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Trading Ideas

U.S. third-quarter growth unrevised; consumer spending strong

U.S. economic growth nudged up in the third quarter, the government confirmed on Friday, and there are signs the economy more or less maintained the moderate pace of expansion as the year ended, supported by a strong labor market. Despite the unrevised reading, which was in line with economists’ expectations, consumer spending was stronger than previously reported. There were also upgrades to business spending on nonresidential structures such as power infrastructure, which limited the drop in overall business investment. …read more […]

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Business News

Take Five: Ding dong markets merrily on high

As end-December approaches, money market players’ thoughts may be turning to a September scare, when rates in the $2.2 trillion U.S. repurchase or repo market spiked to 10%, boosting the premium to borrow dollars. The fear is a bigger crunch may erupt in the $2.2 trillion U.S. repo market towards year-end, a period when banks lend less and trading volumes fall.

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Trading Ideas

Wall Street analysts bullish over Nike's digital growth, look past margin weakness

At least eight brokerages boosted their price target on the Dow-component’s stock on Friday, with Deutsche Bank making the most bullish move by raising it to $120, above Nike’s current share price of about $100. “Given Nike’s significant scale and IT spend advantage, coupled with its early lead in digital, we remain very bullish on the company’s ability to continue to maintain its momentum in digital,” said Evercore ISI analyst Omar Saad. In efforts to win market share from rivals, Nike has collaborated with celebrities, launched limited edition sneakers, spent on technology and increased marketing around major sporting …read more […]

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Trading Ideas

J&J to buy remaining stake in Verb Surgical to strengthen digital surgery portfolio

Bolstering its Ethicon unit, which makes surgical equipment, J&J in 2015 formed an independent company called Verb Surgical with Verily to create smaller, smarter and less costly robotic-assisted systems for surgery. The deal for Verb Surgical is expected to close in the first half of 2020, J&J said without disclosing deal terms. J&J pushed further into the surgical robotics space with its $3.4-billion acquisition of Auris Health Inc earlier this year. …read more […]