CAPE Fear: The Bulls Are Wrong. Shiller's Measure Is the Real Deal

For the past half-decade, a controversial yardstick called the CAPE has been flashing red, warning that stock prices are extremely rich, and vulnerable to a sharp correction. And over the same period, the Wall Street bulls and a number of academics led by Jeremy Siegel of the Wharton School, have been claiming that CAPE is a kind of fun house mirror that makes reasonable valuations appear grotesquely stretched. CAPE, an acronym “Cyclically-adjusted price-to-earnings ratio,” was developed by economist Robert Shiller of Yale to correct for a flaw in judging where stock prices stand on the continuum from dirt cheap to highly expensive based on the current P/E ratio.

Losing a job in your 50s is especially tough. Here are 3 steps to take when layoffs happen

This is one of the many reasons why I believe our 50s can be the most challenging decade of our lives. Assuming you can clear the mental challenges, the financial and administrative obstacles can leave you feeling like a Rube Goldberg machine. Income, health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, bills, expenses, short-term savings and retirement savings are all immediately important in the face of a job loss.

Berkshire Trims Apple, Sells Oracle and Buys Big Banks

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B), the conglomerate run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, sold some of its giant stake in Apple Inc. (AAPL), called it quits on Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and used some of its freed-up capital to top up on bank stocks in the last three months of 2018. Berkshire also boosted its stake in regional lenders, including PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC) and US Bancorp (USB). Share price across the industry have been lifted by speculation that the recent merger between SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) and BB&T Corp. (BBT) could pave the way for more deals, reported Bloomberg.

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  Warren Buffett's Investments: Did He Play It Safe in Q4?

  Market Realist
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  Top Stocks Warren Buffett Just Bought

  Motley Fool

Worst Performing Cannabis Stocks in 2018

2018 was a remarkable year for the legal marijuana industry. Indeed, last year may eventually be thought of as the year in which legal cannabis companies emerged in the international financial world. Among other important developments, 2018 brought the nationwide legalization of recreational cannabis use among adults in Canada, as well as the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the first cannabis-derived drug treatment.

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  These Are the 5 Most Popular Marijuana Stocks

  Motley Fool
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  The U.K. Just Got Its First Bulk Medical Cannabis Shipment

  Bloomberg

Payless ShoeSource closing all 2,100 U.S. stores, starting liquidation sales Sunday

The closings mark the biggest by a single chain this year and nearly doubles the number of retail stores set to close in 2019. "We expect all stores to remain open until at least the end of March and the majority will remain open until May," the company said in a statement to USA TODAY. This process does not affect the company's franchise operations or its Latin American stores, which remain open for business as usual.

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  2,300 Payless Stores Closing 2019: 7 Things We Know

  InvestorPlace
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  Payless ShoeSource to start liquidation sales at stores

  Reuters

China's market is like a 'Black Friday' sale now: Investor

Eric Moffett of T. Rowe Price says a lot of babies have been thrown out with the bathwater in China's stock market and some "fantastic" companies are trading at "fire-sale valuations."

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  Trade talk, bank support hopes send European shares to three-month highs

  Reuters
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  Trade talks wrap up in Beijing

  CNBC Videos

How to Make Your Retirement Savings Last Forever

With life expectancy and inflation rates rising, Americans are increasingly delaying retirement as they fear their nest egg running out. Well, you could always plan for a shorter retirement, simply because it would be easier to manage costs over a shorter time frame. You could also take up a part-time job during retirement, and make small investments from any accumulated wealth to ensure a steady source of income.

5 Best 5G Stocks to Buy As the Trend Heats Up

The 5G upgrade is being driven by big U.S. telecom firms that are getting ready to test 5G sometime in the middle of this year. So as the upgrade cycle unfolds, investors will want to buy network suppliers offering 5G equipment. Before hopping on the 5G investment play, be wary on one outlier: Huawei.

