data

A Guide to Credit Card Fraud & 4 Tips to Avoid Scams

What Is Credit Card Fraud? Credit card fraud is when a credit card information is used to steal money from the owner. Credit card fraud can occur when a card is physically stolen or the information is virtually stolen. Keeping your credit information private, checking your statements regularly, and using secure sites are a few

The post A Guide to Credit Card Fraud & 4 Tips to Avoid Scams appeared first on MintLife Blog.

Stock Market Today: S&P Surges to Fourth Gain in a Row

The S&P 500 matched its longest winning streak of the year Thursday as data continued to suggest that the Federal Reserve just might have some breathing room soon.

The Department of Labor reported that 234,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits during the week ending July 2 – 4,000 more claims than the previous week, and the highest such level in nearly six months.

  • SEE MORE What Is Digital Fashion, And Why Is It Important?

“It’s never a good thing to see layoffs, but the pressure on wages may have now peaked,” says Jamie Cox, managing partner for financial planner Harris Financial Group. “A few more weeks of these types of numbers and maybe, just maybe, financial conditions are tight enough to allow the Fed to throttle back on the scale of rate increases.”

A much stronger indicator of whether the U.S. central bank will do just that comes tomorrow morning, in the form of the June jobs report.

“The key for tomorrow’s jobs report is that it furthers the idea that we’ve hit ‘peak hawkishness’ with the Fed and ‘peak inflation,'” says Tom Essaye, editor of the Sevens Report. “If the jobs report reflects those two realities, it’ll likely spur a continued relief rally. If it implies the opposite, look for another painful decline.”

Also helping to drive stocks was data suggesting global supply-chain disruption might be easing. Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for independent broker-dealer LPL Financial, notes that New York Fed data showed that global supply chains were under less pressure in June compared to May.

Sign up for Kiplinger’s FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice.

“The small improvement in supply chains will eventually filter through to improved consumer pricing,” says Roach, who adds that supply-chain effects take about four months to affect headline consumer prices.

Energy stocks (+3.6%) were the top sector Thursday, led by the likes of APA (APA, +7.8%) and Devon Energy (DVN, +5.2%). Data from the Energy Information Administration showed a recent snap-back in gasoline demand, helping U.S. crude oil futures rebound 4.3% to $102.73 per barrel.

  • SEE MORE The 15 Best Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2022

Technology stocks (+2.1%) also produced robust gains, largely on the back of the semiconductor industry. Just a few days after Micron (MU, +2.6%) warned that it expected demand for consumer-product components to wane, Samsung triggered a relief rally after saying it expected second-quarter revenues to improve by 22%; Qualcomm (QCOM, +5.8%), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, +5.2%) and Nvidia (NVDA, +4.8%) were among the beneficiaries.

The S&P 500 (+1.5% to 3,902) posted its fourth consecutive gain to equal its previous 2022-best streak during the end of January and beginning of February. The Nasdaq Composite (+2.3% to 11,621) also made it four in a row, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.1% to 31,384) strung together two days of black ink.

YCharts

Other news in the stock market today:

  • The small-cap Russell 2000 jumped 2.4% to 1,769.
  • Gold futures snapped their seven-day losing streak, adding 0.2% to settle at $1,739.70 an ounce.
  • Bitcoin rallied 7.3% to $21,780.17. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m.) 
  • GameStop (GME) soared 15.1% after the video game retailer joined several other companies this year by announcing a stock split. The board-approved move will split GME stock in a 4-to-1 ratio – and will give stakeholders three additional shares for each one they own at the close on Monday, July 19. It will also lower GME stock’s price on a split-adjusted basis beginning on Friday, July 22. Based on today’s close at $135.12, shares would go for roughly $34 apiece.
  • Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE) shot up 12.1% after the space exploration company announced a partnership with Aurora Flight Sciences, a subsidiary of Boeing (BA, +2.7%), to develop two additional aircraft carriers, with the first expected to be ready to launch in 2025. Reagrdless, CFRA Research analyst Keith Snyder today initiated coverage on SPCE stock with a Sell rating. “While it will take a number of years to work through the current customer list, our Sell recommendation reflects our view that its main competitor, Blue Origin, has already begun commercial operations and offers tickets at a much lower cost compared to the $450k charged by SPCE per seat,” Snyder says. “In addition, companies like SpaceX could easily enter the space tourism market with its vastly superior and flight proven launch technology.”

