American companies looking to avoid paying domestic tax rates are holding about $2.6 trillion in overseas earnings, a number that has been rising steadily for years, according to new research from Capital Economics. Part of President Donald Trump’s tax plan calls for a “holiday” that would lower the U.S. rate to incentivize companies to repatriate — bring home — that money. At 35 percent, the U.S. corporate tax rate is the highest in the world. That’s caused many multinationals to keep their ove

U.S. government debt prices fell on Friday as investors digested key economic data. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note ticked lower to 2.293 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also lower at 2.962 percent. Other economic data released Friday included the Chicago PMI, which unexpectedly rose, and the April read on consumer sentiment inched higher. Other economic data released Friday included the Chicago PMI, which unexpectedly rose, and the April read on consum

Other economic data released Friday included the Chicago PMI, which unexpectedly rose, and the April read on consumer sentiment inched higher. Amazon: earnings per share of $1.48 on sales of $35.7 billion, versus a Thomson One consensus of $1.12 earnings per share on sales of $35.3 billion. Alphabet: earnings per share of $7.73 on revenue of $24.75 billion, versus a Thomson One estimate of $7.39 earnings per share on sales of $24.22 billion. The three major indexes were on track to post solid we

A daily morning look at the financial stories you need to know to start the day. STOCKS/ECONOMY-Stock futures are flat after Thursday’s flat close for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. -Watch shares of Amazon today after its earnings and revenues far exceeded Wall Street expectations. And Google parent Alphabet also smashed expectations in its earnings report and its shares soared higher in the pre-market. TERROR/DEFENSE-President Donald Trump says he wants South Korea to compensate the U.S. in

Cautious consumers are providing a new sort of Trump bump. The U.S. economy grew even slower than was expected, at an annualized rate of just 0.7 percent in the first quarter. The year typically starts slowly and the figures may be revised, but consumers have been less confident than investors. Markets have hit record highs this year because of optimism over Donald Trump’s economic plans, inspiring the “Trump bump” term. And while shopper sentiment has been buoyant, too, according to surveys, it

Starbucks executive chairman Howard Schultz and CEO Kevin Johnson shared their views in an exclusive interview Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” On the Unicorn Frappuccino: “Last week with the introduction of the Unicorn Frappuccino we had this phenomenal organic, social response to Unicorn that sold out in two to three days and that has set us up very well for this … Frappuccino happy hour season,” Johnson said. On the company’s future: “We’re building the company for the next fifty year

The South Korean firm saw shares hit 2.29 million Korean won ($2,011) during trade on Friday, breaking a previous record set on Thursday, and closed at 2.23 Korean won. It comes after Samsung reported a 48 percent year-on-year rise in its first quarter operating profit to 9.9 trillion Korean won, driven by strength in its semiconductor and display division. Nomura upped its price target from 2.7 million Korean won to 3.3 million Korean won. It also said it expects operating profit of 53.2 trilli

Qualcomm cut its third-quarter fiscal guidance on Friday, noting that Apple has informed the company that it will withhold future royalty payments “until its dispute with Qualcomm is resolved.” “As a result of the above developments, we are updating our financial guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2017 to exclude royalty revenues from Apple’s contract manufacturers,” Qualcomm said. Qualcomm lowered its revenue guidance to a range of $4.8 billion to $5.6 billion for the fiscal third quarter

Freenome CEO Gabriel Otte received two very different term sheets when fundraising for his diagnostics start-up earlier this year. He turned it down, but eventually ended up taking some money from other tech investors with new-found interests in biotech. “Tech investors will offer higher valuations if they believe you’re going to grow like a tech company,” said Otte. Rather than investing in fitness gadgets and other tools for wellness, Sand Hill Road’s VC firms and tech accelerators are now ste

Bezos is within striking distance of Microsoft’s Bill Gates 4 Hours Ago | 00:55Jeff Bezos’ net worth just passed $80 billion, putting him within $5 billion of becoming the world’s richest man. That puts the Amazon founder’s net worth at just over $82 billion. He’s now within striking distance of Bill Gates, whose wealth Bloomberg lists at $87 billion. Bezos has added $65 billion to his net worth over the past five years, according to Bloomberg. Even if Gates’ wealth holds steady, Amazon stock on

