DETROIT — Americans are expected to have bought fewer new vehicles last year than in recent years but spent a record amount on those new cars and trucks. Power estimates consumers spent a record $462 billion on new vehicles in 2019. Foreign and domestic automakers such as General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota Motor are expected to report December and year-end U.S. vehicle sales on Friday. Light-duty U.S. vehicle sales are considered an important economic indicator for the auto industry, along

Staying focused and productive at work is far from easy, especially with distractions all day, from emails to phone calls and meetings. In fact, according to software company Adobe, office workers in the U.S. spend approximately five hours per day checking emails. And, according to consulting firm Korn Ferry, professionals spend an excessive amount of time distracted by meetings as well. During this time, Svercheck says, “I really try to group all of my email traffic [together]. Facebook’s vice

Prices leading fundamentals, says market strategistCNBC’s “Closing Bell” team breaks down markets on the first trading day of 2020 with Sam Stovall of CFRA Research and Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investments.

The Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its December meeting on Friday. The central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady last month after three cuts earlier in the year. The market will likely be looking for hints about what may change the Fed’s outlook on rates in the near future. The December decision was less contentious than other recent meetings, with all members of the open market committee agreeing to keep the interest rate steady. The market is currently pricing in a 94

Long-tenured Alphabet employees recently told CNBC they no longer recognize Google as the company they first joined, citing organizational shifts and changes from its founder’s hopes. When Eric Schmidt took over from co-founder Larry Page as CEO in 2001, the company had fewer than 300 employees. When Google co-founder Larry Page reclaimed the CEO role in 2011, the company had grown ten-fold again, to more than 32,000. A little more than four years later, when Google had reorganized itself as Alp

Democratic presidential candidate, author Marianne Williamson addresses the audience at the Environmental Justice Presidential Candidate Forum at South Carolina State University on November 8, 2019 in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Self-help guru Marianne Williamson has laid off her entire presidential campaign staff, NBC News reported Thursday. WMUR reported that the Williamson campaign — which at its height boasted 45 staff members in four states — has had no staffers since Tuesday. Hodes told a

“I’m a big Roth fan, but if you can get your taxes lower, you may want to hold back some of your money in the traditional IRA,” Slott said. When you roll over money from a traditional IRA to its Roth counterpart, the amount moved is taxed as ordinary income. I’m a big Roth fan, but if you can get your taxes lower, you may want to hold back some of your money in the traditional IRA. Qualified charitable distributionsIf you give money to charity each year, keeping money in your traditional IRA to

NBA legends Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and NBA Commissioner David Stern on the red carpet of the premiere of Magic Bird on Broadway on April 11, 2012 at the Longacre Theatre in New York. The National Basketball Association continues to mourn the death of former commissioner David Stern, with league executives remembering him as a commanding and complicated leader who many regard as having been one of the greatest commissioners in sports. Adam Silver, who succeeded Stern as NBA commissioner in 201

Investment firm Stephens kicked off the new year by rolling out its ‘best ideas’, a list of small cap stocks which typically beats the market. The group of 30 stocks comes from each of Stephens’ industry teams picking one stock for the year. Stephens began its best ideas list in 2006. Since then, the list has a compound annual return of 10.9%, while the Russell 2000 has notched 8.2%. A hypothetical equal-weighted portfolio of the Stephens’ best ideas for 2019 would have outperformed the Russell

More two-thirds of all New Jersey moves were outbound in 2019, according to an analysis from United Van Lines. About a third of people leaving the state cited retirement as a primary reason for relocating, the moving service found. United Van Lines analyzed 182,186 shipments last year through Dec. 18. “The economics in that state are a little bit uncertain, so we see people leaving,” said Eily Cummings, director of corporate communications at United Van Lines. Illinois and New York round out the

Private prison companies have been a source of debate since they were established in the 1980s. The private prisons sector quickly grew into a multibillion-dollar industry and blossomed through Democratic and Republican administrations alike. In the correctional system, however, less than 10% of state and federal inmates are in the care of private prisons. Activists denounced private prison companies and some Wall Street banks as profiteering on detention. The largest pension fund in the country

American had 24 of the 737 Max planes in its fleet at the time of the grounding and had expected that size to double this year. “As we’ve said before, we expect American will be compensated for the lost earnings that the Max grounding has caused,” American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said. “We anticipate that part of any compensation American receives will be eligible for profit sharing for our team.” American in October forecast the Max grounding would cost it $540 million in pretax incom

One name is also flashing a technically bullish signal. ConocoPhillips, the third-largest company in the energy space, saw its 50-day moving average cross above its 200-day at the end of December. Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, agreed that this is the energy stock to watch in 2020. ConocoPhillips trades at 20 times forward earnings, while the XLE energy ETF trades with a 16 times multiple. “They have a very strong plan going into the next decade where

Daniel GrizeljThe stock market surged in 2019, closing out the end of the decade by posting its best annual gain in six years. Charlie Fitzgerald, a financial advisor at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo, an advisory firm with offices in Orlando and Melbourne in Florida, said a strong stock market often leads investors to be overconfident and assume the gravy train will last. The only year that saw better annual performance over the past three decades was 1997, when the S&P 500 yielded 33.4%. There were

Democratic presidential hopeful former Vice President Joe Biden laughs during the sixth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by PBS NewsHour & Politico at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California on December 19, 2019. Joe Biden’s presidential campaign took in $22.7 million in the fourth quarter, an improving fundraising pace that still lags some of his rivals for the 2020 Democratic nomination. It marks the best cash haul for the former vice

The severe shortage of homes for sale is upending the sales calendar for the whole housing market. In 2019, however, January was the busiest month on the site in 20 of the largest 100 metropolitan markets. In 2018, January was the busiest month in just three of the largest 100 markets. Atlanta’s housing market is particularly spare, especially on the low end. “It’s a race out here, so it’s either they get started fast or they wait until the actual spring market, and they miss out on all the inve

The father of passive investing told CNBC on Thursday that the shift toward index funds has vindicated his ideas and that there is still too much active management. Burton Malkiel is a professor emeritus of economics at Princeton University and author of the famous investing book, “A Random Walk Down Wall Street.” “Well, now in mutual funds the index share is now more than 50% and the active share is less.” Malkiel’s book, published in 1973, influenced the thinking of many industry leaders who p

Warren Buffett may have a giant cash pile to burn but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will compromise his long-standing value investing principles. In November, Buffett backed out of a bidding war after a slightly higher offer to buy hot technology distributor Tech Data. On Thursday we learned he also declined to purchase luxury jeweler Tiffany when it was looking for a buyer last year. Lofty market valuations could be holding back Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger, Berkshire’s vice chairm

Low-cost investing pioneer Vanguard has finally followed other peer brokerage firms in eliminating stock commissions entirely. Charles Schwab was the first major broker to give investors zero-commission online trades, pressuring rivals to follow suit. Schwab announced on Oct. 1 that commissions would go from $4.95 for online trading of stocks and ETFs to zero. Vanguard helped revolutionize the investment business by keeping costs as low as possible, an idea pushed by founder Jack Bogle. In addit

Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco and Jurnee Smollett-Bell star in “Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.” Bank of America revealed its top short-term ideas for the quarter ahead, and AT&T and Exxon Mobil made the list. The bank is betting on AT&T’s “accelerating earnings growth on new cost cutting initiatives and stock repurchases.” With a price target of $43, Bank of America believes the stock can go up about 10% from here. AT&T