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BATON ROUGE, La. The boos cascaded down from Tiger Stadium on Saturday night in the waning minutes of LSUs inexplicable loss to Auburn. They began after yet another squandered LSU timeout this one before the first play of a drive but they represented something deeper.

For LSU fans, the boos signified a release of pent-up frustration for a teams continual spiral to mediocrity too many losses to mediocre underdogs, the abject failure to recreate that elusive Brady-Burrow magic and a potential breaking point for the tenure of Ed Orgeron.

The program that put together perhaps the greatest offensive season in college football history two years ago cant even get off snaps consistently. And after clearing out coordinators on both sides of the ball in the offseason, theres no one left to blame but the head coach.

The gap behind Alabama and Georgia to the rest of the SEC is growing, and LSU has reverted back to the program it was far too often before the magical 2019 season offensively dysfunctional, poorly coached and teetering on the brink of falling apart. LSU is 8-7 since winning the national title with losses to unranked Missouri, Mississippi State, Auburn (2020) and UCLA, leaving a distinct U-turn needed for Orgeron to keep his job.

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron leads his team onto the field against UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 4. It was the the first of two defeats the Tigers have suffered this season. (Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)

The obvious is the obvious, said James Carville, a longtime political strategist and former LSU faculty member with deep ties in the state. Its not complicated. I dont think thats news to anyone.

Around the college sports industry, the LSU job opening has evolved from a possibility to a near inevitability.

LSU is an underdog at No. 16 Kentucky this weekend, the start of games against four straight ranked opponents. After Kentucky, LSU plays No. 20 Florida at home then at No. 17 Ole Miss and at No. 1 Alabama.

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There are few signs the Tigers can turn things around, as they rank No. 128 in rushing offense, No. 93 in passing yards allowed and have one of the SECs worst offensive lines. If Orgeron survives and keeps his job for 2022, itd be one of the best comebacks in a career hallmarked by them.

The boos reverberating through Tiger Stadium on Saturday night portend another sound throughout the sport the ringing of cash registers. If theres one thing that an opening at LSU signifies, its an economic stimulus to the sport. (And a competitor in the job market for USC, as theres an argument both are top 5 jobs.)

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron takes a senior portrait with linebacker Jabril Cox and athletic director Scott Woodward before a game against Ole Miss in 2020. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

How good is the LSU job? Both Les Miles and Orgeron, the last two coaches, have won national titles there. And there arent a lot of coaches who respect Miles or Orgeron as strategists or leaders. Big characters? Sure. One chews grass and the other runs through campus with his shirt off. Big personalities, definitely. Few are more fun to do impressions of.

But as far as high-end football coaches go, Miles and Orgeron arent in the same sphere as the other title-winning coaches of this generation: Nick Saban, Urban Meyer or Dabo Swinney.

The real star in Baton Rouge has always been the LSU job itself the local talent so rich and the fan base so passionate that even Miles and Orgeron could overcome their coaching shortcomings and win at the highest levels.

LSU athletic director Scott Woodward has always been a star chaser.

He chased the one star he always wanted the LSU AD job and finally found it after stints at Washington and Texas A&M. Woodward graduated from LSU, hails from Baton Rouge and Mark Emmert hired him there nearly two decades ago.

Woodwards distinct reputation as an athletic director is as a leader who covets the biggest names. If Woodward was a shopper, hed frequent Hermes. Not Marshalls. Hes into big names, not Big Lots.

Woodwards refined taste transcends to his coaching hires. Price doesnt matter. Experience, wins and buzzy news conferences are his flavors. If theres a problem, Woodward wont flinch at throwing money at it.

And as much as Woodward embraced the magic of 2019, theres little sentimentality in Woodward from it. He didnt hire Orgeron. And hes not going to hesitate to hire his own coach if LSU's slide continues.

At Washington, Woodward lured away Chris Petersen from the blue turf of Boise State after many including USC had tried. At Texas A&M, he brought in his old friend Jimbo Fisher from Florida State more on him later and then Buzz Williams from Virginia Tech.

When the pearl clutchers balked at Fishers gaudy $75 million deal, Woodward chuckled that he paid market value for a national title-winning coach. Expect him to do the same again, as Woodward wont be Wal-Mart shopping for a hot assistant or a trendy Group of Five up-and-comer.

Already at LSU, he hired three-time national title winner Kim Mulkey in women's basketball. Big game hunting is his only hunting.

Who would Woodward target? The list will be short, as there aren't many coaches who have the credentials, personality and coaching chops to handle LSU.

Expect Woodward to go after Fisher, Penn States James Franklin or Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. The prevailing thought on former assistant Joe Brady is that hes going to continue life in the NFL, as he has always enjoyed finding a schematic advantage more than recruiting.

