Author: Journalist

Oracle (ORCL) stock fell more than 7% Tuesday, putting shares on track for their steepest daily loss of the year following second-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street analyst expectations and a forecast for AI spending that drew investor scrutiny. Joining other high flying tech companies ramping up their cloud businesses, Oracle reaped the benefits from the rapid expansion of data infrastructure across corporate America. The company reported that revenue from its cloud Infrastructure unit surged 52% to $2.4 billion. But overall sales and earnings missed analyst forecasts. The company posted earnings of $1.47 a share, compared to analysts…

Millions of Americans who are behind on their student debt may face a financial shock next year: The federal government is expected to start collecting on defaulted loans for the first time since payments were paused during the pandemic. Though the Biden administration required borrowers to begin making their normal repayments in 2023, it has yet to resume efforts to recover money involuntarily from people with seriously past-due balances. That process can involve garnishing wages, tax refunds, and Social Security benefits, along with formal legal proceedings. There are approximately 5.6 million former students currently in default, meaning their loans are…

The targets range from 6,400 to 7,007. This implies returns between +5% and +15% from Friday’s close. It’s a tighter range than last year’s targets, with many clustering in that 8%-10% return expectation.Before we move on, I’d once again caution against putting too much weight into one-year targets. It’s extremely difficult to predict short-term moves in the market with any accuracy. Few on Wall Street have ever been able to do this consistently. DataTrek’s Nicholas Colas recently pointed out that the standard deviation around the mean annual total return for the S&P 500 is nearly 20 percentage points! More here.I…

This is The Takeaway from today’s Morning Brief, which you can sign up to receive in your inbox every morning along with: Now that bitcoin has cracked the $100,000-per-token milestone, you’re probably getting texts (or sending them) asking whether it’s too late to get in, and fielding the classic taxi driver conversations about crypto. If you’ve been paying attention during cryptocurrencies’ ascent this year, you know that the rise has been fueled by two factors: the introduction of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and Donald Trump’s election win. Along with the price gains, the usual cast of characters has returned to…

Bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) cross above $100,000 has emboldened Wall Street bulls. After Trump’s election win catalyzed a crypto rally with hopes support of digital currencies and a more friendly regulatory regime would bolster the space, this week’s push to record highs above $103,000 per bitcoin has some strategists looking for another doubling in price by the end of next year. “We remain convinced $100,000 is not the final milestone,” Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani wrote in a note on Thursday. “We expect Bitcoin to hit a cycle-high of $200,000 in late 2025,” Ghhugani noted President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of crypto advocate Paul…

Lululemon (LULU) is set to report its third quarter results after the closing bell on Thursday as the retailer grapples with slowing sales growth and concerns over increased competition heading into the critical holiday shopping season. The stock, one of the worst performers in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) this year, has plummeted over 30% as newer brands like Alo and Vuori capture market share with trendier styles and products. Shares have also significantly underperformed the Consumer Discretionary sector (XLY), which is up about 27% over that same period. And although the stock has rebounded from the four-year lows it faced…

Something as simple as writing a will could help close the racial wealth gap. As it stands now, Black families are less likely to take this crucial estate planning step than white households. A will helps to preserve wealth — especially the home — as it’s transferred from one generation to the next, rather than go through the state’s process of designating heirs. Overall, the racial wealth gap could be reduced by 10% over three generations if Black households wrote wills at the same rate as white ones, according to a recent study. The reduction may be “modest,” according to…

Donald Trump is pledging to be a pro-crypto president, and the new administration’s affinity for digital assets likely won’t stop with the commander in chief. Vice President-elect JD Vance and several of Trump’s presidential nominees have in the past disclosed or discussed their exposure to cryptocurrencies through asset ownership or business interests, according to federal filings and public statements. They include Robert Kennedy Jr., Howard Lutnick, Pete Hegseth, and Tulsi Gabbard — Trump’s picks to be Health and Human Services secretary, Commerce secretary, Defense secretary, and director of national intelligence, respectively. Even Trump himself has acknowledged in past filings being…

Oscar Raposo Joins Scouting America as New Chief Financial Officer Oscar Raposo, Chief Financial Officer, Scouting America IRVING, TX, Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Scouting America, the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, is proud to announce that Oscar Raposo has joined the organization as its Chief Financial Officer. “We are delighted to welcome Oscar to Scouting America,” said Roger Krone, president & chief executive officer at Scouting America. “His extensive experience in financial management and his passion for Scouting make him an invaluable asset to our organization. We are confident that his leadership…

Virtu Financial, LLC NEW YORK, Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT) a leading provider of financial services and products that leverage cutting-edge technology to deliver innovative, transparent trading solutions to our clients and liquidity to the global markets, announces its recognition across multiple categories at The TRADE Leaders in Trading Awards, reflecting its ongoing commitment to innovation and excellence in trading technology. At the European awards ceremony, Virtu was honored with Best Access to Market and Best Dark Pool Capabilities. In addition, Virtu Triton EMS received recognition for: Best User Experience, Best Provider for Large…