Stocks may have managed to eke out small gains in the last trading sessions of the month, but that hasn’t saved the market from what’s been one of the most volatile starts to a year ever. The S&P 500 is down more than 6 percent in 2016, making it one of the worst Januarys ever for the large-cap index. This occurred as wild swings in crude oil and uncertainty over the global economy have weighed heavily on the equity market. The move has pushed the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, above 20 for most of the year. As we head…
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China is the world’s biggest country, second-largest economy and top nation for smartphone sales. It’s also driving tech investors crazy. Economic growth is slowing faster than many experts expected. Add to that uncertainty surrounding when and to what degree the Chinese government will weaken its currency to boost exports. Just as China is becoming an increasingly crucial market for U.S. tech companies, its volatility is making future earnings hard to predict. As the Nasdaq closes out its worst month since the 2008 financial crisis, down 10 percent as of Thursday’s close, China is on everyone’s lips. Apple revenue, iPhone sales…
The lifespan of consumer electronic products is getting ever shorter, and manufacturers aren’t the only ones to blame: You could do the planet a big favor by hanging onto that shiny gadget a bit longer. That’s according to a new study from Germany’s Environment Agency (UBA), which notes that shorter product lifespans means more waste, more pollution and higher consumption of energy and raw materials. The study found no evidence of “planned obsolescence” — the notion that manufacturers design their products to fail systematically after a certain period, to oblige customers to purchase a replacement. But it did note a significant…
The bounce in both oil futures and stocks, which started with an abrupt intraday reversal a week ago, has many on Wall Street calling it a short-term bottom. But deeper market analysis shows the rebound was driven mostly by short covering, and could indicate the rally will lose steam due to lack of true buying interest. The average stock in the S&P 500 had a short position of 3.43 percent Wednesday, surpassing the 2011 peak of 3.19 percent and hitting highs not seen since March 2010, according to Markit. With stocks moving in lockstep with oil, it is no surprise…
The curved display of the Galaxy S6 Edge and Edge+ will soon perform some pretty nifty new tasks thanks to enhancements Samsung packed into its Marshmallow update. Samsung detailed several new tricks that you can perform, which also helps to explain why you’re only now getting the latest version of Android after its debut several months ago (Samsung is also rolling out a Marshmallow update for the Galaxy S6). First up is a side order of extra content, as Samsung expanded the size of the slide-out panel so you can check stocks, sports scores, or other happenings. SAMSUNGYou can browse news,…
Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell: Xerox — The business services company will split into two separate companies and give board seats to investor Carl Icahn. Icahn told CNBC that the move is a good one and will greatly enhance shareholder value. Separately, Xerox beat estimates by 4 cents with adjusted quarterly profit of 32 cents per share, though revenue was shy of forecasts. Xerox also increased its quarterly dividend to 7¾ cents per share from 7 cents. Whirlpool — The appliance maker reported adjusted quarterly profit of $4.10 per share, beating estimates of $3.91, although…
Researchers at the University of Southampton in the U.K. say they’ve been able to etch some of mankind’s most famous documents on a “5-dimensional” crystalline storage medium estimated to have a lifespan of billions of years. The researchers used self-assembled nanostructures created in fused quartz crystal to store data in five “dimensions,” writing each file in three layers of nanostructured dots separated by five micrometers of blank space. The data is encoded using the standard three dimensions of width, height, and depth. The fourth and fifth “dimensions” assign values to the size of the data “dot,” and how it is aligned. That all…
The recent run in crude oil may not be enough to energize investors about the stocks it impacts most. As the price of oil has risen 14 percent in one week, the S&P 500 energy sector has rallied 6 percent in the same time. However, the options market suggests that investors remain nervous about energy stocks, considerably more so than any other group in this year’s broad market selloff. “Everybody is an oil expert right now — people have reasons for why it’s going up, people have reasons for why it’s going down. But where they really express it is…
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The first reading of fourth-quarter GDP released Friday morning missed expectations and showed the economy just barely treading above water. What do you buy if the economy does dip into negative territory later this year? Fourth-quarter real GDP rose 0.7 percent versus the Wall Street consensus of 0.8 percent, so the chance of a recession in 2016 is now a distinct possibility. Credit Suisse covered this very topic in a note to clients Wednesday titled “Lessons from Past Recessions” by Lori Calvasina, the firm’s U.S. equity strategist. Using Kensho, a quantitative tool used by hedge funds, CNBC Pro screened for…