Bitcoin jumps

Bitcoin jumps 20 percent, mystery order seen as catalyst

Tom Wilson, Tommy Wilkes

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin soared to its highest in almost five months on Tuesday, pulling smaller cryptocurrencies up with it, after a major order by an anonymous buyer set off a frenzy of computer-driven trading, analysts said.

The original cryptocurrency soared as much as 20 percent in Asian trading, breaking $5,000 for the first time since mid-November. By mid-afternoon, it had settled around $4,800, still up 16 percent in its biggest one-day gain since April last year.

Shocker for Cryptocurrency

Shocker for Cryptocurrency Clients: 'All of Your Money Is Gone'

After Quadriga CEO reportedly died, the mystery deepens

By Jenn Gidman

Who has all of Quadriga's money?   (Getty Images/Jirapong Manustrong)

A CEO's untimely death, hard-to-crack passwords, and up to $190 million in missing cryptocurrency.

Losing $200M per Month

Netflix may be losing $192M per month from piracy, cord cutting study claims

Sarah Perez@sarahintampa

As many as 1 in 5 people today are mooching off of someone else’s account when streaming video from Netflix,  Hulu  or Amazon Video, according to a new study from CordCutting.com. Of these, Netflix tends to be pirated for the longest period — 26 months, compared with 16 months for Amazon Prime Video or 11 months for Hulu. That could be because Netflix freeloaders often mooch off their family instead of a friend — 48 percent use their parents’ login, while another 14 percent use their sister or brother’s credentials, the firm found.

Target vs. Victoria Secret

Embattled Victoria's Secret's latest competitor: Target

• Target is launching three new brands this spring for lingerie and sleepwear.
• The move could hurt Victoria's Secret, which is struggling to grow sales as women steer away from its bras and underwear in favor of size-inclusive brands.
• Target's new brands are called Auden (for intimates), Stars Above (for lounge and sleepwear) and Colsie (for lounge, sleepwear and intimates).

AT&T/Time Warner Merger

AT&T's merger with Time Warner will stand, after DOJ loses its appeal and drops the case

• In June, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled the $85.4 billion bid was legal, and imposed no conditions on the merger.
• The Department of Justice appealed the ruling in July, after AT&T formally closed the deal.
• The case holds wide-ranging impact on the type of vertical integrations that have become common among tech and telecom companies, and has taken on a political bent with regard to the Trump administration.

Sears Saved

Sears saved from liquidation: Judge approves bankruptcy sale to ex-CEO Eddie Lampert

Charisse Jones and Nathan Bomey

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A federal judge on Thursday approved a last-minute deal to save Sears Holdings in shrunken form, giving the death-defying retailer a second chance at life.

Judge Robert Drain authorized a deal to sell the major remaining assets of Sears to its chairman, largest shareholder and former CEO Eddie Lampert's hedge fund, ESL Investments.

Your Retirement

The One Thing You're Doing That Could Kill Your Retirement

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Even millionaires aren't immune.

ALIX LANGONE / MONEY.COM

What’s the first thing you did the last time you got a raise?

If it involved buying a designer handbag or an $800 Lego set, you may want to think twice the next time you feel entitled to splurge after a paycheck bump.

Business Downsizing

JCPenney is ditching appliances and most furniture from its stores

By David Goldman

New York (CNN Business)JCPenney is trying to reinvent itself again. It's getting rid of appliances and most furniture to return its focus to clothing sales.

The company hasn't turned a profit since 2010, and it forecast several more years of losses. New CEO Jill Soltau pledged "quick action" to put JCPenney on the path to profitability.

Rebooted Toys R Us

Rebooted Toys R Us intends to have stores open by holiday season

s
Toys R Us liquidated its stores last year.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Toys R Us fans in the U.S. should see the iconic brand re-emerge in some form by this holiday season.

Smaller Tax Refunds

Under new Trump tax code, average refund is 8.4 percent smaller

Frustrated taxpayers are using the hashtag #GOPTaxScam to vent about their smaller than expected tax refunds.

By Alyssa Newcomb

The first tax season with President Donald Trump's new tax plan is under way and it’s off to a disappointing start for early filers. The average refund this year is down 8.4 percent, to $1,865, for the week ending Feb. 1, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service.

