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Jeep and Chrysler parent company Stellantis is offering buyouts to some of its 13,000 U.S. salaried employees.
The automaker cited the buyouts as a way to assist in its pivot to focus more on electric vehicles and software services.
Stellantis declined to say how many domestic salaried employees are eligible for the program or whether it has a target for how many workers it would like to take the packages.

The sign is seen outside of the FCA US LLC Headquarters and Technology Center as it is changed to Stellantis on January 19, 2021 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. – Newly-created European carmaker Stellantis motored its way January 18, 2021 onto the Paris and Milan stock exchanges. Stellantis — created by the merger of France’s PSA and US-Italian rival Fiat Chrysler — is the world’s fourth-biggest automaker by volume. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
JEFF KOWALSKY | AFP | Getty Images

DETROIT – Jeep and Chrysler parent company Stellantis is offering buyouts to some of its 13,000 U.S. salaried employees, as the automaker attempts to cut jobs and realign its workforce for electric vehicles and software services.
To be eligible, employees must be at least 55 years old and have been with the company for 10 years or have 30 years of service and have a pension. Employees were notified of the buyout offers Friday. They have until Dec. 5 to make a decision.

A Stellantis spokeswoman declined to say how many domestic salaried employees are eligible for the program, or whether the automaker has a target for how many workers it would like to take the packages.
“As part of our transformation to become a sustainable tech mobility company and the market leader in low-emission vehicles, in October we offered certain salaried U.S. employees the option to voluntarily separate from the company with a favorable package of benefits that otherwise would not be available to them,” she said in an emailed statement.
The automaker, which was formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France-based Groupe PSA in January 2021, offered similar buyouts a year ago to pension-eligible employees. It cited similar reasons for those buyout offers.
Stellantis is at least the second Detroit automaker this year seeking to cut employee headcounts, as the companies spend billions of dollars in electric vehicles and emerging software services.
Ford Motor said in August it was cutting a total of 3,000 salaried and contract jobs, mostly in North America, as the automaker attempts to lower costs as part of restructuring efforts under CEO Jim Farley.

The country’s largest automaker, General Motors, has made such cuts in past years but not in 2022. GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson on Tuesday said the company has “no plans for any major workforce reductions.”
“We announced really kind of early in the year that we were slowing down hiring and only replacing key departures or critical needs,” Jacobson told reporters when discussing GM’s third-quarter earnings. “That was an effort to try to make sure that we’re slowing down the rate of headcount growth and making sure that we’re proactively positioning ourselves.”

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Scientists at Columbia and Harvard, in two independent studies, found the new boosters and the old shots basically performed the same against omicron BA.5.
Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDA’s vaccine division, said the new studies are small and subject to limitations. Data from larger well-controlled studies are coming soon, he added.
The FDA encouraged people to get boosted ahead of “the wave of Covid-19 that appears to be coming,” Marks said.

A pharmacist prepares to administer COVID-19 vaccine booster shots during an event hosted by the Chicago Department of Public Health at the Southwest Senior Center on September 09, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. The recently authorized booster vaccine protects against the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and the more recent omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5.
Scott Olson | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration said two studies this week showing that the new omicron boosters weren’t that much better than the old shots were too small to come to any real conclusions.
Scientists at Columbia and Harvard, in two independent studies, found the new boosters and the old shots basically performed the same against omicron BA.5, raising doubts about whether the vaccines will live up to high expectations set by the Biden administration. The antibody responses were slightly higher with the omicron boosters, though the studies concluded the difference wasn’t significant.

Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDA’s vaccine division, said the studies are small and subject to limitations. Data from larger well-controlled studies are expected in the near future, he said. Pfizer and Moderna are conducting clinical trials on the new boosters and are expected to provide data later this year.
“It is important to note that even the data from these initial small studies indicate that the bivalent vaccines are generally at least as good or better as the original vaccines in generating an immune response, particularly to BA.4/BA.5 and other newer variants,” Marks said in a statement.
Even modest increases in immune response could have positive consequences for public health, he added.
“FDA continues to encourage eligible individuals to consider receiving an updated vaccine to help protect against the currently circulating Covid-19 variants and the wave of Covid-19 that appears to be coming,” Marks said.
Top U.S. health officials have said the new boosters should perform better because they are now matched to the dominant circulating strain, omicron BA.5, for the first time since the pandemic began as well as the original strain of Covid that emerged in China. These are called bivalent shots.

