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In this articleBTC.CM=Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesMore than 1 in 10 Americans invested in cryptocurrency over the past year, according to a survey published by the University of Chicago, a sign of the popularity of digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum.Specifically, 13% bought or traded crypto in the past 12 months — by comparison, 24% of Americans invested in stocks over the same time period, according to the survey.Investors were likely spurred by a run-up in crypto prices earlier this year. Indeed, most crypto investors (61%) bought in over the past six months, according to NORC, a research group at the university that published the survey.More from Personal Finance:The national eviction ban ends in 9 daysThese summer activities can impact your taxesHere’s how to tap your house for cashBitcoin hit a high of around $63,000 in mid-April, a 116% jump from about $29,000 at the beginning of 2021.Coinbase, the largest digital currency exchange in the U.S., went public in mid-April. And celebrities like Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk have also expressed enthusiasm for crypto investments. In May, Tesla said it would accept bitcoin as payment for vehicle purchases. (Musk has since suspended those plans due to environmental concerns relative to bitcoin mining.)Yet digital currencies can also fluctuate wildly in value.As of Friday morning, bitcoin had fallen to around $32,000 — about half its April highs, but still a roughly 10% gain for the year.That volatility has led some financial experts to call crypto a speculative asset. Financial advisors generally recommend crypto investors only allocate a small portion of their portfolio to it.”Potential investors are leery of investing their retirement savings into what has been, to date, a fairly volatile investment,” said Mark Lush, who manages the Behavioral and Economic Analysis and Decision-Making team at NORC.”Cryptocurrencies may have staying power as an investment option, but our hunch is that they will continue to lag behind more traditional investment opportunities for the foreseeable future,” he said.Just 11% of those not investing in cryptocurrency said they were extremely or somewhat likely to begin trading in the next 12 months, the survey found.Crypto investors tended to be younger, and more diverse in terms of gender and race and ethnicity, relative to retail stock investors, according to the survey.The average crypto investor is 38 years old, whereas stock investors are 47.Forty-one percent of women, 44% of investors of color and 35% of those with income below $60,000 a year traded cryptocurrency in the past year — higher respective shares than the 38%, 35% and 27% who traded stock.However, investors with college degrees tended to favor stock — 51% traded stock in the past year versus 45% for crypto.The University of Chicago survey polled a nationally representative sample of 1,004 American adults from June 24 to 28. More

Anthony Scaramucci, founder and co-managing partner of SkyBridge, told CNBC on Friday he’s mandated Covid shots at the office of his hedge fund.He also called on all eligible Americans to go out and get vaccinated.”We’re a private company. If somebody wants to fight me over the vaccine mandate, that’s fine. Let’s take it to the court,” Scaramucci said on “Squawk Box,” while imploring other firms to follow suit.”Make a decision. You’re a private company. Let’s cut it out. We’ve got to keep people safe. Get vaccinated. If you don’t want to get vaccinated, leave. That should be the message, and people will start getting vaccinated.”Scaramucci’s comments Friday come at a critical juncture in the coronavirus pandemic, as the U.S. sees a spike in new infections linked to the highly transmissible delta variant, and as health officials scramble to combat Covid vaccine hesitancy and opposition.Roughly 49% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated and 56.4% have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people in the country who received shots got vaccines from either Pfizer and Moderna, which require two does. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine requires one shot. Those are the only three approved for emergency use in the U.S.However, vaccination rates have slowed considerably since mid-April, when the seven-day average of daily doses administered topped 3.4 million. As of July 17, the weekly average of daily doses administered was just under 450,000, according to CDC data.Scaramucci, who had a brief stint as White House communications director in the Trump administration, sought to push back on various conspiracy theories about the Covid vaccines. He stressed they are safe and effective at preventing severe disease and death, and have been shown to reduce transmission of the virus.”I don’t have a microchip in my body. It didn’t genetically alter my cells. What it’s doing is protecting me from the worst pandemic in last 100 years, and it’s allowing our economy to open up,” Scaramucci said, noting he also sees it as his responsibility as a father of kids who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine yet. “If you have young children … vaccinate yourself to