent. That is getting worse, rather than better, a fairly typical pattern. If the historic pattern emerges, earnings should move up and approach 0 percent growth.
Revenues are another matter. They have not been improving, and the complaints are getting louder.
Read More Forget China. Focus on earnings, holiday sales: Stock picker
We are now trending for a third straight quarter of revenue declines, which has not happened since 2009, and we could have a clean sweep, with all four quarters down in 2015.
Revenue recession (S&P 500 revenues, source: Factset)
Q1: down 2.9 percent Q2: down 3.4 percent Q3 (est.): down 3.3 percent Q4 (est.): down 1.4 percent
This is why most traders do not believe that just coming in at 0 percent EPS growth will be enough to sustain prices. The revenue declines have now become a major issue, and without some improvement there, it's going to be tough justifying prices of 16 or 17 times earnings.
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1d54018d1234f213702dcdb8eeafa452 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/heres-why-buying-interest-has-dried-up.html | Trader Talk | Trader Talk
VIDEO2:5102:51Bearish sentiment on the riseTrading Nation
This was another lackluster trading session, characterized by the utter indifference of buyers, despite stocks being down three of the last four days.
I've been talking a lot about the drying up of buying interest lately. There's several reasons this has been happening:
1) Stocks have been drifting lower since the Fed decision. A small but vocal minority (including Bill Gross) have insisted that the market might have been in better shape had the Fed done "one and done" and guided more positively on the U.S. economy.
Since then, we have a global marketplace that has taken another modest downturn on the exact same global slowdown concerns that existed prior to the Fed meeting, only this time the "global slowdown" story has the Fed imprimatur.
In other words, the Fed has successfully "infected" the rest of the world with its concerns over "recent global economic and financial developments."
2) Another group agrees that the market has been drifting lower since the Fed decision, but that the Fed was right and that not only has China been slowing down, recent economic data indicates the U.S. has been slowing as well.
They point to a series of recent fairly large economic misses:
Recent economic missesExisting home salesPhilly manufacturingEmpire manufacturingRichmond manufacturing
This camp generally agrees that the Fed may have missed its opportunity to raise rates a few months ago, but with some signs of slowing economic growth, now was not the time to do it.
3) A third group notes that buying interest is weaker because it is obvious that weaker global growth is being manifest in: a) lower commodity prices, and b) negative revenue growth.
They're right. I noted earlier today we are heading for four straight quarters of negative revenue growth:
Revenue recession(S&P 500 revenues)Q1: Down 2.9%Q2: Down 3.4%Q3 (est.): Down 3.3%Q4 (est): Down 1.4%Source: Factset
We haven't had three quarters of negative revenue growth since 2009; we haven't had four quarters since the financial crisis.
This will be the big story for the remainder of the year.
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f1cbe2273fd28e64feb9910e8b5a1403 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/hillary-clinton-wont-dampen-pharma-sector-analyst.html | Hillary Clinton won't dampen pharma sector: Analyst | Hillary Clinton won't dampen pharma sector: Analyst
VIDEO1:3301:33Biotech on its heels
VIDEO2:1602:16Health care consolidation
VIDEO1:4701:47Turing reverses course on drug pricingSquawk Box
Despite a drop in biotech stocks this week after political talk about price gouging, an analyst said Wednesday that the sector remains a good investment.
"Biotech and even specialty pharmaceuticals is still a stock picker's paradise," Corey Davis of Canaccord Genuity told CNBC's "Power Lunch."
The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) took a hit Monday when when Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton tweeted out the following:
Tweet
Price gouging has come to the forefront of news this week with commentary from Clinton as well as the controversy surrounding the drug Daraprim.
Biotech falls on Clinton 'price gouging' comments
Davis attributes most of the downtick in the stocks to Clinton's tweet and subsequent rhetoric.
"It makes for great political rhetoric but at the end of the day, I don't think that any of these proposals are anything new or dramatic," he said about Clinton's proposed legislation. "I just don't think at the end of they day they're going pass and even if they do they're not going to have a material effect on the biopharm industry."
His top stock pick in the sector is Pacira Pharmaceuticals because, "it's been unduly beaten up and it's got a drug on the market and it's going to rebound nicely soon."
Disclosures: Neither Davis nor Canaccord Genuity own shares of Pacira Pharmaceuticals.
Disclaimer
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0b8642fe8b742d68c9c1dcdd3e9c1c12 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/indian-real-estate-group-pearls-agrotech-fined-for-running-ponzi-scheme.html | Indian real estate group fined $1.1bn for preying on investors | Indian real estate group fined $1.1bn for preying on investors
Prashanth Vishwanathan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Indian regulators have slapped a $1.1 billion fine on a New Delhi real estate company which raised at least $8.3 billion from 58 million investors who believed that they were buying land.
In its order against Pearls Agrotech Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Board of India said it hoped the heavy penalty would "give a strong message" to those running schemes preying on unsophisticated Indians trying to parlay hard-won savings into greater wealth.
"In the recent past, the country has suffered a lot in [the] hands of entities who engage in such illegal money mobilisation under various schemes, wherein the hard-earned money of the common man has been duped," the order read.
Pearls, which began operating in the late 1990s, raised money from people who thought they were buying valuable plots — which the company promised to develop and sell on, ostensibly generating lucrative returns.
But investors — lured through a network of agents who received commissions of up to 35 per cent — were often assigned vaguely defined plots in regions far from where they lived, leaving them unable to check out the realities on the ground.
VIDEO4:1804:18India must focus on domestic investment, demand: Fin Min
The Central Bureau of Investigation argued that the company was essentially a Ponzi scheme which began to unravel early last year after authorities froze its accounts. The CBI move followed years of court battles about whether SEBI had regulatory powers over Pearls, which continued to raise money throughout its legal battle against the watchdog.
More from the Financial Times:
Reckitt targets India condom price curb India seeks to solve inflation puzzle India looks at 20% duty on steel imports
In ordering the $1.1 billion fine, Amit Pradhan, the SEBI adjudicating officer, said "the amount of penalty is commensurate with the defaults committed" by the company and its directors.
The SEBI fine is the latest judgment against Pearls, which is being dismantled. The regulator in August ordered Pearls immediately to refund the nearly $8.3 billion it had taken from investors.
In April, India's Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of all Pearls' assets, including properties, to refund investors — a process that is supposed to be supervised by a court committee.
Read MoreIndia pharma mogul Cyrus Poonawalla buys Mumbai mansion
Indian authorities are getting increasingly tough on the many opaque schemes which attract vast sums of money from unsophisticated Indians hoping to get rich quick.
Subrata Roy, the flamboyant founder of the Sahara India Pariwar — whose business empire was ostensibly built by taking deposits from millions of small investors — has been in jail since March 2014, after failing to pay $1.6 billion to authorities to refund investors.
But such schemes still proliferate, often operating under the patronage of politicians. West Bengal was rocked by the 2013 collapse of a so-called collective investment scheme which raised money from at least 1.7 million depositors who were encouraged to invest by members of the state's ruling Trinamul Congress party.
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55ee3db7ee389ecbc6283ddbe3f75ee4 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/indias-modi-eyes-silicon-valley-on-domestic-reforms-stall.html | India's Modi eyes Silicon Valley on US trip as euphoria fades | India's Modi eyes Silicon Valley on US trip as euphoria fades
U.S. President Barack Obama laughs as he talks with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace in New Delhi, Jan. 26, 2015.Jim Bourg | Reuters
Tech titans will court Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Silicon Valley this weekend, but away from the glitz, the euphoria of his first trip to the United States a year ago has faded as promised deals stall and key reforms flounder.
A firm believer in the new economy and power of social media, Modi will be welcomed by Apple, Facebook and Google, who want to grow in a market where the world's third-largest internet user base is set to multiply in coming years.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is due to drop by Modi's hotel in San Jose, before the Indian leader joins Mark Zuckerberg for a "townhall" session broadcast live from Facebook headquarters.
He will be able to relive some of the glory of 2014's rock star-like Madison Square Garden rally in New York when he addresses 17,000 Indian expatriates at San Jose's "Shark Tank" sports arena on Sunday.
Modi's standing in the United States rose further when U.S. President Barack Obama visited India in January and the two tightened defense and civil nuclear cooperation with a promise of billions of dollars of business.
The relationship is still evolving, with the world's two biggest democracies agreeing on Tuesday to jointly train peacekeepers in Africa, a step in a growing military alignment partly aimed at balancing China's expansion.
But in other areas, progress has been slow.
VIDEO0:3100:31Facebook expecting special guest at Town Hall
Western businesses and diplomats in Delhi privately say Modi's reputation as a man of action has been hurt by setbacks on economic reform. Some carp that he is better at speeches and launching projects than seeing them through.
The Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Q3 Asian Business Sentiment Survey found on Wednesday that optimism among Indian companies, while still high, had been dented by the slow pace of reform.
U.S. lawmakers wrote to the Obama administration on Monday complaining about barriers to trade they said had got worse under Modi, as well as disputes over copyrights and patents.
"The sheen is off, certainly. He is no longer the new kid on the block," said Neelam Deo, a former Indian diplomat in Washington now at Gateway House, a think-tank.
"The first trip was euphoric, this one is much more a consolidation phase of the relationship."
Chopper red tape
On Tuesday, India's cabinet approved a $2.5 billion purchase of 37 Apache and Chinook helicopters from Boeing, giving Modi something concrete for when he meets Obama on Monday.
But the clearance came more than a year after the deal was agreed by the defense ministry, highlighting the lack of funds due to a slower-than-expected pick-up in India's economy and the bureaucratic morass that plagues ties between the countries.
"We have formidable bureaucracies on both sides," with residual mistrust from the Cold War, said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to Washington, referring to India's previous strong ties with the Soviet Union.
"Things are bound to be slow."
Read MoreGuess who's appearing at Facebook's town hall?
While the clearance has been given, India and Boeing must still sign a commercial contract.
GE Chairman Jeff Immelt this week said India's nuclear accident liability law was not in line with global standards and his company would not be investing, a blow for hopes that an insurance pool announced by Modi and Obama in January would break an impasse over a historic 2007 civil-nuclear deal.
India had worked around the liability law "to the extent possible," a top government source said in response.
Hour in the sun
On the Sept. 24-29 trip, Modi's mind will be focused more on solar power than nuclear; he has an ambitious target to build 100 GW of solar capacity in seven years.
On Saturday he visits Tesla Motor's Elon Musk to learn about battery technology that could help harness the power of the sun. He will also attend a renewable energy talk at Stanford.
On the first trip by an Indian prime minister to Silicon Valley, Modi hopes to attract funds and skills from U.S. innovators to help India's burgeoning start-up scene grow, and he will seek to encourage some Indians who have thrived around San Jose to bring their knowledge back home.
"He'll be building a bridge," said Rajat Tandon, who heads a program focused on startups at Indian IT group NASSCOM and was among the dozens of Indian entrepreneurs flying to California to join Modi this week.
For GE, which helped start India's IT revolution 30 years ago with an early commitment to outsourcing, the future in India is less about startups and more about Modi's flagship "Make In India" program, Immelt said, but only time will tell if it works.
"The most interesting thing in India today is on how big a manufacturing place can it be; to me that is the unanswered question - whether or not it can really compete," he told Reuters.
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2b3ae5f34e24e4ac0b10d06fb9e47cb8 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/inflation-makes-reserve-bank-of-india-rate-cut-call-difficult.html | RBI cautious despite political pressure for rate cuts | RBI cautious despite political pressure for rate cuts
Getty Images
Though the Reserve Bank of India is expected to cut interest rates next week by a quarter percent to a four-year low, officials say concerns over prices make it likely to resist political pressure for significant easing in the coming months.
In growing contrast with the government, which is desperate to accelerate a sluggish recovery, an increasingly independent RBI under governor Raghuram Rajan remains focused on a long-term inflation target of 4 percent and ending decades of damaging price volatility.
"The inflation outlook is still uncertain, and that is why the governor wants to be cautious," said one official familiar with the RBI's thinking. "It makes sense to wait and watch how sustainable the fall in inflation will be."
Headline inflation has dipped due to lower commodity prices, but the officials said the RBI was concerned that any spike in food prices due to weak monsoon rains or in crude oil would push up prices and expectations of future rises - at least until India can resolve significant supply and transport bottlenecks.
Worries about the impact from rate hikes expected in the United States later this year add to the caution, the officials said, given the potential for destabilising outflows by foreign investors and volatility in the rupee.
VIDEO4:5404:54RBI decision will be a close call: BNP ParibasSquawk Box Asia
For Rajan, who said last week he intended to control inflation "not just today, but well into the future", it is also about learning the lessons of a boom-and-bust past.
Rajan's predecessor, Duvvuri Subbarao, cut interest rates in response to the global financial crisis to 4.75 percent by April 2009, from 9 percent in July 2008. That cut fuelled double-digit inflation and eventually forced the RBI into reverse, raising rates back to 8.50 percent by October 2011.
Rajan, who took over two years later, was still fighting inflation at near double digits when he joined in 2013.
"I think Governor Rajan is deliberately falling behind the curve," said A. Prasanna, an economist at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership. "Rajan wants inflation to be low and stable for a sustainable period," he added. "You can be a proactive central bank only after anchoring inflation expectations."
Chain reactions
Avoiding over-reactions is key for the RBI, the officials said, despite the growing clamour for more rate cuts from business and government after consumer price inflation hit a record low of 3.66 percent in August.
Read MoreIndia FinMin: I want an RBI rate cut
Rajan last week noted that without a favourable base effect, consumer prices would have risen at an annualised pace of around "mid five" percent.
India's inflation has long been difficult to predict, given it is heavily influenced by volatile food and crude prices. To combat that, Rajan formally adopted inflation targeting earlier this year, in the biggest monetary policy overhaul in decades.
VIDEO4:2804:28Weak inflation to pave way for RBI rate cut: Pro
But his caution is frustrating Delhi and corporate India, which say the 7.25 percent rate at which the RBI lends to commercial banks is too high for a recovering economy.
Taking into account consumer inflation, India's real interest rates were 3.59 percent in August, the second highest month on record after the 3.79 percent in November 2014, according to Thomson Reuters calculations.
Read MoreGokarn to RBI: Stop focusing on the Fed
At the wholesale price inflation level, real interest rates are even higher, hitting a record 12.2 percent in August.
High effective interest rates drag on GDP growth, which is seen at the lower end of a government target of 8.1 percent to 8.5 percent for the current financial year.
The Indian government's chief economic adviser, Arvind Subramanian, told Reuters on Wednesday the economy would hit that target, even if a tougher global environment will weigh.
Extra public spending, he said, would not be needed.
"Monetary policy will ease in line with ... inflation," he added. "We have had three cuts, the year is not over, so that still holds."
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9d10e1f890d1d56a763a8419cb9d6c94 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/iphone-6s-launch-creates-boom-in-chinas-fake-apple-stores.html | China's fake Apple stores thrive on new iPhone launch | China's fake Apple stores thrive on new iPhone launch
VIDEO0:2400:24Fake iPhone 6S on sale in ChinaSquawk Box Asia
On a bustling street in China's southern boomtown of Shenzhen, more than 30 stores carrying Apple's iconic white logos peddle pre-orders for the new iPhone, a gadget that has become a status symbol among many better-off Chinese.
Many of the stores look just like Apple's signature outlets, right down to the sales staff kitted out in blue T-shirts bearing the company's white logo and the sample iPads and iWatches displayed on sleek wooden tables.
But the world's second-largest smartphone vendor only has one official store in Shenzhen and five authorized dealers in the area. Most of the stores in the roughly 1km shopping corridor are unauthorized "fakes" - although they are selling genuine Apple products - and their numbers have mushroomed ahead of the release on Friday of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6s Plus.
The rapid increase in copycat Apple stores underscores the popularity of the brand in China, where it doubled its revenue in the third quarter from a year earlier to more than $13 billion, and suggests the U.S. tech giant is on course to shrug off weakening consumer spending in its second biggest market.
"There are many Apple fans in China," said a clerk surnamed Zhao at one of the unauthorized dealers that opened just two weeks ago. "There are many silly people in China who are willing to pay extra money just to get a new iPhone ahead of everyone else."
Apple routinely grapples with iPhone supply constraints, particularly in years that involve a smartphone re-design.
The latest iteration of the iPhone, featuring larger screens and longer battery life, will only be available on the launch date in China to customers who have reserved online, and the company has said pre-order demand has outstripped supply.
A general view of a 'Apple Store' is seen on July 21, 2011 in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China. Kunming has three unofficial 'Apple Stores', which are not on Apple's retail store locations list on Apple's official website.ChinaFotoPress | Getty Images
Shenzhen's unauthorised Apple stores are taking advantage, banking on quick-hit gains from re-selling devices bought via authorised sales channels for as much as double the official price to consumers unwilling to wait weeks for stock to arrive.
The fake stores are also taking pre-orders, but say they will have the new phones from Friday.
Several workers at the stores said they were buying iPhone models in China and in overseas markets such as the United States and Hong Kong, from where they would be smuggled across the border into the mainland.
Apple declined to comment on the proliferation of unauthorized stores in China.
Knock-off industry
Some analysts said the presence of fake Apple stores could be a good thing for the company as they promote brand awareness in a country that had just 22 Apple stores in the third quarter, with plans to raise that number to 40 by the middle of 2016.
But the widespread unauthorized reselling of even genuine goods can make it harder for companies such as Apple to manage their brands and risks disrupting longer term plans.
Read MoreWaiting in line at Apple? There's an app for that
Washington has repeatedly pressed China to do more to protect intellectual copyright in the country, a call reiterated by the White House this week as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the United States for a week-long visit.
The fake Apple store model is proving so lucrative it has even spawned a cottage industry servicing such businesses.
Just a stone's throw from the street of copycat stores, tucked away in a giant tech mall, two shops offer the logos, uniforms, display shelves and shopping bags needed to make an unauthorized outlet feel like a genuine Apple store.
A recent raid by authorities on fake Apple stores has, however, made some cautious. Some shops have blocked signs that read "authorized Apple seller" with promotional banners and covered Apple logos on staff uniforms with stickers, although several vendors said business had not been affected.
Others in the industry said the fake Apple store had become so popular that it was just a matter of time before some shops would be forced to close as the market becomes saturated.
Back at the tech mall, Yang Fei, owner of a shop that helps unauthorized dealers set up specialized cellphone stores, said it might be time for Apple dealers to think about switching to other brands.
"Look at all the shops out there on the street. It would be tough to do the Apple business this year," she said. "It might be better if you do Huawei."
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184189c118cc7aa4821107472f1c63c5 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/is-this-the-future-of-aviation.html | Why airplanes could soon be flying on seeds | Why airplanes could soon be flying on seeds
VIDEO2:3102:31Is this the future of aviation?Sustainable Energy
We've come a long way since 1903, when the Wright brothers flew the world's first powered aeroplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. But our thirst for travel is costing more than an air ticket.
Today, in the U.S. alone, more than 87,000 flights take place every day, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. According to the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), global flights produced 705 million tonnes of CO2 in 2013. ATAG adds that the global aviation industry is responsible for roughly 2 percent of "human induced carbon dioxide… emissions."
