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Target CEO Brian Cornell will meet with the Rev. Al Sharpton this week in New York as the retailer faces calls for a boycott and a slowdown in foot traffic that began after it walked back key diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the civil rights leader told CNBC Wednesday.

The meeting, which Target asked for, comes after some civil rights groups urged consumers not to shop at Target in response to the retailer’s decision to cut back on DEI. While Sharpton has not yet called for a boycott of Target, he has supported efforts from others to stop shopping at the retailer’s stores.

“You can’t have an election come and all of a sudden, change your old positions,” said Sharpton. “If an election determines your commitment to fairness then fine, you have a right to withdraw from us, but then we have a right to withdraw from you.”

The civil rights leader said he would consider calling for a Target boycott if the company doesn’t confirm its commitment to the Black community and pledge to work with and invest in Black-owned businesses.

“I said, ‘If [Cornell] wants to have a candid meeting, we’ll meet,’” Sharpton said of the phone call Target made to his office. “I want to first hear what he has to say.”

A Target spokesman confirmed to CNBC that the company reached out to Sharpton for a meeting and that Cornell will talk to him in New York this week. The company declined further comment.

In January, Target said it would end its three-year DEI goals, no longer share company reports with external diversity-focused groups like the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equity Index and end specific efforts to get more products from Black- and minority-owned businesses on its shelves. 

Just days after the announcement, foot traffic at Target stores started to slow down. Since the week of Jan. 27, Target’s foot traffic has declined for 10 straight weeks compared to the year-ago period, according to Placer.ai, an analytics firm that uses anonymized data from mobile devices to estimate overall visits to locations. Target traffic had been up weekly year over year before the week of Jan. 27.

The metric, which tallies visits to brick-and-mortar locations, does not capture sales in stores or online, but can indicate which retailers are drawing steadier business. While Target has been struggling to grow its sales for months as shoppers watch their spending, the stretch of declining visits came as some civil rights groups and social media users criticized the DEI decision and urged shoppers to spend their money elsewhere.

Target declined to comment on the figures, saying it doesn’t discuss third-party data.

At the convention earlier this month for his civil rights organization, the National Action Network, Sharpton said the group would call for a boycott of PepsiCo if the company didn’t agree to meet with the organization within 21 days. In February, the food and beverage company behind brands like Doritos and Mountain Dew announced it would end its DEI workforce representation goals and transition its chief DEI officer role into another position, among other changes.

This week, leaders from Pepsi met with Sharpton and his team. He did not confirm whether Pepsi made any commitments, but did say it was encouraging that Pepsi’s CEO Ramon Laguarta attended. He added that the two will continue their discussions.

Sharpton’s meetings with companies including PepsiCo and Target — and his openness to boycotts — mark one of the first meaningful efforts to push back against the war conservative activists like Robby Starbuck have waged on DEI. Starbuck, a movie director-turned-activist, has urged companies to drop DEI policies in part by sharing what he considers unflattering information about their initiatives with his social media followers. He has successfully pressured a wide range of corporate giants to rethink their programs.

With its decision to roll back DEI efforts, the cheap chic retailer Target joined Walmart, McDonald’s, Tractor Supply and a slew of others that scrapped at least some DEI initiatives as they grew concerned that the programs could alienate some customers or land them in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to end every DEI program across the federal government.

Target’s decision contrasted with Costco, which shook off pressure from conservative activists to maintain its DEI programs. Shareholders of the membership-based wholesale club soundly rejected a proposal in late January that requested a report on the risks of DEI initiatives.

NAN has called for so-called “buy-cotts” at Costco, and has brought people to stores in Tennessee, New York and New Jersey. It gave them gift cards to shop with at the warehouse club.

In the month of March, Target’s store traffic declined 6.5%, while the metric rose 7.5% year over year at Costco, Placer.ai data show.

Target’s challenges run deeper than DEI backlash, and resistance to its policy change only added to its issues. The discounter’s annual revenue has been roughly flat for four years in a row as it’s struggled to drive consistent sales gains.

Margins have been under pressure, as consumers buy more of groceries and necessities and less of more profitable categories like home goods and clothing. And the company has pinned its problems on a laundry list of problems in recent years, including having the wrong inventory; losing money from theft, damaged goods and other types of inventory losses; backlash to its collection for Pride Month and pricier costs from rushing shipments.

Competition has grown fiercer too, as big-box rival Walmart has remodeled stores, launched new private brands and attracted more high-income shoppers.

