American Taylor Fritz stunned the commentators with a 'reverse serve' during the Murray River Open. Source: Tennis TV
Prince Harry's rare interview with James Corden has been slammed by royal sources as 'unhelpful' thanks to its timing. Find out why here.
A high dividend yield is great, but a high dividend yield that's sustainable is even better. One sector where you're likely to find stocks that check all three boxes is real estate, and specifically in real estate investment trusts, or REITs. There are some REITs that currently have dividend yields in excess of 5% that have plenty of room to grow their business for decades to come.
Every Premier League fixture for the 2020/21 season plus confirmed dates and kick-off times
Leading political figures in New York attended a rally in Manhattan Saturday in support of the Asian-American community targeted in random acts of violence recently. (Feb. 27)
A frustrated Owen Farrell joined head coach Eddie Jones in refusing to criticise or lay the blame for England’s Six Nations defeat by Wales on some hugely controversial refereeing decisions. First, the returning Josh Adams touched down in the corner after a quick cross-kick penalty from Dan Biggar, which caught England completely unaware with the water carriers on and the players under the posts after captain Farrell had been told by referee Pascal Gauzere to talk to his team about their repeated infringements. Farrell complained bitterly to Gauzere after that try, saying that England just hadn’t been given enough time to reset.
England coach Eddie Jones tried to make his frustration clear while refusing to criticise referee Pascal Gauzere following the reigning Six Nations champions' 40-24 loss away to Wales on Saturday.
Coach Franco Smith predicted it could take eight years for the young Italy side he is building to be able to compete at the highest level in rugby.
US President Joe Biden on Saturday answered a single question about whether he will punish the Saudi crown prince following the Khashoggi report. (Feb. 27)
(Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett’s 15-page annual letter to shareholders on Saturday made mention of the pandemic that ravaged the globe in 2020 exactly once: One of his furniture companies had to close for a time because of the virus, the billionaire noted on page nine.Buffett likewise steered clear of politics, despite the contested presidential election and riots at the U.S. Capitol, and never touched on race or inequality even after protests and unrest broke out in cities across the nation last year. He also avoided delving into the competitive deal-making pressures faced by his conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., a topic routinely dissected in past year’s letters.“Here you have a company with such a revered leader who’s held in such high regard -- whose opinion matters, who has businesses that were directly impacted by the pandemic, insurance companies that were influenced by global warming and social inflation -- and there was not one word about the pandemic,” Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research, said in a phone interview. “That to me was striking. It was tone deaf and it was disappointing.”Buffett, 90, has been unusually quiet since last year’s annual meeting in May amid a multitude of issues facing Americans. His annual letters are often seen as a chance to offer investors help in understanding his thinking on broad topics and market trends, in addition to details on how his conglomerate is faring.But the Berkshire chief executive officer carefully weighs his words, and some topics, such as the pandemic, risk veering into highly controversial political territory, Jim Shanahan, an analyst at Edward D. Jones & Co., said in an interview.“There’s been a lot of comments about the pandemic and the impact on the businesses, but by not saying something in the letter, I think it’s just a way to try and avoid saying something that could be perceived as a political statement, which he’s been less willing to do in recent years,” Shanahan said.A representative for Buffett didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment placed outside routine office hours.Buffett also stayed quiet on topics that are key to his conglomerate, such as the market environment amid a tumultuous year -- and the work of key investing deputies like Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, according to Cole Smead, whose Smead Capital Management oversees investments in Berkshire.“There’s more found by what’s not in the letter,” said Smead, the firm’s president and portfolio manager. “I think just time and time again in this letter were sins of omission.”Here are other key takeaways from Buffett’s letter and Berkshire’s annual report:1. Buffett Relies on Buybacks Instead of DealsBerkshire repurchased a record $24.7 billion of its own stock as Buffett struggled to find better ways to invest his enormous pile of cash.And there’s more where that came from: The conglomerate has continued to buy its own stock since the end of last year, and is likely to keep at it, Buffett said Saturday in his annual letter.“That action increased your ownership in all of Berkshire’s businesses by 5.2% without requiring you to so much as touch your wallet,” Buffett said in the letter, which pointed out that the company “made no sizable acquisitions” in 2020.Berkshire did make a small amount of progress in paring the cash pile, which fell 5% in the fourth quarter to $138.3 billion. Buffett has struggled to keep pace with the flow in recent years as Berkshire threw off cash faster than he could find higher-returning assets to snap up, leading to the surge in share repurchases.2. Apple Is as Valuable to Berkshire as BNSF RailroadBerkshire’s $120 billion investment in Apple Inc. stock has become so valuable that Buffett places it in the same category as the sprawling railroad business he spent a decade building.He began building a stake in the iPhone maker in 2016, and spent just $31.1 billion acquiring it all. The surge in value since then places it among the company’s top three assets, alongside his insurers and BNSF, the U.S. railroad purchase completed in 2010, according to the annual letter.