Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Monday announced the launch of a new Earth Fund that the e-commerce chief plans to use to combat climate change.
He said that he’s pledging $10 billion to start the fund, which will be called the Bezos Earth Fund and issue grants to climate-oriented scientists and activists.
“We can save Earth,” Bezos wrote on Instagram. “It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals.”
The coronavirus is expected to be the dominant driver of markets in the week ahead, and even if there is volatility, analysts believe the market is resilient and has momentum to go higher for now.
Walmart, ViacomCBS and Deere are among companies reporting earnings in the week ahead.
Analysts expect to see more companies detailing the impact of the virus on their operations or supply chains.
Casper shares started trading Thursday on the NYSE at $14.50, after pricing at $12.
Casper’s IPO priced on the low end of its range.
The online mattress maker at one point was valued at $1.1 billion.
But Casper has a valuation of about $575 million based on where shares opened.
NASA is asking Congress for a $25.2 billion budget next year, a 12% increase from last year, and that will likely be a boon for companies across the space industry.
“It will take a broad coalition to get back to the moon, and NASA is motivated to make it happen,” Rob Meyerson, an industry consultant and former president of Blue Origin, told CNBC.
Companies that will likely benefit from NASA’s budget include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet Rocketdyne, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, Sierra Nevada Corp. and more.
A new study used Twitter posts to measure the frequency of minor and recurring floods — also known as nuisance flooding — along the United States’ East and Gulf Coasts.
The study found that this type of flooding is more common in 22 counties than official data would suggest. These counties include major cities such as New York, Miami and Boston, which combined have a population of more than 13 million people.
“Coastal floods and inundation are projected to produce some of the primary social impacts of climate change, imposing significant costs on communities around the world,” the report said.
Microsoft’s primacy and ubiquity in portfolios reflects the way it exemplifies nearly every characteristic that today’s market is rewarding richly.
Microsoft enjoys mid-30s percent profit margins, has repeatedly reloaded a $40 billion buyback plan and pays out more than $15 billion a year in dividends.
Microsoft is among the top 10 holdings in the most hedge funds, according to Goldman Sachs.
But has the acclaim for Microsoft become a bit extreme and uncomfortably unanimous.?
A Tesla executive said that cars initially scheduled for delivery in early February will be delayed due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
Tesla shares fell 17.18% Wednesday.
Tesla began rolling out Model 3 vehicles from its Shanghai Gigafactory to Chinese customers in January.
Stocks rose for a third straight day on Wednesday, pushing the S&P 500 back to levels hit prior to the coronavirus scare.
The broad index closed 1.1% higher at 3,334.69, led by strong gains in the energy, financials and health care sectors. That gain drove the S&P 500 to a record closing high. It also erased its losses stemming from fears over the coronavirus and came within a whisker of hitting an all-time intraday high.
Read More“3.625% is widely available, and that was already getting to be the case last Friday,” said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. “Today brings 3.5% into the mix for more than just a few of the most aggressive lenders.”
That is the best rate since early September, and Graham said he believes the market is “only one to two solid days away from 3.375%.”
Investors betting against Elon Musk’s electric-auto maker Tesla collectively lost more than $1.5 on Thursday after its solid earnings, according to data firm S3 Analytics.
Tesla short sellers are now down more than $5.2 billion this year in mark-to-market losses after losing $2.89 billion in 2019.
Since the stock’s June low, Tesla shorts have covered 19.11 million shares, worth $11.1 billion, and are down $12.43 billion in mark-to-market losses.
The S&P 500 has dropped 3% from its record high. Economically cyclical groups have been purged. Bonds are leading stock returns one month into the year.
Something was bound to come along and prompt a pullback. As it happened, the viral outbreak arrived to do the job.
Given that a perfectly routine decline following a strong multi-month rally could amount to 2% to 5%, a further drop of 2% to 3% would not compromise the broader uptrend.
Bond markets pricing in a high likelihood of another Fed rate cut around mid-year.
Economists expect growth in the fourth quarter to be about the same as the third quarter, at 2.1%, but growth could fall off going into the new year.
Fourth quarter gross domestic product data is expected Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Numbers should reflect less growth in spending in the fourth quarter, stubbornly soft business spending, and a surprise widening in the trade gap in December.
The central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee said Wednesday it will hold its benchmark funds rate in a range between 1.5% to 1.75%, where it has been since the latter part of last year.
The committee adjusted the language in its statement to reflect that policy is geared toward “inflation returning to the Committee’s symmetric 2 percent objective.”
The decision was unanimous. Several board members last year objected to the Fed’s rate cuts.
A study by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority found that the high-speed trading practice of “latency arbitrage” causes the overall volume of trading on global stock markets to decrease.
This essentially imposes a “tax” on other investors, according to the study, costing as much as $5 billion per year across global exchanges.
“In aggregate, these small races add up to meaningful harm to liquidity,” the FCA said.
Global brands Estee Lauder and Nike both generate 17% of their revenue from mainland China each year, Credit Suisse estimated based on the companies’ filings.
Other apparel retailers with high China exposure include Tapestry, PVH and VF.
Citi said American hotel companies that have “significant” exposure to China include Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt Hotels.
McDonald’s, Starbucks and Yum China have all shut down some of their stores in China in response to the outbreak, leading analysts to worry about their near-term revenue picture.
Billionaire Mark Cuban said the stock market’s valuation doesn’t remind him of 1999′s dot-com boom.
“I think interest rates will tell us what’s going to happen next in the market,” Cuban told CNBC.
“Is it frothy? You can definitely make that argument. Is it like 1999? No,” he said.
A U.N. report, based on research commissioned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, paints a complicated picture of how the Saudi government allegedly hacked his phone using software from NSO Group.
The Saudis and NSO Group deny the allegations, but software like this does exist and is sometimes used against politically controversial and powerful figures.
Here’s how to protect yourself.
The Davos crowd doesn’t know where to allocate capital, says the vice chairman of British investment company Standard Life Aberdeen.
The current trend is to leave public markets and look to private investments.
Real estate, student accommodation and airports are all examples of what is in favor.
The Washington-based institution forecast in October a global growth rate of 3% for 2019 and of 3.4% for 2020.
The IMF has now revised down those forecasts to 2.9% and 3.3%, respectively.
The IMF is cautious about the state of the global economy going forward, in particular about further trade tensions.
For all the pomp and circumstance expected of the signing ceremony, many are still unsure of exactly what the two nations are agreeing to and how they’ll enforce their deal.
Corn options broker P.J. Quaid says “people have become pessimistic because a lot of the purchases [China] said they’re going to make seem hard to attain.”
But the fact that Beijing is willing to crack down on policies concerning forced technology transfer is key, says former White House trade advisor Clete Willems.
