The data and calculations for this article are stated as of 1/28/25. This year has started with a new presidential administration and a feeling of optimism on Wall Street. Last year was a rewarding one for investors. In fact, President Biden’s full term saw the S&P 500 rise 56%. While this was not as strong as President Trump’s first term, it was better than President Obama’s second term and the long-term average. On the table below are key U.S. equity index returns during each presidential term from 1900–2025. This is using the start date as the day of the incoming…

In trading on Thursday, shares of LyondellBasell Industries were yielding above the 7% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $5.36), with the stock changing hands as low as $74.35 on the day. Dividends are particularly important for investors to consider, because historically speaking dividends have provided a considerable share of the stock market’s total return. To illustrate, suppose for example you purchased shares of the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) back on 12/31/1999 — you would have paid $146.88 per share. Fast forward to 12/31/2012 and each share was worth $142.41 on that date, a decrease of $4.67/share over…

Amazon’s phenomenal success was built on its reputation for having the lowest prices and the most frictionless customer experience in the retail industry. For 2024, the company is projected to chalk up e-commerce sales of better than $450 billion, with profits of about $27 billion. (Amazon’s annual earnings report is due next week.) An apparent 5% to 6% profit margin is nothing to brag about in traditional retail, but not bad considering how competitive Amazon is with pricing. But true retailing — buying and selling merchandise — is not how Amazon pays the rent. (Amazon’s most profitable business is cloud…

While it was created with good intentions 13 years ago, the Federal Open Market Committee’s dot plot does not serve its primary purpose: providing transparency on FOMC members’ thoughts about future rates. Today, the dot plot has devolved into a chart that investors and analysts price in as the expected, forecasted outcome. I have three reasons why this is a problem: the dot plot doesn’t have a good track record, its dispersion among FOMC members is not reflective of actual votes and it can contradict the message the FOMC is trying to send. In my opinion, the FOMC should put…

Most people dismiss billionaire Michael Saylor’s publicly traded MicroStrategy as a giant, risky bet on bitcoin. A closer look reveals a masterwork that’s a blueprint for manipulating traditional finance to harness the pixie dust fueling crypto mania. By Nina Bambysheva, Forbes Staff New Year’s Eve at Villa Vecchia is a delirious blur of orange and gold, a scene straight out of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most opulent fantasies. More than 500 people crowd onto the manicured lawns of the century-old Miami Beach estate with its Versailles-inspired ballroom that once welcomed luminaries including Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger and Mikhail Gorbachev. Bitcoin’s recent…

Telecoms giant BT led the FTSE 100 lower on Thursday as it announced fresh sales weakness across its Consumer and Business arms. At 140.8p per share, the BT share price was last dealing 4% lower on the day. Adjusted revenues dropped 3% in the three months to December, to £5.2 billion. Sales were down by the same percentage in the first nine months of its financial year (ending March 2025), at £15.3 billion. Sales at BT’s Consumer and Business units both dropped 2% during quarter three, to £2.5 billion and £2 billion respectively. Sales at its Openreach infrastructure division rose…

Necessity drives innovation, and when resources are limited, creativity takes over. China’s DeepSeek exemplifies this with its latest R1 open-source AI reasoning model, a breakthrough that claims to deliver performance on par with U.S.-backed models like Chat GPT at a fraction of the cost. By defying conventional wisdom, DeepSeek has shaken the industry, triggering a sharp selloff in AI-related stocks. Yet, disruption breeds opportunity. While established players scramble to adapt, this shift could accelerate AI accessibility, leveling the playing field for new innovators. Let’s start with the technology itself. What did DeepSeek accomplish? DeepSeek’s approach used novel ways to slash…

The retirement focus for most people is on how much money will be needed, and they don’t give much thought to how their healthcare needs may dictate where and how they live. We discuss the connection between Continuing Care Retirement Communities and retirement with Oscar Skjaerpe, financial planner with ProVise Management Group based in Tampa, Fla. Larry Light: Oscar, thanks for joining me today to talk about continuing care retirement communities, or CCRCs. Your latest guide offers a comprehensive look at the transition process. To start, what exactly is a CCRC, and why might it appeal to retirees? Oscar Skjaerpe:…

The S&P 500, the large cap index, is widely followed as a measure of the health of the U. S. economy. The NASDAQ-100 is widely followed as a measure mainly of the big tech and social media stocks that make up the index. The Russell 2000 ETF is seen as a way of gauging the economic health (or pain) of the small cap universe. None of these three indexes this week is giving strong signals of continued growth. The S&P 500 today is unable to make it back above last week’s new high after Monday’s big gap down. The NASDAQ-100…

A seismic shift in artificial intelligence is underway that promises to reshape not just the tech industry, but the very foundations of major stock indices. At the epicenter of this transformation lies DeepSeek, a Chinese company that has been quietly revolutionizing the AI field with its cost-effective, high-performance models. This development is not just a ripple in the tech pond; it’s a tsunami that could wash away established assumptions about AI infrastructure and market valuations. DeepSeek is challenging the status quo in a way that’s sending shockwaves through Silicon Valley and beyond. The company’s flagship model, DeepSeek-R1, isn’t just another…