While most of the world was consumed with former FBI Director James Comey’s riveting Senate testimony last week, the GOP majority in the House of Representatives quietly prosecuted its war on retirement.
House Republicans under the leadership of Speaker Paul Ryan passed a “Financial CHOICE” Act that would roll back multiple Dodd-Frank protections that were put in place after the 2008 crash. These recent “reforms” mean your retirement savings will be more at risk.
U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on June 7, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Here are three ways this bill will harm your retirement savings efforts:
1) It peels back banking regulations designed to rein in the banking system. That means banks would be emboldened to take on new risks and endanger the global economy (again). Although a simpler way to regulate banks is to separate ultra-risky bank trading operations from the insured deposit business, the new bill doesn’t take this “Glass-Steagall” approach.
stockbroker: Intercontinental Exchange Inc.(ICE)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Altria (MO) , Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Micron Technology (MU) .
Cramer was bearish on NVIDIA (NVDA) and Reynolds American (RAI) .
stockbroker: Avago Technologies Limited(AVGO)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lee Jackson]
Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) also had a huge seller on the trading desk last week. Silver Lake Partners sold a total of 385,797 shares of the supplier of semiconductor connectivity solutionsat a share price of $180.36. The total for the sale was a whopping $69,582,178. The consensus price target for the red-hot technology company is set at $211.68. The shares were trading at $181.94 as the week came to a close.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Technology sector was the top gainer in the US market on Friday. Top gainers in the sector included LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN), Vicor Corp (NASDAQ: VICR), and Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ: AVGO).
- [By Chris Lange]
Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) short interest fell to 3.97 million shares in the period, from the previous of 4.43 million. Shares closed most recently at $176.75, in a 52-week range of $114.25 to $179.42.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
The same case is made for Action Alerts PLUS holding Alphabet (GOOGL) and for Lam Research (LRCX) and Broadcom (AVGO) and Growth Seeker holding Amazon (AMZN) –and a host of other high-growth companies.
stockbroker: Gibraltar Industries, Inc.(ROCK)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Tuesday, basic materials shares fell 0.44 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Haynes International, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAYN), down 5 percent, and Gibraltar Industries Inc (NASDAQ: ROCK), down 4 percent.
- [By Lisa Levin]
In trading on Friday, basic materials shares fell by 0.82 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Gibraltar Industries Inc (NASDAQ: ROCK), down 9 percent, and Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) (NYSE: AUY), down 9 percent.
stockbroker: Allied Motion Technologies, Inc.(AMOT)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Jim Robertson]
On Friday, our Under the Radar Moversnewsletter suggestedsmall cap precision and specialty motion control stock Allied Motion Technologies (NASDAQ: AMOT) as a possible long position:
stockbroker: Reynolds American Inc(RAI)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Leo Sun]
With interest rates set to rise this year, many dividend investors are likely worried that their stocks will slip as bond yields become more attractive. While some dividend stocks will inevitably decline, investors can still find some low-risk income plays that have high yields and cheap valuations. Let’s take a look at three such stocks — AT&T (NYSE:T), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), and Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI).
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Just before 1pm today, shares of Reynolds American (RAI) took a sudden nosedive on reports that its merger with British American Tobacco (BTI) had “hit a snag” according to StreetInsider.com. Cowen’s Vivien Azer and team still think a deal gets done:
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Street Insider is reporting that BATS’ acquisition of RAI has “hit a snag,” and that “a potential transaction may be less likely near-term.” We view this source as less credible (vs. a WSJ or CNBC), in particular given the scant level of detail. While the delay in a consummated deal has extended longer than we thought, we still view the deal as likely (85% probability).
Shares of Reynolds American have dropped 1.3% to $55.47 at 2:26 p.m. today, while British American Tobacco has declined 0.2% to $112.71. Shares of Philip Morris International (PM), which could be interested in an acquisition of Altria Group (MO), have fallen 1% to$90.28 after getting cut toNeutral from Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch, while Altria has risen 0.5% to$67.94 after getting upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill.
- [By Rich Duprey, Demitrios Kalogeropoulos, and Brian Feroldi]
It remains true that the tobacco industry will continue coming under pressure from anti-smoking activists, politicians, and regulators who seek to stub out cigarettes further by raising taxes on smokes, but companies such as Altria and Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI) are largely able to offset their impact on profits by raising prices. The ability to command such pricing power without an overly large loss of customers obviously speaks to the addictive qualities of smoking but is also an otherwise enviable position to be in.
