Market News

Bill Ackman said Carl Icahn is trying to sell his Herbalife stock. Carl Icahn buys 2.3 million more shares.

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The stock market moved sideways for most of last week with the heaviest selling on Wednesday. Finally on Friday we got Janet Yellen's long awaited comments from Jackson Hole where she said "the case for raising rates has strengthened in recent months." This did little to change the already low expectations for a rate hike in September but then Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer hinted on CNBC that a rate hike was still possible next month. The S&P futures reversed course on his comments as the futures dropped 20 points. This increases the focus on the September 20-21 FOMC meeting which makes it more likely that it will be tough three weeks for investors and traders. It does not help that we are entering a seasonally weak period where an increase in market noise can play a larger role. So what should an investor do?

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In a world where you need to hold a U.S. Treasury for 10 years to get a measly 1.5%, real estate investment trusts (REITs) have become an incredibly attractive income-yielding alternative. So attractive, in fact, that the SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF (RWR) has soared over 12% in the last year:

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Don't mistake Apple dividends and buybacks for largesse

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Today I want to tell you about a deadly retirement-planning mistake millions of Americans are making right now—and five stocks you need to weed out of your portfolio yesterday.

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As the second largest bank in the United States, Bank of America plans to simplify their investment options as increased regulation looms on the horizon - and other investment groups seem to be planning on doing the same. After the financial hardships of 2008, The Security Exchange Commission (SEC) passed new regulations aimed at reducing risks for money market funds. These new regulations are set to go into action in October of this year, and will dramatically change investing practices.

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Dancing with the European Stars: The end of summer heralds the real beginning of the post-Brexit dance between the U.K. and the E.U.

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Reports suggest that Samsung Electronics is planning to launch a program to sell refurbished used versions of its premium smartphones starting next year. As growth in the global smartphone market slows, Samsung is looking at innovative ways to improve its mobile phone revenue and profitability, in our view. According to Deloitte, used smartphones will be a $17 billion market in 2016 and at least 10% of premium smartphones purchased in 2016 will have two or three owners before being retired. We believe by entering this market Samsung can attract consumers towards its refurbished models and lure them away from phones of local players such as Micromax in India and Xiaomi in China, which sell smartphones with high end features at low prices. If the company is able to avoid the risk of cannibalizing sales of its own low priced models, this strategy can build momentum for its mobile phone segment, which according to our estimates accounts for more than 30% of its valuation.

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Cadbury maker Mondelez International announced Monday that it is ending its discussions to buy The Hershey Company.

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Jack Dorsey has provided the world two platforms to empower businesses of all sizes in Square and Twitter. Square provides any business a quick and easy way to accept credit cards from any location, and Twitter provides a voice for any business that parallels what only the largest businesses could afford in the past. While many are concerned over Dorsey’s ability to manage two public companies, Tony Mitchell believes that these concerns are providing a great investment opportunity in Square.

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