Fire crews remain at Scots industrial estate after inferno engulfs factory
Stock indexes drifted to a mixed finish on Wall Street as some heavyweight technology and communications sector stocks offset gains elsewhere in the market. The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1% Thursday, its first loss after three straight gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%. Gains by retailers and health care stocks helped temper the losses. Trading volume was lighter than usual as U.S. markets reopened following the Christmas holiday. The Labor Department reported that U.S. applications for unemployment benefits held steady last week, though continuing claims rose to the highest level in three years. Treasury yields fell in the bond market. On Thursday: The S&P 500 fell 2.45 points, or 0.04%, to 6,037.59. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 28.77 points, or 0.1%, to 43,325.80. The Nasdaq composite fell 10.77 points, or 1%, to 19,764.89. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 20.34 points, or 0.9%, to 2,280.19. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 106.74 points, or 1.80%. The Dow is up 485.54 points, or 1.1%. The Nasdaq is up 447.76 points, or 2.3%. The Russell 2000 is up 37.82 points, or 1.7%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 1,267.76 points, or 26.6%. The Dow is up 5,636.26, or 15%. The Nasdaq is up 5,009.01 points, or 33.4%. The Russell 2000 is up 253.12 points, or 12.5%.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers rues missed opportunity to earn rare Champions League away victoryUS rushes to uncover new information on whereabouts of Austin Tice after collapse of Syrian regime
Former USMNT defender Alexi Lalas has accused sections of the American fanbase of “insecurity” as the debate over Giovanni Reyna’s future rages on. Reyna - and the possibility of a move to the MLS - has become the topic of a heated debate in the American soccer world as his promising career continues to stutter. Still only 22 years old, Reyna is in his sixth season with Borussia Dortmund but injuries and inconsistent form has limited the attacking midfielder to just 13 league starts in the last four seasons - including just two starts in a loan spell with Nottingham Forest. This year, a groin strain cost Reyna more than two months of action and he is yet to start a Bundesliga match for Dortmund, making it more than a year since he was chosen in the German club’s starting XI for a league game. The promise that was once so evident hasn’t disappeared but the excitement has faded amidst a supremely frustrating period. Fit again, Reyna has come off the bench in each of Dortmund’s last three Bundesliga matches while stars and legends of the U.S. soccer world have shared their opinions on possible next steps for his career - Landon Donovan suggesting he should move to the MLS. "In a case like Gio, great you signed with Borussia Dortmund, great you went on loan to [Nottingham] Forest,” Donovan said on his podcast with Tim Howard 'Unfiltered Soccer'. “You don't play soccer. I used to hate this. You're a soccer player, you're not a soccer practicer. You're not a soccer contracted person. You're a soccer player. Do you want to play soccer or not? “I know injuries with Gio, but I just get so sick of this bullshit. People crap on MLS all the time and I get it and whatever. Guess what? Gio Reyna in MLS would play 300 games by now. “Hopefully would've been fit, and he's 22. Maybe then you go somewhere in Europe and play. It's just frustrating because a guy that talented - a lot of people who are inside the camp say that is the most talented guy." Coming from a U.S. legend - and one who had played almost his entire career in the MLS - those words carry weight and it has yielded strong responses on both sides of the argument. Eric Wynalda, who became the first American-born player to appear in the German top-flight, took offense to the suggestion, writing on X: “Great if you would stop talking about things you don’t understand. “Small fish in the ocean aren’t interested in advice from small fish in a small pond. “They are trying to navigate this thing called ambition.” Now, speaking on his podcast 'Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union', the outspoken For Sports analyst shared his view, taking a shot at those who he believes are unfairly dismissing the MLS and American soccer. “For years and years I have talked about the legendary inferiority complex and insecurities we have (with the MLS). And maybe some of that is dissipating, that comes with time. “But there absolutely is still that insecurity out there in terms of how we look at ourselves, how we look at our game, how we look at American soccer. “It’s a perception vs reality type of thing. When it comes to myself or Landon talking about this it’s relative to a player not playing. “Pochettino has come in and said I don’t care where you’re playing, I just want you playing. Some of that might be lip service but the reality is that you need to play. “Gio Reyna I think has been given more leash than anyone else out there and I think for good reason. Because I think everyone recognizes he is and maybe more importantly how good he can be. “But to see the best of Gio Reyna and for Gio Reyna to really matter with the USMNT, he has to be playing. “It’s not happening right now with Borussia Dortmund and I’m not saying he won’t have other opportunities. But to completely dismiss the possibility of him coming to the MLS, I think that goes back to the insecurities out there.” Lalas has suggested Reyna should consider a move to the LA Galaxy as the new MLS Cup champions look to replace star creative force Riqui Puig who will miss much of the next season with a serious ACL injury. The first step for Reyna wherever his career takes him will be to stay fit and play regular minutes. In an ideal world, that would still be with Borussia Dortmund or a club of relatively equal standing. But if that proves impossible, then USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino will need to see Reyna playing. Still supremely talented - and young - Reyna should have offers in Europe if he chooses to leave Dortmund but it would be quite a statement for the MLS if they were to sign such a highly regarded USMNT player.
