Another Federal Reserve policymaker on Tuesday backed an emerging U.S. central bank plan tobegin trimming its bond holdings later this year, as Kansas City Fed President Esther George warned against waiting too long in order to “overheat” labor markets. George, a hawkish official who has urged the Fed to hike interest rates, said in a speech the U.S. economy was on “solid footing” with positive surprises more likely than negative ones. George’s support of a prompt and gradual process of paring s

Overall U.S. industrial production rose 0.5 percent in March because of an 8.6 percent weather-driven surge in utilities generation, the Federal Reserve said on Tuesday. That was the largest increase in utilities output on record, which resulted from heating demand returning to so-called seasonal norms after being suppressed by unusually warm weather in February, the Fed explained. Economists were expecting an increase in industrial production of 0.5 percent in March, according to a poll by Thom

Housing starts declined 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.22 million units, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. February’s starts were revised up to a 1.30 million-unit pace from the previously reported 1.29 million-rate. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast groundbreaking activity falling to a 1.25 million-unit pace last month. Construction in February was boosted by unseasonably warm temperatures. But temperatures dropped in March and a storm lashed the Northeast

When it comes to harassment, debt collectors can sometimes feel more threatening than a jilted lover. A third of consumers has been contacted by a creditor or debt collector in the past 12 months, according to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Of those consumers who had contact, 27 percent reported feeling threatened by the conduct of that collector, and 36 percent said they received a call at an “inconvenient” time — between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.

“People don’t know much about actual tax policy,” Cliff Young, president of Ipsos public affairs, said in a statement. “The only thing definitive is that they know when taxes are due.” Think you know a little more than that? See if you can answer these questions correctly (no peeking).

“What happened to United should come as a lesson to many corporations,” El-Erian said on “Squawk Box.” “Even if you lose control of the narrative, which United did early on, don’t make it worse. United also issued a new policy to ensure a situation in which a passenger is forcibly removed doesn’t happen again. El-Erian said the airlines’ recent crisis is not going to impact them long term but has become a huge “reputational risk.” “They should learn and other companies should learn from this,” h

Shares of nutrition retailer GNC soared closed up over 24 percent Tuesday, on the heels of the company reporting quarterly earnings and revenue that beat Street estimates. GNC announced Tuesday morning it had earnings of 35 cents on sales of $645 million for the first quarter of 2017, topping Thomson Reuters’ estimates of 34 cents on revenue of $627 million. Throughout 2017, GNC said it will begin leveraging information from its loyalty program, which now boasts more than 5 million users, to “be

UnitedHealth reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday and said it was coping with uncertainty in U.S. healthcare laws by pricing its 2018 insurance plans to include a costly Obamacare tax. That means the 3 percent tax collected on all health insurance plans, currently on a hiatus, is due to take effect again next year. Those selling Obamacare individual plans are particularly affected by these and other regulatory questions, but UnitedHealth’s comments show that the lack of c

Cardinal Health said on Tuesday it expected full-year adjusted earnings at the lower end of its forecast, underscoring the U.S. drug distribution industry’s struggles with declining generic drug prices. The forecast overshadowed Cardinal Health’s move to add heft to its growing medical products business through a $6.1 billion deal for Medtronic’s medical supplies units. Medtronic and Cardinal Health had entered into exclusive talks for the business, Reuters reported earlier in the month. Cardina

With no deal on new health-care legislation and uncertainty about how long the White House will subsidize insurers’ participation in the Affordable Care Act, states have begun pushing back deadlines for insurers to submit rates for 2018. New Hampshire had originally requested 2018 rates by April 24; that date is now June 2, according to a memo from the state’s insurance department. “In our discussions with the health insurance carriers, they’ve asked for more time in developing their plans and r

UnitedHealth Group said it is confident it will post better-than-expected growth for the full year, regardless of what happens with health reform in Washington. The nation’s largest insurer’s first-quarter earnings and revenues were stronger than expected, helped in part by its decision to exit the Obamacare individual market this year. We hope Congress acts soon to permanently repeal the health insurance tax before it further worsens consumers’ premiums, state budgets and seniors’ benefits,” sa

In five years, Grant Sabatier of “Millennial Money” went from having $2.26 in his bank account to $1 million, thanks to a side hustle that he turned into a lucrative consulting company and to smart investing. “As soon as I began this journey, I looked up the best-reviewed personal finance books on Amazon,” the now 31-year-old tells CNBC. Since, he’s read over 360 personal finance books and “the best book on money, period,” happens to be the first one he picked up: “Your Money or Your Life,” by V

Not too long ago, my wife and I spent a few days at an amusement park where I constantly had to resist the urge to buy a wizard’s cape. It was my mother-in-law’s birthday and it was technically a time to celebrate (again, I was at a place that sold wizard capes!). But I’d been out of work for months and all I could think about was the job search waiting for me back home. More from The Muse:3 times you’re making the job search more stressful than it needs to be2 mindset changes that’ll make your

President Donald Trump said Tuesday his administration has deported “tremendous criminals” who have murdered and raped people. In an interview on “Fox & Friends,” Trump praised Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly’s policies. I’m talking about illegal immigrants that were here that caused tremendous crime, that have murdered people, raped people … horrible things have happened,” Trump said. “They’re getting the hell out or they’re going to prison.” CNBC has reached out to Homeland Securit

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Georgia voters will deliver an early referendum on President Donald Trump on Tuesday, and the president and his party are worried. Republicans have held the 6th House district for nearly 40 years. The 30-year-old former congressional aide treads carefully in this heavily Republican district. “We’re not seeing anything that says — ‘Oh, we got to put somebody up there to stop President Trump,’ ” said Adam Pipkin, executive director of the Georgia GOP. “I was glad to see this m

The first 100 days of President Donald J. Trump’s term are on track to work out pretty well for stocks. So while the Trump presidency has produced some big missteps — and disappointments for Trump supporters — barring a major meltdown in the next two weeks, the first 100 days are on track for sizable gains for the market. The primary Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ), meanwhile, has been the best, with a return of 6 percent. The 45th U.S. president still has his work cut out for him if he wants to match a ne

Steve Ballmer shared his views on technology and the new government transparency initiative USAFacts in an interview Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “They have to worry about their cost structure. High cost structure has many bad problems including confusion and chaos.” Ballmer is currently the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and former CEO of Microsoft. He is a significant shareholder of both Twitter and Microsoft, according to the interview.

Investors better hope Goldman shares can turn it around this month or the whole market may be in trouble, according to history. The S&P 500 is off by about 0.8 percent this month. Using hedge fund analytics tool Kensho here’s what happens to the major market benchmarks, on average, when Goldman falls more than 5 percent in one month’s time. The S&P 500 only managed to be positive during 16 percent of those months, posting an average loss of more than 3 percent. Here are the Dow Jones industrial

In a recent paper entitled “Forecasting a Volatility Tsunami” that was awarded the 2017 Charles H. Dow Award from the Market Technicians Association, Andrew Thrasher argues that it’s not low volatility that presages a volatility spike, but a consistent level of volatility. Whether the CBOE volatility index is set to rise can be an important question for traders and investors focused on short term investments. Adding to this analysis, Thrasher also examines the VVIX, which is the volatility index

Wald’s chart shows that while gold did rally above its 200-day moving average, which he calls “support” at $1,250, there has been “resistance” at $1,350 dating to 2012. The $1,350 level has often been cited as a key psychological point for gold, which the metal surpassed briefly last summer before falling below again. “That’s really limited gold over the last few years,” Wald said Monday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.” Stacey Gilbert, head of derivative strategy at Susquehanna, believes that given rece