Investors should buy Apple shares because of growing optimism over the next iPhone “super cycle,” according to Credit Suisse, which reiterated its outperform rating. “Over the course of the next year, we continue to believe that an iPhone 8 super cycle (starting with 3 models, one of which will be OLED [display]) should drive up replacement rates and drive new customers,” analyst Kulbinder Garcha wrote in a note to clients Friday. “We continue to highlight a degree of pent up demand from iPhone

“It made me feel competitive, that I need to keep up and stay ahead of the A.I.,” Ms. Neasham said. for short, that feel natural enough that swapping emails with these computer systems feels no different than emailing with a human assistant. ‘That was a ‘wow’ moment for me’Sarah Seiwert, customer representativeIt took two weeks for Ms. Seiwert to notice that her company’s A.I. has seen enough examples of how human agents handled the request that it gains confidence that its answer will be correc

If you travel a lot, you might be familiar with excellent apps like Tripit and WorldMate, but you should also be using Google Trips. Google recently updated its Trips app with iOS and Android.It automatically pulls in all of your travel information for upcoming trips,can help you find fun things to do at your destination and more. If you haven’t used Google Trips before, it’s about time you do. Let’s take a look at some of the fun features.

Tesla’s biggest competitors are likely not auto companies, but well-funded tech companies, according to Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas. For example, out of 30 companies with permits to test autonomous driving technology on California roads, only 11 are established automakers, Jonas said in a note Friday. Moreover, a “typical economic downturn” can deplete an automaker’s cash pile within 6-8 quarters, Jonas said. For example, Ford recently announced a $1 billion investment in Argo AI, which makes te

Money managers are more heavily invested in technology stocks than they have been in at least nine years, a survey of portfolios shows. For the year, the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) has risen more than 12 percent, compared with the S&P 500’s nearly 7 percent gain. But the equity strategist believes this is not necessarily a good thing for tech investors. “Buying the 10 most underweighted stocks and selling the most overweight stocks … has generated alpha in past years,” Subramanian wro

Autonomous cars from General Motors will come sooner than people think, says Mary Barra, the CEO of the Detroit automaker. Speaking on a conference call with analysts on Friday, Barra said GM is making fast progress as it tests its cars in various cities around the country. General Motors released quarterly earnings that beat estimates by a wide margin on Friday morning. “We continue to make very strong progress with Cruise Automation,” Barra said referring to the autonomous technology company G

GoPro stock skidded Friday, a day after the wearable camera company reported disappointing data on shipments, but CEO Nick Woodman said the market is “far from saturated.” The company reported Thursday that shipments fell to 730,000 units in the first quarter. At the time, it had been the company’s third-consecutive quarter in which it had shipped more than 1 million devices. He said the company has shifted its focus to its premium products, contributing to a 13 percent year-over-year increase i

Amazon’s cloud business is becoming so successful that at some point people won’t even think of it as a retail company, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney told CNBC on Friday. “I think every year that we’re talking about Amazon, more and more the conversation will be about cloud and less and less about retail,” said Mahaney. The growing importance of the cloud means the big tech companies will continue to invest there. But Mahaney said Amazon is in the best position to win the cloud wars,

Apple asked the state of California to make changes in its proposed self-driving car policies, the latest sign the company is pursuing driverless car technology. Alphabet self-driving car unit Waymo , Ford Motor, Uber Technologies, Toyota Motor, Tesla Motors and others also filed comments suggesting changes. Tesla said California should not bar autonomous vehicle testing of vehicles that are 10,000 pounds (4,535 kg) or more, saying it is “inappropriate” and adds “there is no regulatory reason.”

Alphabet smashed first-quarter earnings and sales estimates as mobile search and YouTube drove ad sales higher. Meanwhile, Amazon saw its quarterly revenue jump 23 percent year over year as sales for Amazon Web Services totaled $3.66 billion. “Until we see more meaningful margin expansion, I think [Amazon] shares are going to be range-bound in the near term.” The two stocks have been on a tear this year, with Google’s Class A shares rising 17.5 percent and Amazon’ soaring 24.6 percent. Amazon (g