The old shots, called monovalent, were designed against the first strain of Covid. Their effectiveness has declined over time as the virus has mutated away from the original strain.
“It is reasonable to expect based on what we know about immunology and the science of this virus that these new vaccines will provide better protection against infection, better protection against transmission and ongoing and better protection against serious illness,” Dr. Ashish Jha, head of the White House Covid task force, told reporters in September.
The Columbia and Harvard studies clearly demonstrate that the boosters work, but it’s still an open question whether they’re going to do a much better job preventing disease, particularly infection and mild illness, than the old shots.
“The take-home lesson is the people who were in high risk groups and benefit from booster doses as we enter this late fall and early winter — those who are immunocompromised, who have high risk medical conditions, who are elderly — they should get this booster dose,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s independent vaccine advisory committee.
But Offit said public health officials should be cautious about overselling the shots as a major upgrade.
“We have to be careful when we get in front of the American public and try and sell this vaccine as something that’s significantly better when all the evidence we have so far doesn’t support that,” said Offit.
The Columbia study looked at 21 people who received the new booster while the Harvard study looked at 18 who got the new shot. Both studies are preprints, which means they haven’t undergone peer review by others in the field.
The Columbia study found that antibody levels were about 1.2 times higher with a bivalent booster compared with a fourth dose of the monovalent shots, while the Harvard study found they were 1.3 times higher. Though the antibody levels were slightly higher with the bivalent booster, the studies both concluded the difference was not significant.
Dr. Dan Barouch, the lead author of the Harvard study, acknowledged that the preprints are small but emphasized that they were conducted independently and basically came to the same conclusion, which is noteworthy.
“It’s important to note that the two studies were done independently. They’re small studies but there are two of them — it’s not just a fluke,” said Barouch, whose lab played a pivotal role in the development of the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine.
Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of vaccine development at Texas Children’s Hospital, said the studies were conducted by two of the best virology labs in the country and the methodology was sound. Still, the findings should be viewed as preliminary until more data comes in, Hotez cautioned.
“We have to be careful not to draw too many conclusions from it,” said Hotez, who also co-led a team that developed a patent-free vaccine called Corbevax that India authorized for use last December.
The studies are of public interest because there’s very limited human data on how the omicron BA.5 boosters perform right now. The FDA authorized the shots in September based on clinical trial from a similar shot developed against the first version of omicron, BA.1.
Pfizer and Moderna were originally developing their new boosters against BA.1, but the FDA asked the companies to switch gears over the summer and target BA.5 instead because that subvariant had become dominant. As a consequence, there wasn’t enough time for Pfizer and Moderna to run clinical trials and present direct human data on the shots before authorization.
The FDA also looked at data directly on the BA.5 shots that came from animal studies. The agency was acting urgently to get the shots out by the fall in the hope they’d do a better job heading off a Covid wave.
But new subvariants are also now gaining ground in the U.S., particularly BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which now represent about 27% of new infections. It’s unclear how the boosters will perform against these subvariants. Health officials expect the shots to continue to provide protection because the subvariants are descended from BA.5.

