The biggest banks in the U.S., including JPMorgan Chase $JPMorgan(JPM.US)$ & Co., are discussing a joint rescue of First Republic Bank $First Republic Bank(FRC.US)$ that could include a sizable capital infusion to shore up the beleaguered lender, people familiar with the matter said. JPMorgan is working with Citigroup Inc. $Citigroup(C.US)$, Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. to provide a lifeline to First Republic, the people said. Others involved include Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as well as U.S. Bancorp and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. $PNC Financial Services(PNC.US)$, the people said. The deal could be unveiled as early as today, the people said. The situation is fluid and whether a deal comes together and what it might look like is still highly u

This month, Niche released its ranking of the best cities to live in America in 2023. The list ranked 228 cities by using data from the U.S. Census, FBI, Bureau of Labor Statistics and CDC in combination with millions of resident reviews. For Niche's report, cities were defined as urbanized areas with a population of 100,000 or more. They were ranked based on the following factors: affordability local housing market neighborhood diversity area public schools walkability Top 10 best U.S. cities to live in for 2023 Cambridge, Mass. Arlington, Va. The Woodlands, Texas Naperville, Ill. Columbia, Md. Berkeley, Calif. Irvine, Calif. Ann Arbor, Mich. Overland Park, Kan. Bellevue, Wash. For the first time ever, Cambridge, Massachusetts, topped the list. Niche data analyst Cortland Reed tells CNBC

As 2022 wrapped, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway was the largest shareholder of eight stocks that include traditional oil companies and financial-services giants.Berkshire now enjoys major ownership in an unmatched collection of huge and diversified businesses, Buffett, 92, wrote in his annual letter.Buffett noted that last year there were 128 companies in the S&P 500 that earned more than $3 billion in profits -- and Berkshire was the largest shareholder in eight of these businesses: $American Express(AXP.US)$ and $Bank of America(BAC.US)$, among them.Berkshire is also the dominant holder of $Chevron(CVX.US)$ and $Occidental Petroleum(OXY.US)$, continuing a Buffett pledge in favor of fossil-fuel ownership even as other parts of Berkshire dips into alternatives.Further, Buffett's B

$Rivian Automotive(RIVN.US)$ rose some 2% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the EV make reported third-quarter financial results after the bell. Here's a look at the key metrics from the quarter: Earnings Rivian reported third-quarter revenue of $1.337 billion, which beat the consensus estimate of $1.327 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The company also reported a quarterly loss of $1.19 per share, which beat analyst estimates for a loss of $1.32 per share. Heading into the print, Rivian had beat earnings expectations in six of eight quarters since going public. However, the company had beaten revenue estimates just 50% of the time. "The key drivers of our path to positive gross profit are ramping production and leveraging our fixed costs, material cost reduction, and increasing aver

Boosted by new partnerships with Amazon (AMZN) and Qualcomm (QCOM), Visteon (VC) sports the highest-possible 99 Composite Rating as it revs up a potential breakout. Pioneering advances in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving technology for automakers, the company drove 778% earnings growth last quarter. Earnings are due out Feb. 16 before the open. Visteon provides automotive parts for vehicle manufacturers. It counts Ford (F) and General Motors (GM) as major clients. Its technology crosses a range of industries and applications, including AI, connected cars and cybersecurity. The Michigan-based firm has roughly 10,000 employees at more than 40 facilities in 17 countries. Fellow leaders in the Auto-Truck/Original Equipment industry group are also showing technical and fundamental

It’s the start of a new year, and for those of you who have braved through a tough 2022, you can look forward to receiving your bonus or annual wage supplement. But with inflation hovering near 14-year highs, it may not be a good idea to sock that sum of money in a bank account. Although many banks have been raising their savings deposit rates, parking your money in the bank is still not an effective long-term solution to beating inflation. In addition, such accounts also come with a host of terms and conditions before you can enjoy the maximum interest rate tier. It’s a better idea to invest the money in solid, well-managed blue-chip companies that offer a great mix of growth and dividends. What’s more, with a possible recession looming on the horizon, blue chips are also well-equipped to

