European shares hovered close to 20-month highs as retail stocks led the gains on Wednesday. The sector was buoyed by strong earning reports with French luxury brand Kering posting record quarterly sales. Its shares ended over 9 percent higher. While, Bic closed at the bottom of the benchmark, down by over 10 percent, after announcing lower net income and net sales in its first quarter. Both the Dow Jones industrial average and broader S&P500 also continued slightly higher as investors eagerly a

U.S. equities rose slightly on Wednesday as investors eagerly awaited President Donald Trump’s outline for tax reform, while earnings season continued. The Dow Jones industrial average gained about 35 points, with Goldman Sachs and 3M contributing the most gains. The S&P 500 gained about 0.2 percent, with health care leading advancers. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed the administration’s outline will call for a 15 percent corporate tax rate. It’s time for the administration to “go bi

Word that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer could pocket up to $186 million from the company’s sale to Verizon Communications cements the charmed nature of her five-year tenure at the company’s helm. That amount eclipses slightly the $179 million that AOL’s Tim Armstrong garnered when Verizon bought his company in 2015. Unlike Armstrong, who has continued to lead AOL after that transaction, Mayer will have no executive role in the company after the Verizon-Yahoo deal is finalized. Even two high-profile da

The burrito chain told investors during an earnings conference call Tuesday that it had detected “unauthorized activity” on a network that supports payment processing for purchases made at Chipotle restaurants. Chipotle shares surged as much as 6.8 percent in aftermarket trading following better-than-expected earnings. In a statement from spokesman Chris Arnold, Chipotle warned customers to closely monitor their payment card statements and notify their bank if they see an unauthorized charge. Ch

If the market gets clarity this week on how and when tax reform will play out, some analysts say stocks could be vulnerable to a sell-off. “This carrot that’s out there is tax reform,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird. According to reports this week, President Donald Trump still wants to lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, even if it expands the federal deficit. Proposed cuts to the high 35 percent U.S. corporate tax rate have been a major factor behind stocks’ po

What to buy after earnings: 5 trades 19 Hours Ago | 01:34As companies continue to post results from the first quarter, the “Fast Money” traders pause and take stock of which companies to buy. Trader Tim Seymour said he likes the Financial Select Sector SPDR fund because bank stocks “arguably gave some of the best earnings this earnings season so far.” Trader Guy Adami said Mastercard and Visa are “Teflon in this environment” because of the improvement of the global economy and consumer spending.

You might want to gift your parent or grandparent a sweatband soon, because exercise could confer significant benefits on the aging brain, according to a new study. Specifically, people ages 50 and older experienced boosts to brain health following exercise sessions lasting 45 minutes to an hour at a minimum of moderate intensity. Researchers analyzed 39 studies published through 2016 in an attempt to look at the effects of exercise on brain health in this age group. They examined aerobic exerci

Clyde Scott didn’t expect to be so busy or so popular. He started building underground bunkers during the Obama administration for clients who feared the government would take away their property and their guns. But the election of Donald Trump has only increased business by bringing him a new clientele — Californians and New Yorkers afraid of nuclear war. Right after Trump’s election, “business went out the roof. Scott has become famous for his bunker manufacturing facility called Rising S Comp

More and more, companies are popping up that are completely virtual, meaning their entire team telecommutes 100 percent of the time. According to Flexjobs.com, the number of virtual companies in the United States has grown from 26 in 2014 to 125 in 2016. When it comes to job satisfaction, people who work remotely, even just one day a week, are 48 percent more likely to rate their job satisfaction 10 out of 10 on the happiness scale, according to a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Accordi

“You’ve been saying the same thing essentially since 2012 and have been consistently wrong,” said a frustrated Nations. Why were you so wrong then, and why should we think you’re so right now?” In 2007 and 2012, I was relatively positive about bonds and I argued that emerging markets would go up strongly,” he said. “Some emerging markets have gone up vertically and bonds have actually performed quite well.” Faber maintains that there are better investments outside of the United States, looking t

