Tag: stock market

More than 100 top White House officials lacked permanent security clearances a year into Donald Trump’s presidency, according to separate reports Wednesday by NBC News and CNN, including the president’s daughter, son-in-law and the White House counsel. Having only an interim clearance can hinder the job performance of staffers, CNN said, since they may not be able to access all pertinent information. NBC News reported more than 130 staffers lacked permanent clearance as of November, 47 of those reporting directly to Trump. Of the 24 officials on the National Security Council, 10 — about 42% — lacked permanent clearance, NBC News reported. A number of lawmakers and former government officials said it was highly unusual for so many staffers to lack permanent clearance so long into an administration. Among the most prominent names still working with an interim clearance: Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner; White House counsel Don McGahn; and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Lacking permanent clearance does not necessarily signal they are security risks. CNN reported that staffers with sizable wealth and ties to foreign nationals and governments posed particular problems, since their finances must be vetted, which can be a long process.

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Billionaire hedge-fund investor David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management was a buyer of technology, energy and bank shares in the fourth quarter, according to a Wednesday regulatory filing. Between the end of the third and fourth quarter, Appaloosa boosted its stake in Bank of America Corp. , upping his position by 170% to 10.8 million shares. He also increased his stake in Apple Inc. , raising that investment to 3.2 million shares and raising his stake in Micron Technology Inc. to 10.45 million shares, representing his largest holding according to WhaleWisdom.com. The hedge-fund luminary also lifted his position in Facebook Inc. by about 70% to 2.2 million shares, while adding to his holdings in the tech-heavy PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 to 4.3 million shares. Meanwhile, Tepper took a long position in the exchange-traded Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF , purchasing $280 million worth, though the fund also sold call options in the ETF worth $35 million. Call options give the holder the right but not the obligation to buy an asset a set price and time. Appaloosa also made bullish bets in the energy-centered Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF for $35 million. The investor was a buyer in gambling assets, with new stakes in Caesars Entertainment Corp. , about 5.86 million shares, and MGM Resorts International , where he picked up 2.3 million shares, from the end of the third quarter. Tepper notably divested his entire stake in Kinder Morgan Inc. , Chesapeake Energy Corp. , Whirlpool Corp. and General Motors , recent filings showed. Large investors are required to reveal their long equity holdings at the end of each quarter in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Billionaire hedge fund investor David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, as previously disclosed, boosted its stake in Brighthouse Financial Inc. and took a small stake in Twitter Inc. in the final quarter of 2018, while trimming holdings of General Motors Co. , according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday. In a 13-F form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the fund said it boosted its holdings in Brighthouse by more than 4.2 million shares to a total of 11 million shares. It also bought nearly 2.8 million Twitter shares. Greenlight reduced its stake in GM by nearly 8.7 million shares from the end of the third quarter, leaving it with a stake of around 25.8 million shares. GM still made up the largest chunk of the fund’s reported portfolio at 19.3%, while Brighthouse was No. 2 at 11.7%, according to filings tracking firm Whalewisdom.com.

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Amazon.com Inc. has partnered with Bank of America Corp. to provide sellers on its platform access to credit so they can buy more inventory, according to a CNBC report. Bank of America stock is up 1% to $32.34 and Amazon stock is flat after hours. Citing anonymous sources, the report said allows Amazon to reduce its risk and the program offers loans of $1,000 to $750,000 for firms that may have trouble borrowing money through more traditional sources. The lending program is invite only, has no website, and is geared toward helping sellers move more inventory, not turning a large profit on interest payments from the loans, the CNBC report said.

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. raised its stake in Apple Inc. by 31.24 million shares to 165.33 million shares as of Dec. 31 versus 134.09 million at the end of September, according to a 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It also took a new stake of 18.88 million shares in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in the fourth quarter. Apple rallied 9.8% during the quarter while Teva rose 7.7% compared with S&P 500’s 6.1% gain. However, Berkshire Hathaway slashed its stake in International Business Machine Corp. to 2.05 million shares versus 37.03 million shares. Berkshire’s other holdings in major companies such as Bank of America Corp. , Wells Fargo & Co. , and Coca-Cola Co. were mostly unchanged.

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Florida police in Broward County said an unidentified shooter was in custody Wednesday afternoon at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Authorities said the scene was still being treated as active-shooter situation, with students and teachers barricaded, according to reports. According to CNN, at least 2 fatalities and several injured. Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said President Trump is aware of the shooting: “Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected,” she said. Trump later tweeted that “no child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school. On television footage, some people were seen exiting the school, despite the lock down. The stock market was little changed amid the downbeat reports, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index booking a fourth straight gain. Developing story. Check back for updates.

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From:: Stock Market News

Florida police in Broward County said an unidentified shooter was in custody Wednesday afternoon at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Authorities said the scene was still being treated as active-shooter situation, with students and teachers barricaded, according to reports. According to CNN, at least 2 fatalities and several injured. Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said President Trump is aware of the shooting: “Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected,” she said. Trump later tweeted that “no child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school. On television footage, some people were seen exiting the school, despite the lock down. The stock market was little changed amid the downbeat reports, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index booking a fourth straight gain. Developing story. Check back for updates.

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Shares of Marriott International Inc. rose more than 1% late Wednesday after the hotel chain posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Marriott said it earned $201 million, or 54 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $244 million, or 62 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $415 million, or $1.12 a share, compared with $334 million a year ago. Revenue rose to $5.9 billion, from $5.5 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Marriott to post adjusted earnings of $1.01 a share on sales of $5.7 billion.

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Claiming that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson had “knowingly” allowed his family to use his public office for private gain, a Washington watchdog group on Wednesday filed a request for a “full and formal investigation” by the HUD inspector general. Carson’s wife, son, and daughter-in-law organized an agency “listening tour” of Baltimore business executives who were prospective business clients for Carson’s son and daughter-in-law, said the watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The event took place even though a HUD ethics official warned Carson against allowing it. Shortly after that, the daughter-in-law’s consulting firm was awarded a nearly half million dollar no-bid contract from one of those executives, CREW said in a release.

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SunPower Corp. late Wednesday said it has put on hold a $20 million plan to expand its workforce in the U.S. and is considering “other significant cost saving initiatives” to lower its expenses and improve its financial performance. Shares fell as much as 11%, and were halted earlier. The solar-power company reported a wider quarterly loss and a revenue miss for the fourth quarter. SunPower said it lost $569 million, or $4.07 a share, in the quarter, compared with a loss of $275 million, or $1.99 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2016. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $36 million, or 25 cents a share, in the period, compared with $3.3 million, or 2 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue fell to $658 million, from $1.02 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 11 cents a share on sales of $797 million. The company said it expects revenue of $1.6 billion to $2 billion for the year. SunPower said it had applied for tariff exemptions for certain products following the government’s decision to apply new tariffs on solar cells and modules. “Unfortunately, we are already seeing a negative near-term impact from the ruling as the increased costs due to import tariffs have delayed certain 2018 projects and made other projects uneconomical,” the company said.

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