As the chip industry has rapidly consolidated over the last few years, suppliers of microcontrollers (MCUs) and analog and mixed-signal chips have been especially popular targets. ) and International Rectifier (acquired by Infineon) are among the firms operating in one or both of these fields to be snapped up in multi-billion dollar deals in recent years.
The U.S. stock market took a hit late last week following the current presidential administration’s decision to impose a tariff on imported steel, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 500 points on Friday alone. Several companies made headlines over the weekend, including Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Frontier Communications Corp (NASDAQ:FTR). Amazon has reportedly snubbed some of the Google parent company’s line of smart home products, which has prompted Nest — owned by Google — to not restock its items on the retailer’s site once they sell out.
CHICAGO/NANTONG, China (Reuters) - At a Caterpillar facility in the eastern Chinese city of Nantong, an array of excavators, earth movers and road-making machinery is displayed on slopes and in mud pits. The audience is Caterpillar's local network of dealers, who inspect the machines for the latest technological innovations to help make their sales pitches to buyers in China. Caterpillar has been investing heavily in China – the Nantong facility is one of 25 similar ones it has set up across the country – in the hopes of cracking the largest construction and mining equipment market in the world.
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Chevron Corporation CVX. Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts. Chevron reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings after excluding the impacts of U.S. tax reform.
My list of potential stock split candidates continues to grow as the many stocks that could and probably should split their stock gets ever larger in number. Stock splits do not change the value of your stock holdings. In other terms, those who are long the options of the underlying stock about to be split normally do see a rise in value of their long calls and puts.
The price of the third-largest cryptocurrency by total value is up 16 percent Monday, buoyed by speculation it could soon see a major exchange listing. Indeed, comments on social media indicate investors now expect XRP price to extend Monday's gains ahead

Shares of U.S. big banks came under pressure in early trading on Monday from broader selloff in the market and the WSJ report, Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments said. "Whenever you see a headline show up Amazon coming in and offering checking accounts with JPMorgan that triggers investors to sell first in the face of uncertainty and ask questions later," he said. In January, Amazon.com, Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) and JPMorgan said they will form a company to cut health costs for hundreds of thousands of their employees.

The retail business has been evolving at a dizzying pace. This unforgiving pace of change is aptly captured in Amazon’s log-scaled stock price chart, which is essentially a manifestation of Moore’s Law applied to retail. While e-commerce continues to capture only a fraction of the overall consumer retail market (13% of 2017’s $3.5B total adjusted U.S. retail sales, or less, depending on how you slice the market), e-commerce punches above its weight contributing to 49% of the sector’s year-over-year growth, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department in February. The omni-connected consumer and “never closed” retailer have and will continue to transform the sector both online and off.

By Alister Doyle Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - Many Norwegian companies lag high standards for reporting their impact on the environment that the Nordic nation's $1 trillion wealth fund is championing abroad in 2018. The world's biggest sovereign wealth fund, which is barred by the Norwegian government from investing at home, wants the 9,100 companies in which it holds stakes to submit data on issues such as water use and climate effects to London-based non-profit group CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project. In Norway, just two firms - DNB bank and property firm Entra - were on a CDP list of 160 "A" rated performers worldwide for disclosure in 2017.
Chad Morganlander of Washington Crossing Advisors tells us what he’s advising his clients during a time of market uncertainty.

By Ankur Banerjee and Sruthi Shankar (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for the fifth straight day on Monday as concerns about a global trade war following President Donald Trump's threat to impose hefty tariffs kept investors on the edge
Sallie Krawcheck has been a saver since she was a child. In third grade, she started putting away the 25 cents an hour her dad paid her to do filing in his office. Later, she graduated to babysitting and working in the family store.

