The 25-stock portfolio is market-cap weighted, costs 35 basis points and tracks the widely followed chipmaking stocks. The Global X MSCI China Consumer Staples ETF has a 44% gain for 2019. So, the Chinese consumer has been more resilient here, and they’re not quite the U.S. consumer, but they’re getting there.” “Even with all of the trade issues, semiconductors are in a secular bull market,” she said in the same “ETF Edge” interview. “The market has been faced with a lot of challenges, really ha

What the plan may mean for the future of Social Security has some advocacy groups concerned. The affected trusts are the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare Hospital Insurance and Highway funds. However, Social Security advocacy groups who want to see benefits increased say they are skeptical. “We agree that it’s important to address solvency,” said Dan Adcock, director of government relations and policy at the National Committee to Pre

But we do have androids like Hanson Robotics’ Sophia, and they could soon start working in jobs traditionally performed by people. It can also perform workplace tasks such as answering customer questions in places like offices, airports, banks and museums, while accepting payments and performing other functions. It holds that the more humanlike a robot appears, the more people will notice its flaws. Maybe someday robots will be so very humanlike that whether you are a robot or a human will not m

Kenny Heslep’s father, Fred Heslep, told BuzzFeed, “He was hacked is what he says.” “I think he started having computer issues, so that’s what made him think it was a hacking,” Fred Heslep told the site. When BuzzFeed asked Fred Heslep if his son played a role in disseminating the images of Hill that were published, Fred Heslep said, “He says no.” Fred Heslep also said that his son had not contacted authorities about the possible alleged hacking. Hill’s own father, Michael Hill, blasted Kenny He

Exxon and Chevron report earnings on Friday before the bell as energy companies continue to struggle, pressured by falling oil prices, waning demand and squeezed margins. Exxon is expected to report third-quarter earnings of 67 cents per share, according to estimates from FactSet, and $60.9 billion in revenue. Following the October 1 filing, Mizuho analyst Paul Sankey slashed his earnings expectations for the quarter from $1.04 to 65 cents since the company “continues to struggle to generate str

Romeo Engine Plant, which employs about 600 hourly UAW workers in Michigan, would close under a proposed tentative labor deal reached Oct. 30, 2019 between Ford and the United Auto Workers union. DETROIT – Ford Motor would close a Michigan engine plant and give full-time workers $9,000 ratification bonuses under a proposed tentative labor deal reached Wednesday night with the United Auto Workers union, according to people familiar with the contract. The plant slated for closure is the Romeo Engi

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday he still believes Apple’s stock is undervalued, even with a nearly 60% run higher in 2019, almost triple the pace of the overall stock market this year. Apple trades for just a 19 price-earnings ratio based on estimated 12-month earnings, lower than the P-E on the S&P 500 of more than 22 times. The S&P 500, which closed at a record high Wednesday, was up 20% this year. Apple beat market expectations in its quarterly results, released after the bell Wednesday. The

Altria’s $12.8 billion deal with Juul, which gave Altria a 35% stake in the vaping company, still needs antitrust approval from the agency. Juul on Sept. 25 announced it was replacing its CEO Kevin Burns with longtime Altria executive K.C. Crosthwaite served as an observer on Juul’s board of directors following Altria’s investment in Juul. Altria now expects the agency to make its decision on the deal in the first quarter of next year, Altria said Thursday. Altria, Juul and the FTC declined to c

Twenty-nine of those 31 Democrats voted Thursday for the resolution setting up the impeachment probe strategy. Of all House districts held by Democrats, Peterson’s 7th District in Minnesota gave Trump the most support: The president carried the area by about 30 percentage points. Trump won Van Drew’s 2nd District in New Jersey by fewer than 5 percentage points. All three of those GOP lawmakers, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Will Hurd of Texas and John Katko of New York, voted against

The U.S. is now home to more than 100 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy capacity, a new report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said Thursday. These installations pushed overall capacity above the landmark figure of 100 GW, the AWEA’s report said. The country’s first offshore wind farm, the five turbine, 30 MW Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode island, only commenced commercial operations in late 2016. By comparison, Europe is home to over 18,400 MW of installed offshore wind capacity,

