News that Amazon intends to buy Whole Foods Market for more than $13 billion was greeted jubilantly by financial markets, with Amazon’s stock rising 2.5 percent, almost enough to cover the entire purchase. At the same time, the shares of other grocery retailers, ranging from Kroger’s to Walmart,
Read moreWe’ve Always Been America First
Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accords is widely attributed to the now-waxing influence of the America First nationalists in the White House, but several days before that announcement, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn
Read moreA Laptop Ban Leaves Everyone Scared and No One Safer
After this weekend’s attacks in London, President Trump became embroiled in a spat with the city’s mayor, where the president criticized British authorities for not taking the threat of terrorism seriously enough. In its crude way, that confrontation underscored a deeper divide between the United States and much of the rest of the world over what taking terrorism seriously means.
Read morePay Attention to Donald Trump's Actions, Not His Words
There’s an emerging consensus that the presidency of Donald Trump has radically altered the warp and woof of American life. His supporters – which make up at least a third of all Americans – believe that he has accomplished great things in the past four months. His detractors, who are legion, see more harm than good in his record thus far.
Read moreWhen Investing, Ignore Washington Tea Leaves
We are now four months into the Trump administration, and the Washington soap opera is in no immediate danger of cancellation. Aside from a few brief selloffs, markets have been chugging along on a different track, largely shrugging off political drama.
Read moreThe Real Problem With Productivity is Measuring It
When it comes to productivity, only two things are undebatable: that the official rate of U.S. productivity growth has stalled since at least 2007, having started to slow before then, and that there is no consensus about why or what to do about it. There is, additionally, some broad consensus that without stronger productivity growth going forward
Read moreEven if Apple Breaks $1 Trillion, It Won’t Stay on Top Forever
APPLE JUST BECAME the first US company to surpass $800 billion in market capitalization. Speculation quickly followed that Apple would soon become the first $1 trillion company, with a rumored $1,000 iPhone 8 coming at year’s end. The company’s share price has been on a tear since the beginning of the year, and sales of the iPhone 7
Read moreWhat Could Go Right: Podcast Trailer
In today's world, most of us tend to focus only on what could go wrong. What about the other side of that coin? Zachary Karabell doesn't disagree with the negative, but he does feel that examining the potential good deserves a fair shake. Join him and some of today's most prolific leaders from the political, economic, and artistic sphere to thoroughly consider the question of What Could Go Right?
Read moreFinally, a Force that can Stop Nationalism in the White House: Wealthy Elites
The recent dustup over whether the Trump administration should withdraw the United States from the NAFTA accord cast the ongoing power struggle inside the White House in sharp relief. The conflict, often characterized as a duel between Steve Bannon and his ilk (nationalists) and Jared Kushner and his crew (“globalists,” according to Bannon), isn’t necessarily the choice we would want: who would pit wealthy elites against “burn baby burn”
Read moreTake Advantage of Calm to Rejigger Investments
After a dramatic start to the year, with equities rallying worldwide and bond yields rising in anticipation of stronger economic growth, markets have entered one of those eerie calm periods whose very placidity tends to spook investors. It’s springtime, and while the weather becomes progressively milder, investors seem less certain than ever.
Read moreLook to Zuck’s F8, Not Trump’s 100 Days, to See the Shape of the Future
The Circle, a film adaptation of the best-selling novel by David Eggers about a mega-Silicon Valley company that has sinister plans to control the world, opened recently to tepid reviews and unimpressive box office. That shouldn’t obscure the fact that the issues it attempts to address—and which the novel brilliantly took on—are ones that need to be dealt with, urgently.
Read moreUpworthy’s Quest to Engineer Optimism for an Anxious Age
The world finds itself in an age saturated with anxiety—at least, that’s the sense created by the daily deluge of news portraying a grim present of economic hardship, global tensions, terrorism, and political upheaval. The five-year-old site Upworthy doesn’t want you to see the world that way.
Read moreTesla Lost in Utah Court, but It’s Winning the Bigger Battle
Bull Or Bear: Should Investors Still Care?
Not a day goes by without hearing what appears to be the predominant question for investors, namely, When will stocks come back down to earth? Variants of that query include, Isn’t this bull market getting long in the tooth? And, stocks go up and up, so we must be on the verge of a selloff, right?
Read moreWho’s Afraid of the Big, Bad CBO?
Every few years, Washington rouses itself from its partisan noise and rounds its attention on the Congressional Budget Office, a sleepy, nonpartisan place that quietly wields immense influence over most legislation of any consequence.
Read moreKarabell: Struck by Market's Complete Detachment From Political Noise
CNBC contributor Zachary Karabell, Envestnet, weighs in on what the GOP's pending health care and tax plans means for the markets.
Read moreTrump Promises Tax Reforms That Will Bring "Massive" Tax Cuts to Middle Class
In President Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday, he promised to bring "historic" tax cuts. Zachary Karabell, a contributing editor at Politico, spoke to CBS NEWS about the steps that need to be taken for this tax plan to become reality.
Read moreGold's Fourth Winning Week
Erin Gibbs, S&P Global, and Zachary Karabell, Envestnet, discuss the run in gold with Brian Sullivan.
There's Very Little White House Has Actually Done
There's a disjunction between political sentiment and action from the White House.
Read morePresident Trump Has Done Almost Nothing
Just weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, you would think that everything had changed. The uproar over the president’s tweets grows louder by the day, as does concern over the erratic, haphazard and aggressive stance of the White House toward critics and those with different policy views. It is the illusion of a presidency, not the real thing.
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