^GSPC - S&P 500
| Previous Close | 3,168.57 |
| Open | 3,166.65 |
| Volume | 1956819988 |
| Day's Range | 3,156.51 - 3,182.68 |
| 52 Week Range | 2,346.58 - 3,182.68 |
| Avg. Volume | 3,520,635,555 |
- Barrons.com
Expedia, Workday Have Tumbled, but Insiders Are Buying Up Stock
Expedia and Workday both had their 2019 gains stripped from them after providing forecasts that disappointed investors. But insiders at both companies recently bought shares.
- Barrons.com
FedEx and UPS Have a New Problem With the Last Mile. It’s an Opportunity for Investors.
A shifting landscape in the logistic industry and mounting competition to make so-called last-mile deliveries are changing minds on Wall Street.
- Barrons.com
Lots Went Right for Investors Last Week. The Dow Still Ended Friday on a Flat Note.
From accommodative central banks to Brexit clarity, much went investors’ way this past week. Still, U.S. stocks finished only slightly higher on the week.
- MarketWatch
Here’s what’s happening next in Democrats’ effort to impeach President Trump
A vote on impeachment by the full House is widely expected to come before Christmas, putting the Republican-led Senate on track to try President Donald Trump in January.
- MarketWatch
Why raising taxes on the rich isn’t so crazy
Democrats are not satisfied with the economy. Yes, unemployment is way down and the stock market (DJIA)(SPX) is way up, but average hard-working Americans are still having a hard time getting ahead. Imposing higher taxes on the rich would actually help the economy grow faster, Democrats say.
- MarketWatch
Brace yourself for mediocre stock market returns in the next decade
This past decade has delivered some of the best stock market returns in history, which unfortunately is a bad sign for the next 10 years, Mark Hulbert reports.
- MarketWatch
China welcomes preliminary deal in trade war it blames on US
China expressed cautious optimism Saturday about a first-step trade agreement that dials down a trade war it blames the U.S. for starting.
- MarketWatch
Analyst invokes Jim Morrison to describe unraveling at videogame retailer GameStop
GameStop Corp. shares were hit again on Wednesday, as analysts weighed in on another weak quarter that prompted one to invoke Jim Morrison to describe the continued unraveling of the video game retailer.
- MarketWatch
Why President Trump’s constant cheerleading of the stock market might not help him much come election time
A recent poll of likely voters shows 61% of Americans said that the market’s rally has had little or no impact on their finances.
- MarketWatch
Here’s what JP Morgan thinks are among the top trades for next year
Buy equities, add U.S. agriculture and hedge against the 2020 U.S. presidential election — three of JP Morgan’s top trade picks for the year ahead.
- MarketWatch
Why Wall Street’s most bullish strategist says his S&P 500 forecast is probably too low
Our call of the day from BTIG’s top strategist says his bullish S&P 500 forecast may turn out to be way too conservative, especially if trade negotiations smooth out.
- MarketWatch
Here’s where the 10-year Treasury yield is headed in 2020 as Brexit and U.S. - China trade headwinds clear away
Two major sources of uncertainty which have long kept investors on edge in 2019 appear to be clearing away this week, smoothing the runway towards higher long-term government bond yields.
- MarketWatch
The stock market will ‘breathe a sigh of relief’ if President Trump is re-elected in 2020, says billionaire Howard Marks
Howard Marks, co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, who has made billions investing in distressed debt, says that a 2020 election victory likely would be a major relief for Wall Street investors.
- MarketWatch
7 mistakes that can ruin your retirement — and how to avoid them
Warren Buffett once famously said: “You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.” With that in mind, today I’ll depart from suggesting what you should do to be a successful investor.
- MarketWatch
Want to invest in Saudi Aramco? There’s an ETF for that.
One of the easiest ways to get in on the Aramco action is to invest in the iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF, which is the only single-country exchange-traded fund for Saudi stocks.
- MarketWatch
These are Wall Street’s top dividend stock picks for 2020
DEEP DIVE U.S. stocks with attractive dividend yields have performed very well this year, for obvious reasons: Interest rates have declined at home and investors in Europe and Japan — where government and central-bank policies have pushed bond yields well into the negative — are desperate to find investments that will give them income.
- MarketWatch
Own stocks, thank the Fed and don’t expect the next U.S. recession to start anytime soon, says BCA Research
U.S. economy may chug along for another two years without a blip thanks to the Federal Reserve’s low rates, which makes it a good time to own stocks, say analysts at BCA Research.
- MarketWatch
Top stock picks for 2020: The best of the biggest
DEEP DIVE (This is the first in a three-part series listing highly rated stocks that sell-side analysts expect to rise the most over the next 12 months. This article covers large-cap stocks. Part 2 covers mid-cap stocks and part 3 covers small-caps.
- MarketWatch
These are the 20 best-performing stocks of the past decade, and some of them will surprise you
DEEP DIVE As we approach the end of 2019, it’s time not only for year-end lists, but end-of-decade lists. U.S. stocks have had what can only be called an excellent decade. MarketWatch will feature a number of forward-looking articles building on the past decade’s action.
