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• Warren Buffett doesn't think it would be smart for Apple to buy Tesla.
• Some have argued that the tech giant should purchase the electric automaker, but in an interview with Fox Business Network on Thursday, Buffett said buying Tesla "would be a very poor idea" for Apple.
• He said that building a long-term competitive advantage in the auto industry is much more difficult than in the tech industry, where companies can use speed, scale, and network effects to maintain an edge over competitors.
• Buffett also said Tesla CEO Elon Musk should have immediately clarified his controversial "funding secured" tweet earlier this month.

Warren Buffett doesn't think it would be smart for Apple to buy Tesla.

Some have argued that the tech giant should purchase the electric automaker. Business Insider's Matthew DeBord wrote that by acquiring Tesla, Apple could position itself to capitalize on potentially lucrative new business models, like ride-hailing and autonomy, that could define the future of transportation.

But in an interview with Fox Business Network on Thursday, Buffett said buying Tesla "would be a very poor idea" for Apple. He said that building a long-term competitive advantage in the auto industry is much more difficult than in the tech industry, where companies can use speed, scale, and network effects to maintain an edge over competitors.

"You can win in autos one year and you lose the next," Buffett said.

Buffett also addressed Tesla CEO Elon Musk's controversial tweet in which he said he had secured the funding to convert Tesla into a private company. The tweet reportedly prompted an investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and reports that emerged after the tweet have cast doubt on Musk's claim. (Musk said on Friday that Tesla would remain public, but said he believed there was "more than enough funding" to take the company private.)

Buffett said Musk should have quickly clarified what he meant when he said he had "funding secured," perhaps adding that, while he was confident in his ability to find backing for a go-private deal, the deal was not finalized.

"If you misspeak, you correct it immediately," Buffett said.

Earlier on Thursday, Buffett said Musk's prolific tweeting habits are counterproductive.

"I don't think it's helped him a lot," he said during an interview with CNBC.

Have a Tesla news tip? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

SEE ALSO: A Tesla vehicle went airborne and crashed into a tree after driving at high speed over a railroad track

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Stocks fell sharply Thursday after Bloomberg reported the Trump administration could follow through with tariffs on roughly $200 billion worth of Chinese imports as soon as a public comment period ends next week. A rally in technology stocks had helped bring stocks to record highs in the four previous sessions. 

Here's the scoreboard:

Dow Jones industrial average: 25,986.99 −137.58 (-0.53%)

S&P 500: 2,901.03 −13.01 (-0.45%)

Nasdaq Composite: 8,088.36 −21.32 (0.26%)

Another round of US tariffs would bring the running total of targeted Chinese products to $250 billion and is poised to affect consumers more than the levies already enacted. 

Beijing, which was swift to counter Trump's tariffs with its own tariffs on US products, would almost certainly retaliate against the move. While China doesn't import enough from the US to match the duties dollar-for-dollar, it could increase tariff rates or use qualitative measures like creating administrative headaches for American companies. 

Shares of large-cap industrial stocks like Caterpillar (-2%) and Boeing (-1%) were among the losers following the report. Offshore, the Chinese yuan sank 0.7% against the dollar, and Treasury yields edged lower. 

Apple, on the other hand, briefly touched a new record high at $228.26 after announcing plans to unveil its new iPhone on Sept. 12.  

Elsewhere, emerging market currencies sold off sharply. Argentina's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 60% as the peso plunged to fresh lows, a day after President Mauricio Macri said he asked the International Monetary Fund to speed up bailout payments to the government.

The Turkish lira, which has lost more than a third of its value against the dollar amid a feud between Ankara and Washington, also resumed a steep slide after a report suggested the deputy governor of its central bank would resign.

On the commodities front, supply concerns pushed West Texas Intermediate crude oil above $70 a barrel toward a six-week high. Brent, the international benchmark, rose 0.4% to $77.71 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday a drop in US crude inventories for a second straight week.

SEE ALSO: Argentina's currency plunges after its central bank hikes rates to 60%

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• Wall Street bankers, traders, and asset managers often work for companies that offer weeks of paternity leave — an unusual perk in the US.
• But a new article from eFinancialCareers suggested that actually taking that time off is "the kiss of death" for their careers. 
• As a result, they usually will just take a few days off of work.  

While the US is the only developed country in the world to lack a national maternity leave program, some companies are trying to be more accommodating for new parents. Top companies are starting to recognize that paid family leave can boost retention, attract new talent, and garner good press mentions. 

Paid paternity leave, in particular, has increased. The average amount of paid time off for dads grew from four weeks in 2015 to 11 weeks last year among top companies. And companies who have paid leave for dads saw an uptick from 12% in 2014 to 29% this year. 

But research suggests that, even when companies do offer paid time off for dads, it's not always taken.

Among companies offering four weeks of paternity leave, just over half of men in a 2014 Boston College study took four or more weeks off. Nearly a quarter of men took one week or less off even if their company allowed for two weeks of paid leave. 

The discrepancy between the paternity leave permitted by a company and what men there actually take is particularly clear in finance, according to an eFinancialCareers article by Beecher Tuttle. 

Citigroup allows eight weeks of paid leave for a second parent, and any parent employed at Bank of America can take up to 16 weeks of paid time off. 

But what happens when a Wall Street banker actually takes all that time off?  

"It's the kiss of death," Roy Cohen, career coach and author of "The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide," told eFinancialCareers.

A half-dozen bankers, traders, and asset managers told eFinancialCareers about their meager time off when their wives had a child; most took just a couple days off. The one who took more than a couple days only did so because he was starting a new job soon after. 