Lucidio Studio Inc | Photographer's Choice | Getty Images
In 2012 – almost 100 years since the Wright brothers made history – another historic flight took place when the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) flew what it described as, "The first civil jet powered by unblended biofuel."
The biofuel used came from what the NRC described as oilseed crops that had been commercialized by Canada's Agrisoma Biosciences.
Speaking to CNBC's Sustainable Energy about the fuel produced from Agrisoma's oilseed crops, Steve Fabijanski, CEO of Agrisoma, said it was unique and behaved, "identically to petroleum."
"There are no changes that need to be made with the fuel handling system or the engine and the fuel burns cleaner and is a more efficient fuel," Fabijanski added.
"Since the 100% biojet flight, Agrisoma has been expanding the commercialization of the crop as well as further work on the reduction of aircraft emissions," Fabijanski added over email.
"In terms of commercialization of the crop, to date more than 20,000 acres of crop have been commercially grown by over 140 innovative farmers in North America."
Fabijanski also said that after extensive testing by the United States Department of Agriculture over several years, the crop was now being evaluated for commercial production in both Europe and South America.
Biofuels are becoming an increasingly important and innovative part of the planet's energy mix, with the International Energy Agency stating that they could provide 27 percent of the world's transportation fuel by 2050.
In the U.K., for example, London based green energy company bio-bean are taking waste coffee grounds and turning them into bio-diesel, while Edinburgh's Celtic Renewables is turning the by-products of whisky into a next generation biofuel.
The oilseed produced by Agrisoma is called "Resonance carinata." Described by the company as being hardy and drought tolerant, it is a non-food crop that can be grown on fallow land that would otherwise lie unused.
"This work is unique, because we are able to measure the carbon from the farmer's field all the way to the exhaust pipe of the airplane at 37,000 feet over Montreal," Fabijanski said.
He also explained that a 50lb bag of seed would produce up to 8,000 litres of jet fuel, with the by-product a nutritional animal feed.
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ab3bc41835de6011a642d4ca68c03170 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/latest-stocks-slide-as-china-data-hit-sentiment.html | Stocks fluctuate as China data hit sentiment | Stocks fluctuate as China data hit sentiment
A sharper than expected slowdown in China's manufacturing PMI sent stocks in Asia lower Wednesday. This after a commodities rout weighed on sentiment in Wall Street overnight.
European stocks, however, started the session higher after a day of heavy selling. Squawk Box Live had all the latest developments.
(App users please click here).
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322fae3b6abec5615807f030d6f92676 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/lee-markets-are-stuck-in-middle-zone.html | Lee: Markets are stuck in middle zone | Lee: Markets are stuck in middle zone
VIDEO2:2102:21Markets stuck in middle zone: Tom Lee
VIDEO2:2202:22Markets want a central bank they can trust: Tom Lee
VIDEO2:2702:27Pisani: Indeterminate market open
Thomas Lee, the Fundstrat Global Advisors founder, said on Wednesday that markets will be stuck in a middle zone until investors get clarity from the Fed and beyond.
"I think investors are just deciding to take a break until they've got better visibility," he told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "We're stuck in a middle zone because I do think investors are waiting for cues from the market."
Lee said that markets want "a central bank they can trust." He said he was disappointed by last week's Fed decision not to hike rates, a decision he said was motivated mostly by troubles in the international economy. "I think it's going to be the most important to see stability out of emerging markets, when we start to see that rate of change improve, that is when investors can start to focus on more positive things."
Michelle Gerard, RBS chief U.S. economist, also said that investors shouldn't expect anything new from Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech on Thursday.
"I'm sure she is going to reiterate their confidence that inflation is going to get to mandated and that way reinforce they still think they'll go this year," she said in the same interview. "I'm not sure she [Yellen] can provide the kind of clarity the market is hoping for."
Gerard said she is skeptical the Fed will raise rates this year despite the central bank's guidance to the contrary. She added that factors like the government shutdown could add more noise for markets.
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cf1e840fd8268a46946bd4dea4ffa589 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/lemons-in-portfolio-trading-volkswagen-scandal.html | Lemons in portfolio? Trading Volkswagen scandal | Lemons in portfolio? Trading Volkswagen scandal
The world headquarters building of Delphi Automotive in Troy, Michigan.Getty Images
Shares of Volkswagen lost as much as a third of their value this week after the world's second-largest automaker was hit by a scandal involving deceptive software used in millions of diesel engine cars to cheat on emissions tests.
Wall Street analysts are scrambling to figure out the ramifications for the whole auto sector as the market digests the brand damage to Volkswagen from the affair.
"In the near term, we would expect the suppliers with the greatest exposure to Volkswagen to take a near-term hit to sentiment and earnings to some degree, as VW's sales will likely decline on the margin," wrote John Murphy of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a note to clients Wednesday.
Here are the auto supplier stocks that are most at risk and overexposed to VW...
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931ef35d0c6c3a931e3288ed7d9866a6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/monster-hunt-broke-china-movie-records-but-cinema-profitability-unclear.html | Is there really money to be made in Chinese movies? | Is there really money to be made in Chinese movies?
Actor Jing Boran, singer and actress MoMo Wu and actress Bai Baihe attend the press conference for director Xu Chengyi's new movie 'Monster Hunt' on June 3, 2105 in Beijing.ChinaFotoPress | Getty Images
On the numbers, China's cinema-goers look like a sure bet, but investors may need to look under the hood.
Nomura forecasts the mainland's box office will rise to about 66 billion yuan, or nearly $11 billion, in 2017, overtaking its $10.4 billion forecast for North America that year and making China the world's largest movie market.
In a note earlier this month, the Japanese bank predicted China's box office would be worth about 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) in 2020. That's assuming per capita movie admission rises to two times a year in China from 0.6 times currently, still lower than the 3.6 times a year North American movie fans visit the cinema.
In 2014, North America's box office was worth about $10 billion, down 5 percent on-year, while China's rose about 36 percent on-year to roughly $4.8 billion, according to Variety.
Read More 'Monster Hunt' passes 'Furious 7' to take China box office crown
It's numbers like those that are spurring a rush of interest in the industry. For example, earlier this month, Warner Brothers announced it had formed Flagship Entertainment with China Media Capital to make Chinese-language movies.
But these ambitious growth expectations need to be taken with a grain of salt, some experts caution.
"Ninety percent of Chinese films are losing money," Peter Shiao, chief executive of production and finance company Orb Media, told the Milken Institute's Asia Summit last week.
While officially only about 50 percent of the Chinese box office takings are from imported Hollywood movies, he estimates the real figure is closer to 80-90 percent.
Read More Who's betting big on China's growing box office
It's Hollywood blockbusters "putting butts in seats," he said.
"Regulators are actually keeping the number down with blacked-out dates and other things," Shiao added referring to a quota that limits the number of foreign films imported to Chinese cinemas to 34 per year. There are also concerns that tickets sales may not be correctly attributed to the film movie goers actually attended.
For example, locally made Monster Hunt officially became China's highest grossing movie of all time earlier this year, taking in more than 2.4 billion yuan and topping the mainland's previous highest earner, Fast & Furious 7. But analysts claim there was government interference in ticket sales, including how long Monster Hunt played in theatres and the timing of its showings. There were reports that Monster Hunt, a 117-minute movie, had showings apparently starting every 15 minutes in some cinemas.
China's movie industry is also less skilled than Hollywood at capitalizing on its films.
"Ten billion dollars in box office in North America translates into something like $50 billion when you have all the ancillary revenue streams," such as home video, Ellen Eliasoph, chief executive of Village Roadshow Entertainment in Asia, said at the Milken conference. "Ten billion dollars in box office in China translates into maybe $11 billion."
She noted that Chinese companies often prefer to invest in Hollywood movies over domestic ones as there's a bigger potential payoff.
There's another reason Chinese films aren't generating much income: They don't travel well. Hollywood films get around 60-70 percent of their revenue outside of their home market of North America, an option not often available to Chinese films, Shiao noted.
All of those factors play into why analysts advise looking to the cinemas, not the films, to play on China's emerging group of moviegoers.
Wanda Cinema's net profit rose 50 percent on-year in the first half of this year as it quickly expanded its theater network, with box office sales beating the company's target by 38 percent, Deutsche Bank said in a note this week; it rates Shenzhen-listed Wanda Cinema's stock a buy.
Nomura also advises playing the sector via Wanda Cinema, rated at buy, citing concerns China's movie studios lack a quality content library and the ability to monetize their films' intellectual property.
A new play on China cinemas could hit the market soon. IMAX China, a unit of IMAX Corp., filed this week for a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), Reuters reported. In the first half of this year, IMAX China saw its revenue rise 57 percent on-year.
But Deutsche Bank is concerned that China's film producers could let the cinema-owners down.
"China currently has a quota on the number of foreign films and the supply of high-quality domestic films is still limited. A lack of high quality films could hurt the box office revenue," it said.
—By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1
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e1a397feb7ad6706391dfb75a0f10826 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/new-zealands-fonterra-raises-milk-payout-full-year-profits-soar.html | Fonterra raises milk payout, full-year profits soar | Fonterra raises milk payout, full-year profits soar
Getty Images
New Zealand dairy processor Fonterra increased its milk price payout forecast and reported a 183 percent rise in full-year profit on Thursday amid a modest recovery from this year's plummet in global dairy prices.
The world's largest dairy exporter said net profit after tax was NZ$506 million ($317.36 million) in the year to July 31, compared with NZ$179 million a year ago.
Slowing economic growth in New Zealand's top export market, China, and a global oversupply of milk products have seen dairy prices plummet after reaching record highs in 2013. However, prices have recovered somewhat in the second half of the financial year and were up 16.5 percent last week.
This allowed Fonterra to raise its forecast to NZ$4.60 per kilogram of milk solids from a previous forecast of NZ$3.85.
"Prices are often cyclical, but this year's market is one of the most difficult I've known," Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings said in a written statement.
VIDEO3:2403:24This is the growth driver for Lifeway FoodsStreet Signs Asia
"Looking ahead, this uncertainty means that world markets are likely to be difficult in the medium-term," Spierings said.
Lower dairy prices this year reduced Fonterra's costs and helped boost the cooperative's profit, but weighed heavily on the company's farmer-shareholders whose incomes have been slashed in the last year.
Fonterra raised its full-year dividend forecast to 40 to 50 NZ cents per share, compared with 25 to 35 NZ cents per share for the year just ended.
Read MoreGot too much milk? NZ PM thinks so
Fonterra's high debt levels continued to rise, after the company began offering around NZ$430 million in interest-free loans to its struggling farmers. The company's gearing rate increased to 49.7 percent from 42.3 percent in 2014, edging up towards the levels seen in 2008 when the company's balance sheets suffered during the global financial crisis and its gearing rate rose to almost 80 percent.
Fonterra is continuing the business review it started at the end of last year to reduce its costs. On Monday, Fonterra said it would cut 227 more jobs than previous flagged, taking the job losses to 750 or more than 4 percent of the company's 16,000 workers globally.
Shares in Fonterra's fund, which provides investor exposure to the farmer-owned dairy exporter, climbed to their highest in five months on Wednesday and closed at $5.24. They have soared nearly 9 percent this month and if sustained, it would be the largest monthly increase in three years.
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042f517ceb38c5366d93429f288a5e46 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/nhtsa-to-crack-down-on-automakers-claims.html | NHTSA to crack down on automakers' claims | NHTSA to crack down on automakers' claims
Following a series of deadly scandals, and now Volkswagen's attempt to cheat on federal emissions standards, the U.S. government will be less accepting of auto industry claims, especially when it comes to self-certified testing, warns the top federal vehicle safety regulator.
"We're questioning everything now," said Mark Rosekind, director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, during an appearance Tuesday at an industry conference in the Detroit suburb of Novi. "You have to question all assumptions."
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered the recall of 482,000 Volkswagen diesel-powered vehicles after learning the automaker had installed a so-called "defeat device" designed to meet emissions standards when undergoing standard testing procedures. But once on the road, the vehicles were able to produce as much as 40 times the legal limit of harmful emissions.
Martin Winterkorn, chief executive officer of Volkswagen AG (VW).Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The duplicity was only discovered after seven years when an industry group, intending to show how clean modern diesels have become, used a non-standard testing procedure that didn't trigger the software VW had installed. The automaker initially dismissed the outcome, though CEO Martin Winterkorn has since acknowledged VW's deception and pledged to resolve the problem.
VW is just the latest automaker taken to task for concealing actions that violate safety and emissions laws:
General Motors earlier this month agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department requiring it to pay a $900 million fine and serve three years' probation for concealing an ignition switch defect now linked to more than 100 deaths. Fiat Chrysler in July paid a record $105 million fine to NHTSA for failing to live up to safety regulations on dozens of recalls. And Toyota paid a $1.2 billion fine in March 2014 to settle another Justice Department criminal investigation. "You don't have to say 'was that a lie?' You just have to challenge every assumption when information is provided," NHTSA's Rosekind said during an appearance at a conference sponsored by the trade organization, the Auto Industry Action Group.
VIDEO1:0201:02Top 5 Car Recalls
NHTSA itself has come under intense fire for its failure to detect safety problems, including the GM ignition switch issue and a problem with Takata air bag inflators that has forced the recall of nearly 30 million vehicles in the U.S. alone. Since taking the helm at the federal safety agency in December, Rosekind has ordered a major shakeup at the agency to improve its regulatory oversight.
More from The Detroit Bureau: Top drops on global convertible sales Falling gas prices saved US motorists $1.4B Mercedes among luxury brands trying to tackle Tesla
He also has stressed on several occasions that he wants a more cooperative relationship with automakers, but one with zero tolerance for safety problems.
As that push continues, a number of officials in the automotive business contacted by TheDetroitBureau.com said they expect to see significant changes in the way industry and government work together.'
Among other things, federal regulators may be less willing to readily accept the results of self-certification programs in which automakers are allowed to run their own tests to meet safety, emissions and fuel economy standards.
VW board meets: Crunch time for CEO Winterkorn
Korean car maker Hyundai Kia, for one, paid a then-record $100 million fine—and hefty payouts to owners—in 2014 when it acknowledged the fuel economy numbers its tests generated were as much as 6 mpg higher than they should have been for a number of vehicles.
Ford was later faulted for also overstating mileage. And that pattern repeats itself, industry officials note. Major problems often are not limited to the first automaker that gets caught.
Already, several other automakers, including Mercedes-Benz, are being questioned about how clean their diesels operate in the real world.
What you need to know about the Volkswagen scandal
"Every time we have an individual automaker or supplier where we find an issue, your first question has to be how extensive is it through the whole industry?" Rosekind said. "If they did it, anyone else can do it."
The challenge for the government agencies overseeing the auto industry will be to come up with the resources to either take over testing or find ways to validate industry numbers.
The Republican-controlled Congress, while sharply criticizing NHTSA earlier this year, refused to provide additional funds to expand the agency's Office of Defects Investigation, for example.
Nonetheless, expect to see NHTSA, the EPA and other government agencies be a lot more suspicious about the data they're given by automakers going forward.
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88b0b369bbfa44a8f465d259e1d31a12 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/not-buying-the-ho-hum-market-just-yet-experts.html | Not buying the ho-hum market just yet: Experts | Not buying the ho-hum market just yet: Experts
VIDEO2:0502:05Set for a better October, November: ProClosing Bell
A sagging stock market has some experts waiting for signs of life before they bet on a rally.
Traders continue to hum the tune they've sung all summer, citing low commodities prices, the Fed's indecisiveness on monetary policy and global growth concerns as troubling for stocks. Stocks will likely see more sluggishness before another sustained climb, experts said Wednesday.
"I think it's going to get worse before it gets better," said Susan Ochs, a senior fellow at think tank New America, on CNBC's "Closing Bell."
Trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
The Fed last week maintained its near-zero interest rate policy. In the four full sessions since, the S&P 500 has fallen more than 1.5 percent.
Read MorePisani: Here's why buying interest has dried up
With considerable pessimism about prospects for economic growth and the upcoming quarterly earnings, near-term prospects for stocks look mediocre, said Chris Hyzy, chief investment officer of Bank of America's wealth management division. Though the S&P is negative this year, stocks still seem slightly overvalued, he added.
"The value side of the equation is not there yet. We need to let it come back to earth a little bit more," he said on "Closing Bell."
Still, he contended that markets do not look entirely grim. He described the current slump as "cyclical" in a "long-term bull market."
Read MoreExpert: Until these happen, market won't bottom
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f4dba4b037f244d275016ca49f3ca5a7 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/oil-edges-up-after-tumble-on-buildup-in-us-gasoline-stocks.html | Oil ends up 43 cents, at $44.91 a barrel after volatile session | Oil ends up 43 cents, at $44.91 a barrel after volatile session
Getty Images
Oil prices seesawed on Thursday as tumbling stock prices on Wall Street offset bullish sentiment from inventory draws at the U.S. crude delivery hub cited by a market data provider.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude closed up 43 cents, or 0.97 percent, at $44.91 a barrel, having slumped $1.88 on Wednesday. Brent crude was up 45 cents at $48.90 a barrel, after ending the previous session down $1.33.
U.S. equities' key index hit session lows at midday as prices of industrial stocks fell on concerns of slowing global economic growth.
Read MoreRefinery trouble will keep CA gas prices higher
That pared the gains in oil, which rallied earlier on data from market intelligence firm Genscape suggesting a drawdown of 625,000 barrels out of the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude in the week to Sept. 22.
"There was a technical bounce after the Genscape numbers were noticed by the market, though there were also new lows from sell-stops after the S&P tanked," said Peter Donovan, broker at New York's Liquidity Energy.
VIDEO1:0701:07Options Action: Bearish bet on oilOptions Action
U.S. crude tumbled 4 percent on Wednesday after a large build in gasoline stockpiles offset the bullish impact of a crude drawdown for the week to Sept. 18 reported by the U.S. Energy Information.
The Cushing inventory reduction reported by Genscape on Thursday followed through with the 462,000-barrel drop the EIA reported for the hub for the week to Sept. 18.
Read MoreStarbucks, Wal-Mart, Nike take on 100% renewable energy
Weak U.S. data also weighed on oil futures.
August durable goods slid 2 percent while the gauge of U.S. business investment plans fell modestly in August. The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose last week.
"The data shows that the U.S. economy isn't as punchy as people thought it was, as shown by the fact we've not seen a pick-up in consumables despite the sharp fall in energy prices," said Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.
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a9d6a41b87f2d45686acc74d44943b07 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/overwhelmed-by-fund-choices-relax-help-is-here.html | Overwhelmed by fund choices? Relax, help is here | Overwhelmed by fund choices? Relax, help is here
For individual investors who do not use a financial advisor, selecting the right funds to invest in can be a major source of frustration. With upwards of 9,000 open-end mutual funds, almost 600 closed-end funds and more than 1,400 exchange-traded funds, according to data from the Investment Company Institute, the sheer volume of choices now available in the marketplace is intimidating.
It doesn't have to be.
DNY59 | Getty Images
Before you start looking at all the products on the shelf, take a good look at yourself and figure out what your goals are with the money you're investing, what your expectations for returns and your tolerances for risk are, and how involved you want to be in managing the assets.
If you don't have answers to those questions, the funds you choose likely won't fulfill your expectations.
