Author: US

OMAHA, Neb. — At the start of the Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B, -2.55% BRK.A, -2.94% annual meeting on Saturday, chairman and chief executive officer Warren Buffett wasted no time speaking to the question of the company’s aging leadership. He noted, in fact, that his and vice chairman Charlie Munger’s combined age was roughly 190 years — […]

Few would mourn the death of the traditional car-buying experience. The haggling and the I-have-to-talk-to-my-manager routine. The multi-hour wait for financing as you sit through sales pitches for extras like leather protection and roof racks.  Fortunately, it’s now trending to become a thing of the past.  We’re already seeing a dramatic shift in the way […]

A little self-control and patience can save you almost $ 25 in May. All it takes is the will to blow off the two biggest streaming releases of the year: the new season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and Disney’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” So what’s the logic behind risking spoilers and FOMO? For starters, neither series hits […]

U.S. home prices have surged during the pandemic with median existing home prices hitting $ 375,300 in March, a record with data back to 1999, according to the National Association of Realtors. Although mortgage rates have jumped sharply and sales weakened recently, odds are the market remains resilient with housing supply down to a 20-year […]

Q.: Hi Dan – Thank you for writing Opinion: I just got a huge dividend payout from a mutual fund and my investment value dropped — what’s going on? What value do mutual fund dividends provide? If a dividend is paid out, the value of the mutual fund goes down to cover the dividend. In addition to the […]

Forget delivery in 30 minutes or less. Domino’s Pizza Inc. wants customers to pick up their own pizzas. The chain has a strategy in place to encourage customer-order pickup, giving customers a $ 3 “tip” when they go to a Domino’s DPZ, -4.49% location and get their food. “Online carry-out orders generate a higher ticket […]

Lyft Inc. said Friday that it will pay legal fees for its drivers if they are sued under an anti-abortion bill that was approved by Oklahoma’s legislature this week and which the state’s governor is expected to sign. The announcement follows a previous commitment by the ride-hailing company to do the same in Texas, where […]

The Department of Labor, which oversees employer-sponsored retirement plans, took issue with Fidelity Investment’s decision to allow a maximum of 20% of 401(k) accounts to be invested in bitcoin, according to a recent report.  The department has “grave concerns with what Fidelity has done,” Ali Khawar, acting assistant secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, […]

An ugly end to a cruel April on Friday saw the S&P 500 post its second correction — a drop of 10% from a recent peak — so far this year. The large-cap benchmark SPX, -3.63% ended a topsy-turvy week with a 3.6% fall on Friday, closing at 4,131.93, its lowest finish since May 19, […]

Poland has sent at least 240 Soviet-style tanks to Ukraine, Polish officials said, a donation that is enough to form two new tank brigades as Ukraine races to rebuff Russia’s advance in the east of the country. Don’t miss: U.S. credits Ukraine resistance with stymying Russia in Donbas, where Zelensky says Putin is pursuing scorched-earth strategy The […]

On another difficult Friday afternoon for the stock market, the broad U.S. indexes ended with significant declines. One element that stood out during such a rough year for technology stocks was that the FAANG group (Facebook holding company Meta Platforms Inc. FB, -2.56%, Apple Inc. AAPL, -3.66%, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -14.05%, Netflix Inc. NFLX, -4.59%, […]

Oil futures snapped a three-day winning streak Friday, but booked weekly and monthly gains as supply worries tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine outweighed concerns over a hit to demand from China’s COVID lockdowns. Meanwhile, May heating oil futures expired at a record, with tight distillate stocks also sending cash prices for all-important diesel fuel […]

The numbers: The U.S. employment cost index rose 1.4% in the first quarter, up from a 1% gain in the October-December quarter, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast a 1.1% increase. The increase in compensation gains over the past year rose to 4.5% from 4%. Key details: […]

A rough month for stocks is drawing to a close, and many investors likely won’t be sad to see the back of it. And the last day of April trade is looking weak as Apple and Amazon failed to raise the bar on a mixed season for tech earnings. Our call of the day comes […]

Losses were building for U.S. stock futures on Friday, with tech stocks set to lead the way south after disappointing results from industry giants Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. Investors are awaiting key inflation data, as well as more results from major energy companies such as Exxon Mobil Inc. How are stock-index futures trading? S&P […]

Labor Department officials believe Fidelity Investments’s plan to allow investors to put bitcoin in their 401(k) accounts risks the retirement security of Americans, a senior administrator said. “We have grave concerns with what Fidelity has done,” Ali Khawar, acting assistant secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Elon Musk sold nearly $ 4 billion in Tesla Inc. stock this week, after reaching an agreement with Twitter Inc.’s board of directors to buy the company for $ 44 billion. In a series of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission released late Thursday, the CEO disclosed he sold about 4.4 million Tesla shares […]

The Big Tech earnings boom is officially over, but some of the world’s most powerful and valuable companies are breaking off from the pack. As this column told you months ago, profit increases are no longer a given for Big Tech. Collectively, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +3.70% GOOG, +3.82%, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +4.65%, Apple Inc. AAPL, […]

Amazon.com Inc. reported a loss of nearly $ 4 billion in the first quarter of 2022 as inflationary pressures added costs, and executives expect to make changes to cut some expenses. Amazon AMZN, +4.65% reported a first-quarter loss of $ 3.8 billion, or $ 7.56 a share, after the e-commerce giant reported earnings of $ […]

It’s tough to talk about freedom of speech.  While the famous First Amendment right appears simple on paper — “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech” — its interpretation is something Americans have been arguing over ever since the rule was ratified. It’s a complex, nuanced topic, so it’s not surprising […]