While each investor has their own way of going about it, at the end of the day, the common theme unifying all is the universal pursuit of returns. The difficult part, of course, is recognizing the names which can outperform the market in the long run.All stocks are different, though, and finding those which can potentially yield said returns requires due diligence. Naturally, the research should include what the pros on the Street think about a company’s long-term growth narrative.Using TipRanks’ Stock Screener, we’ve dug up two healthcare stocks that look especially promising. While each one is unique, the tickers have two things in common: all have room for upside of more than 100%, and what’s more, each one currently boasts a “Strong Buy” consensus rating from the Street. Let’s get started.Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC)This rare retinal disease-focused biotech has started 2020 in the same way it exited the previous decade: by adding extra muscle to the share price.2019’s performance saw an addition of a considerable 84%. 2020 has started off in much the same vein, with the company giving market-trouncing Tesla a run for its money in January by shooting up over 100% in one day. The reason? Well, as this company is a biotech, it’s usually due to one of two reasons: either a regulatory approval for a drug, or, as in this particular case, positive data from a clinical trial.AGTC recently presented updated data from its Phase 1/2 study of centrally-treated X-linked retinitis pigmentosa patients. The positive results showed that patients treated with the candidate exhibited durable improvement in visual function six months after dosing. The data backs up results reported in September and will be used in the pivotal trial’s design, which AGTC plans to initiate later this year. Not to mention secondary data showed encouraging improvements in Best Corrected Visual Acuity (vision impairment) and a favorable safety profile was demonstrated by all patients dosed with the drug.The results are music to the ears of H.C. Wainwright’s Joseph Pantginis. Pantginis argues the "highly anticipated" data confirmed his expectations on the performance of the company's therapy. According to the analyst, an upcoming meeting with the FDA should provide critical guidance on endpoints, size and statistics, randomization protocol, and bilateral dosing.To this end, the 5-star analyst reiterated a Buy rating on AGTC along with an $18 price target. The implication for investors? Further gains of a massive 252%. (To watch Pantginis’ track record, click here)A fellow analyst beating the drum for the bulls is Wedbush’s David Nierengarten. The 5-star analyst believes Applied Genetic is the market leader in X-linked retinitis pigmentosa and lists the company as one of his top picks for 2020. Accordingly, Nierengarten kept his Outperform rating on AGTC along with his $12 price target, too. (To watch Nierengarten’s track record, click here)Does the Street concur? Yes, it does. 5 Buy recommendations add up to a Strong Buy consensus rating. The average price target of $13.33 implies gains of 160% could be lining investors’ pockets in the next year. (See Applied Genetic price targets and analyst ratings on TipRanks) Sol-Gel Technologies Ltd (SLGL)The other company on our list continues the pattern established by AGTC. Totally outpacing the market last year, this skin disease-focused company from Israel posted yearly gains of 172%, the majority of which came in the final week of the decade. It will be no surprise to learn why.On December 30, Sol-Gel announced that its acne drug Twyneo met the primary endpoints in two late-stage trials. The company intends to file a new drug application (NDA) with the FDA for Twyneo in the second half of 2020, with hopes of bringing it to market in 2H21. The application will be the second one this year, as plans are already in place to submit one for Epsolay, the company’s rosacea candidate, during the first half of 2020.The global acne market is expected to be worth over $7 billion by 2025, a point not lost on H.C. Wainwright’s Ram Selvaraju. The 5-star analyst believes the positive results for Twyneo have increased its probability of approval to 90%, up from his previous estimate of 70%. Selvaraju notes that should the drug get the go ahead, it will be the first once-daily acne vulgaris treatment to combine benzoyl peroxide and a potent retinoid in a cream.The analyst, therefore, kept his Buy rating as is. The positive data, though, meant the price target got a boost, from $23 to $26. Investors stand to take home gains in the shape of 145% should his thesis play out. (To watch Selvaraju’s track record, click here)The Street is with the H.C. Wainwright analyst. The acne warrior has 4 ratings, all Buys, which put together, amount to a Strong Buy consensus rating. The average price target of $22.75 implies potential upside of 115% in the next 12 months. (See Sol-Gel stock-price forecast on TipRanks) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

A German court on Sunday ordered Tesla Inc to stop clearing forest land near the capital Berlin to build its first European car and battery factory, a victory for local environmental activists. The U.S. electric carmaker announced plans last November to build a Gigafactory in Gruenheide in the eastern state of Brandenburg. The court ruling, by the higher administrative court of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, comes after the state environmental office gave a green light to clear 92 hectares of forest for the plant.

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The Covid-19 virus is a human tragedy for many who have been affected by it and it’s having a profound impact on the lives of a large part of the Chinese population. The impact on the rest of the world of the disease’s dislocation of the Chinese economy is yet to be fully felt. Forecasts of only a modest impact on oil demand worldwide are far too optimistic.A comparison of the latest forecasts from the world’s three big oil agencies — the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries — highlights the huge uncertainty that exists over the virus’s repercussions for oil demand. As may be expected for a body representing oil producers, OPEC sees the impact as minimal, having just cut its first-quarter forecast for global oil demand by only 400,000 barrels a day. That looks like wishful thinking. The IEA’s revision is three times as big, and if its forecast bears out, it’s deep enough to tip the world into its first year-on-year drop in demand in more than a decade.China’s own oil consumption is down sharply as factories stay closed and travel restrictions remain in place even after the extended Lunar New Year holiday comes to an end. Congestion on roads in major cities is far below normal levels. The chart below shows journey times in Shanghai, and other Chinese cities mirror that pattern. My colleagues at BloombergNEF estimate that China’s jet fuel use is now down by 240,000 barrels a day from pre-virus levels, with departures from Chinese airports down by around 80%.Pollution statistics also capture the slowdown in economic activity and fuel use — something that under different circumstances might be reason to celebrate. China’s nitrogen dioxide emissions fell 36% in the week after the holiday from the same period a year earlier, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. A slowdown of 25%-50% across industrial sectors such as oil refining, coal-fired power generation and steel production contributed to the drop, according to the independent research organization.However, even as the Covid-19 virus hits consumption, the number of very large crude carriers hauling cargoes to China has risen. That’s because independent refiners are taking advantage of the drop in crude prices to fill their storage tanks with cheap cargoes, even as they cut run rates. That’s to some extent cushioning producers now. But those stockpiles will hit future demand for crude from China’s teapot refineries, even after the immediate effect of the virus dissipates.At the same time, the Chinese government is in the process of building and filling a strategic stockpile similar to the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as it becomes ever more dependent on imported supplies. It may also be using the price drop to boost purchases for long-term storage, raising the risk that it will cut them again as prices recover, crimping demand for imported oil in the future. By contrast, China’s state-owned processors are seeking to reduce the volumes supplied under term contracts.Even with reduced refinery runs, China is producing more fuel than it needs. Exports of gasoline and diesel have soared, according to shipping intelligence firm Vortexa. But they aren’t finding ready buyers. Most of these additional fuel exports are ending up in storage tanks in Singapore amid subdued regional demand.That brings us back to concerns over just how bad the reverberations from Covid-19 will be. The China of 2020 is very different to that of 2003, and so today’s epidemic is likely to have a much bigger international impact than the SARS virus to which it is most often compared. For a start, China’s oil consumption now is more than twice what it was when SARS hit and last year the country accounted for more than three-quarters of the growth in global oil demand, according to the IEA.In the past 17 years, China has also become much more closely linked to the rest of the world economy. Chinese travelers accounted for about 20% of total spending on tourism in 2018, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, while China itself was the fourth most popular destination. The virus will effect both of those figures in 2020.The country has also become the center for producing and exporting both finished goods and components. “All the signs are that there has been a major dislocation in global supply chains,” according to Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics. For some products, “it’s only going to get worse in February data.” Lack of parts from China has already forced Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors to halt some car production temporarily in South Korea, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV plans to do the same in Serbia. Just-in-time supply chains are starting to show their fragility. There will be more to come as shipments from Chinese ports continue to suffer delays. South Korea’s government says economic impact from the virus is “unavoidable.” The impact won’t stop at South Korea.In that light, OPEC’s forecast that global oil demand will be cut by just 440,000 barrels a day in the first quarter and by 230,000 barrels a day over the year as a whole looks like wishful thinking on the part of producers. It is doing them no favors, though. A delay in reducing supplies will only make the cuts needed later even deeper.To contact the author of this story: Julian Lee at jlee1627@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg. Previously he worked as a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Democratic Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg was recently the subject of several satirical memes uploaded to Instagram. Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel breaks it down.

