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The T-Mobile logo is displayed on a laptop screen and a smartphone, seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland, Feb. 22, 2024.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

The July consumer price index reading indicated cooling inflation and July retail sales addressed investors’ fears about an economic slowdown. They also boosted hopes of an interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s upcoming meeting in September.
Amid improving market sentiment, investors looking for some good stocks can rely on top Wall Street analysts, who can suggest stocks with attractive long-term growth potential. Top analysts make recommendations after conducting an in-depth analysis of a company’s financials, competitive backdrop and future prospects. 

With that in mind, here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Monday.com
This week’s first pick is project management software provider Monday.com (MNDY). The company impressed investors with its second-quarter results and raised full-year outlook, thanks to strong demand from large customers. Notably, the number of paid customers with more than $100,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR) increased by 49% to 1,009.
In reaction to the robust results, TD Cowen analyst Derrick Wood boosted his firm’s price target for MNDY to $300 from $275 and reiterated a buy rating, calling the stock a top pick. The analyst highlighted solid demand for Monday.com’s products among high-paying customers, with the company winning its largest deal ever with a multinational healthcare company.
“We see this as a proof-point that MNDY is successfully moving up-market and becoming more of a platform sale, and we think this is an early sign of more large deals to come,” Wood said of the deal.
The analyst also noted that Monday.com expects its net dollar retention (NDR) rate to remain stable at about 110% through fiscal 2024, with management projecting a modest upside by the end of the year. 

“We see upmarket traction, new product adoption, and pricing tailwinds as strong growth vectors for continued execution into 2H,” said Wood.
Wood ranks No. 197 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 60% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 13.3%. (See MNDY Hedge Fund Trading Activity on TipRanks)
CyberArk Software
Another favorite tech company is CyberArk Software (CYBR). The identity security company posted upbeat second-quarter results and raised its full-year outlook, citing durable demand for its platform.
Following the Q2 print, Baird analyst Shrenik Kothari reaffirmed a buy rating on CYBR stock and raised his price target to $315 from $295. The analyst believes that the strong NNARR (net new annual recurring revenue) in Q2, solid new business acquisitions and the expansion of business among existing customers were driven by CYBR’s unified identity security platform. 
Kothari noted that CYBR’s workforce identity and machine identity solutions are emerging as major growth catalysts. He believes that the stock’s premium valuation compared to peers is justified, given “the shift to recurring revenues and CYBR’s position as a market leader.”
Despite macroeconomic challenges, the analyst is optimistic about the demand for CyberArk’s identity security solutions due to an evolving threat landscape. He added that the company’s robust profitability and free cash flow indicate its ability to leverage clients’ identity security needs.
The analyst highlighted that management is positive about the pending acquisition of Vanafi, which is expected to enhance CyberArk’s position in the machine identity security market. 
Kothari ranks No. 196 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 72% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 22.7%. (See CYBR Stock Charts  on TipRanks)
T-Mobile US, Inc.
Finally, the week’s third stock pick is wireless network provider T-Mobile US (TMUS). The company recently reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its full-year guidance for postpaid net customer additions and cash flows.
On August 12, Tigress Financial Partners analyst Ivan Feinseth reiterated a buy rating on TMUS stock and increased his price target 15% to $235 from $205. T-Mobile US continues to outperform the industry in terms of customer additions and services revenue growth, backed by “the industry’s best ultra capacity 5G high-speed network,” Feinseth said.
T-Mobile’s high-speed network and extensive 5G availability are boosting subscriber growth and driving higher revenue and cash flow, the analyst added. Highlighting TMUS’ vast footprint, Feinseth said that the company’s 5G network reaches 98% of Americans, while its ultra capacity 5G network covers over 330 million people. He expects the company to benefit from opportunities in fixed wireless access (FWA).
Additionally, Feinseth is encouraged by T-Mobile’s shareholder returns. In Q2 2024, TMUS returned $3 billion to shareholders via $759 million in dividends and $2.3 billion in share repurchases.
Feinseth ranks No. 239 among more than 8,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 60% of the time, with each delivering an average return of 11.9%. (See TMUS Stock Buybacks  on TipRanks) More

Many people who borrow private student loans are required to get a co-signer, a requirement that can spread the pain if repayment becomes a challenge.
“It’s very, very difficult to get off of the loan if you are a co-signer,” said Anna Anderson, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “We’ve seen how this can destroy families.”

Kumikomini | Istock | Getty Images

In 2004, Sabrina Finch returned to school to become a nurse.
Her mother, Rebecca, was excited for Sabrina, then in her early 30s, to finally have a career. She’d watched for years as Sabrina struggled to get by working low-wage jobs, including in fast-food restaurants and factories.

As a result, when Sabrina took out a private student loan from Navient in 2007 to complete her nursing degree, Rebecca was happy to be the co-signer on the loan.
Both women have come to regret that decision.
Sabrina, who is now 53 and lives in Vinton, Virginia, said her life took many difficult turns in the last two decades.
She said she became resistant to treatments for her bipolar disorder and found it difficult to get out of bed on many mornings. Consequently, she fell behind on her bills.
In May, Navient excused Sabrina from her private student loan after she proved her disability left her unable to work. However, the company then transferred the loan to her mother.

Rebecca is now 85, with health challenges of her own, including cardiovascular disease and constant pain from a fractured hip. Several strokes have left Rebecca with speech and cognitive issues, Sabrina said.
Rebecca’s only income is her roughly $1,650 monthly Social Security benefit. There’s no way she can afford to pay down the loan balance, which is more than $31,000, Sabrina said.
“I’m worried they’ll take her house,” Sabrina said. So is Rebecca, she said.
Sabrina spoke on her mother’s behalf, given Rebecca’s extensive medical issues.

Rebecca Finch
Courtesy: Rebecca Finch

Paul Hartwick, vice president of corporate communications at Navient, a significant owner of private education debt, said it informed Finch in April that the loan would be transferred to her mother if she was removed from it.
“A co-signer for a loan is liable for the account if the primary borrower cannot or does not make payments on the loan,” Hartwick wrote in an email to CNBC.

Lenders require co-signer on most private student loans

The private student loan market is skyrocketing — and with it the number of family members and friends who are also on the hook for the debt as co-signers.
As the cost of higher education swells, the $130 billion private education loan industry has grown —more than 70% between 2010 and 2019, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center. Today, Americans owe more in private student loans than they do in past-due medical debt or payday loans.
Borrowers of private student loans are much more likely to be required to have a co-signer compared with other kinds of lending, said Hanneh Bareham, a student loans expert at Bankrate.com.
“There are other loan types that offer co-signers as an option to assist with getting approved or getting a lower interest rate, but many don’t require co-signers like some private student loan lenders do,” Bareham said.
Indeed, more than 90% of private student loans include a co-signer who is equally financially and legally responsible for the debt, according to an analysis by higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
“A co-signer is often required for a private student loan because the student borrower has a thin or non-existent credit history,” Kantrowitz said. “They are an unproven asset.”
But there are many financial risks and few safeguards for co-signers of private student loans, said Anna Anderson, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images

“It’s hard to predict how things will turn out for the student when they first take out the loan,” Anderson said. “Graduation is sometimes years down the road, and there is no guarantee that the student will be able to graduate at all.”
Nearly half of all borrowers ages 50 and up who co-signed on a private student loan ended up making a payment on the loan themselves, a 2017 AARP survey found.
“It’s truly an inter-generational problem,” said Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center.

‘It’s very, very difficult to get off of the loan’

The U.S. Department of Education, which typically doesn’t require co-signers on its federal student loans, forgives the debt of borrowers who become permanently disabled or can prove they were defrauded by their schools. Federal student loans also die with the borrower.
In contrast, student loan forgiveness by private lenders is extremely rare, experts say.
Only about half of the lenders discharge the debt when the primary borrower becomes disabled or dies, according to Kantrowitz, who’s been tracking education loan data for decades.

We’ve seen how this can destroy families.

Anna Anderson
lawyer at the National Consumer Law Center

Even when a lender does grant a borrower relief, as Sabrina found, the debt then often falls on their co-signer, said Anderson, of the National Consumer Law Center.
“It’s very, very difficult to get off of the loan if you are a co-signer,” Anderson said. “We’ve seen how this can destroy families.”
Carolina Rodriguez, director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program, or EDCAP, in New York, agreed.
“Based on my experience, co-signer release is virtually non-existent in practice,” Rodriguez said.
Indeed, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found in 2015 that private student lenders rejected 90% of co-signer release applications.

Her private debt has nearly doubled

In October, Sabrina was approved for disability benefits through Social Security because of her schizoaffective bipolar disorder. Another neurological issue she’s recently developed requires her to use a wheelchair most of the time.
“I really wanted to keep nursing, but my mental illness kept me from doing it,” Sabrina said.
The Education Department often forgives the federal student loans of borrowers who can document that they’re receiving Social Security disability benefits over a long period. Sabrina didn’t need to go through that process, because the Education Department canceled her federal student loan balance in October through its recent relief efforts for those who have been in repayment for many years. Her federal student loan debt was around $120,000.

Rebecca Finch’s house in Troutville, Virginia.
Courtesy: Rebecca Finch

But her private student loan balance has only grown.
Sabrina originally borrowed $17,600 from Navient in 2007; the loan balance is now more than $31,000, according to information provided by Hartwick. The variable interest rate is currently set at 10%.
Sabrina said Rebecca, who is now responsible for the debt, can’t afford the $312 monthly loan payment.
Rebecca worked low-wage jobs throughout her career, mostly as a cashier at a truck stop. Her mortgage payment, at around $635, eats up more than a third of her $1,650 monthly Social Security benefit.
“My mom barely makes enough to cover her basic human needs,” Sabrina said.

Sabrina said her worst fear is that the lender will come after her mother’s two-bedroom house in Troutville, Virginia. She said one of the callers from Navient mentioned that possibility to her. Rebecca’s house was built in the 1950s and has a leaking roof and no heat, among other problems that the family can’t afford to fix, Sabrina said.
“But it’s all she has,” she said.
Hartwick, of Navient, said he couldn’t comment on whether the lender discussed the possibility of a lien on Rebecca’s house.
“But I can say, in general, private student loans do not go into collections until after a period of delinquency,” Hartwick said. “And, like other loans, there’s a process, often lengthy, to take legal action toward repayment.”

My mom barely makes enough to cover her basic human needs.

Sabrina Finch

Lenders of private student loans are incredibly aggressive with their collection tactics, said Anderson, of the National Consumer Law Center.
“We see drastic steps taken where the borrowers are sued, and get brought into court and end up with very costly judgments against them,” Anderson said. “This can result in liens being placed on their houses, having their wages garnished and bank accounts frozen.”
Hartwick said Navient recommended Rebecca apply to the company for a disability discharge herself.
Sabrina told CNBC she has informed Navient that her mother is ill. Sabrina submitted that application on behalf of her mother on July 26, and is waiting for a determination.
That didn’t stop Navient from continuing to contact Rebecca, Sabrina said.
“They are unrelenting even though they have the review in process,” she said.
Hartwick said borrowers can always contact the lender and share their communication preferences “or update their communication preferences online — including asking us to not call them.”

A father’s retirement at risk

In 2007, Kathleen Cullen began attending The French Culinary Institute, a for-profit school in downtown Manhattan, with dreams of becoming a chef. Her father, Ken, a union electrician, co-signed her nearly $30,000 private student loan from Navient.
“He was excited about the possibility, and looking to help me fast-track myself into a career,” said Cullen, now 41. “We couldn’t afford to do the traditional college route.”
Unfortunately, Cullen said, the nine-month education program fell far short of the world-class one she was promised by the school’s recruiters. Many of her classes were taught by recent graduates of the school and centered on simple knife and food safety lessons, knowledge she could have picked up online, she said.
“You wouldn’t expect a whole class to be on learning a basic French recipe like beef bourguignon,” Cullen said.
The International Culinary Center, formerly known as The French Culinary Institute, is no longer enrolling students, according to its website. It says it is now collaborating with The Institute of Culinary Education.
Former International Culinary Center students brought a class-action lawsuit against the center in 2014, alleging an “ongoing fraudulent scheme.” That lawsuit was dismissed in 2015. Rodriguez, of EDCAP, said the suit was likely settled out of court.
EDCAP is helping Cullen in her efforts to get Navient to cancel her debt. Cullen was not involved in the 2014 lawsuit, Rodriguez said.
“They promised high employment prospects, high quality teachers and courses, and it was a lie,” Rodriguez said of The French Culinary Institute. “The degree was worthless.”
“The Institute of Culinary Education entered into a licensing agreement with [The French Culinary Institute/ The International Culinary Center] in 2020 upon their closure,” Stephanie Fraiman Weichselbaum, public relations and communications director at the Institute of Culinary Education, wrote to CNBC in an email.
“We therefore cannot comment, as we have no records prior to that time,” Fraiman Weichselbaum said.
Cullen, who lives in New York City, said that because of the poor-quality education she received, she’s still working as a bartender and earns around $40,000 a year. That makes it difficult for her to meet her private student loan bill each month, she said.
Whenever Cullen falls behind, her father receives phone calls from Navient, she said.
“His phone is just going off the hook,” she said. “It puts a huge strain on our relationship.”

He was excited about the possibility, and looking to help me fast-track myself into a career.

Kathleen Cullen

Anderson, of the National Consumer Law Project, said parents who co-sign on student loans for for-profit schools are at additional risk.
“We have seen many instances of students and family members taking out private loans to cover expenses at for-profit institutions that have a history of poor outcomes for students, often leaving them further behind in terms of job prospects and financial stability,” Anderson said.
“This is different than when someone co-signs on a loan for something tangible that their loved one will benefit from right away, such as a car or an apartment,” she said.
Asked about Cullen’s case, Navient’s Hartwick reiterated that co-signers are responsible for the loans when borrowers don’t pay, adding that this is the case with many other types of debt.
“If an account is delinquent, we may contact both the borrower and co-signer,” Hartwick said.
Cullen said that despite her father saving for retirement for decades, he’s now worried her debt will upend his plans. The private student loan currently has a 15% interest rate, and the balance is nearing $77,000 today, more than double what Cullen originally borrowed, according to financial records reviewed by CNBC.
“He’s worked so hard to make sure he has a safety net, and the loan puts that in jeopardy,” Cullen said.
Her father declined to be interviewed but gave permission for his daughter to share their story.
Cullen is in the process of trying to prove to Navient that her school defrauded her. In such cases, the lender will consider discharging the borrower’s debt and releasing any co-signer, said Eileen Connor, director of litigation at The Project on Predatory Student Lending.
Navient provides a form specifically for borrowers seeking cancellation on the basis of school misconduct. However, Navient frequently rejects such requests, even when the federal government has agreed to forgive the student debt for that school, Connor said.
“What we’ve seen is a lot of denials that don’t make sense,” Connor said. “There’s just not an explanation.”
Hartwick declined to comment on Navient’s debt cancellation process for defrauded borrowers.
Borrowers who have asked a loved one to co-sign the debt have few options, Connor said.
“You have to keep paying, because you don’t want to ruin your mother’s credit,” she said. “They have borrowers trapped.” More

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called for an expanded child tax credit, which has been a priority for Democrats.
Her plan would restore up to $3,600 per child or up to $6,000 in total benefits for middle- and low-income families during the first year of a child’s life.
The plan comes less than one week after Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, former President Donald Trump’s GOP running mate, floated a $5,000 child tax credit. 

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an event with U.S. President Joe Biden (not pictured) in Prince George’s County, Maryland, U.S., August 15, 2024. 
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday unveiled an economic plan, including an expanded child tax credit worth up to $6,000 in total tax relief for families with newborn children.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s plan aims to restore the higher child tax credit enacted via the American Rescue Plan in 2021, which provided a maximum credit of up to $3,600 per child, according to a fact sheet from the campaign.

The 2021 credit was up to $3,000 or $3,600, depending on the child’s age and family’s income. Harris’ proposed tax break would increase for middle- to lower-income families for one year after a child is born.
“We will provide $6,000 in tax relief to families during the first year of a child’s life,” said Harris during a policy speech in Raleigh, North Carolina.
More from Personal Finance:Vance wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. Here’s why that could be difficultThe expanded child tax credit failed in the Senate. Here’s what it means for familiesTrump and Harris both want no taxes on tips. Why policy experts don’t like the idea
The plan comes less than one week after Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, former President Donald Trump’s GOP running mate, floated a $5,000 child tax credit. 
A Trump campaign official told CNBC: “Trump will consider a significant expansion of the child tax credit that applies to American families.”

While Harris has followed President Joe Biden’s footsteps with her proposed child tax credit expansion, the $2,400 bonus for newborns is “different and somewhat surprising,” said Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow and federal tax expert with the American Enterprise Institute. “That, to me, sounds very much like a response to JD Vance.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

‘Bipartisan momentum’ for the child tax credit

Senate Republicans earlier in August blocked an expanded child tax credit that passed in the House with broad support. However, Republican lawmakers are expected to revisit the measure after the election.
“There is bipartisan momentum behind expanding the [child tax credit],” said Andrew Lautz, associate director for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s economic policy program.

There is bipartisan momentum behind expanding the [child tax credit].

Andrew Lautz
Associate director for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s economic policy program

The size of the expansion and future credit design will hinge on which party controls the White House and Congress. But the House-passed bill and Senate negotiations could be a starting point, Lautz said.

Future child tax credit expiration

Without action from Congress, the maximum child tax credit will drop from $2,000 to $1,000 once Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expire after 2025.
The American Rescue Plan temporarily increased the maximum child tax credit from $2,000 to either $3,000 or $3,600, depending on the child’s age. Families received up to half via monthly payments for 2021.
The child poverty rate fell to a historic low of 5.2% in 2021, largely due to the credit’s expansion, according to a Columbia University analysis.

If there’s a future child tax credit expansion, Pomerleau doesn’t expect it to be as large as the tax break that Harris or Vance have proposed.
Amid the federal budget deficit, lawmakers are already wrestling with trillions in expiring tax cuts that are “prohibitively expensive,” he said.
Expanding the child tax credit to $3,000 or $3,600 could cost an estimated $1.1 trillion over a decade, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Meanwhile, the expansion to $6,000 for newborns could cost $100 billion.
The Harris campaign’s economic plan fact sheet said she would fulfill her “commitment to fiscal responsibility,” including calls for higher taxes on wealthy Americans and large corporations. More

The federal minimum wage has not increased from $7.25 per hour since 2009.
On the campaign trail, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has said that needs to change.
While some states and companies have enacted their own higher pay thresholds, some say it’s time to raise the national minimum pay rate.

Activists demonstrate in support of a $15-per-hour minimum wage and tips for restaurant workers in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 8, 2022.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

The federal minimum wage recently marked a new anniversary. But for affected workers, that may not be something to celebrate.
The federal minimum wage has now been stuck at $7.25 per hour for 15 years.

On the campaign trail, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris recently suggested that should change.
“When I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said at an Aug. 10 Nevada campaign event.
More from Personal Finance:Trump and Harris both want no taxes on tips. Experts don’t like the ideaWalz vs. Vance: What candidates could mean for your walletTrump doubles down on call for presidential influence on Fed policy
Many states have enacted minimum hourly pay rates that are higher than the federal minimum wage. Yet 20 states have wages that are no higher than the federal level, according to Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. They include Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 per hour, provided their tips bring them to the $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage. Michigan recently became the first state in more than four decades to eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers.

Harris has not said how high she wants to raise the minimum wage, though she has praised states that have raised the rate to at least $15 per hour.
The Harris campaign did not return a request for comment by CNBC.

Congressional Democrats in 2021 tried to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour as part of a broader Covid relief package. However, those efforts failed after it was determined the change could not be included in legislation handled through a one-party majority.   
During a 2020 debate, then President Donald Trump expressed concerns about whether raising the federal pay threshold would hurt small businesses.
“How are you helping your small businesses when you’re forcing wages?” Trump said during the 2020 debate. “What’s going to happen and what’s been proven to happen is when you do that these small businesses fire many of their employees.”
Trump’s campaign did not respond a request for comment by CNBC.
A CNBC survey from earlier this year found a majority of small business owners — 61% — support raising their state’s minimum wage, though half said such a change could make it difficult to be able to afford to pay workers who are critical to their businesses.
One point that tends to get lost in the minimum wage debate is the connection between a higher wage and stronger consumer buying power, according to Holly Sklar, CEO of advocacy group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.
“When you lose minimum wage buying power, it means you’re losing customer buying power,” Sklar said.
Once workers earn higher minimum wages, they will be more likely to spend that money, which will help businesses, she said.
Raising today’s federal minimum wage would help low-wage workers who are trying to earn a living and have a sense of economic security, said Ben Zipperer, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank that provides economic research.
“The minimum wage has basically lost, 29%, 30% of its purchasing power over the last 15 years, simply because Congress has failed to update it,” Zipperer said.

Lifting the minimum wage threshold to $15 per hour would increase the incomes of about 20 million workers, Zipperer said. That would include people who are low-wage workers who may be earning hourly pay that is slightly more than the federal minimum wage threshold.
“Changes in wages don’t necessarily result in big changes in employment,” Zipperer said.
“When you raise wages at a particular workplace, that makes it a lot easier to recruit and retain workers,” he said.
Some companies, such as Target and Walmart, have set their own higher minimum pay thresholds, at $15 and $14 per hour, respectively, in response to tight retail labor market conditions.
Still, advocates hope for a broader change at the national level.
“We look forward to supporting efforts to raise the minimum wage in the next White House, in the next Congress, and showing that there’s a very good business case for that,” Sklar said. More

The 20 most-watched stock-picking videos on TikTok from 2023 to June 2024 show that over 64% of the 87 total stock predictions in these videos came out accurate.
Experts that CNBC spoke to warned against talking wholesale advice from these “finfluencers,” but agreed that they help promote financial awareness among young investors.

FILE PHOTO: TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. 
Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Investing in equities can be a complex exercise, warranting specialized guidance. From where can one get that advice?
Some attempt to do their own research, poring over reams of financial indicators to identify potential winners, while others consult investment advisors and experts with years of experience in the market.

There are also people who look at the movement of celestial bodies or the earthly elements to determine where to put their cash.
And then there are those who turn to social media, scrolling through their feeds to seek out “financial influencers” or “finfluencers” to multiply their their money.
Let’s take a look at that last set of advisors — the “finfluencers” — as there popularity, especially among young investors, has been growing and could supersede that of traditional investment advisors.

Track record

While the idea of investing based on advice from someone on Tiktok appears risky — maybe not as much as investing based on astrological signs — these “finfluencers” have had quite a solid track record in the first half of 2024.
The investment theme for the first half of 2024 was dominated by an outsized focus on the tech industry, especially on stocks that are a part of the artificial intelligence value chain.

Brokerage aggregator site BestBrokers analyzed the 20 most-watched stock-picking videos on TikTok from 2023, that recommended shares that could potentially surge in 2024.
The team then tracked the prices of the recommended stocks from the day the videos were posted up until June 21, 2024. It also calculated returns on a $1,000 investment in each stock or ETF recommended in these videos.
“Our findings show that over 64% of the 87 total stock predictions in these videos came out accurate, including the remarkable rallies of AI stocks such as Nvidia and Qualcomm,” the BestBrokers report from July said. About 36% of the recommendations resulted in losses.
The report said that a majority of the influencers had advised picking stable, blue-chip stocks such as Google, Nvidia and Amazon, something that traditional money experts also advise to people looking for less risky investments.
The most profit that an investor could have generated from a single stock would have been Nvidia, which grew 63.08% in the period surveyed. An investment of $1,000 in the stock would’ve grown to a substantial $1,630.79.
On the flip side, a $1,000 investment into the worst performing stock — New York-listed biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings — would have fetched a 74.74% loss.
What if one decided to cut the risk by not betting on a single name and, instead, diversified by purchasing all stocks recommended in a single video?
If a person invested $1,000 in every stock recommended in the one video that got the most bets right, the gains would have amounted to $4,860.
However, “[this] would require a $23,000 initial investment in 23 different stocks, some profitable, some not so much.”
On the other hand, putting money into all the stocks recommended in the video that got most bets wrong would have led to a loss of $1,517. 

Credibility concerns

Given the aforementioned track record, is following advice proffered by financial influencers a reliable method for growing your wealth?
Experts CNBC talked to do not think “finfluencers” are a sound alternative to professional analysts and brokers.
Gerald Wong, founder and CEO of Singapore investment advisory platform Beansprout said it may not be fair to conclude that these “finfluencers” can be trusted, simply because a lot of their stock predictions were accurate over a short time period. Wong also added that the broader U.S. stock market in general did well during the period of the study.
The accuracy of their predictions is “spurious,” said Jeremy Tan, CEO of asset and wealth management firm Tiger Fund Management. “Furthermore, a single period coincident result does not translate to a definitive conclusion of predictability in the long run.”
Jiang Zhang, head of equities at First Plus Asset Management, said that as these influencers are largely unregulated and have unknown credentials, they could have questionable objectivity.
They could be paid by companies to promote those shares, or might be front-running — recommending shares they own to others with the aim of boosting stock prices and then cashing out — Zhang said.
The motivations of these “finfluencers” could be in conflict with the interests of those who are seeking advice on these platforms, Tan said. “Recommendations or opinions found online could often be biased, unverified and provided by individuals that are not professionally certified or regulated.”
“Very often, insufficient disclosures are provided for the public to discern the independence of such recommendations,” he added.

Investor education

For all their caution against taking investment advice from “finfluencers,” the experts agreed that social media content creators, especially on Tiktok, do help spread financial literacy among younger investors.
Beansprout’s Wong, who was with Credit Suisse for 13 years before founding his investment advisory platform, suggested that Gen Z investors have a “keen desire” to learn more about investing through self directed means, compared to consulting with a financial planner or advisor.
In a survey conducted by Beansprout, more than half of the respondents said that they were not confident about the investment decisions they have made, signaling a dearth of investment advisory avenues.
“We believe this reflects how access to expert investment insights has not caught up with the proliferation of investment platforms and products in the market,” Wong said.
Influencers could bridge this gap by distilling research and content into bite-sized content that is easily relatable and digestible for retail investors, according to Emelia Tan, director of research and financial literacy at the Singapore Exchange.
First Plus’ Zhang said, “compared with traditional financial news media that report mostly factual events, the finfluencers’ investment narrative offer retail investors the most value as it helps the viewers on how to craft an investment view based on publicly available information.”
He does not think that “finfluencers” and professional advisors should be seen as mutually exclusive avenues for investment know-how.
Influencers can be a starting point for investors to get the basics of investing and wealth management, but they should seek professional financial advice from established and regulated financial institutions, given the superior investor protection offered by these institutions, Zhang said. More

About 2.9 billion people may have had their personal financial data compromised, a lawsuit alleges.
“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when” you may be personally affected by a breach, one expert says.
Experts say there’s one best step to take to protect your personal data.

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About 2.9 billion people may have had their personal information hacked, a new proposed class action lawsuit alleges.
If true, reports suggest all Americans may have had valuable personal information compromised — including full names, current and past addresses, Social Security numbers and information on parents, siblings and other relatives.  

The alleged April 2024 breach occurred when a background check company doing business as National Public Data, owned by Jerico Pictures Inc., failed to properly safeguard information it scraped, the lawsuit states. The company provides instant search access to billions of records.
Neither National Public Data nor Jerico Pictures returned requests for comment by CNBC.
“If this turns out to be accurate … then it would just basically mean that everyone’s affected,” said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at The National Cybersecurity Alliance, a nonprofit focused on cybersecurity awareness and education.

However, this breach may not be as far-reaching as reports suggest, said James E. Lee, chief operating officer at the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit working to minimize the risk of identity theft.
For example, if there were multiple records per individual compromised, that could reduce the total number of people affected. If other countries were affected too, that could reduce the number of Social Security numbers involved. In addition, much of the information leaked may have already been available elsewhere, he said.

‘You’re vulnerable forever’

Massive data breaches are not new.
A 2017 Equifax data breach was estimated to have affected half the U.S. population. In 2013, a Yahoo data breach may have hit all the company’s accounts, or a total of 3 billion people.
Still, experts say the news of this latest breach should put consumers on high alert.
“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” Steinhauer said. “I’d be surprised [if] there are many people who haven’t been affected by a data breach like this already, just because of the sheer number of breaches that have happened that contain similar data.”
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Consumers tend to find out their information may have been compromised through data breach notices from the companies affected.
“We’ve got enough data now to say if you get a data breach notice, there’s a high likelihood that you’re going to suffer an identify crime at some point within 12 months,” Lee said.
While it’s still not possible to directly correlate a breach to an identity theft, he said, the risks have no expiration date once your information has been exposed.
“You’re vulnerable forever,” Lee said.

Freezing your credit is the ‘No. 1 piece of advice’

The best tip to protect your personal records is to put a security freeze on your credit reports, which will limit access to your records, experts say.
It’s also the best first step if you think your data has been compromised.
“Freezing your credit is the single most important thing you can do when you get a data breach notice,” Lee said.
The process can be done quickly and for free by submitting separate requests to each of the three credit bureaus, which includes Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
While freezing your credit will limit access to your credit reports, it won’t block it completely. Your records will still be available to certain companies and under certain circumstances.
The freeze doesn’t just block bad actors. Notably, if you want to apply for a new credit card or auto loan, you may get rejected if you do not unfreeze your credit first.

As you freeze your credit, you should proceed with caution. Make sure you’re not clicking on a lookalike domain that purports to be one of the three major credit bureaus that could instead be operated by hackers, Steinhauer said.
Additionally, do not open your personal records on public Wi-Fi, he said.
Consumers can purchase additional protection through dark web monitoring services, which will let you know when your information is compromised. While that step can provide peace of mind, it’s not going to stop anything from happening, Lee said.
Consumers should also make sure they have strong and unique passwords that use multifactor authentication, where two or more steps are used before access to an account is granted. Consumers may want to consider using a password manager, which can help generate strong passwords and store those codes, Steinhauer said.

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As you approach retirement, a threat, known as the “sequence of returns” risk could jeopardize your portfolio.
The issue stems from poor investment returns paired with withdrawals, particularly earlier in retirement, which can shrink your nest egg over time.
However, you can minimize the risk via portfolio diversification, fixed-income allocations and flexible withdrawals.

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How sequence risk hurts your portfolio

Investors can typically start withdrawing funds from retirement accounts without penalty at age 59½.
But there’s a big risk for younger retirees or near-retirees who experience stock market downturns just before or as they start tapping accounts.

Withdrawing from your portfolio when the stock market drops could mean selling more assets for the same amount of cash. As a result, you’re left with fewer investments to capture future growth when the market rebounds.

It’s the biggest issue for younger retirees with decades of living expenses to cover from their nest egg, experts say.
Here are some ways to mitigate your sequence of returns risk, according to financial advisors.

Diversify your portfolio

As retirement approaches, it’s important to adjust portfolio allocations from heavy concentrations in higher-risk assets to less volatile investments like bonds, experts say. The right mix may depend on several factors, including your risk tolerance, goals and life expectancy.
“Diversification among several different asset classes can help make volatility less pronounced,” Lyon said.

Diversification among several different asset classes can help make volatility less pronounced.

Collin Lyon
Wealth strategy advisor at Anderson Financial Strategies

Build a ‘war chest’ to fund living expenses

You can avoid selling assets in a down market by keeping a six-month emergency fund and a “war chest” to cover living expenses, according to CFP Jonathan Bednar II, a wealth advisor at Paradigm Wealth Partners in Knoxville, Tennessee. 
For Bednar’s clients, the war chest includes five years of expenses in fixed-income assets — typically in a bond or certificate of deposit ladder — so retirees can “weather any market volatility,” when the sequence risk is highest, he said.

Opt for a flexible withdrawal rate

Flexible withdrawals are another way to safeguard your portfolio from sequence risk, experts say.
“Instead of withdrawing a fixed percentage, the rate can be adjusted based on market performance,” explained Orlando-based CFP Brad Brescia with Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo.
Reducing withdrawals during years of negative returns “can help preserve the portfolio’s core,” he added. However, some retirement accounts eventually have required withdrawals. More

More than one-third, 33.2%, of landlords offered at least one rent concession in July, according to Zillow Group.
the median asking rent prices for apartments in one- to three-bedroom units fell in July, the first time that’s occurred since 2020, according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage site.

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A construction boom in the U.S. has resulted in lower rents and other benefits for renters.
Record-construction activity since the pandemic has increased the supply of empty units, meaning more inventory is available for renters. More multifamily units were completed in June than in any month in nearly 50 years, according to Zillow Group, an online marketplace for real estate.

Landlords are taking notice and are now adding rent concessions — discounts, incentives or perks to attract new renters — like free weeks of rent or free parking. 
About one-third, 33.2%, of landlords offered at least one rent concession in July across the U.S., up from about one-quarter, 25.4%. last year, Zillow found.
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Meanwhile, the median asking rent prices for apartments in one- to three-bedroom units fell in July, the first time that’s occurred since 2020, according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage site.
The median asking rent price for a studio or one-bedroom apartment fell 0.1% to $1,498 a month; two-bedroom apartments decreased 0.3% to $1,730; and units with three bedrooms or more, were down 2.% to $2,010, per Redfin data. 

Rents are still high because of how much prices climbed during the pandemic, said Chen Zhao, who leads the economics team at Redfin. But now, rent growth has flattened, which can be seen as “good news for renters,” she said.

Sun Belt states are leading the trend

Metro areas in Florida and Texas, two Sun Belt states that have introduced a high number of newly built apartments since the pandemic, are seeing significant rent price declines as more units become available, according to Redfin.
For example, the median asking rent price in Austin, Texas, fell to $1,458 in July, a 16.9% decline from a year prior, according to Redfin. It was the biggest drop among all other analyzed metro areas in the national report, the firm noted.
The median asking rent price in Jacksonville, Florida, declined 14.3% in the same time frame, to $1,465, per Redfin.
To compare at a state-wide level, the median rent price in Texas stands at $1,950, according to Zillow. That comparable price in Florida is $2,500, it found.

Rent concessions are up from a year ago in 45 of the 50 largest metro areas in the U.S., according to Zillow.
The annual increase in the share of rental listings offering concessions is the highest in Jacksonville, Florida, which saw concessions rise 17 percentage points, followed by Charlotte, North Carolina (15.7 points), Raleigh, North Carolina (14.7 points), Atlanta (14.5 points); and Austin, Texas (14.1 points), per Zillow data.

How wage growth helps rent costs 

Historically, wage growth and rent growth have been very linked, said Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist with Zillow’s Economic Research team.
How tight the labor market is can be predictive of how tight the housing market is going to be, he explained.
The labor market has eased recently, with the number of candidates outpacing the jobs available. In July, nonfarm payroll increased by just 114,000 for the month, down from 179,000 in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate jumped to 4.3%, the highest level since October of 2021.
“When wages are rising rapidly, that helps to support housing demand,” said Divounguy. “As the labor market loosens, we expect the rental market to continue to loosen.”

Wages are growing 4% to 5% year over year, said Zhao: “That’s good. That means that rents are actually falling relative to wages. Your wages are increasing more than rents are.” 
To be sure, wage growth has slowed. Wages and salaries increased 5.1% in June for the 12-month period ended in June 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
Wage growth peaked at 9.3% in January 2022, and has slid down to 3.1% by mid-June, returning to pre-pandemic wage levels, according to Indeed Hiring Lab Institute. More