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  Seizing on Huawei's troubles, Samsung bets big on network gear

  Reuters
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  Telus signals ‘material’ risk if Ottawa bans Huawei from 5G networks

  Yahoo Finance Canada

Manulife (MFC) Q4 Earnings Rise Y/Y on Solid Asia Business

Manulife Financial Corporation MFC delivered fourth-quarter 2018 core earnings of $0.9 billion (C$1.3 billion), up 8% year over year. This upside can be attributed to new business growth in Asia, favorable impact of lower U.S. tax rates, improved policyholder experience, and improved expense efficiency. New business value in the reported quarter was $379 million (C$501 million), up 27% year over year on the back of robust growth across all insurance segments.

Top technician says we may be nearing market top, but these stocks are going higher

Todd Gordon, TradingAnalysis.com, on key levels for the market. With CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders, Tim Seymour, Karen Finerman, Dan Nathan and Guy Adami.

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  Time to go shopping in retail? Big box breaks out

  CNBC Videos
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  Dow soars more than 400 points on trade optimism

  CNBC Videos

Bitcoin And Ethereum Daily Price Forecast – Market Shows Signs of Bearish Decline

Crypto currency market finally showed signs of exhaustion after trading positive for nearly six consecutive trading sessions. While price action still remains well near weekly highs, five out of top 10 major crypto currencies today saw significant downside move compared to weekly highs hit over the weekend. Given the fact that crypto bulls lack fundamental support to sustain positive price rally in the broad market, news-driven momentum has helped crypto bulls sustain positive price action so far but most of the news was purely speculation and nothing ever saw positive progress which lead to a scenario that is clearly lacking strong fundamental support.

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  JP Morgan rolling out its own cryptocurrency

  CNBC Videos
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  Why Won't Crypto Exchange Cryptopia Come Clean on How Disastrous Last Month's Hack Really Was?

  CCN

The typical Facebook employee earns double Silicon Valley's median household income. How 50+ big tech employers compare

Median means half of the company's employees, not including the CEO, make more, and half make less. To further put that figure into perspective, consider that the Bay Area's median household (not individual) income rose to an all-time high of $118,400 last year, according to Joint Venture Silicon Valley's latest annual economic report for the region. That means the typical Facebook employee makes double what the typical household in Silicon Valley makes.

PPL (PPL) Surpasses Q4 Earnings Estimates

PPL (PPL) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.52 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.49 per share. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 6.12%. PPL, which belongs to the Zacks Utility - Electric Power industry, posted revenues of $1.94 billion for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.57%.

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  CBS Q4 Earnings Undershoot Wall Street Estimates Due To Entertainment Dip

  Deadline
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  Safety, Income and Growth (SAFE) Q4 Earnings Lag Estimates

  Zacks

These New Exemptions Can Get You Your Biggest Refund This Tax Season

Whether you're planning to do your taxes online or work with an accountant, it helps to know which deductions and exemptions you are entitled to, so you have a rough idea of how big of a refund you might get — or how much you could owe to Uncle Sam. So we spoke to Brittany Turner, CPA, the founder of Countless, a New York City–based accounting firm for creatives. Brittany compiled a list of ten tax credits and deductions to be aware of while heading into tax season this year.

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  Americans Plan to Use Their Tax Refunds Responsibly This Year -- That Is, if They Get One

  Motley Fool
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  It's Not Stupid to Want a Big Tax Refund

  Bloomberg

I'm 33, Make $135k & Finally Paid Off My Student Loans

In our series My 6-Figure Paycheck , women making more than $100,000 open up about how they got there and what exactly they do. We take a closer look at what it feels like to be a woman making six-figures — when only 5% of American women make that much, according to the U.S. Census — w ith the hope it will give women insight into how to better navigate their own career and salary trajectories. Today, we chat with a senior marketing manager in fashion from San Francisco, CA.

4 Funds Building a Position in Housing Recovery in 2019

A series of dismal reports about America's housing industry have been released recently. Under such circumstances, investing in real estate mutual funds seems prudent. Opportunity Zones, which were created as a part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act, would go a long way in boosting the real estate market this year.

