Author: starbpo

The numbers show that the leading index for the economy fell again in June, making it four months in a row that it has gone down. This shows that U.S. growth has slowed since the beginning of the year. The Conference Board, which is privately owned, said that the index fell 0.2% last month. Before briefly going up in February, the index had been going down for two years in a row. The leading index is a tool used to find out if the economy is getting better or worse. The Wall Street Journal asked economists to predict a 0.3%…

The Nasdaq may only be beginning to have problems. Technology stocks may be on their way to a crash like the long bear market that followed the burst of the dot-com bubble. That’s what Albert Edwards of Société Générale thinks. An often-bearish strategist wrote a client note on Thursday that questioned every part of the bull case for the AI boom, which has helped push major U.S. stock indexes to all-time highs. He began with the idea that the market can safely move away from Big Tech’s control without causing the S&P 500 to drop. In the past, markets that…

This was the last speech that Donald Trump gave at his party’s convention in Milwaukee on Thursday night. He repeated his promises to lower taxes and stop inflation by increasing the production of fossil fuels in the U.S. During his lengthy speech, Trump said, “I will end the terrible inflation crisis right away, bring down interest rates, and lower the cost of energy.” He also said, “We will drill, baby, drill,” and he said that would “lead to a large-scale decline in prices.” Lower the cost of energy “Reduce the cost of all household goods, transportation, and manufacturing,” he said.…

On Friday, a problem with the CrowdStrike cybersecurity platform is thought to have caused major airlines to cancel flights and businesses around the world to experience IT outages. The Federal Aviation Administration’s system status page says that American Airlines, Delta, and United all grounded flights around the world. American said it could resume operations at 5 a.m. Eastern, though. The financial markets were open, but the London Stock Exchange’s feed for sending out news about companies was down. In London in the middle of the morning, the FTSE 100 UK:UKX fell 0.5%. Futures on U.S. stocks ES00, -0.05% went down.…

There is no way to know what will happen to the U.S. stock market if Vice President Joe Biden drops out of the 2024 presidential race. The only similar event in history is when Lyndon B. Johnson dropped out of the 1968 presidential race, but there are many more differences between now and then. On the surface, this historical parallel looks good for stocks in case Biden does step down. The S&P 500 SPX closed 2.5% higher the next day after LBJ dropped out of the 1968 race on March 31, 1968. The U.S. market was also near its lowest…

As Tesla Inc.’s earnings day draws near, the stock is still in the black for the year, but investors are worried about the company’s plans for a robotaxi, the demand for electric vehicles (EVs), and Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, getting more involved in politics and causing trouble. Thursday at noon Eastern Time, Tesla TSLA, +0.29% will report its earnings for the second quarter. There will then be a call with analysts at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The call will be streamed live online. The company that makes electric vehicles (EVs) reported earlier this month that deliveries, which are a…

Domino’s Pizza Inc.’s stock dropped 11% on Thursday after the pizza delivery company’s better-than-expected profit in the fiscal second quarter was overshadowed by a miss on revenue. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company DPZ, -13.45% also said it had problems with a master franchisee that caused restaurants to close in Japan and France. This means that Domino’s won’t be able to meet its goal for global net new store openings this year. For the quarter ending June 16, Domino’s made $141.9 million, or $4.03 per share. This is more than the $109.4 million, or $3.08 per share, it made during the…

Former President Trump is thinking about a plan to lower the corporate tax rate even more next year. This could help the economy grow, create jobs, and raise wages, but it would also make the government’s budget deficit even bigger than it already is. That’s what the Tax Foundation said on Wednesday. They said that the change would make the U.S. corporate tax rate one of the lowest in the rich world. According to economists Garret Watson and Erica York, a lower corporate income tax rate would make the US a more appealing place for businesses to invest. This would…

Following the advertising giant’s second earnings warning of the year, which stated that clients were spending less and that it was bringing in fewer new clients than anticipated, WPP shares fell on Wednesday. Following a second quarter in which sales fell as high as 6%, WPP now projects comparable revenue to decrease 3% to 5% for the year, compared to February’s prediction that it would be flat to down 2%. According to WPP, its operating margin for the first half of the year will decline by 2.8 to 3.3 percentage points. The company said in a statement, “We have seen…

Tuesday saw additional tariff pronouncements from the Trump administration, which a day earlier had pledged import duties of 25% to 40% beginning on August 1 in letters to 14 trading partners. According to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, “a general letter” that would encompass nations that did not receive their own tariff letters would be sent out after another round of tariff letters. He said that the increased levies would still go into force on August 1. “You should expect another anywhere from 15 to 20 letters to go out over the next two days – really setting down tariff…