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This earnings season has been a tough one for our big technology stocks — and as a result, we’ve lowered several of our price targets based on the companies’ latest quarterly reports, forward guidance and commentary. The current rising interest rate environment and the strong U.S. dollar — another 75-basis-point rate hike by the Federal Reserve is expected next week — are also headwinds for some of our more economically sensitive stocks. We made PT cuts on some of those names, as well. However, a price target — whether it’s ours or from the myriad of Wall Street firms that we report on every day — is just one piece of the puzzle for investors to consider when evaluating a stock. Here’s a rundown of the price target changes we recently made in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio we use for the CNBC Investing Club. Apple (AAPL): Despite a solid quarter , strong growth trends, and our positive long-term view on the stock, we trimmed our price target to $175 per share from $195. The reduction is less about Apple shares themselves and more to do with shrinking valuations across the entire tech sector. In our earnings analysis Thursday evening, we reiterated our 1 rating . Apple’s stock rose nearly 8% on Friday, to around $156 a share. Amazon (AMZN): Shares dropped more than 8% on Friday on the back of a weak third quarter, to around $101.88 a share. But we’re sticking with the stock , with Jim Cramer saying that much of the negativity is built in. He added that the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud unit is making so much money that an investor essentially gets the rest of the company for free on a valuation basis. However, we cut our price target to $140 per share from $160, acknowledging headwinds due to rising interest rates and lower earnings estimates. Meta Platforms (META): Given stubbornness when it comes to spending, we had no choice but to downgrade shares to a 2 rating . We also cut our price target to $150 per share from $235 following Wednesday’s announcement of a brutal third quarter and subsequent 25% stock plunge. Shares were up slightly Friday, at around $99 a share, but that’s little consolation. Ford (F): We lowered our price target on the automaker to $16 per share from $18, reflecting a slide in profit estimates and a contraction in stock multiples amid higher interest rates. We liked the earnings beat Ford reported for the third quarter and its solid free cash flow. That’s why we continue to own the stock, even as we maintain our 2 rating . Management’s decision to move its profit target to the low end of its range was prudent in this environment. Alphabet (GOOGL): Shares lost 9% on Wednesday, the day after reporting poor third-quarter results. We lowered our price target for the Google parent to $130 per share from $160. However, in our earnings analysis Tuesday evening we advised investors to sit tight and wait for the dust to settle before making any decisions about the stock. Shares dropped another 2% on Thursday, before finally getting a bounce Friday, climbing 3.75% in afternoon trading, to $95.67 a share. Microsoft (MSFT): Despite our longer-term positive view, we reduced our price target to $300 per share from $375. We said Tuesday evening that Microsoft’s fiscal second-quarter guidance will likely lead to downward earnings and price target revisions from analysts on Wall Street. That certainly did happen. The stock lost 7% on Wednesday and nearly 2% on Thursday. It then regained more than 3% Friday, trading around $234.4 a share. Danaher (DHR): The underlying business remains incredibly healthy and management is best-in-class, which was on display when the life sciences company reported third-quarter results last week . However, considering that customers are reducing inventory and that could pressure new orders in the near term, we trimmed our price target to $320 from $330, while reaffirming our 1 rating. Procter & Gamble (PG): Increased currency headwinds and prolonged margin pressure resulting from higher input costs led us to take our price target down to $160 per share from $165 after P & G reported fiscal first-quarter results last week. We maintain our 1 rating on the stock for its pricing power and its economic downturn-resistant nature. People don’t tend to stop spending on daily necessities and we think those headwinds will flip to tailwinds a few quarters from now. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL, AMZN, META, F, GOOGL, MSFT, DHR and PG. 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.

The logo of Meta Platforms is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022.
Arnd Wiegmann | Reuters

This earnings season has been a tough one for our big technology stocks — and as a result, we’ve lowered several of our price targets based on the companies’ latest quarterly reports, forward guidance and commentary. More

Oct. 28 is the deadline for investors to lock in the record-high 9.62% interest rate for Series I bonds.
TreasuryDirect.gov, the website to buy the Treasury bonds, has become “one of the most visited websites in the federal government” in the past few days, according to the Treasury Department.
I bonds are a nearly risk-free asset whose interest rate resets every six months according to inflation. The new rate is expected to fall to roughly 6.48%.

Shapecharge | E+ | Getty Images

Investors crashed the Treasury Department website for Series I bonds on Friday as they clamored to lock in a record-high interest rate before a key deadline.
I bonds have proven to be a bright spot for investors amid declines in the broad stock and bond markets this year. They are a nearly risk-free asset tied to the rate of inflation; as inflation has soared to its highest level in roughly four decades, so too have returns for I bond investors.

Investors must buy I bonds and receive a confirmation email by Oct. 28 to lock in the 9.62% rate, according to TreasuryDirect. The Treasury will announce the new rate next week.
The rate is expected to drop to roughly 6.48%, based on the latest inflation data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

What a TreasuryDirect outage means for investors

An outage on TreasuryDirect.gov — where investors purchase I bonds — may mean they’re unable to complete an I bond purchase by Friday’s deadline to secure the 9.62% rate. The Treasury Department is not planning to extend the deadline, a department spokesperson said Friday.
The website was intermittently available while CNBC reported the story Friday morning. IsItDownRightNow.com, a service that tests web connectivity, listed the TreasuryDirect site as unresponsive during tests between roughly 10:30 am ET and 11:45 am ET.
TreasuryDirect.gov became “one of the most visited websites in the federal government” in the final days of the 9.62% rate window, the Treasury Department said Friday. It typically hosts just a few thousand concurrent visitors.

