Spotify is expanding its podcast catalog and media footprint with a new acquisition of the sports and entertainment news company The Ringer, the company announced Wednesday. Last February, Spotify announced its plans to acquire the privately held podcast producers Gimlet Media and Anchor. In March, Spotify announced its acquisition plans for podcast company Parcast. The Ringer, founded by sports writer Bill Simmons in 2016, has more than 30 podcasts in its network, including “The Bill Simmons Po

U.S. services sector activity picked up in January, with industries reporting increases in new orders, suggesting the economy could continue to grow moderately this year even as consumer spending is slowing. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the services sector, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. The ISM survey’s measure of new orders for the services industry increased to a reading of 56.2 in January from 55.3 in December. Order backlogs, however, continu

The final vote in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is set for Wednesday afternoon, with the Senate expected to acquit Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. But the chance of a Republican-led Senate ousting Trump was widely considered remote from the outset. After the Senate voted against even allowing additional witnesses and documents into the trial, acquittal became a virtual certainty. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of only two GOP members to vote alongsi

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk takes off his coat onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020. Canaccord downgraded the stock after the recent runup in shares and said investors should wait for a better “entry point””Following an electrifying run in 2020, we are downgrading shares of Tesla to HOLD as we see a balanced risk reward for investors to lock in profits. Just as we observed a clear buy signal coming into 2020, we see the risk of China’s

The analyst who downgraded Tesla stock after its two-day, 33% winning streak said Wednesday that fundamentals need to catch up to the meteoric market run. “We’re certainly not saying short this stock,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Jed Dorsheimer, who took down his rating on Tesla shares to hold from buy, told CNBC. Short sellers — or traders who bet that a stock will decline — have taken a bath on Tesla, which is one of the most shorted stocks on Wall Street. That includes nearly $2.5 billion in lo

Gwyneth Paltrow, founder and CEO of luxury lifestyle brand Goop, has something to say to those who advise women to “act like a man” or “don’t cry” at work. “I think that’s total bulls—,” Paltrow told CNBC Make It on Monday at Jerusalem Venture Partners’ International Cyber Center in Manhattan. Though Paltrow believes women should use their unique strengths to succeed, she’s not blind to the fact that men and women executives are often treated differently. “As a woman CEO, sometimes when I’m at

Mark Cuban is worth $4.1 billion, according to Forbes, but it wasn’t always so clear he’d be successful. It was nasty,” Cuban said during an Oxford Union Q&A session in 2017. You have to get back to work, and you have to go after it, and you have to make the best of it,” he said during the Oxford Union Q&A. Or take the time Cuban says a receptionist at his then-fledgling first company, MicroSolutions, stole more than $82,000 from the business by forging checks — “$82,000 of the $84,000 we had wa

Kids have psychological needsJust as the human body requires macronutrients to run properly, the human psyche has its own needs in order to flourish. So when kids aren’t given the “psychological nutrients” they require, they are more likely to overdo unhealthy behaviors and look for satisfaction — often in virtual environments. If you want to raise highly successful and “indistractable” kids, these are the three most important psychological nutrients that need to be met:1. In an interview with N

If you’ve seen research reports or promotions touting opportunities to invest with companies that are working to cure coronavirus, think twice before buying stock shares. That’s according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which released an investor alert on Feb. 4 warning Americans about an uptick in investment scams attempting to take advantage of the coronavirus outbreak. As of Tuesday night, China’s National Health Commission reported the coronavirus has killed 490 people and infecte

Gottlieb: US must prepare for the coronavirus outbreak getting worseFormer FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said cases of the new coronavirus will continue to spread rapidly, and the U.S. needs to prepare its response.

‘Take your foot off the accelerator’—Analyst explains his hold rating on TeslaJed Dorsheimer, analyst at Canaccord Genuity, recently downgraded Tesla to a hold rating while maintaing a $750 price target. He and Tim Higgins, reporter at the Wall Street Journal, join “Squawk Box” to discuss the stock.

—Cox10:25 am: Disney ticks lower after earningsShares of Disney were 1% lower in mid-morning trading surrounding coronavirus fears and disappointment around Disney+ guidance. The media giant said it expects second quarter operating income to take a hit from the recent coronavirus outbreak. Disney beat on its quarterly earnings and reported 26.5 million streaming service subscribers but didn’t upgrade its subscriber guidance. The company previously forecast between 60 million and 90 million subsc

More than 1,800 Tesla electric cars, including over 1,600 Model 3 from the United States, arrive at Pudong Waigaoqiao Port on February 22, 2019 in Shanghai, China. Freight ship ‘Morning Cindy’ carrying more than 1,800 Tesla electric cars, including over 1,600 Model 3 from the United States, arrived in Shanghai on Friday. Tesla shares closed up 13.7% Tuesday, at $887.06, a record high for the stock. That comes after Tesla shares climbed nearly 20% on Monday, which was its biggest one-day jump sin

A Tesla Model S (L) and Model X are displayed at a shopping mall in Hong Kong on March 10, 2019. Tesla is the best-performing auto stock this year, but it’s also given a boost to the handful of other electric carmakers across the globe. Chinese electric vehicle (EV) firms NIO and BYD, both listed in the U.S., are up over 12% and 27.5% respectively so far in 2020. Tesla is the biggest carmaker out of the these firms based on deliveries of electric vehicles. In comparison, BYD delivered 229,506 el

President Cyril Ramaphosa during a pre-World Economic Forum breakfast briefing on January 18, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Moeletsi Mabe| Sunday Times | Gallo Images | Getty ImagesFinancial services firm Absa has sharply reduced its growth forecasts for South Africa as persistently weak business sentiment, electricity supply issues and a drought weigh on the economy. South African national flags hang above an advertisement for the new Mandela rand banknotes at the headquarters of the cent

Hong Kong authorities are keeping passengers and crew members under quarantine on the cruise ship World Dream. Almost 2,000 tourists are being held on a cruise ship in Hong Kong and being tested for the new coronavirus after several crew members reported symptoms associated with the illness. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Wednesday that anyone entering the territory from mainland China would be quarantined for 14 days. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Hong Kong reached 21, with the

It’s been a problem for more than 20 years, but the EU is finally looking at how to update its rules on government spending. The European fiscal rulebook has divided northern and southern Europe since the laws were established in 1993. So, the European Commission, which oversees the implementation of the fiscal rules, announced Wednesday steps to update its fiscal rulebook. Currently, EU member countries should not have public debts above 60% of their annual GDP (gross domestic product) nor gove

“We continue to believe TSLA is fundamentally overvalued,” noted the analyst, who’s price forecast calls for a 65% plunge in the stock. More than 22,000 investors bought Tesla’ stock for the first time on millennial favored Silicon Valley stock trading app Robinhood in the past three days. Plus, when you type in “should I” on Google’s search engine, the first auto-fill recommendation says “buy Tesla stock,” further demonstrating interest. Some investors see Tesla as the pure play for electric ca

World Health Organization officials are holding a news briefing Wednesday to provide updates on the new coronavirus outbreak. The WHO declared the virus a global health emergency last week, a rare designation that helps the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak. “A master global clinical trial protocol for research and prioritization of therapeutics is ongoing at the WHO.” [To see the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit CNBC’s live updates her

In all, services added 237,000 positions compared with 54,000 for goods producers. The jobs market kicked off 2020 in grand fashion, adding 291,000 in private payrolls for the best monthly gain since May 2015, according to a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody’s Analytics. “Incredibly, the average unemployment rate under my administration is lower than any administration in the history of our country,” Trump said. The ADP count comes two days ahead of the government’s more closely watched nonfar