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What happens when solar power capacity races ahead while transmission capacity lags? A bottleneck, that has forced the grid regulator to step in and direct power production cuts at Adani Group, NTPC Green, KKR-backed Serentica, EQT-backed Zelestra and JSW Group View More
The Investing Club holds its "Morning Meeting" every weekday at 10:20 a.m. ET. View More
Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Friday's key moments. 1. The S & P 500 was up for the fourth straight session Friday, which would lock in back-to-back positive weeks. The index was trading less than 1% below its record-high close of 6,890 on Oct. 28. The government shutdown-delayed core September personal consumption expenditures price index was released on Friday morning, showing a 2.8% year-over-year increase, which was a smaller gain than expected. Core PCE is the Federal Reserve's favorite inflation gauge. The latest University of Michigan consumer survey showed improving sentiment. Neither report changed market expectations for a Fed interest rate cut at next week's meeting. 2. Mizuho reiterated Broadcom as its top pick and made a bold call, saying to buy shares ahead of next Thursday's earnings. The Club stock was more than 5.5% away from its record-high close of nearly $403 on Nov. 28. Mizuho said that expanding reach of tensor processing units to cloud service providers and neoclouds creates upside for 2026. TPUs are Google's custom AI chips that Broadcom co-designed. Oppenheimer raised its Broadcom price target to $435 from $400 and kept its buy rating, with analysts expecting a strong quarter and outlook. 3. There are two more things we're watching in the week ahead. On Tuesday evening, GE Vernova holds an investor meeting. Given recent strength in orders and demand expectations for gas turbine and electrification products and services, many analysts expect management to raise its guidance for 2025 â and maybe even for next year. The company is also expected to hike its long-term 2028 outlook. After Thursday's close, along with Broadcom, Costco reports earnings. The stock rose modestly Friday after a nearly 3% drop in the prior session on what was viewed as disappointing November sales. We didn't think they were that bad. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AVGO, GEV, COST. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Nine bidders, including Adani Power and JSW Energy, have submitted formal offers ranging from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 4,000 crore for GVK Energy's operational 330 MW Alaknanda hydro power plant. The plant, with a PPA until 2045, has significant debt, with unsecured creditors holding the majority of claims. View More
Nine bidders have made a formal offer to take over GVK Energy 's 330 MW Alaknanda, a rare operational hydro power plant with an active power purchase agreement (PPA). These bidders include India’s largest private sector power producer Adani Power Ltd; Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Power Ltd; commodities company Vedanta Group; Kolkata-based Orissa Metaliks Pvt Ltd; Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Energy; Gujarat-based Torrent Power; Sarda Energy and Minerals; RP Sanjiv Goenka Group’s Purvah Green Power Pvt Ltd and Noida-based Inox GFL Group. Bids are ranging between Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 4,000 crore for the GVK Energy subsidiary, which owes creditors a total of Rs 11,187 crore in direct and indirect exposure via corporate guarantees. ET could not ascertain the exact bid details as the bid documents are still being scrutinised. Emails sent to bidders did not elicit any response till press time. “There is interest but this will be a complicated resolution because a majority of the creditors are unsecured as they have given corporate guarantees to loans taken by subsidiaries of GVK Energy,” said a person familiar with the process. Live Events “Two Kotak entities, namely Pheonix ARC and two funds from Kotak Alternate Asset Managers are secured lenders having direct exposure to Alaknanda. It remains to be seen how the resolution professional manages this process because unsecured creditors will want to pull their weight while the two Kotak entities will also look for best value,” said the person. Unsecured creditors are lower in the recovery waterfall but in this case they are majority owners of debt, which means any offer has to be approved by them. Bidders will also value the asset taking into account the fact that it costs anything between Rs 4300 crore to Rs 5300 crore to build a new hydro power plant today and also adjusting for government allowed tariff rates. Resolution professional Venkata Chalam Varanasi said he is unable to comment because the bid details are confidential. Unsecured creditors to the company are mainly banks led by IDBI and other financial institutions who have admitted claims of Rs 9,837 crore or 88% of the total admitted claims of Rs 11,187 crore. Phoenix ARC is the only secured creditor to the company, having taken over loans from Edelweiss Finance last year, which were backed by shares as securities. GVK Energy owes Phoenix Rs 1,351 crore or 12% of the total claims. Alaknanda Hydro Power started commercial operations in 2015 and has a PPA with Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd, under which it supplies 88% of the power generated. The tenure of the PPA is 30 years from commercial operation date running up to 2045, which is a good asset for any power producer wanting to diversify its revenue base. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
