Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi shared his views on IBM and its first quarter earnings on CNBC’s “Halftime Report” Wednesday. On IBM’s valuation: “It appears inexpensive on price-to-earnings, but I think, as you all noted, it does have net debt, and its cash flow is structurally weaker than its earnings,” Sacconaghi said. “And when a company descales, it’s very, very difficult not to see profit pressure and that’s really what we’re seeing.” Sacconaghi is a senior research analyst at Sanford C.

Value investor David Katz shared his market views in an interview on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” Wednesday. We were early and right … What we’ve said is if there is any sort of pullback we would start to aggressively buy. We think you’ve had that pullback with very good fundamentals,” Katz said. Katz is the chief investment officer of Matrix Asset Advisors, a New York-based investment firm. To watch the broadcast interview in its entirety, you must be a CNBC PRO subscriber.

When internet security specialist Dug Song found out the company he worked for got hacked by a 17-year-old high school student, he didn’t alert the authorities. Song and highschooler-turned-hacker Jon Oberheide eventually co-founded an information security company called Duo Security in 2010, based in Ann Arbor, MI. As a result of that membership, Song was tapped as a security expert, at one point becoming the chief security architect at Arbor Networks. He would often hack the unsecure wireless

Goldman Sachs is closing two long-dollar “top trade” calls, both of which would have posted losses, the bank said in a note on Tuesday. “However, a number of fundamentals have changed on the margin, such that the long-dollar story no longer warrants a place among our ‘Top Trades.'” He cited three reasons that the trades didn’t work out, adding that he expected all three would remain dollar headwinds. On Wednesday, it was trading around 99.625 in Asian hours, compared with levels over 101 before

China’s government wants more electric vehicles (EV) on the roads but consumers remain hungry for sports utility vehicles (SUVs), forcing foreign automakers to get innovative with their offerings. At this year’s Shanghai Auto Show, global brands were eager to show their adherence to Beijing’s calls, while still catering to customers of the world’s largest car market. “There is a clear regulation by the Chinese government … so the whole automotive industry is moving towards the petrol-electric

Adidas has apologized for sending out a marketing email praising customers it said “survived” this year’s Boston Marathon. The subject line of the email sent Tuesday by Adidas Running read: “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!” On social media, customers quickly reminded the company about the real survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The sports apparel company quickly apologized, saying it was “incredibly sorry” for the “insensitive” subject line about Monday’s race. Adidas say

The U.S. scrambled jet fighters to intercept two Russian bombers that flew near the Alaskan coast on Monday night, several American officials said. The Russian bombers stayed in international airspace. The bombers flew near the Aleutian Islands. There was no bridge-to-bridge communication between the US and Russian aircraft, but three U.S. officials said the Russians acted “very professionally.” While this is the first time Russian bombers have been off the Alaskan coast since 2015, they have fl

The head of United Airlines met with the Chinese consulate in Chicago over the possible impact to bookings from a customer being dragged off a plane but it was too early to tell if business in China had been hit by the event, the company said. In the carrier’s first quarter earnings call, United again apologized repeatedly for the incident in which Dr. David Dao was dragged from his seat on a United flight to make room for crew members. Dao accused officials of discriminating against him for bei

China requires skincare and cosmetics firms to submit to compulsory animal testing in government labs before regulators approve products for sale in the country. Experts say all firms selling to Chinese consumers now undergo animal testing for their products, including major foreign brands L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Shiseido, and Proctor & Gamble. None of those firms, among the top foreign cosmetics and skincare companies selling in China, responded to a request for comment. Those companies state on

Democrat Jon Ossoff fell below the 50 percent level needed to claim an outright win against a mass of opponents in a closely-watched special election on Tuesday in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, setting the stage for a runoff in June. Ossoff sought to parlay opposition to President Donald Trump into a victory that would rebuke the White House and embolden Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. ET, news agency AP confirmed that the race would head to a runoff on June 20. Trump, who

Our live blog is tracking market reaction as the U.K. Parliament prepares to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans for a general election on June 8th. We’ll bring you the latest analysis below.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was slightly higher with most sectors trading in positive territory. Basic resources stocks led the gains in early deals on earnings reports. On the other hand, Burberry fell more than 6 percent after a slowdown in its fourth-quarter comparable sales growth rate. Sales in the U.S. dropped slightly. Zalando shares also dropped nearly 6 percent after the online retailer saw lower margins on the back of post-Christmas sales.

