MarketWatch rounds up 10 of its most interesting topics over the past week.
1. A rough week for Starbucks
On Tuesday, Starbucks SBUX, +2.02% said it would close 150 stores while raising its dividend by 20%. Following those announcements, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Starbucks, saying the dividend increase would “materially” increase the company’s debt burden. The company’s shares were down 11% through Thursday from a week earlier.
More on Starbucks:
• Starbucks closures and D.C. restaurant minimum-wage hike are two sides of same coin
• Starbucks says racial bias incident delayed its marketing push, hurt same-store sales
• Starbucks launching two new summer lemonades
2. Rational analyses of the benefits of immigration
Looking beyond heated partisan arguments, Caroline Baum uses numbers to show how comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration policy would help solve the demographic problems of Social Security and Medicare.
Other research shows there are economic benefits to European cities from immigration by asylum seekers.
3. New details on KPMG’s cheating
Back in January, executives at KPMG were charged with using stolen information about regulatory audits of clients to better prepare for inspections. Now Francine McKenna reports who those clients were and provides more details on the alleged crimes.
More on the accounting scandal: KPMG won BBVA audit with stolen data about rival’s inspections
4. Family money squabbles
Readers have strong views on these situations described by Quentin Fottrell, MarketWatch’s Moneyist.
• I earned $5 million in my lifetime—now my long-lost son keeps hitting me up for money
5. Oracle gets cute with its cloud reporting
The pace of sales growth for Orcale’s ORCL, +2.16% cloud business is slowing and, surprise, the company has stopped breaking out cloud numbers in its financial reports.
6. Speaking of cloud...
If you are considering investing in the cloud services industry, here are 10 pure-play cloud companies with very rapid sales growth.
Don’t miss: These 7 stocks could profit handsomely from a cashless future
7. (Over)Paying for vacation
Now you can finance a trip through an installment plan — and MarketWatch readers think that’s insane.
8. Headlines don’t always drive the stock market
Mark Hulbert explains why recent overall weakness in the stock market wasn’t caused by fears of trade wars.
Read on: This is what the stock-market indicator with the best track record is telling us
9. Economic headlines don’t always mesh with reality
Rex Nutting shows how the U.S. economy was performing at least as well in 2014 as it is now.
10. Nearing retirement? Can’t stand your job? Read this
Your circumstances may require you to remain in a job you no longer like in order to receive retirement benefits. Here are some positive ways to outlast your job.
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