As distillers await the latest round of tariffs, the spirits industry is looking to the example of plunging U.S. whiskey exports to argue for free trade. The European Union’s retaliatory tariffs levied on American whiskey caused E.U. American whiskey accounts for 65% of all U.S. spirits exports, according to the industry trade group. Exporting less American whiskey hurts the drink’s ability to compete with the reputation of its Scotch counterpart, which is usually considered superior. The group

Treasury Department data released Wednesday show the shortfall at $389.2 billion in the first four months of fiscal 2020. That’s a 25% gain over the same period last year and already about 40% of the total deficit for fiscal 2019. Over the past 12 months, the government has spent $1.06 trillion more than it has taken in. Receipts actually are on the rise comparatively, coming in at $1.18 trillion through January compared with $1.1 trillion a year earlier. However, the rate of spending is adding

Here are the key numbers:Earnings: 77 cents per share, excluding certain items, vs. 76 cents per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. 77 cents per share, excluding certain items, vs. 76 cents per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Revenue: $12.01 billion, vs. $11.98 billion as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. The company said it expects 79 cents to 81 cents in earnings per share, excluding certain items, and an annualized revenue decline of 1.5%

Former advisor to US President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, waves as he arrives for a court hearing on March 14, 2019, in Washington DC. On Tuesday night, Trump replied to a tweet from a supporter who wrote, “Raise your hand if you believe it’s time for a FULL PARDON for Roger Stone and Michael Flynn.” “I want to thank the Justice Department,” Trump said. But, Trump added, “I didn’t speak to” the department to get it to reduce the proposed sentence for Stone. The Justice Department has said it dec

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) attends a meeting with US President Donald Trump during the G20 Osaka Summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019. President Donald Trump is hoping to sign another trade deal before the 2020 election. It could be with India, if he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can come to terms during Trump’s official trip to the country in less than two weeks. Experts say the constructs of the trade agreement — and whether it can even be called a trade deal — will be determined

Charles Munger David A. Grogan | CNBCCharlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, issued a dire warning about the future on Wednesday. “I think there are lots of troubles coming,” he said at the Los Angeles-based Daily Journal annual shareholders meeting. “There’s too much wretched excess.” Munger — who chairs the publisher — highlighted how much risk investors are taking when investing, particularly in China. ‘Bulls— earnings’To make his

Goldman Sachs is in discussions to feature Prince Harry as a guest speaker for its interview series “Talks at GS,” according to a person with knowledge of the situation. As the Mirror first reported, Harry spoke with Goldman about the possible collaboration starting in November, the person confirmed. Earlier this month, Harry was reportedly a guest speaker at a JPMorgan Chase client event in Miami. Goldman began holding its “Talks at GS” a few years ago as an informal series for employees held i

Watch CNBC’s full interview with Akamai CEO Tom LeightonAkamai CEO Tom Leighton joins “Squawk Alley” to discuss the company’s earnings and data security push.

PlayVS CEO Delane Parnell on the new partnership with Riot GamesDelane Parnell, founder and CEO of PlayVS, joins “Squawk Alley” to discuss the company’s new partnership with Riot Games and the future of e-sports.

Bernie Sanders wins the New Hampshire primaryBernie Sanders is projected to win the New Hampshire Democratic primary, according to NBC News. Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar follow Sanders in the top three. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden were vying for fourth place as final results came in. In a rare outburst on Twitter, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein suggested that Sanders becoming the nominee would mean “the Russians will have to reconsider who to work for to best screw up the U.S.”

PeopleImagesYour ex-spouse can continue to cause you trouble long after the ink is dry on your divorce decree. Four out of 10 estate planners and attorneys pointed to “gray divorce” — that is, ending your marriage after age 50 — as putting a dent into boomers’ financial plans, according to a recent survey by TD Wealth. That means the wealthier spouse could be giving up heftier accounts — assets that could have otherwise been used for retirement — to help provide the spousal maintenance. Meanwhil

Shopify — Shares of Shopify soared more than 12% after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and gave upbeat guidance for the full year 2020. Shopify reported earnings of 43 cents per share, exceeding consensus estimates of 24 cents per share, according to Refinitiv. Western Union — Shares of Western Union plunged more than 7% after the payment processing company posted a quarterly earnings miss. The company reported adjusted quarterly earnings of 38 cents per share, 5

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday blasted Bed Bath & Beyond’s decision to announce disappointing same-store sales figures well ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings release. However, Cramer said investors could use the subsequent stock plunge as a buying opportunity. Bed Bath & Beyond shares sank about 25% on Wednesday after the home goods retailer said after the bell Tuesday that December and January same-store sales dropped 5.4%. Why revise guidance if you didn’t have guidance?” Bed Bath & Beyond

Housing stocks could be building a solid foundation for a breakout. We also have a Fed that cut rates multiple times last year so, of course, the housing market is going to be booming.” Top stocks in the ETF such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sherwin-Williams and D.R. Stocks such as Lennar, Toll Brothers and PulteGroup are all at or less than 1% from 52-week highs. Shay agrees that it could see some eventual weakness but says first a few standout stocks could push the entire group through to new highs.

Researchers from MIT say that washing your hands at the airport could help curb a pandemic by up to 69% — and that includes flu-like illnesses such as coronavirus. They calculated that if 60% of travelers had clean hands, it has the potential to slow a global disease by 69%. But even if just 30% of travelers kept their hands clean, it could reduce the impact of a disease by 24%. With those metrics, the airports that they deemed would have the “greatest impact” are London’s Heathrow, Los Angeles

Gucci owner Kering SA has closed half of its stores in mainland China and the locations that are still open are operating on reduced hours, CEO Francois-Henri Pinault as the company warned investors of a drop in sales. “We have a strong drop in traffic and in sales over the last 10 days,” CEO Francois-Henri Pinault told analysts on a conference call Wednesday discussing its fourth-quarter earnings. Sales for the fourth quarter increased 11% to 4.36 billion euros ($4.77 billion). “In the past few

Charlie Munger, vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, addressed Wednesday shareholders of the Los Angeles-based Daily Journal. Munger, who turned 96 last month, also answered questions from Daily Journal shareholders. Investors of all stripes look forward to Munger’s annual address at the publisher’s headquarters for the investment wisdom he shares. Munger is considered, alongside Buffett, to be one of the best investors and business thinkers in hist

New coronavirus cases in China appear to have stabilized in recent days, but world health officials cautioned the public against reading too much into those numbers. There are 44,730 cases in China and at least 1,114 deaths as of Wednesday morning, Tedros said. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s emergencies program, said the slowing in cases is due in large part to “the huge public health operation in China.” “We must continue to stop the virus, while preparing countries for the arrival

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is increasingly going head-to-head with the biggest tech companies for talent as it rapidly boosts its engineering talent, said George Lee, the bank’s co-Chief Investment Officer. Speaking onstage at Goldman’s Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Lee said that the investment bank now has 10,000 developers, making up about one-quarter of its total workforce. “The trend is very much toward technology companies,” Lee said, when asked abou

If you’re a CEO hoping to give your stock a boost over time, you may want to start mentioning “growth” and “expansion” more often on earnings calls. They then compared the performance of long-short stock portfolios based on how frequently management used positive descriptors to characterize earnings results. The stock of Russell 3000 companies with vocally optimistic CEOs between May 2010 and December 2017 also outperformed the stock market by 4.2%, 5% and 3.6%, respectively, depending on which