During periods when the site was accessible, a note on TreasuryDirect read: “We are currently experiencing unprecedented requests for new accounts and purchases of I Bonds. Due to these volumes, we cannot guarantee customers will be able to complete a purchase by the October 28th deadline for the current rate. Our agents are working to help customers who need assistance as quickly as possible.”
A Treasury official confirmed the site “was briefly unavailable” and had “some moments of slow performance.”
“In response, Treasury quickly remediated underlying issues, and more than doubled the connectivity capacity of the site to allow more customers to successfully set up accounts and purchase bonds,” the official said. “We continue to balance these efforts with our commitment to the overall integrity of the 20-year-old system, and protecting the personal identity and financial assets of our customers.”

Demand has created ‘significant pressure and strain’

The Treasury has issued $1.95 billion in I bonds during just the final week of October, according to department figures sent Friday morning. That’s almost double the $1 billion in all of fiscal 2021.
Demand has skyrocketed in recent days. On Thursday alone, users opened 82,000 new TreasuryDirect accounts, and bought $750 million in I bonds. On Friday, by midday, the department said users had opened another 52,000 accounts and generated more than $500 million in sales.
The volume has put “significant pressure and strain on the 20-year-old TreasuryDirect application,” a department spokesperson said Friday.
The site continues to “see customers successfully create accounts and purchase bonds at record levels,” the spokesperson added. “Any additional updates to TreasuryDirect during the final days of the rate window, such as a delay to the November 1 rate change, would pose significant risk to the operational integrity of the system.”
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How I bond interest rates work

I bond rates shift twice a year based on inflation.
There are two parts to the rate: a fixed rate, which stays the same after purchase, and a variable rate, which shifts twice per year based on inflation.
The Department of the Treasury announces new rates every May and November, and you can estimate the next variable rate about two weeks before from the consumer price index reports released in April and October.
The estimates offer a brief period to know roughly what you’ll earn for one year, which is how long you’ll lose access to the funds after buying.
Investors can still lock in the 9.62% annual interest for six months as long as they complete the purchase by Oct. 28. Six months after your purchase date, you’ll earn an estimated 6.48% for another six months.
“It’s nice to know what interest rates you will get when you’re committing to a 12-month lockup,” said Jeremy Keil, a certified financial planner with Keil Financial Partners in Milwaukee.
While it’s too early to estimate rates for May 2023, buying I bonds before the end of October means you’ll receive the May and November rates for six months each.
“That’s an option if someone wants the best of both worlds,” said Ken Tumin, founder and editor of DepositAccounts.com, who tracks I bonds, among other assets. 

The downsides of buying I bonds

While roughly knowing I bond rates for one year may be appealing, there are a few things to consider before buying, experts say.
“The biggest downside is you are locked in for 12 months,” Keil said. “You cannot take it out for any reason.” And you’ll give up three months of interest by cashing in before five years. 

Still, I bonds may be worth considering for a portion of your emergency savings, as long as there’s other cash readily available for unexpected costs, he said. 
And if you’re expecting college tuition bills in 2024, Keil said it’s a “great time” to secure guaranteed interest for one year, which is tax-free for qualified education expenses.
 — CNBC’s Kate Dore contributed reporting.