Santosh Devi is proud to have brought light -- and hope -- to her hamlet in western India, taking up solar engineering through a programme for women like her whose husbands suffer chronic disease from mining work. With their sick husbands out of work, the training has allowed these women to make a living and support their families. View More
Santosh Devi is proud to have brought light -- and hope -- to her hamlet in western India, taking up solar engineering through a programme for women like her whose husbands suffer chronic disease from mining work. Her husband is bedridden with silicosis, a respiratory illness caused by inhaling fine silica dust which is common across some 33,000 mines in Rajasthan state, where the couple and their four children live. Santosh, 36, has joined seven other women for a three-month course at Barefoot College in Tilonia, a two-hour drive from her village in the desert state's Beawar district. There, the group learned the basics of solar engineering -- installing panels, wiring them, and assembling and repairing lamps -- to help light up homes and provide electricity for anything from charging phones to powering fans. With their sick husbands out of work, the training has allowed these women to make a living and support their families. Live Events Barefoot College has trained more than 3,000 women from 96 countries since it was set up in 1972, according to Kamlesh Bisht, the technical manager of the institute. The college offers rural women new skills with the aim of making them independent in an environment where jobs are scarce and healthcare generally inaccessible. Santosh, who is illiterate, said she wants to "offer a good education and a better future" to her children, aged five to 20. She now earns a small income by installing solar panels, and hopes to eventually make the equivalent of $170 a month. The time away from her family was tough, but Santosh said it was worth it. "At first, I was very scared," she recalled. "But this training gave me confidence and courage." She showed with enthusiasm the three houses where she had installed a photovoltaic panel powering lamps, fans and chargers. Slow killer Her husband used to cut sandstone for pavers exported around the world. But now he can barely walk, needs costly medication and relies on a meagre state allowance of $16 a month. Wiping away tears with the edge of her bright red scarf, Santosh said she has had to borrow money from relatives, sell her jewellery and mortgage her precious mangalsutra to make ends meet. The family share a similar fate with many others in Rajasthan state's mining belt, where tens of thousands of people suffer from silicosis. According to pulmonologist Lokesh Kumar Gupta, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 cases in just a single district, Ajmer. In Santosh's village of 400 households, 70 people have been diagnosed with silicosis, a condition that kills slowly and, in many cases, has no cure. An estimated 2.5 million people work in mines across Rajasthan, extracting sandstone, marble or granite for less than $6 a day. Those using jackhammers earn double but face even higher exposure to toxic dust. Vinod Ram, whose wife has also graduated from the Barefoot College course, has been suffering from silicosis for six years and struggles to breathe. "The medication only calms my cough for a few minutes," said Vinod, 34, who now weighs just 45 kilos (99 pounds). He started mining at age 15, working for years without a mask or any other protective gear. No choice but to work His wife Champa Devi, 30, did not even know how to write her name when she arrived at Barefoot College in June. Now back home, at a village not far from Santosh's, she is proud of her newfound expertise. But her life remains overshadowed by illness and poverty. Champa, who has dark circles under her eyes, has installed solar panels in four nearby homes but has not yet been paid. For now, she earns about 300 rupees ($3.35) a day working at construction sites -- hardly enough to cover her husband's medical bills, which come up to some $80 a month. The couple live in a single dark room with thin blankets covering the floor, and the near-contact sound of detonations from nearby mines. "There is no treatment for silicosis," said pulmonologist Gupta. Early treatment can help, but most patients come only after five to seven years, he said. Under state aid schemes, patients receive $2,310 upon diagnosis, and their families get another $3,465 in the case of death. Ill miners, who are physically capable, sometimes continue to cut sandstone for a pittance to support their families, despite the dire health risks. Sohan Lal, a 55-year-old mine worker who suffers from shortness of breath and severe cough, sees no other option but to keep working. "If I were diagnosed, what difference would it make?" he said. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
