A chicken burrito, guacamole, bag of tortilla chips, and a drink are arranged for a photograph at a Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. restaurant in El Segundo, California, U.S., on Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Fast food Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle is “better, faster” and “stronger” heading into the new year, according to Cowen, who just named the stock one of its best idea of 2020. The firm upgraded shares of Chipotle to outperform from market perform and hiked its price target to $970 per share fr

Here are the biggest calls on Wall Street on Tuesday:Cowen named Chipotle as a top pick for 2020 and said it was bullish on the company’s digital sales growth. “We see upside to comps and EPS from digital sales growth, increasing consumer demand for food transparency, and a growing ad budget and loyalty program. Further, we argue the new Chipotlane drive-thru format permissions the brand to grow faster in 2021 and beyond, and provides greater certainty to double the store count to 5,000 ultimate

Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan is worried about ballooning levels of corporate debt and laid out a scenario where it could suddenly become a big problem for the economy. “We’re got a record level of corporate and to be specific BBB debt has tripled over the last 10 years,” he said on “Squawk Box.” Total corporate debt has swelled from about $5 trillion in 2007 as the Great Recession was just beginning to $9.5 trillion halfway through 2019, quietly surging 90%, according to Securi

Dollar Tree just signaled for a disappointing holiday earnings quarter thanks to U.S.-China trade war tariffs, sending shares cratering on Tuesday. Shares of Dollar Tree tanked more than 14% on Tuesday. Dollar Tree said additional pressure is coming from “lower-margin consumables growing faster than originally forecasted, payroll cost pressure in distribution centers, and increased run rates for repairs and maintenance, utilities and depreciation,” Dollar Tree said. In addition to the disappoint

While investors in struggling companies occasionally benefit from a buyout that juices the stock, Raymond James said that shareholders of floundering internet stocks should not hold out hope given a variety of factors pressuring the sector. “In most sectors, public companies that struggle are ultimately acquired, often by another public company. Raymond James cites seven reasons for why public internet company M&A has slowed. Recent public deals have not moved the needle. While Raymond James see

Heidi Heitkamp on what needs to be done to lessen the gap in income inequalityOn the campaign trail, Elizabeth Warren says she would only raise taxes on the rich but beyond the wealth tax, Warren has proposed a dozen other tax increases, which would raise rates even on those who haven’t made it really big. Heidi Heitkamp, former senator of North Dakota and founding board member of The One Country Project, and Eric Cantor, vice chairman of Moelis & Co. and former House Majority Leader, join “Squa

Bloomberg can outspend other Democratic candidates in key states, says political strategist Frank LuntzBillionaire Michael Bloomberg is kicking off his bid for the 2020 Democratic nominee. The former New York Mayor hosted his first campaign event on Monday in northern Virginia, saying he is willing to use his own fortune to take on President Trump. Frank Luntz, pollster and political strategist, and Bradley Tusk, founder and CEO of Tusk Ventures, join “Squawk Box” to discuss.

Why Volvo is losing its big lead in safetyThe name Volvo has been synonymous with car safety for decades. The brand has often been the first to introduce key safety features that are now common across the car industry. Safety, though, has become a bigger priority for consumers and automakers alike, and that’s causing trouble for Volvo. Automotive technology has improved, regulations have tightened, and other brands are catching up. That’s making it harder and harder for Volvo to keep its lead in

Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan expects U.S. economic growth to slow substantially in the fourth quarter because businesses worried about the trade war are cutting their inventories. “We think the fourth quarter is going to be weak,” Kaplan told CNBC’s Steve Liesman during a live interview on “Squawk Box.” The central bank official attributed the anemic growth level to “deglobalization” in the form of tariffs the U.S. and China have levied against each other in their trade war. We

Consumer confidence dipped for a fourth straight month in November as economic conditions weaken toward the end of 2019, data released Tuesday by The Conference Board shows. The Board’s consumer confidence index dipped to 125.5 this month. Overall, confidence levels are still high and should support solid spending during this holiday season.” Tuesday’s data release is the latest pointing to weaker economic growth to end the year. The New York Federal Reserve’s Staff Nowcast, which estimates quar