In February, Target gave weak guidance for the first quarter and said it expected sales to grow 1% for the full year. 

In his meeting with Cornell, Sharpton said he will ask for Target to follow through on pledges it made after police killed George Floyd in the company’s hometown of Minneapolis.

“You made commitments based on the George Floyd movement … what changed?” said Sharpton. “Are you trying to say … everything’s fine now, because the election changed? That’s insulting to us.”

In the wake of Floyd’s murder, Cornell said the event moved him.

“That could have been one of my Target team members,” Cornell said in 2021 at an event hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago, recounting his thoughts as he watched the video of Floyd taking his final breaths.

At the time, he said it motivated him to step up Target’s efforts to fight racial inequities.

“We have to be the role models that drive change and our voice is important,” he said at the event. “We’ve got to make sure that we represent our company principles, our values, our company purpose on the issues that are important to our teams.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

French luxury group Hermès will raise its U.S. prices from the start of May in order to offset the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the company’s finance chief said Thursday.

The company — which earlier this week overtook rival LVMH as the world’s biggest luxury firm by market capitalization — is best-known for its Birkin and Kelly handbags, along with colorful scarves retailing for hundreds of dollars. Other products include jewelry, watches, shoes, perfume and make-up.

“The price increase that we’re going to implement will be just for the U.S. since it’s aimed at offsetting the tariffs that only apply to the American market, so there won’t be price increases in the other regions,” Eric du Halgouët, Hermès’ executive vice president for finance, said during an analyst call that followed the firm’s first-quarter results release on Thursday.

Hermès said prices will rise from May 1 and aim to “fully offset” the impact of the universal 10% tariff imposed by the White House in early April, rather than the 20% duties the European Union may face unless it can negotiate a new deal during Trump’s 90-day reprieve.

U.S. consumers are expected to contend with higher prices on a host of items, ranging from electronics and clothes to cars and houses, as the impact of tariffs bites.

In its first-quarter results, Hermès reported 11% sales growth in the Americas, which accounted for nearly 17% of its sales revenue in the first three months of the year.

First-quarter revenue growth came in at 7% on a constant currency basis overall, just shy of consensus expectations of an 8% to 9% increase, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note. It also represented a slowdown from 17.6% growth in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The Deutsche Bank analysts said that the results were nonetheless “robust,” with weakness driven by watches and perfume sales, while Citi described them as “a respectable outcome.”

Hermès shares dipped 1.3% in Thursday morning deals, taking its value to 244.5 billion euros ($278.2 billion) — just shy of LVMH’s 245.7 billion euros — according to a CNBC calculation of LSEG data.

LVMH, controlled by France’s billionaire Arnault family, unsuccesfully tried to acquire Hermès a decade ago. Despite drawing level in market cap, Hermès’ annual revenue is less than a fifth that of sprawling LVMH, which owns luxury brands Louis Vuitton and Dior, alcohol business Moët Hennessy, U.S. jeweler Tiffany and beauty chain Sephora.

LVMH on Tuesday reported an unexpected decline in first quarter sales, flagging a fall in its dominant fashion and leather goods division.

Analysts have predicted the luxury sector will be less impacted by tariffs than other retailers due to their ability to pass on increased import costs to a high-spending clientele. However, they would encounter major headwinds from a broad pullback in consumer spending as a result of weaker global economic growth or recessionary fears.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

With so many articles and videos on popular media channels advising you not to look at your 401(k) during this market downturn, avoiding taking the other side is tough. If you are close to retirement or retired, isn’t a market downturn a good excuse to look at your 401(k)? After all, you’ve stashed away hard-earned money to enjoy those big post-retirement plans.

The stock market is well-known for its uncanny ability to throw you surprises, but the recent headline-driven price action is especially difficult to navigate. While it’s true that, over the longer term, the broader market tends to trend higher, if you’re not in a position to patiently wait for that to occur, you may want to reevaluate your portfolio sooner rather than later. The “set-it-and-forget-it” strategy can work at times but not always.

Is the Stock Market Headed Lower?

Let’s look at where the overall stock market stands by analyzing the S&P 500 ($SPX), starting with the daily chart.

FIGURE 1. DAILY CHART OF S&P 500. After falling below its 200-day moving average, the S&P 500 is struggling to remain above its 5400 level. Will it hold? Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

It’s clear the S&P 500 is trending lower and that the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) has crossed below the 200-day SMA, further confirming the downward trend of the index. After reaching a high of 6147.43 on February 19, 2025, $SPX started its decline, falling below its 50-day SMA and then its 200-day SMA.

