The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the second quarter, notching its quickest pace in more than two years, and there are signs that the momentum was sustained at the start of the third quarter. Gross domestic product increased at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the April-June period, the Commerce Department said […]
Read moreAs Amazon geared up to close its acquisition of Whole Foods last Thursday, the company said it would focus on four areas going forward: (1) A price decrease on a set of items from organic responsibly farmed salmon and tilapia to organic butter; (2) A switch to Amazon Prime as Whole Foods’ customer rewards program; […]
Read moreVirtual currencies such as bitcoin are becoming more and more popular as an alternative investment thanks to their rising value, but as more consumers engage with it, so are the number of complaints against tech companies offering digital currency products. The number of complaints about virtual currencies filed with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
Portugal could be back in crisis in 10 years’ time, investment manager says
Though Portugal seems out of the woods with a projected growth rate of 2.5 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, consumer and business habits might jeopardize the economy in the future. “My fear is more on the change of habits,” Diogo Teixeira, CEO of Optimize Investment Partners, told CNBC. “We’ve seen in […]
Read moreCheck out which companies are making headlines before the bell: H&R Block — The tax preparation firm lost 62 cents per share for its latest quarter. That matched forecasts, with revenue above consensus. H&R Block typically reports losses in quarters outside of its seasonal tax business. Bank of America – The bank now has Berkshire […]
Read moreAT&T said on Wednesday that it is expanding its 5G trials to include three new U.S. cities by the end of the year as part of its push to develop a next-generation network. The trials will test a faster broadband service where the last leg of the connection is delivered via a radio signal to […]
Read moreAmazon and Microsoft announced a new partnership that will allow better integration between the tech titans’ two digital assistants. Amazon’s voice-powered digital assistant Alexa will now be able to activate Microsoft’s own assistant Cortana, and vice versa. The partnership means Amazon customers can use Alexa to access Cortana’s exclusive features such as accessing work calendars, […]
Read moreYoung, well-educated American males are the most comfortable with the idea of traveling by a pilotless plane, according to a new UBS survey of 5,000 people. The study is an expansion on the UBS note released earlier this month that suggested the aviation industry could save $35 billion a year by ditching on-board human control. […]
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The rally in bonds is causing problems for the financial sector, and Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com said that regional banks will actually be the hardest hit. On Monday, Gordon discussed the beginning of a divergence between the gold market and TLT, the ETF that tracks long-term bonds. However, TLT is still up 7 percent this […]
Read moreMortgage interest rates are at the lowest level since last November, but not quite at the lows of last year. That is part of why mortgage volume is weakening. The other factor is a shrinking number of sales as potential buyers struggle to find and afford their dream homes. Total mortgage application volume decreased 2.3 […]
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