Retail sales were strong in December, and for the holiday shopping period they could be up close to 5%, slightly better than other industry forecasts, according to Bank of America economists. Using BofA aggregated credit and debit card data, BofA Securities economists said December sales increased 0.3% over the month earlier and 3.2% year-over-year. The economists expect to see a similar 0.3% gain in Census Bureau retail sales, when they are reported Thursday. “Assuming our forecast is correct,

A 475 megawatt (MW) section of what is being described by energy firm the Enel Group as South America’s “largest” solar photovoltaic (PV) facility has started operations. Work on an additional 133 MW section of the project began last August and will bring Sao Goncalo’s total capacity to 608 MW when finished. There is currently a debate taking place in Brazil on the topic of solar power and how to price it. Brazilian power regulator, Aneel, has previously said it was thinking of cutting incentive

Underlying this bullish view is a belief that Tesla will not lose its considerable share of the electric-vehicle market, she said. Initially, Wood said she thought Tesla would lose about one-third of its 17% market share last year. Wood first predicted in February 2018 that Tesla would one day trade at $4,000 per share. Based on 180 million shares outstanding, Tesla over $6,000 would put the electric-auto maker firmly in the $1 trillion stock market value club. Tesla’s stock hit another all-time

For all of 2019, Boeing lost orders for 87 commercial airplanes, meaning it had more cancellations than new purchases, the company said Tuesday. The negative number is especially painful when compared with European rival Airbus, which logged orders for 768 new planes for 2019. Boeing ended 2019 with a commercial airplane backlog of 5,406 planes. In December, Boeing failed to log any 737 Max orders as airlines and aircraft leasing companies continued to steer clear of the grounded airplane. The n

SpaceXPrivate funds are pouring money into space companies, with 2019 marking a record year of investment in extraterrestrial ventures. Space companies received $5.8 billion across 198 investment rounds last year, topping $5.1 billion of investment in 2017, according to a report Tuesday by New York investment firm Space Angels. The firm itself has stakes in nearly two dozen space companies and publishes comprehensive quarterly updates on private investment in the industry. Space Angels highlight

Workers listen during a briefing inside the Congress Center, the venue for the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. JOHN THYS | AFP | Getty ImagesThe newly-appointed head of the European Central Bank is a well-known figure at WEF. Chris J Ratcliffe | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesThe 17-year old Swedish climate activist is due to return to Davos this year. NICHOLAS KAMM | AFP | Getty ImagesThe Bulgarian national was appointed head of the International Mo

Climate change poses a real risk to long-term viability, and companies can no longer afford to ignore these risks. The firm is also moving away from thermal coal companies. BlackRock already offers sustainable investing strategies, but its new products are designed to make it even easier for investors to choose socially responsible funds. “We want to make sustainable investing more accessible to all investors and lower the hurdles for those who want to act,” the letter said. “Clients are now ask

The pair have pointed out there is precedent to holding a royal title and also earning a living externally. Harry and Meghan have said they will give up the 5% of funding they receive from the Sovereign Grant, which is the money the royal family receives from the government, and therefore British taxpayers. The total grant amounted to £82.2 million ($106.5 million) in 2018-19, working out at over £1 per U.K. taxpayer. Prince Harry is reported to receive £5 million a year from the estate, though

But Trebek, 79, has no plans to retire “in the near future,” he said in a panel for the Television Critics Association winter press tour Wednesday. “Drink,” Trebek joked on Wednesday during the winter press tour. “No, I’ll work around the house,” he said. Trebek is scheduled to host the show until 2022, according to the New York Times. As someone who’s worked as a game show host for more than 50 years, naturally Trebek has thought about retirement.