Although the index tried to bounce back to its 200-day SMA, it failed to break above it and fell to a low of 4835.04 on April 7, 2025. Since then, the S&P 500 has been trying to bounce back. It filled the April 4 down gap, but has been stalling around the 5400 level since then, on lower volume. It’s almost as if investors are sitting on the sidelines for the next tariff-related news which could send the S&P 500 higher or lower.

Going back, the 5400 was a support level for the September 2024 lows, between the end of July and early August, and in mid-June. There have also been price gaps at this level during those times. The chart of the S&P 500 has a horizontal line overlay at the 5400 level. This could act as a resistance level for a while, or the index could soar above it, in which case this level could act as a support level.

Save the chart in one of your ChartLists and watch how the price action unfolds for the next few weeks.

Where’s the Breadth?

It’s worth monitoring the Bullish Percent Index (BPI) of the S&P 500. The chart below displays the S&P 500 BPI ($BPSPX) in the top panel and $SPX in the bottom panel.

FIGURE 2. BULLISH PERCENT INDEX FOR THE S&P 500. The $BPSPX recovered after falling below 12.5. Even a move over 50 should be eyed with caution. Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

The recent slide in the S&P 500 took the $BPSPX to well below 12.5. It has reversed and is above 30, which is encouraging. A rise above 50 is bullish but, as you can see in the chart, the last time $BPSPX crossed above 50 (dashed blue vertical lines), it turned back lower, only to start its descent to the lowest level in the past year. Save your excitement until the $BPSPX is over 50 and a turnaround in the $SPX is in place.

This could take a while, which is why, if you’re close to retirement or already retired, you may have to consider selling the rip, or if the situation turns bullish, buy the dip. It may be time to unwind some positions, so evaluate your portfolio and make decisions that are aligned with your lofty retirement plans.

So, heck yeah! Look at your 401(k) now!


Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

Moving average strategy, trend trading, and multi-timeframe analysis are essential tools for traders. In this video, Joe demonstrates how to use two key moving averages to determine if a stock is in an uptrend, downtrend, or sideways phase. He then expands on applying this concept across multiple timeframes to gain a significant edge when trading pullbacks.

In addition, Joe provides insights into the current state of commodities, highlighting areas showing signs of improvement, and covers major indices. Finally, he addresses viewer-submitted symbol requests, including LMT, BABA, and more, offering his technical analysis on each.

The video premiered on April 16, 2025. Click this link to watch on Joe’s dedicated page.

Archived videos from Joe are available at this link. Send symbol requests to stocktalk@stockcharts.com; you can also submit a request in the comments section below the video on YouTube. Symbol Requests can be sent in throughout the week prior to the next show.

When markets get more volatile and more unstable, I get the urge to take a step back and reflect on simple assessments of trend and momentum.  Today we’ll use one of the most common technical indicators, the 200-day moving average, and discuss what this simple trend-following tool can tell us about conditions for the S&P 500 index.

Nothing Good Happens Below the 200-Day Moving Average

I’ve received a number of questions recently as to why I’m not way more bullish after the sudden rally off last Wednesday’s low.  I love to respond with Paul Tudor Jones’ famous quote, “Nothing good happens below the 200-day moving average.”

To be clear, the 200-day moving average is almost 500 points above current levels, so it would take quite a rally to achieve that price level any time soon.  But with the VIX still well above the 30 level, that means the market is expecting wide price swings and big moves could be very possible.

But generally speaking, any time I see a chart where the price is below a downward-sloping 200-day moving average, I feel comfortable making the basic assumption that the primary trend is down.  And until the SPX can regain this long-term trend barometer, I’m inclined to treat the market as “guilty until proven innocent.”

Tracking the 200-Day With the New Market Summary Page

The new and updated version of the StockCharts Market Summary page features a table of major equity indexes and includes a comparison to the 200-day moving average for each index.  I’ve sorted today’s table in descending order based on this metric, which allows us to compare the relative position of different indexes and focus on which areas of the equity market are showing real strength.

We can see that only the Dow Utilities remain above the 200-day moving average, even with the strong bounce we’ve observed over the last week.  The S&P 500 is about 8% below its 200-day moving average, and for the Nasdaq Composite it’s over 11%.  So this basically implies that the S&P could see another 8% rally, drawing in all sorts of investors, yet still remain in a bearish phase based on its position relative to the 200-day.

