Stocks Are Writing Checks the Economic Data Can’t Cash

Unlike the bond market, which is largely anchored in economic reality, the stock market is based on hope. Everyone knows and understands that, but it's still next to impossible to reconcile the latest leg higher in equities — which has pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index to records — with the latest economic data. Consider Friday, when all those benchmark indexes posted their biggest gains of the week even though a Commerce Department report showed that retail sales in October failed to rebound enough to offset concern about September's horrible numbers.

• Stocks head toward another record day

  Fox Business
• EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks, currencies edge up on hopes of U.S.-China trade pact

  Reuters

U.S. and China Are Really Testing the Water, Says Port Shelter’s CEO

Richard Harris, chief executive officer at Port Shelter Investment Management, discusses the U.S.-China trade talks and his outlook for the negotiations and the markets. He speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.

Salesforce, Apple partnership begins to come to life

Last year at Dreamforce, Salesforce's enormous annual customer conference, Apple and Salesforce announced the beginnings of a partnership where the two organizations would work together to enhance Salesforce products running on Apple devices. Today, as this year's Dreamforce conference begins, the companies announced the fruits of that labor with general availability of two new tools that were first announced at last year's event. For starters, Apple has been working with Salesforce to redesign the Salesforce Mobile app to build in Apple iOS features into the app like being able to use Siri shortcuts to get work done faster, using your voice instead of typing, something that's sometimes awkw...

Gold trims loss as investors gauge U.S.-China trade prospects

Gold futures trimmed a decline after a news report questioned China's optimism over prospects for a so-called phase one trade deal with the U.S. Gold for December delivery (GCZ19) on Comex were off $3, or 0.2%, at $1,465.50 an ounce after trading as low as $1.456.60 an ounce in earlier trade. December silver (SIZ19) fell 8.3 cents, or 0.5%, to $16.865 an ounce. Upbeat expectations around U.S.-China talks dented gold's haven appeal Friday as U.S. stock indexes scored another round of record closes.

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  Futures erase gains on report Beijing 'pessimistic' over trade deal

  Reuters
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  Stock market news: November 18, 2019

  Yahoo Finance

Warren Buffett Likes These Stocks Even Better Than Apple

But that's only about half the value of the $103.3 billion Berkshire invested in 17 financials stocks, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Apple and tech stocks account for 30% of Berkshire's portfolio, well below the 43.5% it has invested in financials. And seven of Buffett's top 10 holdings are financials.

OPEC's share of Indian oil imports in October hits lowest since 2011

OPEC'S share of India's oil imports fell to 73% in October, its lowest monthly share since at least 2011, tanker data from sources showed, as refiners shipped in fuel from the United States and other suppliers. India, which usually imports about 80% of its needs from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has been diversifying its sources of oil as local refiners have upgraded plants to process cheaper crude grades. India, the world's third biggest oil importer, shipped in 4.56 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in October, about 3.3% less compared with a year ago, data showed.

Should Your Required Minimum Distribution Be in Cash?

Should you take your RMD by getting the cash or transferring the stock to another account? According to Michael J. Garry, managing member and chief compliance officer at Yardley Wealth Management, it doesn't matter for tax purposes. "There is usually little, if any, tax efficiency added by taking in-kind distributions instead of cash.

Too Rich for a Roth? Do This

For 2020 Roth IRA contributions are not allowed for single filers with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of $139,000 (up from $137k in 2019) or more and married couples filing jointly whose MAGI exceeds $206,000 (up from $203k in 2019). A Roth IRA allows for tax-free qualified distributions in retirement, which may be invaluable if you anticipate landing in a high tax bracket when you retire. Fortunately, there is an available solution to the Roth IRA roadblock for affluent taxpayers: a backdoor Roth IRA.

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  Can I Have Both a 403(b) and a 401(k)?

  Investopedia
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  How to Use Your Roth IRA as an Emergency Fund

  Investopedia

6 Social Security Changes for 2019

Every October the Social Security Administration (SSA) announces its annual changes to the Social Security program for the coming year. Here are the Social Security changes that were announced in October 2018 and took effect on Jan. 1, 2019, according to the SSA's annual fact sheet. Keep them in mind when you update your social security information.

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  Canada Pension Plan (CPP) vs. U.S. Social Security

  Investopedia
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  Social Security Fraud: What Is It Costing Taxpayers?

