Ericsson third-quarter tops forecast as strong 5G market boosts earnings

Telecoms equipment maker Ericsson reported quarterly core earnings well ahead of market expectations on Thursday and lifted its 2020 sales target citing a stronger 5G market and currency effects. The Swedish company, which together with Nokia and Huawei sells the bulk of the radio access network equipment that is key for next generation 5G mobile services, said it was now targeting sales of 230-240 billion crowns ($23.5-24.5 billion) in 2020, up from 210-220 billion previously.

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  Germany not to ban Huawei from its 5G networks

  Yahoo Finance UK
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  German plan would allow Huawei to supply its 5G network, against wishes of U.S.

  MarketWatch

Take Buffett’s Advice: 5 Vanguard Funds to Buy

Specifically, he recommended that the cash left to his wife be invested 10% in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. Not just any index fund mind you, but a Vanguard fund in particular. Hot Stocks Staging Huge Reversals Whether it be exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds, the Oracle of Omaha believes Vanguard funds are the way to go.

Oil Trading in U.S. Gulf Dries Up as Tanker Rates Skyrocket

Benchmark rates surged to about $300,000 a day last week for shipments from the Persian Gulf to the Far East, while one supertanker was booked to carry oil from the U.S. Gulf to Asia for more than $15 million. Shipments to Europe on smaller tankers have increased in the first half of the month as rates for larger vessels skyrocketed, according to Vortexa Ltd. The increased shipments to Europe may tail off as the impact of attacks last month on Saudi oil infrastructure fades, said Stefanos Kazantzis, McQuilling Services LLC's senior adviser for shipping and finance.

Dow Jones Futures: Netflix Earnings Crush Views, Pot Stock Cronos Soars; IBM Dives

Dow Jones futures edged lower overnight, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures rose slightly. Netflix earnings crushed views Wednesday, while Dow Jones component IBM sales fell yet again. Cronos Group led several big marijuana stock movers overnight.

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  Stock market news: October 16, 2019

  Yahoo Finance
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  Dow closes at 3-week high as investors cheer start to earnings season

  MarketWatch

Sprott CEO Says Gold Pullback Not Surprising, Sees Trouble Ahead for Economy

Peter Grosskopf, Sprott Inc. chief executive officer, discusses the outlook for gold and the economy with Bloomberg's Shery Ahn and Amanda Lang on "Bloomberg Markets."

Bank of America declares ‘the end of the 60-40’ standard portfolio

Investors have long been told that the ideal portfolio should carry 60% of its holdings in equities and 40% in bonds, a mix that provides greater exposure to historically superior stock returns, while also granting the diversification benefits and lower risk of fixed-income investments. But in a research note published by Bank of America Securities titled “The End of 60/40,” portfolio strategists Derek Harris and Jared Woodard argue that “there are good reasons to reconsider the role of bonds in your portfolio,” and to allocate a greater share toward equities.

• It’s Time to Rethink the Traditional Retirement Savings Allocation

  Barrons.com
• [video]Why a 60% Stock/40% Bond Portfolio Is a Good Idea

  TheStreet.com

Cisco veterans, backed by $278M, aim to disrupt Amazon's cloud dominance

A team that created billions of dollars worth of “spin-ins” at Cisco Systems Inc. lifted the veil Wednesday on the first totally independent company they have spun up in more than 25 years. During their long tenure at Cisco, they were known by their first initials of “MPLS” and were fed millions of dollars by then-CEO John Chambers to independently work on the next big thing. This time the MPLS team has lined up investors who have put up more than $278 million in equity investments as they worked stealthily on Pensando since leaving Cisco in 2016, shortly after Chambers stepped down as CEO.

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  Why John Chambers predicts success for startup hatched by his former star team at Cisco

  American City Business Journals
• Ex-Cisco engineers raise $278 million for startup

  Reuters

Steve Schwarzman: Billionaires got rich by doing more than just 'watching TV'

Billionaire private equity tycoon Stephen A. Schwarzman, the CEO of The Blackstone Group (BX), recently made a case for why villanizing the ultra-wealthy is short-sighted. As rivals for the 2020 Democratic nomination squared off on stage Tuesday night, it put their policy dispositions on full display. At Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit in New York last week, the wealthy investor said those policies would result in an exodus of businesses from the U.S., and deter future entrepreneurs from starting new ventures of their own.

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  Bernie Sanders' health remains under microscope as he returns to debate stage after heart attack

  FOX News Videos
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  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to endorse Bernie Sanders for president

  The Guardian

St. Louis court tosses $110M talc verdict against Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson has had a $110 million verdict reversed and vacated by a Missouri appellate court in a case claiming that the company's talcum powder caused cancer. In 2017, a St. Louis jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $110 million to a Virginia woman who alleged she developed ovarian cancer after more than four decades of using the company's products containing talc. Armstrong Teasdale lawyers representing Johnson & Johnson convinced a three-judge appellate panel that the trial court did not have proper jurisdiction, citing a 2017 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that limited out-of-state plaintiffs' ability to sue within the state.

• Johnson & Johnson $100M talcum powder verdict overturned, but 'not on the merits': Judge Napolitano

  Fox Business
• 
  A New Study Suggests Tainted Talcum Powder Can Cause a Rare Cancer. Here's How That Could Play Out in the Courtroom

  Time

U.S. stock market is overvalued, IMF says

An environment of low interest rates has set off a search for yield and created stretched valuations in risk assets, including the U.S. equity market, according to an International Monetary Fund report released Wednesday. “Equity markets appear to be overvalued in Japan and the United States,” the IMF said, in its latest Global Financial Stability report. When markets have stretched valuations, it raises the possibility of sharp sudden adjustments, the report warned.