protect your children.”Scaramucci acknowledged some people may be distrustful of government and large institutions, but said the science of vaccination is clear. The more Americans who take the Covid vaccine, the better for the entire country, he said.”I don’t like the totalitarian nonsense. It’s not about that. This is about once in a while we have to team up as a society to protect each other,” Scaramucci said, while later referencing the greater good theory. “If we all get vaccinated, we’re going to be out into society faster and the economy is going to grow faster, and there will be more jobs and more income,” he said.Companies requiring their employees to be vaccinated has been a contentious issue throughout the pandemic, in part because the Food and Drug Administration has only granted the vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and J&J emergency use authorization.Former FDA chief and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC later on “Squawk Box” that he expects businesses and organizations to take a more authoritative position on vaccination requirements once full regulatory approval is given.”As we head into the fall and the winter, hopefully the vaccines achieve full approval … I think you’re going to see more mandates get put in place. Certainly, in the health-care setting you’re starting to see that become more commonplace,” he said.”Business wants to restart. People want to restart activities, and to the extent that the vaccines are going to provide an added measure to be able to do that safely, and protect venues where you’re bringing people together, I think you’re going to see more sports teams, more business venues, start to mandate vaccination,” he added. More

In this article9901-HKTALChinese private educational company New Oriental logo seen in Shanghai.SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Two U.S.-listed Chinese education stocks plunged sharply in pre-market trading Friday after reports of a government crackdown on the sector that included bans on foreign investment.TAL Education shares fell 55% in extended, early-hours trading. New Oriental Education and Technology shares dropped by more than 60%.The reports come as Chinese authorities stepped up restrictions in recent months on the private education industry, and increased scrutiny on domestic companies listing overseas in the U.S.Caixin, a major Chinese financial news site, reported Friday that new Chinese government restrictions on the education sector were starting to be implemented in Beijing and other cities nationwide.Copies of the policy document were circulating online Friday afternoon.Educational training institutions are banned from raising money through stock listings, while foreign capital cannot invest, according to a copy of the Chinese-language document seen and translated by CNBC. It was dated July 19 as issued from the top executive body — the State Council — and the Chinese Communist Party’s central committee.One of the bans on foreign investment included variable interest entities, a common structure by which Chinese companies use to list in the U.S.Existing violations of the capital bans must be addressed, the document said.CNBC has not independently verified the document. The Ministry of Education did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment outside of Beijing business hours.A policy document of the same name — referring to lowering costs for after-school tutoring — was among five approved at a May 21 meeting chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The version circulating Friday banned after-school tutoring businesses from advertising, and said they could not operate during public holidays, weekends and winter and summer vacations.Read more about China from CNBC ProBernstein picks 5 high-yielding China stocks to buy while the regulatory crackdown hits techMorgan Stanley downgrades Tencent Music, warns of hit from new Chinese regulationsChinese tech stocks face other risks on top of tighter regulation, says portfolio managerNew Oriental Education declined to comment to CNBC and TAL did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.The pre-market stock plunge followed sharp declines for education stocks traded in Hong Kong, which began to drop in the afternoon.Shares of New Oriental’s Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Koolearn fell 28% on Friday.UBS analyst Felix Liu said in a note Friday the firm was putting its ratings on TAL, New Oriental and Koolearn under review “given the potential substantial impacts to fundamentals and the reported regulation pending official confirmation.”— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report. More