Nigerian multi billionaire businessman, also the richest in Africa is hero to some and monopolist to others. He is seeking India Inc’s help again for ramp up his $20 billion Lagos complex biggest in world with throughput of 1.4 mn barrels a day. View More
A visit to Jamnagar may have inspired Alhaji Aliko Dangote to attempt his most audacious business decision of his career – a $20 billion oil refinery and petrochemical complex on 2500 hectares of swampland outside Lagos – the single largest of its kind in the world. But it was the business evolution of Tata Group that served as a model for the Nigerian billionaire, also the richest in the African continent, to fundamentally pivot his entrepreneurial journey to try and prove Nigeria can do more than barter and trade. It can also build and manufacture. This has made him a folk hero at home, one who is turbo-charging Nigeria’s industrial renaissance while weaning it away from an oil addiction. But along the way, the Dangote cult has become equally contentious. For many, the avuncular persona, the outward humility and a pleasantly round face with close-cropped hair belies a ruthless monopolist who uses favourable policies, tax breaks, state subsidies to crush competition and make windfall financial gains while gouging the national exchequer and the public. “Dangote is not a creation of the government or its import substitution policies. Dangote is a creation of Dangote. He’s one of the few who has had the vision and the risk-taking ability to deploy capital and build scale to focus on home as well as export markets. Policies do help but the same policies didn’t make others think big,” said Amaka Anku, Africa Practice Head, Eurasia Group. He’s polarising public opinion once again. Refine & Refine Even More Live Events In less than a year of processing crude for the first time, Dangote, founder, president and CEO of Nigeria's largest conglomerate, Dangote Group of Companies is already plotting to pull off an even more ambitious second phase: A massive ramp up of his refining capacity to 1.4 million barrel a day (bpd) from the existing 650,000 bpd to rival Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery, as the biggest in the world in throughput. And to help compete with the very facility that inspired him in the first place, he is seeking the help of several Indian companies -- private, state run or even local arms of global giants -- including Thermax, Engineers India Limited, Honeywell OUP, ThyssenKrupp India, among many others to facilitate project management, equipment supplies, manpower or process engineering and construction. “There's a shortage of refinery capacity in Africa,” the 68-year-old industrialist told ET while spelling out his grand vision in between a management retreat in India last week. “Africa consumes almost a little bit over 4.5 million bpd/day. But then there is no refining capacity, so everybody's importing.” Planning an expansion when the existing facility is not yet functioning in full throttle may seem an overreach, but Dangote sees it as indispensable to make his country--a member of oil-producing club Opec--self-sufficient in energy. For decades, Nigeria has exported all the crude it pumped and then bizarrely reimported refined products like gasoline, diesel or benzene, giving rise to a cache of middlemen who have been distorting the system that has already been distorted by state subsidies. “Dangote was a bogeyman for the Nigerian middle class till his refinery came about. Now he is a national champion, and people are rallying around him since he has managed to bring down pump prices of gasoline significantly on the back of liberalisation of the downstream petroleum sector in the country. It has also helped bring down the imports of low-quality gasoline into the country. Today many Nigerians are proud that a domestic refinery has managed to bring inflation down and stop the forex drain,” said Anku. In 2007, the then newly elected government had seized back three of the four state refineries Dangote had taken over. 18 years later, they are still non-operational. “Nigeria singlehandedly produces nearly 2% of the world’s oil. How can it still be a net importer of petrol or diesel?” he asked. “Most Opec members are big net exporters of refined products. When we started, Nigeria was not refining one barrel. All the refineries were down actually. But we are addressing all these issues now.” By that he means shutting down the oil traders who have for long been dumping cheap refined products from overseas. “We have been pushing back on the dumping of products from Russia. Hopefully, we will succeed very soon.” From gasoline to diesel, the refinery also produces gas oils, jet fuels, carbon black stock, and LPG. The feedstock has also helped the group to go down the value chain by adding