They didn’t vote for Donald Trump, but blue states might reap more benefits from Republican tax plans. That’s according to a CNBC analysis of fresh estimates from the Tax Foundation, a right-of-center think tank. The foundation’s new analysis adds a state-by-state look to a study done last summer when the House Republicans released their tax reform plan. Overall, the tax reform plan would increase after-tax incomes of median households by 8.7 percent, the study found. CNBC combined the tax-gain

Earnings are about to kick into high gear, and one strategist says that this time around, the optimism around earnings is well-warranted. According to Thomson Reuters IBES, analysts expect S&P 500 earnings to grow by about 10 percent should all reports meet expectations. In fact, energy earnings are expected to grow by 603 percent from the same quarter last year with a 35 percent growth in revenue for the sector. But even excluding energy earnings, analysts still project S&P earnings growing by

Indeed, Wells Fargo shares tumbled late last year when it was revealed that employees created fake accounts; the bank’s CEO stepped down in the wake of the scandal. Bank stocks as a group have fallen nearly 4 percent this year as the spread between the two-year Treasury yield and 10-year Treasury yield has fallen. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup have all broken below their 50-day moving averages, Johnson observed. “[Citigroup] is off the least amount, it’s holding up better in terms of the c

A veteran Wall Street strategist says the markets just dipped below a technical level, which could give investors a chance to pounce. Saut is characterizing it as a”very short-term red flag” — one which will likely morph into a solid buying opportunity as earnings season begins. “It could indicate that we would finally get a test of that 2,270-2,280 level,” Saut said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.” “The S&P was trading around 2,350 in mid-February, and that’s pretty much where it’s traded

The U.S. dollar rose on Thursday, rebounding after a slide that investors considered overdone following remarks by President Donald Trump that the currency was getting too strong and he would prefer the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low. The greenback and U.S. Treasury yields took a heavy hit after Trump’s comments to the Wall Street Journal, in which he said the strength of the dollar would hurt the economy. “Clearly, I think it was oversold yesterday,” said Peter Ng, senior currency t

“Since risk aversion is now in place and equity markets are on the retreat, gold prices are supported, but should this trend reverse, I wouldn’t be surprised to see gold coming under some pressure,” Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg said. Trading volumes in wider markets have been light ahead of Easter, with most financial markets closed from the Good Friday holiday. While the dollar pulled back some ground, Trump’s comments kept Treasury yields on track for their biggest weekly declines since

OPEC meets on May 25 to consider extending the cuts beyond June. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and most other OPEC members are leaning towards this if agreement is reached with other producers, OPEC sources told Reuters last month. OPEC data showed members of the group had cut March output beyond the level they had promised. At the same time, however, U.S. production has continued to increase, with overall production rising to 9.24 million barrels a day out of the United States, according to U.S. Energy

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson finally has a deputy at the State Department. The White House says President Donald Trump is nominating John Sullivan for deputy secretary of state. The State Department has been under scrutiny for a leadership vacuum since Trump took office and ordered a freeze on federal hiring. The staffing shortage comes as Trump and Tillerson seek to dramatically cut the State Department’s budget. The White House says Sullivan will serve simultaneously as the agency’s t

“This warranty further addresses the needs of American buyers head-on,” said Volkswagen Group of American chief executive Hinrich Woebcken. VW said most other major rivals offer a 36,000 mile, three-year warranty on similar SUVs. That warranty extends 60,000 miles or five years. The powertrain warranty is 100,000 miles, but it only lasts five years or 60,000 miles if transferred. The new VW warranty is twice as long as the current three-year 36,000-mile warranty on the Tiguan.

The global aerospace industry is fast becoming venture capitalists’ new frontier, according to Francois Chopard, the CEO of aerospace accelerator Starburst Accelerator. Speaking to CNBC’s “The Rundown” on Wednesday, Chopard said, “We’ve seen a couple of announcements for start-ups willing to build electric commercial aircraft, so it’s not only space that is booming, but more the global aerospace sector that is looking for disruptions.” April 12 marks the International Day of Human Space Flight,

The eight-year bull market in U.S. equities lives on but is getting “rather old in the tooth,” according to investor Dennis Gartman, who has warned about how quick a fall could be once it comes. The editor and publisher of Gartman Letter observed that years spent on the trading floor has taught him that, “stuff goes down a whole lot faster than stuff goes up.” Explaining on CNBC Wednesday why this week’s spike in the VIX index (measure of equity market volatility) didn’t precipitate a fall in ma

The federal hiring freeze imposed by President Trump in January is slated to be lifted Wednesday, but agencies won’t be allowed to hire willy-nilly, the president’s chief budget officer said. Instead, White House officials expect them to staff up only in areas slated for expansion under the president’s budget proposal released last month, for example at the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. That budget proposed the elimination of at least 60 agencies and programs and steep personnel c

The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 was up 0.62 percent shortly after the open with almost all sectors and major bourses in positive territory. Daimler pre-released better-than-expected first-quarter profits which showed earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) soared 87 percent when compared to the same period last year. The German automaker’s shares jumped over 2 percent on the news. Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, beat forecasts for full-year profits as its recovery appeared to gather momentum.

Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in North Korea with U.S President Donald Trump on a telephone call on Wednesday, China’s state broadcaster said. Xi stressed that a resolution of tensions on the Korean peninsula should be achieved by peaceful means. The phone call came a week after Trump and Xi met face-to-face for the first time at a summit in Florida. This is a breaking news story. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.

Our live blog is tracking reactions as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi speak on phone to discuss North Korea. We’ll bring you the latest analysis below.

Asked if the United States is going to get involved in Syria, Trump said: “No. But if I see them using gas and using things that — I mean even some of the worst tyrants in the world didn’t use the kind of gases that they used. “We’re not going into Syria,” Trump said in the interview. “But when I see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons, which they agreed not to use under the Obama administration, but they violated it.” Meanwhile, Trump’s “even the worst tyrants” line echoed statemen

Recently, the Indonesian government altered regulations to allow more foreign investment in the sector. Indonesia’s investment service agency only recently allowed 100-percent foreign ownership for investments above 100 billion Indonesian rupiah ($7.53 million) for the establishment of an e-commerce company in the country. However, even with “big boys” such as Alibaba and JD.com coming in — and Amazon soon following with a reported $600 million investment — Gondokusumo predicted that domestic e-

In a statement to CNBC, Samsung said the voice portion of the virtual assistant will be available to stateside customers only in spring, likely following a software update. “Key features of Bixby, including Vision, Home and Reminder, will be available with the global launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8 on April 21,” the statement said. “Bixby Voice will be available in the U.S. on the Galaxy S8 later this spring.” The Journal said Samsung executives were still discussing on when to make Bixby availa

Being newly retired is definitely a reason to celebrate — and spend — some of the hard-earned money you’ve saved over the years. Yet with Americans living longer, experts say you need to plan for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. Add in ever-rising medical costs, mostly stagnant Social Security checks and all of a sudden that pile of cash doesn’t look so big. The issue of outliving your money is a real threat. To avoid having that happen don’t make these classic new-retiree mistakes

In 1971, Atari’s co-founder Nolan Bushnell unveiled one of the first video game arcade cabinets, Computer Space, a cabinet version of the 1962 computer game Spacewar!. Eventually, arcade cabinets became so popular that they branched out from bars into spaces geared toward the under-21 crowd. Davids, who’s in his 30s, spent years collecting arcade machines, which he stored at his house, in a warehouse, and at friends’ homes. The arcade cabinets at venues like EightyTwo may be enticing to drinkers