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AbbVie (ABBV) reported a mixed second-quarter Friday morning. Despite a pullback in shares after the release, we decided to lock-in a great 61% return and exit a stock that has been one of this year’s winners. We never like to sell on a down day, but multiple quarters in a row of revenue misses raised our concerns about growth and convinced us that taking profits now would be the wise move in this uncertain market. On the top line, net revenue increased 5.4% on an operational basis to $14.81 billion, but that missed the consensus estimate of $14.91 billion. Adjusted earnings per share increased 29.3% to $3.66, beating estimates of $3.57. Included in EPS was 2 cents per share of unfavorable impact related to acquired in-process research and development (IPR & D) and milestone expense. This is an accounting expense for drug stocks that is now required by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Adjusted operating margin of 53.4% was higher than estimates of 52.4%. Bottom line It wasn’t the cleanest quarter from AbbVie. While Skyrizi appears off to a great start, Rinvoq — the other key drug investors are watching to make up lost sales as Humira loses exclusivity — came up short. With 2023 and 2024 results set to decline from current levels due to Humira going off patent in the U.S. next year, and the broader market down materially year-to-date, we feel it is time to move on from AbbVie and reallocate funds into names that provide more attractive opportunities over the next six to 12 months. In our Friday morning commentary about exiting AbbVie, we also talked about why we put some of that money to work in Starbucks (SBUX). Q3 segment results AbbVie’s Immunology sales of $7.65 billion, up 16.4% year over year, were a hair short of the $7.68 billion consensus. Sales within the segment are as follows. Humira: $5.56 billion, up 3.9% year over year, versus $5.57 billion expected. Skyrizi: $1.4 billion, up 78.3% year over year, versus $1.32 billion expected. Rinvoq: $695 million, an increase of 59.3% year over year, versus $710 million expected. As a reminder, immunology is a key focus of investors because this is portfolio in transition due to the Humira loss of exclusivity in the United States in the second half of next year. While it is still up for debate how fast Humira sales will decline in 2023 and 2024, what remains clear is that Skyrizi and Rinvoq have a promising future. First approved by the Food and Drug Administration in April 2019, they have since been gaining clearance for other indications, reflecting the huge year-over-year sales gains. Hematologic oncology sales of $1.65 billion, down 9.9% year over year, missed the $1.73 billion consensus. Sales within the segment are as follows. Imbruvica: $1.14 billion versus $1.15 billion expected. Venclexta: $515 million versus $550 million expected. In aesthetics, sales of $1.3 billion, up 8.1% year over year, slightly missed estimates of $1.34 billion. Sales within the segment are as follows. Botox Cosmetic: $637 million versus $646 million expected. Juvederm: $352 million versus $342 million expected. Other: $312 million versus $335 million expected. In neuroscience, sales of $1.67 billion, up 8.3% year over year, was short of the $1.79 billion consensus. Sales within the segment: Botox Therapeutic: $699 million versus $698 million expected. Vraylar: $554 million versus $544 million expected. Duodopa: $110 million versus $122 million expected. Ubrelvy: $160 million versus $231 million expected. Qulipta: $62 million versus $60 million. Other: $87 million versus $136 million expected. In the eye care segment, sales of $623 million beat the $582 million consensus. Sales within the segment are as follows. Lumigan/Ganfort: $121 million versus $130 million expected. Alphagan: $73 million versus $92 million expected. Restasis: $142 million versus $47 million expected. Other: $287 million versus $289 million expected. Guidance Turning to the full year outlook, management now expects total net revenues of approximately $58.2 billion, down from its previous view of $58.9 billion and below estimates of $58.9 billion. Additionally, AbbVie reaffirmed the midpoint of earnings guidance, however, tightened the range to $13.84 to $13.88 per share from $13.76 to $13.96 per share. That compares to a $13.88 per share consensus estimate coming into the print. Included in the guidance is a negative impact of 25 cents per share related to IPR & D and milestones expense incurred so far this year. There are some moving parts here and we should point out that AbbVie expects a 1.9% unfavorable impact from foreign exchange. From a product perspective, AbbVie raised its Skyrizi global sales outlook by $300 million to $5.1 billon, above estimates of $4.8 billion, due to strong market share performance. This was great news However, management took down its full year Venclexta expectations to about $2 billion, below estimates of $2.22 billion, due to a lower outlook on the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) market and unfavorable foreign exchange. For the fourth (current) quarter, AbbVie expects net revenue of approximately $15.2 billion and adjusted earnings between $3.65 and $3.69 per share. Analysts had expected sales of $15.73 billion and earnings of $3.76 per share. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long SBUX. 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.

