The White House suggested Wednesday that a loss of confidence in Comey among FBI employees contributed to his firing. “Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does today,” McCabe said. In his letter firing Comey, Trump went out of his way to write that the FBI director told him three times he was not under investigation. Asked Thursday if he knew if Comey told Trump he was not under investigation, McCabe said he could not comment. Democrats have decried the firing and incre

There may be one last thing to love about your ex: their Social Security check. See if you qualifyWhat hurdles do you need to clear in order to collect on an ex-spouse’s work record? As long as your ex is entitled to Social Security, you must meet four main criteria:Your former marriage lasted at least 10 years. While the government will penalize you for taking your ex’s benefit early, it won’t reward you for delaying. If you were using your own work record, each year you delay filing for Social

Three ways to make money on Thursday Wednesday, 10 May 2017 | 5:14 PM ET | 01:40With the S&P 500 trading in a tight range near record highs, BK Asset Management strategist Boris Schlossberg is watching for three events Thursday. Nordstrom earningsNordstrom’s earnings report after the closing bell could shed light on the state of the struggling brick-and-mortar retailers. That represents serious underperformance against the broad market, but actually makes the stock the best-performing multi-line

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at investigating alleged vote fraud. The order establishes a commission to review alleged voter fraud and voter suppression throughout the American election system. Reacting to news of the commission, Brennan Center for Justice President Michael Walden called the commission “a sham and distraction.” The evidence that does exist, however, shows that voter fraud is extremely rare and that three million undocumented immigrants didn’

Goldman Sachs will launch a new private stock-trading venue, known as a “dark pool,” on Friday, that is run by exchange operator Nasdaq, according to a note to clients obtained by Reuters. Goldman has been refreshing its trading technology to become more competitive in its electronic stock execution business, and hired Nasdaq last year to revamp its dark pool, known as Sigma X. The new dark pool, called Sigma X2, will ramp up gradually, with two stock symbols trading on the first day, and the re

German grocery chain Aldi is trying to beat the world’s biggest retailer at its own game: low prices. Already with 1,600 U.S. stores, Aldi’s internal studies show its prices are 21 percent lower than its lowest-priced rivals, including Wal-Mart, according to Chief Executive Jason Hart. He also pledged Aldi will be willing to change prices more frequently to respond to rivals if needed. Price wars are roiling the entire retail sector – from department stores to discount chains – but it is nowhere

The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) has gained 17 percent in 2017, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF has advanced slightly more than 7 percent. “If we start a big currency rally in emerging markets, this could be a positive time to be buying into the EEM,” Sanchez said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.” Sanchez made the point that emerging markets would benefit should the dollar weaken further. In the late Wednesday note, co-head of global foreign exchange and emerging markets strategy Zach Pan

Meanwhile, still more data is emerging that their approach to health care isn’t all that popular, and the public doesn’t love their tax plans, either. On top of that, the early contours of Trump’s tax plan are getting dismal reviews. 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the GOP’s health care plan, the American Health Care Act; 21 percent approve. of Americans disapprove of the GOP’s health care plan, the American Health Care Act; 21 percent approve. of Americans think Trump’s plan will not affe

There are still a lot of questions about what happened with FBI Director James Comey’s firing, but the controversy shouldn’t derail President Donald Trump’s agenda, former Vice President Dan Quayle told CNBC on Thursday. Quayle spoke soon after Trump told NBC News he was going to fire the “showboat” FBI director “regardless” of what the Justice Department recommended, directly contradicting what the White House said Wednesday. “He can go full steam ahead with his agenda, but he’s got to right th

Chinese conglomerates have been buying stakes in U.S. companies and real estate for several years. In fact, HNA was one of two Chinese companies reportedly mulling a bid. But the idea of a company from a communist country owning a U.S. news organization caught many people off guard. Chinese companies, though, own part or all of a number of companies that impact American lives on a daily basis, and many people aren’t aware of it. Here’s a look at some of the bigger business names that are owned b

For Kohl’s, welcoming Under Armour into its stores was the “biggest brand launch” the department store operator has ever had. “The launch of Under Armour exceeded our expectations, and the launch accelerated our rate of growth in the important active category,” Kohl’s CEO Kevin Mansell said on Thursday’s earnings conference call. The department store chain only just began selling Under Armour’s merchandise — sported by celebrity athletes like Stephen Curry and Tom Brady — in its stores this past

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, a critical position ahead of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. The Senate voted to confirm veteran trade lawyer Robert Lighthizer by a 82-14 vote.

Steve Harvey wants you to act like a lady, think like a man and please, please, stay out of his dressing room. There will be no meetings in my dressing room. Do not come to my dressing room unless invited. Do not open my dressing room door. “Look, man, I’m in my makeup chair, they walk in the room,” Harvey tells Frazier.

Private equity has been largely outbid or left out completely of dealmaking so far this year, despite the fact that it is sitting on a record amount of cash. One high-profile case last year was Verizon’s deal to buy Yahoo, reportedly beating out private equity bidders. In the last few days, private equity firms have made some strides. Then The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, said Wednesday that power generator Calpine “has attracted interest from a number of private equity firms.” “A lot of

So are conservatives angry at the apostate Trump or indebted to him for helping them politically when they were not able to help themselves? But Trump’s idea of “fair” trade trumps “free” trade. Unlike doctrinaire Republicans, Trump believes that illegal immigration is a big — and bad — deal. Trumpism views the world abroad largely in terms of realist deterrence. Through deregulation, tax reform, immigration reform, and fair trade, Trump hopes to help the economy grow by 3 percent each year.

An unsettling trend has appeared in the charts, and that has one trader betting against the S&P 500. According to Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com, the divergence among major indexes is a warning sign that a pullback could be on the way. The chart has been making a “traditional head-and-shoulders pattern,” and with the lower highs Gordon believes the index could fall below the neckline in that pattern. And while the transports have been putting in lower highs, the S&P 500-tracking ETF (SPY) ha

President Donald Trump’s plan to visit the FBI in an attempt to boost morale has been scrapped, according to administration officials. After his controversial firing of FBI Director James Comey, Trump was told it was not likely he would be warmly welcomed. “My sense is most FBI employees feel a loyalty to Comey,” one person who works at headquarters told NBC News. Comey called the bureau a “rock” for America, and said he hopes it will continue to uphold the Constitution. “What makes leaving the

The price of bitcoin hit a record high Thursday, crossing above $1800 just two days after rising above $1700 for the first time. The digital currency is now up roughly 36 percent so far this month. BKCM CEO Brian Kelly says he believes the rally is driven by Japan legalizing bitcoin and institutional investors entering the digital currency universe. According to data compiled by CryptoCompare, the Japanese Yen is the most popular fiat currency used to buy bitcoin,” Kelly said in a note. But Kell

While newly fired FBI Director James Comey made mistakes, Sen. Mark Warner said he is offended by President Donald Trump’s comments about him. “This is a continuing pattern of disrespecting the men and women who serve in our intelligence community,” Warner told reporters after he and Sen. Richard Burr met with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Warner, the ranking democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he believes Trump would be “better served” if he supported the intelligence

Rob Arnott, founder and chief executive officer of Research Affiliates, believes investors should avoid U.S. stocks and buy emerging market equities to outperform in the coming years. U.S. is at 29 times earnings. “International stocks are at 14 to 15 times earnings. Emerging market stocks are 11 to 12 times earnings. Fundamental indexing strategies, which Arnott developed, rebalance positions according to valuation measures instead of the market cap-weighted allocations typically used by passiv