“In certain respects, it’s his kind of business,” said James Armstrong, who manages assets including Berkshire shares as president of Henry H. Armstrong Associates. “It’s very much brand name, it’s global, it’s an absolutely addictive product.”Buffett had always balked at technology investments, saying he didn’t understand the companies well enough. But the rise of deputies including Combs and Weschler has brought Berkshire deep into the sector. In addition to Apple, the conglomerate has built up stakes in Amazon.com Inc., cloud-computing company Snowflake Inc., and Verizon Communications Inc.3. Buffett Concedes Error in $37.2 Billion DealBuffett admitted he made a mistake when he bought Precision Castparts Corp. five years ago for $37.2 billion.“I paid too much for the company,” the billionaire investor said Saturday in his annual letter. “No one misled me in any way -- I was simply too optimistic about PCC’s normalized profit potential.”Berkshire took an almost $11 billion writedown last year that was largely tied to Precision Castparts, the maker of equipment for aerospace and energy industries based in Portland, Oregon.The pandemic was the main culprit. Precision Castparts struggled as demand for flights plummeted, prompting airlines to park their jets and slash their schedules. Less flying means lower demand for replacement parts and new aircraft. Precision slashed its workforce by about 40% last year, according to Berkshire’s annual report.4. Profit Gains Thanks to Railroad, ManufacturersDespite the pandemic’s effects continuing to hit Berkshire’s collection of businesses, the conglomerate posted a near 14% gain in operating earnings in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year earlier.That was helped by a record quarter for railroad BNSF since its 2010 purchase and one of the best quarters for the manufacturing operations since mid-2019.5. Good-bye Omaha, Hello Los AngelesBerkshire’s annual meeting has for years drawn throngs of Buffett fans to Omaha, Nebraska, where the conglomerate is based. This year, the show is moving to the West Coast.While still virtual because of the pandemic, the annual meeting will be filmed in Los Angeles, the company said Saturday.That will bring the event closer to the home of Buffett’s longtime business partner, Charlie Munger. Buffett and Munger will be joined by two key deputies, Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, who will also field questions.Buffett and Abel, who lives closer to Berkshire’s headquarters, last year faced “a dark arena, 18,000 empty seats and a camera” at the annual meeting, Buffett said in his letter. The 90-year-old billionaire said he expects to do an in-person meeting in 2022.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Myanmar's United Nations envoy in New York vowed to fight on Saturday after the junta fired him for urging countries to use "any means necessary" to reverse a Feb. 1 coup that ousted the nation's elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "I decided to fight back as long as I can," Kyaw Moe Tun told Reuters on Saturday. Myanmar state television announced on Saturday that Kyaw Moe Tun had been fired for betraying the country.
After a brief respite, protests have again turned violent in Barcelona as supporters of a Spanish rap artist imprisoned for glorifying domestic terrorist groups and insulting Spain's monarch returned to the streets.Several thousand people marched peacefully on Saturday in the city before small packs spun off and smashed the windows of at least two bank offices and did other property damage.
NDSU, winners of eight of the last nine FCS national championships, was surprisingly knocked off on the road by Southern Illinois.
The NBA has been rocked after veteran Jeremy Lin alleged he had been called 'coronavirus' on court in the past year.
Peyton Manning has been out of the NFL for five years, but his accomplishments are still apparently haunting Tom Brady.
Eddie Jones refused to question two “huge” refereeing decisions in England’s Six Nations defeat by Wales because he said he would be fined, which would mean his dog would go hungry. While England’s discipline saw them concede 14 penalties at the Principality Stadium, referee Pascal Gauzere awarded Wales two controversial first-half tries. The first came when Dan Biggar fired an opportunistic cross-kick penalty to Josh Adams as soon as Gauzere had blown his whistle (with most of England’s players stood under the posts awaiting a short kick at goal), while the second saw Liam Williams cross after Louis Rees-Zammit appeared to knock on.
Pope Francis expects to die in Rome, still the Catholic pontiff, without returning to spend his final days in his native Argentina, according to a new book titled "The Health of Popes."
Both companies have strong track records and solid recent performance, but Duke Realty takes the lead as the better buy.
The number of passports issued in the past year has dropped by almost two-thirds as Australians' overseas travel plans are wiped out by COVID-19.In 2020 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued 882,622 passports, compared to 2,208,767 the previous year.
Part of the problem with investing in individual companies is that to do it well, it generally takes a lot of work. That's why ETFs can play such an important role in your plans. With a strong ETF, you can dramatically simplify the effort you need to make while still building a nest egg that can get you from $0 to millionaire status well within the span of a typical career.