People walk by the NYSE in New York City.
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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. Looking for new names We made 2 trades Earnings recap 1. Looking for new names Stocks climbed Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 2%. And we’re looking for new stocks to add to the Club portfolio in this overbought market. The S & P 500 Short Range Oscillator is currently at 5.3%, meaning it’s a good time to do some homework. We’re targeting companies that have pricing power, since they’re the businesses that face high demand and are able to raise prices to expand margins, even in an inflationary environment. Many of these companies tend to be in the Dow , but we plan to take this time to do some research and find the most quality stocks. 2. We made 2 trades We are exiting our position in Abbvie (ABBV) and buying more shares of Starbucks (SBUX). We sold 300 shares of Abbvie , at roughly $148.14 apiece. While the company beat earnings expectations in its latest quarter, it missed on revenue and several other key lines. We had upgraded our rating and advised members to buy the biopharmaceutical stock when it traded around $135 a share, so it feels appropriate to make a sale here. We’ve declared victory when it comes to this stock, and it’s time to move on. Meanwhile, we’re taking advantage of Starbucks’ cheap price by purchasing 75 shares of the coffee maker, at roughly $85.93 each. Starbucks is set to report fiscal fourth-quarter results on Nov. 3. 3. Earnings recap We maintain that investors should own and not trade Apple in the wake of its latest solid quarter. The tech giant reported a beat on fourth-quarter results Thursday, even as it slightly missed on expectations for iPhone sales. That said, demand for Apple products and customer loyalty cannot be overstated. Amazon (AMZN) reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results on Thursday. But we’re sticking with the stock for now because we believe the company is still committed to controlling costs, giving us hope that its margins and free cash flow will improve in the future. However, we still cut our price target to $140 a share from $160 to account for headwinds from higher interest rates and lower earnings estimates. Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) reported solid third-quarter results on Thursday, while continuing to provide the most generous dividend for shareholders in the S & P 500. The oil-and-gas producer said its fourth-quarter payout will be $5.71 per share , which amounts to an annualized dividend yield of about 8.6% based on Pioneer’s Thursday closing price of $265.84. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AMZN, AAPL, SBUX, PXD. 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. More

We’re exiting our position in AbbVie (ABBV), selling 300 shares at roughly $148.14 each. We’re also buying 75 shares of Starbucks (SBUX) at roughly $85.93 each. Following Friday’s trades, Jim’s Charitable Trust will no longer own a position in AbbVie and will own 750 shares of Starbucks, increasing its weighting in the portfolio to 2.28% from 2.06%. Starting with AbbVie , the company reported third-quarter earnings Friday morning and it followed an unfortunate recent trend we have seen for a few quarters in a row now: a revenue miss with an earnings beat. It’s nice to see AbbVie exceed expectations on the bottom line and show off its operating leverage. However, this string of revenue misses — and in this quarter nearly every key product except immunology drug Skyrizi missed their numbers — is increasing the stakes around the growth outlook. This is especially true after its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira loses its patent protection in the United States next year. Humira coming off patent is a well-understood event by the market, but what is still a big question mark is how deep will AbbVie’s earnings trough be in 2023 and how quickly will the company will return to growth thereafter. Due to some of the recent underperformance of some of AbbVie’s key growth drugs, we have become more concerned that the trough will be deeper and it could take longer to get out of it. Therefore, we believe it is best to cash in on our gains and move on from the position. We’ll have more details about the quarter later in the afternoon. We continue to like health care as a defensive area of the market and AbbVie’s big dividend payment, which was increased by 5% in the release, makes the stock tough to part with into Friday’s decline. But this name has been such a great win for the portfolio this year with shares up roughly 9% to date against a 19% decline in the S & P 500 . Also, the stock is still up about $13-per-share, or roughly 9%, since we upgraded our rating to a 1 in late September . That’s a little more than the broader market. On top of the gain, we are awaiting receipt of a $1.41-per-share dividend payment that went ex-dividend on Oct. 13 and will be paid on Nov. 15. This sale will lock in an average gain of about 61% on stock purchased in October 2020 and September 2021. We also want to note that this sale follows our desire to raise cash in what has become an overbought market, according to the S & P Oscillator . Following Thursday’s session, the oscillator reading was positive 5.3%, which is above the positive 4% threshold that signals overbought conditions and the potential for a pullback. Of course, the Oscillator could become more overbought from here, and certain stocks can always move higher in this great rotation into profitable companies that make stuff and do things, our mantra for the Club since the beginning of the year. But at a minimum, we think an overbought Oscillator serves as a reminder that the broader market has had a great run in a very short period and could be due for a pause. Given the overbought nature of the market, we’re only putting a small portion of these AbbVie proceeds back to work, and we’re choosing to bulk up on Starbucks shares. At the time of our Morning Meeting when we discussed our intent to purchase, shares were trading back around our average cost basis thanks to a pullback this week that was driven by concerns about the coffee retailer’s exposure to China. The uncertainty around China’s economic plans and stubbornness around Covid restrictions are near-term risks to the company’s aggressive expansion plans. But as we said Monday , we thought the pullback represented an opportunity. With our restrictions on the stock cleared Friday, we are adding to our position. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long ABBV and SBUX. 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.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 27, 2022 in New York City. Stocks continued their upward gains Thursday with the Dow rising nearly 400 points following a new GDP report that beat expectations.
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More than 72 million American households will pay no federal income taxes this year, marking a large decline from last year, the Tax Policy Center said.
During the pandemic, the number of non-payers surged as unemployment rose along with tax credits and government payments.

