Feed Aggregator Page 595

Rendered on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 15:00:09 GMT  newer latest older 

Is MGM Resorts Stock Headed Higher in 2017?

via Motley Fool Headlines by on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 14:23:00 GMT

The casino giant rebounded in 2016, but is there any upside left for the stock?

Guccifer 2.0 Emerges To Slam Intelligence Community's "Fake Evidence"

via by Tyler Durden on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 14:09:49 GMT

After laying silent since a November tweet in which he promised to "be an independent observer at the U.S. 2016 election," Guccifer 2.0 has returned with a new blog post slamming the "fake evidence" presented by the "FBI/DHS/NSA reports."

Here I am again, my friends! Check my new post about FBI/DHS/NSA reports & their fake evidence #Guccifer2 https://t.co/Low4v1qCQx

— GUCCIFER 2.0 (@GUCCIFER_2) January 12, 2017

 

While DHS/DNI issued a joint statement in October 2016 linking Guccifer 2.0 to the Russian Government, in today's blog post the hacker declares that he has "totally no relation to the Russian government" and that he was only acting "in accordance with my personal political views and beliefs."

With that brief intro, the hacker then attacked the U.S. intelligence community's "technical evidence" on "Russian hacking," calling their reports a "crude fake."  He goes on to point out, as have others, that the malware noted in the technical report is "commonly available" on the web and was likely only referenced in an effort to make the report seem more credible. 

Here is the full statement posted to Guccifer 2.0's blog:

I really hope you’ve missed me a lot. Though I see they didn’t let you forget my name. The U.S. intelligence agencies have published several reports of late claiming I have ties with Russia.

 

I’d like to make it clear enough that these accusations are unfounded. I have totally no relation to the Russian government. I’d like to tell you once again I was acting in accordance with my personal political views and beliefs.

 

The technical evidence contained in the reports doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. This is a crude fake.

 

Any IT professional can see that a malware sample mentioned in the Joint Analysis Report was taken from the web and was commonly available. A lot of hackers use it. I think it was inserted in the report to make it look a bit more plausible.

 

I already explained at The Future of Cyber Security Europe conference that took place in London in last September, I had used a different way to breach into the DNC network. I found a vulnerability in the NGP VAN software installed in the DNC system.

 

It’s obvious that the intelligence agencies are deliberately falsifying evidence. In my opinion, they’re playing into the hands of the Democrats who are trying to blame foreign actors for their failure.

 

The Obama administration has a week left in office and I believe we’ll see some more fakes during this period.

 

I guess you have a lot of questions for me. So, feel free to send them via DM.

While we can't confirm many of the claims above, we have little doubt in his assertion that the Obama administration has much left to accomplish in their last week in the White House.

Will This Be a Genius or Foolish Move for Johnson & Johnson?

via Motley Fool Headlines by on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 14:03:00 GMT

Disclosing its 2016 prescription drug price increases is a double-edged sword.

Core PPI Comes Hotter Than Expected, Driven By Rising "Brokerage, Investment Advice" Prices

via by Tyler Durden on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:57:01 GMT

While headline PPI came in at 0.3% on a sequential basis, as expected, and rose 1.6% on the year, also in line with expectations, it was the core PPI that came in modestly hotter than expected, printing at 0.2%, above the expected 0.1%, and rose 1.6% Y/Y, above the 1.5% expected, and far above the -1.1% drop reported one year ago.The headline jump was driven by a spike in energy prices, as final demand energy rose 2.6% in December. Accounting for almost half of the December jump in final demand goods prices, the index for gasoline climbed 7.8% , while heating oil was up 9.6%.

Away from the non-core energy and gasoline prices, the headline PPI rise was driven, surprisingly, mostly by "prices for securities brokerage, dealing, investment advice, and related services" which advanced 4.4%. In other words, brokers are capitalizing on the rush by retail investors to jump in the market and are hiking prices.

Nonetheless, on an annual basis, the 1.6% increase in PPI was the highest since August 2014.

 

Broken down between goods and service:

The breakdown:

The breakdown between goods and services:

Final demand goods: Prices for final demand goods jumped 0.7 percent in December, the largest increase since a 0.7-percent rise in June. Sixty percent of the December broad-based advance can be traced to the index for final demand energy, which climbed 2.6 percent. Prices for final demand goods less foods and energy rose 0.3 percent, and the final demand foods index increased 0.7 percent.

Accounting for almost half of the December jump in final demand goods prices, the index for gasoline climbed 7.8 percent. Prices for light motor trucks, jet fuel, iron and steel scrap, chicken eggs, and liquefied petroleum gas also increased. In contrast, the index for fresh fruits and melons fell 13.6 percent. Prices for residential electric power and for plastic resins and materials also decreased.

* * *

Final demand services: The index for final demand services inched up 0.1 percent in December after increasing 0.5 percent in November. About 70 percent of the December advance can be attributed to prices for final demand services less trade, transportation, and warehousing, which rose 0.2 percent. The index for final demand trade services also advanced 0.2 percent. (Trade indexes measure changes in margins received by wholesalers and retailers.) Conversely, prices for final demand transportation and warehousing services declined 0.4 percent.