"People are paid a premium to work hard and make personal sacrifices," Cohen said. "You won't be perceived as disloyal, but others may begin to question your commitment."

Ultimately, when fathers don't take all of their unpaid time off, the burden of parenting falls on women. That's clear on Wall Street too, Tuttle wrote.

Read the entire eFinancial Careers article here.

SEE ALSO: Here's how much paid leave new mothers and fathers get in 11 different countries

DON'T MISS: Budweiser's parent company is now giving nearly 200,000 employees four months of paid parental leave

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• Cboe, the exchange group behind the first market for bitcoin futures, is telling market makers that ether futures will soon be live. 
  
• The exchange is waiting on additional clarity from the CFTC, a person with knowledge of the situation said. 
• The launch of ether futures would mark a significant step in ether's maturation as it could open the door to wider trading in the crypto and possibly an ETF.

Cboe Global Markets, the exchange behind the first market for bitcoin futures, is telling market makers it is close to rolling out futures for ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, people familiar with the situation told Business Insider. The product may launch by the end of 2018, one of the people said. 

Futures, which provide investors a way to bet on the future price of an asset, helped propel bitcoin to all-time highs at the end of December. Bitcoin future markets, which include Cboe and CME in the US, have been relatively muted since their launch in December. 

Still, the launch of ether futures would mark a significant step in ether's maturation as it could open the door to wider trading in the crypto and possibly an ETF. 

Cboe will be basing its futures on Gemini's underlying market, people familiar with the situation said. Cboe also based its bitcoin futures on the New York-based crypto exchange run by the Winklevoss twins. The futures and options exchange is waiting on the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to get comfortable with the product before its official launch, a person with knowledge of the matter said. 

A Securities and Exchange Commission director in June notably said the agency didn't view the trading of ether as violating securities law which could bode well for Cboe.  

Cboe president Chris Concannon has previously hinted at the launch of other products tied to crypto markets. 

Concannon said in December 2017 that a family of cryptocurrency products, including futures for ether and bitcoin cash, could come to fruition as the market continues to mature. 

"We started down this road in the form of an ETF," he said. "A healthy market is a healthy underlying market, derivatives markets, and an ETF. That will take time."

Meanwhile, rival CME Group's CEO Terry Duffy has said ether futures won't go live on his venue any time soon. 

"I will take a wait and see approach with Bitcoin for now," Duffy told Bloomberg in July. 

Bats Global Markets, which was acquired by Cboe earlier this year, attempted to list a bitcoin exchange-traded fund from the Winklevoss twins. That attempt was rejected by regulators twice. 

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NOW WATCH: Why the Chase Cards CEO is not worried about the hundreds of millions lost last quarter due to credit card rewards

Ripple saw a victory Wednesday as a lawsuit against it received a "complex" designation, meaning it will be coordinated with another case.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

• Apple will unveil its new iPhone at an event on September 12.
• Shares hit a record high following the news.
• The tech giant is the first publicly traded US company with a market cap of more than $1 trillion.
• Watch Apple trade in real-time here.

Apple shares hit a record high of $228.26 on Thursday after the tech giant announced it will unveil its new iPhone at an event next month in California. They have pared their gains and now trade up 1.65% at $226.67 apiece.

The smartphone maker has sent out invitations for its next-generation iPhone unveiling on September 12. This year, Apple is expected to launch three news smartphone models that are likely to sport the iPhone X's edge-to-edge screen design, complete with the infamous "notch" for the Face ID selfie camera. The company could also reveal other products such as an updated iPad Pro and the next version of its AirPods.

Today's gains came after the company confirmed Wednesday that it has bought a startup that focused on making lenses for smart glasses, suggesting the company is on its way to create a wearable device that would superimpose digital information on the real world, according to Reuters.

Earlier this month, the mega-cap tech giant became the first publicly traded US company with a market cap of more than $1 trillion after it delivered strong second-quarter earnings. Adjusted for splits, Apple shares have roared nearly 40,000% since going public in 1980, according to Bloomberg.

Shares of Apple are up 31% since the start of this year.

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One of the cryptocurrency community’s most respected voices is throwing his support behind tether (USDT), the controversial “stablecoin” that critics allege has been used to manipulate the bitcoin price. Joseph Lubin, an Ethereum co-founder, told Yahoo Finance that he “believes” USDT is backed by physical dollars at a 1 to 1 ratio, as the token’s

The post Ethereum Co-Founder Defends Tether Against Bitcoin Price Manipulation Claims appeared first on CCN

Bitcoin on Friday lost almost 3% of its value against the USD in a bearish correction attempt post the latest rally. The BTC/USD today continued to its downward trend from the previous high around 7132-fiat. The Asian session kept the price under strict watch, so the pair remained stable. But traders started losing patience at

The post Bitcoin Price Intraday Analysis: BTCUSD Drops towards Strong Support appeared first on CCN

An ICO advisory firm believes bitcoin's price might jump to $96,000 in the next five years, according to a new analysis of the crypto market.

Poor business decisions and a prolonged bear market may have knocked it off its pedestal, but the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency is going to be alright. That’s according to a new report from BitMEX Research, which aims to provide a sober analysis on bitcoin mining giant Bitmain’s planned initial public offering (IPO), which will reportedly … Continued

The post Bitcoin Giant Bitmain Likely Losing Money, Still Has ‘Legendary’ Potential: BitMEX Research appeared first on CCN

• Snap is trading at its lowest level in three months.
• Snapchat users discovered Thursday morning that the app's map labeled New York City as "Jewtropolis." 
• Snap uses maps from its partner, Mapbox.
• Watch Snap trade in real-time here.

