Make Money

As of January 31, 2019 at 09:50PM, 1 BTC equals 3442.5801 USD.

Register PIVOT to get BTC Bonus：PIVOT is a community for cryptocurrency investors. 
via free bitcoin

Register PIVOT to get BTC Bonus：PIVOT is a community for cryptocurrency investors. 
via free bitcoin
January 31, 2019 at 08:15PM

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve said it will be "patient" on any future interest-rate moves and signaled flexibility on the path for reducing its balance sheet, in a substantial pivot away from its bias just last month toward higher borrowing costs.

The Federal Open Market Committee "will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate to support" a strong labor market and inflation near 2 percent, the central bank said in a statement Wednesday following a two-day meeting in Washington.

In a separate special statement on Wednesday, the Fed said it's "prepared to adjust any of the details for completing balance sheet normalization in light of economic and financial developments." The central bank also said it would be ready to alter the balance sheet's size and composition if the economy warrants a looser monetary policy than the federal funds could achieve on its own.

U.S. stocks rallied after the announcement, Treasury yields fell and the dollar sank.

The statements mark a broader shift toward risk management and follow months of criticism from President Donald Trump, who hectored the central bank for raising rates too much.

The FOMC dropped previous language calling for "some further gradual increases" in interest rates and opened the door for the next move to be either up or down, as it cited "global economic and financial developments and muted inflation pressures." Policy makers also omitted a line saying risks to the outlook are "roughly balanced."

The decision comes after Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks earlier in January assuring that officials will be patient in raising rates helped to calm investors, who had perceived he was overly dismissive of sharp stock drops and volatility.

"The U.S. economy is in a good place and we will continue to use our monetary policy tools to help keep it there," Powell said at the start of his press conference. The central bank expects continued solid growth this year, though at a slower pace than in 2018, he said. Amid the crosscurrents of a strong U.S. economy and some uncertainties abroad, a "common-sense" approach means the Fed will patiently await "greater clarity" and rely on economic data to guide policy, Powell said.

On the balance sheet, Powell said the normalization process will be completed "sooner and with a larger balance sheet" than previous estimates.

Ample Reserves

In another significant move, the committee said will continue to run monetary policy in an ample-reserve regime, where control over short-term interest rates "is exercised primarily through the setting of the Federal Reserve's administered rates, and in which active management of the supply of reserves is not required." That suggests the FOMC has will set policy with a larger balance sheet than would be the case if it went back to its pre-crisis approach.

"It's hard to read this as anything other than the Fed has capitulated to the market," said Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Plc. "The market will read this as they're done with the hiking cycle and that a halting in the balance sheet runoff is more likely than another rate hike."

The 10-0 vote on the decision held the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent. Powell's press briefing on Wednesday inaugurates a new approach of briefing the media after every meeting of the FOMC — eight times a year — instead of every other meeting. Policy makers will still update economic projections quarterly.

The statement was in line with the views of more than two-thirds of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News last week, who said the Fed wouldn't keep the language on "some further gradual increases" and would instead signal greater uncertainty, refer to patience or remove the line entirely.

Officials gathered in Washington with less visibility on the economy after a five-week government shutdown delayed the release of some statistics including December retail sales and fourth-quarter gross domestic product.

Even without a full flow of data, the Fed said household spending "has continued to grow strongly" while business investment growth had moderated since earlier in 2018. The committee said economic activity "has been rising at a solid rate" and job gains have been strong. There was no reference to the shutdown.

As the central bank does every January now, the Fed also published a separate statement on its longer-run goals and policy strategy. The statement reaffirmed the central bank's 2 percent inflation target, and again stressed its symmetry, meaning it would be concerned if it persistently ran above or below that target.

As of January 30, 2019 at 09:50PM, 1 BTC equals 3469.4099 USD.

Register PIVOT to get BTC Bonus：PIVOT is a community for cryptocurrency investors. 
via free bitcoin

Register PIVOT to get BTC Bonus：PIVOT is a community for cryptocurrency investors. 
via free bitcoin
January 30, 2019 at 08:15PM

(Bloomberg) — Foxconn Technology Group is re-thinking its approach to a cutting edge display factory in Wisconsin that was part of a promise to create 13,000 jobs in the U.S.

For Rachel Brosnahan, her new fashion gig is deeply personal.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel actor announced Wednesday that she is the star of the new spring campaign for Frances Valentine—a label that Brosnahan's aunt, the late Kate Spade, started in 2016.

As the niece of the late designer, who died when she took her own life at the age of 55 last June, Brosnahan said that it seemed like "the most natural thing" for her to honor her aunt's legacy. "When you lose someone you love very much, you spend a lot of time trying to think about how to keep their spirit alive…how they can live on for you, and that's through memories, but also in Katy's case, there is so much of her left behind," she said during a Today Show interview Wednesday morning with Hoda Kotb.

