Latest from Tracey Samuelson

• Mar 27, 2019

  Trump administration reverses course on ACA

  

  In a filing with a federal appeals court in New Orleans Monday, the Trump administration said the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down as unconstitutional. It’s asking the court to affirm a December ruling by a Texas judge, who found that the repeal of financial penalties for not having insurance rendered the whole […]

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• Mar 22, 2019

  The problem with low inflation

  

  Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke Wednesday about low inflation, which he called “one of the major challenges of our time.” Historically, inflation concerns have more often been around too-high inflation, such as the U.S. experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s. But too little inflation can also be problematic, especially for the Federal Reserve’s ability […]

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• Mar 19, 2019

  High volume of deals in data processing and payments

  

  The financial technology company Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS) has agreed to buy the e-commerce payment processor, Worldpay, for $34 billion in cash and stock. FIS is taking on some Worldpay debt, which brings the overall value of the deal to around $43 billion. You might not have heard of these two companies, or others […]

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• Mar 16, 2019

  Rebalancing the S&P 500 means a whole lot of trades

  

  Friday was one of the four times a year when the S&P 500 rebalances itself. This means that some stocks leave this index and some come in. This also means that all the indixes and exchange-traded funds that track the S&P 500 (and there’s many) have to also rebalance themselves to reflect the changes. S&P […]

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• Mar 14, 2019

  AT&T raises DirecTV streaming prices, sweetens bundles with HBO

  

  After an expensive deal to buy TimeWarner, AT&T is making some changes to its DirecTV streaming bundles. It’s raising prices but also adding its much-coveted property, HBO, to the mix for free. The DirecTV strategy is offering a glimpse into how post-merger AT&T is strategizing to cut a bit of costs — it’s dropping content […]

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• Mar 9, 2019

  Norway’s wealth fund to divest from some oil companies

  

  Norway’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund is planning to shed some of its oil investments. While the move has been celebrated as a big win by environmentalists, its motivations have more to do with economics than climate change. The Norwegian government, which gets 20 percent of its revenue from the petroleum sector, said Friday it […]

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• Mar 7, 2019

  Why Trump didn’t shrink the trade deficit in 2018

  

  Americans imported a record number of goods last year, according to new data from the Commerce Department released Wednesday. U.S. service exports also hit a record high. The net effect was the largest trade deficit since 2008 — $621 billion, up nearly 13 percent from the prior year. However, many economists say the U.S. trade deficit […]

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• Mar 6, 2019

  USMCA faces an uncertain path through Congress

  

  The politics of trade deals are increasingly complex.

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• Feb 27, 2019

  NYC is one step closer to a congestion charge – could other cities follow?

  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have announced joint support for congestion pricing on cars entering Manhattan’s central business district. Under the proposal, which still needs to be approved by state legislators, revenue collected would help pay for improving the city’s dilapidated subway system. Cities like London, Singapore, and […]

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• Feb 16, 2019

  How state and local governments can protect themselves while trying to lure businesses

  

  This week Amazon said it wouldn’t pursue a new headquarters in New York City and GE announced it’s dramatically downsizing its planned move to Boston. GE will now rent office space there, instead of building a 12-story office tower. It will also repay $87 million in incentives it received to make the move. As cities and […]

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