Franklin had a star turn in the SEC, breathing life into Vanderbilt after a century of bad football. Hes also going to be atop USCs wish list, and there could be hours of calls into "The Paul Finebaum Show" about which is a better job.

Woodwards lopsided deal in favor of Fisher at Texas A&M sets up a potential exit to Baton Rouge. The initial deal had no buyout money for him to leave for another job. Texas A&M just extended him on the same terms with the understanding that, essentially, the Aggies are daring anyone to pay Fisher now more than $9 million annually. Any courtship of Fisher would presumably crack the $10 million barrier, but the good news for Woodward is that another reunion with his old friend Jimbo wouldnt cost any buyout money because he left it coach-friendly up front.

Kiffin in Baton Rouge would be a fascinating stage for his offense and penchant for popcorn-popping antics. While LSU fans may cringe at some of the tweets and narcissism, theyve also cringed at a lot of neanderthal offenses the past 15 years. Kiffin may bring baggage, but his teams can snap the ball and are fun to watch.

As for Orgerons departure, how LSU positions itself to save on a buyout of nearly $17 million may be more interesting than watching the Tigers on the field this season. All buyouts in modern college athletics are negotiating points. But LSU will be dealing with a stubborn coach who likely wouldnt get another shot at a high-end pay day. If you think Orgeron will go quietly, remember he quit on USC as the interim and threw a temper tantrum when he didnt get the full-time job. Orgeron knows only bull rushing.

There are other factors swirling around Orgerons buyout, including getting named in a Title IX lawsuit about allegedly mishandling a rape allegation.

The backdrop of any Orgeron buyout discussion is that LSUs administration is also dealing with its own alleged failings in a series of ugly sexual misconduct cases. There could be a high-stakes staredown between numerous flawed factions, none of who would particularly want to be deposed.

Perhaps things will turn around for Orgeron. The snaps will come on time, the boos will stop and Orgeron can pull off another comeback. But right now, the most audible noise is the jockeying behind the scenes for one of the best jobs in college football to come open.

A starry job thats quickly dimmed under Orgeron is about to become the brightest object of an entire industrys intrigue.

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It's time for LSU to think about life after Ed Orgeron. And the Tigers' AD has reputation for chasing stars - Yahoo Sports

Bitcoin

Bitcoin, BTC to USD, rallied by 13.37% in the week ending 10th October. Following an 11.70% gain from the week prior, Bitcoin ended the week at $54.691.0.

A mixed start to the week saw Bitcoin fall to a Monday intraweek low $46,897.0 before making a move.

Steering well clear of the first major support level at $42,965, Bitcoin rallied to a Sunday intraweek high $56,450.0.

Bitcoin broke through the 23.6% FIB of $50,473 and the first major resistance level at $51,357.

The extended rally also saw Bitcoin break through the second major resistance level at $54,473.

In spite of a pullback to sub-$55,000 levels, Bitcoin closed out the week above the second major resistance level.

5 days in the green that included a 7.43% jump on Wednesday delivered the upside for the week.

Bitcoin would need to avoid the $52,679 pivot to support a run the first major resistance level at $58,462.

Support from the broader market would be needed for Bitcoin to break out from last weeks high $56,450.0.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside.

In the event of an extended breakout, Bitcoin could test the second major resistance level at $62,232 before any pullback.

A fall through the $52,679 pivot would bring the 23.6% FIB of $50,473 and the first major support level at $48,909 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, Bitcoin should steer clear of the sub-$48,000 levels and the second major support level at $43,126.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 1.40% to $55,454.4. A mixed start to the week saw Bitcoin fall to an early Monday low $54,430.0 before rising to a high $55,635.0.

Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Ripples XRP rose by 7.65% in the week ending 10th October. Following an 11.83% breakout from the previous week, Ripples XRP ended the week at $1.13621.

A bearish start to the week saw Ripples XRP fall to a Monday intraweek low $1.00679 before making a move.

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Steering clear of the first major support level at $0.9315, Ripples XRP rallied to a Sunday intraweek high $1.22855.

Ripples XRP broke through the 38.2% FIB of $1.0659 and the first major resistance level at $1.1341.

Ripples XRP also broke through the second major resistance level at $1.2130 before falling back to end the week at $1.13 levels.

2-days in the green that included a 9.16% breakout on Saturday delivered the upside in the week.

Ripples XRP would need avoid the $1.1239 pivot level to support a run at the first major resistance level at $1.2409.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ripples XRP to break out from last weeks high $1.22855.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside.

In the event of another extended breakout, Ripples XRP could test resistance at $1.40 levels before any pullback. The second major resistance level sits at $1.3456.