  Investopedia

Aurora Cannabis stock suffers worst day in more than five years, analyst says ‘it would be fair for investors not to believe them’

Aurora Cannabis Inc. shares suffered through their worst trading session in more than five years Friday, after an earnings report that included disappointing numbers and plans to cut spending sent analysts racing to cut their forecasts for the Canadian marijuana producer. Aurora's (ACB) revenue declined by 24% sequentially in its fiscal first quarter, and the second largest public weed company by sales cancelled or delayed plans for multiple further facilities expansions and converted C$155 million in debt into shares as it seeks to conserve cash. Investors responded by sending the stock on a 17.2% decline to $2.73, the largest single-day percentage decline for Aurora shares in more than five years and the lowest closing price since October 2017.

This Is How Retirees Live on $1 Million

Another is to invest the money in a standard portfolio, typically one diversified with mutual fund, stock, and bond investments, then withdraw a fixed percentage of that portfolio each year to pay living expenses. Immediate Annuities The Good For retirees who worry about running out of money at some point, an immediate annuity offers perhaps the single most attractive feature of any retirement product: a fixed-income stream that is guaranteed for life—whether the purchaser dies the day after buying the annuity or lives to be 120. Immediate annuities are sold by life insurance companies.

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  Ways to Get Out of an Annuity

  SmartAsset
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  Passing the Buck: The Hidden Costs of Annuities

  Investopedia

Why Dow 28,000 could mark that ‘blowoff top’ bears have been predicting

Smith used this chart to help make his point: “Calling QE not-QE doesn't make it different than QE,” Smith wrote. The Fed's level of panic is noteworthy, as is the absurd transparency of its laughable attempt to conceal its panic. And with that panic, Smith believes that the recent pop to new highs in the stock market could finally mark that elusive blowoff top.

It’s great the stock market is setting records, but it’s not because the economy is great

Stocks on Wall Street have soared to fresh record highs, but it's not because the economy is flashing a big thumbs-up sign. The economy is still expanding, to be sure, and sporadic worries about recession have faded again. More evidence of a slowdown emerged in a pair of recent reports on industrial production and retail sales — windows into how businesses and consumers are faring.

Marijuana Stocks Are Tumbling — Are Any Good Buys Right Now?

Marijuana stocks received enormous hype after legal recreational sales took hold in Canada and sales became legal in some form or another across more than half of the U.S. Producers in Canada listed on the big U.S. exchanges, while their U.S. counterparts sought listings in Canada. Are any marijuana stocks on major U.S. exchanges a good buy now? Overall, the marijuana industry is showing little profit growth as weed producers burn through money to expand.

FedEx CEO to New York Times after tax-bill exposé: Debate me, bro!

FedEx Corp. Chief Executive Fred Smith had a combative response to a New York Times report that detailed how the delivery giant cut its tax bill to zero: Debate me! The Times on Sunday reported that, between 2017 and 2018, FedEx (FDX)  cut its tax bill from $1.5 billion to zero, as its effective tax rate sank from 34% to less than zero. The Times said the savings came after intense lobbying by the company — and Smith in particular — for the Trump administration's tax cuts.

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  How FedEx Cut Its Tax Bill to $0

  The New York Times
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  Fedex Addresses Worker's Death on the Job After Family Hires Attorney

  WREG - Memphis

Two of America’s biggest coal plants closed this month

America's coal plants are turning off the boilers, facing brutal economics and customers fleeing for natural gas and renewable energy. This week, Arizona's 2.25-GW Navajo Generating Station burned its last load of coal after no buyers turned up during a two-year search. Trade publication Utility Dive reports that the fate of the financially ailing plant was sealed after a bid to force an Arizona water agency to buy its electricity failed.

Cybersecurity firm Sonatype acquired by Vista Equity

Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners has acquired Sonatype, a cybersecurity-focused open source automation company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Sonatype said the acquisition will help to build out its Nexus platform, an enterprise ready repository manager and library with access to analysis on 65 million open source components. The platform helps enterprises to keep track of open source code to ensure software in the devops pipeline remains up-to-date with the latest bug and security fixes.

Apple’s stock keeps rising, and Wall Street gets more bullish

Shares of Apple Inc. rallied Friday, as the sharp run-up in prices this year didn't deter some Wall Street analysts to get even more bullish on the technology giant, citing optimism over the outlook of iPhone sales and the “underappreciated” opportunity in advertising. Apple's stock climbed 1.2% to close at the seventh record this month, and produce the eighth straight week of gains. The shares (AAPL) have rocketed 68.5% this year, to make Apple the most valuable U.S. company with a market cap of $1.18 trillion, above second-place Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) at $1.14 trillion.