Three Stocks Facing a Crucial Test This Week

One chart I’m watching closely this week involves three key growth stocks that are actually very near their own 200-day moving average.  If these Magnificent 7 stocks have enough upside momentum to power through the 200-day, then there could definitely be hope for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to follow suit in the coming weeks.  

Note in the top panel how Meta Platforms (META) powered above the 200-day last Wednesday after the announcement of a 90-day pause in tariffs.  But after closing above the 200-day for that one day, META broke right back below the next day.  META has closed lower every trading day since that breakout.

Neither Amazon.com (AMZN) nor Tesla (TSLA) reached their own 200-day on last Wednesday’s rally, and both are now rapidly approaching their lows for 2025.  And if mega cap growth stocks like META, AMZN, and TSLA are unable to power above their 200-day moving averages, why should we expect our growth-dominated benchmarks to do the same?

With a flurry of news headlines every trading day, and an earnings season that could paint a disturbing picture of lowered expectations for economic growth and consumer sentiment, I feel that there is more downside to be had before the great bear market of 2025 is completed.  But instead of trying to predict the future, I choose to simply follow the trends.  And based on the shape of the 200-day moving average for these important charts, the primary trend appears to still be down.

RR#6,

Dave

PS- Ready to upgrade your investment process?  Check out my free behavioral investing course!

David Keller, CMT

President and Chief Strategist

Sierra Alpha Research LLC

Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice.  The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.  

The author does not have a position in mentioned securities at the time of publication.    Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views or opinions of any other person or entity.

Chinese online retailer Temu, whose “Shop like a billionaire” marketing campaign made its way to last year’s Super Bowl, has dramatically slashed its online ad spending in the U.S. and seen its ranking in Apple’s App Store plunge following President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on trade partners.

Temu, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, had been on an online advertising blitz in recent years in a bid to attract deal-hungry American shoppers to its site. With hefty spending on TV ads as well across Facebook, the company promoted clothing, jewelry, home goods and electronics at bargain basement prices.

The strategy was so effective that Temu topped Apple’s list of the most downloaded free apps in the U.S. for the past two years. Downloads of Temu on Apple’s App Store have fallen 62% in recent days, according to data from SimilarWeb, a digital data and analytics company. Ads for 50-cent eyebrow trimmers and $5 t-shirts that used to blanket Google search results and Facebook feeds have all but disappeared.

President Trump’s tariffs have upended Temu’s business model, along with its advertising strategy. Packages shipped from China are now subject to a tariff rate of 145%, while the de minimis provision, which allows shipments worth less than $800 to enter the country duty-free, is set to go away on May 2.

Temu and Shein, a fast-fashion marketplace with ties to China, plan to raise their prices in response to the tariffs. Both companies posted notices to their websites in recent days that warned they’ll be raising prices late next week.

“Due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs, our operating expenses have gone up,” Temu said on its site. “To keep offering the products you love without compromising on quality, we will be making price adjustments starting April 25, 2025.”

Sellers on Amazon’s third-party marketplace, many of whom source their products from China, have said they’re considering raising prices as they reckon with higher costs from the tariffs. Many businesses on TikTok Shop, the social media app’s marketplace, also count on Chinese manufacturers for their items.

Amazon launched a competitor to Temu last November, called Amazon Haul, which features items under $20 that are largely from China.

The Temu app is now No. 69 in a list of the top free apps in the U.S., after consistently ranking in the top 10, according to data from Sensor Tower. Shein is currently at 42, down from 15 last month. PDD’s shares that trade in the U.S. have plummeted 22% this month, compared to the Nasdaq’s 6% drop. Shein is privately held.

Rival Chinese retailers have subsequently risen to the top of the app store ranks, including Beijing-based wholesaler DHgate, which surged to the No. 2 top free iPhone app in the U.S., and Alibaba’s Taobao, which ranked No. 7. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that viral videos promoting their cheap products have spurred the download frenzy.

A separate analysis by SimilarWeb showed Temu’s paid traffic, or search, display and social media advertising that drove visits to its website, has dropped 77% since April 11. Temu’s paid traffic previously outpaced nonpaid traffic to its website by 2 1/2 times, Ben Parkes, a consumer goods and retail analyst at Similarweb, said in an interview.

