Americans are divided socially and economically in ways that have not been seen since the worst days of the Great Depression and as the world was heading into another global conflict, hedge fund king Ray Dalio said Monday. In an essay on LinkedIn, the head of Bridgewater Associates compared the current U.S. climate to 1937, […]

Some companies hope to get a business boost from the millions of people traveling in the U.S. to see Monday’s once-in-a-century solar eclipse. CNBC used FactSet to look at earnings call transcripts from the last month for mentions of “solar eclipse” and found the executives of the following stocks expect some benefit: For car rental […]

Credit Suisse has released a list of “Seven Retail Sins,” highlighting some problems faced by retailers that the firm’s analysts saw emerge in a slew of earnings reports over the past few weeks. “Results last week, particularly in the sporting goods space, serve as a reminder of some of the key issues impacting the retail […]

Lululemon will benefit from recent problems at its main competitors, according to a top Wall Street firm. Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its rating on Lululemon shares to buy from underperform on Monday, saying the company is taking sales away from Nike and Under Armour. Lululemon is “gaining share from saturated competitors. We believe […]

SunTrust reiterated its buy rating on Shake Shack despite existing and planned store overlap that will eat into same-store sales. The burger chain opened nine stores within 15 miles of comparable locations in 2016 and plans to open another 25 in 2017 just as close, according to analysts. But with the increasing concentration of stores, […]

Nike is starting to lose its dominant brand cachet in sports apparel, according to some on Wall Street. Jefferies lowered its rating for Nike to hold from buy on Monday, citing lost sales to its surging competitor Adidas. “The athletic footwear cycle and Nike brand power are strong, but the competitive landscape should make share […]

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell: Sempra Energy – Sempra announced a deal to buy power transmission company Oncor for $9.45 billion in cash. Under terms of the deal, Sempra will own about 60 percent or Oncor’s holding company, Energy Future Holdings. Sempra beat out Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which had […]

Politics and markets no longer intersect, but essentially are occupying the same terrain. After months of not paying attention to the tumult in Washington, Wall Street is now taking notice, and that sets up an interesting week ahead for investors in a month that is often a dull slog lower. Friday’s surprise exit of Steve […]

Stocks are technically weakened, and traders are hoping to get past the Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium at the end of the week without any new bombshells. There is little data in the coming week, with just home sales data Wednesday and Thursday and durable goods Friday. Earnings season is over, so the focus will remain […]

President Donald Trump‘s popularity is falling due to his controversial comments about the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. That will have negative implications for the administration’s agenda this year, according to a Goldman Sachs economist. The firm cited Trump’s poll approval ratings, which fell to 37 percent on average this week versus 38 percent […]