(Bloomberg) -- The past week’s tumult in the $21 trillion Treasuries market has left shell-shocked traders positioned for even more losses ahead -- raising pressure on Federal Reserve officials to respond to the startling run-up in yields.Momentum traders were, as of Thursday’s close, the most short on Treasuries since the 2013 taper tantrum episode, according to Jefferies International. Meanwhile, expected volatility is surging, a warning flag across asset classes, and the market is moving toward pricing in a Fed liftoff from near zero in late 2022, at least a full year earlier than the central bank has signaled. That’s the backdrop in which Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver what are likely his final public comments before a mid-month policy meeting. A bevy of other officials are set to speak before he takes center stage later next week.They’re appearing after a stretch that produced a dizzying list of superlatives, including the steepest weekly jump in five-year yields in months and the biggest convulsions in the yield curve since the early days of the pandemic. What’s more, 10-year yields, a benchmark for global borrowing, soared to the highest level in a year. While they wound up retreating sharply on month-end buying, the initial move helped quell the speculative euphoria that’s supported risky assets. Put it all together, and the coming Fed remarks loom large for all markets, not just bond traders betting on higher yields.“There are two risks heading into next week,” says Gennadiy Goldberg, a senior U.S. rates strategist at TD Securities. “Fed officials could simply stick to their script and suggest that the move higher in rates occurred only for good reasons. This would reward those investors positioned for shorts.”Alternatively, he says, policy makers “could acknowledge that they are somewhat concerned by the market’s pulling forward of rate-hike expectations, reiterate their patient stance, and suggest that too rapid a rise in rates could tighten financial conditions” -- all of which would benefit investors looking to lean against the jump in yields.One Brutal AfternoonTen-year Treasuries ended the week at 1.4%, well below their peak of 1.61% reached Thursday, the highest since February 2020. The most brutal part of that leap came after demand cratered at the Treasury’s 7-year note auction. The bloodletting that ensued, led by the 5-year note, squeezed bets on steepener trades and other positions involving that part of the curve.In Treasury options, the skew of puts to calls is its most extreme since 2012, indicating traders are still positioned for higher yields -- and convexity shocks remain a threat. With traders embracing a rosier view of the economy amid the rollout of vaccines and calls for additional U.S. virus relief, the swaps market is now pricing the Fed’s first hike closer to December 2022, versus mid-2023 at the start of the week. The Fed itself has signaled no tightening through 2023.Another issue adding to the market’s jitters is the looming March 31 expiration of pandemic-era regulatory exemptions that allow banks to buy more bonds. In testimony this week, Powell said the Fed is evaluating what to do about the relief.In a big reversal from a neutral stance just three weeks ago, momentum investors still have ammo to fuel a fresh leg in the bond selloff, according to Jefferies.“It’s the most short since the taper tantrum of 2013, but is still not at an extreme, suggesting that momentum players have more room to add,” said Mohit Kumar, a strategist at Jefferies. “But at this level, any move up in yields is unlikely to be at the same pace or magnitude that the market has seen this week.”The bond bears do have some important figures ahead to focus on. Friday will bring February jobs data, with the median estimate calling for a 171,000 gain in nonfarm payrolls, a rebound from January. Any signs the labor market is failing to recover could roil reflation bets.Vying CrosscurrentsFor Thomas Pluta, global head of linear rates trading at JPMorgan Chase & Co., yields could continue to nudge higher next week and beyond. However, he doesn’t expect the Fed to push back against the climb by adjusting its bond purchases or duration of its Treasuries holdings, at least for now.Further turbulence is possible, says Jamie Anderson, head of U.S. trading for Insight Investment, amid a large amount of “crosscurrents that are pushing different parts of the rates market.”For next week, the risk is “continued high realized volatility” as any Fed comments on steps to support Treasuries would result in short positions getting squeezed. If the topic isn’t addressed, that may spur selling in anticipation of auctions the following week.There’s at least one other topic traders will be on alert for next week. With a deluge of cash in funding markets pushing front-end rates to zero, there’s the prospect the Fed may have to tinker with the interest rate it pays on excess reserves -- known as IOER -- one of the tools it uses to control its policy target.WHAT TO WATCHEconomic calendar:March 1: Markit manufacturing PMI; construction spending; ISM manufacturingMarch 3: MBA mortgage applications; ADP employment; Markit services PMI; ISM services; Fed Beige BookMarch 4: Challenger job cuts; nonfarm productivity; jobless claims; Langer consumer comfort; factory, durable goods and capital goods ordersMarch 5: Nonfarm payrolls; trade balance; consumer creditFed calendar:March 1: New York Fed’s John Williams; Governor Lael Brainard; Atlanta Fed’s Raphael Bostic, Cleveland Fed’s Loretta Mester, Minneapolis Fed’s Neel Kashkari on virtual panelMarch 2: Brainard; San Francisco Fed’s Mary DalyMarch 3: Philadelphia Fed’s Patrick Harker; Bostic; Chicago Fed’s Charles Evans; Beige BookMarch 4: Powell discusses the U.S. economy at virtual event; BosticAuction schedule:March 1: 13-, 26-week billsMarch 2: 42-day cash-management billsMarch 4: 4-, 8-week billsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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