- MarketWatch
This is how dangerous ‘dollar-cost ravaging’ can be for your retirement
Dollar-cost averaging is a popular strategy in which an investor purchases an asset at regularly timed intervals to mitigate the risk of buying high. But what about “dollar-cost ravaging?”
- MarketWatch
Here’s how much stock you should own when you retire
You’ve put money aside for retirement year after year, sometimes the max, sometimes less when you had expenses to pay. You’ve invested it well, so now you have a good enough nest egg to carry you through the next phase of your life — retirement. There are plenty of vehicles aimed specifically at investing for retirement, especially target-date funds, where fund managers reduce your stockholdings as your chosen retirement date draws near.
- MarketWatch
The CEO of the largest airline offers one simple reason that Wi-Fi on planes isn’t free
Delta Air Lines Inc., Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian says he’d like to offer Wi-Fi free on his airline’s flights but right now it would crash the system.
- Barrons.com
Surging Biotech Stocks Kodiak Sciences, Immunomedics See Largest Holders Buy More
Baker Bros. Advisors paid $87.5 million for more Kodiak stock, while Avoro Capital paid $35 million for additional Immunomedics shares.
- Bloomberg
How Passive Is That Passive ETF Really? Suit Raises Question
(Bloomberg) -- For all the debate over passive versus active investing, a recent lawsuit raises a simple, fundamental question: What does it even mean to be a passive fund?The suit alleges that managers of the Global X S&P Covered Call ETF -- a $147 million indexed fund trading under the ticker HSPX -- actively traded its portfolio to speculate on stocks and to generate commissions. The fund’s prospectus said it tracked the S&P 500 Stock Covered Call Index at the time of the alleged activity, according to a complaint filed last month in New York state court in Manhattan.So how much leeway do funds have? Most index-based stock ETFs commit in their offering documents to investing at least 80% of their assets in the component securities of their underlying benchmarks, a provision intended to give fund managers time to trade in volatile markets and run the fund in the most efficient way to benefit investors. HSPX sought a 0.95 correlation to its index, where 1 would indicate the two moved in lockstep, according to the suit.Any “wiggle room still has to be used to invest in securities or other instruments that the manager thinks will help track the index,” said attorney Eric Simanek, a partner at Sullivan & Worcester LLP who specializes in financial services and who is not involved in the litigation. “It’s not there to be used to generate performance that exceeds the index.”The AllegationsETFs -- of which about 98% are passively managed in the U.S. -- have more than doubled their assets to $4.3 trillion over the last four years as investors seek cheaper products that are less susceptible to the decision-making failures of humans.But funds that track non-traditional gauges have raised questions about the line between active and passive management. Custom-built indexes do not follow a broad market but instead seek exposure to securities based on factors like financial strength or environmental, social and governance concerns, for example. These measures are constructed to reflect strategies that would typically be actively managed, and that rebalance more frequently.The lawsuit, filed by Kevin Kelly, formerly the chief investment officer of Recon Capital Partners and now a managing partner at Benchmark Investments LLC, states that he learned about the alleged active management of HSPX as his firm was being bought by South Korea-based Mirae Asset Global Investments -- which oversaw HSPX -- in 2016.He says that during deal negotiations he discovered that HSPX outperformed its underlying index by buying back options before their roll date, writing calls mid-month and writing calls with strike prices outside the index’s methodology -- among other practices.“The prospectus was materially false and misleading because HSPX engaged in acts, practices and a course of business which was fraudulent, deceptive, and manipulative,” according to the complaint.Kelly says he flagged his concerns to Mirae and Horizons -- the Mirae unit that ran HSPX -- in December 2016. He says he recommended that HSPX’s underlying index be changed to tackle some of the alleged behavior, but his complaints and recommendations were dismissed.Index ChangeAfter leaving Mirae in May 2017 and retaining counsel, Kelly said he filed a whistle-blower complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency declined to comment.In December 2017, HSPX began following the Cboe S&P 500 2% OTM BuyWrite Index. The Cboe index differs from the previous one in that its written call component is achieved by writing call options on the S&P 500 Index rather than on individual stocks that compose the S&P 500.HSPX was rebranded with the Global X name in 2018 after Mirae added Global X Management Co. to its stable of issuers. Global X declined to comment on the lawsuit, and Mirae did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Exchange Traded Concepts, which set up HSPX in 2013 under the Horizons brand, also declined to comment.The allegations against HSPX are part of a broader complaint brought by Kelly against his former business partners Garrett Paolella, Troy Cates and Ray Bartoszek. Kelly is seeking monetary damages in an amount to be proven at trial.“The New York Supreme Court filing is a baseless attempt by a disgruntled former colleague of Mssrs. Paolella, Cates and Bartoszek to extract monies that do not exist,” said attorney Elizabeth Acee of Barclay Damon LLP, who represents the trio. “The suit is wholly without merit, and we intend to defend it vigorously and are analyzing other potential legal remedies.”The case is Kelly v. Paolella, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, 657090/2019.\--With assistance from Zeke Faux.To contact the reporter on this story: Claire Ballentine in New York at cballentine@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Andrew Dunn, Rachel EvansFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- TheStreet.com
S&P 500 Winners and Losers This Week- Dec. 14
The China trade deal sent stocks in the S&P; 500 to all-time highs. Here are the winners and losers from this week.