A manufacturing slowdown has extended to the startup space.

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is severing ties with small delivery firms around the country -- putting at least 1,300 drivers out of work -- in an effort to eliminate partners that aren’t meeting its standards.Bear Down Logistics, an Illinois company that rapidly expanded over the past two years, is shuttering operations in five states and letting go of about 400 drivers. Delivery Force, an Amazon delivery partner in Washington state, is cutting 272 drivers in Seattle and other cities. Kansas-based RCX Logistics, an Amazon delivery partner with operations in Texas, Alabama and Florida, will eliminate the jobs of more than 600 employees after losing its Amazon contract. Around the country, logistics firms are notifying state officials about facility closures and job cuts, signs that Amazon is culling the herd.The action underscores the challenges of outsourcing deliveries to new, untested companies instead of traditional partners such as United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. It also serves as a warning to Amazon delivery partners that the company is an exacting client willing to cut them off.Bear Down Logistics notified Ohio, Virginia, Minnesota and Illinois that it would close facilities in those states in April, resulting in the loss of almost 280 jobs. Another Bear Down facility near Grand Rapids, Michigan, will also close in April, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. About 120 drivers work at the Michigan facility, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity due to company policies about speaking with the media. The company also has Amazon delivery operations in Wisconsin, the status of which was not immediately clear.“We have a responsibility to our customers and the communities where we operate to ensure these partners meet our high standards for things like safety and working conditions,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in an email. “Occasionally we need to end a relationship with a partner and when this happens we are committed to helping the impacted employees find opportunities with other delivery service partners or to learn more about the thousands of available roles at Amazon delivery stations and fulfillment centers.”Bear Down Logistics, Delivery Force and RCX Logistics didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.Amazon in 2018 launched a program encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to lease vans, hire drivers and build their own businesses delivering packages to its customers. More than 800 such businesses have sprouted around the country with 75,000 drivers, helping Amazon increase delivery capacity. Amazon also has greater negotiating leverage over each small operator than it does with larger delivery partners like UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service.Drivers working for Amazon delivery partners typically earn less than their counterparts working at larger delivery companies like UPS, which helps Amazon lower costs. One driver working for Bear Down Logistics in Michigan said he earned about $15 an hour delivering Amazon packages, while UPS paid seasonal drivers doing the same work in that area about $20 an hour.A big challenge for Amazon is balancing safety with its efforts to deliver things quickly at the lowest possible cost. ProPublica in December revealed internal Amazon documents showing it prioritized speed over safety in its delivery network, which followed other investigations exposing the injuries and deaths that accompanied Amazon’s quick expansion of its delivery program.The Bear Down experience also shows how hard it is to make a go of such businesses. When Amazon courted entrepreneurs, it touted the prospects of earning $300,000 a year with as little as $10,000 in up front costs, significantly less than most franchise businesses that can cost more than $100,000 to launch.(Updated with job cuts in Florida, Texas and Alabama in the second paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Spencer Soper in Seattle at ssoper@bloomberg.net;Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net, Andrew PollackFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Guru also opens positions in 2 ETFs Continue reading...

The potential restriction on the engine sales - possibly along with limits on other components for Chinese commercial aircraft such as flight control systems made by Honeywell International Inc - is the latest move in the battle between the world's two largest economies over trade and technology. The issue is expected to come up at an interagency meeting about how strictly to limit exports of U.S. technology to China on Thursday and at another meeting with members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet set for Feb. 28, sources said. The White House and the U.S. Commerce Department, which issues licenses for such exports, declined to comment, as did a GE spokeswoman.

Pete the Planner: I owe $15,000 in credit card debt at age 69 and haven't told my husband. What should I do?