The CNBC editorial team presents our inaugural list of the Top 50 Money Management Firms.
"The first step [to fund selection] is to understand your goals with investing," said Russel Kinnel, director of fund research at Morningstar. "You need to start with a plan for building a diversified portfolio."
Specific questions to consider before looking for solutions include the following:
How long is the money available to stay invested before you need to access it? If you anticipate needing the money for your kids' education in 10 years or to buy a house at some future date, your tolerance for losses may be lower.Do you need income from the assets? If you're relying on the investments for income, fixed-income funds or equity funds that invest in high dividend–paying stocks may be the best option.Are the funds in a taxable or non-taxable account? If income generated from the funds is taxable, the relative value of capital gains increases versus interest and dividend income that is taxed at a higher rate. Exchange-traded funds are also more tax-efficient than mutual funds, as capital gains taxes on an ETF are only due when the investment is sold, as opposed to mutual funds, which must distribute capital gains and losses on the investments they sell during the year.
Once you have a clear idea of what your objectives and financial constraints are with the investment, you can address more fund-specific factors to winnow down the universe of fund options.
Diversification is the main reason to invest in a fund in the first place, but investors also need to diversify across asset classes. Although owning a fund that invests in large-cap U.S. stocks is less risky than owning the individual stocks in the portfolio, the fund carries the risk of the asset class as a whole.
Most financial advisors suggest that, in order to reduce the volatility of returns, investors need to have exposure to several asset classes that typically won't move in tandem.
Read MoreMoney-manager growth is good news
"If you get a mix of asset classes, your ride will be smoother," said Heather Pelant, head of personal investing in BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory Business. "You want some investments that zig while others zag."
She added, "You should always not like some part of your portfolio."
The good part of the huge universe of fund options is that investors can use screens and be very picky with their selections.Russel Kinneldirector of fund research at Morningstar
Understanding your tolerance for volatility and short-term losses is key to establishing the right mix of assets. Target-date funds are a simple and increasingly popular option. They invest in a mix of stocks and bonds, with the proportion of each depending on a "target" date for retirement.
As the retirement target date approaches, the portfolio tilts further toward more conservative bond investments. If you want more flexibility with your funds, the stock/bond proportions of targetdate funds that match your age are at least a rough indicator of the asset mix you might consider.
Read MoreIns, outs of target-date funds
For investors who want exposure to a broader range of assets without having to actively manage the positions, there are all-in-one funds available. BlackRock, for example, offers four core "all asset class" ETFs that invest in a wide range of asset classes across different markets and countries.
"They are a one-stop shop for people who don't want to put the pieces together," Pelant said.
Costs are arguably the most important consideration for investors in choosing investment funds.
"In the short term, the impact of costs may appear modest, but over the long run, investment costs become immensely damaging to an investor's standard of living," wrote John "Jack" Bogle, founder of Vanguard Group and a pioneer of low-cost passively managed index funds, in a Financial Analysts Journal article last year (to view the article, click here).
Read MoreHow much is that mutual fund costing?
The compounding of costs from annual fund management fees, as well as distribution and trading costs passed on to investors, has a very big effect on the total returns that investors experience.
"The good part of the huge universe of fund options is that investors can use screens and be very picky with their selections," said Kinnel at Morningstar, who noted that fund costs are the first criteria he considers in developing Morningstar fund ratings.
Information on fund costs is readily available from sources such as Morningstar, as well as the websites of most large investment companies.
VIDEO3:5403:54Mutual funds fee fightClosing Bell
Another key consideration for individual investors is whether to invest in actively managed funds—typically, mutual funds—or passively managed funds that seek to track the return of a market index.
Since the financial crisis, passive investing strategies have significantly outperformed the average active-management strategy. And given that the costs of index mutual funds and particularly ETFs that now track an amazingly diverse range of indices are significantly lower than actively managed funds, assets continue to flow to passive funds. Total assets in ETFs passed $2 trillion this year.
Read MoreIs active or passive investing good for you?
The actively managed funds, nevertheless, still represent a much larger share of the market, and active strategies may arguably add more value in a more volatile investment environment. If you have confidence in a manager and his or her investing strategy, the higher cost may be worth it.
"Both active and passive strategies can get you to the goals you have," Kinnel said.
For large and liquid markets such as U.S. large-cap stocks, low-cost index funds are increasingly popular with investors. For other asset classes, active management may make more sense, suggested Kinnel.
"Areas like high-yield bonds, municipal bonds and emerging markets are tougher to index, and investors may be better off with active managers," he said.
Either way, it's key that investors use the ample resources now available to them to track the fortunes and returns of their funds.
—By Andrew Osterland, special to CNBC.com
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9bb891e43ae156774283ca0f2b91ddeb | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/palm-oil-price-to-rally-as-haze-envelops-southeast-asia.html | How you can trade Southeast Asia's haze | How you can trade Southeast Asia's haze
Haze shrouds a local port in Malahayati, in the city of Banda Aceh on Indonesia's Sumatra island in September, 2015.CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN | AFP | Getty Images
The price of palm oil has rallied 7 percent in the past fortnight as a cloak of smog, combined with unusually dry weather, disrupts supply in key Southeast Asian producing countries, and analysts say the gains are set to continue.
Futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange shot up to a one-week high of about $508 a metric ton on Wednesday, a sharp turnaround from a six-year low of $426 plumbed in late August. Bursa Malaysia is the world's biggest palm oil futures trading hub.
Many experts now expect the edible oil to close out the year higher: Religare Institutional Research's year-end target is around $750 a ton, while others like CIMB and Nomura expect more gradual gains to $513 and $529, respectively.
Palm oil, derived from the palm fruit, is used as a raw material in everything from food products to detergents, cosmetics and biofuel. Global palm oil exports last year was valued at $34 billion, according to reports.
Indonesia and Malaysia are two of the world's biggest producers but the region's seasonal haze is lowering production.
Read MoreSingapore's clouds have a pretty hazy lining
Every year, farmers in Indonesia engage in the 'slash-and-burn' technique of cutting down vegetation on a patch of land, then burning off the undergrowth to make space for new plantations. While it is the easiest, fastest and most cost-effective way to clear land, the use of fire is deemed illegal by the Indonesian government since it produces a dense layer of smog across the country as well as over Malaysia and neighboring Singapore, sending air quality readings to alarmingly low levels.
Increased public complaints about the pollution this year have whipped Indonesian President Joko Widodo's administration into action. A supplier of Golden Agri Resources, the world's second largest oil palm company, was sanctioned this week for allegedly causing forest fires. More than 200 plantation and forestry companies are currently being investigated, according to local media reports, including one Singapore-listed firm.
As for the impact on the palm fruit, "heavy haze reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the trees and disrupts harvesting during the peak production season," explained Nomura analyst June Ng.
As a result of the smog, companies are finding it difficult to bring their workers to plantations, which is reducing productivity and further weighing on production, added Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, research director at Religare Capital Markets.
VIDEO4:0704:07Olam CEO: El Nino weather will be 'moderate'Street Signs Asia
Religare is especially bullish on the commodity's outlook in the face of tightening supply as a result of El Nino, the weather phenomenon that brings severe drought to Asia. This year's event may be one of the most severe on record, according to a September forecast by the World Meteorological Organization.
"A strong 2015-16 El Nino event could disrupt palm oil supply growth in Indonesia and Malaysia. Global palm oil supply could increase by only 1.4 million tons in 2015, before declining by 1.1 million in 2016," warned Ivy Lee, CIMB analyst.
A severe drought at palm oil estates will negatively impact palm oil yields, as the lower rainfall and soil moisture cause trees to experience bunch failure four-to-six months later, she explained.
Read MoreWhy El Niño could mean more pain for energy sector
Indeed, historical evidence points to higher prices. Two out of the three El Nino events since 2002 resulted in higher prices, with palm oil surging 26 percent from 2006-2007 sequentially, said Nomura's Ng.
But Lee and Ng are slightly less bullish on prices compared to Religare's Tiruchelvam, warning that price gains will be slow due to the high level of existing palm oil stocks. August's stockpile rose 10 percent on month to 2.49 million metric tons, noted Nomura.
Palm oil producers with high production growth potential like Singapore-listed First Resources are set to benefit from rising prices.
About a third of First Resources' hectarage is expected to enter maturity over 2015-17, which should increase its output growth, Tiruchelvam said, while Lee likes Malaysia's Genting Plantations because of its young estates.
First Resources looks particularly attractive given the added benefit of currency movements, Tiruchelvam notes. Its revenues are denoted in dollars, while its costs are in rupiah, so the latter's 18 depreciation against the U.S. dollar year-to-date supports the company.
"In the event of a prolonged El Nino weather event and oil price volatility, we believe liquid big cap stocks with high correlation to the palm oil price are likely to benefit given their higher leverage to price upside," said Nomura's Ng.
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69881b18a38901dc5ed99a8f1ca9a420 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/papal-visit-bigger-than-super-bowl-for-telecoms.html | Papal visit bigger than Super Bowl for telecoms | Papal visit bigger than Super Bowl for telecoms
He won't be known as Pope Francis I until a successor chooses the name Francis, but the 266th pontiff is already known as a pope of firsts.
A native of Argentina, the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the first pope from the Americas. He is the first Jesuit pope, the first pope to be ordained after Vatican II and he is the first pope of the social media age. So, ahead of his first trip ever to the United States, telecom companies spent tens of millions of dollars to beef up the capacity of their wireless systems to make sure the selfies, tweets and shares his six-day swing along the Eastern Seaboard are expected to generate get sent quickly and without interruption.
Wireless companies have beefed up their networks ahead of Pope Francis' visit to the U.S.Vincenzo Pinto | AFP | Getty Images
"I don't think anything we've done compares to the scale of this," said Jim Greer, a spokesman for AT&T Wireless.
AT&T has spent $25 million in preparation for the pope's visit. That compares to a budget that typically ranges from $6 million to $16 million AT&T would spend for other big events like rock concerts or the Super Bowl.
Pope as pastor or business basher?
Philadelphia is hosting the main event of the pope's visit, an outdoor mass that will conclude the World Meeting of Families on Sunday. It is estimated 2 million people will attend. The day before, on Saturday, 40,000 people are expected to attend the pope's speech on immigration and religious freedom at Independence Mall.
The money has gone toward enhanced coverage in the city's subway system and the temporary portable cell sites known as COWs, or Cell on Wheels, AT&T will deploy Saturday and Sunday. It has set up DAS, or distributed antenna systems.
"The payoff is, customers expect their devices to work," said Greer. "We need to make sure those customer needs are met."
ATT&T is using temporary portable cell sites known as COWs, or Cell on Wheels, for the pope's visit.Source: AT&T
Verizon Wireless has spent $24 million to make sure its customers get the service they expect during the pope's visit. The company has been planning for the event for 18 months, and spent heavily to quadruple its capacity in downtown Philadelphia.
The first two legs of the pope's trip, two days in Washington, D.C., where he will address the U.S. Congress, and a day and a half in New York City where he will celebrate mass in Madison Square Garden and visit Ground Zero, while big events are not on the scale of the mass in Philadelphia. Still, with tens of thousands expected to line the streets to catch a glimpse of Francis, both companies are setting up COWs along his motorcade routes.
Or maybe for the six days the pope is in the U.S, we should refer to them as Holy COWs.
CORRECTION: The spokesman for AT&T Wireless who provided quotes was Jim Greer.
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71d14f2c561224ca172cf0e7fb1afcdc | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/platinum-snaps-4-day-losing-streak-palladium-extends-gains.html | Gold settles higher; platinum steadies after rout | Gold settles higher; platinum steadies after rout
Getty Images
Platinum edged up on Thursday after a four-day rout on fears about demand from the auto sector following the Volkswagen emissions scandal.
Platinum is used in diesel catalysts to clean up exhaust emissions.
Spot platinum was up at $951 an ounce, after losing about 5 percent in the past four sessions. The metal remained within sight of a 6-1/2 year low of $924.50 hit on Wednesday.
"In the short term, there may be more downside in platinum as more details about the VW situation get uncovered...$900 could be tested, maybe a little bit lower," ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said.
Palladium, predominantly used in gasoline catalysts, retreated from an earlier mid-July high, and was higher on the day at $652.25 an ounce.
"The market is obviously pre-empting a possible disruption to the whole diesel catalytic converter sector and we now need to see what the future holds for diesel demand in the U.S. and the reverberations in Europe," Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said.
VIDEO1:4801:48Futures Now: Weak demand for copperFutures Now
Platinum had some support on Thursday from Japanese traders returning from a three-day holiday.
"The Japanese came in aggressively on the bid this morning, taking the white metal more than $20 higher," said MKS Group trader Jason Cerisola.
Spot palladium logged a near 7 percent jump in the previous session.
"Talks about the potential switch from diesel to gasoline propped up palladium yesterday," Hansen said.
Spot gold also climbed for a second straight session, gaining 2 percent to $1,152.13, as the dollar eased after data showed U.S. durable goods fell 2 percent in August. U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled $22.30 higher at $1,153.80.
Read MorePlatinum at 6½-year low on VW scandal, palladium soars
Worries that an eventual tightening in U.S. monetary policy and slower growth in China could knock the global economy have scared investors, prompting some safe-haven bids for gold.
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose for a second straight session, providing some support for prices. The fund added 0.60 tonnes on Wednesday, bringing total holdings to 676.40 tonnes.
Investors will be closely monitoring a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later in the session for clues on when the U.S. central bank will begin to raise rates.
Silver rose 2.2 percent to $15.12 an ounce.
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77fe140238fd2d7802dbcadbdc16a4a2 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/pope-to-meet-with-obama-at-white-house-on-historic-us-visit.html | Pope to meet with Obama at White House on historic US visit | Pope to meet with Obama at White House on historic US visit
VIDEO1:2701:27CNBC update: Pope Francis arrives in WashingtonClosing Bell
Pope Francis and President Barack Obama are set to hold private talks at the White House on Wednesday before the pontiff parades through streets of Washington on the first full day of his first visit to the United States.
Francis and Obama see eye-to-eye on some issues like climate change and defense of the poor but are at odds over abortion and gay marriage.
Still, the meeting is expected to be friendly, particularly given the pope's role in mediating last year's resumption of diplomatic ties between Washington and Cuba after a chill that lasted more than half a century.
Pope Francis is escorted by U.S. President Barack Obama (R) after arriving from Cuba September 22, 2015 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.Getty Images
The 78-year-old Argentine pope closes out his day with a Mass at the one of the most important Roman Catholic churches in the United States, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
There, he will canonize 18th century Spanish missionary Friar Junipero Serra over the objections of critics who say that Serra suppressed Native American cultures in what is now California.
The pope has surprised some U.S. Catholics with his strong words on climate change and criticism of the excesses of capitalism, with less of an emphasis on issues of sexual morality that some of his predecessors and U.S. bishops had focused on.
But Francis, who some right-wing commentators have denounced as a Marxist, says his positions have not strayed from long-held Roman Catholic teachings.
"I am sure that I have not said anything more than what is in the social doctrine of the Church," he told reporters on the plane from Cuba on Tuesday.
Social doctrine
"It is I who follow the Church ... my doctrine on all this ... on economic imperialism, is that of the social doctrine of the Church."
Bestowing on Francis an honor that few foreign dignitaries receive, both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden personally greeted the pope on the tarmac after the Alitalia papal plane landed at Joint Base Andrews near the capital.
The pope's priorities line up with some of Obama's policy objectives, while leaving Catholic Republican presidential contenders, many of whom dispute the science of climate change, scrambling to explain their disagreements.
The White House says it has no major political goals for Wednesday's meeting.
"I would not expect a robust discussion of a political agenda. But rather, I think it's an opportunity for the two men to talk about the values that they have in common," spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Obama and the pope agree that the 53-year-old embargo against Cuba should be lifted.
On the plane from Cuba, Francis told reporters he hopes the United States will lift the embargo as a result of negotiations between the two countries but does not plan to raise it in his address to Congress this week.
Tens of thousands of people, both Catholic admirers and curious onlookers, are expected to pack the streets around the Washington Monument and National Mall for a papal parade after the White House meeting.
"I am very excited to have him here. I have had the privilege of seeing three popes and I hope to see this one as well," said Mary Fontaine, as she headed into a lunchtime Mass at a Washington church on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Francis becomes the first pope to address Congress and then travels to New York to address the United Nations and visit the Ground Zero memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
He closes his trip on Sunday in Philadelphia at a worldwide Catholic gathering on family issues. The concluding Mass there is expected to draw some 1.5 million people.
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1563860e08e62c106229ed2d2edd919f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/power-play-sectors-to-avoid-in-this-market.html | Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
The first day of fall does not mean there will be a change in leadership in the equity market.
Gina Martin Adams, institutional equity strategist at Wells Fargo Securities, tells CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Wednesday market performance this year has been led by momentum and growth companies and she sees little reason to change that view.
"While there has been a shift away from these cohorts over the last few weeks, our work suggests this shift is unlikely to endure," Adams said.
Read More Dow briefly falls 100 points as commodities slip; materials lag
She is still overweight technology, health care and consumer discretionary and is underweight financials, telecom and materials.
On the global front, Hayes Miller, head of global multi-asset North America at Baring Asset Management, still has a preference for consumer-driven stocks over investment-led names.
It is "still too early to buy energy or materials, but there will be a buying opportunity in the next year. In IT and industrials one has to be selective. Health care may have run out of steam with some political debates about cost control," Miller said.
Technology is higher today, while health care, consumer discretionary, financials, telecom, materials, industrials, energy and IT are lower.
Disclaimer
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15ba7deb580c4bacd96a8f4236dc279b | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/refinery-trouble-will-keep-ca-gas-prices-higher.html | Refinery trouble will keep CA gas prices higher | Refinery trouble will keep CA gas prices higher
Oil rigs just south of town extract crude in Taft, California.Getty Images
Water isn't the only liquid that's not flowing in Southern California.
Low production at a single Exxon Mobil refinery in Southern California is keeping gasoline prices higher than they are in many other parts of the United States, where a domestic oil boom has driven prices lower over the last year, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
The refinery's owners have been working to increase production at the facility since it was damaged by an explosion in February, but have been at odds with regulators over the installation of a pollution control system, and possibly other issues.
The booming business of oil tankers
Exxon Mobil executives had proposed using an old pollution control device until the refinery could install a new one that meets air quality standards. That plan has been scrapped after regulators refused to consider it until Exxon Mobil responds to certain requirements that have not been not publicly released.
The federal Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration cited the company in mid-August for several violations related to the February explosion, some of which the agency called "willful," the article said. The agency also fined the company more than $500,000.
Exxon Mobil officials told the Los Angeles Times the "company has been working with all agencies and will continue to work with the air quality regulators."
The plant supplies one fifth of Southern California's gasoline, according to the Times.
Gasoline prices in the Los Angeles area were around $3.19, compared with the nationwide average of $2.28.
Shares of other West Coast refiners were higher Wednesday following word that the Exxon Mobil refinery would remain closed into next year. Those stocks included Tesoro, Western Refining, Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum.
U.S. crude oil (WTI) was trading around $45.90 on Wednesday, and Brent crude trading at about $48.80.
