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Electrabel calls for clarity on Belgian phase-out
Electrabel - the Belgian subsidiary of French utility Engie - says it will not make any further investments at Doel unit 4 and Tihange unit 3 unless it is clearer whether the reactors will or will not be allowed to operate beyond 2025. A report due out at the end of next year may lead to the reactors being allowed to continue operating to ensure Belgium's energy security.Read Full Story Energy SecurityBelgiumFranceNuclear PowerEnergy PolicyEnergy PricesElectricity SupplyBelgianTihange 2Tihange 3The Council Of MinistersFlemishWorld Nuclear NewsElectrabel StaffFrench Utility EngieAlexander De Croo
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Julie Bristow Launches Women-Focused Content Catalyst Fund (EXCLUSIVE)
Julie Bristow, former CEO and president of Bristow Global Media (BGM), has launched The Content Catalyst Fund (CCF). The initiative will focus on content developed, delivered and designed by women and about women. Based
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5 Great Stocks You Can Buy and Hold Forever
Investing in stocks can be an incredibly effective way to generate wealth, and one big reason why is the power of compound growth. But compounding can only really work its magic if you have the patience to buy and hold for the long term. Your goal should be to hang onto your stocks practically forever, unless your underlying investment thesis and conviction on the company changes.To do that, you'll need to start by picking fundamentally solid companies with tangible growth catalysts. The five stocks below are perfect wealth-building candidates to buy and hold forever. A reliable stock for all timesCanadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) has quietly made massive profits for investors who've held the stock and reinvested dividends through the past couple of decades. The company has increased its dividend every year since 1995 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16% through 2019.Railroads haul one-third of U.S. exports and support nearly $220 billion in economic output each year. It's an essential industry and Canadian National's a leading player in it, operating the longest rail network in North America covering nearly 20,000 route miles, and the only one connecting the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts. Image source: Getty Images.Canadian National is also an efficient and diverse railroad, moving goods from many vital commodity markets including petroleum, grains, metals, and forest products. The company pumped a record $3.9 billion Canadian dollars into capital investments last year and is upping its automation game. For example, its Autonomous Track Inspection Program, which uses artificial intelligence to monitor and test track parameters in real time, could reduce the need for manual inspections by 50%.Canadian National's a well-established, well-run company in a critical industry, is investing in growth, and pays one heck of a dividend. That's a great package to own for a lifetime. A resilient money-builder stockAmerican Water Works (NYSE:AWK) has made investors more money than you might think, thanks to a regulated business that has supported plenty of dividend growth. It provides water and wastewater services to 15 million customers across 45 states, and the rates its charges are set by public utility commissions. That makes the company's revenue and cash flow stable and predictable.American Water's financial goals offer investors a great deal of insight regarding its medium-term prospects. Through 2024, it's targeting:7% to 8% compound annual growth in its water rate base.7% to 10% compound annual growth in earnings per share.7% to 10% compound annual growth in its dividend.$8.8 billion to $9.4 billion in capital spending.Regulated capital expenditures to win base rate approvals should be the key driver of earnings growth, supplemented by growth moves like acquisitions. And as its earnings grow, so should its dividend. Overall, that makes American Water a reliable company to invest in for long periods of time. And if you're a proponent of ESG investing, you might want to know that the utility recently scored the highest ESG evaluation rating in the U.S. from S&P Global.A play on the future of energyWith much of the world in the midst of transitioning to greater use of clean energy sources, investors ought to play the trend -- and what better way to do that than to own a piece of the largest producer of wind and solar power, NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE)? This company offers the stability that comes with a defensive utility stock combined with exponential growth potential.Dividend growth largely drove NextEra stock's explosive total returns in the past: Its payouts grew at a compound annual rate of 9.4% between 2004 and 2019, underpinned by annualized growth in adjusted earnings per share of 8.4%. Those trends should continue, what with NextEra's visionary management consistently setting ambitious financial goals. For example, it's targeting high single-digit-percentage growth in adjusted EPS annually through 2023 and dividend growth in line with earnings.NextEra Energy's renewables project backlog just crossed 15 gigawatts, which is more than its existing renewables capacity. That's a humongous growth in the pipeline, and with industry experts expecting trillions of dollars worth of investment in renewable energy in just the next decade, this stock is for keeps. Don't miss this explosive secular trendLike NextEra, Visa (NYSE:V) is riding a mega-growth secular trend: As the war on fossil fuels is propelling NextEra, the war on cash is lifting Visa.The e-commerce boom and the digitization of major service industries like banking have triggered a major shift from cash to cashless modes of payments like debit and credit cards, online payments, and mobile wallets. Visa is already the world's largest payments processor, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, and financial institutions. In 2019, it had 3.4 billion cards in circulation across 200 countries, processed 553 million transactions per day, and generated $23 billion in revenue. That's an enormous business, and this could be just