(Bloomberg) -- Investors overseeing trillions of dollars are plowing money into U.S. government debt like never before, in a wave that’s only gaining strength as the spreading coronavirus casts doubt on the global growth outlook.Evidence of the insatiable demand can be found across the fixed-income universe. Pensions, which have been ramping up bond allocations for more than a decade after a change in regulations, now hold a record amount of longer-dated Treasuries. Bond mutual funds saw a historic inflow of money last year, with no sign of a slowdown. Even hedge funds have piled in.The wall of cash is a boon to American taxpayers as the federal deficit swells. It’s keeping Treasury yields, a benchmark for global borrowing, near all-time lows. With buyers ready to pounce, even surging stocks, record auction sizes and the tightest labor market since the 1960s can barely make a dent in bond prices.“Treasuries are a resilience play that makes sense,” said Scott Thiel, chief fixed-income strategist at BlackRock Inc. “And so far, people have been rewarded for coming in and buying when yields get to the high end of the range.”Just weeks ago, global economic reflation and the seeming inevitability of higher yields were the buzz among strategists and investors. The virus’s onslaught is unraveling that narrative, which already faced skepticism from those who argue that persistently low inflation and shifting demographics will pull yields lower.“I expect the Treasury 10-year yield to fall to zero, perhaps within two years,” said Akira Takei, a global fixed-income fund manager at Asset Management One Co., which oversees more than $450 billion. “I’ve been overweight U.S. Treasuries. That’s based on my view that developed economies are facing a combination of aging demographics and falling birth rates, slow growth and low inflation.”Investors snapping up Treasuries as an insurance policy have turned the U.S. yield curve on its head. With inflation still subdued and concern mounting that the spreading illness will damage an already fragile global economy, traders have boosted bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2020. That prospect is in turn supporting equities.The appetite for debt has extended to sovereign obligations of all flavors. One example: Greek 10-year rates once near 45% slid below 1% this month. The country’s junk rating is proving little deterrent with the world’s pile of negative-yield debt climbing above $13 trillion amid the latest global bond rally.Benchmark 10-year U.S. yields have dropped to around 1.6%, from a 2020 peak of 1.94% in the first week of the year. The world’s biggest bond market has earned about 2.2% this year, after a 6.9% return in 2019 -- the best performance since 2011.“You still need a duration ballast and shock absorber,” said Con Michalakis, chief investment officer of retirement fund Statewide Superannuation Pty., which manages about $7 billion in Adelaide, Australia. “And I don’t see yields moving materially higher from here.”The likely economic hit from the virus reinforces that view. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell last week cited the outbreak as a risk. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicts it will subtract two percentage points from annualized global growth this quarter.“If the Fed is staying super-accommodative -- basically in reflation mode -- then you want to buy equities, credit and, strangely, you also want to buy Treasuries,” said Ralph Axel, an analyst at Bank of America Corp.The demand for Treasuries in some corners has been building for years. U.S. corporate pensions, for example, have been big buyers since the federal Pension Protection Act, passed in 2006.For the top 100 funds, with combined assets of more than $1.4 trillion, the fixed-income allocation surged to about 49% at the end of 2018 from 29% in 2005, as equities’ share fell by half to 31%, according to Milliman Inc., a pension and risk advisory firm. JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists estimate the debt portion topped 50% as of December.An up-to-date read on retirement funds’ demand can be seen in the record surge in Strips, which are created when Treasuries are split into principal- and interest-only securities. Pensions tend to favor these assets, which have longer duration, or sensitivity to interest-rate changes, to match the length of their liabilities.Soaring stocks are also spurring buying of bonds on price declines.U.S. public pensions, with total assets of over $4 trillion, have kept holdings steady over the past five years, at about 25% in fixed income, 50% in public equities and the rest in alternative investments, according to data from the Pew Charitable Trusts.As equities have climbed, the funds have needed to buy more debt to keep the breakdown stable, said Greg Mennis, director of public sector retirement systems at Pew.Veteran bond manager Dan Fuss says he’s been been buying Treasuries as a safety play. He points to last week’s 10-year auction as a sign that yields won’t bust higher anytime soon. A measure of demand for the $27 billion sale was the highest since March.“When you look at the bids for the 10-year notes, you’d have thought, ‘Wow, the government was giving out free ice cream’,” said Fuss, vice chairman of Loomis Sayles & Co. “There’s just more money available to invest than there’s marketable investment opportunities, and no risk of inflation at this time.”\--With assistance from Masaki Kondo and Matthew Burgess.To contact the reporters on this story: Liz Capo McCormick in New York at emccormick7@bloomberg.net;Ruth Carson in Singapore at rliew6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Purvis at bpurvis@bloomberg.net, ;Tan Hwee Ann at hatan@bloomberg.net, Mark Tannenbaum, Jenny ParisFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Friday marked a quiet day for the indices, but a loud day for earnings. That said, let's look at a few top stock trades as we head into the long holiday weekend. Top Stock Trades for Tuesday No. 1: Roku (ROKU) Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.comMan, did the trade in Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) work out well or what? After better-than-expected earnings, Roku shares gapped up into $150 resistance and have since sold off. The stock has given up all of its post-earnings gains, and then some.As it declines now, it's running into the backside of prior downtrend resistance (blue line). If it holds, look for an eventual rebound back up to $150 -- although Friday's action is quite discouraging for the bulls.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsBelow prior downtrend resistance puts the $117 to $122 area on watch, and if we get a dip into that zone, it may be an opportunity. Overall, this was a quality earnings report, and full-year guidance was solid. I would be a buyer on a dip to this level, although I acknowledge momentum has not been on Roku's side lately -- and that $100 to $110 could be on the table should this support level give way. Top Stock Trades for Tuesday No. 2: Canopy Growth (CGC) Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.comBetter-than-expected earnings didn't result in the same price action for Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC). Instead, shares are rallying more than 15% at the moment, even though the chart looks rather "blah."However, don't let Friday's modest-looking candle fool you. CGC stock avoided breaking below critical $17.50 support, while reclaiming its 50-day and 100-day moving averages. Those marks, along with the recent February lows, are now critical support points on the chart. Below them, and $17.50 is back on the table.On the upside, let's see if CGC can again challenge the $25 level. Above puts the declining 200-day moving average on the table. Top Stock Trades for Tuesday No. 3: Virgin Galactic (SPCE) Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.comI flagged Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) back in late December when shares were looking to break out over $12. Now hitting $28 on Friday, this one has made a killer move to the upside.I have not wanted to fight this one, simply because these types of big moves are possible. Those who have missed out, but want to try a long in SPCE, may find some luck by waiting for a test-and-hold of the 10-day moving average. That's been support since the January breakout.Below puts short-term uptrend support (blue line) on the table, followed by $20 -- a key breakout mark earlier this month. Above Friday's high, though, and $30-plus is on the table. Top Stock Trades for Tuesday No. 4: Yeti (YETI) Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.comYeti (NYSE:YETI) stock is down 5% after disappointing earnings, as the breakout earlier this month failed to gain traction. We highlighted this setup, but emphasized that if shares broke below the breakout mark near $37, then traders need to cut ties with it and stop out.Now down to $32.50, that discipline is paying off. Aggressive bulls may consider Yeti stock a buy now. The 100-day moving average is buoying the share price, while uptrend support (blue line) has been in play for months now.A bounce puts the 50-day moving average back on the table, and a move above that puts $36 to $37 resistance on the table. Below the 100-day moving average and uptrend support, however, and the 200-day moving average is possible.Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long ROKU. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Exciting Stocks to Buy for Aggressive Investors * 20 Stocks to Buy From the Law of Accelerating Returns * 7 U.S. Stocks to Buy on Coronavirus Weakness The post 4 Top Stock Trades for Tuesday:Â ROKU, CGC, SPCE, YETI appeared first on InvestorPlace.

In the Virgin Islands, a Bulgarian movie star’s castle on a hill could be restored to its former glory, if it finds a buyer willing to drop $10 million.

It’s a good time to be a homebuyer and seller of luxury real estate market in New York City.

Fentanyl in the form of a highly lethal, synthetic opioid that’s been making its way through the U.S. over the last decade. The largest source of this illicit drug is China.

It’s a busy week ahead, with private sector PMI numbers likely to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on economies. Falling cases should soften the blow, however.

CNBC reporting that The White House is considering tax incentives so more U.S. households can invest in stocks. Yahoo Finance's Jen Rogers, Myles Udland, and Brian Sozzi discuss on The Final Round.

Greenlight wraps up 2019 with gains weighed down by losses in short positions Continue reading...

New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Sunday the state will not appeal a judge's approval of the $40 billion merger between U.S. wireless carriers T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp .

Yahoo Finance's Myles Udland highlights the stories that will make headlines next week on The Final Round.