A fall through the $1.1239 pivot would bring the 38.2% FIB of $1.0659 and the first major support level at $1.0192 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off in the week, Ripples XRP should steer clear of sub-$1.00 levels. The second major support level sits at $0.9021.

At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was up by 0.98% to $1.14734. A mixed start to the week saw Ripples XRP fall to an early Monday morning low $1.12787 before rising to a high $1.15648.

Ripples XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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Bitcoin and Ripples XRP Weekly Technical Analysis October 11th, 2021 - Yahoo Finance

Milk Bar is collaborating with Apple TV+'s (AAPL) hit show, "Ted Lasso," bringing customers the title character's special home-made biscuits for free.

The show, centered around a quirky American-born coach tapped to lead a British soccer team, has captured the attention of viewers, and become the fledgling streaming service's prime jewel. Now, Apple is sweetening the deal by letting fans taste the show's famous confection, which Lasso brings to his boss every morning, in real life.

New-York based Milk Bar is offering the biscuits to help celebrate the breakout series season two finale, which airs Friday.

But there's a catch: The buttery, crumbly sweets will only be available on Postmates for delivery and pick up from Milk Bar's New York City and Los Angeles flagship locations. Customers are limited to one box, and service fees will apply to those who opt for delivery.

Ted Lasso Biscuits x Milk Bar (Courtesy: Milk Bar)

Ted Lasso superfans may want to act fast, as the treats will be only available for a day, or while supplies last. In New York City, sales begin at 10 AM ET and in Los Angeles sales begin at 11 AM PST.

And for fans who are not in the two major cities, they can head to the Postmates app and enter the code LASSO to have a chance to win limited-edition Ted Lasso swag and the limited Milk Bar treats.

Cast members Jeremy Swift, Moe Jeudy-Lamour, Hannah Waddingham, Jason Sudeikis, Juno Temple, Cristo Fernandez, Brendan Hunt, and Brett Goldstein attend the premiere for season two of the television series "Ted Lasso" at Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California, U.S. July 15, 2021. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni?

In the show, Jason Sudeikis' character is a small town college football coach hired to lead a professional soccer squad. In an attempt to win over the team's owner Rebecca Welton, he delivers the homemade cookies.

The biscuits got some extra publicity back in August when Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, owners of England-based soccer team Wrexham AFC, issued a cease and desist letter to Apple TV+ as a joke.

The tech giant replied and approved their requested "2 LARGE boxes" of the Ted Lasso's biscuits to avoid any legal action.

Brooke DiPalma is a producer and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.

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Ted Lasso's famous biscuits are getting the real-life treatment, thanks to Milk Bar - Yahoo Finance

Despite high demand for guitars, Fender's CEO says that supply chain bottlenecks are holding back the company's rapid growth during the pandemic.

"We jokingly refer to it as whack-a-mole, there is a new challenge that seems to emerge every single day, and we have to be creative to find ways to navigate around it," Andy Mooney, CEO of Fender, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "We're definitely facing supply chain challenges in terms of chip shortages for amplifiers and raw material ... And most of all, recently, transportation challenges."

Mooney estimated that while the company will grow by about 35% this year, "we could have grown easily 50% this year" were it not for the supply chain woes.

Andy Mooney, CEO of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and former chairman of Disney Consumer Product, speaks during day 4 of the Web Summit 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 8, 2018. (Photo by Rita Franca/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Pre-pandemic, the industry was growing at about 10%, Mooney said, but the demand for guitars as the pandemic drags on really accelerated the trajectory of the industry.

"We grew about 35% during the height of the pandemic, [and] we're continuing to grow at that rate again. This year, we'll have another record year," Mooney said.

According to a Fender-YouGov survey, around 16 million Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 started to learn how to play the guitar over the last two years, with 62% citing lockdowns as a "major motivator." Additionally, 77% of those surveyed said they picked up the guitar because they had additional free time during this period.

"About half of all new players up are women. They tend to gravitate towards an acoustic guitar as their first guitar," Mooney said. But "the thing that really kind of caught our attention in this study and this time around was the percentage of Latine population who are really adopting guitar in droves about nearly 40% of new guitar players are of Latin descent."

A detail of a "Made in USA" Fender Telecaster model electric guitar is pictured in Rome, Italy, on August 15, 2018. (REUTERS/Max Rossi)

But as interest surges, addressing the total demand has been a challenge due to capacity constraints.

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"We're able to meet demand ... [at a] higher level than probably anybody in the industry, but we're not able to meet the total demand that's out there," Mooney explained. "There's probably at least 50% of additional growth that we could have had this year, had we been able to either get capacity or get the product here on time."

Meanwhile, the company has raised prices, given the tight scenarios that are elevating costs. So far, the consumer has been willing to stomach the hikes, Mooney said.

