Israel headed on Wednesday toward a third national election in less than a year with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing the fight of his life for political survival after a criminal indictment. Neither Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party nor the centrist Blue and White party led by his main rival, former military chief Benny Gantz, won enough seats in the Knesset (parliament) for a governing majority in the previous two contests. Both men were delegated the task of forming a coalition, but

The U.S. and China will probably announce some form of trade deal ahead of Sunday — when additional tariffs on Chinese goods are due to kick in — and that’s going to boost financial markets, say analysts. There will be an “eleventh hour” announcement about a deal on Saturday night, says Kenny Polcari, senior market strategist at Slatestone Wealth. “They’re going to come out and say ‘we’ve got a deal … we’re working on tweaking, fine-tuning it. U.S. President Donald Trump announced in October t

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he’d prefer to let inflation rise and hold above the central bank’s target before considering future interest rate hikes. “In order to move rates up, I would want to see inflation that’s persistent and that’s significant,” Powell said at a news conference in Washington. “A significant move up in inflation that’s also persistent before raising rates to address inflation concerns: That’s my view.” “It happens to be my view that that’s what

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smile during a meeting at the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi on Feb. 28, 2019. As U.S.-North Korea relations turn increasingly tense amid rising rhetoric, analysts warn that it could signal an end to diplomacy between the two countries. In response, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un risks losing “everything” if he acts in a hostile manner. To that, North Korean state media on M

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady following its two-day meeting this week and indicated that no action is likely next year amid persistently low inflation. In its statement explaining the decision, the committee indicated that monetary policy is likely to stay where it is for an unspecified time, though officials will continue to monitor conditions as they develop. The decision to keep rates unchanged was unanimous, following several dissents in recent meetings. ‘Dot pl

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn pay tribute to the victims of the London Bridge terror attack on December 2, 2019. Sterling slid on Wednesday morning as some caution returned to a currency market which had largely priced in a clear Conservative victory. Many of these areas also voted Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum, however, and are therefore seen as being in play for the Conservatives and the Brexit Party. Scenario 1: A Conservative ma

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen departs after testifying behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 26, 2019. The court filing contains a Nov. 26 email from one of Cohen’s lawyers, Roger Adler, to federal prosecutors in Manhattan noting their refusal to meet with Cohen. Adler, in another email to federal prosecutors last week, cited a New York Times article a day earlier. A spokesman for Manhattan federal prosecutors declined to comme

The Mega Millions jackpot has climbed higher yet again. With no one hitting all six numbers on Tuesday, the top prize is an estimated $340 million for Friday night’s drawing. And while the odds are stacked against hitting the jackpot — your chance is 1 in about 302 million — at some point, someone will get really, really lucky. A woman fills out a Mega Millions lottery ticket on October 19, 2018 in New York City. The Mega Millions jackpot is currently up to $970 million.

The kids are all right in Washington state. At least that’s what Wealthfront, an investment management firm that provides robo-advisor services, found when it analyzed 201,486 of its clients across the country over the course of the year. Millennial investors — that is, individuals born between 1980 and 1994 — residing in the Evergreen State have a median liquid net worth of $112,618, Wealthfront found. The firm defined “liquid net worth” as the sum of a client’s Wealthfront accounts, plus the e

The first crash, less than five months earlier was a Lion Air 737 Max that went down shortly after takeoff in October 2018, killing all 189 people on board. The FAA review was released during a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on the agency’s approval of the 737 Max. After the Lion Air crash in October 2018, the FAA issued an emergency directive to airlines flying the 737 Max, ordering them to spell out procedures to counter conditions like those that occurred

A monitor displays Peloton Interactive Inc. signage during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) across from the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. Shares of Peloton extended their two-day losses, trading down 5% midday on Wednesday, following a critical short-seller note from Citron Research that gave the in-home exercise bike company a meager $5 price target. Since its IPO in late September, Peloton shares have traded between roughly $20 and $30 per share.

People walk out of the co-working space WeWork in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York. Problems in the IPO market have the potential to ripple through and slam the S&P 500, and the failed WeWork offering could be a warning, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch equity analysts. That’s because private equity, heavily invested in start-ups, has become a much bigger piece of the investment portfolios of asset allocators, like pension funds. If private equity runs into trouble

The stock is up nearly 90% heading into Wednesday’s report, while its nearest competitor, Adidas, is only up 46%. “What that tells me is, you have a lot of people positioning for upside with two and a half times the calls trading over the puts.” “Specifically, the January 20-calls, about 1,400 traded today,” said DaSilva, “about 4,200 [of those calls] in the open interest.” As he sees it, a lot of Wednesday’s call buying could be from traders who are taking profits in the stock after its tremend

DoubleLine Capital founder Jeffrey Gundlach believes that long-term Treasury yields are apt to jump over the next few months as the Federal Reserve works to fuel inflation higher. “I can’t emphasize enough that October statement by Powell, where he said ‘We’re not even considering raising interest rates unless we see a substantial and persistent rise in inflation,'” Gundlach told CNBC’s Scott Wapner. ‘”When you hear that, that the Fed is cheerleading inflation higher … what that says is that t

The Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to keep interest rates steady put the cap on a tumultuous year for consumers. On the one hand, lower rates have meant cheaper loans, which can impact your mortgage, home equity loan, credit card balance, student loan tab and car payments. With interest rates holding steady, “this is the time to pay down debt and boost savings,” he said. Credit cardsMost credit cards have a variable rate, which means there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark rate.

Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead his Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican, June 17, 2015. As little as 10% of donations by Roman Catholics that are specifically advertised as helping the poor and suffering actually go toward charitable work, a new report says. The article noted that under church law, a pope can use Peter’s Pence in any manner that serves his ministry. Meanwhile, the Holy See’s deficit in 2018 doubled to more than $76 million on a budget of ar

Joe Biden unveiled a plan Wednesday to reform the U.S. immigration system and reverse President Donald Trump’s policies as Democratic White House hopefuls pressure the president over some of his most criticized tactics. In introducing the broad proposal, the 2020 presidential candidate’s campaign also acknowledged the backlash he has faced over the deportation practices of the Obama White House when he served as vice president. “It’s wrong, and it stops when Joe Biden is elected president.” Trum

[The stream is slated to start at 2:30 pm ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivers his news conference Wednesday following the Federal Open Market Committee’s policy meeting. The Fed chose to leave rates unchanged and signaled they would stay where they are for all of 2020. The Fed has cut its benchmark interest rate three times this year, taking it down to a range of 1.5%-1.75%.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has brokered a deal with a key block of Democrats that threatened to derail passage of her sweeping bill overhauling drug prices. Pelosi met late Tuesday with Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., co-leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The bill originally allowed U.S. health officials to negotiate the prices Medicare pays for at least 35 different prescription drugs. Pelosi also agreed to restore a provision of the bill that protects empl

Chevron is writing down as much as $11 billion worth of assets, and it could cost the entire market. Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said that depending on the final charge, it could reduce 2019’s fourth-quarter overall S&P 500 earnings by $1.32 per share. The whole S&P 500 is expected to earn $158.50 a share for the full year, according to estimates. On Tuesday, Chevron said that the write-down of between $10 billion and $11 billion would be for the current qu