(Bloomberg) -- It’s that time of the bull market again, when everyone decides things beyond the realm of rationality have taken over in equities. Demand is brisk for an account of all the ways investors have lost their minds.Concern is normal whenever the market is buoyant. When it’s 11 years into a massive rally and share values soar by $1 trillion in two weeks, skeptics come out of the woodwork. Records keep falling -- the S&P 500 is setting one every 2 1/2 days -- while valuations fatten. It’s enough to make the staunchest bull wonder about a reckoning.Dread is a natural human reaction to a market that appears to have inured itself to bad news. A global health panic, flat-lining economies in Europe, inverting bond yields -- none has restrained the S&P 500, which is up eight of the last 10 days and 15 of 19 weeks. Forty days into 2020 and a third of the Nasdaq 100 is already up 10% -- the list goes on.Maybe it’s a bad look to complain when stocks surge. Yet lately it seems half of Wall Street must go on twitter to protest each time the S&P 500 rises 1% or Tesla Inc. spikes. For a rundown of all the stuff they say make this leg of the advance untenable, read on.Theory No. 1The stock market has ceased to be a report card on the broad health of American commerce and is instead being hijacked by four or five monopoly-like companies that basically can’t keep rising.Wealth concentration in the market is well documented. Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., and Facebook Inc. now make up 18% of the S&P 500, a record. Combined, they account for half of the S&P 500’s gain this year, and one-fifth of its 400% rise since March 2009. When they break, so will everything else.It may be sooner than you think, too, with regulators stepping up scrutiny. This week, the Federal Trade Commission issued orders to the five companies for information on past acquisitions. Even that couldn’t keep them from rallying.The counterargument is that concentration is always present. In 2020, it’s Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. In 1990, the top three S&P constituents -- Exxon Mobil Corp., IBM Corp. and General Electric Co. -- accounted for 8% of the S&P. In 1980, IBM, Exxon and AT&T Inc. made up 12%, data compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices show.“Tech has run up quite a bit but it’s not as worrisome as it’s been in the past,” says Jeff Zipper, managing director at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management. “From a valuation standpoint, we still like it.”By the way, as big as the Fang stocks are, the S&P 500’s weighting methodology is not the reason for its success over the years. Since bottoming in 2009, an equal-weighted version of the benchmark has returned 605% including dividends. That’s 80 points more than the classic market-cap weighted index.Theory No. 2The stock market has ceased to be a report card on the broad health of American commerce and instead is being manipulated by the Federal Reserve.Easy money and plentiful liquidity are the market’s drug, and when they’re taken away, withdrawal will be rough. Financial conditions are historically loose and monetary policy accommodative, and now the central bank is pumping billions of dollars worth of liquidity into financial markets to keep short-term funding markets tame.No doubt Fed largess has played a role throughout the bull market. What’s worrying people now is the Fed’s efforts to prop up the repo market by buying billions of dollars of Treasury bills, which Chair Jerome Powell is at pains to categorize as unstimulative. Still, one strategist says every percentage point increase in the Fed’s balance sheet has corresponded with a 1% gain in the stock market.“There’s tons of liquidity out there, it’s driving the market higher,” Shawn Matthews, the chief investment officer of Hondius Capital Management and former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO, told Bloomberg Television. “People will always look for the extra 3 to 5% at the top. I would rather let someone else take it and move on.”Just as many find the theory preposterous. Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, told “QE conspiracists” on twitter that he doesn’t see the connection. Dennis DeBusschere, Evercore ISI’s head of portfolio strategy, says the relationship between changes in the Fed’s balance sheet and the S&P 500 is near zero, and the latest stock rally is consistent with improving economic data and earnings.“This can go on until it doesn’t -- the expansion here can continue,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA. “I don’t think investing in this equity market at this point is crazy. We still have good fundamentals supporting these equity prices.”Theory No. 3The stock market has ceased to be a report card on the broad health of American commerce and is more like a perpetual-motion experiment fueled by self-fulfilling deposits into passive funds.It’s a theory you hear a lot: that exchange-traded funds and other index products are fueling a bubble. ETFs from industry titans like Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock Inc. cost next to nothing to trade, are diversified similar to mutual funds, but are easier to jump in and out.In August, assets in passively managed U.S. equity funds exceeded actively managed competitors for the first time in history. Already in 2020, mutual funds have fallen behind their passive competitors by a distance that will be hard to make up.“After a big gain, you’ll see investors piling in and the momentum continues because of the fact that they say, ‘I may have missed out last year and it looks like it’s really running so I better get more money into equity markets,” said TIAA’s Gaffney. “Momentum, especially ETFs and index-type funds, have an impact.”While the influence of passive money is rising, one should be prudent in blaming ETFs for the market’s problems. More than $3.6 trillion is invested across 1,600 U.S.-listed equity ETFs, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s a lot, but it’s still about 12% of the market cap of the S&P 500.Investors put $161 billion into U.S. equity exchange-traded funds in 2019, the smallest inflow in seven years, as the S&P 500 gained 28% in the same time -- its best year in six. An August 2018 study by Federal Reserve staffers listed the verdict as “unclear” and evidence “mixed” as to whether inclusion in indexes was likely to raise a stock’s beta, a measure of systemic risk.“When you get into a market that’s driven by momentum plays and passive money, you can’t help but think that if the rally gets excessive, these factors set things up for a spill,” said Marshall Front, the chief investment officer at Front Barnett Associates in Chicago. “But does it mean you should sell your stocks and run away? Maybe fundamentals aren’t as strong as you wished, but they’re improving.”\--With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine.To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Ponczek in New York at sponczek2@bloomberg.net;Elena Popina in New York at epopina@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Chris NagiFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Tiger cub’s firm takes a stake in PayPal and Google-parent Alphabet Continue reading...

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin spoke at ETHDenver in Colorado on Saturday.The post Vitalik Buterin talks Ethereum 2.0, DeFi, and community at ETHDenver appeared first on The Block.

(Bloomberg) -- The broad policy direction for many of the world’s central banks and governments now hinges on one question: how will the Chinese government respond to the economic shock caused by the coronavirus?The Communist Party’s elite Politburo has urged the nation to meet its economic targets this year, an imperative that could shake the government’s recent reluctance to fire up large-scale stimulus.If it translates into an all-out loosening of monetary policy and a ramp up in government spending, key trading partners that have been slammed by the hit to exports, supply chains, commodities and tourism may see short-term pain followed by a rapid snap back.The economic shock is expected to dominate discussions at this week’s meeting of finance ministers and central bankers at a Group of 20 summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Friday suggested there may be a need for “synchronized or, even better, coordinated measures to protect the world economy.”Much depends on which levers China pulls. Near-term options include further cuts to central bank funding rates and more tax relief to hard-hit sectors as well as flush liquidity for the financial system. The emphasis for now remains on not over-doing it, though there are signs the resolve is softening.The People’s Bank of China could further cut the proportion of deposits banks must hold as reserves. Local governments are being allowed to speed up bond sales to fund infrastructure like highways and health facilities.Economists from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to UBS Group AG and BNP Paribas SA see more easing steps ahead.Real gross domestic product is now forecast to grow 5.8% this year, according to the median result in a Bloomberg survey, down from 5.9% last month. That would be the weakest in three decades.The unknown is whether officials will really relax their rigid clampdown on borrowing in an economy where total debt is heading toward 300% of national output, making financial stability a political priority.“The key for China’s trading partners is not so much the composition of China’s stimulus but, rather, that the stimulus is tailored to reflect the features of the shock.” said Nathan Sheets, a former Fed official who is now chief economist for PGIM Fixed Income.China’s factories are vital links in the supply chains for multinational companies. Hubei province, an industrial powerhouse with an economy the size of Sweden’s, remains in lock-down while a mix of curbs on factory production and travel remain in place elsewhere too, complicating the task of getting the economy back up to speed.China EffectHSBC Bank Plc economists led by Janet Henry estimate the hit to tourism revenue will be the biggest drag on Asia. They also highlight China’s role at the center of the global supply chain for electronics will delay a nascent recovery after a prolonged slump.The Asia-focused lender has cut its 2020 global GDP forecast to 2.3% from 2.5% on the back of the China effect.Analysis by Tom Orlik at Bloomberg Economics shows that Australia, South Korea, Japan Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand are among the most exposed in the region while Brazil, Germany and South Africa are high up the list of global vulnerability.President Xi Jinping has stressed the hit to growth will be short term and has used opportunities like a half hour phone call with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to assure the fallout will be contained.One worry: Because China is experiencing a supply side shock that’s upended production and distribution, a conventional stimulus such as lower interest rates or higher public spending may not be enough to turn things around, according to former IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard.“The effects on the rest of the world are likely to be mostly through the disruption of supply chains, and the effect on firms outside of China,” Blanchard said. “Much more so than the effect through lower exports to China, because of lower growth in China.”Governments across Asia are already gearing up to respond.Koichi Hamada, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said more fiscal stimulus will be needed if the fall out worsens.Singapore is poised to roll out extra spending, Malaysia will announce stimulus next month, while Indonesia plans faster spending.Globally, policy makers including the IMF’s Georgieva Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell say they are closely watching the virus fallout. Among emerging markets, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines have already cut their benchmarks and others may follow.Which is why there’s so much focus on how China responds.“I would guess the global policy response will be 3/4 on Beijing and 1/4 by the rest of the world,” said Gene Ma, head of China research at the Institute of International Finance.To contact the reporter on this story: Enda Curran in Hong Kong at ecurran8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Malcolm Scott at mscott23@bloomberg.net, Enda CurranFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Make sure you're not in for a surprise when you retire.

