Bob Lutz, a renowned “car czar” and the blunt-talking former vice chairman of General Motors GM, +1.90%  , has never really been one to soft pedal his opinions, no matter how controversial or curmudgeonly they may seem. In fact, the former Marine once called climate change “a total crock of shit” and said rival Toyota’s → Read More

Bloomberg News/Landov A construction worker hammers a board into place on the roof a home under construction in Florence, Oregon. Hurricane devastation in the Carolinas is unlikely to impact large home builders, with home buying activity simply being pushed farther into the future, not stopped altogether, according to a new research note. “After 3-6 weeks → Read More

Donald Trump recently claimed that he and his administration are “making Social Security stronger.” The fact checkers have said that’s not so. They collectively agreed that Social Security’s finances have worsened since President Trump assumed office. Moreover, they asserted that his economic policies and legislation were in part responsible for the deterioration. When the 2018 → Read More

Bloomberg News/Landov American companies have returned some profits held overseas after the Trump tax cuts, but most of their earnings remain parked offshore. American companies have returned some of their profits held overseas after President Trump cut corporate taxes for the first time in 31 years, but most of their $3 trillion moneypot remains parked → Read More

The world’s oceans are not the only ecosystem polluted by plastics. New research has found that mosquitoes can absorb microplastics while still at the larval stage that remain in their bodies when they transform into adults, and that can then be transferred to birds and other creatures that eat the insects. The research suggests that → Read More

To hear some politicians tell it, unfair trade and labor practices have been killing American factory jobs and punishing the U.S. economy for years — and 2018 is finally the year we fight back. But while that jingoistic worldview may play well to some, the realities of modern manufacturing are more complex. The job-killing boogeyman → Read More

Tilray’s monstrous rally, sparked by the DEA’s approval of its plan to import weed to the U.S., continues to blow minds across Finance Twitter and, understandably, has investors jonesing for a piece of the action. In midday trades, Tilray’s stock TLRY, +49.08%  was up more than 40% to $220. Just last month, it was trading → Read More

MARKETWATCH FRONT PAGE Investors shorting the stocks in the cannabis industry ahead of Canada’s Oct. 17 legalization date have lost $490 million this year, as the sector has rallied in the wake of a massive investment from a beverage giant, among other positive news. See full story. How trade-war fears have become less of a → Read More

Bloomberg News Gary Cohn, former director of the U.S. National Economic Council, was approached by Wells Fargo directors. Gary Cohn rebuffed overtures from Wells Fargo directors to be its next chief executive earlier this year, The Post has learned. Board members at the scandal-ridden bank had been pursuing the Wall Street banker — who stepped → Read More

Overvalued stocks and rising interest rates suggest bonds might now be a better investment. But there’s a strong argument that shares of well-established companies with attractive dividend yields are much better long-term investments than bonds are. Money managers use all sorts of complicated analyses and charts to explain why you should invest in, or avoid, → Read More