"This was an opportunity to celebrate her life and her legacy and how much she meant not only to us but to so many other people, and the impact she's had on the fashion industry. It was a really special experience," Brosnahan added.

Kate Spade's iconic fashion businesses had long been a family affair. Spade started Frances Valentine with her husband Andy in 2016, naming it after her daughter Frances Beatrix following a departure from the namesake flagship. Brosnahan's grandmother and Spade's mother, June, was a powerful influence on the accessories.

The vintage-inspired collection is full of brightly colorful bags and floral patterns available on the Frances Valentine company website.

As a playful touch, one of the square bags was even named "Midge" after Brosnahan's character in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

One-third of all donations on the popular fundraising site GoFundMe goes towards health care costs, the platform's CEO told CBS News.

On Monday, GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon said nearly 250,000 campaigns have been set up through the site to help pay for health care costs, raising $650 million in contributions.

Founded in 2010, GoFundMe helps users create fundraisers for dozens of categories, including education, faith and business. Solomon said he never expected such a large portion of campaigns to be focused on health care.

"When we started in 2010, it wasn't purposefully set up and built to be a substitute for medical insurance," Solomon told CBS MoneyWatch. "We weren't ever set up to be a health care company and we still are not. But over time, people have used GoFundMe for the most important issues they are faced with."

Over the past few years, crowdfunding — raising small amounts of money from a large number of donors online — has become one of the main ways families seek to pay medical expenses.

One possible reason for the rising demand in crowdfunding health care costs could be the drop in health insurance coverage in recent years.

According to a new report from Gallup, uninsured rates in the U.S. have reached a four-year high, with nearly 13.7% adults in the U.S. reporting they are uninsured. Coverage is at its lowest since the Affordable Care Act's individual health insurance mandate was put into effect in 2014, Gallup said. According to the report, about seven million more adults are without health insurance since the number started rising in 2016.

During the recent government shutdown, furloughed workers turned to GoFundMe to help pay for medical expenses, including CPT Amy Chandler who need help funding her battle with breast cancer and a Maryland grandfather seeking help for his diabetic granddaughter.

Solomon told CBS that the site has turned into a "take action button" for a number of causes.

"People want to help, and we actually solve big problems," Solomon said. "While we didn't set out to be one of the most influential health care companies in the world, if we have to serve that purpose, I feel very proud about that."

(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. projected quarterly revenue that came close to Wall Street's estimates on Tuesday, suggesting a punishing end to 2018 hasn't gotten much worse.

The Congressional Budget Office on Monday delivered its estimated economic cost of the five-week partial government shutdown: $11 billion dollars, with $3 billion in permanent economic losses.

Those numbers are now being leveraged for partisan ends on either side of the political spectrum. But even the CBO admitted that they don't provide a full picture of the shutdown's cost. The estimates "do not incorporate other, more indirect negative effects of the shutdown, which are more difficult to quantify but were probably becoming more significant as it continued," the agency said.

Indeed, the ripple effects of the shutdown itself is making it harder for economists and other researchers to grasp the shutdown's full impact. That's in part because important information-gathering agencies were among the government offices shuttered for more than a month during the country's longest-ever shutdown, leaving experts without vital data even now.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), which provides official macroeconomic statistics, was closed during the shutdown. Also shuttered was the U.S. Census Bureau, depriving business leaders and policymakers of important economic indicators. (The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which among other things is responsible for releasing monthly unemployment numbers, was open.) While the shutdown is over, those agencies need time to collect and disseminate data that would've otherwise been handled during the closures. Those delays are having consequences for researchers, policymakers, business leaders and more.

"When you get [information] delays, you get a slowdown of policymaking decision making that depends on that information," says Erica Groshen, the former Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "People were making decisions without the full information that they hoped for or expected during that time."

While some data from the shutdown period will be delivered after a delay, other economic data routinely collected by the shuttered departments will be permanently lost, Groshen says.

Good economic data has always been important both in the private sector and government. But Steve Landefeld, former director of the BEA, says that it's more critical today than ever before. "We're increasingly in a world where we are especially data-driven in our monetary policy," he says.

One especially important economic indicator is the BEA's quarterly assessment of the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. The BEA said Monday that the initial GDP estimates for the fourth quarter of 2018, originally scheduled for release on Jan. 30, will be delayed. It's unclear how long we'll go without updated GDP numbers. National Economic Director Larry Kudlow said during a press conference Monday that they will be issued in about a week, though the BEA hasn't specified a release date.

Landefeld directed the BEA during the pronged 1996 government shutdown, and when the government reopened, his agency had to forgo releasing the advance estimate entirely. "We came back, not quite as late as this, but we had lost so much data by that point … that we weren't going to make a bunch of assumptions," he says.

For economists trying to make sense of mixed economic signals in the current period of strong labor markets alongside stock market upheavals, GDP numbers are essential to figuring out America's true economic situation.