The Internal Revenue Services offices in Washington, D.C.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

More than 72 million American households will pay no federal income taxes this year, marking a large decline from last year, according to a new analysis.
An estimated 72.5 million households — or 40% of total households — will pay no federal income taxes for tax year 2022, according to an analysis from the Tax Policy Center. The share marks a substantial decline from the 59.3% who paid no federal income taxes in 2020 and from the 56% in 2021. Both years were dominated by Covid-related shutdowns and restrictions.

The number of Americans who pay no federal income taxes remains a hot political issue, with many Republicans arguing that more Americans should pay federal income taxes and Democrats often arguing that many of the rich don’t pay taxes.
Yet the real drivers of so-called “non-payers” — or those who owe no federal income taxes — are tax credits and employment. During the pandemic, the number of non-payers surged as unemployment rose along with tax credits and government payments.
Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, said people are more likely to owe no federal income taxes when they’re unemployed or see dramatic reductions in income. The standard deduction, which effectively doubled after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is now at $25,900 for married couples and $12,950 for single filers, so anyone earning less than those amounts wouldn’t owe federal income taxes.
Increases in the child tax credit and earned income tax credit also boosted the number of non-payers, along with government stimulus payments, which were also a form of tax credit.
“The two big reasons for the increase in 2020 and 2021 were the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and Covid,” Gleckman said.

Now, with unemployment at or near record lows, and many of the credits and government payments ended, the number of Americans who owe some form of federal income tax in 2022 will rise closer to its historical norms of around 60%.
“People are back to work and all of those tax credits are long gone,” he said.
Despite the widespread claim that it’s the wealthy who pay no tax, the vast majority of Americans who pay no federal income tax are low- to middle-income earners.
Almost 60% of non-payers make less than $30,000 and another 28% make between $30,000 and about $60,000. Only about 0.6% of the top 20% of earners — or those making about $190,000 or more — will pay no federal income taxes this year.
About 24 million, or roughly one-third, of non-payers are age 65 or older, many of whom live on Social Security.
“For the most part, people don’t pay income tax because they have little income,” he said.
Gleckman added that virtually all Americans pay some form of tax, whether it’s sales and excise taxes, state taxes or property taxes.
The big question for 2023 and the number of non-payers is the economy. Gleckman said if unemployment rises and the economy falls into a deep recession, the number of federal non-payers could rise again. On the other hand, after 2025, when the individual provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are set to expire, the number of non-payers could suddenly decline.
If those provisions are allowed to expire, Gleckman said the share of Americans paying no federal income tax could fall to 35% by 2032.
Earlier this year, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., targeted the growing number of non-payers in his “Plan to Rescue America.”
“All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount,” he wrote. “Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.”
Scott also said in an NPR interview: “We’ve got able-bodied Americans who are living off of government programs instead of working, and that’s caused by these Democrat policies. And that doesn’t work.”
Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon often argue that the rich don’t pay their fair share, pointing to billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who paid no federal income taxes in certain years.
Gleckman said that in the rare cases when high-earners pay no federal income taxes, it’s usually because of a one-time business loss or medical bill.
“For high income people who pay no federal tax, it’s usually just for one year,” he said.

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