Financial News

Disney studio profits drop without ‘Star Wars,’ but earnings beat Wall Street expectations

By RYAN FAUGHNDER

Disney studio profits drop without ‘Star Wars,’ but earnings beat Wall Street expectations
Emily Blunt appears in a scene from Disney's "Mary Poppins Returns." (Jay Maidment / Disney Enterprises)

Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday reported lower first quarter results from its juggernaut movie studio, which for the first time in years did not release a “Star Wars” film during holidays.

50-20-30 Rule

How the 50-20-30 rule can help you get out of debt and save money

"Fifty percent is for needs, thirty percent is for wants, twenty percent is for savings"

Once you’ve got an amount you feel comfortable in emergency savings, you can start contributing to an investment like an IRA or a mutual fund.lovelyday12 / Getty Images

By Julie Compton

If you are struggling to save money and pay off debt, the 50-20-30 rule can help you budget in accordance with your financial goals, according to Rob Berger, founder of The Dough Roller. He says the simple rule provides flexibility, whether you want to pay off debt, save, invest or all three.

Financial News

Trump Era’s Biggest Winner Is Jeff Bezos, Presidential Nemesis

By Justin Sink

•  Bezos fortune has grown $66.2 billion, making him richest man
•  Wealth doubled even as Trump threatened action against Amazon

Two years into Donald Trump’s presidency, the man who has profited most from the era is his foremost nemesis in the business world, Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos.

Super Bowl Salaries

Here's what the lowest paid player in the Super Bowl makes

Kerri Anne Renzulli

Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge will be the lowest-paid player on the field during Super Bowl LIII.

When the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams take the field on Sunday for Super Bowl LIII at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, some of the players may be more motivated by the prize money that comes with a Super Bowl title than the glory of winning.

Economy in January

Economy added 304,000 jobs in January, despite longest government shutdown in history

The January figure is the 100th straight month of additions to the labor force.

A resume changes hands at a TechFair LA career fair on March 8, 2018. Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg via Getty Images

By Lucy Bayly

The economy added 304,000 jobs in January, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — far more than the 165,000 that economists had predicted.

Crypto Coin Problem

Crypto Exchange Says It Can't Repay $190 Million to Clients After Founder Dies With Only Password

Tom McKay

A metal token representing a bitcoin. File photo.
Photo: Rick Bowmer (AP)

Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX says it cannot repay most of $190 million in client holdings after its 30-year-old founder Gerald Cotten, the only person who knew the passwords to its “cold storage,” unexpectedly died in India in December 2018, Coindesk reported on Friday.

World-Famous Banking Family

For World-Famous Banking Family, an Era Is Over

The Rothschilds sell off historic estate in Austria

By Neal Colgrass

Baron Guy de Rothschild, left, curator of the Versailles castle, Gerald Van Der Kemp, second left, and Princess Grace of Monaco arrive at the Versailles castle for a gala evening, in this Nov. 28, 1973...   (AP Photo/Paul Roque, file)

Good on your 19th and 20th-century history? Then you'll appreciate that this marks the end of an era, Bloomberg reports.

Work From Home Jobs

These Are the Best Companies With Work From Home Jobs in 2019 

A new ranking of the top 100 companies with work from home jobs this year has some company names you may recognize.

LAUREN PHILLIPS / REALSIMPLE.COM 

Work from home companies are great because they do exactly what they say: For certain positions, they allow employees to work from home or, more accurately, work remotely. (Most people who work from home also often work from coffee shops, libraries, restaurants, and more, hence the growing popularity of the term work from anywhere.)

World's Richest

World's 26 richest people now worth the same as the poorest 3.8 billion

By GINA SALAMONE

Just 1% of the total wealth of the richest man in the world, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is equal to nearly the entire health budget of Ethiopia. (Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us / Corbis via Getty Images)

The astounding gap between the superrich and poor is growing even wider.

Last year, 26 people were worth as much as the 3.8 billion poorest people in the world, down from 43 people the year before, according to a new report from anti-poverty nonprofit Oxfam.

Financial News

The elite at Davos may have just destroyed the 2019 stock market rally

Brian Sozzi
Editor-at-Large

When the wealthy masterminds calling the shots in Corporate America collectively band together and sing from the same hymn sheet and say the state of the world isn’t that wonderful, it’s likely that a market rally built on pure hope is at risk.