United Parcel Service on Thursday expects to ship 1.9 million gifts and other items back to U.S. retailers as e-commerce fuels an anticipated 26% year-over-year volume surge on “National Returns Day.” U.S. shoppers return more packages than their peers around the globe, spurred by free shipping on orders and returns – costly perks that squeeze retailer profits. “That causes great expense for retailers,” said Buzek, who estimated that annual global losses from retail returns are nearly $1 trillio

The surge in spending last month may have contributed to the best holiday shopping season in years. Through Dec. 24, holiday retail sales rose 3.4%, while online sales jumped a record 18%, according to data from Mastercard. However, Americans racked up about $1,325 in holiday debt, on average, over that time, according to MagnifyMoney’s annual post-holiday debt survey. More than half of shoppers, or 58%, said they’ll pay off the debt in three months or more, MagnifyMoney found. As credit card ba

When the couple started getting serious about financial goals in June 2015, they were making far less than $100,000 combined. “The numbers don’t work out when you don’t make very much and aren’t saving very much,” Banks said. “Finances are hard and personal,” Banks said. Instead, choose a far, far smaller number, like saving $5 a week. Byrne starting sharing restaurant entrees with her boyfriend (savings: $15 to $20), making homemade lattes (savings: about $2.50 a day) and bringing lunch to work

In other words, we prefer to spend the least amount of physical and mental effort needed to get the job done. We are wired to conserve energy and to avoid exerting ourselves unnecessarily. One simple thing can brighten your financial pictureOur tendency to conserve energy manifests itself in many ways in modern society. We are also wired to conserve mental energy. One of the ways we conserve our mental energy is a preference for the status quo.

To begin the new year, strategist Matt Maley says one chart reveals the top pick to begin 2020. “It’s the KRE regional banking ETF,” Miller Tabak’s chief market strategist said on CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Tuesday. “If you look at the chart, it’s broken out of the sideways range that it was in for 11 months. “The bet on the KRE is that the Main Street economy begins to accelerate in 2020. That would then make for trouble in the banking sector, he says.

When Seattle began raising its minimum wage five years ago, local burger joint Dick’s Drive-In experienced an unintended effect. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour and has not been increased in over a decade. The conflicting studies highlight a broader debate about what a $15 federal minimum wage might do for businesses and workers nationwide. That prompts a question: Are higher wages necessary due to the hot economy, or has the economy continued to grow due to higher pay? “When

The number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits edged lower last week, a positive signal for the U.S. labor market amid recent signs that new claims may be trending slightly higher. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000 for the week ended Dec. 28, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected 225,000 new claims last week. By the end of the latest week, the number of new claims was at its lowes

Google’s former top diplomat now blames the company’s “disengaged” founders and earnings-driven leadership for Google’s departure from its core value, “Don’t be evil.” LaJeunesse, who is now running as a Democrat for Susan Collins’ senate seat in Maine, said his attempts to adopt a company-wide human rights program were blocked. In an interviews with The Washington Post, LaJeunesse said Google’s public policy chief Kent Walker had worried the formal commitment could expose Google to further liab

Abagnale, 71, is the author of “Scam Me If You Can” and was famously portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2002 movie “Catch Me If You Can.” He now works as a private consultant, author and public speaker with the goal of preventing fraud. He has worked with the FBI for four decades and teaches that every scam, old or new, revolves around getting money or information. “There are a lot of criminals that really can’t deal with digital crimes,” says Abagnale. Check out this video to learn what forg

Electric car maker Tesla has a new biggest fan on Wall Street. Canaccord Genuity analyst Jed Dorsheimer sees Tesla’s stock rallying more than 20% from its current price of around $418 to $515 over the next year. In a note, he told clients that 2020 will be an “electric year” for the carmaker. The target makes Dorsheimer the biggest bull on Tesla equity among Wall Street’s major brokerages. Canaccord’s previous price target was $375.

Advanced Micro Devices was a big winner of 2019, and several upcoming product launches has it poised for another big year, according to Nomura Instinet. Analysts at Nomura Instinet just raised their price target on the chipmaker’s stock to $58 per share from $40. The new target represents at 26% premium over the latest closing price for the stock. Shares of AMD were up more than 2% in premarket trading on Thursday. In a note to clients on Thursday, Nomura Instinet maintained its buy rating on th

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway passed on the opportunity to acquire Tiffany, according to the Financial Times. Buffett confirmed to the Financial Times that the conversation took place. In November, Tiffany’s board ultimately agreed to a $16.2 billion takeover from LVMH, whose brands include Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. Without a significant increase in its buyback program, Berkshire Hathaway is now sitting on a record $128.2 billion in cash, third quarter filin

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gives an update on the next-generation Starship spacecraft at the company’s Texas launch facility on September 28, 2019 in Boca Chica near Brownsville, Texas. Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Thursday:Canaccord raised its price target on the stock to a street high and said the electric vehicle revolution will gather more speed in 2020. “We believe the trend towards electrification will only accelerate in 2020. We expect to get a glimpse of this next week when Tes

Disney shares were on the rise to kick off 2020 after some Wall Street analysts estimated significant growth from its new streaming service and recommended clients keep buying the stock. He previously estimated that figure to be 21 million subscribers. Disney stock price rose about 1% Thursday morning to $145.90 a share. “For Disney+ subscribers, 29% indicated they unsubscribed from another streaming service as a result of subscribing to Disney+, and 9% specifically indicating they unsubscribed

Between student loans and those two mortgages, they had accumulated more than $300,000 of debt within the first four years of marriage. The original plan was to zero out the student loans within two years, by living off AJ’s income and using Bernadette’s to pay down the debt. AJ MaulionTo help them live on a fraction of AJ’s salary, the couple also adopted a minimalist lifestyle. “We got so much momentum,” says Bernadette, that after eliminating her student loans the couple decided to keep up wi

Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq start the new year at record highsCNBC’s Bob Pisani looks ahead at the day’s market action.

Wall Street’s 2019 rally set to continue in 2020U.S. stock futures pointed to a strong start to the first trading session of 2020 as Wall Street carried its momentum from 2019. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up more than 150 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also indicated solid gains. To be sure, the New Year presents new challenges for investors as the 2020 U.S. presidential election looms. The new price target implies a 12-month upside of 23% from and is the highest

Raich’s concern: Early signs for a bottom in global growth expectations — and for earnings — are not materializing. The problem is the market believes there will be a reacceleration of earnings growth in 2020, after a torrid pace in 2018 that followed tax cuts. S&P 500 earnings growth 2018: Up 22.7% 2019 (est. Today it stands at 18, a pricey multiple, even with a nearly 10% earnings growth forecast. His thinking is that most analyst estimates overstate the final numbers by 3 to 4 percentage poin

When stocks finish that period higher, the S&P 500 has been positive 82% of the time at year-end with an average gain of 13.6%, according to Stock Trader’s Almanac and CNBC calculations. And the indicator’s predictive ability could just be coincidental given that stocks rise most years. It turned out to be accurate in 2019 when the S&P 500 rebounded from the worst December since the Great Depression, rising 2.7% in the first five trading days. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average bot

Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered by Google’s DeepMind algorithm may be more accurate at spotting breast cancer than real life doctors. “In an independent study of six radiologists, the AI system outperformed all of the human readers,” claimed the report. Unlike the U.S., the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain typically employs two radiologists to screen images. But even when two human doctors worked together on the same images, the AI computer was found to be still at least as effectiv