Power Lunch

Monday - Friday, 2:00 - 3:00 PM ET

Power Lunch

The Power Brief

Warren Buffett
CNBC

A daily morning look at the financial stories you need to know to start the day

STOCKS/ECONOMY

-Stock futures are flat after three straight weeks of losses for the major market indices.

OIL/ENERGY

-Crude oil is up about 2% to the $47/barrel level. Goldman Sachs says it's now getting more bullish on oil.

-Gasolineprices are up to $2.22/gallon, national average.

-Oil company executives still got big bonuses despite the crash in oil prices in 2014-2015.

ELECTION

-Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson is reportedly ready to give $100 million to the Trump campaign.

-A survey of top US CFO's shows that most of them expect Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump in a landslide.

-Donald Trump is bashing the EU and assuring Britain that he would not carry out Pres. Obama's threats should the UK leave the EU.

-President Obama chose to use his graduation speech at Rutgers yesterday to bash Donald Trump and the GOP.

DEALS/NO DEALS

-Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is taking a new stake in Apple and upping its stake in IBM.

-Warren Buffett may bankroll Quicken founder Dan Gilbert's group in its efforts to buy Yahoo's core assets.

Pfizer is buying Anacor Pharmaceuticals for $5.2B

-Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing is planning an IPO.

EU vs. GOOGLE

-The European Commission may fine Google $3.4 billion, (yes billion), in the coming weeks over alleged anti-competitive practices with its shopping service.

TERROR/DEFENSE

-Al Qaeda is calling on its followers to undermine the US economy by targeting business leaders and entrepreneurs in their homes.

-Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson says the long security lines at airports are not a "national crisis," but he is announcing some efforts to move them faster.

-A local TV station in San Francisco has uncovered systematic FBI surveillance in public areas like bus stops and even on trees and rocks.

HEALTHCARE

-Insurers participating in Obamacare saw their losses widen in 2015. The average loss was double what the consulting firm McKinsey predicted.

-Children in the US are going to doctors and hospitals less often, but spending on their healthcare is still going up.

FACEBOOK MEETING

-Mark Zuckerberg's meeting with 12 conservatives is this Wednesday to discuss possible bias at the company.

AMAZON vs. RETAIL

-Amazon is going to start selling perishable food.

LABOR WARS

-Verizon and its 40,000 striking workers' union are going back to the bargaining table. The strike has been going on for almost a month.