The ETF that tracks basic materials stocks, IYM, climbed more than 1 percent on Tuesday to hit year-to-date highs thanks to strong earnings from one of its largest components. “DuPont crushed earnings, and the whole industry group is on the move here.” According to Gordon, Tuesday’s move means that materials are finally “catching up on the breakout” that the rest of the market has experienced. Dow Chemical is another stock that has caught Gordon’s eye in the basic materials group. IYM has rallie

What’s even more notable than the size of the moves, however, is just how confident the market has appeared. These unflinching moves higher are rare. That’s a lot of market cap to really leap higher. That’s the smallest range seen on an up 1 percent-plus day in at least the past 36 years, according to a CNBC analysis of FactSet data. The decisive-looking market moves, then, may just be yet another consequence of one of the biggest macro trends in market recently: the striking decline of volatili

Cramer Remix: Why a cereal company and health care play have more in common than you think 17 Hours Ago | 01:08As the bull market heats up, Jim Cramer pinpointed two promising takeovers that were overshadowed by a tidal wave of earnings reports and overlooked by Wall Street. Post Holdings, the United States’ third-largest cereal maker and the company behind Honey Bunches of Oats and Raisin Bran, is buying the United Kingdom’s second-biggest cereal company, Weetabix, for £1.4 billion. Though the

Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed:Bank of America Corp.: “OK, Bank of America was up in one of the, what, top four yesterday in the S&P? That’s why I say, ‘buy, buy, buy’ Bank of America.” I think Magna is too cheap to sell, but it is related to autos and everything related to autos is stalled. And in the conference call, he even talked about looking, you know, trying to figure out what to do with them, maybe Dish. Mad

Its backlog was up big, allowing management to raise its full-year outlook to $2.90 up to $3.75,” Cramer said. The company’s unusual earnings beat topped analysts estimates of $1.39, coming in at $1.64. And with the Dow Chemical merger reportedly closing in August, Cramer said owning either company is a boon to your portfolio going forward. The fast food chain delivered 4 percent global same-store sales growth and an earnings beat of $1.47 compared to estimates of $1.33. Mad Money Twitter – Jim

As the market surges higher and earnings reports continue to top expectations, Jim Cramer turned to one technician’s charts to find out whether the upward move is sustainable. The “Mad Money” host looked to Mark Sebastian, the founder of OptionPit and Cramer’s colleague at RealMoney.com, for charts that could prove the rally’s authenticity. Being an expert on the CBOE Volatility Index — VIX for short — Sebastian compared the near term volatility tracker to the S&P 500 to show the strength of the

Microsoft traded at 59 times earnings, Cisco at 179 times earnings, Intel at 126 times earnings and Oracle at 87 times earnings. Now, Microsoft trades at 20 times earnings, Cisco at 13 times earnings, Intel at 17 times earnings, and Oracle at 16 times earnings. Cramer understands why some investors worry about market leaders like Amazon and Netflix, which appear to have inflated valuations like the once-doomed tech stocks did in 2000. Apple trades at 14 times 2018 earnings and has a large divide

The euro retreated from 5-1/2 month highs against the dollar on Wednesday, investors cashing in gains made on the back of the first round of France’s presidential elections and a market rethink on euro zone monetary policy. Attention was also turning to U.S. President Donald Trump’s promised announcement on tax cuts, supporting a reheating of the dollar-positive “Trumpflation” trades that dominated the end of last year but have waned since. The yen – a sufferer this week from buoyant sentiment o

“It’s either profit taking from those who went short or bargain hunting from people who think the fall was too much, but I wouldn’t say there’s any strong fundamental reason behind it,” said analyst Carsten Menke at Julius Baer in Zurich. “You had a decent set of risk factors that supported gold over the past few weeks and I’d argue that most of them are priced out of the market again and that’s why we believe that prices should reach $1,200 over the next three months.” Gold also was hit by incr

Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday after government data showed U.S. crude inventories fell more than expected after an industry report had indicated a surprise build in fuel stocks. U.S. commercial crude inventories fell by 3.6 million barrels to a total of 528.7 million barrels in the week through April 21, the Energy Information Administration said. The decline came as refineries hiked output and despite a 515,000 barrels-per-day rise in net U.S. crude imports. U.S. inventory data issued la