In this articleHONTWTRINTCSAMSNAPPedestrians walk past Skechers shoes displayed outside of a store in San Francisco, California.Getty ImagesCheck out the companies making headlines before the bell Friday:American Express – American Express gained 3.3% after reporting quarterly earnings of $2.80 per share. That beat the consensus estimate of $1.66, with revenue above estimates as well. Results were helped by a release of credit reserves and increased spending on travel and entertainment.Honeywell – The industrial conglomerate beat estimates by 8 cents with adjusted quarterly earnings of $2.02 per share, with revenue beating estimates as well. Honeywell saw growth across all its businesses and got a boost from a rebound in areas hardest hit by the pandemic such as commercial aerospace. Honeywell also raised its full-year forecast.Schlumberger – Schlumberger rose 2.2% after beating estimates on the top and bottom lines on a rebound in oilfield services activity. Schlumberger came in 4 cents above estimates with adjusted quarterly earnings of 30 cents per share.Kimberly-Clark – The consumer products maker reported quarterly profit of $1.47 per share, falling short of the $1.71 consensus estimate, with revenue roughly in line with forecasts. Kimberly-Clark also cut its full-year earnings forecast, pointing to higher input costs and continued pandemic driven volatility. Shares fell 3.7% in the premarket.Twitter – Twitter gained 4.5% in the premarket after it beat estimates by 13 cents with adjusted quarterly profit of 20 cents per share. Revenue topped Wall Street forecasts as ad sales surged 87% from a year ago. Twitter also gave an upbeat current-quarter revenue forecast.Intel – Intel reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.28 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06, with the chip maker’s revenue also scoring a beat. However, Intel also issued a forecast that disappointed some investors and also said the global chip shortage could last well into 2023. Intel shares dipped 2.2%.Snap – Snap soared 16.7% after the social media company surprised analysts with a quarterly profit, earning an adjusted 10 cents per share amid predictions of a 1 cent per share loss. Revenue also beat estimates. Snap also reported higher-than-expected daily user metrics as well as an upbeat revenue forecast.Skechers – Skechers surged past the 52 cent consensus estimate and reported quarterly earnings of 88 cents per share, with the footwear maker also posting better-than-expected revenue. Skechers said workers returning to offices boosted demand for its “comfort technology” offerings. Skechers rallied 7.1%.Boston Beer – Boston Beer shares slumped 20.3% after the Sam Adams brewer cut its financial outlook for 2021, citing weaker than expected sales of its hard seltzer brands. In its most-recent quarter, Boston Beer earned $4.75 per share, well below the $6.69 consensus estimate, with revenue short of forecasts as well.Veoneer – The Swedish auto parts maker soared 55.3% in premarket action after it agreed to be bought by Canadian rival Magna International for about $3.8 billion in cash. The deal will help Magna in its efforts to enhance its driver assistance technology. Magna shares slipped 3.1%.Capital One Financial – Capital One earned $7.62 per share for its latest quarter, well above the $4.64 consensus estimate, and the financial services company also saw revenue come in above analyst forecasts. Results were boosted by a benefit related to credit losses. Still, Capital One shares fell 1.4% in the premarket.VeriSign – VeriSign fell 2 cents short of consensus estimates with quarterly earnings of $1.31 per share, with the domain name registrar seeing revenue roughly in line with forecasts. Shares lost 0.6%. More

In this article.SETI.STI.KLSESINGAPORE — Singapore’s markets look set to benefit as the world reopens and recovers from the pandemic, according to Nomura’s Chetan Seth.”We turned constructive on Singapore six, seven months ago,” Seth, Asia-Pacific equity strategist at the firm, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.He said Singapore stocks are possibly among the best plays for the reflation, reopening or cyclical recovery trade regionally. Nomura currently has a neutral call on the country’s market.As of its Thursday close, the Straits Times index in Singapore has risen about 11% so far in 2021. In comparison, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index in Malaysia has declined more than 6% while the SET Composite index in Thailand has risen about 7.1%.Stock picks and investing trends from CNBC Pro:Too risky to ignore? Morgan Stanley picks 5 stocks to play an ‘underappreciated’ investment trend’Facebook’s in a great place’: Why one fund manager thinks tech stocks are a buyFund manager names some ‘hugely undervalued’ global stocks that are a ‘screamingly obvious’ buyBanks in Singapore tend to do well when U.S. 10-year yields rise, Seth said. Domestic yields tend to follow, turning into another tailwind for lenders. This has helped drive the country’s recent outperformance compared with its regional peers, the strategist said.But Seth said the road ahead is “a bit tricky” and dependent on the outlook for U.S. 10-year yields.In March, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield jumped above 1.7% after the Federal Reserve said it does not plan to raise interest rates anytime soon nor taper its bond-buying program.Yields have since fallen amid concerns over inflation as well as slower growth. The 10-year Treasury yield recently fell below 1.2% before seeing a partial recovery. It last sat at 1.2816%. Yields move inversely to prices, so a decline in the former means investors are buying bonds and pushing prices up.Looking ahead, Seth said Singapore’s banks can continue to do well if the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield returns to 1.6% or 1.7%.Outlook for Indonesia and MalaysiaSeth said Nomura is currently “underweight” on Malaysian stocks as the structure of the country’s market is “not really conducive to sustain outperformance.””If you look at last year, Malaysia was one of the most resilient markets in Asia because parts of the market — let’s say glove makers — did very well,” he said. “That trade has been reversing, right? So I think that could continue to weigh on overall market.”Malaysia was one of the few markets in Southeast Asia that saw growth in 2020. That came as shares of glove makers such as Top Glove surged due to pandemic-driven spike in demand. The trend has since reversed. Malaysia-listed shares of Top Glove have tumbled more than 30% so far this year.Looking at Indonesia, Seth said he liked the market over the medium term but warned that the country’s Covid situation remained a near-term risk. Last week, Indonesia reported the most new Covid infections globally, according to the World Health Organization.”We need to see some bit of sentiment improve on that front, but we like the (Indonesia) story,” he said.— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report. More

A Specialist trader works inside a booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 13, 2021.Brendan McDermid | ReutersStock futures edged slightly higher in overnight trading after a rise in technology stocks boosted the Nasdaq Composite to its third-straight positive day on Thursday.Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 52 points, or 0.15%. S&P 500 futures added 0.24% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.33%.Tech strength continued after hours as shares of social media companies Twitter and Snap each jumped following better-than-expected second-quarter earnings reports.The major U.S. indexes closed Thursday’s regular trading session higher to notch a three-day win streak. The Dow rose 25.35 points, or 0.07%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the markets with a 0.36% gain.All three U.S. stock averages are on pace to close the week in the green for a fourth positive week in five, rebounding from last week’s losses and Monday’s sharp sell-off.Microsoft had the most positive impact on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on Thursday; the stock closed 1.7% higher. Salesforce had the greatest positive impact on the Dow as the software stock gained 2.6% on Thursday.The strength in tech shares comes as the continued spread of the highly contagious delta Covid variant raises concerns about economic growth.”We saw during the depths of the pandemic that tech stocks and their earnings held up the best, so I think a lot of investors are going back to the well, given we have a Covid resurgence,” Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment strategist at BMO Wealth Management, said. “Long term interest rates coming down as much as they have also makes those stocks more attractive.”Major technology companies including Microsoft, Google-parent Alphabet, Apple, Facebook and Amazon are set to report second-quarter earnings next week. More

A job seeker fills out an application form during a restaurant and hospitality career fair in Torrance, California, on June 23, 2021.Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesState withdrawals from pandemic-era unemployment programs aren’t speeding up the job recovery, according to a new analysis.Twenty-five states have ended their participation in at least some of the programs since mid-June. Louisiana, will do so July 31.Those measures offered aid to the long-term unemployed, gig and other workers ineligible for traditional state benefits and raised pay by $300 a week.State governors, largely Republicans, said the federal funds were keeping recipients from looking for jobs, making it harder for businesses to hire and holding back the economic recovery.However, Census Bureau data suggests recipients didn’t rush to find jobs in the weeks following the first batch of state withdrawals, according to Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.Specifically, the share of adults receiving unemployment benefits fell sharply (by 2.2 percentage points) in the dozen states that cut federal funding on June 12 or 19, according to Dube. That translates to a 60% reduction in unemployment rolls in those states, he said.More from Personal Finance:Biden administration aims to rein in abusive non-compete agreementsHere’s how to tap your house for cash as home prices soarHow to avoid costly Medicare mistakesBut there wasn’t a corresponding increase in employment among this group — in fact, the share of adults with a job fell by 1.4 percentage points over the same period, according to Dube. (Employment rose by 0.2 percentage points in states that didn’t end the pandemic benefits.)Together, the data shows there wasn’t an immediate job boost following the cuts, Dube said. However, more time and information are needed to analyze the longer-term effects of state policies, he said.”There’s not early evidence [federal benefits] were a big constraint [on jobs],” according to Susan Houseman, research director at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, who reviewed the findings.The analysis uses