Author: usaeverydaylife

The U.S. Treasury Building is seen from the Washington Monument on a cold, winter day on Jan. 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.Kevin Carter | Getty ImagesThe U.S. debt and deficit problem worsened during President Donald Trump’s first month in office, as the budget shortfall for February passed the $1 trillion mark even though the fiscal year is not yet at the halfway point.Government spending eased slightly on a monthly basis though it still far outpaced revenue, according to a Treasury Department statement Wednesday. The deficit totaled just over $307 billion for the month, nearly 2½ times what it was in…

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Investment firm GQG Partners has one fund that’s holding up better than the broader market during this latest bout of volatility — adding to its long-term outperformance. The Florida-based firm’s U.S. Select Quality Equity Fund (GQEPX) is down just 3% this year, while the S & P 500 has lost more than 5%. The fund, rated five stars by Morningstar, also beat the benchmark last year and has seen stronger returns over the past five years: GQEPX ended 2024 up 30%, beating the S & P 500′s 24% total return GQEPX has returned 154% over the past five years, 12 points…

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Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Markets: Stocks are nicely higher Wednesday thanks to deeply oversold conditions and some good news on the inflation front. The consumer price index report for February came in slightly cooler than expectations, rising 2.8% year over year. Although the Federal Reserve is unlikely to adjust policy at its upcoming meetings in March and May, the latest data has the market feeling better about inflation, and expectations of a possible cut in…

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An 11-year-old boy from Los Angeles who pulled the Paul Skenes MLB Debut Patch card will likely sell it for more money than Skenes will make from his 2025 base salary with the Pittsburgh Pirates.With 56 bids as of Wednesday night, the gem-mint PSA 10 graded autographed one-of-one rookie card bearing the patch Skenes wore on his jersey sleeve during his Major League debut has a high bid of $550,000 as of this writing. That would mean with the auction house’s buyer’s premium (to be donated to the Los Angeles Fire Department and Red Cross), the new owner of the…

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that he hoped a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine could take place within “days” if Russian leaders agreed, and that he planned to get diplomats from the Group of 7 allied nations to focus on ending the war in a meeting this week in Canada.“Here’s what we’d like the world to look like in a few days: Neither side is shooting at each other — not rockets, not missiles, not bullets, nothing, not artillery,” he told reporters during a refueling stop in Ireland as he flew from Saudi Arabia to Canada. “The…

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The recent market sell-off could provide a compelling entry point for investors in financial stocks, especially banks, according to longtime value investor Bill Nygren. Stocks recovered a fraction of their recent losses in midday trading on Wednesday, after three weeks of declines. The rebound followed the release of a softer-than-expected consumer price index report for February . Still, the S & P 500 remains almost 3% lower for the week, putting the market on pace for a fourth straight week in the red. “Financials are still the largest opportunity set, and we own a lot of them, especially the banks,”…

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Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, left, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai open the tech titan’s annual I/O developers conference focusing on how artificial intelligence is being woven into search, email, virtual meetings and more, May 14, 2024.Glenn Chapman | AFP | Getty ImagesGoogle is bringing its DeepMind artificial intelligence technology models into the physical world to power robots.The company on Wednesday debuted two new AI models, Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER (extended reasoning). They both run on Gemini 2.0, which Google calls its “most capable” AI to date. Gemini Robotics goes beyond outputs like text and images, where generative AI has…

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Zara owner Inditex on Wednesday posted a year-on-year rise in fourth-quarter sales that met expectations, even as the retailer pointed to a slowdown in demand at the start of the year.The Spanish retailer reported revenues of 11.21 billion euros [$12.2 billion] in the three-month period, matching the 11.2 billion euros forecast by LSEG analysts and up from the 10.34 billion euros recorded in the same period of last year.Fourth-quarter net income came in at 1.42 billion euros, also in line with analyst expectations.It follows a rare miss on sales and profit in the third quarter, which the company attributed partly to a stronger…

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Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Nvidia — Stock in the chipmaker surged more than 6%, reversing course after several weak sessions. Shares slumped roughly 8% in March and are down 14% in 2025. Target — Stock in the retailer slipped about 3%, as the broader field of consumer defensive stocks took a leg lower on Wednesday. Peer retailer Walmart declined almost 2%. Crocs — The shoemaker advanced 3% on the back of Loop Capital’s upgrade to buy from hold. Loop said the stock has an attractive valuation, which provides an entry point for investors, amid recent…

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Talen Energy could be set up for major gains over the next several months, according to Morgan Stanley. The firm initiated coverage on the power producer with an overweight rating and set its price target at $243. That implies more than 37% upside from Tuesday’s close. “The company operates the Susquehanna nuclear plant in PA and a fleet of 11 gas and coal plants, primarily in the mid-Atlantic market,” analyst David Arcaro wrote in a Wednesday note to clients. “The stock fits squarely into our broader thesis on powering AI: Talen’s nuclear plant offers highly valuable speed to market for…

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