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MrBeast finally squashes T-Series “beef” in surprise meeting with CEOAn accuser against disgraced music and fashion mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who has up to now been anonymous, has been revealed as the ex-wife of an NHL hockey star, as the accusations, court cases, and charges continue to grow. A long list of Jane and John Does have filed sexual assault lawsuits against Diddy, but TMZ has discovered that one of those anonymous filers has been identified as Anna Kane, the ex-wife of Edmonton Oilers Wing, Evander Kane. It appears that Kanes was required to reveal her identity by a court order if she wanted to continue the lawsuit, TMZ discovered. In her suit, Kanes claims that she was a 17-year-old high school student when she got involved in Diddy’s parties and she says she was gang raped by his guests and associates at one of those parties. “I had hoped to use a pseudonym in pursuing justice for what happened to me as a teenager. Defendants’ demand that I use my name was an attempt to intimidate me, but I am not intimidated. I am prepared to proceed and hold accountable those who have harmed me,” Kanes said through a statement from her lawyer. Kanes alleges that Bad Boy Entertainment President Harve Pierre, who she says told her she was “hot,” invited her to a party in New York in 2003 when she was in 11th grade. She claims that after being invited onto a private jet, she ended up at a Diddy party where she met the rap legend at his recording studio. She said that she was given unknown drugs and alcohol before Diddy and his guests sexually assaulted her. Diddy himself raped her in a bathroom, she claims Kanes supplied photos allegedly showing her inside Diddy’s recording studio. Anna was married to the NFL star from 2018 to 2021 and had one child with him before their divorce. The slew of lawsuits — one including an accusation he raped a ten-year-old boy — is far from the only legal jeopardy the music mogul faces. Combs has been in jail since September 16 when he was arrested following a federal indictment accusing him of more than a decade of abusing, threatening, and coercing both men and women, racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes. The music mogul has been denied bail three times after a New York judge ruled that Combs must remain behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center while he awaits his upcoming sex trafficking trial, set for May 5. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston , or Truth Social @WarnerToddHustonAston Villa march on in Champions League after beating RB Leipzig
Texas Doctor's TikTok on Collecting Patient Immigration Data Goes ViralBMW praises Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology on social mediaThe largest intergenerational wealth transfer in US history is about to take place — though the vast majority of Americans are unlikely to inherit much money at all. About $US105 trillion ($164 trillion) is projected to be passed down from older generations over the next quarter century, according to research firm Cerulli Associates, an amount roughly equal to global gross domestic product in 2023. Rising stock markets and home prices, as well as inflation, have fattened the estates that members of the baby boom generation are expected to leave their heirs. Credit: Glenn Hunt Rising stock markets and home prices, as well as inflation, have fattened the estates that members of the baby boom generation, born between 1946 and 1964, are expected to leave their heirs. The latest inheritance projection by Cerulli is 45 per cent higher than the 25-year forecast the firm made only three years ago. US gifts and inheritances are expected to total $US2.5 trillion next year alone. “About 80 per cent of the wealth held today is going to be in motion,” Chayce Horton, the lead author of the Cerulli report, said in an interview. “The ratio of wealth expected to be changing hands in the next 25 years is significant, and much greater than what we even saw a decade ago.” Yet even as the assets of millions of ageing Americans are passed on, the share of the US population that will benefit from inherited money has remained static, a sign of how accumulating family wealth has become more concentrated among the most affluent households. At the same time, money passed down from one generation to another accounts for a growing share of the overall wealth of heirs, rising relative to income from work or investments. Inherited money represented about a quarter of the net worth of households that received it, a Bloomberg analysis of the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances found, up from roughly 10 per cent in the late 1990s. “We’re becoming less of an economy that promotes entrepreneurship and production and more of an economy focused on inheritance and dynasty,” said Chuck Collins, Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies. Collins, whose great-grandfather founded the hot dog and lunchmeat maker Oscar Mayer, gave up his inheritance when he was in his twenties. He is now a member of the Patriotic Millionaires, a nonprofit group of affluent Americans that pushes for the wealthy to pay higher tax rates. Receiving any funds from a deceased family member remains the exception in the US, not the rule. Just one in five American households have received a substantial gift, trust or inheritance in recent decades, according to Bloomberg’s analysis. Inherited wealth is expected to become increasingly concentrated among the most affluent, according