Gold touched a near one-week high on Monday as investors opted for safe-haven assets on political uncertainty in Italy and fears of a potential escalation of a simmering global trade war but a stronger dollar kept gains in check. Gold is often seen as an alternative investment during times of geopolitical and financial uncertainty, benefiting along with other haven assets such as the Japanese yen and U.S. Treasuries while stocks tend to trend lower. Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,323.25 per ounce by 1222 GMT after touching its highest since Feb. 27 at $1,327.86.
United Airlines is eliminating quarterly performance bonuses for its employees, and replacing them with something a bit more unconventional: a lottery-style drawing, with prizes including cash, cars, and vacations. According to a report from the Chicago Business Journal, the new program was announced in a memo sent by President Scott Kirby on Friday. “As we look to continue improving, we took a step back and decided to replace the quarterly operational bonus and perfect attendance programs with an exciting new rewards program called ‘core4 Score Rewards’,” the memo read in part.
Broadcom Ltd.’s hostile $117 billion bid for Qualcomm Inc. faces a major roadblock after the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. issued an interim order for the target to delay its investor meeting. CFIUS has imposed an order to investigate the proposed acquisition and delay the meeting for 30 days, according to an emailed statement Monday. Investors were scheduled to vote Tuesday on six Broadcom nominees, potentially giving it a majority of Qualcomm’s board.
CNBC's Hadley Gamble reports on news that Egypt and Saudi Arabia are to jointly fund a mega city in Egypt's southern Sinai peninsula.
Uber and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, pushed back swiftly against a new MIT study claiming that the median income for Uber and Lyft drivers is just $3.37 per hour, and that 30% are actually losing money while they work. On Twitter, Khosrowshahi wrote that "MIT = Mathematically Incompetent Theories," and shared a response from the company's chief economist, Jonathan Hall. MIT = Mathematically Incompetent Theories (at least as it pertains to ride-sharing).
Saudi Arabia selected banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc to help arrange the sale of a dollar-denominated bond, people familiar with the matter said, as the kingdom seeks to plug its budget deficit. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. will also manage the offering that may happen as soon as this month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The Saudi Finance Ministry declined to comment.
Salesforce.com Inc. shares have been trading at their highest-ever levels after more than two-thirds of the analysts who cover the customer-relations management software hiked their price targets on the stock following another strong earnings report. Salesforce (CRM) shares closed up 2.1% at a record high of $121.92 on Friday, after touching an all-time intraday high of $122.47 Thursday. Salesforce shares are up more than 19% in 2018 and more than 47% over the past 12 months, compared with a 0.6% year-to-date gain on the S&P 500 index (^GSPC), which is up 13% over the past 12 months.
U.S. stocks tumbled last week after President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. While the new tariffs may not have much of a direct impact on Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), an all-out trade war with China is a different story. If the tariffs apply to finished products and not just raw materials, Loup Ventures estimates the price of iMacs and iPhones could rise by as much as 0.2 percent.
March's brutal start on Wall Street may not be an anomaly. If Citi's forecast is right, it could replay several times this year, whether or not President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum become a reality.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 11 points as of 9:03 p.m. EST. Government officials from across the globe also continued to speak out against the tariffs. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were relatively unchanged.
Hypermarket operator Sun Art Retail Group posted an 8.6 percent rise in full-year net profit on Sunday and said it would work with Alibaba to optimise its product range and service through use of big data. Sun Art, backed by China's biggest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding, posted net profit of 2.79 billion yuan ($440 million) for 2017, up from 2.57 billion yuan the previous year and slightly above the average forecast from 15 analysts polled by Reuters. Sun Art, which competes with China Resources and Wal-Mart in China, said 2017 turnover rose 1.9 percent from a year earlier to 102.32 billion yuan.
President Trump’s talk on tariffs has the potential to start a trade war. Certainly there will be lots of noise, as is usual with Trump, and in our analysis, the probability of a trade war with dire consequences is not high. Let us first explore with a chart, and then I will share the names of 10 popular stocks that would be at risk if there is a trade war.
U.S. Treasury yields rebounded on Friday in reaction to President Trump’s tariff announcement on Thursday that sparked fear of a trade war and more robust inflation. According to Treasury data, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury Note rose 6 basis points to 2.868 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury Bond was up 6 basis points at 3.143. Some are saying that top Chinese officials could retaliate against unfriendly tariffs by reducing purchases of U.S. debt in the coming years, even as the Treasury Department prepares to increase supply.