a million tonnes of propylene that goes into making 72 different grades used in products as diverse as pipes to cement and sugar bags to sandals and plastics. The downstream complex also boasts of a 3 million tonnes granulated urea fertiliser plant. It produces more than all its farmers currently sprinkle on their fields. He has already committed to the local regulators that he will be supplying 1.5 billion litres of gasoline from this month taking it up to 1.7 billion litres, a near 42.5% jump in supplies in a quarter. “We source feedstock from Brazil to Equatorial Guinea to Angola and even the US. In July we imported more than what we sourced from Nigeria. All our expansions in refining and allied petrochemicals and fertilisers will keep our country and the entire continent's demand in mind,” said Dangote. Mega Expansions Along with the refinery, the petrochemical output will also see production more than doubling in the next 18-24 months. By 2028 Dangote wants to be the largest urea producer in the world with a 4x jump in production both in his country and neighbouring Ethiopia, home to his next big greenfield bet. That’s an incremental $4 billion capex, based on his maths. "Dangote has single handedly built the industrial foundation of modern Nigeria and successfully expanded across the continent,” said Ashish Bhandari, CEO & MD of Thermax, a company that has for years worked closely with the group across multiple projects and sectors. “He has also provided strategic energy security for Nigeria by setting up his massive refinery to help refine the crude they produce.” Dangote’s sharp ascent to the pinnacle in many ways follows the usual path of plutocrats across emerging economies of Asia, Africa and Latin America, feeding off their countries emphasis on value added manufacturing to boost domestic economy. Leveraging on a shared dream of mass scale import substitution, within 15 years of starting out as a bulk trader of commodities – sugar, salt, rice, wheat, textiles, pasta, cement, packaging materials, trucks, he realised by building manufacturing from ground up he could gain control over a larger portion of what went into Dangote products, and thus a larger portion of the profits. Along the way as his influence, wealth and heft multiplied, favourable policies further helped undercut competition. Today as a diversified conglomerate, it is closer than any of its local peers to market domination across half a dozen sectors that it operates in. His group’s net profit is expected to be $1.5 billlion and revenues should touch $18 billion in 2025. Cement contributes to a quarter of that topline – 9 months FY26 PAT at $513 million – and is also the flagship among the three group companies that are listed in the local stock exchange. But refining will soon take over. “Trading was a good start but didn’t really have much of a future,” said Dangote. Africa’s petroleum products import bill alone has been $90 billion. “We had to industrialise and that is why we chose to get into manufacturing instead of importing everything and drain our foreign currency reserves,” added the soft spoken, bespectacled businessman. “If we create the foundation, then hopefully foreign investments will follow. Nobody will do that for us but us Africans.” In this quest, he sees striking similarity with the founding fathers of leading Indian business groups. “We're trying to do exactly what companies like Tatas did in India. They also started with trading and now they build everything around the world.” To cement this relationship he has also invited Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, to join the board of his holding company that typically incubates businesses before spinning them off. Some even get listed. Yet many would argue by consciously focussing on the provision of basic human needs: food, shelter, and clothing, he also has managed to corner a disproportionate share of the country’s natural resources like limestone or crude oil. More rentier than a visionary entrepreneur, insists some. In each industry, the Dangote Group has been able to climb from zero production at market entry to become a top producer in a relatively brief period. Sugar refining began in 1999 and by mid 2000s, the group has been manufacturing an estimated 100 percent of Nigeria's sugar consumption needs, outside of the alcohol beverages industry – a no go because of his Muslim beliefs. He reportedly admitted in an earlier interview that the government once forced him to bulk import so much rice that the local market crashed by almost 80 percent. At times, it has even led to confrontations or regulatory scrutiny across political establishments throughout Africa. His $650 m cement plant in Tanzania – 2 nd largest in his 10-country footprint in Sub Saharan Africa of 52 MTPA – faced the ire of the President in 2017 while a country manager was assassinated in Ethiopia. At home, there were reports of a fallout last year between Dangote and President Bola Tinubu over crude supplies and payments. In 2024, his corporate HQs were also raided by the anti-corruption watchdog probing grafts into the