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Can the rip-roaring good times for the stock market last?

Rock bottom interest rates and reduced corporate taxes have helped buoy stock market gains in the past decade.
"There are other parts of the world where stock markets have been doing well recently, but nothing quite as extraordinary as the kind of scale of what's been happening in the U.S.," said The Economist's Zanny Minton Beddoes.
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Wage hikes lighten the burden of inflation, but it still weighs on some workers

Dec 18, 2023
Average pay raises last year slightly outpaced inflation but the price rises of previous years are still hurting some.
While prices for things like food and transportation take up a larger percentage of lower-income workers' budgets, they're unlikely to come back down.
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Earnings season sparks hopes of upside surprises

Oct 10, 2023
Optimism is growing that earnings could top expectations and provide a boost to the stock markets.
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What do UPS earnings say about where companies are putting their priorities?

Aug 8, 2023
The company posts a revenue dip and says the pay levels in the new labor agreement with the Teamsters are higher than it had planned.
UPS reported that daily package volume slid nearly 10% in the second quarter as customers looked elsewhere amid concerns over a potential work stoppage.
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As earnings season rolls on, what's the mood of corporate America?

Oct 26, 2022
So far this earnings season, most S&P 500 companies that have reported, beat revenue expectations. 
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Earnings calls are boring by design

Oct 21, 2022
Yes, they really are that boring on purpose.
Quarterly earnings calls are notoriously monotonous and carefully worded in order to avoid misleading investors.
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It's a big week for earnings calls. Here's what Wall Street is listening for.

Oct 10, 2022
Reports from banks like JPMorgan and consumer companies like PepsiCo can reveal spending trends and signal what businesses see coming.
The Federal Reserve and much of Wall Street hope to see a dip in spending reflected in banks' quarterly earnings, which would signal that the Fed's rate hikes are working. 
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For public good, not for profit.

What’s the best way to measure corporate performance?

Feb 18, 2022
“There isn’t one,” said Patrick Badolato, a professor of accounting. But investors and analysts use “net income” and “EBITDA” in their attempts.
Obscure financial metrics "seem to tell a nice and neat and tidy story, and the reality is messy and nuanced,” said Patrick Badolato, an associate professor of accounting at the University of Texas.
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Pandemic-fueled demand for traveling nurses creates growing earnings disparity

Jan 10, 2022
Pay for travel nurses is skyrocketing, making some staff nurses question why they stay.
The pay for traveling nurses has spiked, creating a wider pay gap for staff nurses.
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Women gamers finding it difficult to level up earnings in esports

Sep 13, 2021
Among the top 300 moneymakers in esports, none of them are women.
Women gamers have made plenty of progress in gaming, except in esports, where anything approached equal pay is elusive.
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