Archive for October, 2024

• CWS Market Review – October 8, 2024
  Eddy Elfenbein, October 8th, 2024 at 5:32 pm

  (This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

  The Economy Created 254,000 Jobs Last Month

  Last Monday, the stock market closed out the quarter and month at an all-time high. Through September, this year’s market is on pace for being the strongest market in a presidential election year since 1928.

  This has happened despite numerous reasons for investors to be scared. Nevertheless, the stock market keeps on climbing.

  There’s an important lesson for investors in this. The long-term trend is very much in your favor. To be a good investor means you simply have to wait out bad times.

  

  Wall Street then got a big shock on Friday when the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy created 254,000 net new jobs last month. That was well above expectations for a gain of 150,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%.

  I looked at the decimals, and the unemployment rate was technically 4.051%. In other words, the jobless rate came very close to rounding down to 4.0%.

  The unemployment rate is lower today than it was in every single month from February 1970 to November 1999. (To be transparent, they have changed the methodology on that data several times.)

  Wall Street liked the news. On Friday, the stock market rallied close to 1%. The market was up another 1% today.

  Many of the details in the report are quite good. For example, the labor force participation rate for prime working-age adults is near a multi-decade high.

  The jobs gain data for August were revised higher to 159,000. July’s number was increased by 55,000 to a monthly gain of 144,000.

  I was very happy to see that average hourly earnings increased by 0.4%. That was 0.1% ahead of expectations. Over the last year, average hourly earnings are up by 4% which is ahead of inflation, but not by much. Still, it’s good to see that workers are finally getting a raise. One concern is that the average workweek fell by 0.1 hours to 34.2 hours.

  

  Here are some details:

  Restaurants and bars led job creation for the month, with the hospitality industry adding 69,000 positions in September after averaging just 14,000 over the previous 12 months.

  Health care, a consistent leader in job growth, contributed 45,000, while government grew by 31,000. Other gainers included social assistance (27,000) and construction (25,000).

  A more encompassing measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons dropped to 7.7%. The share of the workforce either working or looking for work, known as the labor force participation rate, held steady at 62.7%.

  One interesting detail in Friday’s report is that many full-time positions were created last month. The number of part-time jobs decreased by 95,000 while fulltime employment increased by 414,000.

  Where does this leave the Federal Reserve? That’s a good question. The Fed has made it clear that it wanted to lower rates before the economy skidded off the road and plowed into a ditch. Now it appears that the economy is doing well. Or at least, well enough. So are all these cuts needed?

  The answer is probably yes. The Fed meets again early next month, just after the election. The futures market thinks the Fed will go ahead with another 0.25% rate cut, and that’s probably right. Some think the Fed will hit us with another 0.5% but I’m a doubter.

  As I’ve said before, the best way to view these rate cuts is as the Fed undoing its aggressive rate hikes from 2022 to 2023.

  However, the big news before the Fed meeting will be this Thursday’s CPI report. The last few CPI reports have shown benign inflation, but that was with weaker jobs growth.

  For September, Wall Street expects inflation of 0.1% and core inflation of 0.2%. If that’s right, it means that both core and headline inflation are slowly moving to the Fed’s target of 2%.

  Some people have suggested that the good jobs numbers will alter the Fed’s course. I think it’s too early to say. Remember the basic formula: lower rates are good for value and higher rates are good for growth stocks. Interestingly, growth stocks have done well over the last few days so there’s been some impact on the mind of the market.

  Yesterday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury broke above 4%. This got a lot of attention, and it’s an important psychological level, but the yield is lower than it was during much of this summer.

  The overall outlook is that rates are headed lower. The only question now is about speed. The futures market expects the Fed to cut by 0.25% at its December meeting as well. For 2025, traders think the Fed will cut rates by 1%. If inflation continues to fade away, that could be the correct policy.

  Tomorrow, the Fed will release the minutes from its last meeting. These are usually pretty dull affairs, but this time could be an exception. For one, the Fed decided to cut rates by 0.5%. Also, there was one dissenting vote. The Fed has made it clear that rates are going down.

  Stock Focus: Public Storage

  As I’ve said, when rates are headed down, you want to make sure you have some high-yielding stocks in your portfolio. These means sectors like utilities and REITs which brings me to one of my favorite REITs.