Nigerian Central Bank. It was arguably his biggest test of his staying power after years of enjoying deep state patronage. His refinery has faced labour strife. “He is very aggressive to protect his monopoly,” said Ikena Okonkwo, analyst, West Africa at SBM Intelligence, a strategic consulting firm. “Policies that were to facilitate local capacities have facilitated an individual. Today he’s too big for the Nigerian economy to fail. He has done very well for himself but at what cost?” Okonkwo asks. To him, Nigerians are paying more for cement, food or gasoline since trade barriers make cheaper imports impossible. "His plants are run by Chinese and Indians and not locals. They are still reliant on technology transfers from these countries. He is hardly investing in training locals or innovation.” But even then, Okonkwo admitted, it’s not exclusive to one industrialist but an entire generation of local capitalists who thrive solely on policy arbitrage. And in a country without sufficient regulatory guardrails to protect smaller enterprises, predatory practices do tend to prevail. Dangote downplayed these allegations. “There is monopoly only when you are blocking others from entering. We want others to join.” He said he doesn’t care what people say behind his back, but relentless probing on the topic does rankle nerves and make him impatient. “I could have invested in capital markets, but I chose to build factories and plants. I know my efforts will be appreciated in the future. That will be my legacy.” There is one area though in which pricing power has gone against him–the English Premier League. He’d wanted to buy Arsenal, his favourite team, after completing his refinery. It was the culmination of a long journey. The only trophy asset after his 108 ft foot yacht Mariya, named after his mother and eldest daughter. “The Arabs and the Americans have spoiled the game by bidding billions. Now it’s impossible to buy,” he complained. But that’s one of the few fields in which Dangote has found himself on the losing side. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
Every weekday, the Investing Club releases the Homestretch; an actionable afternoon update just in time for the last hour of trading. View More
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch â an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Market moves: It's been a relatively muted session for the market Thursday, with the S & P 500 trading in a tight range. If the index were to finish the day in positive territory, it would mark its third straight session of gains and eight in the past nine, going back to Nov. 21, when New York Fed President John Williams revived hopes for an interest rate cut at December's central bank policymaking meeting. A rate cut next week would be the third of the year. Since Williams' comments, the S & P 500 has rallied almost 5% and is trading near its record close of 6,890.89 on Oct. 28. The rebound has been so sharp that the S & P Short Range Oscillator , our trusted technical momentum gauge, has swung from flirting with oversold territory at minus 3.73% on Nov. 20 to overbought at positive 4.06%, as of Wednesday's close. The market's current overbought status is still mild enough that it can work itself off through rotation, but we could lighten up on one or two more of our positions if the Oscillator becomes more egregiously overbought. An Oscillator reading of 4% or above indicates overbought. A reading of at minus 4% of lower signals oversold. Every time we mention the Oscillator, we're flooded with requests from Club members: "How can we access?" Well, we went directly to the source, our partners at MarketEdge, the data provider that publishes the Oscillator. We're excited to share that Club members can now get an exclusive discount for this helpful tool. Click here . What to expect : We're starting to see a bunch of analysts publish previews of GE Vernova 's investor update this coming Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. ET. We'll likely hear management update 2025 guidance, provide an outlook for 2026, and update its long-term 2028 outlook. At the company's investor update last December, management guided to $45 billion of revenue by 2028 with 14% adjusted EBITDA margins, and $14 billion of cumulative free cash flow from 2025 through 2028. Given the recent strength in orders at the company and demand expectations for gas turbine and electrification products and services, many analysts expect management to raise its 2028 outlook. How high? Analysts at Deutsche Bank wrote Monday that they anticipate the 2028 revenue guide will increase $3 billion to $48 billion, with adjusted EBITDA margins rising to 16% and cumulative free cash flow up to $18 billion. Deutsche Bank said these targets will still sit below the sell-side consensus, which is around $53 billion in 2028 revenue, with adjusted EBITDA margins of 17.8%. The analysts are comfortable with their call because management is conservative and will want to leave room for upside. "While we do not foresee many major surprises vs. buy-side expectations, we think a bullish message