It’s been a choppy weekend, with Bitcoin giving up on $10,000 to bring down the pack. A move through to $10,100 levels would deliver support.

Shares of Kroger popped in after-hours trade on Friday, on news that Berkshire Hathaway added nearly nineteen million shares of the grocery store chain, while reducing its stake in Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America. The Final Round panel discusses the details.

"And everyone might be running the same race, but we have all very different starting points," J2 Global's Vivek Shah told Yahoo Finance.

A federal appeals court on Friday struck down the Trump administration’s approval of work requirements in the Arkansas Medicaid program, delivering a serious blow to the effort to impose more stringent rules for participation in the country’s primary health care program for the poor.Upholding a lower court decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled unanimously that the Department of Health and Human Services lacked the authority to approve work requirements, and that Trump administration officials had been “arbitrary and capricious” in allowing Arkansas to impose such requirements two years ago. The opinion was written by Senior U.S. Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle, a Reagan appointee.Arkansas was the first state to receive permission to deploy Medicaid work requirements, which oblige aid recipients to work, volunteer or attend school for a certain number of hours each month in order to remain in the program. The Trump administration has now approved work requirements in 10 states, some of which have paused their efforts pending litigation. Nine other states are seeking approval.Here’s what you need to know:The court found that the Trump administration disregarded the purpose of Medicaid: The court affirmed that the primary purpose of Medicaid is to provide medical care to the needy, saying that it “is indisputably correct that the principal objective of Medicaid is providing health care coverage.” When it comes to making changes in the program, the court said that the secretary of Health and Human Services “is guided by the statutory directive that the demonstration must be ‘likely to assist in promoting the objectives’ of Medicaid.”The Trump administration has attempted to justify the work requirements by referring to an alternative set of objectives, arguing that they would help people become healthier and financially independent. The court said those goals “are not consistent with Medicaid” and declared that the “text of the statute includes one primary purpose, which is providing health care coverage without any restriction geared to healthy outcomes, financial independence or transition to commercial coverage.”The court said the work requirements have harmed recipients: “The record shows that the Arkansas Works amendments resulted in significant coverage loss,” Judge Sentelle wrote. “In Arkansas, more than 18,000 people (about 25% of those subject to the work requirement) lost coverage as a result of the project in just five months.”The court criticized the Trump administration’s decision-making process: The judges were critical of Trump administration health care officials, including the HHS secretary, finding that they had failed to consider the potential loss in medical coverage that would result from the work requirements, despite warnings about such losses that emerged in comments during the public review process.“Failure to consider whether the project will result in coverage loss is arbitrary and capricious,” Sentelle said. “In total, the Secretary’s analysis of the substantial and important problem is to note the concerns of others and dismiss those concerns in a handful of conclusory sentences. Nodding to concerns raised by commenters only to dismiss them in a conclusory manner is not the hallmark of reasoned decisionmaking,” the ruling says.Critics claim a decisive victory: Critics of work requirements for recipients of public aid have long held that such efforts are thinly veiled attempts to prevent needy people from getting help they are legally entitled to receive. Sam Brooke, deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which challenged the work rules, said the “court confirmed that this administration’s effort to ‘explode’ Medicaid by converting it from a health care access program to a work program is arbitrary and illegal.”What comes next: Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan, said he expects all efforts to enforce state-level Medicaid work requirements to be suspended unless and until the Supreme Court reviews the case. “The Trump administration will probably appeal this decision to the Supreme Court, but it's hard to make a case for special urgency, especially since it's trying to slow-roll the constitutional challenge to the [Affordable Care Act],” Bagley wrote Friday. “So if the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case -- and I think it probably will -- we're talking about an argument sometime in the fall or winter, followed by a decision in late spring of 2021.”Like what you're reading? Sign up for our free newsletter.

The majors find support after Saturday’s sell-off. Failure to hit key levels, however, could deliver another crypto meltdown.

Business World: Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is spending enormous sums of money in an effort to win over Democratic Party elites. Image: Melissa Gerrits/Getty Images

(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson’s regime change at the Treasury could herald yet more tweaks to the rules that keep Britain’s budgets in check.The shock resignation of Sajid Javid as chancellor of the exchequer last week robbed the new Conservative government of a fiscal hawk who moderated the big spending ambitions of the most powerful prime minister since Tony Blair.His successor, Rishi Sunak, must now work out with Johnson whether to stick to the budget limits set by Javid or, as many now expect, open the spending taps to charge up the economy as Britain embarks on life outside the European Union.If he does, the new chancellor may need to foster credibility among investors with a new version of the more than a dozen fiscal rules introduced since 1997. Most of those have been broken or scrapped by Conservative administrations publicly committed to prudence.Even before Javid quit following a row with Johnson weeks before he was due to deliver his first budget, doubts were growing that the prime minister could keep to his promise to balance day-to-day government spending and revenue.Bloomberg Economics puts the chance of the current budget staying in surplus in three years at little more than 30%. The Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to follow the Bank of England and downgrade its growth forecasts next month.The risk is that Sunak goes for a Donald Trump-style stimulus, ditching the surplus goal to boost spending or cut taxes, or augmenting already ambitious infrastructure investment plans.What Our Economists Say:“That would open the door to a more sizable fiscal loosening which, if delivered, would provide upside risks to both growth and inflation while making it less likely the Bank of England cuts rates this year to support the economy.”Dan Hanson, Bloomberg Economics. Click here for full analysisJohnson’s Conservative Party promised to cut debt, keep public sector net investment below 3% of GDP and not borrow for day-to-day spending in its manifesto for the December general election. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Sunday that those pledges will still be the “guiding principle” behind Sunak’s plans.“Our manifesto commitments are our commitments and we absolutely intend to stick to those,” Shapps told BBC TV, but “the budget will be the moment” for the chancellor to lay out his specific plans. Shapps couldn’t say if the budget will still be held on March 11, as Javid had proposed.For years, the lodestar of fiscal policy in Britain has been an ever-changing set of fiscal rules.In 1997, then Chancellor Gordon Brown sought to convince investors that a Labour government could be trusted with the public finances by promising to balance the budget excluding investment over the economic cycle. That watery target led to multiple changes to the definition of “investment” and the length of the cycle.The rules were suspended, along with a commitment to stable and prudent debt levels, when the financial crisis struck.Missed TargetsGeorge Osborne, for the Conservatives, introduced three sets of rules from 2010. His first, to eliminate the structural deficit within five years, was derailed by Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and replaced with a rolling-three year target.His third goal was to return the budget to an outright surplus by 2020, but Osborne conceded that the target was unlikely to be met after the 2016 Brexit referendum delivered a jolt to the economy.Instead, Britain is on course for a deficit of around 40 billion pounds ($52 billion) in the current fiscal year. Osborne also breached pledges on debt reduction and welfare spending.His successor, Philip Hammond, was set to achieve his goal of keeping the structural deficit below 2% of GDP in 2020-21, until accounting changes and a 13 billion-pound spending boost announced by Javid drove up government borrowing. His ambition to balance the books by the mid-2020s was always in doubt.Johnson is trying to cement support among working-class voters in northern England and the Midlands who backed the Conservatives for the first time in the general election. Much of the extra 20 billion pounds of capital spending allowed under existing rules may be directed at these regions, financed with debt at record-low interest rates.His big spending promises set Britain apart from the rest of Europe, where governments aren’t rushing to do more to spur growth and inflation as monetary policy reaches its limits.“We are in an environment, much more than five years ago, where people are asking if you can run quite large fiscal deficits on a sustained basis,” said Adair Turner, chairman of the Institute of New Economic Thinking. “Even if you’re sympathetic to that point of view, there has to be a limit somewhere.”It also marks a departure for the U.K. Tory party, which has prided itself on a reputation for fiscal discipline. When the Conservatives came to power after the financial crisis, the budget deficit stood at over 10% of economic output. Now it is less 2% after almost a decade of cuts to everything from pay and welfare benefits to policing and local libraries.(Updates with Shapps comments starting from 8th paragraph)\--With assistance from Samuel Dodge.To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Atkinson in London at a.atkinson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Craig Stirling, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

The head of publisher Bertelsmann said its TV arm RTL should be allowed to merge with German rival ProSiebenSat.1 , to give them a fighting chance against U.S. streaming giants. Thomas Rabe's comments - in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung published on Sunday - come as European broadcasters explore ways to join forces against the onslaught from established players Netflix and Amazon Prime that are now being joined by Disney and Apple. "Otherwise, national companies will simply have no chance in a few years against the giants from Silicon Valley," added the Bertelsmann boss, who took personal charge over its largest unit RTL last year.