to Cerulli. The firm estimates that more than half of the wealth transferred between generations through 2048 will come from households with at least $US5 million in investible assets. Only about 2 per cent of US households meet that threshold. The share of the US population that will benefit from inherited money has remained static, a sign of how accumulating family wealth has become more concentrated among the most affluent households. Credit: Bloomberg The figures lend support to an idea that has long had currency among economists but that has been difficult to confirm — that the share of overall wealth derived from inheritance is far higher than it appears. A 2017 paper argued that inherited money had accounted for more than half of total wealth in the US and Europe since the 1990s, and that “self-reported inheritance flows are implausibly low.” “Inheritance is still the most important factor in terms of wealth concentration,” said Kaushik Basu, professor of economics at Cornell University and former chief economist at the World Bank. The trillions of dollars set to be passed on in coming years could create more social mobility for younger generations, even though its greater concentration among the wealthiest Americans is likely to create more obstacles for lower-income households and exacerbate inequality. “Markets may still flourish, and overall economic growth may continue, but the polarisation between the born-poor and born-rich will become more acute,” Basu said. He added that many of the economic advantages of family wealth are conferred indirectly, through access to education and other opportunities. As more members of the massive baby boom generation die, the annual rate at which wealth is being passed on is expected to increase until the end of the decade. Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, are expected to inherit more than $US45 trillion by 2048, including some $US3.9 trillion that year alone. Generation X, sandwiched between the baby boomers and millennials, will see their annual inheritance levels peak in 2038 at just shy of $US2 trillion, according to Cerulli. ‘Markets may still flourish, and overall economic growth may continue, but the polarisation between the born-poor and born-rich will become more acute.’ Wealth isn’t only cascading down to younger generations, it also is moving sideways. Before reaching younger heirs, inheritances are often transferred to surviving spouses and partners. Since women tend to outlive men, they are expected to receive a large share of the fortunes being passed on. “A significant amount of the wealth that is held today is believed to be controlled by men,” said Cerulli’s Horton. As those men die, “we expect that wealth to be much more equitably distributed on a gender basis.” Cerulli estimates that women will inherit nearly half of the total projected value of inheritances over the next 25 years. US tax policy has made it easier for wealthy heirs to hang on to more of the money they inherit. President-elect Donald Trump wants to extend part of his 2017 tax-cut package that doubled the estate-tax exemption from $US5.49 million to $US11.18 million. For many older Americans, money handed down from previous generations has shaped their own planning. Alan Jewett, a 75-year-old retiree in Delaware, and his wife received an inheritance of nearly $US3 million from her childless aunts in 2014, after the couple had already put both their children through college and bought a home. “Having money changes the way you look at things in the sense that it gives you and your family a feeling of security,” Jewett said. He and his wife gave part of the inheritance to their kids and set up an irrevocable trust for their three young grandchildren. Some heirs say they have used inherited money to prepare for their own health and elder-care expenses. Lee Robin Gebhardt, a 63-year-old wine seller living in Putnam County, New York, said she invested a $US150,000 retirement account that she received from her father, who died in 2020, in her long-term care. Gebhardt, who plans to work for at least another two years, has enough money put away to last her until she’s 110. “That will take some pressure off my children,” she said. Other relatively wealthy baby boomers have decided to pass on some of their wealth while they’re still able to see its effects for themselves. “I’ve seen an increasing focus on ‘giving while living,’ where people provide for their family’s needs during their lifetime,” said Jared Jones, senior advisor at Omega Wealth Management. “There’s definitely a big focus on not waiting until one passes away to help and witness the benefits of the wealth from the family.” Bloomberg The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning .
elifesra/iStock via Getty Images CFO strategy VictoryShares US 500 Enhanced Volatility Wtd ETF ( NASDAQ: CFO ) was listed on 07/01/2014 and tracks the Nasdaq Victory US Large Cap 500 Long/Cash Volatility Weighted Index. It has a portfolio of 500 stocks, a 30-day SEC yield of 1.25% and a Quantitative Risk & Value (QRV) provides you with risk indicators and data-driven, time-tested strategies. Get started with a two-week free trial now. Fred Piard, PhD. is a quantitative analyst and IT professional with over 30 years of experience working in technology. He is the author of three books and has been investing in data-driven systematic strategies since 2010. Quantitative Risk & Value Learn more Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of KO either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.None