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  3 Outstanding REITs for 2019

  InvestorPlace
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  How To Look At Extra Space Storage Inc. (NYSE:EXR)

  Simply Wall St.

5 Growthy Stocks Trading Below 15X Earnings

Strong Buy Stocks With Over 20% Upside The following five stocks trade at a forward P/E ratio below 15, and analysts expect their average respective growth rates to exceed 20% annually over the next five years! Read on for more: Marathon Petroleum (MPC) Forward price-earnings ratio: 9.93 Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) operates as a downstream oil company specializing in refining. Most high-growth stocks in the oil and gas industry participate in the upstream market.

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  Bank of America Stock: Potential Upside

  Market Realist
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  5 Penny Stocks to Buy If You Can Risk It

  InvestorPlace

Charlie Munger targets active managers, Elon Musk; praises China

Charlie Munger, the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway Inc, on Thursday criticized active fund managers, bankers and even Elon Musk as he urged investors to court simplicity and temper expectations for future returns. Munger, 95, often provoked laughter as he fielded questions at the annual meeting of Daily Journal Corp, the Los Angeles newspaper publishing company he chairs, though he is better known for his four decades as a Berkshire vice chairman. Berkshire now owns more than 90 businesses in the insurance, energy, railroad and other sectors, along with dozens of stocks.

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  Oracle Puts Ramp Up After Berkshire Pivot

  Schaeffer's Investment Research
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  The only person besides Warren Buffett who Charlie Munger trusts with his money

  Quartz

Analyst: Boeing could impose a royalty on engine suppliers for new 797 jet

Boeing has asked potential future engine suppliers of its New Mid-market Airplane (NMA) to pay a royalty if they're involved in the jet program, a top aerospace analyst said this week at the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference. Kevin Michaels, the managing director at the consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said no Boeing insiders told him of the plan, but he's hearing about it from clients, including aerospace parts makers throughout the supply chain. quot;How (engine suppliers) feel about it is that they think it's Armageddon," Michaels said.

Retirement Account: Pros and Cons of Naming a Trust as a Beneficiary

Qualified retirement savings accounts are a great way to build a retirement nest egg. In the financial community, this has been a topic of an ongoing debate between estate planning attorneys and financial advisors. Since qualified retirement plans such as a 401(k) or 403(b), an IRA or a Roth IRA pass by way of contract directly to a named beneficiary, the often lengthy probate process, attorneys' fees and other costs associated with wills and settling estates are avoided.

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  How to Convert a Non-Deductible IRA Into a Roth IRA

  Investopedia
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  How to Save for Retirement in Every Decade of Your Life

  Men's Health

Why Starbucks (SBUX) Stock Looks Like a Strong Buy at New High

Shares of Starbucks SBUX have surged over 10% since the company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue on January 24. Now let's dive into why the coffee powerhouse looks like a strong buy at the moment. Overview Starbucks' adjusted Q1 fiscal 2019 earnings jumped 15.4% to reach $0.75 a share, which blew by our Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.65.

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  Starbucks launches all-day dining cafe in China

  Reuters
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  The Convenient Colorblindness of Howard Schultz

  Rolling Stone

IRS refund frenzy: Democrats blast Trump Treasury for 'goosing' paychecks

While some Americans are frustrated with the size of their refunds this tax season, a number of Democratic lawmakers are using the opportunity to criticize the Trump administration's tax law. A group of about 40 Democratic senators sent a letter to the administration on Friday, calling for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to waive penalties on taxpayers that had their payments underwithheld this year as a result of the tax reform law and the adjusted withholding tables. “It looks like the Trump Treasury Department spent 2018, an election year, goosing people's paychecks by under-withholding, and it should have been obvious that the bill would come due eventually,” Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement.

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  Americans Plan to Use Their Tax Refunds Responsibly This Year -- That Is, if They Get One

  Motley Fool
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  These New Exemptions Can Get You Your Biggest Refund This Tax Season

  Refinery29