Snap dropped more than 2% Thursday after its users discovered the app's map labeled New York City as "Jewtropolis." Shares touched an intraday low of $10.88 — just $0.38 above the record low set on May 17.

Snapchat's maps come from third-party mapping software Mapbox, which also supplies mapping information to other apps such as StreetEasy and Citi Bike.

Mapbox confirmed that it was an act of human vandalism, and the matter was resolved shortly before 9 a.m. ET.

"This is now 100 percent fixed and should have never happened. It's disgusting,"Mapbox CEO Eric Gundersen said, adding that his company was still trying to figure out how the change was able to slip through the cracks unnoticed, according to Tech Crunch.

Snap shares have been under pressure since the company's second-quarter earnings showed the first decline in users. They are down 27% this year.

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• Citron Research says marijuana company Cronos is worth one-third of its current value.
• Specifically, Citron says Cronos has duped investors by excluding key information from disclosures.
• Cronos fell as much as 10% following the note.
• Follow Cronos in real time here. 

Citron Research — a short-selling firm with a history of wiping out stock prices and run by Andrew Left — has a new target: cannabis stocks.

In a report published Thursday, the firm says Cronos, one of the most valuable publicly traded marijuana companies, is worth roughly one-third of its current price: $3.50 per share.

"Citron would like to inform investors of caution on the ongoing and real green rush," the firm said.

"Although the hype is big and the prohibition after 100 years is real, it is critical to understand that in the Canadian landscape, there are over 100 licensed producers and there will ultimately be more losers than winners."

Specifically, Citron cites a lack of disclosures from the firm — which trades only in Canada, unlike some of its US-listed competitors — about major events. First, Citron criticized Cronos' lack of specifics in terms of its provincial supply agreements, and notes all other suppliers, including competitor Canopy Growth, have specified the amounts they've been tapped to supply.

"Cronos management appears to have been deceiving the investing public by purposely not disclosing the size of its distribution agreements with provinces – unlike every other major cannabis player," Citron wrote.

"Our sources have informed us that it’s because the agreements are so small they could never justify the premium investors are paying for the stock."

Citron also says a major recall in May of Cronos' product in Germany wasn't disclosed to investors.

Cronos has been a popular investment among traders on Robinhood, who tend to skew younger than on traditional brokerages. The stock currently has more than 96,000 holders on the app, Robinhood's website shows, up from just 60,000 less than a month ago. 

Cannabis stocks, including those of Cronos and its competitors, have seen an impressive run-up following investments by the beverage makers Constellation Brands and Lagunitas, but Citron says reports suggesting Britain's Diageo was interested in the space have already compelled investors to price a new deal in to Cronos' stock.

"Yeah right, Diageo would ever do a deal with a company who has a history of contamination and has proven that they cannot even produce a small amount of commercial product," Citron wrote. "This is a NON EVENT. Citron feels stupid even discussing this, but it had to get mentioned."

Cronos did not respond to a request to comment from Business Insider.

Shares of Cronos fell as much as 10% in trading Thursday follow Citron's report, but were still up 57% since their March debut.

Citron and its founder Andrew Left have previously come out with reports against Snap, Inogen, Wayfair, Netflix, and others. Left is perhaps best known for his damning October 2015 report that accused Valeant Pharmaceuticals of being a "pharmaceutical Enron," in which he helped bring up questions regarding the firm's accounting and relationship with the specialty pharmacy Philidor.  

Read Citron's full report on Cronos here. 

SEE ALSO: Legal marijuana could be worth $47 billion in the US alone, according to a Wall Street analyst

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• Steel stocks dropped after President Donald Trump announced that he was allowing the Commerce Department to grant "targeted relief" from quotas on imports from South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil.
• Steel stocks have been volatile this year amid Trump's tariff policies.
• Watch United States Steel, AK Steel and Steel Dynamics trade in real-time here.

Steel stocks are getting whacked in Thursday trading after President Donald Trump announced Wednesday the Commerce Department would "provide targeted relief" from quotas imposed on steel from South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil, and aluminum from Argentina. 

Here's the scoreboard:

• United States Steel: -6%
• AK Steel: -4%
• Steel Dynamics: -2%

"President Trump has once again shown his commitment to American workers and businesses, protecting our national security from the threat posed by steel and aluminum imports," Wilbur Ross, the Secretary of Commerce, in a press release.

“This proclamation provides the Department the same product exclusion authority for quotas that we already have for tariffs."

An existing exemption allows steel companies to apply for product-specific exclusions and avoid tariffs if US companies cannot meet their demand. Under Trump's new directive, companies can be granted quota exemptions but still have to pay a 25% tariff if they had ordered high volumes of steel prior to the quotas being enacted. 

Steel stocks have been volatile this year under Trump's tariff policies.

Back in May, steel stocks surged after Trump reiterated his tough stance on imposing 25% and 10% duties on steel and aluminum imported from China, and expanded the tariff lists to US allies including European Union, Mexico, and Canada.

Shares of United States Steel are down 23% this year; AK Steel's are down 31% and Steel Dynamics's are up 2%.

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• Tesla briefly fell below $300 on Thursday, it's fourth day of declines since announcing it will remain a publicly traded company.
• Wall Street is now once again focused on the electric-car maker's balance sheet and its struggle to reach profitability.
• Follow Tesla's stock price in real-time here. 