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07c5908972ed32863d58da09bf131431 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/soccer-superstar-carli-lloyd-prepping-for-next-big-challenge.html | Soccer superstar Carli Lloyd prepping for next big challenge | Soccer superstar Carli Lloyd prepping for next big challenge
VIDEO5:0205:02World Cup star Carli Lloyd powering through
Soccer superstar Carli Lloyd has Rio on her mind. The famed midfielder, who led the U.S. Women's National team to a World Cup win this summer, said Wednesday that she's already preparing for her next big challenge, the summer Olympics in 2016.
"I took some time after the World Cup, but now it's looking out towards Olympic qualifying in February and after that it's all business mode until Rio," Lloyd told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."
Lloyd, a two-time Olympic Gold medalist, played in Brasilia, Brazil, in December when the U.S. WNT played, but she said she's never been to Rio and she's looking forward to playing there.
Read More Daily fantasy sports companies eye breakout NFL season
Lloyd has led the U.S. National team in two previous Olympics, in 2008 & 2012.
Environmental concerns about the water quality have made headlines in recent months.
But Lloyd said she's keeping her focus on what she does best: soccer. "I set the bar high after the World Cup Final and now I have to keep getting better and improving," she said.
Carli Lloyd celebrates after scoring a goal against Japan in the Women's World Cup 2015 Final on July 5, 2015, in Vancouver, Canada.Getty Images
The New Jersey native said her schedule has been hectic since her World Cup victory, where she became the first woman ever to score a hat trick in the finals, opening the door to more public appearances and marketing deals.
Lloyd has scored endorsement deals with from Visa, Nike, Xfinity and others.
"I just have a lot going on, but you have to put your mind to it and power through," she said.
Read More Alibaba has launched a new business…in sports
Beyond Rio, Lloyd addressed reports that she was interested in one day moving to the United Kingdom.
She said that right now she's focused on helping grow the National Women's Soccer League, but she wouldn't rule it out in the future.
"Who is to say that two or three years down the road, if that door comes knocking, I'll see if it's the best fit for me. I do like England and the area, so you never know," she said.
(Disclosure: Xfinity and NBCUniversal, CNBC's parent company, are owned by Comcast.)
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bd9413680059d93e88265577a6eaec7c | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/strategist-until-these-happen-market-wont-hit-bottom.html | Strategist: Until these happen, market won't hit bottom | Strategist: Until these happen, market won't hit bottom
VIDEO3:3503:35More bears, fewer bullsPower Lunch
Investors looking for U.S. equities to bottom out could be in for a long wait, Wells Fargo Securities' Gina Martin Adams said Wednesday.
"Three fundamental factors need to change," the firm's institutional equity strategist said in a CNBC "Power Lunch" interview. "It seems to be very clear that China and emerging markets, commodity prices and the Fed are all holding the market hostage at this point."
Adams added that U.S. stocks need better data coming from emerging markets, as well as the start of a bottom formation in Chinese equities and "a little bit of a recovery in the fall and winter months."
Chinese stocks have been taken for a ride recently, as worries over a slowdown in the country's economy have dragged down investors' sentiment.
Shanghai composite in last 6 months
The second factor in finding a bottom in U.S. equities lies in the commodity complex, Adams said.
"We need to see commodity prices bottom. Let's not forget, that's where this all started last summer. Commodity price weakness led to earnings weakness on the index and that has continued over this summer," she said.
US oil settles down 4.1%, at $44.48 a barrel
Schiff: I'm right about the Fed, I'll be right about stocks
Gold futures have fallen over 7 percent in the last year, while U.S. crude futures have shed about 50 percent of their value year over year.
WTI crude in the last year
"Finally, we need the Fed. Quite frankly, what the Fed did this month was really muddy the works for the market," she said.
Last week, the U.S. central bank kept interest rates at zero, raising the market's concerns over the U.S. economy.
"We have no visibility as to where the Fed is headed. We need some clarity on Fed policy just to relieve some of the concern," she added. "Until those three things happen, we won't see a bottom."
Investors searching for gains in these uncertain times should look outside of the U.S., said Hayes Miller, head of global investment strategy at Barings.
"When we look at Europe … we see more slack in the European economy, which allows profitability to grow, the opposite of the U.S.," Miller said in the same interview.
"With Japan, it's a little different dynamic. The ability for Kuroda to initiate another round of [quantitative and qualitative easing] probably allows us to extend the Abenomics projections out another year," Miller added.
European equities closed higher on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 index rising nearly 2 percent, while the German DAX closed up 0.44 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell nearly 2 percent, tracking Chinese stocks.
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85abd1222816c93a67b887c0aa182499 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/the-hottest-trade-of-the-year-could-soon-cool.html | The hottest trade of the year could soon cool | The hottest trade of the year could soon cool
VIDEO3:1303:13Trouble for consumer discretionary stocks?Trading Nation
The best performing sector of the could be in trouble.
Consumer discretionary is up 4 percent in 2015, topping all S&P sectors as investors have crowded into winners like Amazon and Starbucks. But according to some traders, the group is showing signs of strain, and it could lead to more losses for the market.
The ETF that tracks the sector, XLY, fell below its 200-day moving average on Wednesday. Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com said this could mean that the sector is following in the footsteps of other outperforming groups that have taken a fall, including health care and technology.
"It's bad news that the XLY gave it up," Gordon said Wednesday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "Without the XLY, I would say the broader downtrend continues."
The XLY has fallen 2 percent for the quarter. The SPDR healthcare ETF (XLV) and technology ETF (XLK) are also both down this quarter, 6 and 3 percent respectively.
Read More The sneaky way that the Fed may be hurting stocks
Larry McDonald, managing director at Societe Generale, said the consumer discretionary sector could lose another 10 percent, as prices will continue to trend lower.
Although McDonald warned against jumping in head first, he said the sector could see a short-term boost from lower oil prices, which should translate into more money for consumers to spend.
"Oil has come down dramatically, so eventually that's going to work its way into the consumer as a beneficiary at some point," McDonald said Wednesday on "Trading Nation." "The lower oil stays down here, the better it is for the consumer."
Want to be a part of the Trading Nation? If you'd like to call in to our live Wednesday show, email your name, number and a question to TradingNation@cnbc.com.
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fb010aef5664e58c03c24f2d8855ff82 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/the-sneaky-way-that-the-fed-may-be-hurting-stocks.html | The sneaky way that the Fed may be hurting stocks | The sneaky way that the Fed may be hurting stocks
VIDEO3:4103:41Buybacks fall in Q2Trading Nation
It appears that corporate buybacks have started to slow.
companies spent $134.4 billion to repurchase their own shares in the second quarter according to FactSet, which might sound like a lot of cash, but represents a 6.9 percent drop from the first quarter. This as several companies, such as Pfizer and Verizon, slashed their buyback programs, and 12 fewer companies repurchased shares in the quarter.
Some say expectations around the Federal Reserve have a lot to do with the buyback decline. Even though the central bank elected to keep its benchmark rate near zero Thursday, fears of higher rates are causing companies to rethink their capital return program, posits Boris Schlossberg of BK Asset Management.
"Even though rates have not gone up, we clearly are in a tightening position in terms of monetary policy, and I think they're looking ahead and saying, 'Do I really want to finance this thing with no-longer-cheap money that we used to have a couple months ago?'" Schlossberg said Tuesday in a "Trading Nation" segment.
If the cost of borrowing does indeed rise, borrowing money to buy stock clearly becomes less attractive.
Coming at the issue from a bond-market perspective, Nomura's U.S. head of rates strategy, George Goncalves, made a similar point last week, writing that "record corporate issuance" can be pegged on companies being "in a hurry to prefund their needs and/or continue their stock buybacks. But as we are getting closer to the first hike (corporate borrowing costs could start to rise) there could be a sudden drop in new issuance volumes."
Indeed, it doesn't appear that the buyback decline can be pegged purely on any one sort of company. Out of the 10 S&P sectors, only the consumer discretionary and materials sectors saw an increase in buybacks, according to FactSet.
Read MoreMoody's to CEOs: Think twice before buying back stock
If buybacks don't reaccelerate, that could potentially be a problem for the overall market.
As Stacey Gilbert, head of derivative strategy at Susquehanna, pointed out Tuesday, when a company buys back its shares, it greatly reduces the chance that its stock drops significantly.
And the average company that has bought back shares has done better than the average company that hasn't, producing an average monthly return of 0.73 percent versus 0.57 percent over the past 10 years, according to FactSet.
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e19394c4585136eff7d57f50e91bf82d | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/this-beaten-sector-will-see-more-pain-trader.html | This beaten sector will see more pain: Trader | This beaten sector will see more pain: Trader
VIDEO3:1203:12Why you have to be short emerging markets: TraderTrading Nation
Global stock markets steadied Wednesday despite disappointing factory data out of China. Recent turmoil in equities across the globe has been at the center of attention for many investors, and according to one trader, bouts of volatility will continue to plague the markets, at least for the next couple of months.
"The major reason the Fed didn't see it as time to raise rates is this [global uncertainty]," Todd Gordon said Tuesday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "I think you have to be short here." And Gordon is setting his sights on one beaten group of stocks.
Looking at a chart of the , the ETF that tracks emerging markets, Todd Gordon noted the tight correlation to a commodity that is often viewed as a leading indicator for the global economy: . "You can see these two are very well interconnected over the past year," said the CNBC contributor and founder of TradingAnalysis.com. When copper prices fall, traders see it as a warning. "I think that's indicative of underlying weakness … specifically in the emerging markets."
Read More Asian stocks lose footing on renewed China jitters
For Gordon, the recent selloff in the EEM is particularly alarming. "We've broken uptrend support, which will now serve as resistance, and should serve as a launching pad on the way down." The EEM, which is highly exposed to the Chinese stock market, has fallen more than 18 percent in the past three months.
So to protect himself from an even steeper selloff, Gordon purchased a put spread. This is a bearish strategy by which a trader will buy one put and then sell a lower strike put of the same expiration to offset the cost. The goal is to have the stock, or in this case ETF, fall to the lower strike.
Specifically, Gordon purchased the EEM November 32/30 put spread for 53 cents. That $0.53 cents is the most Gordon can lose, but in order for the trade to be profitable, Gordon needs the EEM to fall between $31.47 and $30, or as much as 9 percent, by November expiration.
"I think we could move lower and retest those $30 lows," added Gordon.
The EEM was trading around $32.90 early Wednesday.
Want to be a part of the Trading Nation? If you'd like to call in to our live Wednesday show, email your name, number and a question to TradingNation@cnbc.com.
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05bc45834bb01224c7e543b93429d3bb | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/this-is-the-only-winning-sector-this-quarter.html | This is the only winning sector this quarter | This is the only winning sector this quarter
VIDEO2:2802:28The only sector up this quarterTrading Nation
It's been a tough couple of months for the market. The S&P 500 and have fallen a respective 8 and 9 percent since the start of June. But in a market full of losers, one defensive sector has emerged as the winner: Utilities.
Of the 10 S&P 500 sectors, Utilities is the only one in the green this quarter, up more than 1 percent as recent global stock market turmoil and uncertainty over the Fed has investors running for safety. The sector is now pacing to track its first winning quarter since the start of 2015, and according to one strategist, the longer the Fed holds off on raising interest rates, the more utilities will rally.
"When you look at Fed policy there's a global economic component, a global risk component and a U.S. economic component and the global risk in economics is driving the bus right now," Larry McDonald told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Wednesday. "If you look over the past year, when the Fed has pushed out the Fed rate hikes utilities have done quite well."
Read More Bill Gross to the Fed: 'Get off zero, now!'
For McDonald, as more economists write off the idea of a Fed hike this year, interest rate sensitive sectors like utilities should continue to outperform. "If you're dovish on the Fed you want to be in utilities," added the head of U.S. macro strategies group at Societe Generale.
Despite its recent strength, the utilities have been among the worst performers year to date, down 11 percent while the broader S&P 500 is down 6 percent over that period. Even as it has widely underperformed, technical analyst Todd Gordon said he expects to see more investors flock to the space.
"With every S&P sector below its 50-day moving average, if you must hideout somewhere the place to be is utilities," the CNBC Contributor and founder of TradingAnalysis.com said in a "Trading Nation" segment.
Read More Strategist: Until these happen, market won't hit bottom
Looking at a chart of the utilities sector ETF, the , Gordon, who is bearish on the overall market, said that utilities' tight correlation with the 10-year treasury note futures could mean further gains in months to come. "The two have a 53 percent correlation and from a comparison intermarket perspective the XLU is undervalued and could continue to move higher," he added.
Want to be a part of the Trading Nation? If you'd like to call in to our live Wednesday show, email your name, number and a question to TradingNation@cnbc.com.
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51b30a2d8e397eb6000334db8b19a3ae | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/treasurys-eye-5-year-auction.html | Treasury Department auctions $35B of 5-year notes at a high yield of 1.467% | Treasury Department auctions $35B of 5-year notes at a high yield of 1.467%
U.S. Treasury prices remained lower on Wednesday as the market absorbed a fresh supply of five-year Treasury notes.
The Treasury Department auctioned $35 billion in five-year notes at a high yield of 1.467 percent, compared to 1.463 at last month's sale. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 2.57, stronger than the 2.50 recent average.
The yield on the five-year Treasurys was unchanged at 1.438 percent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose 1 basis point to 2.15 percent.
Treasurys
"Following the rally in Treasuries on Tuesday, we continue to hold a negative bias towards the upcoming five-year note auction," analysts at Societe Generale said in a note. "The five-year note is trading rich both on asset swap and on the curve."
The rise in U.S. bond yields, which move in the opposite direction to the price, came as weak Chinese economic data triggered a sell-off in global stock markets. The weakness in share markets could limit any sell-off in the Treasury market, analysts said.
Earlier, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart said the Fed's decision to delay a rate hike last week shows natural caution after the deep shock of the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis and recession.
"That reflects some learning from the experience...That we have been burned," Lockhart said.
The preliminary China manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to a six-and-a-half-year low of 47.0 in September, below a 47.5 forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll, data showed.
Read MoreChina PMI falls to 6-1/2 year low in September
The flash September manufacturing PMI for the U.S. came in unchanged month over month at 53. The number is also slightly above the expected 52.8.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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77e189335ac7c9d6b3e45e7bdc12f02a | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/upper-east-side-businesses-pray-for-a-prosperous-papal-visit.html | Upper East Side businesses pray for a prosperous papal visit | Upper East Side businesses pray for a prosperous papal visit
Although Pope Francis' trip to the United States this week will be celebrated by many, not everyone is excited for his arrival. Local restaurants and shop owners on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where the papal residence is located, are particularly ambivalent about what his stay could mean for business. Some say it won't be good.
Pope FrancisGetty Images
"I just wish the pope's house was not on 72nd Street," said Cesar Linares, who manages food store Marché Madison on nearby East 74th Street.
Linares, who worked at Marché Madison during the last three papal visits to Manhattan, said he plans to stay open despite expecting only a couple customers. The store's proximity to where the pope is staying will also affect deliveries, Linares said, so he will now have to pick up produce a few streets away.
Giuseppe Bruno, owner of Caravaggio Ristorante, is also not thrilled about Pope Francis' arrival to his gourmet restaurant's neighborhood.
"I expect to see a lot less people," said Bruno. "It's going to be a nightmare for me."
Read More Pope visit will lift spirits more than local economies
Bruno said he believes that business will fall 20 percent from Thursday to Saturday, the three days the pope is scheduled to be in New York City. He noted his restaurant will be hurt primarily because local residents of the Upper East Side who frequent Caravaggio are deliberately fleeing their homes to avoid traffic and potential security threats.
"People who live in this neighborhood have a lot of money. Most told me last week that they will leave," said Bruno. "They have country houses."
Cesar Linares, manager at Marche Madison prepares for Pope Francis' visit. The Pope will be residing in the UES neighborhood during his NYC visit.Krysia Lenzo | CNBC
Steve Wolf, president of antique porcelain and pottery store Bardith, said he was given a choice by the police of either leaving or staying locked in his store for security reasons during the last papal visit in 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI.
"The police came to my store and they said 'in or out,'" said Wolf who decided to remain locked in his store for two hours.
As Bardith is in the line-of-sight of the papal residence, Wolf knows the drill when it comes to the arrival of the pope. He is certain that businesses in the area will basically shutter for a day or two.
"I'll be here, but I'm not expecting other people to be here," said Wolf who has worked at Bardith for 13 years. He even told Bardith's store manager not to come in on Friday because her efforts to travel around New York City would not be justified by the few customers who may stop by the store.
Other shops in the area are more optimistic about prospective sales—mostly because they are new and do not know what to expect. Christine Young, supervisor of posh macaron store Ladurée, was more hopeful about how the pope's visit will influence her store's sales. Young said she thinks the papal visit could bring more tourists to the Upper East Side, which is mostly known as a residential neighborhood. But she conceded that she is taking a wait-and-see attitude, as there is still a possibility the police could unexpectedly close a street and hurt her business.
"I don't think anything of this magnitude has happened since I've been here," said Young. "So I'm really not 100 percent sure what we will do."
One thing is 100 percent, according to Gilda Perez-Atlan, consultant at perfume store Frédéric Malle near the papal residence: "If you leave your store open when the pope arrives, you may not get any customers. But if you close your store, you will definitely not get any customers."
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8f8176bd9a90a0e08dcca58a790a4497 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/us-markets.html | Stocks close mildly lower as materials weigh | Stocks close mildly lower as materials weigh
VIDEO3:3603:36Cashin: Weak revenues a factor across marketWorld Economy
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VIDEO1:1401:14What's next for VW?
U.S. stocks closed mildly lower Wednesday in light volume trade as investors eyed oil and commodity prices, amid weak manufacturing China data. (Tweet This)
"We've been bouncing around all day. We've been going up and down with energy prices," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. "Our mid-term and longer-term concerns aren't going to be answered for a while."
Crude traded more than 3 percent lower in the afternoon despite initially spiking on a report that U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels. Crude settled down $1.88, or 4.06 percent, at $44.48 a barrel.
Materials fell more than 2 percent to weigh on the S&P 500. United Technologies, Caterpillar and Boeing put the greatest pressure on the Dow.
Trade volume was the ninth lowest for the year.
"I don't think today's important. I think the market's pausing. It's digesting its breadth. That's healthy," said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital.
Read MoreWhy this might not be the best stock strategy
The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 50 points lower after falling as much as 118.49 points. The index remained in correction territory, trading more than 11 percent away from its 52-week high. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite were about 9 percent below their 52-week highs.
"Typically the market is weak and you look at the news out of Europe and Asia and it's weak," said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at RW Baird. "The correction in the stock market really hasn't resolved the valuation problem we had coming into the year."
"You're in this testing phase. The work has not been done on the downside yet," he said.
The Nasdaq failed to hold slight gains. Apple closed up 0.8 percent, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) closed down 0.8 percent, extending recent losses.
The Nasdaq held mildly higher for 2015. Both the Dow and S&P are negative for the year so far.
Read MoreBiotech bounce after Hillary smackdown?
"We're just bouncing around here. We've got no certainty from the Fed. We're starting to get pre-announcements. We've got the beginning of pre-tax selling," said Maris Ogg, president of Tower Bridge Advisors.
Investor focus remains on the Federal Reserve and concerns about slowing growth in China.
"When you have your two big drivers in a vacuum (of major news), you have markets clinging to commodities and that's what's happening now," Hogan said.
Copper gave up gains to trade mildly lower, extending Tuesday's sharp declines on analyst downgrades and concerns about slowdown in China.
The preliminary China manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to a six-and-a-half-year low of 47.0 in September, below a 47.5 forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
"I thought there'd be more of a negative reaction to the Caixin manufacturing because of the concern is the effect of a global slowdown on the U.S.," said Ben Pace, chief investment officer at HPM Partners .
Earlier, stock index futures pared gains to dip into negative territory as crude briefly turned negative in early trade.
"It looks like (oil) is going to have difficulty holding these levels with news out of China (that) should continue to pressure the oil space," Pace said.
Asian shares fell deeper into negative territory following the PMI report, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite stock index closing more than 2 percent lower. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.
European markets reversed early declines but gave up gains to close mildly higher, with the DAX up less than half a percent.
Volkswagen recovered from a recent plunge of more than 30 percent to hold more than 5 percent higher in the close.
Martin Winterkorn resigned as the firm's CEO Wednesday. Last week, news emerged that the automaker had misled authorities over the emissions of its diesel cars.
"Just kind of a light news day. (Tuesday we had) Europe, Volkswagen, pressure on commodities and oil. That's kind of alleviated, keeping us floating around today," said Peter Coleman, head of trading at Convergex. He noted volume was light given the Yom Kippur holiday.
Investors also eyed Fed speakers for clarity on the central bank's decision last week to keep rates unchanged amid concerns about global growth.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart reiterated in remarks Wednesday that a 2015 rate hike is still likely, Dow Jones reported.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak Thursday.
Read More Bill Gross to the Fed: 'Get off zero, now!'
"Gone is the confidence in the Fed put. Now the increased uncertainty has made the markets more vulnerable," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at the private client reserve at U.S. Bank.
"There are a lot of data points that may be unsettling and we may be in a more volatile environment until we get some clarity," he said.
Growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector showed no month-over-month change during September, staying at August's sluggish pace of 53, which was the weakest in almost two years, according to Markit's preliminary U.S. maufacturing PMI for September.
U.S. Treasury yields held higher, with the 10-year yield at 2.15 percent and the at 0.69 percent.
The U.S. dollar traded a touch lower against major world currencies, with the euro higher near $1.11 and the yen around 120 yen against the dollar.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in a Wednesday speech to the European Union Parliament that inflation is increasing more slowly than expected but should still rise towards the end of the year. He added more risks to euro zone growth outlook have emerged, but more time was needed to determine whether or not more monetary stimulus was in order.
At the beginning of a visit to the United States this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China's financial markets will remain stable. Xi also said Beijing is ready to co-operate with Washington on fighting cyber crimes.
Xi added Wednesday that his country was fully for a long time to come.
Read More Read MoreChina's Xi defends economy, markets at US address
"He's trying to calm U.S. investors on his trip here to the U.S. and trying to let people know that things may not be as bad as they are portrayed," said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at EverBank.
Stocks plunged more than 1 percent Tuesday, weighed by sharp declines in commodities on continued concerns of slowing growth.
"The SPX appears to have broken down from its triangle formation despite having closed above 1,940 support yesterday," BTIG Chief Technical Strategist Katie Stockton said in a note. "We are concerned by the gaps down in the NASDAQ Composite Index, as well as small- and mid-cap benchmarks, as potentially indicative of a deeper pullback and retest of August's lows. Down volume has been on the rise, and short-term momentum has deteriorated."
Steelcase and Worthington are scheduled to report earnings after the close.
Read MoreEarly movers: CTSX, INTC, CSCO, FB, JCP & more
Major U.S. Indexes
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 50.58 points, or 0.31 percent, at 16,279.89, with Pfizer the greatest advancer and United Technology the greatest laggard.
The closed down 3.98 points, or 0.20 percent, at 1,938.76, with materials leading six sectors lower and utilities leading gainers.
The Nasdaq closed down 3.98 points, or 0.08 percent, at 4,752.74.
The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the index, traded near 22.
About three stocks declined for every two advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 780 million and a composite volume of nearly 3.2 billion in the close.
Gold settled up $6.70 at $1,131.60 an ounce.
On tap this week:
Wednesday
Earnings: Steelcase, Worthington Industries
Thursday
Earnings: KB Home, Nike, Accenture, Bed Bath & Beyond, Pier 1 Imports, Jabil Circuit
8:30 a.m.: Initial claims
8:30 a.m.: Durable goods
10:00 a.m.: New home sales
5:00 p.m.: Fed Chair Janet Yellen on inflation/policy at University of Massachusetts
Friday
Earnings: Blackberry
8:30 a.m.: Real GDP Q2 (third)
9:15 a.m.: St. Louis Fed's Bullard
1:25 p.m.: Kansas City Fed President Esther George
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cc216066f849cf033970f959a375d268 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/volkswagen-board-meets-crunch-time-for-ceo-winterkorn.html | VW board meets: Crunch time for CEO Winterkorn | VW board meets: Crunch time for CEO Winterkorn
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Usually, board meetings are reasonably tame affairs. Yet Wednesday's meeting of Volkswagen's supervisory board's presidium, a mixture of executives and shareholders' representatives, is likely to have seismic consequences for the automaker and its embattled chief executive, Martin Winterkorn.
The world's second-largest carmaker is being engulfed by an emissions scandal which has wiped nearly 26 billion euros ($29 billion) off its market value this week. In this kind of situation, with 11 million cars potentially affected, jobs are put in jeopardy and even once-mighty companies can be permanently damaged.
On Wednesday, while the board was scheduled to meet, U.S. ratings agency Fitch announced that it had put the company on ratings watch negative.
The board will need to act fast to try and address the reputational fallout. CNBC looks at who to watch in Wednesday's meeting.
Martin WinterkornGetty Images
Rumors of the chief executive's demise on Tuesday proved to be premature, but there are still questions over how much longer he can hang on. The long-serving VW executive already survived one coup attempt by chairman Ferdinand Piech, and this could be exactly the opportunity some members of the board could grab to finally oust him.
VW scandal: $7.3B profit warning but damage could hit Germany
He has become the public face of the scandal, with allegations that he ignored warning signs about the emissions in 2014. In a video on the carmaker's website yesterday, he admitted: "I do not have all the answers to the questions but we are working hard to find out exactly what happened."
Whether he will continue that work remains to be seen.
One of the most influential players in the global car industry, this scion of the Porsche family has already failed to engineer Winterkorn's departure earlier this year, which resulted in his own departure as chairman of the board.
Nigel Treblin | Getty Images
Although he is no longer on the supervisory board, the architect of much of Volkswagen's success in recent years still controls a large chunk of the Porsche family's shareholding in Germany's national carmaker, and his presence will be felt at Wednesday's meeting via their representatives.
Trade unions are still an important voice in Volkswagen, and Bernd Osterloh, their main representative, has written in a letter (as reported by German newspaper Bild) that they "will do everything possible in the supervisory board meetings this week to ensure the matter is cleared up quickly and that personnel consequences are drawn."
The German state where Volkswagen was founded still has a substantial stake and two supervisory board seats. One of those members, Olaf Lies, the economics minister for Lower Saxony, has already gone public with his call for changes at Volkswagen. He may get this wish soon.
- By CNBC's Catherine Boyle
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11bf98b81f64a9778bf83c7903b92e6c | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/when-you-should-file-for-social-security-benefits.html | When you should file for Social Security benefits | When you should file for Social Security benefits
Waiting to claim Social Security benefits can significantly boost your guaranteed lifetime income in retirement.
If you wait until you're 70 years old to claim Social Security, you can raise your monthly benefit check by up to 76 percent, according to research by David Laster, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's head of retirement strategies, and Anil Suri, the firm's head of portfolio construction and investment analytics. That wait can reduce the risk of outliving your money in retirement and, for many, increases expected lifetime benefits.
Retirees are getting better at delaying gratification. The earliest Americans can claim Social Security retirement benefits is at age 62, but if they do, those benefits will be reduced as the recipients are not yet at full retirement age. Nonetheless, last year, 35.5 percent of men and 40.8 percent of women who started collecting Social Security claimed benefits at that age, according to the Social Security Administration. Those figures are much better than a decade earlier when half of men and 54.9 percent of women filed for Social Security at 62.
But only 41.5 percent of men and 34.9 percent of women filed for Social Security last year at full retirement age, the time when you collect full benefits, or later. If you were born between 1943 and 1954, you can claim full benefits at age 66. If you were born between 1955 and 1959, your full retirement age increases by two months for each additional year. If you were born in 1960 or later, you can claim full benefits at age 67. Retirement benefits grow by about 7 to 8 percent each year from age 62 until age 70.
How much do you really need for retirement?
Part of the problem for many retirees is a lack of knowledge about the value of their benefits.
"Social Security isn't handing out a buyer's guide and user manuals," said Rob Kron, head of investment and retirement education at BlackRock. "We don't know really know what we bought."
The median expected value of lifetime retirement benefits from Social Security is $230,000 for single people and $470,000 for couples, Laster estimates. For high earners, those in the 90th percentile of income, it's even better with an expected value of benefits of $390,000 for single people and $710,000 for couples.
Can a doctored photo save your retirement?
Your decision to claim Social Security benefits should take into account your health, life expectancy, marital status, retirement savings and income needs.
Although many Americans miss out by collecting benefits before their full retirement age, most retirees say they wouldn't change the age they started receiving their Social Security benefits, according to a recent survey by the Nationwide Retirement Institute. In June, the institute polled 299 people who had been retired for more than 10 years, 302 people who had been retired less than 10 years and 301 people over age 50 who haven't retired yet. Seventy-six percent of recent retirees and 68 percent of older retirees said they would not change when they claimed benefits.
Nationwide found that the reasons for claiming Social Security early differed among recent retirees and people who retired 10 years ago. Forty-four percent of recent retirees did so because of employment reasons, the top motivation for that group in the survey, while health reasons were the main cause for people who claimed benefits early a decade or more ago.
Nearly a quarter of people surveyed by Nationwide who plan to claim benefits early are doing so because they do not believe Social Security will be around for them at full retirement age. "That's a huge misconception," said David Giertz, president of distribution and sales at Nationwide Financial.
The Social Security Administration forecasts that its trust fund for retirement benefits will be exhausted by 2034. However, even if Congress does nothing to shore up one of the nation's most popular federal programs, the Social Security Administration projects it will have enough money from payroll taxes to cover three-quarters of retirement benefits promised to retirees through 2090.
How much should you set aside for retirement?
Longevity worries are another big reason for people to claim Social Security benefits early. Twenty-two percent of people near retirement who want to claim early told Nationwide they plan to do so because they don't expect to live long enough to make waiting to optimize their benefits worthwhile.
However, most people retiring now will live decades in retirement. The average 65-year-old man today will live to age 84 and the average 65-year-old woman can expect to live until almost 87, according to the Social Security Administration.
And people are leaving huge sums of lifetime income on the table if they make the wrong decision about Social Security. Financial Engines, the nation's largest registered investment advisor, estimated that retirees miss out on as much as $100,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples. (The estimates were based on a 2014 survey of 1,008 people between the ages of 55 and 70 who have an annual household income of at least $50,000.)
Free tools can help in determining when to claim benefits. The Social Security Administration's Retirement Estimator gives benefit forecasts based on your actual Social Security earnings record and Financial Engines also offers a free Social Security planner.
"When to claim Social Security is one of the most important retirement decisions people will ever make," Giertz said. "You need to think through all the financial consequences."
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0c35ce68c469afa98e25e8c7fd60cb16 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/why-you-cant-be-long-this-market-trader.html | Why you can't be long this market: Trader | Why you can't be long this market: Trader
Todd Gordon and Andrew Keene discuss the recent stock market volatility, gold, and more!
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7e7cf53b7bd717830d36dc5f70a4006f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/yellen-gets-a-do-over-but-will-she-use-it.html | Yellen gets a do-over, but will she use it? | Yellen gets a do-over, but will she use it?
VIDEO3:3203:32Let the rate hike (& correction) begin: ProClosing Bell
Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks Thursday evening on inflation and policy, a week after the Fed surprised the markets and helped stir up new fears of deflation.
"Her topic is on inflation dynamics and monetary policy. We definitely want to hear what she has to say because the topic is relevant," said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. "Does she guide on the near-term outlook for monetary policy? My answer is 'no' because not enough time passed between last week and this week. Nothing changed."
But traders are particularly eyeing her comments on inflation in the 5 p.m. ET speech at the University of Massachusetts, where the audience will not be able to ask questions.
Janet YellenGetty Images
Read More Foreigners gobbling up US corporate debt
The Fed last Thursday held off on a rate hike, but its real surprise was the more dovish-than-expected message that came with it. It pointed to concerns about international developments—China's slowing growth—and pared back its own economic forecasts, including the one for inflation.
Fed officials last week released a new forecast where PCE inflation is seen rising just 0.4 percent this year, from its earlier projection of 0.7. But it does not now see inflation reaching 2 percent until 2018, pushing it back a year from its June forecast.
Since the Thursday meeting, commodities have tanked, with copper down more than 6 percent and oil down nearly 5 percent. China, meanwhile, has become an even bigger source of concern for markets, now that some worry the Fed might see more dire economic problems that could spread to the U.S. economy.
Read More Bill Gross to the Fed: 'Get off zero, now!'
Francisco Blanch, head of global commodities and derivatives research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said he expects pressure to remain on commodities markets. Copper, viewed as a proxy for global growth, will continue to slide, he said.
"First, global growth has been perhaps weaker than anticipated and the Fed's decision last week, I think, exacerbated those fears that global growth is just not picking up meaningfully. U.S. growth is fine but U.S. growth does not drive commodities demand," he said. "We think that copper has not broken out of a multiyear bear market, and we think prices will head lower and basically see a price of $4,400 a ton or $2 a pound in 2016." Copper futures were at $2.29 Thursday. Blanch said the industry will need to make more capacity cuts.
LaVorgna does not expect a new message on inflation from Yellen. "I think she will be more theoretical and more long-term thinking, in that the Fed is confident that over time it, as a central bank, can generate inflation," LaVorgna said. "For people who are looking for her to give guidance, my guess is they'll be disappointed." He noted the Fed's view is that inflation will ultimately reach 2 percent and that it can raise rates before it does.
Read More Lemons in portfolio? Trading Volkswagen scandal
But JP Morgan chief U.S. economist Michael Feroli believes Yellen has a chance to revise the Fed's message. When it held off on the rate hike, the Fed probably intended to practice "prudent risk management," giving itself a little more time to see how financial and international developments play out, he wrote in a note.
"Instead, the message that came across was one of a larger regime change whereby the medium-term inflation outlook had deteriorated and the goalposts for liftoff had shifted," he wrote. "We expect that tomorrow Yellen will attempt to counter this interpretation and instead portray last week's decision as one whereby the Fed just bought a little insurance, and nothing more than that. A message of modest risk management may also help to repair some of the pessimism generated by last week's performance."
The Fed also carries weight when it comes to the economy. He added that "the perception that the Fed has a better read on the economy than the market does can complicate how the Fed sends a dovish message. On this score the chair couldn't find the right balance last week, and we'd expect tomorrow she'll attempt to sound more constructive on the outlook."
Read More
The market is now weighing the odds of an October rate hike, considered less likely than December. The Fed has not raised rates in nine years and has held the Fed funds target rate near zero since 2008.
John Kilduff, energy analyst with Again Capital, said the oil market will take another leg down if Yellen sounds any more dovish Thursday. "Obviously, there's no commodity inflation so it will be interesting to see if she sees emerging disinflation and whether the Fed's going to emphasize that at the expense of a relatively strong employment picture."
Read More Schiff: I'm right about the Fed, I'll be right about stocks
Besides Yellen's talk, there are a few key pieces of data including jobless claims and durable goods at 8:30 a.m. Durable goods are expected to be weaker, declining 2.5 percent. There are also new home sales at 10 a.m.
Accenture and KB Home report earnings ahead of the opening bell, and Nike, Bed Bath and Beyond and Pier 1 Imports report after the close.
Stocks were lower Thursday, with the S&P 500 off 3 at 1,938. The worst sector was materials once more, down 2 percent and reflecting the continued selling in commodities. Energy was second worse, down 1.3 percent. The best sector was utilities, up 0.2 percent.
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523c34130a3506d891ae175f1723a135 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/23/your-first-trade-for-thursday-september-24.html | VIDEO1:1501:15Final Trade: Adobe, Expedia, Lululemon, & NikeFast Money
The "Fast Money" traders gave their final trades of the day.
Pete Najarian is bullish on ADBE.
David Seaburg is bullish on EXPE.
Steve Grasso is watching LULU.
Guy Adami is watching NKE.
Trader disclosure: On September 23, 2015, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Pete Najarian is long AAPL, AMAT, BAC, BMY, BP, CSX, DISCA, DKS, FOXA, GE, KKR, KO, LLY, MRK, PEP, PFE, he is long calls AA, AAL, BEE, BMY, DAL, FL, MPEL, PFE, SWFT, UAL, XLF, XOM, ZIOP, he is long puts DISH, FCX. David Seaburg's opinions are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. Steve Grasso long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, FIT, KBH, MJNA, MU, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX, firm is long AMZN His kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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8b012813f72ae549939dbefe2b68226c | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/4-stocks-to-buy-on-nikes-blowout-earnings.html | VIDEO3:1603:16A trading workout: 5 plays on Nike earningsFast Money
Nike shares soared after a strong earnings report Thursday, and some CNBC "Fast Money" traders believe it has more room to run.
"I think it can continue to go higher from here," said trader Guy Adami.
The stock rose 8 percent in extended trading after Nike posted earnings of $1.34 per share on $8.41 billion in revenue, beating analysts' expectations on both numbers. The sports apparel maker also topped Wall Street's expectations for futures orders, a key driver.
Nike DunksSource: Nike
Trader Tim Seymour, who owns the stock, said he was impressed by Nike's growth in China. Slowing growth in the country's overall economy has led to concern about some U.S. companies that have significant exposure there.
"I stay long until they do something to make me jump off," Seymour said.
Read MoreNike earnings: $1.34 per share, vs expected EPS of $1.19
Trader Karen Finerman instead looked to companies that benefit from Nike's growth. She pointed to shares of retailers Foot Locker and Finish Line, both of which rose in extended trading.
Nike competitor Under Armour may prove a better buy in the long run, said trader Dan Nathan. He pointed to the fact that it hasn't yet gained a significant international market share.
He would buy it on a dip to about $90 per share. It closed at about $102 Thursday.
Disclosures:
Tim Seymour
Tim Seymour is long AAPL, BAC, CLF, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JPM, LGF, T, TWTR, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, YHOO.
Dan Nathan
Dan is long PYPL Oct call calendar, BA Oct put spread, INTC Oct put spread, QQQ Oct put spread, UAL Oct/Nov put spread, XLU call spread, TWTR, PG
Karen Finerman
Karen is long BAC, C, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, KORS, KORS call spreads, M, URI, she is short SPY, Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, DIS, FBT, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, GPS, IBB, JPM, KORS, KORs calls, M, M calls, SUNE, URI, URI long puts, XBI, KORS call spreads, M call spreads, her firm is short IWM, SPY, MDY, USO, Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
Guy Adami
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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3af3e0a468cd902803f2fa8563046f75 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/a-melting-arctic-the-world-is-skating-on-thin-ice.html | A melting Arctic: The world is skating on thin ice | A melting Arctic: The world is skating on thin ice
The race to claim stakes in the melting Arctic is heating up. That's because a quarter of the world's energy reserves are at play.
Standing 12,000 feet high and stretching more than 1,000 miles, the Lomonosov Ridge very well might be the most important mountain range most people have never heard of. Submerged beneath sea ice and the frigid Arctic waters, the geological peculiarity sits just a few hundred miles from the North Pole, and according to the U.S. Geological Survey the Lomonosov Ridge and areas surrounding it could hold a quarter of the world's remaining fossil fuel reserves—90 billion barrels of oil and more than 1.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas worth an estimated $17.2 trillion.
In early August, Russia reasserted its claim to the North Pole and surrounding region that includes part of the Lomonosov Ridge, portions of which are also variously claimed by Denmark and Canada. That amounts to over 463,000 square miles of Arctic sea shelf extending more than 350 nautical miles from the shore. It submitted a bid for these vast territories to the United Nations. This latest push by Russia to expand its claim on the Arctic has not unfolded in a vacuum. Record seasonal losses of Arctic sea ice increasingly open up new navigable sea lanes while also threatening ecosystems there. Potentially vast oil and gas reserves have grown increasingly accessible, luring both governments and energy companies into Arctic waters.
And as tensions between Russia and the West approach Cold War intensity, a massive military buildup along Russia's Arctic coastline underscores the geostrategic value of a region that's become a 21st-century hotbed of high-tech espionage and military competition.
VIDEO1:1501:15Countries hit by Arctic meltOil and Gas
The race for the Arctic is on in more ways than one, creating new environmental, human and geopolitical risks in one of the world's most inhospitable environments—one in which no nation is fully prepared to operate. Consequences to the future of our planet are huge. This month researchers in Sweden published a study showing how melting sea in the Arctic is encouraging methane emissions—exacerbating climate change and the warming of the atmosphere. That's because the ice acts like a windshield reflector to the sun's warming rays, and without it the oceans absorb more heat.
According to a recent scientific study by Cambridge University and the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, this climate change will add an extra $43 trillion of cost to the global economy by the end of the next century.
Beyond environmental concerns, the other, larger question surrounding the Arctic isn't so much whether the region's resources should be developed but whether corporations and nations can do so safely, cooperatively and peacefully.
"For the last 25 years the Arctic has been a place of international cooperation," said Heather A. Conley, director of the Europe Program and an Arctic policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And we don't have an idea of what it will be when it's not a place of international cooperation."
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet—so fast that NOAA scientists believe much of the Arctic could be free of ice in summers by 2050, allowing ships freedom of movement across the entire Arctic Ocean. Previously unnavigable sea lanes are already opening across the Arctic in summer. Only four cargo vessels traversed the so-called Northeast Passage—a shipping lane across the northern shore of the Eurasian continent, connecting Atlantic to Pacific—in 2010. By 2013 that number had grown to 71.
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Energy exploration and exploitation has also increased. State-owned energy companies like Russia's Rosneft and Norway's Statoil have made exploratory forays into the Arctic, while Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips (as well as Statoil) have drilling leases off the coast of Alaska, where 30 billion barrels are thought to be lurking in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
Increased activity in the Arctic has brought more companies, more government entities and ultimately more people into an Arctic environment that remains one of the world's most challenging in which to operate. Increased economic activity and human presence has sparked fears of both environmental disasters and military escalation as the five states with Arctic borders—Russia, Canada, Norway, the United States and Denmark (through its self-governing territory Greenland)—attempt to bolster their security postures there.
Of those states driving the increased military tempo in the Arctic, Russia has taken a clear lead, reopening Soviet-era airfields and naval bases and conducting large-scale military exercises in the region. In March, the Russian military conducted a complex series of unannounced military maneuvers in the Arctic, involving more than 200 aircraft, 41 warships and 15 submarines and over 40,000 troops. The Russian Defense Ministry has acknowledged that it has been flying reconnaissance drones regularly over the region since at least May, and Russian state media reports that two Russian contractors are developing a new "heavy drone" specifically for use in the Arctic.
Next year Russia's Northern Fleet—the nation's most powerful Navy formation—will become the backbone of its new Arctic Command, with its area of engagement, including the high-latitude areas of the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole, Tass has reported. It includes nuclear missile submarines and other warships.
Military vehicle during military training on Northern navy on March 16, 2015 in Murmansk, Russia.Anatoly Zhdanov | Kommersant Photo | Getty Images
"What we've really seen over the last 12 to 18 months is a different posture focusing on their strategic nuclear deterrent, unannounced military exercises, a lot of opening of new bases and positioning of military personnel and equipment—all of which seems much more significant than what would be required for enhanced search and rescue or oil spill response," Conley said, adding, "So I think we are seeing an important evolution in Russia's militarization of the Arctic, and that needs to be assessed by the other Arctic states for sure."
But military posturing aside, experts say the risk of actual military confrontation in the Arctic is likely overblown. Russian territorial claims in the Arctic, coupled with the uptick in military activity, have provoked headlines that don't necessarily measure up with reality, said Admiral Robert J. Papp, a former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard now serving as the U.S. State Department's special representative for the Arctic.
"This is the second time Russia has submitted its claim," Papp said of Russia's most recent territorial claim made under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. He added: "It's doing so under an orderly process prescribed by the U.N. They complied with everything they had to comply with, and yet a big deal was made of it. So I think sometimes they don't get a fair shake on these things."
That said, Papp concedes that the Russian state has brought a certain degree of distrust upon itself through recent actions in Ukraine and a rhetoric that has escalated tensions with the West. It's this kind of bigger-picture geopolitics that makes the militarization of the Arctic more troublesome to many security experts. A risk assessment published in May by The Arctic Institute notes that even though military activity in the Arctic is at its highest point since the Cold War, the risk of military conflict over the Arctic remains low. However, the risk that the Arctic could become a potential theater in a larger conflict between Russia and the West remains very real.
"I think that Russia is worth watching," Papp said. "We need to be cautious; we need to be curious about what they are doing up there. But we don't need to overreact."
In building up its military presence along its northern shore, Russia is both attempting to solve and exacerbate a problem shared by all of the Arctic-bordering states. More commercial and military activity in the Arctic means more people in the Arctic. More people in the Arctic means more risk in the Arctic—risk of environmental accidents, of military accidents, of stranded vessels, of human safety. The greatest risk in the Arctic today isn't any one of these, but the fact that no nation has made developing its Arctic capabilities a priority even as activity in the Arctic increases.
"The greatness of any maritime nation can be measured by the resources it provides for the safety of mariners that approach its shores," Papp said. "We've done that well for the continental United States for a couple of centuries. But now we have a new ocean that we're responsible for in the Arctic and the upper Bering Sea, and we have not provided the same number of resources, even though human activity is increasing."
For instance, the distance between where Royal Dutch Shell is drilling in the Chukchi Sea and the nearest safe harbor in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, is some 800 to 900 miles, Papp explained. "There is no deep-water harbor of refuge up there to get out of the weather, or to prestage or set up a forward operating base. The infrastructure is very limited."
VIDEO1:0001:00Countries claiming Arctic oilOil
The U.S. Coast Guard got a good look at the challenges presented by commercial activity in the Arctic in 2012, when a Shell-operated drilling rig caught in high seas had to be abandoned, its crew evacuated by Coast Guard helicopter. The drilling rig was left adrift with nearly 150,000 gallons of diesel fuel and more than 10,000 gallons of other hazardous fluids aboard. The drilling rig later struck a barrier island, but its tanks didn't rupture. Through sheer good luck, environmental disaster was averted. Neither Shell nor the Coast Guard had resources in place to adequately deal with the situation.
"There's just an incredibly scarce amount of capability in the Arctic, even to conduct adequate search and rescue," Conley said. While the Russians have the most military hardware and personnel on hand, soft security assets—those aimed at things like environmental, commercial and civilian security—are scarce or nonexistent. Communications satellites, icebreakers, aircraft and the forward operating infrastructure that would make use of such things are all lacking.
Where the U.S. is concerned, something else is sorely lacking in the Arctic: a strategy. While the Obama administration published a national Arctic strategy in May 2013 and an Obama implementation plan for the strategy the following January, both documents largely consist of detailed to-do lists rather than concrete line items in a federal budget.
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"The problem is, talk is cheap," Conley said. "No one is putting the resources or developing a multiyear budget that says this is how we are going to prepare for the Arctic. Everyone agrees that there's rapid change; everyone agrees that we need to monitor, assess, evaluate. But when it comes to the significant budget needs for a deep-water port in the American Arctic—or ice-breaking capability, or aviation assets, or satellite communications—everyone kind of looks at the floor and says, 'Not my budget, thank you very much.'"
During a visit to Alaska at the beginning of September, President Obama addressed the impact of climate change on America's Arctic-bordering state. He criticized Arctic oil drilling and warned that the meltdown threatens to annihilate cities, animal species and force migration. Then he announced plans to invest in ice breakers and other safety and security measures in the Arctic to shore up readiness due to heighten risks. Right now the U.S. Coast Guard owns just two functioning ice breakers; Russia possesses a fleet of 41, with plans to add 11 more.
Time will tell how fast the U.S. will respond to the crisis—and the increase of commercial and military activity it enables. And as development in the Arctic increases, so do those associated risks.
"If we have a major incident in the Arctic, it's going to demonstrate our limited capabilities and the difficult operating environment, and unfortunately, as the crisis unfolds, we're all going to be looking around wondering why we don't have more access," Conley said. "It's going to be an education we all don't want."
—By Clay Dillow, special to CNBC.com
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28a018f4208fa0a5e3e02e6dc756f572 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/access-middle-east-suez-canal-egypt.html | Access: Middle East: Suez Canal | Access: Middle East: Suez Canal
VIDEO1:3301:33Suez Canal: Take an exclusive lookAccess: Middle East: Episodes
VIDEO3:2203:22The grand opening of the Suez CanalAccess: Middle East: Episodes
VIDEO8:1208:12Suez Canal: How it impacts Egypt's economy Access: Middle East: Episodes
VIDEO1:3901:39Before the Suez Canal was even createdAccess: Middle East: Episodes
VIDEO4:0104:01Maersk's relationship with the Suez CanalAccess: Middle East: Episodes
VIDEO3:2903:29Travelling along the Suez CanalAccess: Middle East: Episodes
VIDEO2:0602:06An exclusive boat tour on the Suez CanalAccess: Middle East: Episodes
For this edition of "Access: Middle East," CNBC's Hadley Gamble takes you on a journey along the Suez Canal, in Egypt.
The Suez Canal has been described as Egypt's "gift" to the world, having been developed in a record time.
CNBC gives a rundown of what the Suez Canal is all about, from its Grand Opening, to the crew on the Maersk ships who safely deliver around 11 million full containers to Egypt every year.
Check out Access: Middle East's latest episode on why this crucial waterway means so much to the Egyptian community.
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fe023a3accb669164d54133b9b4e37e6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/after-hours-buzz-nike-pier-1-imports-marvell-more.html | After-hours buzz: Nike, Pier 1 Imports, Marvell & more | After-hours buzz: Nike, Pier 1 Imports, Marvell & more
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Thursday:
Nike shares rose about 5 percent after the athletic apparel maker reported better-than-expected earnings. The company handed in profit of $1.34 a share on sales of $8.41 billion, besting the Street's forecasts of $1.19 a share on $8.22 billion in revenue.
Bed Bath & Beyond slipped about 3 percent in extended-hours trading after the household-products retailer reported fiscal-second-quarter results. The company's board also approved a new $2.5 billion stock repurchase program.
Shares of electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit jumped about 10 percent after reporting adjusted earnings of 53 cents a share on $4.68 billion in revenue. Wall Street was looking for profit of 45 cents a share on $4.55 billion.
Pier 1 Imports shares tumbled as much as 13 percent after the home furnishings provider reported quarterly earnings. The company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of 4 cents a share, missing by 3 cents, on revenue of $430 million, versus estimates of $436 million. The company also reported light third-quarter and full-year guidance.
Chipmaker Marvell Technology will reduce its global workforce by 17 percent as a part of restructuring of its mobile platform business. The company expects to take a charge of between $100 million and $130 million in connection to the restructuring. Shares gained about 9 percent after the announcement.
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5ce719ad0a5f71b1cecaadb2b2fd3c3b | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/american-express-is-the-next-dow-stock-to-plunge-technician.html | This is the next Dow stock to plunge: Technician | This is the next Dow stock to plunge: Technician
VIDEO2:2602:26The next Dow stock to get hit Trading Nation
Shares of Caterpillar fell to a five-year low Thursday, after the company announced massive layoffs and slashed revenue guidance. That stock alone shaved nearly 30 points off of the Dow as of Thursday afternoon.
Read More Caterpillar to cut up to 10K jobs; lowers guidance
But in considering the likely next move for the Dow Jones industrial average, Oppenheimer technical analyst Ari Wald is growing cautious about a different component: American Express.
The credit card giant's shares have already fallen 20 percent this year, and Wald says the stock is now showing signs of a "fresh breakdown amid a broken trend."
"After several months of moving sideways, a break of support at $76 support indicates that the stock's downtrend is resuming," Wald wrote to CNBC. "We see downside to $69."
That would represent a further decline of 8 percent. And if American Express shares were to drop by that amount, it would shave 38 points off of the Dow.
Read More Caterpillar dive may push these stocks into ditch
But it's not just American Express that appears vulnerable. Looking at the Dow more generally, the technician believes the recent market weakness is likely to continue.
"Stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average continue to break down one by one, and many of these stocks should remain under pressure," Wald wrote to CNBC.
When it comes to the index itself, "we believe this expanding list of breakdowns could lead to a test of 15,650 support in the coming weeks."
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224cce7d9a7ca90f061fd2d0d490396d | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/apple-issues-bug-fixes-for-ios-9.html | Apple Issues Bug Fixes for iOS 9 | Apple Issues Bug Fixes for iOS 9
Apple has issued the first update to its iOS 9 mobile device software to fix some early glitches, including one bug that froze the device on the "slide to update" screen.
The repairs, released today, addressed a handful of bugs, including a problem with alarms and timers that failed to go off and another that distorted the frame of a paused video.
Apple had taken extraordinary measures to make sure this version of the software that operates iPhones and iPads was as glitch-free as possible, following last year's problematic launch of iOS 8. The Cupertino technology company said more than half of its users had downloaded iOS 9.
Getty Images
Over the weekend, Apple quietly published a support document helping consumers whose devices had gotten stuck on upgrade. That document was updated today.
—By Dawn Chmielewski, Re/code.net.
CNBC's parent NBC Universal is an investor in Re/code's parent Revere Digital, and the companies have a content-sharing arrangement.
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f42dceef4e40d6dc3a2de89eb8dae821 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/as-iphone-6s-hit-stores-apple-fans-brave-sydney-rain-to-buy.html | iPhone 6s hits stores amid Apple growth questions | iPhone 6s hits stores amid Apple growth questions
VIDEO1:1201:12Apple iPhone mania sweeps globe
VIDEO2:0602:06Londoners camp out for iPhone 6sSquawk Box Europe
VIDEO1:4301:43London man camps 83 hours for the iPhone 6sSquawk Box Europe
VIDEO0:4800:48Apple iPhone 6s/6s Plus UnboxingBig Data
Scenes of fans camped outside one of London's biggest Apple stores can only mean one thing – a new product from the U.S. tech giant.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus go on sale Friday as fans brave the cold to get their hands on the latest handset while investors await to see whether Apple's flagship product still has legs.
Earlier this month, Apple said the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were "on pace to beat last year's 10 million unit first-weekend record" in terms of sales, when the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus went on sale in 2014. But the Cupertino, CA-based tech giant didn't crack out the exact figures it is expecting.
Analysts at FBR Capital Markets noted that there will only be two days of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus sales included in the September quarter which closes on Saturday versus nine days in the previous year. But in the December quarter, the research firm said that Apple is on "a trajectory to exceed Herculean-like YOY (year-on-year) iPhone 6 comps in the December quarter with our estimates now 77 million units (versus our prior 74 million), likely alleviating lingering bear chatter".
Regardless of the focus of investors, fans are waiting eagerly for the new phones to make sure they can get the newest colors before the stocks go. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be available in four colors and will be available in 12 countries including the U.S., U.K. and China starting from Friday.
Sam Sheikh has been queuing since Monday at 9PM London time, 83 hours. He was the first in line.
Read MoreChina's fake Apple stores thrive on new iPhone launch
"I'm a big Apple fan and I wanted to have the rose gold model which I'm desperate for and I heard they have very limited stock," Sheikh told CNBC, adding that he was also first in line for the iPhone 6 last year.
Phil Han
But Jesse Green, the second person in line who met Sheikh last year, said that the atmosphere "hasn't been as good" as last year, due to people pre-ordering online.
Another punter, Thien Nguyen, has been queing up outside the Covent Garden Apple store in the heart of London since Thursday evening for over 12 hours, waiting to buy the phone for his mum's birthday.
"I mean, it does get boring but I came by myself so I was forced into talking to other people to kill time. I've made a few friends here," Nguyen told CNBC.
Apple's stock price had a rocky quarter in the June quarter. The company sold 47.5 million iPhones in the three months to June 27, below Wall Street's expectations of around 50 million units. The share price was hammered as a result. To add to this, concerns over Apple's ability to continue growth in the China, which accounted for around 27 percent of revenue in the June quarter, was also questioned amid concerns over growth in the world's second-largest economy.
But in an email to CNBC's Jim Cramer, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company was seeing "strong growth" in China, in a bid to comfort investors, a tack that seems to be working.
"With initial pre-order sales looking particularly strong out of the linchpin China region, we believe the combination of strong first weekend sales and potential upside to iPhone numbers for the next few quarters should help remove the 'China iPhone black cloud' hovering over Apple for the last few months," Daniel Ives, analyst at FBR Capital Markets wrote in a note on Monday. He maintained his "outperform" rating on the Apple stock with a price target of $175.
Earlier this month, Apple took the wraps off the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with incremental upgrades like the "s" models usual have. One of the features generating the most buzz is the so-called "3D Touch", which allows users to carry out different functions depending on how much pressure they put on the screen. Apple has used a new chip in the phone, and unveiled an improved camera.
VIDEO3:1703:17Will sales of iPhone 6S be a boost for Apple?Capital Connection
Of course, Apple is not the only smartphone maker to have released new products in the last few months. Huawei and Samsung have both come to market with flagship premium offerings. But analysts said the "disappointing" prodcuts from other vendors could give Apple an advantage.
"A lot of people haven't switched to the Apple iPhone 6 this time, so a 6s provides an opportunity for them to do that. Again, you look at what Samsung has done and it's been a bit disappointing I feel in terms of the product. So people might just spring for the Apple iPhone 6s" Clement Teo, senior analyst at Forrester, told CNBC in an interview on Friday.