Actor and musician Gary Sinise of the Lt. Dan Band plays a Fender guitar as part of a Salute to the Troops event at the Fremont Street Experience on November 9, 2019, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)

Despite the challenges of meeting capacity, Fender continues to encourage music education among the youth, not just through its products but also through philanthropy.

Mooney shared that Fender took on a proactive approach to reach young aspiring guitar players during the lockdown periods, when many students were forced to attend school remotely. The company worked with school districts such as the Los Angeles Unified School District to distribute instruments and help students continue their music education. It also provided a Fender Play subscription for the students.

"It's a very unique program in that we ship the guitars to the home of the student," Mooney said. "The teachers have been very, very supportive of that because involvement in any creative endeavor and music and arts is fundamentally good in terms of engagement for kids in both learning overall. ... We're committed to it for the long run and we'd like to continue to expand it over time."

Aarthi is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. She can be reached at aarthi@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.

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Fender CEO: 'We could have grown... 50% this year' if not for supply chain issues - Yahoo Finance

Billionaire Peter Thiel's Palantir pops 3 more of his ideas that could surge next

Whatever Peter Thiel touches seems to turn to gold.

The billionaire venture capitalist co-founded PayPal, was the first outside investor in Facebook, and provided early funding for LinkedIn, Yelp, and dozens of other tech startups.

In September of 2020, data mining specialist Palantir Technologies another company that he co-founded went public through a direct listing at $10.00 per share.

Palantir now trades at around $24 per share and is currently enjoying a nice little pop on news that it won an $823 million contract with the U.S. Army.

Lets take a look at three other stocks in Thiels portfolio that could rally next one of them might be worth buying with your spare change.

Ralf Liebhold/Shutterstock

2020 was a big year for Peter Thiel. Three months after Palantir went public, Airbnb completed its IPO.

And it was quite the debut.

The company was originally priced at $68 per share. On its first day of trading Dec. 10 it closed at $144.71, marking a gain of 113%.

Known for its online platform for vacation rentals, Airbnb has survived the worst of the pandemic. And its financials are now on the rise.

In Q2 of 2021, the company reported 83.1 million nights and experiences booked. That was up 197% from the pandemic-struck Q2 of 2020.

Revenue totaled $1.3 billion for the quarter, up nearly 300% year-over-year, and also surpassed Q2 2019 levels.

In other words, Airbnb is pumping out more revenue than even compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Year to date, the stock has returned around 15%. Other travel stocks such as Tripadvisor and Expedia are also up double-digits in 2021.

Of course, with COVID variants still lurking, investing in the vacation space isn't easy.

The good news? If you're on the fence about jumping in, some investing apps will give you a free share of Airbnb or Tripadvisor just for signing up.

Roman Tiraspolsky/Shutterstock

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, shares of the ride-sharing technologist Lyft took a massive nosedive. And for good reason.

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At a time when people were stuck at home, who needed to get around?

But with the economy having largely reopened, its fair to say that Lyft has regained its forward momentum. The stock is up a whopping 105% over the past 12 months.

Thiel was one of the earliest backers of Lyft and would certainly be proud of what the company has become.

In Q2, Lyft brought in $765 million of total revenue, representing a 125% increase year-over-year and a 26% improvement sequentially.

While Lyft runs a growing business, its quite a bit smaller than its competitor Uber Technologies in terms of market cap. Uber is also getting renewed investor attention, with shares up around 29% over the past year.

Wachiwit/Shutterstock

At this point, Thiel only has a relatively small stake in social media giant Facebook. But he continues to serve as a board member a position he has held since 2005.

Facebook made headlines earlier this week due to its massive outage, which also took down its other products including Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger, and Oculus.

The shares fell more than 5% on the news.

That said, the stock has rewarded investors with a commendable 24% return year to date, easily topping the S&P 500.

Facebook is a behemoth in the social media space, with a market cap of over $900 billion. For context, thats much larger than the market cap of Twitter, SnapChat, and Pinterest combined.

And despite its already established presence, the company continued to expand its reach.

In Q2, Facebooks monthly active users increased 7% year-over-year to 2.9 billion. For the companys entire product lineup, MAUs rose 12% to a whopping 3.51 billion.

Facebook trades at a seemingly steep price of $335 per share. But you can get a piece of the company using a stock trading app that allows you to buy fractions of shares with as much money as you are willing to spend.

While these tech stocks have tons of long-term potential, they can still take a violent tumble in the event of an overall market crash.

If you want to invest in something that has little correlation with the ups and downs of the stock market, you might want to consider an overlooked asset fine art.

Investing in fine art by the likes of Banksy and Andy Warhol use to be an option only for the ultra-rich like Thiel.

But with a new investing platform, you can invest in iconic artworks too.

