April retail sales could see a solid gain after a weak March, signaling a stronger start to the second quarter after a temporary first-quarter soft patch. For retail sales, ex autos, they expect a half percent gain from a flat reading in March. ET reports of both retail sales and April’s consumer price index should show signs of a turnaround, after March inflation fell. Kevin Cummins, senior economist at NatWest Markets, said he expects a half percent gain in headline retail sales. Retail sales

The United States has scuffled with European countries in recent years over how much tax they collect from American companies. Just this month, Italy settled with Google for $334 million over back taxes. The United States is one of the only countries that taxes corporate income wherever it is earned. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has expressed support for moving to a territorial system that only taxes domestic income. Exactly how much the White House is able to accomplish could help set the

Inflation updateA key economic data point is on tap for Friday morning, when the consumer price index will give the latest read on inflation. Retail salesAnother significant economic release on Friday morning will be the retail sales number, Gibbs said. Gibbs wrote to CNBC. Economists as a group expect to see 0.6 percent month-over-month growth in retail sales for April, after a 0.2 percent drop in March. Big box retailersSpeaking of retail sales, Gibbs will continue to keep an eye on how big bo

After Kraft Heinz’s failed attempt to acquire Unilever and Warren Buffett’s defense of the offer, Unilever CEO Paul Polman offered a response to the legendary investor’s moves. So I think it’s better if he leaves us with what we know how to do well,” Polman told Cramer on Thursday. Unilever’s tells a growth story, but the CEO said he was not as convinced by Kraft Heinz’s. And on the physician side, there aren’t enough residency programs in order to be able to create that future workforce.” Mad M

Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed:Nutanix Inc.: “OK, they develop cloud platforms. Now, I know it’s not really that analogous, but if I’m going to be in that general vicinity, Salesforce. I don’t know what’s in the portfolio, but it is one of the better well-runs of that kind of a company that does bonds. I think that’s one that my charitable trust owns, much less volatile, and I think it’s a good situation. Mad Money

Unilever CEO: It’s better if Buffett ‘leaves us with what we know how to do well’ 16 Hours Ago | 09:23Merger drama aside, Unilever is performing on its own. The CEO stressed having a portfolio that is “future-fit,” filled with brands that younger generations use and enjoy. And in a changing market, Polman said he was happy to have children who keep him and his company up to speed. “The market is changing very fast, Jim, and consumers are changing very fast,” he told Cramer. Mad Money Twitter – J

Or, to put it another way, focusing on those alternative metrics is like asking, ‘Other than those same-store sales, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?'” Two is you hold the dividend steady and you keep putting up negative comparable store [sales],” Cramer said. And that is what Whole Foods’ leadership still has not grasped, in Cramer’s view: that growth, particularly same-store sales growth, is how investors merit the company. It didn’t work for Sports Authority and it didn’t work for Woolworths,

“That’s why we like the stocks of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Activision Blizzard, Constellation Brands, Domino’s, Netflix and Nvidia so much. Another area that is being forced into changing on the millennials’ watch is television, the “Mad Money” host said. “I know we’ve heard endlessly about the cord cutters because they don’t want to spend money on that big cable bill. Other winners in an increasingly millennial-run world include Facebook-friendly experiential names like Six Flags, Marriott, Dav

After surging in the weeks following the U.S. presidential election and becoming a defining facet of the so-called Trump trade, financial stocks have languished this year, having barely budged year to date. Financials posted one of their best quarters of earnings ever for the first quarter — over 20 percent earnings growth — Gibbs said, and forecasted about 13 percent earnings growth going forward. Concrete details have been relatively thin surrounding how exactly the Trump administration will g

Even if your retirement is years away, it’s a good idea to periodically check in on your Social Security benefits. Left uncorrected, an error could cost you thousands of dollars in retirement. (Checking in is getting an extra layer of security. Earlier this month, the Social Security Administration announced it will enable two-factor authentication starting June 10, requiring account holders to log in and provide an additional point of identification via cellphone or email. Here are three more S

Ask any employer, and they’ll tell you that healthcare costs for their employees are an enormous expenditure. The statistics bear that out: In a 2014 report from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), researchers note that MSC cost employers more than $20 billion annually in direct costs. Up to five times that amount is paid out in “indirect costs,” such as training workers for replacement, notes OSHA. The solution is two-fold: Employers can mitigate MSC by providing training

That, said analysts, was partly the result of a broad market focus shift away from politics and back towards monetary policy. With investors now pricing in an 80 percent chance of a Fed rate hike next month, while other central banks continue to ease policy, that could drive the dollar higher. “Although the market now fully prices in a June hike, theres way too little tightening priced thereafter, in our view,” said BNP Paribas currency strategist Sam Lynton-Brown, in London. Data released on Th

Gold rose on Friday and was set to end the week slightly higher as the sudden sacking of the FBI head in the United States stoked investor concerns and boosted demand for bullion, even as the dollar headed for its strongest week this year. Spot gold was up 0.49 percent to $1,230.30 per ounce. Gold rose 0.5 percent in the previous session, its best one-day gain in a month. U.S. gold futures added 0.51 percent to $1,230.40 an ounce.

Oil prices on Friday were on track for their biggest weekly gain in five weeks, helped by expectations of an extension of OPEC-led output cuts and buoyed by falling U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose 22 cents to $50.99 per barrel by 9:48 a.m. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $47.91 per barrel, up 8 cents from the last settlement. Analysts said a larger-than-expected fall in U.S. crude inventories last

Retail stocks in Asia were mixed following the softer lead from U.S. retailers in the previous session, with South Korea’s Lotte Shopping closed higher by 2.34 percent but Australian retailers mostly trading lower. In Singapore, shares of commodity trader Noble Group tumbled 20 percent after the company reported sharp losses for Q1 despite attempts to restructure. “There is risk that losses may continue due to the inability to effectively hedge the price risk in its coal business, and still nega

Apple CEO Tim Cook is a staunch advocate of corporations doing their part to help improve the world. Cook, who took the reins from the late Steve Jobs in 2011 and is one of America’s highest-paid chief executives, believes people should develop their morals and character and bring a spirit of helping others to the workplace. And work takes on new meaning when you feel you are pointed in the right direction,” he said at a 2015 commencement address to George Washington University graduates. “And t

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and top U.S. intelligence officials testified at a Senate hearing Thursday, two days after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. “There has been no effort to impede our investigation to date,” McCabe said when Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asked if the firing has disrupted any of the FBI’s work. The scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats took on more significance with Comey’s ouster. He was set to appear at the hearing, bu

Warner asked McCabe if he would commit to informing the committee of any political interference in the Russia investigation, and McCabe responded, “I absolutely do.” The White House suggested Wednesday that a loss of confidence in Comey among FBI employees contributed to his firing. The White House has contended that there is nothing underpinning the probe and Americans should move on from it. Democrats have decried the firing and increased their calls for a special prosecutor in the Russia inve

The press was barred, but a Russian photographer was allowed inside the Oval Office for a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, raising concerns by some security experts. The White House defended its security, but other former intelligence officials said the level of screening granted for a visitor may not have been sufficient enough to detect espionage devices, The Washington Post reports. According to the newspaper, the administration official said

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, gave a press conference in London following a routine monetary policy meeting at which it was decided to keep interest rates on hold at 0.25 percent. With the U.K.’s snap election in June looming and amid ongoing uncertainty as to how Brexit will affect the U.K. economy, Carney discussed how his monetary policy decisions are intended to weather potential storms. He also spoke about the U.K.’s pressured labor market and how automation could impact job