- Additional reporting by CNBC's Phil Han
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40e074d59bb6e8171350fcf22def504d | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/as-volkswagen-loses-other-automakers-could-benefit.html | As Volkswagen loses, other automakers could benefit | As Volkswagen loses, other automakers could benefit
VIDEO2:3502:35More car trouble ahead?Trading Nation
It's still too early to predict all the fallout from the unfolding at Volkswagen, but some industry watchers point to a few possible beneficiaries from the German automaker's problems. (Tweet This)
Volkswagen has been accused of putting software into diesel vehicles that's designed to fake the results of emissions tests. Other automakers are among those that could benefit. According to James Albertine of Stifel Nicolaus, Japan's Subaru has been a net beneficiary at Volkswagen's expense in the past, and could be again.
"Subaru's overall market appeared to inflect positively in the same year where VW's market share appeared to inflect negatively," said Albertine. "We're not drawing a causation or correlation relationship—it's just interesting that in 2012, Subaru's share went up 30-40 basis points and Volkswagen's went down 30-40 basis points."
Albertine said that Volkswagen was already on a downward trajectory due to an aging product line, and that competitors like Subaru are bringing fresh vehicles to the market at overlapping prices.
David Whiston, an equity strategist at Morningstar, said more eco-conscious consumers would first look at a hybrid vehicle, such as the Toyota Prius, while performance and power enthusiasts would be more likely to consider a vehicle from an automaker like Tesla.
However, Whiston added, "most volume is still in the plain old combustion [engine] side. That's because those vehicles are way more fuel efficient than they were even a few years ago."
Volkswagen hasn't only come under fire from industry analysts and consumers; it's also facing further scrutiny from authorities around the world.
An Illinois Attorney General spokeswoman said at least 29 U.S. state attorneys general will initiate a probe of Volkswagen and the California State Air Chief said that California will be gearing up for "major enforcement action" against Volkswagen. A fellow member also called for more "real world" testing of vehicles.
The unfolding scandal in the U.S. has also prompted further investigations into vehicle emissions overseas.
According to a Reuters report, Italian Transport Minister Graziano Delrio said in a tweet Thursday that Italy would test 1,000 cars from all the brands sold nationally. This comes after the German transport minister said earlier in the day that Volkswagen had manipulated European tests as well.
VW scandal could keep it from reaching No. 1
While it still may be too early to tell if Volkswagen loyalists will defect from the brand, one Kelley Blue Book analyst said he thinks used VW vehicle prices are about to take a hit.
"It's really unknown, but I think there'll be an extended period of reduced value for [used Volkswagen vehicles]," said Karl Brauer, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. "The resolution will probably not leave as big of an impression and won't counteract the initial impression that [consumers] are getting with these diesel cars."
Not only do Volkswagen's emissions violations have financial implications for consumers, but environmental implications as well, which could discourage future buyers.
After Volkswagen scandal, would you still buy a diesel car?
"The nature of this problem goes to the heart of what these cars were supposed to be good at," Brauer said. "This will damage perception of the car for the people who would normally buy them."
Albertine agreed that this scandal is a public relations crisis for the United States market but said that it would only end in just slightly lower diesel penetration.
"Do we really think consumers are going to have such a strong opinion about a corporate leader lying?" he said. "At the end of the day, consumers make purchase decisions based on monthly payments and right now there are few substitutes that offer the same fuel economy, practicality as diesel vehicles at comparable price points."
This comes on the heels of a report this week from Navigant Research that forecast plug-in electric vehicles totaling nearly 7.4 million units from 2015 to 2024.
Martin Winterkorn resigns as Volkswagen CEO
Volkswagen's US boss: We totally screwed up
Whiston pointed out that diesel vehicles compose a very small portion of the U.S. auto market, so any negative impact on Volkswagen is likely to be less in the United States than it would be if the same false emissions-testing technology were to be discovered in Europe. He said Volkswagen would suffer, however, if the problem were to be found in Audi vehicles sold in the United States.
Whiston said that "if Audi customers were angry enough about [the Volkswagen emissions scandal]" and sales of Audi vehicles dropped, then "that would be very bad news for Volkswagen in the U.S.," as a lot of its profit comes from the premium market.
Albertine called "deceit" by Volkswagen "stunning," but noted that the scandal doesn't involve a safety defect such as consumers saw with Takata's airbags or GM's ignition switches.
Martin Winterkorn, chief executive officer of Volkswagen, announced Wednesday that he will be resigning as a result of the recall surrounding the false emissions data produced by VW's diesel cars. The company will dismiss the research and development chiefs of both Audi and Porsche as well as its top manager in the United States, according to Reuters.
A senior Volkswagen source told CNBC on Wednesday that more executives are likely to follow Winterkorn out the door, and that those announcements could come as early as Friday.
—Reuters contributed to this report.
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2773c8cd9ce52f38597163ba93318e57 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/asia-markets-edgy-after-us-stocks-end-lower.html | Asian stocks mostly fall, but hopes for BOJ easing lifts Nikkei | Asian stocks mostly fall, but hopes for BOJ easing lifts Nikkei
A pedestrian walks past a board showing the numbers on the Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo, Japan.Kazuhiro Nogi | AFP | Getty Images
Asian stocks were mostly lower amid choppy trade on Friday, tracking the lackluster lead from Wall Street as uncertainty over the outlook of U.S monetary policy sapped investor confidence.
In a speech that occurred after the market close, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said that an interest-rate hike "sometime later this year" would likely be appropriate, though the decision hinges on economic data. Yellen was speaking at the University of Massachusetts on Thursday.
The greenback jumped against a basket of currencies after the speech. The euro fell about 0.5 percent to $1.1174 from around $1.1230 while dollar-yen rose to around 120.27, from around 120.00 before Yellen's remarks.
"Our view for a December rate hike has not changed," Cynthia Jane Kalasopatan of Singapore's Mizuho Bank wrote in a note. "Overall, we acknowledge that some caution prevail amid China's wobbles and a strong [greenback] but U.S. data releases continue to point to a broad recovery picture. With no major data releases or events, Fed's policy outlook may be the key driver in markets today."
The closed down 0.5 percent, with Caterpillar down 6.3 percent on news that the firm will cut up to 5,000 jobs by end-2016 and lowered guidance. The S&P 500 eased 0.3 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite more than halved losses in the afternoon trading session to finish 0.4 percent lower.
Nikkei rises 1.8%
Japan's Nikkei 225 index swung up in the final hour of trading to close up nearly 2 percent, recouping almost two-thirds of Thursday's steep 2.8 percent slump.
Market watchers who spoke to CNBC attributed the late-day rally to speculation that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will be stepping up its easing at the October policy meeting. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday following mixed inflation data released before the market open.
"It was quite an interesting inflation report today. Core consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent in August, turning negative for the first time since April 2013 but consumer inflation excluding food and energy costs were slightly ahead of expectations. So even though we saw some inflationary pressure, the BOJ is likely to step up its QQE program in its October meeting," IG market analyst Angus Nicholson told CNBC by phone.
"But with the BOJ buying all Japanese government bonds, what else can they do to create further monetary stimulus? They may have to explore other options such as state bond issuance or lowering the reserve requirement ratio," he added.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abe said early Friday that he had set out three new goals for "Abenomics" and will target a 20 percent increase in gross domestic product (GDP).
"The Japanese recovery is flagging and authorities are concerned that they are losing momentum and they are trying to restore confidence in the medium term despite the near-term performance," Steven Englander, global head of G10 FX Strategy at Citibank, told CNBC.
Export-oriented stocks recovered their footing late Friday, with carmakers such as Toyota Motor and Suzuki Motor changing course to power up 1.3 and 2 percent respectively.
Among decliners, Sharp plunged 5.8 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported the company is likely to book a 30 billion yen loss for the April-September half. A 1.3 percent tumble in the shares of industrial robot maker Fanuc also weighed on the bourse.
VIDEO4:0004:00Abe, Yellen trying to instill confidence: Citi
Mainland indices fall
China's Shanghai Composite ended down 1.6 percent, with infrastructure and transport-related shares among the hardest-hit, amid falling trading volumes.
According to Reuters, weekly volumes have fallen nearly 80 percent from their July peak and averages remain on a downward trajectory.
Maanshan Iron and Steel Company tumbled 5.6 percent, while China Railway Group and China Railway Construction declined 3.5 and 2.9 percent respectively. Airline stocks such as China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Air China receded more than 3 percent each.
Among other indexes, the benchmark CSI300 Index slumped 1.6 percent. Small-caps suffered bigger losses, with the Shenzhen Composite and start-up board ChiNext losing over 3 and 4 percent respectively.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index pared losses to edge up 0.4 percent.
Read MoreThe surprise silver lining to China's economy
ASX drops 0.6%
Australia's index surrendered early gains after financial and energy counters slid deeper into the red.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia tanked 1.5 percent, while National Australia Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking and Westpac receded between 1.2 and 1.4 percent.
Jitters in the oil markets ignited 'risk off' sentiment for energy names; Oil Search and Santos closed down more than 3 percent each, while Origin Energy lost 2.4 percent.
But gold producers held up, with Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining leaping 3 and 4.1 percent respectively, thanks to firmer gold prices for the second straight session overnight.
Myer also outperformed the bourse with a rise of 8.4 percent, after Citi upgraded its call on the stock to 'buy' from 'neutral.'
Kospi dips 0.2%
South Korea's Kospi index finished near its lowest level since September 15, as foreign investors offloaded shares for the fifth consecutive session.
Heavyweight components ended the day on a dismal note; Samsung Electronics and Posco closed down more than 1 percent each.
But Hyundai Motor shares helped to offset losses by surging 2.5 percent on the back of news that its vice chairman and heir-apparent Chung Eui-sun bought shares worth about 500 billion ($420 million). Hyundai Glovis and Hyundai Heavy Industries also soared 7.3 and 2.6 percent respectively.
Chung, 44, the only son of Hyundai Motor's chairman Chung Mong-koo, now holds about 1.4 percent of Hyundai Motor after buying 3.16 million shares from Hyundai Heavy Industries, reported Reuters citing a regulatory filing. "It could be taken as Chung Eui-sun's step in earnest toward succession of the ownership structure,"Park Ju-gun, head of research firm CEO Score, told the newswire.
Among gainers, SK Telecom which announced on Thursday plans for a share buyback worth 523 billion won ($438.21 million), recouped losses to tick up 0.2 percent.
VIDEO4:2004:20Here's where the value is in Asian marketsSquawk Box Asia
Rest of Asia
Taiwan's weighted index ticked up 0.1 percent after weaving in and out of negative territory all day, as investors weighed the central bank's decision to lower its benchmark discount rate to 1.750 percent from 1.875 percent on Thursday
This marks the Central Bank of the Republic of China's (CBC) first rate cut since 2009, sending the local currency to a six-year low of 33.285 versus the U.S. dollar in the previous session.
Meanwhile, the central bank guided the overnight interbank rate lower on Friday, lowering it to 0.30 percent from 0.32 percent a day earlier.
"While the description of the domestic economy didn't contain any new information or forecasts, the contrast with the description in the June statement underscored the deterioration that occurred in the second quarter. We blame an adverse export shock emanating principally from the U.S. and China," ING Financial Markets' head of research Asia, Tim Condon, wrote in a note.
Read MoreSingapore closes schools as haze worsens
Elsewhere in the region, Singapore's industrial production fell 7.0 percent in August from a year earlier, wider than the 5.0 percent drop forecast in a Reuters poll and below July's 6.1 percent decline. On a month-on-month basis, output plunged 3.7 percent, significantly below the 0.2 percent dip that Reuters estimated and worse than 1.0 percent rise in July.
The benchmark Straits Times index declined 0.5 percent to hover near a one-month trough.
Meanwhile, markets in India and the Philippines are closed for public holidays.
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882701bed33d2d178d69d94c83f36bcb | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/best-year-for-uk-car-industry-since-2008.html | Best year for UK car industry since 2008 | Best year for UK car industry since 2008
Almost 100,000 vehicles rolled off U.K. production lines in August, bringing the year-to-date total to over a million cars – the best figure since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008, according to industry data.
The data, released Thursday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), shows that 99,910 cars were produced in August, a rise of 40 percent compared to the same month last year.
A Range Rover Sport SUV on the production line at car manufacturing plant in Solihull, U.K.Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Usually, the summer months are less busy, according to SMMT's chief executive Mike Hawes.
"The quieter summer months are traditionally subject to fluctuation as production is paused for essential upgrades, and August's strong growth wasn't unexpected given the 22.1 percent fall in the same month last year when the 2014 holiday period fell," Hawes said in a press release.
Year-to-date, output has increased by 1.6 percent to 1,011,127 in 2015 from 994,951 in 2014.
"With an overall increase of 1.6 percent so far in 2015 and the strongest year-to-date performance since 2008, the industry is in a good position," Hawes added.
Read More
This was backed up by Ian Fletcher, an autos analyst with IHS, who told CNBC he expects U.K. production to reach 1.55 million units for the year.
"An even more significant uplift will be recorded during the next couple of years when output will peak at 1.78 million units during 2017, underpinned by new models and investment that has been made by original equipment manufacturers," he told CNBC via email.
The number of cars made for the U.K. market has increased by 11 percent from 213,772 to 237,438 cars.
However, the number of cars for export has dipped by one percent from 781,179 down to 773,689. The slight fall is down to a fall-off in demand for premium models in key markets such as China and Russia, Thomas Glendinning, an autos analyst with BMI Research told CNBC by email.
"On the whole this is not a reflection of a more widespread issue with export markets, as we are seeing positive growth in the rest of Europe - a major destination for U.K. exports," he added.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @LukeWGraham
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868a26b8e570e7b02882c9fc0478d969 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/blackberry-earnings-preview-what-to-expect.html | Blackberry earnings preview: What to expect | Blackberry earnings preview: What to expect
BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen introduces the Passport smartphone during an official launch event in Toronto on Sept. 24, 2014.Aaron Harris | Reuters
Investors are gearing up for the latest earnings results of a once-mighty company: Blackberry.
The Toronto-based company's stock has fallen dramatically since closing at an all-time high of $145.76 in 2008, but it has managed to stick around because of its stronghold on the enterprise tech space and by acquiring smaller competitors, most recently software provider Good Technology.
"The big focus on the Street has been around the Good Technology acquisition and where they are taking it," said Dan Ives, technology analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
Blackberry agreed to buy the software provider for $425 million on Sept. 4 in an effort to bolster its enterprise business, but it also shifts the company's focus into mobile cybersecurity and could have ramifications for the entire tech industry, Ives added.
"The Good acquisition puts them in a more high-growth market," he said.
Why BlackBerry could ditch its own OS for Android
Blackberry is scheduled to release second-quarter earnings results Friday before the bell, with analysts expecting the company to post a loss of 9 cents per share on revenue of $611 million, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate. The company posted a loss of 2 cents a share on revenue of $916 million on last year's second quarter.
Still, Morgan Stanley reiterated its caution on the mobile security space on Tuesday, "which is likely seeing substantial pricing pressure as AirWatch and Microsoft offer bundled enterprise software solutions and customers demand productivity features beyond 'lock-it-down' device management."
Canaccord Genuity also said in a Sunday note that they are "concerned with BlackBerry's ability to achieve synergies necessary just to offset the Good's level of net losses, let alone drive stronger combined earnings."
Blackberry may face an even greater challenge from the world's No. 1 company in the world in terms of market capitalization: Apple.
"If you think about the enterprise market, which Blackberry has had an iron fence around it, it has become a question of whether or not it's under threat because of the Apple-Cisco partnership," Ives said.
On Aug. 31, Apple announced a partnership with Cisco Systems to improve iPhone and iPad performance on Cisco's corporate network. Last year, Apple partnered with IBM to sell iPhones and iPads preloaded with applications aimed at enterprise clients.
"Blackberry … and a lot of the traditional tech companies are in a horse and carriage in the right lane while Apple and other 'next-gen' tech companies are running by them in their Ferraris," Ives added.
Blackberry has also tried to stay afloat by selling some of its licenses but investors should not expect any surprises from these deals, said Mike Walkley, technology analyst at Canaccord Genuity.
In a note, Canaccord said that "the lack of visibility for the cadence of these deals leads us to assume potential future deals will be lumpy in nature and we are not anticipating new deals during the August quarter."
Walkley added that the firm expects smartphone sales, once Blackberry's catalyst to market dominance, would continue to weigh on the company's performance.
"We've talked to several store managers … and their phones are not selling well," he said.
Blackberry released its most recent models, the Classic and Passport, last year and rumors about a new phone running the Android operating system being released in the near future continue. Nevertheless, Walkley said it would do very little to move the needle for the company.
—Reuters contributed to this report.
DISCLOSURES: FBR Capital Markets makes a market for Apple. Blackberry is an investment banking client of Canaccord Genuity and Morgan Stanley.
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2875c5fe6bd36a247dfbac1c3820b2a6 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/blackrock-sees-good-deals-in-china-property.html | The surprise silver lining to China's economy | The surprise silver lining to China's economy
Zhang Peng | LightRocket | Getty Images
For years, property was flagged as China's biggest risk but amid the country's apparent economic malaise and financial market unpredictability, property now offers opportunities for selective investors.
John Saunders, managing director and head of Asia-Pacific real estate at BlackRock, told CNBC on Thursday that Beijing's transition to service sector growth was a healthy catalyst for commercial real-estate.
"Now is the time to be looking" he said, pointing to high-quality office, retail and logistics assets in tier-1 cities including Beijing and Shanghai.
"We have already started to see more keen sellers in China and I think there will be buying opportunities as the conditions from China's old economy get less favorable."
It's not just commercial real-estate looking attractive; recent data increasingly reflects a revived residential market.
In the first eight months of the year, nationwide sales of new residential properties [excluding government-funded affordable housing] increased 18.7 percent on-year, higher than the 16.8 percent increase seen over the first seven months, according to the National Bureau of Statistics last week.
Read MoreChina home prices up 0.3% in August, rise for 4th month
Moreover, existing home sales across 32 cities grew by a further 22.2 percent on year in the first three weeks of September, Barclays noted this week, saying the increase bodes well for ongoing sales improvement despite high stock market volatility.
VIDEO4:4704:47Keen to invest in China? Here's what to buySquawk Box Asia
The bank believes October and November will be the best sales months of the year as developers start to launch more new projects.
Also commenting on the numbers, asset manager AllianceBernstein (AB) said in a recent note: "They [the data] point to a true market-based correction brought about by rising demand and a relative scarcity of supply."
"They reflect a fall in housing inventory and the fact that developers--still nervous after the equities crash and last month's currency devaluation--are not rushing to build," AB added.
Whilst the property sector isn't immune to a general economic downturn, it's unlikely to suffer greatly, according to commentators.
Read MoreSnowbirds a rare bright spot in China property market
"While a slowdown in China's economy will weaken consumers' purchasing power, the impact on the property market should be manageable because the government's easing of monetary policy to support the economy should support property sales," Moody's Investors Service explained in a recent note.
The People's Bank of China (PBoC) cut interest rates four times in the first eight months of the year.
Markets are, however, ignoring these positive signals [from the property market] and underestimating the potential for a spillover of optimistic sentiment from the housing sector into the rest of the economy, AB continued.