Tesla declined for a fourth straight trading day on Wednesday, falling as much as 2%, to $297.80 a share, as Wall Street's focus returns to the company’s balance sheet following CEO Elon Musk’s 16-day go-private saga that left the electric-car maker facing numerous lawsuits and a US Securities and Exchange investigation.

Musk has repeatedly said Tesla will be profitable this year and thus won’t need to tap debt or equity markets for new financing. But Wall Street analysts aren’t quite convinced.

"Tesla will need to secure profitability by the end of the year to maintain solvency,” Jed Dorsheimer, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, told clients this week. And with $230 million of convertible debt coming due in November, and another $920 million five months behind it, the company could risk another downgrade like that by Moody's in March.

"Tesla's leverage will likely exceed S&P's adjusted target of below 6x for its B- credit rating, potentially moving the company's bonds fully into the CCC tier," Bloomberg credit analyst Joel Levington said this week.

"Our view is that Tesla will likely end 2018 with adjusted leverage near 8x, with several financial risk flags elevated. Recent lawsuits could add new credit threats."

The company has missed analyst's EBITDA targets for six of its past eight quarters, Levington adds.

What's more, the brief go-private push could have hurt Tesla's ability to raise new capital, Oppenheimer told clients this week

"We believe this removes a large distraction that had significant chance of failure and the potential to severely limit TSLA’s access to capital while attempting to execute on its ambitious product strategy," analyst Colin Rusch said of Musk scrapping his plans to take the electric-car maker private.

Tesla maintains that scaling production of the Model 3 — hawked as its first mass-market, consumer car — is its gateway to profitability. But that ramp doesn't appear to be coming along so smoothly. Documents seen by Business Insider show that in the last week of June, when Tesla finally hit its goal of making 5,000 Model 3's per week, 4,300 of those vehicles required reworking to fix issues from the assembly line. Only 14% of the cars didn't need rework.

The documents corroborate what UBS' teardown engineers in the investment bank's "evidence lab" found when completely disassembling a Model 3 in order to compare it to electric competitors from Chevrolet and BMW. They found missing bolts, loose tolerances, and even and misaligned spot welds.

"Our customer satisfaction scores for Model 3 quality have averaged about 90% since January, with steady improvement through the year, even as the number of cars delivered has rapidly multiplied," a  Tesla spokesperson told Business Insider at the time.

"Tesla customers never have to worry because if they are unhappy with their car when they receive it, they can either give it back for a full refund, allow us to address any issues, or ask for an entirely new Tesla."

After reaching near record highs of $389 following Musk's tweet about going private at $420 per share, the stock has since fallen and is now down about 6% this year.

Wall Street analysts see Tesla shares hitting $328 in the next year, according to a Bloomberg poll.

Now read:

• The $2 trillion volatility market is throwing traders for a loop as just about everyone loses money
• There's a new area of the stock market that's quietly crushing it — here are some simple trades that can get you in on the action

SEE ALSO: Every bizarre thing that has happened since Elon Musk sent his 'funding secured' tweet about taking Tesla private

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• A Tesla vehicle went airborne on Tuesday after driving over a railroad track in Barrie, Canada, the local police reported.
• The vehicle was driving at high speed before reaching an incline just before the railroad track.
• After it landed, it started skidding into the opposite lane and eventually crashed into a tree that left the vehicle "demolished."
• The driver and passenger were taken to the hospital and received treatment for minor injuries.
• The driver was arrested and charged with dangerous driving.

A Tesla vehicle went airborne on Tuesday after driving over a railroad track in Barrie, Canada, according to the Barrie Police Service.

The vehicle was a 2016 model, though the police didn't say whether it was a Model S sedan or a Model X SUV. The vehicle was driving at high speed before reaching an incline just before the railroad track, police said. After the vehicle landed, it began skidding into the opposite lane and eventually crashed into a tree that left the vehicle "demolished."

The driver and passenger were taken to a local hospital, where they received treatment for minor injuries. The driver was arrested and charged with dangerous driving.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacted to the incident on Twitter.

"!," Musk wrote on Wednesday in response to a link to a story about the incident.

According to a Reddit user who claims to live close to the site of the incident, the incline before the railroad track can send vehicles airborne at moderate speeds.

"I live near here and you literally just need to be going 30 to get air ... The guy is a moron," the user wrote.

You can watch a video of the incident below:

Have a Tesla news tip? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

SEE ALSO: 17 most expensive cars sold at Pebble Beach

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• Canada's GDP grew at the fastest pace in a year between April and June.
• An uptick in exports and consumer spending helped boost growth.
• The data comes ahead of Bank of Canada meeting next week.

Canada's economic growth accelerated in the second quarter at the fastest pace in a year, driven by a sharp increase in exports and consumer spending.

Gross domestic product expanded at an annualized pace of 2.9% from April to June, Statistics Canada said Thursday, up from 1.4% growth in the first quarter. The figure missed economist expectations for 3% growth, but beat Bank of Canada estimates of 2.8%.

Household spending rose 0.6%, twice the pace of the first quarter and reversing a downward trend over the previous three quarters, helped by a 0.8% rise in outlays on services.

Exports notched the largest advance in more than four years at 2.9% on a non-annualized basis, largely thanks to increased shipments of energy products, consumer goods and pharmaceutical products. 

The data comes ahead of a central bank meeting next week, where economists expect the Bank of Canada to hold the benchmark interest rate steady. The central bank has hiked rates four times since last July, with the most recent coming last month.

Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, said the strong pace of growth in the second quarter will embolden policymakers. But he added the central bank will also be keeping a close eye on NAFTA negotiations between the US and Canada this week. President Donald Trump had threatened to terminate the 24-year-old agreement and to hit Canada with auto tariffs.