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  IMF warns of ‘vulnerabilities' in global financial system

  Yahoo Finance Video
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  IMF Expects Global Slowdown With Muted Inflation, Chief Economist Gopinath Says

  Bloomberg

Nio’s stock leans on ‘bullish engulfing’ stock price chart pattern to stop further weakness

Shares of Nio Inc. dropped more than 8% Wednesday, after a report that discussions over a potential large new funding deal had been halted, with investors now leaning on a “bullish engulfing” stock price chart pattern to halt further declines to fresh record lows. The National Business Daily (NBD) reported Tuesday that the China-based electric car maker was in talks with Wuxing District of Huzhou City in eastern China regarding an investment of over 5 billion renminbi, or more than $704.9 million at current exchange rates. According to 36Kr.com, as translated by Google Translate, Nio Chief Executive Bin Li said Tuesday there was not much to disclose, but that Weilai, the Chinese name for Nio that means Blue Sky Coming, was in contact with many local governments.

Two sentences in Netflix's earnings should terrify those obsessed with its stock

Earlier this year, Netflix (NFLX) raised the price of its basic plan by $1 and the standard plan that features HD streaming on two devices by $2. The premium Netflix plan also went up $2. While the price hike helped to nicely lift average revenue per user in the U.S. (+16.5%) and internationally (+10%) in the third quarter, it appears that a large subsection of consumers have balked — possibly canceling their subscriptions.

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  Netflix shares jump as subscribers grow ahead of Disney, Apple attack

  Reuters
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  Netflix heads into showdown with slowing subscriber growth

  Associated Press

Hong Kong Is Offering Some Very Attractive Opportunities, Says Principal Global’s West

Kirk West, executive director at Principal Global Investors, Hong Kong's markets, the economy and the protests. He speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.

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  Lam Provides No Political Solutions, Says Hong Kong Legislative Council’s Yeung

  Bloomberg
• 
  China Threatens Retaliation if U.S. Passes Hong Kong Bill

  Bloomberg

7 Dividend Stocks to Buy (With Brands You Can Find In Your Kitchen)

Hot Stocks Staging Huge Reversals With that in mind, it's worth taking a look at these seven dividend-paying stocks that make items that you can find in the average American kitchen. Dividend Stocks to Buy: PepsiCo PEP Dividend Yield: 2.8% First off, let's start with a double-threat. PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) is, as most of us are aware, Coca-Cola's leading rival; however, it's a more attractive business than Coca-Cola at this point because of its other business.

Fidelity Joined by Florida Pension Fund in Examining Fisher

Billionaire money manager Ken Fisher is facing more pressure from clients following offensive remarks he made at an industry conference. Fidelity Investments and the state of Florida pension fund said Tuesday they're examining their relationship with Fisher Investments. The Philadelphia Board of Pensions said it plans to divest the $54 million in assets held with the firm.

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  Fidelity criticizes money manager Fisher, who loses Philadelphia as client

  Reuters
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  Boston pension votes to fire money manager Fisher, withdrawals surge toward $1 billion

  Reuters

Broad opioid settlement talks heat up as federal trial looms

Efforts to settle thousands of lawsuits related to the nation's opioid epidemic intensified Wednesday ahead of the scheduled start of arguments in the first federal trial over the crisis. Under the proposal, the distributors AmerisourceBergen (ABC) , Cardinal Health (CAH)  and McKesson (MCK)  would pay a total of $18 billion over 18 years. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)  would pay $4 billion over time.

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  UPDATE 3-Three drug distributors in talks to settle opioid litigation for $18 bln -WSJ

  Reuters
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  Drug distributor shares spike on word of opioid settlement

  Associated Press

IBM stock slips after revenue misses Street view

International Business Machines Inc. shares declined in the extended session Wednesday after the tech giant reported less revenue than Wall Street expected, but the company said it sees sustainable revenue growth in 2020 after more than a year of declines. Revenue declined to $18.03 billion from $18.76 billion in the year-ago quarter with lower-than-expected revenue coming in from the company's global technology services segment. “What I've seen play out in third quarter, while we've got a headwind right in front of us on GTS in fourth quarter, nothing would change my mind with regards to 2020 on driving sustainable revenue growth overall,” said Chief Financial Officer Jim Kavanaugh on the analyst call.

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  TriState Capital (TSC) Q3 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates

  Zacks
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  Eagle Bancorp (EGBN) Q3 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates

  Zacks

Amazon Stock Gets Price-Target Boost Ahead Of Quarterly Earnings

The price target on Amazon stock was raised by a Wall Street analyst Wednesday, coming a week before the e-commerce leader is set to report quarterly earnings. Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju raised his price target on Amazon to 2,400, from 2,225, which is about 35% from where it currently trades. Ju maintained a rating of outperform.

You'll only get a small increase in Social Security benefits in 2020. What should you do?

That means the average Social Security beneficiary will see their benefit increase by just $23.40 a month to $1,460. What's more, some of the increase will be used to offset the rising cost of Medicare Part B, says Heather Schreiber, the founder of HLS Retirement Consulting. The government typically deducts Medicare Part B premiums from a beneficiary's Social Security check.

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  Rivals put Warren on spot over taxes and health care

  Yahoo News
• A new poll found the aggressive Medicare for All plan Bernie Sanders has championed is getting less popular as time goes on

  Business Insider

5 Futuristic Artificial Intelligence Stocks to Buy

Editor's note: “5 Futuristic Artificial Intelligence Stocks to Buy” was previously published in September 2019. It has since been updated to include the most relevant information available. Before we know it, AI will be part of our everyday lives.