The firm also upped its price target on the security to $335 from $300, citing an attractive valuation, upbeat top line trends and potential for a special dividend. Costco last offered a $3.1 billion special cash dividend, or $7 per share, in 2017. We always think about when the right time might be to do a special dividend. A special dividend is a one-time distribution of cash to shareholders outside of the company’s normal dividend. Costco, an international chain of membership warehouses, curre

Controversial lawyer Michael Avenatti is being kept in a special unit of a Manhattan federal jail that has housed accused terrorists and drug kingpins “for his own safety” because of his notoriety, the jail’s warden told a New York federal judge Tuesday. MCC’s warden, M. Licon-Vitale, in her letter to Gardephe, said Avenatti is not subject to Special Administrative Measures, but “is generally subject to the same restrictions as other” inmates of the SHU. “Due to Mr. Avenatti’s high profile case,

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed a vow to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank as the embattled leader kicked off a third election campaign in under a year Tuesday. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Most of the international community considers Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal under international law. Netanyahu had previously called for the annexation of the Jordan Valley ahead of September’s repeat pa

The CDC confirmed the first U.S. case of coronavirus, a sickness that has been spreading around China and has already killed a few people. The fast-spreading nature of the virus reminded traders of the economic fallout from the SARS crisis in 2003. Comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump on trade also pushed stocks down. Mnuchin said a phase-two trade deal with China may not remove all U.S. tariffs already implemented. Meanwhile, Trump said he is “absolutely se

The driverless, electric shuttle, which GM is calling Origin, does not have manual controls such as pedals or a steering wheel. It is a production vehicle,” Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said. Tuesday’s event comes six months after Cruise delayed the launch of a commercial, self-driving vehicle service in San Francisco, which it had expected to deploy in 2019. Ammann, formerly president of GM, and GM CEO Mary Barra have said the launch of the company’s self-driving vehicles would be “gated by safety.” O

Coronavirus may induce a chance to ‘buy unrelated stocks at a discount,’ Jim Cramer saysCNBC’s Jim Cramer said “if the whole market sells off on the coronavirus tomorrow, that might be your chance to pick up some high-quality stocks into weakness.”

Two passengers flying from Shanghai into Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport were examined by U.S. health officials after appearing to show symptoms of the coronavirus, United Airlines said Tuesday. However, it was a false alarm and the passengers were released by health officials, the airline said. Earlier Tuesday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said they were expanding screenings for the virus to both Chicago’s and Atlanta’s airports after health officials confirmed th

Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., listens during an Economic Club of Washington discussion in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. An outside investigation ordered by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos concluded that a WhatsApp account connected to Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, could have been involved in a hack of Bezos’ smartphone, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The researchers had a “medium to high degree of confidence” o

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump’s defense team sparred with Democratic House managers in the Senate on Tuesday for the first time in the president’s impeachment trial. Senate leaders square offSome of the biggest fireworks of the day came hours before the trial proceedings kicked off. But as the resolution on the trial rules was being read aloud in the Senate chamber, McConnell made two significant changes to his proposal. The changes will also automatically admit

President Donald Trump’s lack of engagement on the issue of climate change has meant companies will need to step up their environmental efforts instead, according to the CEO of Nasdaq. Friedman said that Trump’s inaction on climate was “not necessarily a good thing” and has left a “hole” that the corporate sector has found a way to fill in. She said she still thinks it would be better “if the whole ecosystem is engaged and aligned.” The U.S. was widely panned by the international community when

President Donald Trump has told delegates attending the World Economic Forum to “put their own citizens first,” but that approach has already been criticized by other public figures advocating a multilateral and consensual approach to global affairs. “How can you deal with international trade if not multilaterally?,” he said, speaking to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the forum in the Swiss Alps. “How can you deal with things like migration, how can you deal with things like climate, for that matter,

In comparison, the European Union approved a sweeping data privacy law in 2018 known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), aimed at giving users a bigger say over their own data. “There is no question there needs to be some sort of regulation in the United States. It would be terrific if we had a national data privacy law; instead we have privacy by zipcode, which is not a good outcome,” he said. Concerns over data privacy have come to the forefront of public debate in particular sin

Teen-age activist Greta Thunberg told world political and business leaders in Davo, Switzerland, on Tuesday that their inaction on the climate crisis was “fueling the flames by the hour.” The 17-year-old exhorted the World Economic Forum audience to “act as if you loved your children above all else.” And by panic, Thunberg said this did not mean relying on technologies that don’t yet, or may never, exist on scale, or by talking about reaching carbon neutrality by “cheating and fiddling” around w

If you think bringing a new human into the world is daunting, wait until you see what he or she will do to your budget. In fact, your child is costing you a bundle before you even bring him or her home. With the proper planning, you can work your child’s expenses into your cash flow — and even set aside some money for those far-off college costs. “It’s an exciting time,” said Winnie Sun, founding partner of Sun Group Wealth partners in Irvine, California. “Some of us think, ‘How am I going to af

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation. Sen. Susan Collins is facing new backlash from Democrats for her 2018 vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, putting the Maine Republican on the defensive as she seeks a fifth term. The campaign comes as Collins is seeking reelection to the Senate, where she has cast herself as a moderate. Brian Fallon, Demand Justice’s executive director, said in a stat

Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren said Tuesday she would create an independent task force in the Justice Department to investigate corruption by government officials during the Trump administration. Warren, who has been a fierce advocate of anti-corruption legislation, went a step further on Tuesday by calling for investigations and possible prosecutions of Trump administration officials. Trump has come under scrutiny for his attempts to wield the power of the Justice Department

Starbucks announced Tuesday that it will strive to become “resource positive,” storing more carbon than it emits, eliminating waste and providing more clean freshwater than it uses. The coffee chain is among the growing number of companies that are announcing sweeping sustainability goals as consumers grow increasingly concerned about climate change. The company plans to formalize those goals by March 2021, when it celebrates its 50th anniversary. As part of its far-reaching goal to become resou

Anheuser Busch InBev is betting on hard seltzer as beer consumption continues to fall in the United States. “It is something that’s profitable, it’s here to stay,” CEO Carlos Brito said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday. The Bud Light brewer owns Bon & Viv, one of the top three seltzer brands, along with White Claw and Boston Beer’s Truly. But it also sells seltzer from Natural Light, one of its beer brands, and will showcase its new Bud Light Seltzer with a Super Bowl advertisement. U.S. beer c

A person enters Morgan Stanley headquarters in New York, on Thursday, July 12, 2018. Morgan Stanley’s stock is “fairly valued,” according to Citigroup. The firm downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley to neutral from buy, sending the stock down 1.2% in premarket trading on Tuesday.