on 2028 is likely enough to keep the bull case alive and well," Deutsche Bank said. GEV YTD mountain GE Vernova YTD GE Vernova shares have had a nice run ahead of the event. Thanks to Thursday's roughly 5% rally, the stock has gained about 13% over the past two weeks and is getting closer to its record close of $664.55 set in early August. Shares of GE Vernova have nearly doubled year to date. Up next: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ulta Beauty, DocuSign, Rubrik, and SentinelOne report earnings after Thursday's closing bell. Victoria's Secret reports quarterly results before Friday's open. On the data side, Friday morning, the long-delayed September PCE index is out. It's the Fed's favorite inflation measure. The University of Michigan also issues preliminary December consumer sentiment and inflation expectations data. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Losing a job can be among the worst life events. There is one thing you'll want to do first: apply for unemployment benefits, experts say. View More
Thana Prasongsin | Moment | Getty Images This year has been the worst for layoffs since the start of the pandemic, a new report shows â and those newly unemployed workers are entering a tough job market. While a job loss can leave workers scrambling to keep up with bills like their mortgage or children's college tuition, there is one thing it's important to do before you reassess your expenses or talk to lenders, experts say: apply for unemployment benefits.It can take weeks for the benefits to reach you, and minimizing that wait can help you shore up your financial situation. "After a layoff, workers should apply for unemployment benefits immediately to help cover essential expenses and preserve their savings for true emergencies," said certified financial planner Douglas Boneparth, president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York. Boneparth is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. More from Financial Advisor Playbook:Here's a look at other stories affecting the financial advisor business.The first step workers should take after a layoff, as job losses soarPolitics is now the No. 1 money worry, financial planners sayHow to maximize Trump's bigger SALT deduction limit for 2025Use FSA money before it expires. Many 'aren't aware that they have a deadline': ExpertHow Trump's 'big beautiful bill' could affect your Giving Tuesday tax breakCash can feel safe, 'but it doesn't grow your wealth,' portfolio strategist saysSome retirees face a âsurvivorâs penaltyâ after a spouse dies â hereâs how to avoid itAfter a layoff, don't forget about your 401(k) â it's 'one of your biggest assets,' CFP saysHow to have tricky money talks as a couple: 'Money Together' authorsThis investing move is the 'holy grail of retirement planning,' advisor says U.S. employers have cut 1.17 million jobs through November of this year, with corporate restructuring, artificial intelligence and tariffs to blame, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday. That number is the highest level since 2020, during the Covid pandemic. Payroll processing firm ADP also found this week that the labor market slowdown intensified in November, with private companies cutting 32,000 workers.Here's what workers need to know about unemployment benefits. Documents you'll need to file for unemployment Before filing for unemployment benefits, you'll want to gather the following information, said Michele Evermore, senior fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance: Details of your pay over the last 18 months.Names of previous employers during that period and their addresses.Your Social Security number.Your state-issued identification, such as a driver's license.Any documentation from your last employer, including information related to your termination. Apply in the state where you worked If you live in one state and work in another, you'll want to apply for the aid in the state where you worked, experts say. On a DOL-sponsored website, you can find the contact information for state unemployment agencies.State agencies should pay benefits within three weeks of your application, but delays have become more common since the pandemic, Evermore said."It's probably going to get worse as layoffs increase," she added. Maximum benefits vary by state Maximum unemployment benefit amounts vary by state. For example, California's maximum weekly benefit is $450; in Florida, the cap is $275, Evermore said. Recently, the maximum weekly benefit in New York rose to $869. Standard benefit timeline is 26 weeks, but not always In most states, claimants can get unemployment benefits for 26 weeks, Evermore said â although it's less in some states. In Florida, for example, the benefits last for just 12 weeks. Unemployment benefits are subject to taxes Unemployment benefits are taxed at the federal level, and many states tax them, too. When you start to receive the payments, your state will typically give you the option to have taxes withheld, Evermore said. It's a good idea to take that option to avoid a potentially hefty tax bill later, she said.