"Nevertheless, the Bank of Canada is still likely to keep to its commitment to proceed gradually with interest rate rises, by remaining on hold next week before hiking in October," Brown said.

The Canadian dollar fell 0.6% against the dollar following the GDP report. 

SEE ALSO: Trump freezing Canada out in NAFTA negotiations is 'straight from the Art of the Deal'

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The world’s largest bitcoin mining pool is preparing to expand its horizons. BTC.com, which produced 21 percent of all newly-mined BTC over the past 12 months and currently accounts for more than 16 percent of the bitcoin hashrate, announced on Thursday that it has opened an ethereum mining pool. The pool will initially support both

The post World’s Largest Bitcoin Mining Pool Launches Ethereum Operation appeared first on CCN

• The US and other major economies suffered permanent damage to their growth trajectories following the Great Recession of 2007-2009, according to a paper published by the San Francisco Fed. 
• "A decade after the last financial crisis and recession, the US economy remains significantly smaller than it should be based on its pre-crisis growth trend," the study finds.

• The damage represents a "lifetime present-value income loss of about $70,000 for every American."

It’s not called the Great Recession for nothing: the deep slump of 2007-2008, marked by a historic financial crisis, left a lasting dent on the American economy that persists to this day.

Indeed, a new San Francisco Fed Letter shows the US economy’s growth path took a permanent hit because of the meltdown of 10 years ago. 

"A decade after the last financial crisis and recession, the U.S. economy remains significantly smaller than it should be based on its pre-crisis growth trend," Regis Barnichon, research director at the San Francisco Fed, writes with two co-authors.

"The size of those losses suggests that the level of output is unlikely to revert to its pre-crisis trend level."

And here’s a startling result: "This represents a lifetime present-value income loss of about $70,000 for every American." This does not account for the country's highly skewed income distribution, and naturally the hurt was disproportionate at the bottom end of the scale, where wages have been stagnant and financial asset ownership is minimal.

And it’s not just the United States: the UK and European economies are also operating far below the levels implied by their pre-downturn trends.

"Without the large adverse financial shocks experienced in 2007 and 2008, the behavior of GDP would have been very different," the authors write.

US GDP did expand at a robust annualized rate of 4.2% in the second quarter, but most economists expect the underlying trend remains not far above 2%. Trend growth before the crisis was more like 3%.

"Financial market disruptions can have large costs in terms of societal welfare by causing persistent losses in the level of GDP," the authors conclude. "This suggests that finding ways to prevent or contain future financial crises is an important research and policy priority."

SEE ALSO: There's one simple explanation for the wage stagnation 'puzzle' confounding top Fed officials

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• Warren Buffett's birthday is on August 30, and the legendary investor turns 88 this year.
• Over the last half-century, Buffett has turned Berkshire Hathaway from a failing textile company into a massive conglomerate.
• A $1,000 investment in Berkshire in 1964, when Buffett first bought the company, would be worth nearly $17 million today.

Warren Buffett turns 88 on Thursday, and over the past half-century, he has turned a failing textile company into a legendary conglomerate.

Using historical price data for Berkshire Hathaway class A shares from a retrospective analysis of Buffett's outsize returns and Yahoo Finance, we calculated how much $1,000 of Berkshire stock would be worth today if you had invested that money at the end of each year of Buffett's tenure.

That $1,000 invested in 1964, when Buffett took over the company and shares were just $19, would be worth nearly $17 million today, based on the $317,505 price on Thursday morning — and $1,000 invested in 1990 would be worth $47,566 today.

If you were to annually invest $1,000 in Berkshire every year since 1964, your total investment would be worth a little over $131 million today.

Here's a chart showing the current value of Berkshire Hathaway stock bought at different times in the past 53 years:

Investments from the first couple of decades of Buffett's stewardship would have grown that $1,000 to several million dollars. After about 1980 or so, those gains were much more modest, though still impressive.

To get a better handle of the values of the past 30 or so years, which are hard to see in the above chart because of the enormous returns in earlier years, here's the same chart using a logarithmic scale, in which the vertical axis is incremented in powers of 10, making it easier to see the range of price returns we're looking at:

SEE ALSO: Jeff Bezos is the richest person alive — here's how he makes and spends his billions

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• In a wildly popular $2 trillion market, neither long nor short investors are finding much success at all, with both strategies down roughly 6% year-to-date.
• This can be attributed to the sudden volatility shock that rocked markets earlier this year, in tandem with the listless, low-volatility environment that's persisted ever since.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that if one side of a trade is getting crushed, the other side should be making money hand over fist.

But that hasn't proven to be true this year in the $2 trillion volatility market, as investors find themselves in a situation where the best trade has been to not be involved at all.

This chart shows this dynamic in play. In 2018, for the first time on record, both long- and short-volatility funds have lost money. And it hasn't been particularly close, with the two areas down roughly 6% on a year-to-date basis.

The reason why boils down to the volatility blow-up that rocked markets earlier this year, worsening a stock sell-off that briefly veered into 10% correction territory. As the Cboe Volatility Index — or VIX — spiked, wildly popular shorts got crushed, and they've been crawling out of that hole all year.

As for those positioned long volatility, they've since been faced with the same type of environment that so emboldened those shorts in the first place — one defined by muted price swings as major indexes grind higher.

Even though they had a brief moment of glory as the VIX surged, the rest of the year has been extremely difficult as stocks have traded in listless fashion. And they've failed to see positive returns.

Long story short, trading volatility is a no-win situation at present time — at least for those who have held positions all year.