Marketing firm Tinuiti found that 20% of U.S. Google Shopping ad impressions were bought by Temu on April 5. A week later, that number had fallen to zero. By comparison, Shein’s impressions remained at 17% on April 12, while 60% of impressions were bought by Amazon.

Representatives from Temu and Shein didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Temu was previously one of Meta’s largest advertisers, but it appears to have dramatically scaled back its spending on the platform. As of Wednesday, Temu is running six ads across Meta platforms in the U.S., a review of Meta’s ad library shows. Temu is running approximately 27,000 ads across Meta sites and apps globally, particularly in Europe and the U.K.

That could be troublesome for Meta’s advertising business, which has gotten a significant boost from the discount retailer. Advertising analyst Brian Wieser at Madison and Wall estimated that more than $7 billion of Meta’s $132 billion in ad revenue in 2023 came from China. Meta is scheduled to report first-quarter results on April 30.

E-commerce analyst Juozas Kaziukenas said he expects Temu to turn its ads back on in the U.S. at some point, but that the company appears to be shifting its dollars to other markets in the interim.

“It doesn’t mean Temu usage has dropped as significantly as the app did,” Kaziukenas said in an email. “But it means that new user acquisition is gone.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

OpenAI is in talks to pay about $3 billion to acquire Windsurf, an artificial intelligence tool for coding help, CNBC has confirmed.

Windsurf, formerly known as Codeium, competes with Cursor, another popular AI coding tool, as well as existing AI coding features from companies like Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI itself.

Bloomberg was first to report on the potential deal, which CNBC confirmed with a person familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous since the talks are ongoing.

OpenAI is rushing to stay ahead in the generative AI race, where competitors including Google, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI are investing heavily and regularly rolling out new products. Late last month, OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round, the largest on record for a private tech company, at a $300 billion valuation.

OpenAI on Wednesday released its latest AI models, o3 and o4-mini, which it said are capable of “thinking with images,” meaning they can understand and analyze a user’s sketches and diagrams, even if they’re low quality.

Should a deal take place with Windsurf, it would be by far OpenAI’s biggest acquisition. The company has made several smaller deals in the past, including the purchase last June of analytics database provider Rockset and video collaboration platform Multi. In 2023, OpenAI bought Global Illumination, which had been “leveraging AI to build creative tools, infrastructure, and digital experiences,” according to a blog post when the deal was announced. Terms weren’t disclosed for any of those transactions.

Windsurf is among the tools, alongside Cursor and Replit, that developers have flocked to in recent months to “vibe code,” a term that refers to having AI models quickly assemble code for new software. Andrej Karpathy, a former OpenAI co-founder, coined the term in a post on X in February. Earlier this month Microsoft, whose Visual Studio Code text editor is widely used among programmers, announced an Agent Mode feature with similar capability.

The startup’s investors include Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Greenoaks and Kleiner Perkins. TechCrunch reported in February that Windsurf was raising a funding round at a $2.85 billion valuation.

— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

If last weekend’s tech tariff exemptions teach us anything, it’s this: trying to make near-term market forecasts based on tariff assumptions is a fool’s errand.

But that leaves a big question for active investors near or in retirement: How do you make smart decisions when the market’s running on chaos?

On Monday morning, when all three broader U.S. stock market indexes were in the green, I pulled up the new StockCharts Market Summary page and glanced at the Keller Market Models panel to check the S&P 500’s short-term, medium-term, and long-term trend positions. According to this model’s forecast, the S&P 500, despite its short- and medium-term declines, still has its uptrend intact. If this reading of the market environment remains as is, then perhaps it’s time to look for signs of a major reversal to the upside.

But what if the bullish reversal isn’t broad-based? What if it moves by sectors instead?

One way to check is by looking at the Bullish Percent Indexes (BPIs) within the Market Summary. Here’s what it showed on Monday:

FIGURE 1. BULLISH PERCENT INDEXES.  Looking at the sectors—gold miners isn’t a sector—Consumer Staples and Utilities were the two that showed signs of hope.

The BPI is a breadth indicator that tells you the percentage of stocks (within a given index) generating Point & Figure Buy Signals.

An early warning bullish alert is triggered when the BPI is below 30% and then forms a new column of X’s (rises). On Monday, the only two sectors flashing these alerts were Consumer Staples (42.11%) and Utilities (45.16%). However, there’s a less obvious issue here. If the S&P 500’s long-term uptrend holds and eventually pulls the short- and medium-term trends higher, the leadership matters.