China has a notorious reputation as a hub for counterfeits, but that’s far from the case in its digital media scene, where a unique ecosystem has nurtured innovation. Aldo Fumagalli, chairman of the Candy Hoover Group, pointed to Wechat as representative of a of “digital craftsmanship” in which China is excelling. According to data from iResearch Global, over 10 trillion Chinese yuan ($1.45 trillion) changed hands over mobile payment platforms in 2015. This amount would more than double to 22 tr

But Facebook, it sometimes feels, exists in a reality hole. You have to build for the reality we live in, not the one we hope to create. “With augmented reality,” Zuckerberg said, “you’re going to be able to create and discover all sorts of new art around your city.” The digital world is not flesh or blood, but it can have a tremendous effect on things that are. As it rolls out this slew of new tools to augment reality, here’s hoping that Facebook will also climb out of its reality hole and face

But that does not always have to be the case, according to Alex Hungate, president and CEO of airport ground-handler and catering solutions provider SATS. The company, which operates in 50 locations across 14 countries, has made large inroads in technological investments under Hungate’s leadership. The investments seem to have paid off, with SATS reporting an increase in overall productivity across its business units while keeping labor costs in check. To stay ahead of the curve, the adoption of

The goal for the study, said Verily’s chief medical officer Jessica Mega, is to “create a map of human health.” Part of Verily’s role is to use its engineering talent to develop sensor-based technologies to capture a huge volume of health data. The researchers are also aiming to study other molecular indicators, like the microbiome and proteomics (meaning the analysis of sets of proteins). The Baseline Project is modeling itself on prior efforts, like the Framingham Heart Study, which kicked off

Things weren’t always so rosy for the great-grandmother of 13. Her life hit a nadir around the time of Hurricane Sandy in 2012: She lost her husband, Marvin, of nearly six decades, and she sold the family home in Oceanside, New York, at a loss. Since then, Baxter, a native of Brooklyn, New York, has worked with her daughter and a financial advisor to craft her new life: One in which she’s independent and has enough cash to last through her 90s. “I’ve had the best of life, and I’ve had the worst

Wedding gift-giving habits also vary by region, according to a separate report by Bankrate.com. In the Northeast, guests are particularly generous. Nearly one-third said their typical gift is at least $200, compared to just 13 percent of everyone else. It’s perfectly acceptable to factor in the total cost when considering how much to give, said Rosemary Caligiuri, managing director of United Capital in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. When you say yes, you are saying yes to a lot of additional costs, es

The “Fast Money” traders discuss McDonald’s stock after the company’s stock was upgraded by twice, once on Monday and Tuesday. Trader Guy Adami said McDonald’s could be a $160 stock with its use of technology. Trader David Seaburg said he likes the company as a name to stay in for the long term. Karen is long AAL, BAC, BAC short calls, C, DAL, EEM, EPI, EWW, DVYE, FB, FL, GLMP, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, GS calls, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, TACO, WFM. Her firm is long ANT

Indeed, some of the women Ford speaks to shrug off the issue. A few wish their partners earned more but wouldn’t want them to take unfulfilling jobs. Others, like Ford, wish instead the culture would catch up with the idea that it doesn’t matter who brings home the bacon as long as the family has food. Largely, though, Ford reports, earning more has negative repercussions for women. The University of Chicago found that a wife making even $5,000 a year more than her husband was associated with a