Gut check your digital leadership toolbox

Being a true digital leader requires more than a wardrobe change FinTech leaders have disrupted more than just the role of technology in the advice industry. Every company leader wants to be with these new cool kids. I counted just three ties at a recent gathering of 80 companies. The talk is invigorating — all […]

Shares rise after Fed cut, oil prices jump

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A gauge of global equity performance rose Thursday within 1% of a record high a day after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates but crude prices jumped on concerns the weekend attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities pose supply risks. Iran warned U.S. President Donald Trump against being dragged into all-out […]

Leading financial planning organizations agree to promote pro bono work

Sep 19, 2019 @ 11:45 am By Geoffrey Brown, Jon Dauphiné, Kevin Keller and Lauren Schadle In May, the Foundation for Financial Planning, the nation’s only nonprofit charity devoted to providing pro bono financial planning to people in need, convened the first-of-its-kind Nonprofit CEO Summit on Pro Bono Financial Planning to advance and expand pro […]

Upbeat data suggest U.S. economy still on moderate growth path

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits increased less than expected last week, pointing to strong labor market conditions that should continue to support an economy growing at a moderate pace. FILE PHOTO: Job seekers line up at TechFair in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Monica Almeida/File Photo […]

Military strike against Iran would result in 'all-out war': Zarif

DUBAI (Reuters) – Any U.S. or Saudi military strike against Iran would bring “all-out war”, Tehran said on Thursday, keeping up a drumbeat of warnings to its adversaries after they accused the Islamic Republic of a strike on Saudi oil facilities. FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, […]

Real crunch from Saudi Arabia's oil outage has yet to be felt

LONDON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s ability to avert a global oil supply crunch will only become clear in a few weeks, because for now its crude held in storage can fill the gap and mask the scale of damage to its facilities, traders and analysts say. FILE PHOTO: An Aramco oil tank is seen at […]

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg, under fire, seeks to mend fences in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill for a second day on Thursday as part of an effort by the social media giant to mend its reputation as it faces a slew of government investigations. FILE PHOTO: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Energy and Commerce […]

Warren's wealth tax could create complaince challenges

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign promise to fund social programs by making America’s wealthiest pay a small percentage of their fortune every year could create a costly and difficult compliance system for both the taxpayers and the IRS. [More: Why financial advisers hate Elizabeth Warren] A wealth tax affecting the country’s 75,000 richest households could raise […]

Airbnb plans stock market splash in 2020

FILE PHOTO: The logos of Airbnb are displayed at an Airbnb event in Tokyo, Japan, June 14, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo (Reuters) – Home rental giant Airbnb said it plans to list its shares in 2020, making it one of the most high-profile names to tap the stock market next year. (bit.ly/2mqasWw) In a short […]

Activist investor Peltz says GE CEO Culp is doing a good job

FILE PHOTO: Lawrence Culp, chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters October 1, 2018. PRNewsFoto/T. Rowe Price Group, Inc./Handout via REUTERS NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lawrence Culp has held the top job at General Electric (GE.N) for nearly one year and on Thursday one of […]

'Show me the money'; dollar-hungry businesses squeezed in Lebanon

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Cars line up to fill their tanks but the worker at the gas station in Lebanon’s capital city waves them off, standing by the ‘Strike!’ signs. “No fuel today,” he shouts. FILE PHOTO: A gas station closes during a protest against tight supply of dollars in Beirut, Lebanon September 18, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed […]

Tech shares lead Wall Street higher; S&P 500 nears record high

(Reuters) – A Microsoft-led rally in technology shares pushed U.S. stock indexes higher on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates as expected and left the door open for further monetary intervention. FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., September 18, […]

Bannon: Wall Street is starting 'to get religion' on China trade like Trump

Wall Street is coming around to President Donald Trump‘s view on how China has been unfairly protecting its economy to the detriment of the rest of the world, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told CNBC on Thursday. “Wall Street is starting to get religion like Trump,” said Bannon, a longtime critic of China. […]

DealBook Briefing: The Debate Over Profits vs. Public Interest Continues

Good Thursday morning. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.) Corporate America is still seeking its purpose Many of the country’s biggest companies said last month that their mission wasn’t just to make profits. But not all business leaders agree — and, as Andrew points out in the latest DealBook special section, that […]

U.S., Chinese trade deputies face off in Washington amid deep differences

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and Chinese deputy trade negotiators were set to resume face-to-face talks on Thursday for the first time in nearly two months as the world’s two largest economies try to bridge deep policy differences and find a way out of a bitter and protracted trade war. FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags […]

U.S. travel industry urges Washington to reauthorize tourism body Brand USA

People visit the Liberty State Island as Lower Manhattan is seen at the background in New York, U.S., August 17, 2017. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (Reuters) – Some 15 executives from companies associated with the tourism industry, such as American Express (AXP.N) and Marriott (MAR.O), have urged the U.S. government to renew federal funding of Brand USA, […]

Toyota to expand plant in Brazil's Sao Paulo state, joining Volkswagen, GM

FILE PHOTO: The Toyota logo is shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Thursday announced a 1 billion reais ($243.29 million) expansion at a plant in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, joining Volkswagen and […]

Tesla's Model 3 earns insurance industry's top safety rating

A 2018 Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle is shown in this photo illustration taken in Cardiff, California, U.S., June 1, 2018. Picture taken June 1, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) Model 3 electric sedan has earned the top safety rating from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS), becoming the first Tesla […]

Asian shares turn lower on guarded Fed, yen rises after BOJ

TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares turned lower on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates as expected but signaled a higher bar to further policy easings. FILE PHOTO: A man sits in front of a screen displaying stock information at a brokerage house in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, China August 2, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer Treasury […]

Trump and California go to war over clean cars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and the state of California went to war on Wednesday over who should set the standards in the United States for vehicle emissions and electric cars, foreshadowing a legal battle over environmental policy issues that will affect the auto industry and consumers. Trump confirmed he would revoke California’s […]

Purdue Pharma seeks to halt opioid suits against company, Sacklers

(Reuters) – OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP on Wednesday asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge to halt for roughly nine months more than 2,600 lawsuits alleging the company and its controlling Sackler family helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis, according to court documents. FILE PHOTO: A pharmacist holds a bottle OxyContin made by Purdue Pharma at […]

Pennsylvania joins states opposed to merger of T-Mobile, Sprint

FILE PHOTO: A smartphones with Sprint logo are seen in front of a screen projection of T-mobile logo, in this picture illustration taken April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pennsylvania is joining more than a dozen states that have filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping T-Mobile US’s $26 billion purchase of Sprint, […]

Apple spars with EU as $14 billion Irish tax dispute drags on

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Apple accused the European Commission of misunderstanding its business on day two of the iPhone maker’s appeal against a $14 billion tax order, in a dispute that is key to the EU’s drive to collect more taxes but which could also run for years. FILE PHOTO: CEO Tim Cook speaks at an […]

Coca-Cola European Partners ditches plastic shrink-wrap

Plastic shrink-wrap to hold multipack cans together is to be be replaced with sustainably sourced cardboard Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), the bottler and distributor for Coca-Cola across Europe, is scrapping its plastic shrink-wrap in favour of cardboard packaging, it announced today. Coca-Cola owns brands such as Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper and Lilt, and […]

SDG10: Green must be fair – or it will fail

Without tackling inequality, achieving the rest of the Sustainable Development Coals will be almost impossible, argues Ben Martin at the Green Economy Coalition It’s sometimes easy to lose sight of how radical the Sustainable Development Goals really are. Consider what achieving the SDGs would actually entail: a world with no poverty and no hunger, carbon […]

Trump administration wants to kill California's auto-IRA program

The Trump administration is trying to upend California’s auto-IRA program, CalSavers, with the intent of halting an initiative among other states that would force employers to offer employees workplace retirement savings plans. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a “statement of interest” in a lawsuit against California’s program, requesting that a judge deny the state’s […]

Traders still see another Fed rate cut by year-end

Futures traders still see about another quarter-point of easing from the Federal Reserve this year, after the central bank cut rates by a quarter point Wednesday and said it will “act as appropriate” to sustain the economic expansion. The rate on the January 2020 fed funds futures contract was about 1.63% after the central bank’s […]

Robert Moore is back. And he's focused on REITs

After leaving as the CEO of Cetera Financial Group earlier this year for undisclosed health reasons, Robert “R.J.” Moore has returned to the financial services industry. In his latest venture, Mr. Moore has launched an investment management firm that will buy and hold real estate investment trusts. Registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission just […]

Vanguard pilots digital-only financial planning and advice product

Vanguard Advisers have filed an initial disclosure brochure with the Securities and Exchange Commission signaling the company’s plan to launch a new, digital-only financial planning and automated investing service it calls Vanguard Digital Advisor. According to the brochure, retail clients and participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans can use Digital Advisor to create a personalized, goal-based […]

Investor Netter pushes FSD to restructure or return cash

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investment manager Donald Netter is stepping up his battle with First Trust High Income Long/Short Fund (FSD) by asking the closed-end fund to restructure or give investors their money back because it has been trading at a discount for years. Netter, whose Dolphin Limited Partnership I LP owns 450,000 shares of […]

Don't fear millennials

Here’s something to think about: Some estimates peg the cumulative student debt in the U.S. at $1.5 trillion — second only to mortgage debt — with the average college graduate starting their working lives $25,000–$30,000 in the hole. No wonder advisers aren’t rushing to sign up millennial clients. It’s a double-edged sword: Many recent grads […]

Rockefeller Capital buys wealth firm for Silicon Valley rich

Rockefeller Capital Management, the wealth adviser led by former Morgan Stanley executive Greg Fleming, is boosting its Silicon Valley credentials. The firm that traces its roots to oil baron John D. Rockefeller agreed to acquire Financial Clarity, a Mountain View, California-based multifamily office that oversees $2.3 billion of assets, Rockefeller Capital said Wednesday. The deal […]

Banker tells German court of 'vast network' at center of fraud trial

BONN (Reuters) – A banker at the center of a trading scheme German prosecutors say resulted in hundreds of millions of euros of illegitimate tax rebates told a court the scheme had taken on an “industrial scale” involving a network of banks and other institutions. FILE PHOTO: State Prosecutor Anne Brorhilker before the trial of […]

U.S. trade groups urge Congress to rein in 'Tariff Man' Trump

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly two dozen U.S. lobbying groups have joined forces to try to rein in U.S. President Donald Trump’s power to unilaterally impose tariffs amid growing concern about the negative economic impact of his trade policies. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump walks to address the media before boarding Marine One for a […]

German prosecutors probe Airbus for potential misuse of client documents

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Airbus is pictured at their facility in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire, France July 12, 2019. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Munich prosecutors said on Wednesday they had launched a probe against Airbus (AIR.PA) after the company notified the authorities about potential irregularities involving customer documents. Airbus confirmed that it had informed […]

Wall Street retreats ahead of Fed decision as FedEx weighs

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks came under pressure on Wednesday as investors waited for the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates and clues about its future monetary policy, while a profit warning by FedEx weighed on sentiment. Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., September 18, 2019. […]

Fed does the 'right thing' in supporting repo market: JPMorgan's Dimon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon credited the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday with doing the “right thing” in supporting the overnight funding needs of banks after borrowing costs suddenly spiked on Monday. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) 2019 legislative […]

Fed keeps cash spigot open as key rate punches above its target

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve injected more cash into the U.S. banking system on Wednesday as the key interest rate pierced above the central bank’s targeted range for the first time since the height of the global financial crisis over a decade ago. FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue […]

Fed's job gets more complex as fed funds rate moves out of bounds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Stress in U.S. money markets loomed over a Federal Reserve policy meeting on Wednesday with new data showing that the central bank’s target interest rate had drifted outside the level set by the central bank for the first time since the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The move came even as the New York […]

UBS 'raid' of Credit Suisse in U.S. prompts $9 million slap

A public spat between a pair of Swiss banking giants that erupted almost four years ago is now finally ending with a payment. It began in 2015, when Credit Suisse Group accused crosstown rival UBS Group of unfairly poaching staff from its U.S. private banking business. UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti personally shot back, insisting […]

German carbon pricing plan may cost DAX companies billions: report

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s blue-chip companies could face billions of euros in costs to cut carbon emissions under a climate protection plan due to be unveiled by the government on Friday, according to a study by asset manager Union Investment. Power-generating windmill turbines are pictured at the ‘Amrumbank West’ offshore windpark in the northern sea […]