The number of cases of a deadly vaping illness continues to rise with 37 confirmed deaths and more than 1,800 sickened throughout the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The total number of probable cases is now at 1,888, with 284 new cases diagnosed and three new fatalities over the last week, according to CDC data compiled through Tuesday. The CDC is tentatively calling the illness EVALI, short for e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury. Most

It’s all coming down to President Donald Trump and the China trade war if the market can close out the year with gains, according to Wall Street strategists and investors. Trump has been repeatedly touting stock gains and blaming selloffs on the Federal Reserve and his impeachment inquiry. “The Fed has put the ball firmly in President Trump’s court,” Matthew Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, said in a note on Thursday. “They’ve cut interest rates THREE times … and they’ve begun a Q

Warren has laid out plans that could curb the influence of finance executives if she becomes the next commander in chief, including a wealth tax. As a percentage of total individual federal income taxes paid, the top 1% of taxpayers paid a greater share of that total (37 than the bottom 90% combined (30.5%). The top 50% of taxpayers paid 97% of all individual federal income taxes; the bottom 50% paid the remaining 3%. individual income tax continues to be very progressive, borne primarily by the

President Donald Trump railed against Jerome Powell on Thursday, claiming that “people are VERY disappointed in” the Fed chairman despite the central bank’s third interest rate cut this year. Trump tweeted. Trump’s blast came a day after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by 25 basis points to a target range of 1.5% to 1.75%. Trump wants the Fed to push interest rates down to zero or even into negative territory. Just last week, Trump tweeted, “The Federal Reserve is derelict in its duti

House Democrats on Thursday passed a resolution outlining the next phase of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The lone independent congressman, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, voted for the impeachment inquiry resolution. In a blistering statement, the White House said that the vote by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic caucus does “nothing more than enshrine unacceptable violations of due process into House rules.” Tom Brenner | ReutersThe White House and Republican

There’s the obligatory Ghoul Trooper skin, which players will cop due to rarity. And then there’s this inexplicable monstrosity, which the battle royale developer revealed earlier today via a new trailer. Available tonight pic.twitter.com/BAK9gLCTij — Fortnite (@FortniteGame) October 31, 2019It’s a great costume — I’m definitely tempted to boot up the game and buy it. Despite the bewilderment, everyone accepted Peely, because it’s a silly skin that adds to Fortnite’s ever-growing food obsession.

The Nintendo Switch Lite sold 1.95 million units in its first 10 days on sale, according to Nintendo’s quarterly earnings report. If you’re wondering how good that is, the Nintendo Switch itself sold 2.74 million units in the first month it was available back in 2017. Outside estimates at the time pegged the original Switch as selling 1.5 million units in its first 11 days. On the whole, the Nintendo Switch line has moved 18 million consoles since launch, the company says. The Nintendo Switch Li

The dragon appearing at the end of the Nier: Automata alliance raid in Final Fantasy 14 is just a fluke, according to an announcement from Square Enix this morning. The new raid, The Copied Factory, released on Tuesday morning and a handful of players running it started seeing a bizarre dragon spawn at the final boss fight. Unfortunately that isn’t the case, as the developers just used the same test internal ID as another quest, so the Dying Dragon NPC from the other quest was popping up in the

As a joke, the fan — who goes by tuxedojack on Reddit — decided to try his luck once more. It was all in jest, as he had actually already bought a copy of The Outer Worlds. Here’s a key to the Epic Game Store for The Outer Worlds. [An Epic Game Store key followed.] It would have been easy to ignore the support ticket, given that the fan wasn’t actually having an issue with his game.

Hong Kong has been the scene of protests since June, when its local government proposed an amendment that would allow extradition of Hong Kong citizens to mainland China. Publication was handed over to NetEase for the Wrath of the Lich King launch, and it remains Blizzard’s Chinese publishing partner to this day. NetEase is Blizzard’s Chinese publisher, which handles all releases in the region. “I have family in Hong Kong and I have been watching the protest for months now, and there was nothing