  Let’s say your boss offers you a big raise and a promotion, but the catch is that the job requires you to move out of the country. You love to see the world, so you jump at the chance.

  But there’s one nagging question: what do you do with all your stuff?

  Nowadays, there’s an easy answer. You rent a storage unit. There are lots of these facilities all over the country. If you look long enough, you’re bound to come across Public Storage (PSA).

  Public Storage is the largest self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. There are currently more than 3,000 Public Storage locations around the world. The company is based in Glendale, CA.

  If you’re not familiar with a REIT, it’s basically the landlord of some real estate. If the REIT pays out almost all of its income to shareholders, then it gets preferential tax treatment. As a result, REITs often have good dividend yields. It’s a great way to invest in real estate.

  

  Public Storage was founded in 1972 by B. Wayne Hughes and Kenneth Volk Jr. During a trip to Texas, Hughes saw that local real estate developers had made, in effect, mini storage units, so he decided to bring the idea to Southern California. It was a brilliant idea because he could charge as much as apartments in term of price per square foot. The difference is that the upkeep costs were far less.

  The business quickly took off and by 1989, it had grown to 1,000 locations. PSA officially became a REIT in 1995. Today it has a market cap of $61 billion, and PSA is one of the largest REITs around.

  More than 90% of PSA’s revenue comes from its self-storage business. The company does a lot more than just provide the space. They also provide a broad range of services for their clients. PSA offers insurance and packing products. The company also has a subsidiary that provides boxes and truck rentals.

  It’s an interesting business because the storage lots tend to be located in unforgiving parts of large cities. They’re often located in dense clusters near freeways and intersections. It’s also interesting that PSA has relatively few employees. The lots are automated so customers can access their units at any time.

  As any fan of the TV show Storage Wars knows, abandoned units are auctioned off. (Despite what you may have heard, most abandoned or unpaid lots contain useless junk.)

  PSA has been a tremendous business over the years.

  

  Thirty years ago, you could have picked up one share of PSA for $7. Since then, the stock has increased by 50-fold. And that doesn’t include dividends. If you include dividends, then PSA gained over 500-fold. All from renting storage units.

  I really like PSA’s dividend. The company currently pays out a quarterly dividend of $3 per share, or $12 for the year. Think of it this way: If you had bought PSA 20 years ago, you’d now be yielding over 20% based on your original purchase price.

  I also like that PSA is the dominant player in the industry. The company buys up smaller companies all the time. There hasn’t been much self-storage building recently. That means there’s been a scramble to buy out smaller storage companies. There are lots of small operators and they’re happy to sell to PSA.

  Public Storage currently yields 3.5% which isn’t that far below the current 10-year Treasury’s yield. The next earnings report is due out in three or four weeks.

  That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

  – Eddy

• Morning News: October 8, 2024
  Eddy Elfenbein, October 8th, 2024 at 7:06 am

  UK Sanctions Russian Troops for Chemical Weapons Use in Ukraine

  Fears of a Global Oil Shock if the Mideast Crisis Intensifies

  Energy Transition Must Morph From Tortoise to Hare as 2030 Nears

  Centeno Warns Against Big ECB Moves, Calls for ‘Gradualism’

  Mexico Wants to Curb Chinese Imports With Help From U.S. Companies

  China’s Stock Euphoria Cools as Traders Reassess Stimulus Bets

  What Really Happens on the Ground When the US Slaps Tariffs on China

  Fed May Struggle to Rid Backstops of Stigma Amid New Push

  10-Year Treasury Yields Shifts Lower After Crossing 4% in Previous Session

  Price Controls Are a Bipartisan Delusion

  Treasury Rout Stalls as Traders Look to CPI to Inform Fed Bets

  Cryptoverse: Bored Bitcoin Seeks Direction After Big Bang

  FTX Cleared to Repay Billions to Customers After Bankruptcy Plan Approval

  Soaring Insurance Costs Are Menacing Owners of Big Buildings, Too

  Swiss Bank Mirabaud Shuts Brokerage Unit Due to Poor Performance

  Cyber Providers See Strong Demand, but Few Feel Confident Enough to List

  Honeywell Plans to Spin Off Advanced Materials Business

  Northvolt Subsidiary Files for Bankruptcy After Expansion Plan is Shelved

  German Industry Rebounded in August on Car Production

  Americans Are Using AI at Fairly High Rates. What Does This Mean for the Economy?

  AI Startups in India Seek to Upend English-Language Learning

  Anything in 10 Minutes: $5 Billion Delivery App Sweeps Latin America

  Kroger Adds Disney Streaming as New Perk for Grocery Delivery Program

  PepsiCo Trims Sales Outlook as Consumers Remain Squeezed

  Where ‘60 Minutes’ and ‘Call Her Daddy’ Fit Into Kamala Harris’s Unorthodox Media Strategy

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• Morning News: October 7, 2024
  Eddy Elfenbein, October 7th, 2024 at 7:04 am

  EU’s New Tariffs on Chinese Cars Turn Words Into Action

  Goldman Says Surging Chinese Stocks May Advance Another 20%

  Two Jumbo Cuts Were Too Much to Hope For

  Bond Traders Buckle Up for ‘No Landing’ After Jobs Surprise

  How to Think About the Surprising US Jobs Data

  Trump’s Plans Could Increase U.S. Debt While Raising Costs for Most Americans

  ‘100%’ Yields Are Fueling a Retail Boom in New Quick-Buck ETFs

  Costco’s Gold Bars Fly Off Shelves as Bullion Prices Smash Records

  How to Win the Unfinished Fight Against Cost-of-Living Shocks

  The Tech Lobbying Group Helping to Broaden the First Amendment’s Reach

  How E-Commerce Is Making China’s Deflation Worse

  Amazon RTO Edict Reflects Fear New Hires Don’t Know Company Culture

  Want to Kill Grunt Work With AI? Careful What You Wish For

  Apollo Global to Take Barnes Group Private in $3.6 Billion Deal

  Workday Billionaire ‘Bored Silly’ of Retirement Chases a Third IPO

  American Scientists Get Medicine Nobel for Finding MicroRNA

  Activist Starboard Value Takes $1 Billion Stake in Pfizer

  Astra Looks to Future of Cholesterol Drugs With $2 Billion Deal

  How Cannabis and Opium Poppies Became National Security Issues

  Chevron to Sell Oil Sands, Shale Assets for $6.5 Billion to Canadian Natural

  Shell Expects Higher LNG Output But Flags Continued Refining Weakness

  Cement Is a Big Polluter. A Plant in Norway Hopes to Clean It Up.

  Libyan Oil Output Climbs Above 1 Million Barrels a Day

  Saudi Arabia Said to Tee Up Multibillion-Dollar Bet on Hydrogen

  From Cleveland to Chicago, NFL Teams Dream of Domed Stadiums

  How Everyone Got Lost in Netflix’s Endless Library

  Nutter Butter, Are You Good? An Investigation.

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• Morning News: October 4, 2024
  Eddy Elfenbein, October 4th, 2024 at 7:03 am

  Is China Repeating Its 2014-15 Boom-Bust Cycle?

  Japan PM Instructs Ministers to Compile Comprehensive Economic Package

  A Big Russia Bet Is Minting Fortunes on Paper for Retail Investors

  EU to Impose Tariffs Up to 45% on Chinese Electric Vehicles

  Germany, France and Italy Urge the EU to Ease Banking Regulation

  Trump-Proofing Europe Looks Impossible

  Jobs and Oil Prices Are Keeping Markets on Edge

  These Are Boom Times for ‘Degrowth’

  US Money-Market Funds Hit All-Time High of $6.46 Trillion

  Goldman Sachs Prodigy Finds It Hard to Crack the Hedge Fund Elite

  Zuckerberg Passes Bezos to Become World’s Second-Richest Person

  US Jobs Report Is Expected to Show Stable Growth in September

  US Dockworkers Go Back to Work as Talks Extended to January

  Pandemic Start-Ups Are Thriving, and Helping to Fuel the Economy

  Retailers Have No Room for Error This Holiday

  Britain Backs Plan to Store Carbon Dioxide Under the Sea

  Southeast US Utilities Take Lessons From Houston to Temper Helene Backlash

  ‘Clean Steel’ Can Revive America’s Dying Rust Belt

  Can a ‘Precision Scheduling’ Expert Fix Berkshire Hathaway’s Railroad?

  Rivian Falls After Cutting EV Production Target on Supply Crunch

  What Do US Vehicle Regulators Have Against Tiny Cars?