"This is a time of tremendous uncertainty," says David Berger, an economist at Northwestern University. "The GDP numbers are some of the biggest numbers that we see to give us an indication of how the economy's doing … we just don't have that much idea what's going on in terms of output."

"We're flying blind a little bit," he adds. "It may take us a little while, a month, a quarter, to figure out what's going on in the economy."

The lack of data could make it harder for economists, journalists and others to fact-check politicians' claims about the economy. During the shutdown, President Trump continued to tout that the economy was "doing great." Looking at some metrics, that appears true on the surface. Employers added nearly double the expected number of jobs in December (though that was largely before the shutdown began on Dec. 22). And as the shutdown dragged on, the stock market recovered from its initial shock. But that information doesn't offer a complete picture of the economy without other statistics that, because of the shutdown, we simply don't have yet.

"Although BEA and Census were shut down, they left their websites running (thank goodness) and had already posted the figures we needed for GDP, corporate profits, trade deficits, and homeownership," says Brooks Jackson, director emeritus and chief financial writer at FactCheck.org, in an email. But he adds that "getting anything more current is going to be a problem going forward, however."

Others caution that any further shutdowns will only compound the problem.

"The fact that we have delayed statistics is going to make it harder to figure out the direct effect of the shutdown, but also more importantly what the overall state of the economy is at," says Matthew Shapiro, an economics professor at the University of Michigan. "Until there's a more permanent agreement on funding the government, uncertainly on policy is going to be a drag on the economy."

For some in the economics world, the greatest loss caused by the shutdown may not be the missing or delayed information, but the damage done to the economic information collectors themselves. Agencies like the BEA have thin margins for improving their data collection efforts, and a one-month shutdown can cripple improvement efforts for a whole year. Moreover, like in other areas of government, prolonged shutdowns that furlough federal workers also make public service less appealing — especially for the highly skilled workers at agencies like the BEA, many of whom would be able to find more lucrative positions in the private sector.

"Trying to keep the best and the brightest with this going on, I don't think it's tenable," says Landefeld. "There's that long-term damage too."

As of January 29, 2019 at 09:50PM, 1 BTC equals 3419.98 USD.

Register PIVOT to get BTC Bonus：PIVOT is a community for cryptocurrency investors. 
via free bitcoin

In a partnership with Apple, health insurance company Aetna announced Tuesday a new app and wellness program that will track and offer personalized health recommendations to its customers, and grant them the option to redeem points for gift cards or toward payments for an Apple Watch by meeting activity goals and other health-related challenges. In short, you can expect a free Apple Watch as long as you're taking care of yourself.

To participate in Aetna's program, which kicks off later this spring, users will need either an iPhone 5S or newer, or an Apple Watch Series 1 or newer. The announced Attain app — which resembles Apple's in-house apps — will provide personalized activity goals based on your age, sex, and weight, and challenge you to engage in activities like getting more sleep. It turns your activity and challenges into points, which can be redeemed for items like gift cards should you not want to put them toward the payment of your Apple Watch.

The app will also make recommendations based on both your health records and the activity measured by your Apple Watch. "As we learn over time, the goal is to make more customized recommendations that will help members accomplish their goals and live healthier lives," Apple COO Jeff Williams said in a statement. You'll receive alerts when it's time to schedule a visit with your physician, or for prescription refill reminders and flu shots.

Aetna isn't the first insurance company to offer wearable devices to its customers, just the first to partner with Apple in such a prominent fashion. Aetna and Apple teamed up in 2016 with a similar program, noting that "90 percent of participants" reported at least one health benefit while using their Apple Watch. Aetna also cited a study from RAND Corporation claiming an average activity increase of 34 percent when a "loss-framed incentive" like being forced to pay out of pocket for your ostensibly free Apple Watch was introduced.

Companies like UnitedHealthcare offer wellness programs that use devices like a Fitbit to track steps and reward users with a discounted device. Recently, John Hancock Insurance announced its own wellness incentive program, complete with Apple Watch payment program, though customers will have to cough up $25 up front. Both Aetna's and John Hancock's wellness incentive programs are based on a rewards program developed by wellness and insurance company Vitality Group.

Health insurance providers certainly have an incentive to improve their customers' overall health, as that could reduce the number of claims they have to pay out over long term. And a free Apple Watch will no doubt appeal to many people looking to try out the wearable or improve their health, though skeptical customers might be scared off by the prospect of providing even more health data to insurance companies. In 2018, the West Virginia's Public Employment Insurance Agency voted to scrap a wellness incentive program with Humana Go365 that would increase customer deductibles and insurance rates if certain health and activity goals were not met. But Aetna says the information gathered by Attain "will not be used for underwriting, premium or coverage decisions," and will be used only to improve the app's custom recommendations. Furthermore, Aetna says the data gathered will be encrypted and fully HIPAA compliant, stored securely by both Aetna and Apple.

Register PIVOT to get BTC Bonus：PIVOT is a community for cryptocurrency investors. 
via free bitcoin
January 29, 2019 at 08:15PM