“‘The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the internet, and the mobile phone.’” — Microsoft-co founder Bill Gates on his blog For the second time in his 67 years, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates has been truly blown away by a “revolutionary” technology. The first time…
The bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank SIVB, , the nation’s 16th largest bank, has rattled global markets. SVB used short-term deposits to finance investments in long-term bonds, stocks, and mortgages — a wager that interest rates wouldn’t rise. Once the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates aggressively to slow inflation about a year ago, the…
“ What does it mean to ‘upload your mind’ onto a computer? ” The search for the Fountain of Youth is an age-old quest. Over the centuries, efforts to extend human lifespan have made a turn from the philosophical to the scientific; nowadays some legitimate progress is being made concerning longevity. Many companies are deep…
Artificial intelligence poses a major threat to the worst stock pickers on Wall Street. Even the mediocre ones might want to start looking for another line of work. But the jobs of the best stock pickers are secure — for now. That’s the conclusion I reached upon analyzing the real-world performance of an AI stock-selection…
Can you help me understand the risks involved in being a trustee? My elderly father wrote a will, with the help of a lawyer, which divides up his substantial assets equally among his children. However, one sibling is a problem child, a spendthrift, and can’t be trusted. She is a grifter, unmarried, unemployed, broke, drifting,…
At times, Todd Erickson’s search for a tech job felt more like an odyssey. But after five months, about 100 job applications and more than two dozen interviews with recruiters and companies — including a final series of eight interviews that began in December — Erickson accepted a new job as a technical writer at…
Deutsche Lufthansa AG LHA, -0.67% said Wednesday that an IT outage triggered by construction work in Frankfurt had caused flight delays and cancellations, with operations expected to stabilize in the early evening. “Fiber-optic cables belonging to a telecommunications service provider were damaged during construction work on tracks in Frankfurt, causing an outage of Lufthansa’s IT…
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court has asked the Biden administration to weigh in on a billion-dollar intellectual property case brought by the California Institute of Technology against Apple Inc. AAPL, +0.88% and Broadcom Inc. AVGO, +0.04% In an order issued on Tuesday, the high court asked the Office of the Solicitor General to submit a brief addressing whether the case is…
The week after Thanksgiving could determine if cloud software is still too fat or if there are some tasty leftovers for Wall Street. Autodesk Inc. ADSK, +1.82% signaled a slowdown in business spending on Tuesday as executives trimmed their billings outlook for the year, leading Mizuho ‘s desk analyst Jordan Klein to conclude that the…
The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to ban sales of new telecom and surveillance equipment made by several Chinese companies, arguing that their ownership and practices threaten U.S. national security. The rule change affects 10 companies already subject to other restrictions and prohibits them from marketing or importing new products. They include security-camera makers Hangzhou Hikvision Digital…
Being let go is hard, especially with the cost of living on the rise, and talk of a recession looming. Earlier this month, Tesla founder TSLA, +1.22% Elon Musk fired 7,500 Twitter staff, representing nearly 50% of its global workforce, just days after he took over the social-media company in a $44 billion deal. Facebook’s…
It’s a year for shopping prudently. Americans will spend between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion this holiday season, according to projections from the National Retail Federation. That’s up from last year when holiday sales hit a record $889.3 billion, the trade association said. However, people are not willing to go as crazy this Black Friday…
Rising rates and waning buyer demand is finally weighing on home prices. With the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging at 7.12%, according to Mortgage News Daily, Zillow Z, +2.66%, Realtor.com, and John Burns Real Estate Consulting, all noted price drops in cities that were hot over the last two years. Most of these cities were pandemic…
With year-end rapidly approaching, it’s time to consider moves that will lower your 2022 tax bill and hopefully position you for tax savings in future years too. This column is Part 1 of our two-part list of suggested year-end strategies. While the fates of the economy and the stock market remain uncertain, it now appears…
Shares of Palo Alto Networks soared as much as 12% on Aug. 23 after the network security company reported results for its fiscal fourth quarter and said it expected sales to increase by at least 25% in fiscal 2023. Palo Alto PANW, +11.45% CEO Nikesh Arora described the company’s fiscal guidance as “prudent.” MarketWatch’s Wallace…
Companies already announced another $800 billion deluge of planned stock buybacks this year, after last year’s record of almost $1.2 trillion, according to a tally from EPFR. That’s a bigger batch than most years in roughly the past decade (see chart), with the proposed 1% tax on share buybacks under the Inflation Reduction Act viewed…
Julian Hurst was ready for a change after more than a decade of work as a lawyer. After months of networking, the 44-year-old Austin, Texas resident pulled off a career pivot to a software startup in the legal technology sector. “For me, it was like an answer to a prayer,” said Hurst, noting that he’s…
Dear Quentin, I’ve been married 26 years, and my husband and my father have never really gotten along well. At some point in the near future, I will inherit a significant amount of money (several million dollars). I want to spend and invest this money as I wish. If anything happens to me, I want…
Charter Communications CHTR is one of the largest cable companies in the U.S. Our firm views it as an investment in three distinct businesses: cable TV; broadband internet, and wireless. Cable TV is a high-revenue, low-margin business — most of the revenue (deservedly) goes to content providers. This business is in a mild, long-term, steady…
Dear Quentin, Several years before my father’s death, he offered me and my two siblings each an early “cash gift” from his estate in the amount of whatever the maximum non-taxable amount was at the time. He was an active investor and offered the gift in the form of the stock instead of cash. My siblings…