  OpenAI’s Altman Concentrates Power on Path to $157 Billion Valuation

  The Health Tech Boss Putting AI in Every Single Product

  Hospitals Hit With IV Fluid Shortage After Hurricane Helene

  CVS Is Under Pressure and Considering a Break Up. Here’s Why that Could Be Risky

  Can a Neon Blue Gummy Worm Cocktail Save the Movies?

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• Morning News: October 3, 2024
  Eddy Elfenbein, October 3rd, 2024 at 7:09 am

  Russian Court Freezes Funds of US Banks JP Morgan and Mellon

  US Chips Guided Russian Missile That Killed 6-Year-Old Girl

  Key Japan Ministers Show United Front With BOJ Amid Jitters

  Buffett May Target Japan Bank and Insurance Shares, Analysts Say

  World Braces for Bigger Trade Wars if Trump Wins

  Is Biden’s Economy Overstimulated? Not Compared With Trump’s

  Bill Dudley: How My Hard Economic Landing Forecast Went Wrong

  Markets Need an October Surprise to Break Deadlock

  Wall Street Races to Bring Private Credit to the Masses

  Amundi Turns Bullish on Swiss Franc in Bet on Safe-Haven Appeal

  Money-Market Funds Stay in Vogue Even as Reforms Go Into Effect

  Banks Set to Use Swift for Token Transactions Starting in 2025

  SEC Enforcement Director Who Pushed for Big Fines Steps Down

  Warren Buffett Sells $338 Million of BofA Stock as Spree Slows

  U.K. Home Sales Soar as Mortgage Rates Ease

  US Office Market Shows Signs of Bottoming After Big Discount Sales

  To Revive Manufacturing, How Much Can a President Do?

  The Future of EV Charging Looks a Lot Like an Airport Lounge

  Africa Oil Producers Raise Almost Half of the Seed Capital Needed for $5 Billion Energy Bank

  Starbucks Buys Research Farms as Climate Change Threatens Coffee Supply

  Navellier: What the Longshoremen’s Strike Is Really About – and Why It Matters

  Striking Dockworkers Are Top Earners—When They Work

  In Japan’s Countryside, Century-Old Firms Learn to Embrace Foreign Workers

  Schools Make Millions Offering Degrees That Double as Work Visas

  Japan’s Richest Person Donates $31 Million to UCLA Program

  KLM Targets Savings, Explores Asset Sales to Counter High Costs

  Beyoncé Released a Song and Levi’s Saw Its Moment

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• Morning News: October 2, 2024
  Eddy Elfenbein, October 2nd, 2024 at 7:23 am

  The Economic Cost of a New War in the Middle East

  Why the Conflict Between Iran and Israel Has Raised Oil Prices Only Modestly

  Global Insurers Fight London Court Battle Over Jets ‘Lost’ in Russia

  Don’t Let Geopolitics Derail Your Investment Plans

  Poland Leaves Rates Steady Again as Inflation Accelerates

  Japan Ministers Ask BOJ to Help Complete Exit from Deflation

  Finance Firms More Worried About Global Economy, BoE Survey Finds

  Hedge Funds That Bet Big on China Score 25%-Plus September Gains

  The Supreme Court Tanked Its Reputation. This Is the Way Back

  Dalio, Abu Dhabi Royal’s G42 Said to Shelve Investment Venture

  Lazard, King of Emerging-Market Debt, Faces a New World Order

  Elon Musk and Mark Cuban Agree on One Thing: Dogecoin Is No Longer a Joke

  AI Can Only Do 5% of Jobs, Says MIT Economist Who Fears Crash

  The Profane 78-Year-Old Leading the Dockworkers Strike

  Adam Neumann’s Latest Project Is a WeWork Competitor

  Vimeo Names New CMO as It Focuses on Business Video

  How Hurricane Helene Jolted the Global Chip Industry

  Chip Firms Monitoring Quartz Supplies After Hurricane Hits Mines

  Toyota to Invest $500 Million in Air Taxi Startup Joby Aviation

  Tesla Sales Increase, Suggesting Electric Car Demand Is Rebounding

  Stellantis U.S. Auto Sales Extend Freefall in Third Quarter

  Korea Zinc Teams Up With Bain Capital to Thwart Takeover Bid

  Eli Lilly to Build $4.5 Billion Research and Manufacturing Center to Propel Drug Pipeline

  Humana Shares Tumble as 2025 Membership for Its Top-Rated Medicare Plans Slump

  Nike Needs to Tread in Adidas’ Footsteps

  Starbucks New CEO Wastes No Time in Overhauling Executive Ranks

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• CWS Market Review – October 1, 2024
  Eddy Elfenbein, October 1st, 2024 at 6:22 pm

  (This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

  The Best Year for Stocks Since 1997

  The stock market closed yesterday at another all-time high, 5,762.48. These new highs are getting repetitive! So much for September being the worst month of the year.

  Through September, the S&P 500 is up 20.8% on the year. That’s better than every single major investment firm expected.

  Yesterday was the index’s 43rd new high this year. This is the best first nine months to a year in 27 years. Also, this is the best start to a presidential election year on record (going back to 1928).

  For the month, the S&P 500 gained just over 2%, and for the third quarter, the index gained 5.5%. This was the fourth quarterly gain in a row for the market.

  

  What’s remarkable is how placid the stock market has been. Despite a flurry of scary headlines, the market keeps quietly chugging along. Except for a quick three-day panic in August, this market has been remarkably calm.

  This has also been a tale of two markets. For the first half of the year, growth stocks strongly led value, but in the middle of the year, value started to take the lead.

  In recent weeks, value’s surge against growth has started to wane, but I’m not ready to say the value cycle is over. As long as the Fed is committed to lowering interest rates, that’s good news for higher-yielding sectors of the market.

  In particular, the areas of the market that are set to do well are defensive areas. By that, I mean staples, healthcare, utilities and REITs. There’s even been talk of “AI fatigue” plaguing some large-cap tech stocks. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of that.

  What’s been driving the recent rally? Obviously, the Fed rate cuts are playing a big role. Not only that, but it looks like more rate cuts are on the way. On Friday, we got good inflation news when the government said that the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose by just 0.1% in August. That was less than expected.

  Over the past 12 months, the PCE price index is up by 2.2% (see below). That’s the lowest 12-month rate since February 2021. I don’t want to say that inflation has been defeated, but the price outlook is getting better.

  The PCE is important because it’s the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation. Unlike the CPI, the PCE is based on what consumers actually buy.

  

  The core PCE, which excludes food and energy prices, also rose by 0.1% in August, and that was also below expectations. Over the last 12 months, the core PCE is running at 2.7%. That’s still above the Fed’s 2% target for inflation, but the trend is moving in the right direction.

  The progress in August came despite continued pressure from housing-related costs, which increased 0.5% on the month for the largest move since January. Services prices overall rose 0.2% while goods declined by 0.2%.

  We also learned that personal income rose by 0.2% in August, and spending rose by 0.2% as well. Both numbers were below expectations.

  Since today is the first business day of the month, we got the ISM Manufacturing Index. For September, the ISM was 47.2. That’s the same as it was for August. That’s a weak number but nothing terrible. Wall Street had been expecting 47.5.

  Tuesday’s report on job openings showed that there are eight million jobs looking to be filled. That’s an increase of 329,000 since July. The next test for the market will come on Friday with the September jobs report. Wall Street expects to see a gain of 150,000 net new jobs.

  The Federal Reserve meets on November 6-7, and it’s very likely that the Fed will cut rates again. In fact, yesterday, Jerome Powell spoke at a conference in Nashville, and he said the Fed will keep lowering interest rates to help keep the economy going.

  In the most recent projections, Fed members see the central bank cutting by 0.5% before the end of the year. Again, the rate cuts aren’t so much about the Fed helping a weak economy. Truthfully, the economy isn’t weak right now. Instead, it’s better seen as the Fed taking back its extraordinary rate hikes that were used to combat inflation. With inflation receded, so can interest rates recede. At least, that’s how the Fed sees it.

  I am concerned about the dockworkers’ strike, especially if it drags on. That could cause disruptions and mess up supply lines. A strike is probably not strong enough to push the whole economy off the lines, but it will have an impact. We can’t say how great it will be right now.

  Why Prices Are Better Than Reports

  If you follow the government’s economic data long enough, you learn to greet each new report with a bit of skepticism. That’s because nearly every report will, at some point, be revised—and those revisions will, themselves, be revised. And those revisions will be revised yet again. In the realm of economic data, few things are as surprising as the past.

  Just recently, the Labor Department conceded that it overcounted the number of jobs in the economy by 818,000. Well, that’s a sizable miss.

  It doesn’t end there. Last week, the government said that it under-reported how well the economy recovered from Covid. Originally, the government said the economy grew in real terms by 5.1% from Q2 of 2020 through the end of last year. Now it says the economy grew by 5.5% over that time span. That small-sounding mistake is really a few hundred billion dollars.

  The government originally reported negative growth for the first and second quarters of 2022. Some claimed that since it was two quarters of negative growth, that should count as a recession.

  While two quarters of negative growth is a good shorthand for a recession, it’s not precisely correct. The official definition of a recession is much broader. In any event, it’s now a moot point since, thanks to the revisions, the government now says the economy grew slightly during Q2 of 2022. Change a few numbers and presto, no more recession.

  The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) also revised higher the U.S. savings rate. Previously, the BEA said the savings rate had dropped to 2.9%. That’s really low. Now they said it only got to 4.8%. Goldman Sachs said that number is probably still too low.

  This is another reason why I trust prices more than the government reports. Sure, the market can be wrong. It’s wrong all the time. But at least the stock market never revises its old prices.

  The Decade Cycle

  We’re nearing the midpoint of the decade, and I was curious to see how the stock market performs, on average, each decade. I took all the data for the S&P 500 since 1957. That’s when the index expanded to 500 stocks.

  

  Footnote: I started each decade on January 1 of each year ending in zero.

  I found that the stock market performs much better during the latter half of the decade than it has in the first. In fact, during the first three years of each decade, the market has basically gone nowhere.

  Even in this decade, the S&P 500 was sitting on an 11% gain for the decade as late as mid-October 2022. That’s a modest gain for nearly three years.

  But that back half of each decade is a very different story. In five years, the stock market has gained, on average, more than 120%. Interestingly, the 1987 Crash is still clearly visible on this chart.

  I’m not sure what could explain the difference. Maybe it’s a natural cycle? Or it’s a random draw? The Soviet economist Nikolai Kondratiev said there are 45- to 60-year cycles at play in the economy. Beats me. But I wouldn’t mind seeing the market double over the next 5¼ years.

  That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

  – Eddy

• Morning News: October 1, 2024
  Eddy Elfenbein, October 1st, 2024 at 7:07 am

  African Americans Granted Citizenship Rights in Former Slave Hub Benin

  How China’s Copper King Dug Himself Into a $1.6 Billion Hole

  U.S. Raises New Concerns Over Chinese Lending Practices

  Eurozone Inflation Comes Below Target for First Time in Three Years

  The Surprise Market Winner of 2024: The Great British Pound

  Rattled Mexico Investors Seek Economic Clues as Sheinbaum Takes Office

  Fed’s Powell Says Rate Cuts Can Sustain Soft Landing, but Sees No Need to Rush

  Forecasting America’s Economic Future Under Harris vs. Trump

  Harris, Trump Platforms Share Economic Nationalism

  BlackRock’s Fink Says Market Is Wrong on Fed Rate-Cut Bets

  This Hedge-Fund Manager Says It’s a ‘Max-Long’ Moment for Stocks

  Why Private Equity Is In Such a Funk

  Commerzbank’s Orlopp Says Strategy Is ‘Built on Independence’

  Charles Schwab Names President Rick Wurster as Next CEO

  Apollo Projects $10 Billion of Annual Earnings in Five Years

  F.T.C. Clears Chevron’s Purchase of Hess With Board Condition

  Microsoft Shares Lag as ‘AI Fatigue,’ High Multiple Curb Rebound

  Strike Shuts Eastern US and Gulf Ports, Threatening Economy

  How the Dockworkers’ Strike Could Ripple Through the Economy

  Boeing Weighs Raising at Least $10 Billion Selling Stock

  Amtrak’s New Marketing Strategy: It’s Not a Train, It’s a Hotel on Wheels

  CVS Conducting Strategic Review, Considering Breakup

  Empty Rentals Burn Vacation-Home Owners Near Florida’s Disney World

  For Happiest Baby, Maker of $1,700 Bassinet, Growth Comes at Cost of Angry Parents

  How Chicken Tenders Conquered America

  LVMH Bets on Booze-Free Bubbles at $100-Plus a Bottle

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