LVMH chair Bernard Arnault speaks at the Viva Technology conference in June 2017 in Paris, FranceBernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of luxury goods brand LVMH, has overtaken Bill Gates to be named the world’s second-wealthiest person by Forbes. That puts Arnault behind only Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, whose net worth sits at $110.5 billion, according to the list. Gates, meanwhile, has a net worth of $107 billion, Forbes’ list shows. However, Arnault is still behind both Bezos and Gates on

Now that Amazon has put Alexa devices into millions of homes, the company is seeking ways to make the gadgets more useful. Starting this week, the voice assistants will be able to remind people when to take their medications. A Giant Eagle spokesperson told CNBC that any customer with an active prescription and an Alexa device can access the medication management skill on their Alexa app. Amazon announced in April that Alexa is HIPAA compliant, representing a big step for the company into the $3

Global carbon emissions must fall by more than 7% a year for the next decade to meet targets set out by the Paris Agreement on climate change, the UN has warned. In an annual report published Tuesday, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said its outlook for climate change was “bleak,” adding that countries had “collectively failed to stop the growth in global greenhouse emissions, meaning that deeper and faster cuts are now required.” In order to limit temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius, UNE

Volkswagen’s luxury car unit Audi on Tuesday said it would cut one in ten jobs, freeing up billions of euros to fund its shift towards electric vehicle production. Carmakers are struggling with an auto industry downturn, particularly in key market China, and the need to increase investment in electric vehicles as several countries move to eventually ban conventional combustion engines. Audi said it would cut up to 9,500 jobs, or 10.6% of its total staff by 2025, saving 6 billion euros ($6.61 bil

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis in Downing Street arriving for the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph memorial in Whitehall, central London. With just over two weeks until the U.K. general election, the country’s chief rabbi has attacked the main opposition Labour party, claiming its leader is “unfit for high office.” Taking an explicitly political stance, the chief rabbi added that people should “vote with their consciences.” Labour has suffered a series of allegations of anti-Semitism, lead

The experts gain bragging rights if their forecasts play out perfectly, but predictions can also go spectacularly wrong in the world of finance. Predictions for the average 2019 oil price for Brent included $70 per barrel from Goldman Sachs and BofA Merrill Lynch, $60 from Citi and $61 from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Pimco, the world’s biggest trader of bonds, predicted three additional policy rate hikes from the Fed by the end of 2019. Citi analysts apparently underestima

Blackwells Capital, which owns 1.85% in Colony, said Tuesday it plans to nominate five candidates to the board. Los Angeles-based Colony Capital is an international investment firm with more than 500 employees operating in 17 offices around the world, according to its website. “It appears Mr. Barrack has used friendship and politics as criteria for business deals and for allocating shareholder capital,” Blackwells wrote, citing Barrack’s ties to Gates. “Whatever their merits, these investigation

The White House on Tuesday was briefly put on lockdown, as fighter jets were scrambled in Washington following an airspace violation, law enforcement officials told NBC News. The lockdown was lifted less than 30 minutes after it was first reported by White House reporters. “The White House was locked down this morning due to a potential violation of the restricted airspace in the National Capital Region,” a Secret Service spokesman told CNBC in a statement. The situation was cleared at 9:12 a.m.

There’s a burgeoning breakout in one corner of health care. The IBB biotech ETF has surged 6% over the past week, roughly triple the gains on the broader XLV health care ETF. Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, expects the group to continue to grind higher. Wald says biotech’s breakout is part of a broader move higher for health care. “We’ve been playing the strength actually more on the managed-care side,” Wald said, pointing to the IHF health care providers ETF.

The Chicago data does not differentiate between rides operated by Uber Technologies Inc, Lyft Inc, or smaller ride-share rival Via. The price increases for shared rides predominantly affect Chicago’s low-income neighborhoods, which is where most of the carpool rides are booked, the analysis showed. How much ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft charge customers throughout a day is one of the most closely held secrets in Silicon Valley. After reviewing the findings from the Chicago data, Uber said