Despite all of the promises for the Canadian cannabis space entering 2020, Aurora Cannabis (ACB) reported one of the worst quarters in the space and the lack of financial discipline has to question where the reorganization will work until new executive leadership joins the company.EBITDA Loss DoublesThe most alarming number reported for the December quarter was the doubling of the adjusted EBITDA loss. Companies can’t always control revenues, especially in an emerging market with volatile regulations, but any particular company can control expenses.Aurora Cannabis reported a C$80 million EBITDA loss in the quarter, up from $40 million in the prior quarter. The main culprit was operating expenses surging C$20 million sequentially to over C$106 million.In no logical way should the company have ramped expenses knowing that Cannabis 2.0 products were set to disappoint. The vape health issue was a big concern in North America and the lack of retail stores in both Ontario and Quebec was logically going to restrict any major revenue boost from these products, yet Aurora Cannabis spent wildly.Too Many Questions RemainInvestors really have to ponder how Aurora Cannabis is going to cut operating expenses to only C$40 million to C$45 million per quarter. The company is forecasting a cut of above C$60 million from the December quarter levels, but the discussion centered on only eliminating 500 corporate positions.For FQ2, Aurora Cannabis spent C$71 million alone on general and administration expenses. The company has to eliminate over C$26 million from this category alone while completely wiping out sales and marketing and research and development.The numbers don’t logically add up to how a company can cut 60% of operating expenses and still maintain the existing revenue levels. Aurora Cannabis still forecasts FQ3 revenues staying generally flat with the C$63 million net cannabis revenues in the last quarter.So many moving parts aren’t supportive of the company maintaining the existing revenue base. Investors need to remember the existing interim CEO and CFO were executives in charge during the disastrous 2019 year. The company just announced a shift to higher THC products and the introduction of a value brand called Daily Specials. In both cases, investors have to question whether the company is skating towards the market or whether the market will again shift on this executive team.The large cannabis company burned C$276 million in cash during the quarter. Both the C$135 million burned on operations and the C$131 million burned on investing activities during the quarter were appalling. The company has far too many questions on liquidity and a lack of financial discipline to warrant an investment here.Consensus VerdictThe market’s current view on ACB is a mixed bag, indicating uncertainty as to its prospects. The stock has a Hold analyst consensus rating with only 3 recent "buy" ratings. This is versus 10 "hold" and 4 "sell" ratings. However, the $2.41 average price target suggests an upside potential of nearly 50% from the current share price. (See Aurora Cannabis stock analysis on TipRanks)TakeawayThe key investor takeaway is that Aurora Cannabis has a Canadian market with a lot of positive catalysts to play out in 2020, but the company lacks the financial discipline for an investment. The stock trades at $1.50 for a reason and the lack of new executive leadership makes Aurora Cannabis too big of a gamble to buy on any weakness. Investors should prepare for the company to struggle with the massive cuts to the operations spilling over into weak revenues.To find good ideas for cannabis stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.Disclosure: No position.

(Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. piled funds into biotechnology company Biogen Inc. and supermarket operator Kroger Co. as it trimmed some of its bank wagers in the last few months of 2019.Berkshire’s Kroger investment, which totaled $549 million at the end of the year, was disclosed more than a year after Buffett’s conglomerate sold off its stake in retailing giant Walmart Inc. The company also built a $192 million stake in Biogen while trimming its stakes in Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp., according to a regulatory filing Friday.Kroger shares surged in late trading, with the stock up 5.6% to $29.81 at 4:59 p.m. in New York. Buffett’s company is wagering on a business that’s trying to navigate a shifting retail landscape, with challenges from online grocery companies and discounters including Walmart, a company that Berkshire eventually exited in 2018.Biogen stock also climbed, rising 1.6% to $338.40 after Berkshire disclosed its holding. The Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate hasn’t historically been a big investor in the biotechnology industry, although the company already owns a stake in pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.Both the Biogen and Kroger stakes are small in comparison with some of Berkshire’s biggest bets. The company’s Apple Inc. holding, which was cut 1.5% in the fourth quarter, was valued at $72 billion at the end of the year.Buffett’s company has been trimming its stakes in some major lenders to try to avoid crossing a 10% ownership threshold that often draws regulatory scrutiny. He was closer to that level with Wells Fargo and Bank of America, but holds a stake of only about 3.4% in Goldman Sachs.Here’s some other key takeaways from Berkshire’s 13F:Berkshire disclosed two new exchange-traded fund holdings, in Vanguard S&P 500 ETF and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust. The bets were small investments, totaling $25 million across both.Buffett’s company ramped up its bet on Occidental Petroleum Corp., bringing that investment to $780 million. Berkshire also owns preferred stock in the oil producer, which Buffett obtained as part of a deal to help Occidental in its pursuit of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.Berkshire also increased its stakes in furnishings retailer RH, Suncor Energy Inc. and General Motors Co.For more on Hedge Funds Fourth-Quarter Investments in 13F Filings, click here for our TOPLive blog.(Updates with more information on bank investments starting in second paragraph, Kroger and Biogen shares starting in third paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Chiglinsky in New York at kchiglinsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Daniel Taub, Lananh NguyenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) -- The illness of an 83-year-old U.S. cruise-line traveler with the coronavirus has raised concern as more than 2,200 passengers and crew head home after being trapped at sea for almost two weeks.The first coronavirus death outside Asia, a Chinese tourist in France, and new cases in Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia suggest no let up in the outbreak.The UN’s top doctor warned the virus is unpredictable as he called for nations to get all units of government involved.Key DevelopmentsChina’s total people affected: 66,492; deaths: 1,523WHO says virus path ‘impossible to predict’Westerdam passengers blocked from leaving MalaysiaU.S. senators urge emergency funding for responseEurope Suffers First Virus Death as Fatalities Move Beyond AsiaU.S. plans to evacuate Americans on board the Diamond Princess cruise shipU.K. releases eight of nine infected patientsLocking People Up to Stop Virus Spread Could Prompt Legal FightsClick VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the novel coronavirus and here for maps and charts. For analysis of the impact from Bloomberg Economics, click here.WHO Chief Urges Broader Response (3:45 p.m. NY)World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged the international community on Saturday to make their response to the coronavirus government-wide.“This is not a job for health ministers alone. It takes a whole-of-government approach,” he said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference. “That approach must be coherent and coordinated, guided by evidence and public health priorities.”The WHO chief again praised China, saying the steps taken by the Beijing government are encouraging.“China has bought the world time. We don’t know how much time,” he said. “We’re encouraged that outside China, we have not yet seen widespread community transmission.”Liner Passengers Can’t Leave Malaysia (2:45 p.m. NY)Some passengers from the Westerdam luxury liner were blocked from leaving Malaysia after an 83-year-old U.S. woman from the ship tested positive for the coronavirus, the Dutch RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said by phone.The travelers who left when the ship docked in Cambodia and headed to Malaysia were denied boarding an Amsterdam-bound flight from Kuala Lumpur, according to the Dutch foreign ministry. Two were Dutch citizens, both RIVM and the foreign ministry said. They remained in Malaysia, along with a group of Dutch citizens that may have had contact with the infected woman, who also remains in the country. The RIVM estimates 11 people weren’t able to board.Holland America, which operates the liner, on Saturday said everyone on the ship was tested on Feb. 10 and none had an elevated temperature, and during the cruise “no indication” of the coronavirus was evident.The ship with more than 2,200 passengers and crew was allowed by Cambodia to dock in the port city of Sihanoukville on Friday after being turned away by countries including Japan and Thailand over fears it harbored the coronavirus. The company said 236 customers and 747 crew remained on the ship on Saturday after many took charter flights to Phnom Penh to start trips home.A number of Dutch citizens are home and will be monitored daily by local authorities. The Holland America line ship had 91 Dutch passengers, a spokesman for the RIVM said.Democrats Urge Extra U.S. Virus Funds (12:30 p.m. NY)The Trump administration was “strongly urged” by Senate Democrats to seek emergency funding to fight the coronavirus, and in a letter released Saturday they criticized officials for not being forthcoming about the costs of U.S. action.A decision this month by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to shift $136 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other units showed a “need for more resources,” senators led by Patty Murray of Washington state wrote to the White House, even as administration officials “continue to assert that there are already sufficient resources.”Emergency funding would cover states’ costs to implement federal orders such as travel screening and quarantines, the lawmakers said.Ship Passengers to Be Isolated in U.S. (11:30 a.m. NY)The approximately 400 U.S. citizens aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess in Japan, who are to be evacuated by the State Department, will be housed separately from other Americans who earlier returned from China and are under 14-day isolation orders.The ship’s passengers will be screened for the coronavirus before they leave the ship in Yokohama, before takeoff, during the flight and when they land at Travis Air Force Base in California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday. Screening will continue for passengers transferred to Lackland base in Texas.Canada Sends 3 to Diamond Princess (11 a.m. NY)Canada’s Public Health Agency is sending three officials to assess the situation on Carnival Corp.’s Diamond Princess, quarantined in Yokohama, as more passengers are diagnosed with the coronavirus. The ship is the largest infection cluster outside China.Global Affairs Canada is working with Japan to determine next steps, spokesperson Barbara Harvey said in an email on Saturday.Some 3,500 people are on the ship. An additional 67 cases have been found, the Japanese health minister said, pushing total infections to almost 300.Westerdam Passenger Has Virus (9:55 a.m. NY)An 83-year-old U.S. citizen has been diagnosed with the coronavirus after traveling on the Westerdam, a Holland America Line ship that finally docked in Cambodia after being spurned by multiple countries.The woman and her husband were among 145 passengers who flew to Malaysia on Friday, the country’s health ministry said in a statement. She was found with symptoms and sent to a hospital where she’s in isolation in stable condition. Her 85-year-old husband tested negative but placed under observation.The Westerdam, a luxury liner, arrived in Sihanoukville early Thursday with more than 2,200 passengers and crew.Virus Path ‘Impossible to Predict’ (9:45 a.m. NY)All nations must be ready to handle coronavirus cases and prepared to prevent further transmission, according to the head of the World Health Organization.“It’s impossible to predict what direction this epidemic will take,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement at the Munich Security Conference.“We’re concerned by the continued increase of the number of cases in China,” he added, saying there has been a “lack of urgency” from the international community in funding a response.“Most of all, we’re concerned about the potential havoc this virus could wreak in countries with weaker health systems,” Tedros said. “We must use the window of opportunity we have to intensify our preparedness.”U.K. Releases All But One Patient (8:30 a.m. NY)The U.K. discharged all but one of the nine patients being treated for the coronavirus after twice testing negative, the government said Saturday. A center in Milton Keynes, north of London, still has 100 people, the NHS said.All 94 people being kept in in quarantine in Wirral after returning from China also have been released, according to the statement.5 New Singapore Cases (8 a.m. NY)Singapore confirmed five new cases of the coronavirus, all linked to previous cases, the Ministry of Health said Saturday, increasing the total people infected to 72.Epidemic Poses ‘Severe Challenges’ to China (6:44 a.m. NY)“The epidemic has posed a severe challenge to China’s economic and social development,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the Munich Security Conference. “Nonetheless, the difficulties will be temporary and short-lived. With its strong resilience and vitality, the Chinese economy is well-positioned to overcome all risks and challenges. The fundamentals sustaining sound economic growth have not changed and will not change.”Death in France First From Disease in Europe (6:15 p.m. HK)An 80-year-old Chinese tourist died in Paris, becoming the first fatality of the coronavirus in Europe, France’s health ministry said. The man’s daughter, 50, was also infected and remains in a hospital in Paris. There are now 10 remaining cases in France and four of those have been released from hospital after recovering from the virus, Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said on Saturday.China is Testing Vaccines on Animals (5 p.m. HK)China is testing some vaccines against the coronavirus on animals, Zhang Xinmin, an official with the science and technology ministry, said at a press conference on Saturday. Vaccine research has been given top priority by the central government and the ministry has coordinated with several departments to find a solution.Earlier, China said it’s administering its centuries-old traditional medicine along with Western medicines on patients affected by the coronavirus disease. Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM as the method is called, was applied on more than half of confirmed cases in Hubei. To read the full story, click here.Why Reports of Drugs for Coronavirus Are Premature: QuickTakeU.S. to Evacuate Citizens from Diamond Princess (4 p.m. HK)The State Department will evacuate its citizens and their families from the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship that’s been quarantined in Japan, the American embassy in Japan said. The ship is the largest infection cluster outside China, with an additional 67 cases reported on Saturday.Chartered aircraft will bring American passengers and crew back to the U.S., where they will be quarantined for two weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the liner has appropximately 400 U.S. citizens.To read the full story, click here.Isolation in Beijing (3:30 p.m. HK)The city of more than 21 million residents told people to quarantine themselves at home for two weeks in the latest attempt to keep the deadly coronavirus from spreading. New arrivals should stay at home for observation for 14 days because it’s sometimes unclear to authorities which provinces they may have visited or transited in, He Qinghua, an official with the ministry of public health, told reporters. He did not specify who exactly the quarantine would apply to.To read full story, click here.Lunar New Year Travel Market Plunged (3:15 p.m. HK)Air, rail and road travel market got slammed during the peak Lunar New Year season as fears about the spreading coronavirus prompted people to abandon trips.Passenger travel would likely fall 45% on-year during the 40-day travel season that ends Feb. 18, the transport ministry said. Between Jan 25. and Feb. 14, airlines carried an average of 470,000 people a day, only a quarter of last year’s volume. Passengers from Feb. 15-23 were only a tenth of the peak period.Read full story here.Cash is Quarantined Too (1:45 p.m. HK)China cut off the transfer and allocation of old bank notes across provinces, and between cities most affected by the deadly outbreak, according to Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China. The central bank also ramped up measures to sanitize old money to reduce contagion risks and added 600 billion yuan ($85.9 billion) of new cash for Hubei, the epicenter of the coronavirus, he said.WHO is Arriving in Beijing (1:30 p.m. HK)The World Health Organization and other international experts will arrive in Beijing this weekend. They will visit three provinces and cities to learn about virus protection and control measures and will make suggestions, the National Health Commission said on its website.PBOC Says Virus Won’t Cause Large Price Increases (11:44 a.m. HK)The virus outbreak is putting pressure on price stability because production has been delayed, but it won’t lead to large-scale inflationary pressures, China’s central bank said.The People’s Bank of China’s stance is unchanged and it will maintain prudent monetary policy, Deputy Governor Fan Yifei said in Beijing Saturday. The central bank is confident the effects of the outbreak can be dealt with, and the economy can be kept stable, according to a statement released before the briefing.New Zealand Extends Travel Restrictions (9:45 a.m. HK)New Zealand said temporary restrictions on travel from China have been extended for a further eight days, calling it “a precautionary approach” and a matter of public health. The country is preventing foreign nationals traveling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering, and the position will be reviewed every 48 hours.Most Critical Time, says Health Commission Official (9:15 a.m. HK)China is entering the most critical time in its fight to contain the spreading coronavirus, Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health Commission, said during a televised briefing from Wuhan. While Wang didn’t elaborate on the comment, outside of Hubei, the number of new confirmed cases have declined for the past 10 days, according to Liang Wannian, an expert at the NHC. Several other provinces have sent 217 medical teams to Wuhan as of Feb. 14, Wang said.Apple to Reopen Shanghai Store (9 a.m. HK)Apple Inc. would open one of the seven stores it has in Shanghai starting today, according to a company statement. The maker of iPhones had earlier said it will reopen stores in Beijing, according to an earlier announcement.Trump Says Xi ‘Working Very Hard’ (5 a.m. HK)President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping is “working very hard” on controlling the outbreak.“It’s a tremendous problem. But they’re very capable and they’ll get to it,” Trump said at a Washington event Friday with Border Patrol agents, noting he has spoken with Xi.Of Americans with the virus, “many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape,” he said.Wuhan Sharply Tightens Lockdown of Residents (1 p.m. NY)Wuhan tightened its quarantine on residents and said people will be confined to their neighborhoods except to seek medical care, work to fight the outbreak or keep vital services going. Wuhan has opened quarantine centers to house thousands of patients and others with symptoms, and Hubei province, where the city is located, has announced thousands of new cases a day, according to a statement.Wuhan residents will now be allowed to leave residential compounds only for medical care. Other cities that have put lockdowns in place have allowed people to leave every few days to buy food. Neighborhoods will be barricaded off to keep people from getting in or out, and non-residents won’t be able to enter neighborhoods that aren’t theirs.Researchers Publish New Images of the Virus (9:54 a.m. NY)U.S. researchers published new images of the coronavirus, some of the most detailed visuals yet of the pathogen.The images were released Thursday by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. They were made with scanning and transmission electron microscopes.To see more of the images, click here.\--With assistance from Pavel Alpeyev, Chelsea Mes, Yinan Zhao, Niu Shuping, Iain Rogers, Michael Bellusci and Wout Vergauwen.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Jing Yang in Shanghai at jyang251@bloomberg.net;Dong Lyu in Beijing at dlyu3@bloomberg.net;Steve Geimann in Washington at sgeimann@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Anand KrishnamoorthyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said airline passengers who want to recline their seats should ask the person behind them if it's okay. He said personally he does not recline his seat. Bastian's comments come as the lightning rod debate pitting recliners versus non-recliners on airplanes hit a new fevered pitch this past week […]