Whether you’ve been doing it for decades or stepping into the role for the first time, managing a team is hard work. Here are three things great leaders do to set their teams up for success:1. Too often, managers put more focus into pushing their teams to meet deadlines and business goals. The first step to encouraging collaboration is getting your team members to feel comfortable with one another. Elizabeth Rosenberg, a director at creative agency 72andSunny, went above and beyond: She flew her

One of San Francisco’s iconic “Painted Ladies” Victorians is for sale for $2.7 million. Despite it’s seven-figure price tag, the 1890s, three-story house needs head-to-toe restorations, according to its listing agent Jeremy Rushton. While Rushton could not comment on the cost to gut the house as the price tag would depend on taste, it could easily exceed $500,000, according to Remodeling Magazine’s 2019 Value Report. The 2,588-square-foot house is located on one of the city’s most-photographed b

BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm, will put sustainability at the center of its investment strategy going forward, according to CEO Larry Fink’s annual letter to chief executives. Larry Fink CEO, BlackRock”Our investment conviction is that sustainability- and climate-integrated portfolios can provide better risk-adjusted returns to investors,” Fink writes. To Fink, that means that company is not a wise investment and does not belong in clients’ portfolios. These products aren’t yet

CrossFit co-founder and CEO Greg Glassman has put his Hawaii home and a neighboring lot of land up for sale. They are also available for a $9 million package deal, Sotheby’s International Realty tells CNBC Make It. Kauai is a celebrity magnet – in 2015, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg paid $100 million for a 700-acre property on the island. Actress Julia Roberts owned a beachfront property on Kauai, which she sold in 2016 for $16.2 million. And Ben Stiller and Bette Midler owned Kauai properties as w

2020 Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks as she attends a rally at the Kings theatre on January 7, 2020 in New York. Presidential contender Elizabeth Warren is demanding a federal investigation into whether President Donald Trump provided advance notice of the deadly strike on Iran’s Gen. Qasem Soleimani to stock traders who may have profited illegally from the tip. The Massachusetts Democratic senator made her demand in a letter dated Monday to the chairmen of the

Unlike other countries, non-banks are dependent on big banks to gain access to payment systems in the U.S. Preventing direct access to the payment rails and forcing access via banks leads to lower competition and higher costs for U.S. consumers and businesses. Also, such a model adds more inherent risk to the financial system as a handful of banks become access points for all non-banks to gain access. This makes said banks single points of failure for a large number of financial services that pe

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday refusing her request to be given the powers to hold another Scottish independence referendum. As things stand, a referendum cannot take place without the consent of the UK government. Sturgeon wrote to Johnson in December asking him to enter negotiations on transferring the power to hold a referendum from London to Edinburgh. “I cannot agree to any request for a transfer of power that would lead to f

The British government has announced a ban on credit cards being used for gambling. From April 14, businesses in the U.K. will be barred from accepting credit cards from consumers placing bets, Britain’s government-run Gambling Commission said Tuesday. According to the Gambling Commission, 24 million adults in Britain gamble, with data from thinktank U.K. Finance showing that 800,000 British people used credit cards to gamble in 2018. “Research shows that 22% of online gamblers using credit card

Published Tuesday, Deloitte’s Football Money League 2020 ranked the world’s wealthiest soccer clubs based on their revenue in the 2018/2019 football season. At more than $95 million, the revenue gap between the top two clubs was the highest in the 23-year history of Deloitte’s Football Money League. While FC Barcelona’s revenue increased from $823 million the previous year, Real Madrid’s fell from $896 million, the data showed. The boost in FC Barcelona’s earnings also marked the first time any

Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars” films, has deleted his Facebook account after the social media giant said it would not fact-check political advertising. Hamill tweeted his decision on Sunday night, with a link to a New York Times report that Facebook would not “police the truthfulness” of political ads. But unlike Twitter, which has banned political ads, and Google, which has limited targeting of them, Facebook won’t block them. Instead, it wants political ads to be regulat

The European Union has a new aim: figuring out how home-grown companies in the region can make money from data. The EU is drawing up plans to boost the competitiveness of European companies amid the hegemony of U.S. and Chinese firms. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has often criticized the dominance of big tech players and how they use data. In 2018, the European Union approved a sweeping data privacy law known as the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR), aimed at giving users’