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bearish stance on NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA). And retail traders should know. We noticed this today when the big position showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga. Whether this is an institution or just a wealthy individual, we don't know. But when something this big happens with NVDA, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen. So how do we know what this whale just did? Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 39 uncommon options trades for NVIDIA. This isn't normal. The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 30% bullish and 69%, bearish. Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 25 are puts, for a total amount of $1,127,496, and 14 are calls, for a total amount

Even artificial intelligence wants to learn from Bill Gates. When the Microsoft co-founder sat down for an interview with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last month, the two answered questions generated by a ChatGPT-like AI chatbot. The bot asked Gates about the best advice he's ever received and how it has influenced his own life. In response, the 67-year-old pulled out some words from his longtime friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett on the subject of friendship. "Warren Buffett talked about [how], in the end, it's how friends really think of you and how strong those friendships are [that matters]," Gates said. Gates and Buffett have been friends for more than three decades. Their shared interests go beyond their wealth: The pair co-founded The Giving Pledge, which encourages the

'Path to fully sustainable energy future' to be unveiled March 1, Musk promises Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk teased a "Master Plan 3" for the electric-vehicle maker on March 1, nearly a year after he first tweeted about the blueprint. Musk said late Tuesday that details will be unveiled at Tesla's (TSLA) investor day on March 1, scheduled to take place at the company's Texas headquarters. "We suspect his plan will tie together" with Tesla's 2016 Master Plan 2, mentioning robotaxis, shared rides to reduce driving miles, "megapack" batteries, and recycling targets, said Chris McNally, an analyst with Evercore ISI. Musk tweeted on March 16 that he was "working on" the plan: Musk released the second Master Plan in March 2016, promising a few things that have fallen short of reality. Se

Google is testing new artificial intelligence-powered chat products that are likely to influence a future public product launch. They include a new chatbot and a potential way to integrate it into a search engine. The Alphabet company is working on a project under its cloud unit called "Atlas," which is a “code red” effort to respond to ChatGPT, the large-language chatbot that took the public by storm when it went public late last year. Google is also testing a chatbot called “Apprentice Bard,” where employees can ask questions and receive detailed answers similar to ChatGPT. Another product unit has been testing a new search desktop design that could be used in a question-and-answer form. Leaders have been asking more employees for feedback on the efforts in recent weeks. CNBC viewed in

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It’s been a torrid time for the REIT sector but some REITs are holding up better than others. High inflation has raised operating expenses for a raft of businesses, and REITs are not immune to this headwind. Meanwhile, interest rates have also surged as the US Federal Reserve delivered its sharpest-ever benchmark rate hikes. Income-driven investors will naturally be curious to know how REITs intend to deal with these challenges. The upcoming REIT earnings season could shed some light on how the larger REITs tackle these issues. At the same time, REITs with a 31 December fiscal year-end will also be declaring a distribution to unitholders. Here are four Singapore REITs that will announce their earnings later this month and what you can watch for. Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX: ME8U) Maple

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to tell a banking industry group Tuesday that the federal government could step in again if other smaller institutions also suffer deposit runs to stop fear from spreading. Yellen's prepared remarks for delivery Tuesday morning at the American Bankers Association's Washington, D.C., Summit, say that she is committed to keeping the banking system sound, offering calm after the failures of the Silicon Valley Bank, owned by $SVB Financial(SIVB.US)$, and $Signature Bank(SBNY.US)$. Federal regulators quickly moved in to shore up liquidity by setting up a new lending program and protected all uninsured deposits after the collapses. "The situation is stabilizing. And the U.S. banking system remains sound, " Yellen's remarks say. "Our intervention was ne

Connected television and streaming platform company Roku Inc (NASDAQ:ROKU) beat revenue and earnings per share estimates in the fourth quarter. Here's a look at what analysts are saying about the report and the company's path moving forward. The Roku Analysts Benchmark analyst Daniel Kurnos has a Buy rating and raises the price target from $63 to $89. Stephens analyst Nicholas Zangler has an Overweight rating and a price target of $70. Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein has an Outperform rating and raises the price target from $75 to $85. Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler has a Market Perform rating and no price target. Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett has a Neutral rating and raises the price target from $44 to $76. Needham analyst Laura Martin has a Buy rating and raises the price t