On average, contemporary artworks appreciate in value by 14% per year, easily topping the average returns of 9.5% youd see with the S&P 500.

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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Billionaire Peter Thiel's Palantir pops 3 more of his ideas that could surge next - Yahoo Finance

In a sea of tasty, healthier snacks down supermarket aisles, it appears teens are leaning on an old favorite of their parents as their snack of choice Goldfish crackers, long produced by the tomato soup hawking Campbell's Soup (CPG).

In Piper Sandler's new "Taking Stock With Teens" survey out on Tuesday, Goldfish crackers were the most preferred snack by teens. About 12% of teens surveyed listed Goldfish as their favorite snack compared to 9% in Piper Sandler's spring survey. Roughly 67% of teens who listed Goldfish as their favorite brand plan to eat more or the same amount over the next six months this was the third highest among large preferred snack brands.

Piper Sandler surveyed 10,000 teens, average age of 15.8 years old, spanning 44 states.

"Teens like to snack. They have been sitting at home for the last 18 months, and it is a top trend," said Piper Sandler analyst Erinn Murphy on Yahoo Finance Live. "We'll have to dig into if it's more of TikTok trend. That seems to be the golden wand that flashes across our survey and makes things move higher."

Besides teens posting videos on TikTok of eating Goldfish, the demand for the iconic snack may just be because Campbell's has jazzed up the brand.

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"Turning to Goldfish, we delivered sustained share growth, increasing for a second quarter in a row by more than 1 point compared to this time last year. On a 1- and 2-year basis, Goldfish delivered strong results, including double-digit consumption growth, increased household penetration, and higher repeat rates. This solid performance on Goldfish was due in part to the successful launch of limited edition Goldfish Frank's RedHot Crackers. Additionally, the reinstatement of promotions, improved performance on multi-packs, and an effective marketing campaign contributed to our strong results," Campbell's Soup CEO Mark Clouse said on an early September earnings call.

Individual bags of Goldfish crackers are being sold as a Halloween snack at the Target. (Photo by Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The success with Goldfish helped power Campbell's snacks business to a 1% sales increase and 7% operating earnings improvement in the most recent quarter. Sales in Campbell's meals and beverages business fell 9% and 30%, respectively.

Clouse teased further new products for the Goldfish line, something that will likely get teens jazzed up if Piper Sandler's survey is any indication.

"We are excited to continue to introduce on-trend limited editions on Goldfish, with the launch this week of Goldfish Jalapeno Popper and plans for additional innovation later this fiscal year," Clouse said.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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Goldfish crackers are having a moment and this stock may be the play - Yahoo Finance

When it comes to online calendars and calendar apps, services like Google Calendar and Outlook from Microsoft rule the roost with hundreds of millions of users globally. Now another company is hoping to ruffle some feathers with its own move into the space. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Yahoo is working on Day, a new standalone calendar app.

The company brought on Jeremy Le Van who co-founded another calendaring app, Sunrise, and eventually sold it to Microsoft for over $100 million to make it the backbone of Microsofts own very popular calendar platform in Outlook to consult on designing it.Many lamented the sunset of Sunrise; now it looks like they might have a shot at getting Sunrise 2.0, so to speak although to be clear, Le Van was not working at Yahoo full time, but acting as a consultant, and he is no longer on the project.

(Disclaimer: Yahoo is owned by the same company as TechCrunch.)

We are exploring different ways to better serve consumers and that includes new ideas around mobile-first time management, calendar and events, a Yahoo spokesperson said in response to our question.

The service is currently in an invite-only closed alpha as it gears up for a bigger launch (you can also sign up on the site).

Calendars serve as the backbone for how many of us organize our days, whether its for work or leisure. And arguably, the more our activities, and the planning of them, move to digital platforms, the more powerful calendars can become, too.

This means that for platforms, having a calendar feature or app as part of a bigger service is a good way of keeping users engaged on the wider platform, and its a way for the platform to glean more knowledge about user behavior. Googles Calendar, for example, is very tightly, and often automatically, integrated with its wider suite of productivity and information services, giving the company one more spoke in its wheel to keep users sticking around.

And its not only Yahoo that might be interested in doing more here. Facebook acquired Redkix in 2018 allegedly to bring more calendar and other productivity tools to Workplace. In the end, Workplace integrates with existing offerings from third parties, and so it doesnt have its own standalone calendar app. Facebook also doesnt have a standalone calendar feature in the main consumer app, either. But with people planning so much else on Facebooks properties (not just through Events on Facebook, but across Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger), it seems that its an area it could feasibly still expand into at some point.

Yahoo itself, in fact, already has a pared-down calendar widget that you can access through Yahoo Mail. Its not clear how popular it is, especially since its very easy these days to integrate ones email to most other calendar apps.

The question, then, will be how Day might hope to differentiate itself, and how it will hope to compete.

From what we understand, in contrast to how Google, Microsoft or even Yahoo itself currently integrate calendar features into their wider productivity suites, this isnt the approach that Yahoo is taking with Day.

The app is being built by people in its Mail team, but its being treated like a startup in the operation, weve heard, and has been given license to develop it independently: it has no special Yahoo branding, nor with any Yahoo integrations whatsoever. The plan is to keep it separate, not unlike the many calendar apps like Sunrise once was that exist in app stores, and make it something that can integrate with whatever other email or other tools that a person users. Over time there also may be efforts to use Mail which still has around 200 million users to help market Day.

The move underscores how Yahoo which has effectively lost out to Google in areas like search, email, video and advertising believes that with the right approach, there is still room for more innovation in this crowded market, even as it has a number of misses in its history of trying to do just that in other areas, like messaging.

But as we noted in a recent story about Calendly a $3 billion startup thats proven to be a big hit with people who need to schedule meetings calendar apps can be challenging for another reason. They are well-used, yes, but also somewhat under the radar: calendars are never the destination for a person, just a place to mark when, how and with whom you will get there. Can there be more ways of enhancing that basic functionality?

Yahoo seems to believe there are, and that people will want to use an app that does so.

Updated and corrected to clarify that Le Van is not working at Yahoo but came on as a consultant on the app and is no longer involved.

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Yahoo has built a new calendar app called Day, and its recruited the co-founder of Sunrise to design it - TechCrunch

One retirement savings vehicle doesnt get the attention it deserves, according to one financial expert.

The Roth 401(k) is the unsung hero, if you will, of your retirement plan, Sun Group Wealth Partners Managing Director Winnie Sun recently told Yahoo Finance Live, especially for her clients whose "No. 1 goal" is to have tax-free savings in retirement.

A Roth 401(k) is an employee-sponsored retirement plan that allows you to contribute after-tax earnings versus pre-tax earnings in a traditional 401(k). About 70% of employers offer this option in their 401(k) plan, according to Sun.

Sun called the Roth 401(k) one of her favorite avenues of saving for retirement because of its ability to allow contributions to grow entirely tax-free and spared from capital gains taxes, as long as account holders are able to make it to 59 and a half without making a single withdrawal.

One of the best things about the Roth 401(k) is it's kind of uncontroversial, she said. [It] doesn't matter how much you earn, even if you're at that high tier, you can contribute to that plan.

The Roth 401(k) is the unsung hero, if you will, of your retirement plan, Sun Group Wealth Partners managing director Winnie Sun recently told Yahoo Finance Live. (Photo: Getty)

That's a key difference from a Roth IRA, which comes with income limitations for contributing. But those who exceed those income thresholds can still do a backdoor Roth IRA, Sun said, where you convert a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA after paying taxes upfront. Traditional IRAs don't have income limitations.

That strategy can open up your investment options, Sun said.

You can definitely do both your 401(k) at work, as well as your IRA, she said. You can pick certain investments that you're more passionate about to also piggyback on that Roth 401(k) at work.

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Sun advises her clients to have a balanced approach to investing. For investors who gravitate toward a more conservative financial approach, Sun encourages a higher degree of fixed income or even cash reserves, but warned of the risk of not being able to keep up with inflation returns.

Personally, I like to see a good percentage of growth equity, so that way you have a potential for greater gain, she said.

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Stephanie is a reporter for Yahoo Money and Cashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter @SJAsymkos.

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Why the Roth 401(k) is the unsung hero of retirement plans - Yahoo Finance

The worlds leading semiconductor manufacturer, Micron Technology, is expected to report its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $2.33 per share, representing year-over-year growth of more than 115% from $1.08 per share seen in the same quarter a year ago.

The semiconductor company is expected to post revenue growth of over 30% to around $8.2 billion from a year earlier.

According to ZACKS Research, for the fiscal fourth quarter, the company forecasts revenues of $8.2 billion (+/- $200 million). Micron expects a non-GAAP gross margin of 47% (+/-100bps) for its fiscal fourth quarter. Non-GAAP operating expenses are likely to reach $900 million (+/-$25 million). The adjusted earnings per share are expected to be $2.30 (+/-10 cents).

Micron Technology shares closed nearly flat at $74.05 on Friday.

While the underlying demand trends are strong and producer inventory levels are low heading into a period of seasonal strength, there are some signs of inventory adjustments short term after customers-built inventory, noted Joseph Moore, Equity Analyst at Morgan Stanley.

We see demand growth on the back of seasonality, memory elasticity/higher content per unit, and low customer inventories, and very slow supply growth in DRAM given declines in capex. We continue to believe that memory stocks have a relatively well-defined earnings cycle, though highs and lows are likely to be better than they have been historically.