The obvious solution for those struggling to make money trading volatility would be to abandon any sort of long-term approach, and instead try to nimbly time whatever minor market fluctuations do transpire.

This is, of course, easier said than done, especially with the prospect of a trade-war flare-up constantly looming. There's also the groundswell of bearishness around tech that's been nibbling away at overall market sentiment.

As Facebook's forecasted growth slowdown and subsequent stock tumble showed last month, any perceived weakness can cause sharp losses at a moment's notice.

Count Goldman Sachs among those that aren't particularly enthused about the volatility market right now. Their current forecast isn't for high or low volatility — it's somewhere in that murky chasm in between.

"Based on our vol regime framework, a high vol regime remains unlikely as macro data remain too strong, but the probability of a low vol regime has also declined further," Christian Mueller-Glissman, a senior multi-asset strategist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a recent client note. "We think neither a high nor a low vol regime is very likely in the near term."

SEE ALSO: Warren Buffett disciple Scott Black explains why old-school value investing has gotten so difficult — and how he's managed to survive

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• Dollar General reported earnings that beat on both the top and bottom lines.
• Shares of the discount retailer dropped 2%.
• Watch Dollar General trade in real time here.

Dollar General reported earnings that beat on both the top and bottom lines on Thursday, but shares are down 2%.

The discount retailer posted earnings of $1.52 per share in second quarter, $0.03 better than what Wall Street analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting. The company also said its net sales rose 10.6% year-over-year to $6.4 billion, edging out the $6.36 billion that was expected. Comparable sales jumped 3.7%, beating the consensus increase of 2.7%.

"We delivered a strong second quarter and are proud of our team’s execution," CEO Todd Vasos said in the earnings release.

"Our results this quarter were driven by contributions from our mature store base, as well as the robust performance of our new stores. In addition, we maintained our disciplined focus on cost control, which culminated in another quarter of significant earnings growth. At the same time, we also continued to invest in our strategic initiatives and made meaningful progress advancing against our goals."

Looking ahead, the Dollar General reiterated its diluted earnings per share guidance of $5.95 to $6.15 for fiscal year 2018. Analysts had expected $6.06 per share. The company also reiterated its plans to open around 900 new stores, remodel 1,000 stores, and relocate 100 stores this year.

Shares of Dollar General were up 10% this year through Wednesday.

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• The Turkish lira was down as much as 5% against the dollar Thursday after a report said the deputy governor of its central bank would resign.
• The currency has lost more than one-third of its value within the last month. 
• Watch the Turkish lira trade in real time here.

Turkey's currency plunged on Thursday following a report suggesting that the deputy governor of its central bank would resign. 

The lira was down 5% to 6.7719 against the dollar at 8:45 a.m. ET. It has lost more than one-third of its value this month and is one of the worst-performing currencies of 2018.

Reuters reports central bank deputy governor and monetary policy committee member Erkan Kilimci appears to have joined the board of the Development Bank of Turkey, according to a document released by the institution. 

The central bank, which could not immediately be reached for comment, has faced increasing political pressure following the June reelection of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has pushed the institution to pursue unorthodox policies like holding or cutting borrowing costs amid accelerating inflation.

On Wednesday, Moody's rating agency downgraded 20 Turkish financial institutions, citing heightened risk to investor sentiment and funding. 

"In a downside scenario, where investor sentiment shifts, the risk of a prolonged closure of the wholesale market would lead most banks to materially deleverage, or to require external funding support from the government, or the Central Bank," Moody's said in a statement. 

The agency said around $77 billion of foreign currency wholesale bonds and syndicated loans, or 41% of total market funding, needs to be refinanced within the next year. Turkish banks hold around $48 billion of liquid assets in foreign currency and have around $57 billion in compulsory reserves with the central bank, which would not be immediately available. 

An ongoing feud between Turkey and the US has deepened troubles further. President Donald Trump doubled existing tariff rates on Turkish aluminum to 20% and on Turkish steel to 50% earlier this month after the two countries failed to make progress on a conflict over the imprisonment of Andrew Brunson, an evangelical pastor who has been detained in Turkey for nearly two years.

In early August, the Trump administration also imposed sanctions on Turkey's minister of justice and minister of interior, whom the White House said played "leading roles" in the arrest and detention of 50-year-old Brunson. He was arrested in Izmir in 2016 for allegedly aiding a failed military coup, accusations the pastor denies.

Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM, cautioned to keep an eye on the lira because it represents "a major risk to deterring traders away from investing in any high-yielding assets."

SEE ALSO: British car production plunges as the industry's uncertain Brexit future weighs heavy

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Online travel agency CheapAir has been threatened with a smear campaign on social media unless it pays a ransom in bitcoin. The threat which was received last weekend demanded a ransom of US$10,000 in bitcoin or approximately 1.4BTC at current prices. Failure to do so, the threat stated, would result in a campaign aimed at … Continued

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• Abercrombie & Fitch beat on profits but missed on comparable sales.
• Shares of plunged more than 10% in pre-marketing trading.
• Watch Abercrombie & Fitch trade in real time here.

Abercrombie & Fitch dropped more than 10% in pre-market trading omn Thursday after the company missed on comparable sales.

The retailer said Thursday that its second-quarter sales totaled $842.4 million, edging out the $841.4 million Wall Street consensus, according to Bloomberg data. After excluding some pre-tax gains, the company earned $0.06 per share, topping the loss of $0.04 that was anticipated. Year-over-year changes in foreign currency exchange rates, net of hedging, was a benefit of approximately $0.01 per diluted share, according to the company.

Meanwhile, comparable sales increased 3%, but analysts were expecting growth of 3.7%.

"We are pleased with our second quarter performance, capping off a strong first half of the year," said CEO Fran Horowitz in the press release.

"During the second quarter, we delivered both top and bottom line growth, while continuing to invest in the transformation of our business. Our results reflect another quarter of profit improvement fueled by comparable sales growth across both brands, gross margin expansion and expense leverage as we continue to execute our playbooks. Hollister continued its momentum with another quarter of strong sales growth and Abercrombie posted its third consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales, led by strength in the U.S."

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch were up 35% through Wednesday this year.

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BTC.com will now offer ethereum and ethereum classic mining pools, as well as a block explorer, the company announced Thursday.

Some major cryptocurrencies and tokens have fallen by 5 to 15 percent in the past 24 hours as the Bitcoin price failed to remain above the $7,000 mark. Within 12 hours, the price of Bitcoin fell from $7,100 to $6,900, briefly falling below the $6,900 mark. While Bitcoin has stabilized in the low $6,900 region,

The post Bitcoin Price Falls Below $6,900, Traders See $6,500 as the Next Support appeared first on CCN

The bullish mood in the bitcoin market could turn sour if the cryptocurrency finds acceptance below the 100-day moving average.

• A new paper from the San Francisco Federal Reserve argues that the common interpretation of an inverted yield curve is distorted. 
• There's no clean relationship between when the yield curve inverts, meaning short-term Treasurys yield more than longer-dated ones, and recessions, the paper argued.
• In fact, the yield curve most investors are fixated on is not the best one to observe.  
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch went further to turn the mainstream yield-curve-inversion logic on its head. 

Wall Street might be looking at the yield curve all wrong. 

The difference between the yields on 2- and 10-year Treasurys  — plotted on the yield curve — has shrunk to the lowest levels since 2007 and has set off the alarm on whether a recession will follow. After all, the gap has fallen below zero (meaning the yield curve has inverted) before every downturn since the 1960s.

The logic is that investors become wary of the economy's growth prospects, and so they demand a higher yield for holding shorter-dated bonds.  

But according to new research from the San Francisco Federal Reserve cited by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the 2y10y yield curve in particular — and the difference between short and long-term bonds in general — holds less predictive power than is widely believed. 

"When interpreting the yield curve evidence, it is important to remember that the predictive relationship in the data leaves open important questions about cause and effect," the San Francisco Fed paper authored by Michael Bauer and Thomas Mertens said.  

The paper released Monday further argued that the relationship between 3-month and 10-year Treasurys is a more useful harbinger of recessions than the often-cited gap between 2- and 10-year yields. In fact, the 3-month 10-year curve is further from inverting.

Even with the 2y10y curve at 19 basis points, the lowest since 2007, Aditya Bhave, a global economist at BAML is unfazed.

For one, he's not in the camp that believes an inverted yield curve causes a recession. Rather, he said, it's the other way around: fears of a recession cause the curve to invert.

"The point is that the yield curve is better viewed in the context of the macroeconomic and policy environment than as a leading economic indicator," Bhave said in a client note on Wednesday. 

Short-term rates are rising (and pushing the yield curve closer to inversion) partly because the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates. It's expected to hike again at its policy meeting in September — its eighth rate increase in three years — and to continue raising borrowing costs through mid-2019 at least. 

Given this trajectory, there have been questions on whether the Fed would tolerate an inverted yield curve and for how long. Officials, including Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, have said they'd rather the curve did not invert.

But others, like Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, think it's not as reliable a recession indicator as it used to be. 

Bhave said an inverted yield curve should not disrupt the Fed's rate-hiking agenda — only bad economic data should. 

"Although the curve will probably invert at some stage in this cycle, and there will eventually be a recession, we do not expect yield curve inversion due to excessive Fed tightening to cause a recession," Bhave said.

"Rather, reverse causality will likely be at play."

SEE ALSO: Morgan Stanley is urging its super-rich clients to pull out of one of the market's hottest corners, and it's a warning shot to the US economy

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The Finnish businessman who lost 5,564  bitcoins, worth US$24 million at the time, in a fraudulent scheme in Thailand has begun talks with some of the key suspects. According to the Bangkok Post, Aarni Otavi Saarimaa is negotiating a settlement deal with Prasit Srisuwan, a high-profile stocks trader and Chakris Ahmad, a tech investor. The … Continued

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• Japanese electronics giant Panasonic to move European headquarters out of the UK as a result of Brexit.
• New HQ will be based in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.
• The move is being undertaken "to avoid potential tax issues" linked to Brexit, according to Japanese media organisation Nikkei.
• Panasonic's announcement follows a warning from the Japanese business lobby that companies are "seriously concerned" about continuing Brexit uncertainty.

Panasonic, the £55 billion ($71 billion) Japanese electronics giant, has announced plans to move its European headquarters out of the UK as Brexit uncertainty continues to weigh on the minds of major international corporations using Britain as a base.

The company, best known for its televisions, hi-fi systems, and cameras, said on Thursday that it plans to shift its main European office from near London to the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.

Japanese news agency Nikkei reported that the move is being undertaken "to avoid potential tax issues" linked to Brexit. Effectively, if the UK lowers corporate tax further after Brexit, as it has suggested could happen, it could be considered by the Japanese government to be a tax haven.

If that were the case, it could lead to Panasonic facing back taxes from central government, aimed at discouraging Japanese organisations from having offices in tax havens.

"We will move our European headquarters to the Netherlands," a spokesperson for Panasonic told AFP, confirming Nikkei's earlier report. The move will take place in October, and has been under consideration for more than a year, Laurent Abadie, Panasonic Europe's CEO told Nikkei.

In terms of staff numbers, Panasonic's UK office — which is based in Bracknell, about 30 miles from London — has around 30 staff, according to the Daily Telegraph. "Around 10 to 20 employees dealing with auditing and financial operations" will be moved, the newspaper said.

The announcement of Panasonic's headquarters move comes just days after the head of Japan's biggest business lobbyist said that Japanese businesses are "seriously concerned" about their future in the UK if Brexit uncertainty is not addressed imminently.

"We just can't do anything. Everyone is seriously concerned," Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of Keidanren, the Japanese business federation, said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Tuesday.

Nakanishi told the FT that Japanese businesses operating in the EU are frustrated — like many UK businesses — by the lack of any real clarity over what sort of Brexit the UK will actually achieve when the Article 50 period runs out in March next yar.

"Various scenarios get discussed, from no Brexit to plunging into Brexit without any kind of deal at all. We're now in a situation where we have to consider what to do in all of them," Nakanishi added.

Several major Japanese financial institutions, including Nomura, Sumitomo Mitsui and Daiwa Securities, have already made plans to move staff away from the UK, and more could follow.

SEE ALSO: 'Everyone is seriously concerned': 2 years after its viral Brexit letter, Japan is back with another dire warning on leaving the EU

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• British car production fell 11% year on year in July, with manufacturing for the domestic market collapsing by 35%.
• The drop is due to model changes, seasonal adjustments and upcoming changes in emissions standards, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said on Tuesday.
• 955,500 cars have been built in the first seven months of the year, which is down 16% for the UK domestic market.
• "To ensure future growth, we need political and economic clarity at home, and the continuation of beneficial trading arrangements with the EU and other key markets," said SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes.

British car manufacturing fell by 11% in July compared to the same time last year, struck by model changes, seasonal adjustments and upcoming changes in emissions standards, an industry body said on Tuesday.

Production last month was at 121,051 units, with output for domestic markets collapsing by 35% and car manufacturing for exports falling by 4.2%, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

"The bigger picture is complex and month-by-month fluctuations are inevitable as manufacturers manage product cycles, operational changes and the delicate balance of supply and demand from market to market," said SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes.

The SMMT added that figures from last July had also been a particularly strong due to the launch of several new models.

Almost 955,500 cars have been built in the first seven months of this year, which is down 16% for the UK market and 1.2% for export markets. But July’s report is an improvement on June when production fell 47%.

The British car industry is concerned about the possible impacts of Brexit because of its heavy reliance on the European supply chain and the EU’s status as Britain's biggest car export market.

"To ensure future growth, we need political and economic clarity at home, and the continuation of beneficial trading arrangements with the EU and other key markets," said Hawes.

The UK exports most of the cars it makes, but it is also a big importer of foreign autos with about 86% of new vehicles coming from foreign markets, and 69% of new cars coming from the EU.

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• CEOs around the world are spending more "aggressively" than ever, said Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff on an earnings call Wednesday.
• Benioff attributed the flow of cash to tax cuts and deregulation happening around the world.
• Salesforce, which grew its revenue by 27% in the quarter, is benefiting since many of the CEOs have chosen to spend their extra cash on "digital transformation," he said.

Salesforce's revenues were up 27% in the second quarter, and the company has big-spending executives to thank.

On the Salesforce quarterly earnings call Wednesday, co-CEO Marc Benioff said he's "never seen CEOs spend so aggressively," and that much of their money is going toward tools for "digital transformation," such as Salesforce's software. 

"They've benefitted really dramatically from these tax cuts and especially from the deregulation focus — especially in the United States," Benioff said. "Across the board, I don't know a CEO who's not aggressively spending at a level that I have not seen them spend on before."

The comments appeared to give credit to the tax cuts and deregulatory focus of the Trump administration, an interesting bit of praise by Benioff who has been an outspoken opponent of Trump policies on issues like immigration.

Benioff, who was in Switzerland last week to meet with European executives, said the trend holds true of executives across the US, Europe and Asia. 

In Switzerland, Benioff said, executives expressed a desire to have more one-on-one interactions between consumers and brand. 

"I see a deep yearning for them to have a more complete relationship with their customer," Benioff said.

Salesforce shares were down nearly 4% in after hours trading Wednesday, despite a beat on revenue and earnings for the quarter. The company missed analysts' expectations on earnings per share for the current third quarter, however.

SEE ALSO: Salesforce earnings blow away Wall Street expectations, but disappoints on guidance

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Google is reportedly hosting cryptocurrency mining applications in Play Store, despite a ban imposed last month. Google’s revised terms of service states that, “We don’t allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices.” However, the search engine giant mentioned last month that apps that remotely manage cryptocurrency mining are permitted. Despite the ban, few digital currency mining

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The cryptocurrency market has now been in a bear cycle for more than two-thirds of the past year, and, as August prepares to roll in September, predictions from past months that the bitcoin price would test its all-time high in 2018 appear less and less likely. However, even after this prolonged decline, Litecoin creator Charlie

The post Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee Recommends Buying Bitcoin in Bear Market appeared first on CCN

The cryptocurrency market has now been in a bear cycle for more than two-thirds of the past year, and, as August prepares to roll in September, predictions from past months that the bitcoin price would test its all-time high in 2018 appear less and less likely. However, even after this prolonged decline, Litecoin creator Charlie

The post Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee Recommends Buying Bitcoin in Bear Market appeared first on CCN