Defensive sectors don’t typically drive or sustain bull markets. These sectors are where investors go when they’re playing it safe, not when they are betting on growth. In contrast, sectors like Technology or Consumer Discretionary usually take the lead in a true risk-on environment.

Take a look at the Consumer Staples BPI chart.

FIGURE 2. CONSUMER STAPLES BPI. Watch how price reacts to the support (magenta lines) and resistance ranges (blue-shaded area).

Using the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) as a sector proxy, watch how its price reacts to key near-term resistance levels (marked by magenta lines) and the support zone (blue-shaded area). The ZigZag overlay highlights swing highs and lows, helping you spot the near-term trend: higher highs and higher lows (HH + HL) signal an uptrend, while lower highs and lower lows (LH + LL) indicate a downtrend. While the BPI for staples is flashing a bull alert, it is price action that ultimately defines the trend and provides the setup for whether to act or sit tight.

Now, switch over to the Utilities sector BPI chart, using the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) as a proxy.

FIGURE 3. UTILITIES SECTOR BPI. Pay attention to the lower side of the price channel.

While XLU faces a sideways range scenario similar to XLP, utilities are managing to make lower lows. This is why I used Price Channels here, whereas, in the Consumer Staples example, I overlaid a ZigZag line—the channels can better illustrate this subtle detail.

Does this indicate relative weakness in XLU vs. XLP? Possibly, but it depends on whether XLU’s price swings can penetrate the upper channel (resistance) while staying above the lower channel (support), which it previously failed to do.

But to answer the question of relative performance, this PerfCharts shows that XLU has been outperforming XLP—and both have outpaced the S&P 500—over the last year.

FIGURE 4. COMPARING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE S&P 500, XLU, & XLP. Is the Utilities sector overbought or taking a breather?

Whether Utilities have room for further upside is largely dependent on the broader market environment, which, for now, remains unpredictable. So keep an eye on the technical levels instead.

What to Do Now

Defensive sectors don’t lead bull markets; they are the sectors where investors hide out during turbulence. Right now, the market feels less like a cycle and more like a geopolitical chess match, where the moves are unpredictable, unorthodox, and hard to price in. If you decide to go “defensive,” Consumer Staples and Utilities may make sense, but only if the price action supports your goals, and likely only as a short-term play.

That said, if you’re nearing retirement, it’s just as important to keep capital on the sidelines—ready to go on “offense” when the broader bull market kicks back in.


Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

Hertz is notifying customers that a data hack late last year may have exposed their personal data.

The rental-car giant said an analysis of the incident that it completed on April 2 found the breach affected some customers’ birthdates, credit card and driver’s license data and information related to workers’ compensation claims.

The hack occurred between October and December 2024, Hertz said, adding that “a very small number of individuals” may have had their Social Security numbers, passport information and Medicare or Medicaid IDs impacted as well.

The company didn’t disclose how many of its customers were affected by the cyberattack.

Hertz said the hackers accessed the information through systems operated by Cleo Communications, one of its software vendors, and said it was one of “many other companies affected by this event.”

Cleo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Hertz takes the privacy and security of personal information seriously,” the company said in a statement, adding that it has reported the breach to law enforcement and is also alerting the relevant regulators. It’s offering two years of free identity-monitoring services to Hertz customers affected by the breach.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Epic things are coming to Orlando.

In a little more than a month, Universal will officially open the doors of its newest theme park, the first major theme park in the Florida area in 25 years, spurring a major shift in Orlando’s tourism industry.

Epic Universe is the largest of all Universal properties at 750 acres and features five themed worlds: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — The Ministry of Magic, Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon — The Isle of Berk, Celestial Park and Dark Universe.

It will join Universal Studios and Walt Disney World in theme park mecca Orlando.

Tourism has long been the leading sector in central Florida, drawing both domestic and international visitors. More than 74 million people journeyed to Orlando in 2023, contributing around 50% of the total sales tax collected in Orange County.

Epic Universe is not only expected to bolster theme park revenues for Universal, as well as its rival just down the highway, Disney, but also bring in billions of dollars to the local economy.

“This is the first major, entirely new theme park in the U.S. in 25 years. This is a compelling reason to visit Orlando,” said Casandra Matej, CEO of Visit Orlando, a tourism trade association. “So, when you see a major milestone project such as Epic Universe, you know it’s going to have definitely a domino effect of economic benefits for our community.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS