Luis Alvarez The U.S. government passed the largest piece of stimulus legislation in our nation’s history to allow people to keep paying their bills during the forced economic shutdowns due to the coronavirus. Consumers, in turn, used a lot of that money to speculate in the stock market. Securities trading was among the most common
The collapse of two Michigan dams on Tuesday following heavy rainfall has triggered concerns over how precarious dam infrastructure in the U.S. is inadequate to handle severe weather. Aging dams will increasingly fail as climate change makes extreme precipitation and storms more frequent and intense, scientists warn. “A lot of the country’s infrastructure systems were built
Getty Images Talk of a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks made headlines last week when Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a new bill including those payments. But another round of federal relief checks is far from a done deal. Americans should brace themselves for a potentially long wait for that money, if
While government aid initiatives like the Paycheck Protection Program have helped small businesses, frustrations are mounting on Main Street due to a lack of guidance from the Small Business Administration on loan forgiveness and how to use the funds appropriately to avoid being on the hook for repayment, a new survey shows. As the Covid-19
Lights shine near a closed Macy’s Herald Square as people remain at home to stop the spread of coronavirus on March 29, 2020 in New York City. Noam Galai | Getty Images Macy’s said Thursday it expects first-quarter sales to fall by as much as 45%, and it could report a loss of more than $1
When it comes to investing, financial institutions spend millions, if not billions, of dollars on marketing campaigns trying to convince investors that without their expertise and knowledge, all their investments will go bust and leave them penniless. Phil Town believes otherwise. The former Grand Canyon rafting guide turned professional investor thinks that ordinary investors simply
People who love to hate Crocs had cause to celebrate in 2008, when investors were writing the company off as a passing fad. Crocs lost over $185 million that year. The stock plunged to just over $1 a share. But over the next decade, Crocs sold 700 million pairs of shoes. The clogs have have
Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Amid a sharp pullback in venture capital activity during the coronavirus pandemic, one Silicon Valley start-up is showing what could be a path forward for other new companies seeking funding. The business, a payroll platform for remote workers
A health worker handles a blood sample on the first day of a free Covid-19 antibody testing event in Florida. Paul Hennessey | Barcroft Media | Getty Images U.S. officials and scientists are hopeful a vaccine to prevent Covid-19 will be ready in the first half of 2021 — 12 to 18 months since Chinese scientists first
Hero Images | Getty Images One bad side effect of losing your job can be the end of employer-subsidized health insurance. For anyone in the 65-and-older crowd who is now unemployed (or had coverage through a now-unemployed spouse), that’s when Medicare can step in. While some in that cohort may already have signed up for
Lowe’s reported same-store sales growth of more than 11% for the first quarter as Americans stayed home and invested in spring-time home improvement projects, but investor excitement fizzled as the company warned sales could “moderate” later in the year. The company benefited in the quarter from the home improvement industry’s busiest time of the year, spring,
It may be time to explore contrarian plays. Wells Fargo Securities’ Christopher Harvey is telling investors the best opportunities are in the hardest hit parts of the stock market. He believes the potential rewards outweigh the risks. “Start adding cyclicality. Start adding value. Start adding risk,” the firm’s head of equity strategy told CNBC’s “Trading
We’ve all been looking for new ways to stay productive lately, particularly when it comes to work. Whether laid off, furloughed or adapting to new ways of working, more and more of us are spending time honing our skills as we adapt to the fast-changing jobs market. That has caused demand for online learning to
Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit, with a rocket under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 jetliner, takes off for a key drop test of its high-altitude launch system for satellites from Mojave, California, July 10, 2019. Mike Blake | Reuters Sir Richard Branson‘s Virgin Orbit is set to conduct its first orbital rocket launch as
Scientists in Singapore are developing a vaccine for the coronavirus, with hopes that early-stage clinical trials could come as soon as next month, according to a professor at Duke-NUS Medical School. Researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School are currently working on a vaccine which will be similar to the one that biotechnology firm Moderna is developing,
Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury secretary, speaks during a virtual Senate Banking Committee hearing seen on a laptop computer in Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S., on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testified on the $2.2 trillion virus rescue package passed by the Congress in March. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via
Tracy Singleton, owner of Birchwood Café in Minneapolis, Minnesota, remains cautious about reopening. “I don’t feel safe having people walk into my environment yet,” she says. Tracy Singleton Like many small business owners, Edgar Comellas, owner of Aces Wild Entertainment in Florida, has seen business grind to a halt since March. His company, which arranges
With the coronavirus shutdown keeping so many at home, people are playing a lot of video games these days. That captive audience has been a huge boost for Take-Two Interactive, which closed at an all-time high on Tuesday and is trading even higher ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s earnings report. The publisher of leading sports franchises such
Lowe’s announced Wednesday that it would assist minority-owned businesses with $25 million in grants to support efforts to relaunch the American economy. Lowe’s is dishing out the funds to help small businesses, especially home improvement professionals, in need of masks, personal protective equipment and other supplies to operate safely. The new funds follow $340 million of
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced a “massive scientific, industrial, and logistical endeavor” called “Operation Warp Speed,” to find, manufacture and distribute a proven vaccine against Covid-19, hopefully before the end of the year. To achieve this “great national project,” as Trump called it, will take a collaboration of American businesses, scientists, the federal government