Oil prices spiked late Sunday, after Saudi Arabia led a surprise oil production cut across several OPEC+ nations that will remove more than 1 million barrels of oil a day from May. In an announcement on Sunday, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy stated that the kingdom will implement a voluntary cut of 500,000 barrels a day from May until the end of 2023, in conjunction with other countries. It said that the "voluntary cut is in addition to the reduction in production" agreed at the OPEC meeting in October and "is a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market." OPEC+ agreed in October to cut production by two million barrels a day from November, a move that angered the Biden administration. Russia's deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, said his country would

Artificial intelligence could go down as one of the most talked about items in 2023, thanks in large part to ChatGPT and its parent company OpenAI. Several sectors are becoming more aggressive in the usage of artificial intelligence and entertainment could be among the companies seeing opportunities using AI. What Happened: ChatGPT has gained a large following and struggled to keep up with demand. The rise in growth for the OpenAI unit has prompted additional funding from $Microsoft(MSFT.US)$ and could impact the search engine market forever. Another sector becoming more aggressive in the usage of artificial intelligence is movies and television. Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, who famously starred in the 1994 hit "Forrest Gump," will be de-aged in an upcoming movie. No, we aren't getting a Fo

$Apple(AAPL.US)$'s loyal fan base can soon expect the next iteration of the company's iMac desktop computer, Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman said in his weekly "Power On" newsletter. What Happened: The next iteration of the iMac desktop is in the engineering validation testing phase, suggesting it is at an advanced stage of development, Gurman said. The company is reportedly carrying out production tests, he added. What's New With New iMac: The new iMacs, according to the columnist, will be more powerful, with a new M-series, potentially the M3 chips, replacing the M1 in the current machines. He also flagged the relocation and redesigning of some internal components and a changed manufacturing process for attaching the iMac's stand. The screen size is expected to be maintained at 24 inches

Global stakeholders gather in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. Stock and bond markets will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It will be a busy week of fourth-quarter earnings season once Wall Street reopens. Tuesday's highlights will be results from $Goldman Sachs(GS.US)$, $Morgan Stanley(MS.US)$, and $United Airlines(UAL.US)$, followed by $JB Hunt Transport Services(JBHT.US)$, and $Prologis Inc(PLD.US)$ on Wednesday. $Netflix(NFLX.US)$, $Procter & Gamble(PG.US)$, and $Fastenal(FAST.US)$ report on Thursday. $Schlumberger(SLB.US)$ closes the week on Friday.

The fake-meat industry may be lacking teeth of late, but investors rewarded Beyond Meat Inc.'s stock on Thursday, promptly propelling it 14% in extended trading on better-than-expected quarterly results. $Beyond Meat(BYND.US)$ pleasantly surprised investors with fourth-quarter sales and earnings that topped analysts' forecasts and offered a pause to the ongoing storyline that sales of plant-based meat products have cooled since enjoying a surge in popularity during 2020. Our fourth-quarter results clearly demonstrate delivery against our strategy and plan, including solid sequential progress on margin recovery and operating expense reduction, and continued inventory drawdown, Beyond Chief Executive Ethan Brown said in a statement announcing the numbers. Beyond reported a fiscal fourth-quar

$Meta Platforms(META.US)$ is rolling out a Twitter-like subscription tier for Facebook and Instagram that will hand out blue badges to individuals who pay, according to an announcement on Sunday by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The subscription, called Meta Verified, will cost $11.99 a month for web users and $14.99 on Apple's iOS. Subscribers, who submit a government ID to be verified, get prioritization in other people's comments, exclusive stickers for Instagram stories, and recommendations in Reels. They also get 100 free stars each month, a form of digital currency on the platforms used to tip creators. This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services, Zuckerberg said. In December, Elon Musk's Twitter rolled out a revised Twitter Blue subscription, giving thos