most recent data on 18- to 65-year-olds from the Household Pulse Survey, which is available through July 5. The Census Bureau releases new survey data every few weeks. It’s among the only real-time publicly available information sources that measures both employment status and receipt of unemployment benefits, Dube said.His findings are in line with recent analyses published by the job site Indeed, which found job-search activity was muted in the states that cut federal benefits. That’s the opposite of what would be expected given the policy goal, company economists said.”You could argue, maybe it will take people longer to find jobs than a couple weeks,” Houseman said. “We’ll have to continue to track [it].”Job marketTalk of labor shortages began in earnest following the April jobs report. The U.S. economy added 269,000 new jobs that month, about a fourth of what economists predicted. (Job growth has since ramped up, to 850,000 in June.)Big deviations from economists’ projections the last few months hint the labor market isn’t functioning the way it did pre-pandemic, according to Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank.Expanded unemployment benefits likely led at least some people to stay home instead of look for work, he said.But many other effects likely play a role as well, said Veuger. He cited that Covid health risks remain; school schedules may make it difficult for parents to find steady work; workers who relocated may not yet have moved back; and decimated industries will likely a take a while to rebuild.Concern about the coronavirus is the top reason for a lack of urgency in looking for work among the unemployed, according to a recent survey conducted by Indeed. A rise in cases due to the delta variant threatens to complicate the economic recovery.”I think there are a lot of these pandemic-related effects we don’t have a grip on,” Veuger said. “You don’t immediately jump back to the old equilibrium.”States have also re-imposed requirements to search for work as a condition of receiving unemployment benefits, which make it harder for people to exploit the system, Houseman said. States had suspended those requirements earlier in the pandemic.”They don’t exactly make it easy for people to collect these benefits,” she said.However, there are a few reasons to wait for more data before drawing conclusions about state unemployment policies, Veuger said.For example, Dube’s analysis doesn’t control for differences in each state’s job market. The states that ended federal benefits early also tend to be the ones that re-opened from Covid lockdowns early; therefore, job-finding may be lower relative to other states if some of the more easily restored jobs have already been taken, Veuger said.Dube notes that he didn’t control for state factors in his research, but expressed confidence in the results since there weren’t any “systematic differences” between these groups of states over the past few months.The Census Bureau data also shows an uptick of almost 4 percentage points in self-reported financial hardship in states that ended or reduced pandemic unemployment benefits, Dube found.”The hardship numbers shouldn’t really change much if it were easy to transition and get another job,” he said. More

In this articleINTCSNAPTWTRSAMSKXThe Twitter logo is displayed on a smartphone screen on April 14, 2021.NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty ImagesCheck out the companies making headlines after the bell: Twitter — Shares of Twitter jumped more than 4% after hours following a strong quarterly earnings report. The social media company reported earnings of 20 cents per share, topping analysts’ estimates of 7 cents per share, according to Refinitiv. Twitter’s revenue grew 74% year over year in the second quarter, marking the company’s fastest growth since 2014.Snap — Snap shares popped more than 13% in extended trading after the social media platform’s second-quarter earnings beat expectations across the board. The company notched adjusted earnings of 10 cents per share, while analysts expected a 1 cent per share loss, according to Refnitiv. The platform also reported 293 million daily active users, up nearly 5% from the 280 million the company reported in April.Intel — Shares of Intel dipped 3% after hours despite the company’s better-than-expected second-quarter earnings report. The technology company reported adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share on adjusted revenues of $18.5 billion. Wall Street expected earnings of $1.06 per share on revenues of $17.8 billion, according to Refinitiv. Intel said PC unit sales increased 33% over the last year.Boston Beer — Boston Beer shares sunk more than 16% in extended trading after the company missed Wall Street projections on both second-quarter earnings and revenue. The brewery reported earnings of $4.75 per share on revenues of $603 million. Analysts expected earnings of $6.69 per share and revenues of $658 million, according to Refinitiv.Skechers — Shares of Skechers gained roughly 7% after the footwear company reported revenue of $1.66 billion for the most recent quarter, topping analysts’ projections of $1.5 billion. Skechers also issued strong third-quarter and full-year earnings and revenue guidance. More