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Marquee at the main entrance to BlackRock headquarters building in Manhattan.Erik Mcgregor | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesSALT LAKE CITY — A year ago, Samara Cohen believed there was so much pent-up demand for bitcoin that she and her team at BlackRock launched one of the first-ever spot bitcoin exchange-traded products in the U.S. Now investors are flocking in, and a lot of them are crypto enthusiasts who are new to Wall Street.Cohen, who heads up the asset manager's exchange-traded funds and index investments as chief investment officer, told CNBC that BlackRock now sees the demand was for a better way to access bitcoin. "It was for the ETF wrapper," she told CNBC on stage at the Permissionless Conference in Utah.The total market cap of all eleven spot bitcoin ETFs now tops $63 billion, wit...

A Spirit Airlines aircraft undergoes operations in preparation for departure at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on February 12, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty ImagesSpirit Airlines shares closed at a fresh low on Friday ahead of a looming deadline to refinance more than $1.1 billion in debt.The airline's stock closed down roughly 3%, at less than $1.50 per share.The budget carrier had extended that deadline with credit card processor U.S. Bank to Monday, from a previous date in September.The Miramar, Florida-based airline has furloughed workers, slashed its schedule and deferred aircraft deliveries to save cash over the past year. Many of its planes have been grounded because of a Pratt & Whitney engine recall, it has reported weaker-than-expected bookings and i...

A freight engine and shipping containers are viewed in a Union Pacific Intermodal Terminal rail yard on November 21, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesRecord imports over the last several months at the West Coast ports are leading to congestion on the rails, as holiday goods and everyday items pile up. Almost half of the containers bound by freight rail out of the Port of Los Angeles are waiting nine-plus days to get out of the port and onto the rail.Before the August and September container surges, the average rail dwell for the San Pedro Basin (which includes the Port of LA and Long Beach) was four days.In September, the Port of Los Angeles moved a total of 954,706 twenty-foot equivalent units making the month its best September ever. At the por...

It's time to step back into health-care stocks, according to Wolfe Research. The sector was one of the worst performing over the past month, pulling back over 4% from September to October, technical analyst Rob Ginsberg wrote in a note on Tuesday. "As evidenced by XLV [Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund], price is back through the 50 day [moving average] on this relief rally," he said. "Not yet overbought, it looks to us like the early innings of a reacceleration back towards the highs. If this is the case, stocks across the sector should reap the benefit." XLV YTD mountain Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund year to date On top of that rally is the added benefit of dividend payouts on many health care stocks. With that in mind, CNBC Pro screened for stocks in the S & P 500 health-car...

One of Wall Street's reliable seasonal trends is about to come to flower, and this year there are solid fundamentals to power a rally, according to Fundstrat. Tom Lee, Fundstrat's head of research, said in an Oct. 17 note to clients that the firm is opening a six-month "tactical overweight" on the homebuilding sector. The six-month timeline counts on a strong seasonal pattern where homebuilders tend to rally from late October to late April. Since 1999, the group scores an average gain of 18.7% during the "golden six months" and an average decline of 2.3% outside that period, according to Fundstrat. While the reason for the historical trend is not clear, the fact that it currently coincides with a rate-cutting cycle for the Federal Reserve should lend homebuilders' stocks even more support,...

Procter & Gamble on Friday reported weaker-than-expected revenue as lower demand in China again weighed on its sales.The company's organic sales in Greater China, its second-largest market, fell 15% in the fiscal first quarter. As home prices drop and jobless rates rise in the country, shoppers have pulled back their spending, hurting P&G's sales for shampoo, diapers and other consumer staples.While executives maintained their confidence in China long term, demand isn't expected to recover for at least several more quarters."The market continues to be weak and will be weak, we believe, for a number of quarters to come," CFO Andre Schulten said on a call with the press.P&G's outlook for China didn't take into account the Chinese government's recently announced plans to boost the...