Twenty-one analysts who offered stock ratings for Micron Technology in the last three months forecast the average price in 12 months of $109.41 with a high forecast of $165.00 and a low forecast of $75.00.

The average price target represents a 47.75% change from the last price of $74.05. From those 21 analysts, 16 rated Buy, five rated Hold while none rated Sell, according to Tipranks.

Morgan Stanley gave the base target price of $75 with a high of $120 under a bull scenario and $40 under the worst-case scenario. The firm gave an Equal-weight rating on the semiconductor manufacturers stock.

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Several other analysts have also updated their stock outlook. BMO slashed the price target to $105 from $110. Mizuho cut the target price to $97 from $107. JPMorgan lowered the target price to $100 from $140.

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Microns Earnings to More Than Double in Q4, Revenue to Jump Over 30% - Yahoo Finance

In this article, we reviewed Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio's portfolio adjustment strategies to cope up with the market volatility. We also discussed the top ten stocks billionaire Ray Dalio is buying. You can skip our detailed discussion and jump directly to Billionaire Ray Dalio is Buying These 5 Stocks.

Raymond Thomas Dalio's $223 billion Bridgewater Associates is ranked among the world's best and largest hedge funds. The 72-year-old investor has invented many commonly used financial practices, such as global inflation-indexed bonds, currency overlay, portable alpha, and risk parity. Born in New York City, Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates in 1975 in his apartment and has served as co-chief investment officer since 1985. LCH Investments ranks Dalio as the best hedge fund manager of all time, with net gains of $46.5 billion since inception.

Currently, the fund is looking to hold positions in well-established companies with strong business models and strong cash generation potential. Dalio's firm, which lost $12.1 billion in 2020, has poured in billions of dollars of investments in consumer staple, consumer discretionary, healthcare, and communication stocks. Last year, investing in financial stocks, debt securities, and exchange-traded funds caused losses for this American billionaire, who is ranked 88th on the Forbes list of wealthiest people with a net worth of around $20 billion.

His hedge fund, which held $15.58 billion in 13F securities, ended the second quarter with only 23% of the portfolio in the financial sector compared to 81% at the end of 2019. During the second quarter, one of the most successful hedge fund managers doubled down his investments in top consumer discretionary holdings including Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NYSE:COST), and McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD).

Ray Dalio also significantly increased his positions in Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) during the second quarter.

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At the end of the second quarter, Ray Dalio held $736 million worth of position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), which is his largest stock holding. Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) is the second-largest stock holding of Bridgewater Associates. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is ranked third and PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) is ranked fifth in the list of top stocks Ray Dalio is buying.

Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates

Why should we pay attention to Ray Dalio's stock picks? Insider Monkeys research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 86 percentage points since March 2017. Between March 2017 and July 2021 our monthly newsletters stock picks returned 186.1%, vs. 100.1% for the SPY. Our stock picks outperformed the market by 86 percentage points (see the details here). Thats why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free newsletter on our homepage to receive our stories in your inbox.

Let's start digging into the 10 stocks billionaire Ray Dalio is buying.

Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates Stake Value: $230 million

Bridgewater Associates 13F Portfolio: 1.48%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78

Billionaire Ray Dalios confidence in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) appears to be working as shares of the health care equipment maker surged 46% so far this year. In the second quarter, Bridgewater lifted its existing stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 93% to 857,833 shares. In addition to share price gains, Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) offers a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, yielding around 0.26%.

In the Q2 2021 investor letter of Cooper Investors, the fund mentioned Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) and discussed its stance on the firm. Here is what Cooper Investors stated about Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR):

During the quarter the Funds largest holding Danaher made a notable acquisition, spending US$9bn (~5% of its market cap) to buy privately held Aldevron, a leading player in the fast growing field of genomic medicine. Over the years Danaher has built up a unique portfolio of life science and diagnostic assets. Their key life sciences businesses involve providing the tools and services to research, develop and manufacture biotech drugs. For example, they are a key provider to over 400 COVID vaccine and therapeutic projects globally.

Aldevron expands Danahers capability into gene therapy. Aldevron is a supplier of key ingredients for the next generation of therapies, namely cell and gene therapy and mRNA vaccines. Aldevron is the leader in these fields and this deal puts Danaher in pole position to participate in the wave of innovation occurring in this space.

The acquisition multiple is high Danaher are paying US$9bn for what today is a US$500m revenue business but growing 30% a year with 40% operating margins, in our view justifying the high price. Importantly, management can see an investment return in line with recent acquisitions. As a reminder Danahers history and skill set is acquiring businesses, it is how the company has been successfully built over 35 years. The shares were up 4% on the news and have gained nearly 20% for the quarter. Most companies would be sold down off the back of an announcement like this but Danaher has a long multi decade track record of successful acquisitions and this fits a similar enough pattern.

