Month: July 2020

This article will reflect on the compensation paid to James Oliviero who has served as CEO of Checkpoint Therapeutics… …read more […]

My “Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer” persona did not fit in at the Libertarian National Convention earlier this month in Orlando.
I was invited to give several presentations. Some were red meat for libertarians. Others were meant to challenge attendees… especially my speech on the tension between environmental stewardship and individual use of property.
And that’s what I’d like to talk about today.
Mistaken Identity
Every attendee I talked to lamented the fact that the general public thinks libertarians don’t care about the environment.
Libertarians promote property rights, after all. To radical environmentalists, individual property rights are a license to pillage, exploit and rape …read more […]

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Gold prices will push towards record highs over the next 18 months as the coronavirus crisis encourages investors to hoard the metal as a hedge against possible turmoil in the wider markets, a Reuters poll showed. Spot gold is one of this year’s best performing assets, with prices up almost 20% and above $1,800 an ounce for the first time since 2011. …read more […]

Every investor in Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Large companies… …read more […]

Top news and what to watch in the markets on Tuesday, July 21, 2020. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — South Sudan is banking on a better year in 2021 after efforts to rebuild its oil industry were knocked by the coronavirus and a collapse in crude prices.“We experienced prices that had never been there before and we are running at a loss” along with private operators, Awow Daniel Chuang, the undersecretary in the Ministry of Petroleum, said in an interview in Juba, the capital. “We have been affected much more than others because South Sudan, being a new country just emerging from war, has a lot of challenges.”South Sudan’s official oil production dropped 20,000 barrels to 170,000 …read more […]

Shares in Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) plunged 12% in Monday’s extended trading, after the company announced disappointing top-line results from its 298 patient Phase 3 CLARITY study evaluating pimavanserin as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD).The study did not achieve statistical significance on the primary endpoint which was the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) total score change from baseline to week 5. Pimavanserin 34 mg, given once-daily as an adjunctive treatment to standard antidepressant therapy was associated with a mean reduction of 9.0 in HAMD-17 total score compared to 8.1 for placebo as an adjunctive treatment (p=0.296).Positive results …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Stocks advanced globally alongside U.S. equity futures after European leaders reached a deal on a landmark stimulus package. The dollar slipped.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index opened higher on gains in tech and auto shares. A gauge of risk in the region’s investment-grade debt dropped to the lowest since February. Equities rose across Asia, with Australia outperforming after the government boosted job subsidies.S&P 500 contracts climbed after the benchmark turned positive for the year and the Nasdaq 100 jumped to a record on demand for companies like Amazon.com Inc. and Zoom Technologies Inc. that benefit from more people staying …read more […]

IBM Corp. (IBM) reported better-than-estimated profit in the second quarter driven by sales of its cloud computing business sending shares up almost 5% in extended market trading on Monday.The stock surged to $132.25 in Monday’s after-market trading. IBM’s total revenue in the second quarter dropped 5.4% to $18.12 billion year-on-year, coming in above analysts’ estimates of $17.72 billion. Adjusting for the impact from currency and divested businesses, revenue slipped 1.9%. Meanwhile total cloud revenue surged 30% to $6.3 billion in the reported quarter.Excluding items, the company earned $2.18 per share, exceeding analysts’ expectations for $2.07 per share. IBM’s focus of …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. surged as much as 9.5%, its biggest jump in five years, after billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group announced plans to seek a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, bypassing New York.Ant Group is seeking a valuation of more than $200 billion as it goes public, and could raise more than Saudi Aramco’s record $29 billion if market conditions are favorable, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Hong Kong portion could raise about $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, which would make it the sixth-largest initial …read more […]

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos added $13 billion to his wealth on Monday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.What Happened This is the largest single-day gain in the net worth of an individual recorded by the index since it was created in 2012, Bloomberg noted.Amazon’s shares rose nearly 8% on Monday to close at $3,196.84, the highest single-day gain since December 2018.The e-commerce company’s shares surged after a Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded the price target at the stock to $3,800 per share. Online shopping is also seeing positive trends, according to Bloomberg.The 56-year old’s reported net …read more […]

Swiss drugmaker Novartis cut its 2020 sales outlook on Tuesday after second quarter sales and profit fell, as hospitals that stocked up on drugs during the first-quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic slowed purchases. The Basel-based company cut its 2020 sales outlook, saying it now expects sales to grow in the mid-single digit percentage range, down from its previous expectation for a mid- to high-single-digit percentage increase. Novartis was also more specific on its profit expectations, saying it now expected core operating income to increase by a low double-digit percentage, compared with its earlier view for a high-single …read more […]

During the second quarter of 2020, US smartphone sell-through fell 25% year-over-year, according to Counterpoint Research’s preliminary US Smartphone Channel Share Tracker. However Apple (AAPL) had reason to rejoice as Apple volumes grew through the quarter and were especially helped by iPhone SE volumes.“The device has been successful and selling above expectations in both postpaid and prepaid channels,” said Jeff Fieldhack, Counterpoint’s North American Research Director.Since the iPhone SE launched at just $399, carrier stores and national retail have been re-opening, with some channels offering large promotions to draw shoppers back to stores. According to Counterpoint, this was especially true …read more […]

Building wealth in your twenties may not be your main priority. After all, you’ve got a career to build, restaurants to try, bars to hit. But if you’re truly interested in building wealth, there is literally no better time to start than your twenties.
That’s because when it comes to building wealth, your best friend is time. The more time you have to accumulate savings and invest your money, the more time your funds will have a chance to compound and grow.
Sometimes it may seem like everyone around you focuses more on spending money and accumulating stuff instead of building wealth. …read more […]