the beginning. Visa is extensively using technologies like blockchain, and expanding into newer areas such as business-to-business and person-to-person payments, both of which are multitrillion-dollar addressable markets. Its value-added services like analytics and fraud management also provide it with tremendous growth opportunities.With Visa's operating margins already north of 60% and with management targeting a dividend payout of 20% to 25%, patient investors could reap multibagger returns from this fintech stock.A Dividend King that won't let you downJohnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shares have done marvelously for long-term investors over the years.Its clout in the consumer and healthcare sectors, a solid portfolio, brand power, impressive research and development, and an incredible dividend track record are just some of the things that have powered this company's returns upward. While the consumer side of the business -- which includes household names like Band-Aid, Neutrogena, and Listerine -- is a consistent cash-flow generator, Johnson & Johnson consistently scouts for growth in healthcare. That's exemplified by its latest acquisition -- autoimmune disease-drug specialist Momenta Pharmaceuticals, for which it paid $6.5 billion in cash. In 2019, Johnson & Johnson generated half its revenues from pharmaceuticals and one-third from medical devices.Can Johnson & Johnson still build wealth for new investors? Sure it can, if you hang on to the stock. The company continues to prioritize R&D spending and has a humongous biotech pipeline. While these stories play out, you can collect rising dividend payouts year after year: Johnson & Johnson is a Dividend King, having boosted its payouts annually for 58 straight years. Shareholders can reinvest those dividends, then just sit back and watch their money grow.InvestmentNYSEStocksNew York Stock ExchangeCanadian National RailwayResearch And DevelopmentStock InvestorsDividend InvestorsLong-Term InvestorsFuture ProfitsNextEra EnergyJohnson & JohnsonMomenta PharmaceuticalsAmerican Water WorksS&P Global
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Long Island, Let’s Lead on Climate
As I write this, the skies above Long Island are filled with smoke blown east from the wildfires raging across the western United States. Meanwhile, the first day of school across the South Shore was cancelled – not du
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Mastercard's Priceless Planet Coalition Adds Members To Fight Climate Change
Mastercard has announced the expansion of the Priceless Planet Coalition to continue combating climate change, a press release says, with dozens of new contributors. The Priceless Planet Coalition was initially started in January of this year, intending to restore trees through a combination of efforts from consumers, businesses, financial institutions and cities. The goal is to restore 100 million trees in the next five years.MastercardHSBCBank Of MontrealDZ BankAmerican AirlinesFrontier AirlinesGlobal WarmingCoalitionGlobal Climate ChangeMasterCardWorld BankEnvironmental ChangeBarclays Bank USArchaScotiabankFrank GreenRead Full Story
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China Top Financial Watchdog Blasts ‘State Monopoly’ Accusation
© Bloomberg. Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, attends a news conference at the Great Hall of the People during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, China, on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Communist Party leaders are gathering in Beijing this week to map policy for the next five years, with President Xi Jinping telling delegates that China is transitioning from a rapid growth model to one more focused on high-quality development. 2/2.Read Full StoryWorld Trade OrganizationWorld EconomyFinancial RegulatorGovernment PolicyChinese CompaniesChinese Communist PartyThe Asian Financial ForumWorld BankBloomberg L.P. PostFusion MediaState Monopoly CapitalismU.S. ChinaGlobal Trade RulesBeijingState-owned EnterprisesGuo ShuqingXi Jinping
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China's pivot to Europe could further self-reliance while staying in global technology scene, academic says
China's investment agreement with the European Union could pave the way for Beijing's 'dual circulation' strategy of being self-reliant in technology while still remaining a part of the global supply chain, according to NYU's Winston Ma. The European Union's executive arm, the European Commission, last month announced an investment deal...Read Full StorySelf-relianceTechnology DevelopmentPoliticsGlobal StrategyTechnological InnovationTechnology InnovationEconomic PolicyNYUThe European Union 'sThe European CommissionThe European ParliamentCNBCNew York UniversityReutersTrumpMaJoe Biden
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DHL Global Forwarding develops new technology capabilities for life sciences and healthcare logistics services
DHL Global Forwarding, Deutsche Post DHL Group’s air and ocean freight specialist, has announced a series of technology enhancements to its Life Sciences and Health Care logistics services designed to meet the pharmace
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Mono Hepatitis Vaccine Market Statistics and Research Analysis Released in Latest Industry Report 2020
The global Mono Hepatitis Vaccine market 2020 mainly focuses on the market trend, market share, size and forecast. It is a brief and professional analysis on the current scenario of the Global Mono Hepatitis Vaccine market. The report on Mono Hepatitis Vaccine market is a comprehensive study on global market...VaccineHepatitisStatisticsMarket ResearchSWOT AnalysisAsia-PacificSaudi ArabiaMarket SegmentationData AnalysisRisk AnalysisEconomic AnalysisNCPC Product And ServicesGlobal Market AnalysisAPACKSARead Full Story
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1 Million People Have Died from the Coronavirus Worldwide with More Than 33 Million Global Cases
The death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 200,000 in the U.S. last week. One million people across the globe have died from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as of Monday, the New York Times reports. The death toll has reach