'The Profit' loses city vote against his huge US flag

FILE – In this undated handout photo provided by Camping World, an American flag blows in the wind at Gander RV, in Statesville, N.C. The North Carolina city has voted against the flying of really big flags, holding its ground against reality TV star Marcus Lemonis’ huge Stars and Stripes. News outlets report the Statesville City Council voted down changes to the flag ordinance Monday night, June 17, 2019. That means flags in Statesville must be no larger than 25 feet by 40 feet (7.6 meters by 12 meters). That’s roughly half the size of the American flag that Lemonis has unfurled outside his Gander RV company. (Jennifer Munday/Camping World, AP)

A North Carolina city has voted against the flying of really big flags, holding its ground against a reality TV star's huge Stars and Stripes.

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News outlets report the Statesville City Council voted down changes to the flag ordinance Monday night. That means flags in Statesville must be no larger than 25 feet by 40 feet (7.6 meters by 12 meters). That's roughly half the size of the American flag that Marcus Lemonis has unfurled outside his Gander RV company.

Statesville has asked a court to order Gander RV to comply or pay a $50 per day fine.

Lemonis runs Camping World and stars on "The Profit" on CNBC. He says the flag is staying. He's said he'll go to jail for contempt of court to protect his constitutional rights.

Federal officials to review flood issues in Texas derailment

Investigators will consider storm-related flooding to help determine what caused an April 24 freight train derailment in North Texas that sent 25 tanker cars off the tracks.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday issued a preliminary report on the accident south of downtown Fort Worth.

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Officials say at least three horses were killed and several Texas homes had to be evacuated when the Union Pacific train hauling flammable liquid ethanol derailed and caught fire.

The NTSB statement says the derailment happened amid heavy rainfall and a large amount of water from nearby Lake Echo flowed through the railroad right of way.

Safety issues to be reviewed include effective weather alert communications and inspection and maintenance of storm water drainage from lakes.

Union Pacific is based in Omaha, Nebraska.

A Leveraged Semiconductor ETF to Trade on Volatility

This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com.

Despite the fact that markets had a generally more optimistic tone over the past week, semiconductor stocks have been punished, falling more than 1% even as the broader market rose. Investors who are bearish on semis and looking to use ETFs to play the semiconductor sector might consider the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull and Bear […]

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Real Estate ETFs Are Among This Year’s Standout Winners

This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com.

Real estate investment trusts and sector-related exchange traded funds have been a standout segment of the U.S. markets this year as falling interest rates and bets on the future of e-commerce helped prop up this attractive yield-generating segment. Among the best performing REITs ETFs year-to-date, the Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF (NYSEArca: INDS) […]

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Walmart adding wireless experts by the holidays, part of consumer electronics push

Walmart Inc. WMT, +0.15% said Tuesday that it will add wireless experts to 600 more stores by the holidays, part of an overall push to upgrade consumer electronics departments. More than 3,000 Walmart stores will have dedicated wireless experts. Walmart also announced that, starting with AT&T Inc. T, +0.61% customers, Walmart shoppers will be able to purchase a complete "postpaid" cell phone on the Walmart website. Each carrier will ultimately have its own page for cell phone purchases. Walmart plans to improve its consumer electronics offering nationwide with live product demos, more accessories and additional enhancements. Walmart stock is up 17% for the year to date while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.37% has gained 13.2% for the period.

Active U.S. equity funds lost $12.9 billion to outflows in May -Morningstar

June 18 (Reuters) – Passive U.S. equity funds saw $2.7 billion in outflows while active U.S. equity funds lost $12.9 billion to outflows in May, according to Morningstar on Tuesday, underscoring a long-term shift away from active equity managers.

Money market funds collected $82 billion in May, the group’s second-best month in 10 years, Morningstar said.

Powerful earthquake strikes Japan and triggers tsunami warning

TOKYO (AP) — A powerful earthquake jolted northwestern Japan on Tuesday night, and officials warned of a tsunami up to one meter (3.3 feet) high along parts of the coast.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the quake registered magnitude 6.8 and was located off the western coast of Yamagata about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the city of Sakata.

It said the quake was fairly shallow, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the sea’s surface. Shallow quakes tend to cause more damage on the Earth’s surface.

The agency predicted a tsunami as high as 1 meter (yard) along the coast of the northwestern prefectures of Yamagata, Niigata and Ishikawa.

Kyodo News agency said service was suspended on two bullet train lines to check for damage.

All seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata were off line and no abnormalities were reported.

Japan is one of the most earthquake- and tsunami-prone areas in the world. On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 offshore quake hit the northeast coast, causing a tsunami that took more than 18,000 lives and triggered a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power plant.