Don’t Fall for These Debunked Myths

You know how you’ve heard that you should pay off your debt before you start investing? Well … that’s not necessarily true. Sometimes it pays to knock out your IOUs first, but depending on how high or low your interest rate on that debt is, investing might actually be a better use of your money.

  • SEE MORE The 12 Best ETFs to Battle a Bear Market

That’s just one example of several investing myths that are often touted as conventional wisdom.

Most of the time (but not always), the people who peddle these misconceptions don’t have ill intent – sometimes, they pick it up from other people they respect, and sometimes, things that used to be true have simply changed over time. All the same, these myths could result in financial decisions that aren’t right for you.

Today, we’d like to put some of these myths to bed. Read on as a group of financial experts review seven of the most common investing myths and explain why they don’t hold up.

Kyle Woodley was long AMD and NVDA as of this writing.

  • SEE MORE 10 Smart Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks to Buy

Stock Market Today: Stocks Finish Mixed After Boffo Jobs Report

A whopper of a June jobs report landed in Wall Street’s lap Friday morning, and it kept investors and traders guessing all session.

Anyone looking to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest employment situation for signs of a coming recession walked away mighty disappointed. The U.S. added 372,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, shattering consensus forecasts for 265,000. The unemployment rate held firm at 3.6% for the fourth consecutive month. And aggregate hours worked by private workers was up another 2.6% annualized during 2022’s second quarter, following 3.4% annualized growth in Q1.

  • SEE MORE The 12 Best ETFs to Battle a Bear Market

“You just don’t see that in a recession,” says Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank.

Indeed, Adams believes between that and average monthly payroll job growth of 457,000 during the first half of the year, “it would be no surprise to see the first quarter’s contraction in GDP revised to growth as statistical agencies get more complete information to measure the economy; GDP is hard to measure in real time and subject to many revisions.”

This good news for the U.S. economy got a more nuanced reaction from the stock market, as some experts think the Federal Reserve could continue an aggressive pace of interest-rate hikes if the economy has strength to bear them.

Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at wealth management firm Glenmede, says of the central bank’s dual mandate of full employment and low inflation: “For the time being, [full employment] appears intact, affording the Fed the flexibility to tackle its price stability goal head-on. While next week’s [consumer price index] print will be the next important indicator to watch, today’s jobs report likely gives the Fed headway for another 75-basis-point rate hike later this month.”

Sign up for Kiplinger’s FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice.

Stocks swung between shallow losses and gains throughout the day before settling with mixed results. The Nasdaq Composite (+0.1% to 11,635) closed in the black for the fifth consecutive session. However, Friday marked the end of winning streaks for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2% to 31,338) and S&P 500 (down marginally to 3,899).

YCharts

Other news in the stock market today:

  • The small-cap Russell 2000 was marginally lower to 1,768.
  • U.S. crude oil futures gained 2% to end at $104.79 per barrel, but still finished the week down more than 3%.
  • Gold futures edged up 0.2% to close at $1,742.30 an ounce. For the week, gold futures gave back more than 3%.
  • Bitcoin also finished with a tiny gain, of 0.1%, to $21,811.80. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m.) 
  • Twitter (TWTR) fell 5.1% after a report in The Washington Post on Thursday suggested Tesla (TSLA, +2.5%) CEO Elon Musk’s plans to buy the social media platform for $44 billion could fall through. Citing people familiar with the matter, the article said Musk’s team has pulled back on talks with investors in recent weeks amid concerns over an unverified number of spam accounts on Twitter. “We believe the chances of a deal ultimately happening are currently at ~60% with a renegotiated bid at a lower price likely in the $42-$45 range due to the fake account issue,” says Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who has a Neutral (Hold) rating on TWTR stock. “There is still a ~35% chance Musk decides to walk away from the deal, try to pay the $1 billion breakup fee, and likely end up in a nasty court battle with Twitter’s Board for the coming months.” As for the current bid of $54.20 per TWTR share, Ives says that is “essentially out the window” at this point. 
  • Upstart Holdings (UPST) was one of the biggest decliners on the Street today, shedding 19.7% after the consumer lending firm last night lowered its second-quarter revenue guidance, now expecting sales to arrive around $228 million compared to its previous forecast of $295 million to $305 million. UPST also said its quarterly net loss will range from $27 million to $31 million, wider than its prior guidance for a loss of $4 million to $0 million. In a press release, Dave Girouard, co-founder and CEO of Upstart, pointed to “inflation and recession fears” that have driven interest rates up and put banks and capital markets on cautious footing.” Wedbush analyst David Chiaverini maintained an Underperform (Sell) rating on UPST stock. “The company has yet to operate through a true recession  which means its underwriting model has yet to be battle-tested,” the analyst says. “We fear that weakening delinquency and loss trends combined with macro- and geopolitical risks could lead to waning appetite from Upstart’s credit buyers and the securitization market.”

What Do Q2 Earnings Have in Store?

Coming up next week: the start of a pivotal second-quarter earnings season. The earnings calendar will kick off with reports from the likes of Delta Air Lines (DAL), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH). And despite Friday’s encouraging employment news, a broader cadence of data pointing toward an eventual recession has some gloomy about the coming earnings season. 

  • SEE MORE 3 Preferred Stock ETFs for High, Stable Dividends

Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist for Ally Invest, isn’t necessarily one of them.

“There are plenty of reasons to be cautiously optimistic heading into what could be a volatile Q2 earnings season,” she says. “Several companies have already cut profit outlooks while others have hinted at the broad economic backdrop being not so bad. With estimates having been reduced in some key sectors and stock prices down big from earlier this year, the bar might be low enough to spark a near-term rally.”

Cautious sentiment is often best met with prudent positioning. You ultimately want your portfolio to be able to harness any surprise upside without gambling on unproven stocks with lousy fundamentals.

One way to thread that needle can be found within the Dividend Aristocrats. A reminder: The Aristocrats are a group of 65 dividend stocks that have raised their annual payout in each of the past 25 years – at a minimum. But even within this subset of income-producing royalty, you can give yourself an even higher chance at success.

The 12 Dividend Aristocrats we’re featuring today don’t just have a fantastic dividend track record – they’re also trading at fire-sale prices and boasting higher yields than they historically do. Take a look.

This is Senior Investing Editor Kyle Woodley, letting you know it’s my final day with Kiplinger. I’m extremely grateful for getting to serve Kiplinger readers for the past few years, and I wish you both good health and good fortune.

  • SEE MORE The 22 Best ETFs to Buy for a Prosperous 2022

8 Ways to Get Cheap Plan B Emergency Contraception

Plan B is an effective form of emergency conception that can help prevent pregnancy. It’s widely available at many retailers, both online and in-store. But just because something is available over-the-counter doesn’t always mean it’s affordable. You can get Plan B One-Step, also known as the morning-after pill, for about $45 to $60 at most […]

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

How to Choose a Trading Strategy That Fits Your Skills and Needs

For active traders, the difference between profits and losses boils down to your trading strategy and how closely you stick to it. But some strategies are better suited for some types of traders than others. Learn how to choose a trading strategy that’s ideal for your unique traits as a trader.

The post How to Choose a Trading Strategy That Fits Your Skills and Needs appeared first on Money Crashers.

10 Best Part-Time Jobs With Health Insurance Benefits

You don’t have to settle for part-time work with zero benefits. Check out these companies that offer healthcare benefits to part-time staff.

Binance NFT Review – Key Features, Pros & Cons of This Marketplace

Learn about the key features of the Binance NFT marketplace and how it stacks up against the competition.