The potential restriction on the engine sales - possibly along with limits on other components for Chinese commercial aircraft such as flight control systems made by Honeywell International Inc - is the latest move in the battle between the world's two largest economies over trade and technology. The issue is expected to come up at an interagency meeting about how strictly to limit exports of U.S. technology to China on Thursday and at another meeting with members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet set for Feb. 28, sources said. The White House and the U.S. Commerce Department, which issues licenses for such exports, declined to comment, as did a GE spokeswoman.

The Tron Foundation and Steemit Inc have announced a strategic partnership that will see the blockchain-centric social media platform migrate to the Tron blockchain.The post Blockchain-based social media platform Steemit to transition to Tron blockchain appeared first on The Block.

Canadian investor’s largest new holding is Fitbit Continue reading...

If one simply opened up their investing app or glanced at a financial news summary for Friday, it would look like a quiet session in the stock market today.The S&P 500 was up less than 0.02%, in what appeared to be a sleepy trading session ahead of a three-day holiday weekend. However, it was a much different mood under the surface. With several large earnings movers, there were plenty of debates to be had on Friday. Earnings RoundupIt has been a long time coming, but Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares are finally hitting new all-time highs. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), the Nasdaq and big tech have been doing it for months now, but Nvidia hadn't made a new high since October 2018.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsPatient investors are finally being rewarded. Nvidia beat on earnings and revenue expectations, and even after accounting for a $100 million revenue hit in fiscal Q1, the midpoint of management's sales outlook still topped expectations. Nvidia's charts have momentum, and so too does it business.The company is already seeing a multitude of price target hikes following the report (with 14 calls at $300 or higher on Friday alone). The highest came from RBC and Merrill Lynch, with both targets at $350. * 15 Stocks to Buy Based On The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) was a different story. The company beat on earnings and revenue expectations, as the streaming theme continues to drive growth. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Disney (NASDAQ:DIS) launching new platforms didn't hurt, either.Guidance was solid, but management is foregoing profits at the moment and chasing growth. While long-term investors seem okay with the plan, short-term investors and analysts are bemoaning the lower-than-expected EBITDA outlook. While shares gapped north of $150 in morning trading, the stock reversed and declined notably lower on the day, down about 7% ahead of the close.Then there's Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC). The stock is ripping more than 15% after better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results. A loss of 35 cents CAD per share beat estimates by 14 cents, while revenue of 123.76 million CAD grew 49% year-over-year and beat estimates by almost 19 million CAD.Both Roku and Canopy Growth made our Top Stock Trades column on Friday. Movers in the Stock Market TodayA plethora of 13F filings should be rolling in soon, but we've got a look at Dan Loeb's Third Point holdings. The firm took new positions in Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Ferrari (NYSE:RACE), as well as Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) and TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD), which are in a takeover deal.Also noteworthy, Loeb's fund exited Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), among others.Video games sales just can't catch a break. Sales experienced a year-over-year decline for the sixth straight month, falling 26% in January. Hardware sales struggled too, falling 35% to $129 million, while software dropped more than 30% to $311 million.Activision Blizzard's (NASDAQ:ATVI) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare came in at No. 2, following Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot as No. 1. Electronic Arts' (NASDAQ:EA) Madden 20 and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order came in at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.SmileDirectClub (NASDAQ:SDC) plunged more than 15% following an NBC news report highlighting some customers' problems with the company's dental aligners. It has faced negative press in the past, drawing on some members of Congress to request an investigation about potential misleading customers.The company has since pushed back on the report, but it doesn't matter. Shares are getting whacked as a result.Whoops. Bernstein analysts previously estimated that Beyond Meat (NYSE:BYND) could generate $168 million in sales with a McDonald's (NASDAQ:MCD) partnership. After crunching some more numbers though, they took that sales figure up to a range of $227 million to $306 million.As a result, they raised their price target to $117 from $106, while Beyond Meat stock climbed more than 3.5% on the day.Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long NVDA and ROKU. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Exciting Stocks to Buy for Aggressive Investors * 20 Stocks to Buy From the Law of Accelerating Returns * 7 U.S. Stocks to Buy on Coronavirus Weakness The post Stock Market Today: Nvidia Rips, Roku Dips appeared first on InvestorPlace.