HEDGE-FUND managers may be feeling quietly smug about their performance in 2017. They returned 6.5% on average, according to Hedge Fund Research, a data provider, their best year since 2013. But those returns do not really suggest that they are masters of the investing universe. The S&P 500 index, America’s main equity benchmark, returned 21.8%, […]
Read moreIgnore the bad housing starts number. Some will blame the weather. Others will claim the figures are too volatile month to month. Bottom line, December’s steep drop in single-family housing starts is not indicative of what is really going on at construction sites across the nation. This winter’s chill was both brutal and early, and […]
Read moreFacebook is rolling out a 30-city program it promised last year to help small businesses grow and workers gain the digital computer skills needed to find a job. The company is announcing the first five cities to get a visit from a crew of professionals as part of its Facebook Community Boost program. Each team […]
Read moreBlockchain, one of the biggest cryptocurrency wallets in the world, launched a service to buy and sell digital coins in the U.S. on Thursday, in a challenge to Coinbase. The U.K.-headquartered company already allows its British customers to buy and sell bitcoin via its service, and is now launching the function in one of the […]
Read moreIt hasn’t gone unnoticed that 2017 was an exceptionally good year for overseas stock markets. Gains were recorded in virtually every country stock market in the world. Out of more than 120 stock markets I follow, only a few ended down in 2017. If only it could be that simple every year. To expect the […]
Read moreThe first major Wall Street strategist to cover bitcoin predicts the digital currency will more than double this year to $25,000 in the wake of its crash this year that saw it lose 50 percent of its value from a December record. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee is out with his latest report on bitcoin, which moves […]
Read moreNetflix’s strong growth in international markets and its ability to raise prices will boost its shares, according to one top Wall Street firm. Morgan Stanley reiterated its overweight rating for Netflix shares, citing the economies of scale from its large subscriber base. “We believe share performance is highly dependent on increasing global membership scale. Proven […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
China’s spending in Central and Eastern European countries is helping clear a path towards more investment in Western Europe, one former economic adviser to the Serbian government told CNBC on Wednesday. Beijing’s interest in Central and Eastern Europe is “because they see big potential in their return regarding their path to the European Union,” Vladimir […]
Read moreOil’s run to multiyear highs may soon run out of fuel. But that bearish turn will likely be short-lived, according to RBC Capital Markets’ Helima Croft. Even though the oil markets are entering a period of seasonal softness, she sees geopolitical trends supporting pricier oil. Croft, RBC’s head of commodity strategy, says the floor has […]
Read moreIntel confirmed late on Wednesday that its patches to fix processors affected by the Spectre and Meltdown security exploits are causing computers to suddenly reboot on their own. Intel originally noted this on Jan. 11 when it said users had reported random reboots on systems that are powered by Intel Broadwell and Haswell processors. Now, […]
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