Indeed, fears of a deepening downturn seem to be dominating sentiment on the world's second-largest economy. Data this week showed a preliminary unofficial reading of factory activity falling to a more than six-year low and investment banks have been slashing gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts.
Barclays said this week that it now expects 2015 annual GDP at 6.6 percent, down from earlier forecasts for 6.8 percent.
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96f5eb06654e644920e1fa709a18ddb9 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/blade-offers-a-private-chopper-to-avoid-pope-gridlock.html | A $95 chopper ride to avoid pope gridlock | A $95 chopper ride to avoid pope gridlock
Blade offers on-demand helicopter service from Manhattan to JFK, La Guardia, and Newark.Source: Blade
It's the ultimate ascension, in a way.
For New Yorkers looking to avoid the horrible traffic expected Friday by visits from Pope Francis, President Barack Obama and the United Nations General Assembly, Blade Helicopters has come up with a solution. The on-demand chopper company will be offering a new "crosstown service" allowing passengers to zip from the East Side and West Side of Manhattan for $95 per seat each way. The trip, which uses a six-seat chopper and curves around Lower Manhattan, takes around seven to eight minutes.
Helicopters will shuttle between the 30th Street heliport near the West Side Highway to the 34th Street heliport on the East Side off the FDR Drive. Flights will take off or land every 15 minutes.
A spokesman for Blade said the company–which has become the Uber of helicopters with its app-based service to the Hamptons and other locales–said the idea for the crosstown service came from customers. The price of a seat to the Hamptons is about $500, a much further distance than across Manhattan.
VIDEO0:5800:58Blade: NYC to NJ in 5 minutes Power Lunch
"We were getting a lot of calls from customers who were just really frightened about the traffic tomorrow," Evan Licht said Thursday. "Luckily we were able to put this through and get it all cleared to help out passengers. "
Customers who want the service can go to Blade's app and select the "Bounce X" section. Licht also said demand is likely to be strong for the company's existing "Bounce" service to the New York airports, which costs $895 to charter an entire helicopter for six passengers.
"A lot of people in New York just want to get out of Dodge tomorrow," he said.
I get paid to be a heli-ski helicopter pilot
Correction: An earlier version misstated the price of the flight to the Hamptons.
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6b662706e23650ef00171f3a72b8138e | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/bmw-shares-slip-on-report-of-high-emission-levels.html | Europe's carmakers caught up in VW storm | Europe's carmakers caught up in VW storm
VIDEO1:3901:39BMW: We do not rig our emissionsPower Lunch
VIDEO0:3700:37Reports of BMW diesel cars exceed emissionsAutomobiles and Components
VIDEO1:3701:37VW to hit Germany's GDP?Closing Bell
The fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal continued to spread across Europe Thursday as regulators found the German giant had also cheated on tests in Europe as well as the U.S. and other carmakers were caught up in speculation about further manipulations.
Billions of euros have been wiped off Volkswagen's value following the revelation that the company had used software to change its diesel engines' performance under U.S. test conditions.
On Thursday German Transport Minister told reporters that similar dodges have been carried out on VW engine tests in Europe.
"We have been informed that also in Europe, vehicles with 1.6 and 2.0 liter diesel engines are affected by the manipulations that are being talked about," Dobrindt told Reuters, adding that random tests would be carried out on other manufacturers' models.
Volkswagen emissions: Automakers’ tobacco moment?
Separately on Thursday, the United Kingdom said it would run its own emissions tests to find out whether levels provided by manufacturers meet realistic driving conditions, according to Reuters. The wire service also reported that Italy plans to test 1,000 cars from all brands sold nationally in the wake of the Volkswagen news.
Shares of German auto maker BMW dropped sharply on Thursday after a German newspaper claimed its diesel engines were "significantly" exceeding regulatory limits.
Auto Bild - a publication owned by Axel Springer - said Thursday in an exclusive report that BMW engines were emitting nitrogen oxide levels that were 11 times more than the current limit set by the European Union. However, it later reported that there was no indication of tampering with the vehicles.
Citing road tests by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), it said that a model of the BMW X3 was emitting more poisonous gases than the Volkswagen car that is currently at the center of the emissions scandal.
"All measured data suggest that this is not a VW-specific issue," Peter Mock, the Europe Managing Director at the ICCT, told the publication.
VIDEO3:0203:02Are other car companies cheating on emissions tests?
BMW shares closed more than 5 percent lower after the report was published. Volkswagen shares closed around 3.3 percent lower, sharping paring gains from the morning.
In a statement , BMW said the carmaker did not "manipulate or rig any emissions tests. We observe the legal requirements in each country and adheres to all local testing requirements. When it comes to our vehicles, there is no difference in the treatment of exhaust emissions whether they are on rollers (eg. test bench situation) or on the road."
"We are not familiar with the test mentioned by Auto Bild concerning the emissions of a BMW X3 during a road test. No specific details of the test have yet been provided and therefore we cannot explain these results."
The company added that the ICCT had confirmed that the BMW X5 and 13 other BMW vehicles tested complied with the legal NOx requirements.
The rapid fall of VW's Martin Winterkorn
The scandal has raised fears that it could be a industry-wide issue with several major companies having exposure to the same diesel technology.
On Thursday El Pais reported that VW's Spanish subsidiary, SEAT, had installed over 500,000 of the tampered diesel engines into its vehicles since 2009.
A SEAT spokesperson told CNBC that some of the engines with cheating software were used on their cars but can't specify numbers or models as the company is waiting for further details from VW.
Volkswagen's supervisory board is due to meet Friday to discuss a successor to former CEO Martin Winterkorn, who stepped down Wednesday. There are media reports that the board will pick the head of sports-car maker Porsche. It is also expected to name the executives responsible for the scandal, with media reports that directors from Porsche, Audi and the company's US division are set to leave. However VW Thursday refused to comment on any management changes.
On Thursday Nordea Asset Management announced that its fund managers were banned from buying VW's stocks and bonds, saying that "the scandal is unacceptable from an investment point of view."
JPMorgan auto analyst Jose Asumendi calculated Tuesday that globally VW had 25 percent of engines exposed to diesel technology. BMW and Daimler have 35 percent and 45 percent, he added, with Peugeot having 40 percent.
Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said that reports of another major carmaker having potentially been 'at it' would hardly come as a surprise.
"It begs the question of how 'polluted' the industry will turn out to be," he said in a note on Thursday morning.
"Claimed MPG (miles per gallon) figures have been pie-in-the-sky for years and electric cars whilst 'clean' in the emissions sense remain suspiciously/prohibitively expensive and poor ranging."
The U.K.'s Vehicle Certification Agency also said it would launch a wide investigation into whether car markers had been misleading regulators and called on the European Union to do the same, according to the BBC.
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541eaed3de4129c54f91d5a1ec32bcb0 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/bob-diamond-africa-is-best-place-to-invest-right-now.html | Bob Diamond: Africa is best place to invest right now | Bob Diamond: Africa is best place to invest right now
Investors looking to place their money outside of the U.S. should look no further than sub-Saharan Africa, Atlas Merchant Capital CEO Bob Diamond said Thursday.
"There are a lot of reasons to be positive in the medium-to-long term for sub-Saharan Africa," the former Barclays CEO said in a CNBC "Power Lunch" interview.
Some of the reasons Diamond cited include growth in consumer discretionary income, a growing number in democratic regimes and the fact that Nigeria had a peaceful transition of power during its March elections. "There is strong underlying economic growth that is much more than just the natural resources sector."
However, "there are a number of economies in Africa that are going to be affected by the commodities cycle," he said.
Refugee crisis crucial to Europe recovery: Siemens
The global commodities complex has taken a hit recently, with spot U.S. crude prices falling over 25 percent in the last three months.
Diamond also expressed concerns over the tumble in the European economy, and called for fiscal policy reform from lawmakers.
"Monetary policy, and what Mr. Draghi has done in the last three or four years, has had a positive impact but fiscal policy has not," Diamond added. "Labor reform, capital markets reform, banking reform: They are serious things that need to be done in those areas, and there has been nothing done."
"Today, 80 to 85 percent of corporate loans are still on the balance sheet of banks in Europe; in the U.S. it's 10 to 17 percent, so when then there's a big dip in oil prices, U.S. banks don't stop lending."
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ef666c94c0ff328e552f6d8398f79337 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/caterpillar-to-cut-up-to-5000-jobs-lowers-2015-revenue-guidance.html | Caterpillar to cut up to 10K jobs; lowers guidance | Caterpillar to cut up to 10K jobs; lowers guidance
VIDEO3:3103:31Caterpillar announces layoffs, cost cutting
Caterpillar announced Thursday that it expects to permanently reduce its workforce by 4,000 to 5,000 by the end of 2016. It said the cuts could reach 10,000 through 2018.
The reductions are part of a corporate restructuring that the company said will lower operating costs by about $1.5 billion annually once implemented.
Caterpillar also lowered its guidance for 2015, saying sales and revenues for the year are now expected to be about $48 billion—$1 billion lower than the previous outlook. Thursday's announcement also said that expected 2016 sales and revenues will be about 5 percent below this year.
Read MoreCramer: What's wrong with Caterpillar? Everything
Shares of Caterpillar—which has a market cap of about $42 billion—fell more than 6 percent after the announcement.
Beyond the short-term expected layoffs, Caterpillar said that its total workforce reduction could amount to more than 10,000 people—including possible manufacturing closures through 2018.
"We are facing a convergence of challenging marketplace conditions in key regions and industry sectors—namely in mining and energy," Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman said in a statement. "While we've already made substantial adjustments as these market conditions have emerged, we are taking even more decisive actions now. We don't make these decisions lightly, but I'm confident these additional steps will better position Caterpillar to deliver solid results when demand improves."
VIDEO2:2302:23Beginning of manufacturing renaissance: CAT CEOSquawk Box
The company also noted in its restructuring announcement that 2015 is the company's third-consecutive down year for sales and revenues—and 2016 "would mark the first time in Caterpillar's 90-year history that sales and revenues have decreased four years in a row."
Oberhelman pointed to areas of global weakness in explaining the company's move.
"Several of the key industries we serve—including mining, oil and gas, construction and rail—have a long history of substantial cyclicality. While they are the right businesses to be in for the long term, we have to manage through what can be considerable and sometimes prolonged downturns," he said.
Read More Caterpillar CEO: Economy not pushing Fed to hike
The construction and mining equipment manufacturer said it lowered its guidance because of "broadly weaker business conditions" in its three largest segments: construction industries, energy and transportation, and resource industries. The largest sales and revenue decline has come from the company's oil- and gas-related business, Caterpillar said.
Thursday's announced workforce reduction follows the company's total workforce reduction of more than 31,000 since mid-2012.
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c99b662668b243eb3ed03c772a206b70 | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/charts-point-to-breach-of-august-lows-for-sp-500.html | Charts point to breach of August lows for S&P 500 | Charts point to breach of August lows for S&P 500
After Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen unnerved markets last week with a dovish message and a hold on rates, U.S. stocks have not really known which way to turn.
Yellen's message, which was more cautious than many investors anticipated, threw up fresh worries about the outlook for inflation. This was heaped on the fears about global growth, interest rate and weak commodity prices that have been weighing on stocks throughout the summer.
Read MoreThe hottest trade of the year could soon cool
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty Images
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell for the third day and touched levels last seen on September 4th. Technical analysts looking for the next key support level say the dip seen at the end of August is now likely to be tested as a larger number of the 500 constituents of the index are now breaching those lows.
"While the S&P is not below those lows of August 24th, increasingly more stocks each day are breaking below those lows each day," head of technical analysis at Cornerstone Macro, Carter Worth told CNBC.
"Financials are only 1.5 percent above. Financials are the second biggest sector by weight, but there are also the most important sector – that is the life blood of the system," Worth said.
Global head of technical analysis at Credit Suisse, David Sneddon said breaking through the 2,040 level on the was a bearish indicator, with 1,900 now the next key level to watch, with stocks under pressure to test the lows seen last month.
U.S. stocks had their worst start to September in 13 years as investors fretted over the impact of a slowdown in China and the timing of an interest rate rise in the U.S.
Read MoreDoing well while doing good: Socially responsible investing
Markets will be keeping a close eye on Yellen's speech due later on Thursday for any hints on the inflation outlook which could also tip stocks in one direction or another.
Since the Fed's meeting last week, commodities have tanked, with copper down more than 6 percent and oil down nearly 5 percent. China, meanwhile, has become an even bigger source of concern for markets, now that some worry the Fed might see more dire economic problems that could spread to the U.S. economy.
Other analysts compared current price action to similar trends seen in October 2011 and July 1998.
Chief investment officer and chief executive at Fasanara Capital, Francesco Filia, said there is a good chance stocks will revisit lows seen last month and a further 10 percent correction from there is possible.
"I believe there is a good chance that the S&P tests August lows and I believe a further 10 percent correction from there opens then up as a possibility, before central banks blink and the upward trend resumes," Filia told CNBC, comparing the current dips to moves seen in 2011 and 1998.
In both cases, the S&P retested lows first within a couple of months, before rebounding, he said. Founder and CEO of DeMark Analytics, Thomas DeMark agreed.
"Both 2011 and 1998 peaked exactly 17 trading days off their respective August 2011 and 1998 closing lows prior to declining to a an upcoming lower low. Current S&P 500 peaked last week after a 17 day rally off its August 24 low. So far the three periods are in alignment,"DeMark said.
"Bottom line is the August 24 low should be undercut," he added.
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962970ec980fbb98a85907256dbf618f | https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/china-to-limit-greenhouse-gas-emissions-in-cap-and-trade-program.html | China to Announce Cap-and-Trade Program to Limit Emissions | China to Announce Cap-and-Trade Program to Limit Emissions
Chinese President Xi Jinping.Getty Images
President Xi Jinping of China will make a landmark commitment on Friday to start a national program in 2017 that will limit and put a price on greenhouse gas emissions, Obama administration officials said on Thursday.
The move to create a so-called cap-and-trade system would be a substantial step by the world's largest polluter to reduce emissions from major industries, including steel, cement, paper and electric power.
The announcement, to come during a White House summit meeting with President Obama, is part of an ambitious effort by China and the United States to use their leverage internationally to tackle climate change and to pressure other nations to do the same.
Joining forces on the issue even as they are bitterly divided on others, Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi will spotlight the shared determination of the leaders of the world's two largest economies to forge a climate change accord in Paris in December that commits every country to curbing their emissions.
Mr. Xi's pledge underscores China's intention to act quickly and upends what has long been a potent argument among Republicans against acting on climate change — that the United States' most powerful economic competitor has not done so. But it is not clear whether China will be able to enact and enforce a program that substantially limits emissions.
China's economy depends heavily on cheap coal-fired electricity, and the country has a history of balking at outside reviews of its industries. China has also been plagued by major corruption cases, particularly among coal companies.
VIDEO6:3706:37Tracking the outlook of US-China business relationsSquawk Box Asia
But the agreement, which American officials said had been in the works since April, is China's first commitment to a specific plan to carry out what have so far been general ambitions.
Domestic and external pressures have driven the Chinese government to take firmer action to curb emissions from fossil fuels, especially coal. Growing public anger about the noxious air that often envelops Beijing and many other Chinese cities has prompted the government to introduce restrictions on coal and other sources of smog, with the side benefit of reducing carbon dioxide pollution. The authorities also see economic benefits in reducing fossil fuel use.
The cap-and-trade initiative builds on a deal that Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi reached last year in Beijing, where both set steep emissions-reduction targets as a precursor to the global climate accord. Mr. Obama, who has made climate change a signature issue of his presidency, announced the centerpiece of his plan this year. With his announcement on Friday, Mr. Xi will outline how he will halt the growth of China's emissions by 2030.
"It increases our probability of succeeding, and it increases the likelihood that we will have a more robust agreement" in Paris, one senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to preview the agreement.
Lu Kang, the spokesman for the Chinese delegation during Mr. Xi's state visit, declined to confirm the climate initiative. He said only that the two presidents could "make further progress" in demonstrating that they were committed to dealing with global warming.
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The climate deal will be a substantial, if rare, bright spot in a wide-ranging summit meeting that is expected to be dominated by potential sources of friction between Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi. The two leaders began meeting on Thursday night with a working dinner at Blair House, across from the White House.
The president plans to raise a number of contentious topics on Friday, White House aides said, including cyberattacks on American companies and government agencies, China's increasingly aggressive reclamation of islands and atolls in disputed areas of the South China Sea, and Mr. Xi's clampdown on dissidents and lawyers in China.
Under a cap-and-trade system, a concept created by American economists, governments place a cap on the amount of carbon pollution that may be emitted annually. Companies can then buy and sell permits to pollute. Western economists have long backed the idea as a market-driven way to push industry to cleaner forms of energy, by making polluting energy more expensive.
Mr. Xi will pledge to put in place a "green dispatch" program intended to create a price incentive for generating power from low-carbon sources, officials said. He will agree to help provide financing to poorer countries to help them pay for projects that reduce harmful emissions. And China, one of the world's largest financiers of infrastructure projects, will agree to "strictly limit" the amount of public financing that goes toward high-carbon projects, another official said, in line with a 2013 commitment by the United States Treasury Department to cease public financing for new coal-fired power plants.
In his first term, Mr. Obama tried to push a similar cap-and-trade program through Congress. But the measure died in the Senate, in part because lawmakers from both parties feared that a serious climate change policy could threaten economic competition with China. Now, however, China appears poised to enact the same climate change policy that Mr. Obama failed to move through Congress.
China has been developing and carrying out smaller cap-and-trade programs for at least three years. In 2012, it started pilot programs in seven provinces, intended to serve as tests for a national program.
Last week, Chinese officials met in Los Angeles with top environmental officials from California, which has enacted an aggressive cap-and-trade program. People who attended the talks said they were meant to pave the way for a possible linkage of the Chinese and California cap-and-trade systems.
Read MoreXi and Obama: Neither expected to 'see the light'
The Chinese announcement comes less than two months after Mr. Obama unveiled his signature climate change policy, a set of Environmental Protection Agency regulations that would force power plants to curb their carbon emissions. The rules could shut down hundreds of heavily polluting coal-fired power plants. They have drawn fire from Republicans and coal-state lawmakers, but international negotiators say Mr. Obama's regulations have also helped break a longstanding deadlock between the United States and China on climate change.
Yet the two nations are still deeply divided on other issues. American and Chinese officials have been in negotiations over cyberattacks over the past several weeks, an area where they are bitterly at odds after several major intrusions believed to have emanated from China, including a hacking at the Office of Personnel Management that allowed the theft of 22 million security dossiers and 5.6 million fingerprints.
They are working to strike a deal that would reopen a high-level dialogue over cyberissues and set minimum standards, such as a mutual commitment not to attack each other's critical infrastructure during peacetime. But they are not expected to reach any mutual understanding on cybertheft of intellectual property or personal information, one of the thorniest areas.
Similarly, the two presidents are unlikely to come to terms on the South China Sea, where Chinese moves to build runways on artificial islands in disputed areas have raised American fears of a confrontation in a critically important waterway.
The two presidents are expected to strike a deal on rules governing episodes involving Chinese and American military aircraft, building on past agreements that sought to avoid accidents or episodes that could escalate into confrontations.
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