Heading into 2026, the political environment has become the top concern clients are raising with their advisor, according to a new report by the CFP Board. View More
Sdi Productions | Istock | Getty Images On the heels of the longest-ever federal government shutdown, shifting tariff policies and heightened stock market volatility, many Americans are worried about what political uncertainty may cost them. Heading into 2026, the political environment has become the top concern clients are raising with their advisor, according to a new report by the CFP Board, the credentialing organization behind the certified financial planner designation for financial advisors.Roughly half of CFPs surveyed said politics dominates financial planning conversations, even over money matters like inflation and market fluctuations. The CFP Board in November polled 322 financial advisors who hold the designation."A lot of people were attaching their outlook to overall economic and political conditions," said Kevin Roth, the CFP Board's managing director of research. More from Financial Advisor Playbook:Here's a look at other stories affecting the financial advisor business.The first step workers should take after a layoff, as job losses soarPolitics is now the No. 1 money worry, financial planners sayHow to maximize Trump's bigger SALT deduction limit for 2025Use FSA money before it expires. Many 'aren't aware that they have a deadline': ExpertHow Trump's 'big beautiful bill' could affect your Giving Tuesday tax breakCash can feel safe, 'but it doesn't grow your wealth,' portfolio strategist saysSome retirees face a âsurvivorâs penaltyâ after a spouse dies â hereâs how to avoid itAfter a layoff, don't forget about your 401(k) â it's 'one of your biggest assets,' CFP saysHow to have tricky money talks as a couple: 'Money Together' authorsThis investing move is the 'holy grail of retirement planning,' advisor says Potential changes to tax policy stemming from President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill," which Congress passed in July, and the possible effects of Trump's tariffs are fueling the concern, the surveyed financial planners said.Consumer confidence has also turned sharply lower, according to the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for November. Uncertainty is 'creeping up' "The uncertainty we see caused by economics and politics is definitely creeping up a little bit," Roth said. "CFP professionals have a unique relationship," he said, as they are often the first to know about the financial worries that weigh on clients. While many of the CFPs surveyed said clients are "cautious," "uncertain" or "anxious," most still said clients have an optimistic outlook for the year ahead, according to the CFP Board report. About 82% said clients expect to achieve long-term goals and many have clients who are also planning major expenditures such as vacations, home repairs or renovations. Other studies also show that most Americans are more confident about 2026. Nearly 3 in 5 adults plan to take a financial risk, such as buying a home or starting a business, in the year ahead, according to one NerdWallet report. Still, feelings going into the new year are mixed, NerdWallet also found: More than one-third of Americans are optimistic about their financial situation but nearly as many feel anxious or stressed."While the state of the broader economy can certainly play a role in these considerations, much of the decision should rest on the shape of your finances, including the amount of savings you have and the debt you're currently carrying or may take on," NerdWallet's senior economist Elizabeth Renter said in a statement. Having a personalized financial plan can help Working with an advisor on a financial plan for short- and long-term goals is an important first step, many experts say. "When uncertainty grows, the value of professional financial planning becomes even more clear," CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller said in a statement. Having well-defined goals and a personalized financial plan can help weather the political or economic ups and downs, Roth also said. "When you develop a financial plan, you are supposed to be less reactive to day-to-day or week-to-week actions," Roth said.Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.
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