The opportunity is to grow Aldevron into a multibillion dollar business given the growth in genomics and RNA innovation thats occurring and as more of these types of therapeutics become approved. Overall as a key supplier with deep global networks across life sciences and medical research Danaher is very well placed to continue growing with the innovation in biotech and diagnostic markets. It remains an incredibly well run company and a high conviction investment in the Fund.

Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates Stake Value: $234 million

Bridgewater Associates 13F Portfolio: 1.50%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is among the best dividend-paying companies. At present, Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) offers a dividend yield of 1.80%. Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) shares surged 30% in the last twelve months, thanks to robust financial growth and a strong outlook.

In the Q2 2021 investor letter, Polen Capital mentioned a few stocks including Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX). Here is what Polen Capital stated about Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX).

For Starbucks, we believe the underlying businesses for the company remain strong. Starbucks has grappled with the impact of the pandemic, but results have continued to show an ongoing post-pandemic recovery.

Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates Stake Value: $321 million

Bridgewater Associates 13F Portfolio: 2.06%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 146

Bridgewater Associates raised its stake in the largest Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 2% to 1.41 million shares, according to the second-quarter filings. Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shares fell sharply this year due to regulatory concerns.

According to Semper Vic Partners' investor letter for Q2 2021, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is one of the firm's top holdings. Here is what Semper Vic Partners' stated about Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA).

It is hard to believe that it was over eight months ago that I wrote about our new investment which we had initiated late last year, Alibaba. As I mentioned at the time, I had long admired the access Alibaba provides Western investors across a host of consumer products companies to Chinese commerce and economy.

Alibaba has long provided exposure to Chinas foremost commerce hubs, especially through the form of Taobao and Tmall (especially its Luxury Pavilion collections). With roughly one billion Chinese average annual consumers and roughly 260 million additional consumers outside of China, it is hard to imagine shopping in China without involvement in one manner or another with Alibaba.

Alibabas focus on serving the needs of both merchants and consumers alike has allowed it to deliver its e-commerce at amongst the lowest take rate of any leading retailers. Alibaba also provides investors access to Chinas leading cloud business. Alibaba, in efforts to be transparent, has reported its cloud segment separately since 2017.

By reporting cloud results separately, Alibaba allows investors to measure the substantial extent to which Alibaba has exercised both the capacity to reinvest as well as Alibabas managements capacity to suffer. Alibabas management team enjoys the capacity to suffer as the result of protection from Wall Streets disruptive censures as a result of protection provided them by Alibabas founding shareholder, Jack Ma.

During decades of Alibabas greatest growth, Mr. Ma evidenced a preference for taking on projects which, more often than not, eroded reported profits as investments he selected for greatest long-term growth in intrinsic value on a per share basis burdened reported profits in the near term.

In addition to attractive businesses which possessed the ability to reinvest internally, Alibaba was well capitalized. In late 2020, as we sized up our potential investment interest in Alibaba, we realized that Alibaba had a rock-solid balance sheet and financials in general. Not only did Alibaba have nearly $71 billion in cash and short-term securities within the company, but they also had investments in a portfolio of over 100 independent, digitally disruptive start-up companies. While most start-up investments are in Chinese companies, there are portfolio companies that also include non-Chinese start-up businesses. Finally, Alibaba currently has over a 30 percent interest in Ant Financial, which at the time of our initial investment research had been recently valued at over $300 billion of estimated value (Click here to see the full text)

Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates Stake Value: $322 million

Bridgewater Associates 13F Portfolio: 2.07%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66

McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) is ranked sixth in the list of stocks Ray Dalio is buying. His hedge fund lifted its position in McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 48% to $322 million worth of shares, according to the second quarter 13F filings. McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) shares have surged 13% so far this year.

Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates Stake Value: $333 million

Bridgewater Associates 13F Portfolio: 2.14%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 54

Bridgewater Associates increased its position in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NYSE:COST) by 49% to 2.14% of the entire portfolio. At the end of the second quarter, Bridgewater Associates held $333 million worth of shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NYSE:COST), making it the fifth-largest stock holding of Dalio. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NYSE:COST) shares soared 32% since the beginning of this year and the company currently offers a dividend yield of 0.69%.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NYSE:COST) is among the top contributors to Ray Dalios portfolio performance this year. Other best-performing stocks include Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR), and McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD).

The number of long hedge fund bets dropped by 2 in recent months. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) was in 54 hedge funds portfolios at the end of June.

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Disclosure: None. Ray Dalio is Buying These 10 Stocks is originally published on Insider Monkey.

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