Most of the December increase in the index for final demand services can be traced to prices for securities brokerage, dealing, investment advice, and related services, which advanced 4.4 percent. The indexes for machinery, equipment, parts, and supplies wholesaling; apparel, footwear, and accessories retailing; food retailing; and health, beauty, and optical goods retailing also moved higher. In contrast, prices for airline passenger services fell 2.4 percent. The indexes for fuels and lubricants retailing, loan services (partial), and apparel wholesaling also decreased.

* * *

In short, in December, the price of gasoline and heating surged, brokerage fees jumped, and everything else was largely in line as airplane tickets dropped while the price of fruits and melons tumbled.

Core Retail Sales Growth Weakest In Almost 3 Years As Trump Animal Spirits Fade

via by Tyler Durden on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:38:57 GMT

Yesterday's confidence data showed a retracement in the 'Trump Bump' and now, just as BofA had predicted, US Retail Sales disappointed across the board in December. The Control Group rose just 0.2% MoM (missing expectations of a 0.4% rise) but it was Ex-Auto-and-Gas that missed the most (unchanged in December against expectations of a 0.4% surge) that was most worrisome as it appears Americans bought cars and not much else.

Earlier this week Bank of America warned that December retail sales could come in weaker than expected, when it looked at its internal credit and debt card spending data and found a 1.0% drop. Moments ago the official data released from the Dept of Commerce confirmed that once again BofA was right, when it announced that in December, US retail spending rose 0.6%, below the expected 0.7%, however much of this was thanks to spending on cars and gas. If one excludes autos, the rise was only 0.2%, below the 0.5% expected, and if one also excludes gas, there was no increase in spending in December whatsoever.

In fact this is the weakest year-over-year retail sales since Feb 2014...

Full Breakdown... Only gasoline and Auto sales rose notably...

This disappinting data should not be a total surprise.

 

These 3 Stocks Quadrupled in Just 1 Year

via Motley Fool Headlines by on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:21:00 GMT

Find out what has sent these winners higher and whether they have more room to run.

My State of the Household Report, Net Worth, and 2016 Expenses

via Len Penzo dot Com by Len Penzo on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:15:00 GMT

I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: When it comes to money management, one of the most important pieces of information anyone can have is a detailed summary of where your household income was spent during the previous year. I’ve been diligently using an Excel spreadsheet for 19 years now to track almost every […]

5 Uranium Statistics That Will Blow You Away

via Motley Fool Headlines by on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:08:00 GMT

Nuclear power is bigger than investors think, which means uranium demand is set to grow in the years ahead

Snowden Slams Obama After Expanding "Unchained NSA" Surveillance Powers For Donald Trump

via by Tyler Durden on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:06:49 GMT

Submitted by Josie Wales via TheAntiMedia.org,

The Obama administration just handed even more power to the incoming Trump administration to invade the privacy of American citizens. The recent approval of new procedures for an existing executive order will allow the NSA to share the private data it collects with all 16 agencies of the United States intelligence community. The 23-page outline of the new procedures lifts previous limits placed on the way information was filtered before being disseminated to individual agencies.

“As he hands the White House to Trump, Obama just unchained NSA from basic limits on passing raw intercepts to others,” NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden tweeted Thursday.

As he hands the White House to Trump, Obama just unchained NSA from basic limits on passing raw intercepts to others https://t.co/JkbJhTrUsI

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 12, 2017

Gone are the already-flimsy privacy protections that required NSA analysts to review data before handing it over to other agencies like the CIA, DEA, DHS, or others. Whereas prior restrictions required analysts to shield the identities of innocent parties and other personal data before sharing only the information deemed pertinent, there are now no filters whatsoever.

All agencies will have the freedom to dig through “raw signals intelligence information” under the new procedures, which were signed by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. After evaluating the information, the agencies can apply rules “minimizing” violations of privacy. That’s correct — only after privacy has been violated can it be protected. That’s not exactly how it works, but it is now the law according to Section 2.3 of Executive Order 12333.

The document was originally signed on December 15, 2016, by the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr. According to Clapper’s general counsel, Robert S. Litt:

“This is not expanding the substantive ability of law enforcement to get access to signals intelligence. It is simply widening the aperture for a larger number of analysts, who will be bound by the existing rules.”

ACLU lawyer Pat Toomey disagrees, explaining:

“Rather than dramatically expanding government access to so much personal data, we need much stronger rules to protect the privacy of Americans. Seventeen different government agencies shouldn’t be rooting through Americans’ emails with family members, friends and colleagues, all without ever obtaining a warrant.”

The new procedures require agencies to submit written requests to the NSA describing the raw signals intelligence sought, how it will be used, how it will further its mission in a significant way, and why the information could not be obtained through other sources. While the purpose of Executive Order 12333 is to target foreign and counter-intelligence only, if an agency uncovers information that incriminates an American citizen, the agency is required to turn the evidence over to the Justice Department. Many of the requirements listed in the document for targeting American citizens have been redacted.

And if all else fails, any U.S. Intelligence Agency can legally obtain personal information on any citizen with no warrant under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. However, with these new procedures in place, that may not be necessary anymore.

If Barack Obama is so concerned about a Trump presidency, why is he giving the future president such a terrifying amount of power?

Why Ford's CEO Thinks Profits Will Dip in 2017

via Motley Fool Headlines by on Fri, 13 Jan 2017 13:05:00 GMT

The Blue Oval had a strong year; 2017 should also be good, but CEO Mark Fields says that profits will be down. Here's why.

 newer latest older