China says its economy is slowing. Its central bank may be preparing to intervene

Beijing will likely take steps to mitigate the impact of the trade war with the U.S. as recent economic indicators from China point to a slowdown, an economist said on Monday.

"We were calling for some slowdown, but the degree is much more than what we expected," said Jeff Ng, chief economist for Asia at Continuum Economics, a research firm.

Over the weekend, a private survey showed growth in China's factory sector stalled after 15 months of expansion, with export orders falling the fastest in over two years, while an official survey confirmed a further manufacturing weakening.

The official manufacturing index fell to a seven-month low of 50.8 in September, from 51.3 in August and below a Reuters poll forecast of 51.2. That index has stayed above the 50-point mark for 26 straight months. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that signals contraction.

But the Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell more than expected to 50.0 in September, from 50.6 in the previous month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 50.5 on average.

"I think we are expecting some more triple-R cuts by the end of the year ... I think one more triple-R cut by end of the year," Ng said, referring to possibility that the People's Bank of China may cut reserve requirement ratios for banks in order to boost liquidity and growth.

The reserve requirement ratio refers to the amount of money that banks must hold in their coffers as a proportion of their total deposits. Lowering the required amount will increase the supply of money that banks can lend to businesses and individuals, therefore cutting borrowing costs.

The Chinese government also has other tools to manage monetary policy.

Although there will still be some downside risks to the Chinese economy due to the trade war, Ng said he expected expansion in sectors like services to cushion the tariff impact and keep growth resilient in the world's second largest economy.

The Chinese government's official growth target this year is around 6.5 percent.

— CNBC's Yen Nee Lee and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Chinese tech has taken hefty blows but giants like Tencent and Baidu are not out for the count

At the start of the year, China's largest technology companies known as the BATs, or Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, looked unstoppable. Things continued to go very well for the big three throughout the first half of the year, with all of the firms' share share prices hitting record highs.

But since the summer, investors in the BATs have been tearing their hair out as stock prices began to fall, ruining the decent start to 2018. Collectively, the BATs have lost around $165 billion in value year-to-date, each for their own reasons.

U.S.-listed Alibaba and Baidu have been caught up in the broader sell-off in Chinese stocks resulting from weak sentiment because of the U.S.-China trade war.

Tencent, meanwhile, has been hit by regulatory woes. The Chinese government has raised concerns about eye problems in the world's second-largest economy and cited video games as one of the causes. Beijing suggested slowing down approvals of new games. Tencent makes a huge amount of money from games and concerns over the future of this part of its business have weighed on its stock.

But looking beyond the trade war rhetoric and short term problems, the BATs certainly have enough firepower to have market leadership. They also pose a major challenge to major U.S. tech names known as the FANGs or Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

Just look at the growth and size of their businesses. Tencent grew 30 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of the year, Alibaba increased revenues 61 percent, while Baidu saw 32 percent growth.

All of these business are expanding rapidly into new geographies and areas. Tencent's massive games business continues to have traction despite regulatory issues and the giant also owns WeChat, China's most popular messaging app with over a billion monthly users. Tencent is pushing WeChat Pay, the payments service that runs within WeChat.

Alibaba continues to grow its core commerce business, while Baidu, which has seen hits to its core search business, has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence and autonomous cars.

The BATs have also spent billions of dollars investing in other companies, to the point where they are not only technology firms, but investors too. Bernstein Analyst Bhavtosh Vajpayee recently dubbed Tencent the "SoftBank of China." SoftBank is the Japanese firm that has its own $100 billion Vision Fund which it invests in big tech firms across the world.

While heavy investment could be seen as a negative by investors because it weighs on profits, it could also set these companies up for future growth. The investments made by the BATs could provide good returns in the event of an initial public offering or acquisition of these companies. Or the firms that the BATs have invested in could just be acquired by either one of them.

And perhaps the biggest factor working in their favor is the impenetrable nature of the Chinese market for the FANGs. Google has not been in the Chinese market since 2010 after it withdrew over concerns about censorship. Facebook is blocked, Netflix is not available and Amazon has a very tiny business in the country.

Even though recent reports suggested Google is looking to enter the market, the company will find it difficult to dislodge the dominance of Baidu. Amazon could find it a huge task to take on Alibaba. And Facebook will face an uphill battle getting its product to stick, particularly as Tencent's WeChat is woven into the fabric of Chinese society. China still remains a huge opportunity for the FANGs but it continues to be out of reach.

With a home market of over a billion people, a push by the Chinese government into new technologies like AI, and continued growth of digital services, the BATs may have taken a couple of hefty blows this year, but they're certainly not down for the count.

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A trans-Atlantic train wreck now seems inevitable

The long-brewing trans-Atlantic train wreck now seems inevitable. A temporarily suspended trade fight between presumably closest friends and allies has entered an unpredictable crisis following America's unilateral trade and political sanctions against Iran.

Washington's edict that "those doing business with Iran cannot do business with the U.S." is being challenged with sound and fury — but little else — by the EU Commission, with a reportedly strong declaratory support from Russia and China.

That is an ominous development, although, formally, the EU's move to establish, and enforce, its sovereign legislative domain could be an entirely plausible act.

Regrettably, nearly two years of allied discussions about Washington's intention to renegotiate an allegedly unsatisfactory nuclear agreement with Iran have ended up in the worst ever confrontation within the trans-Atlantic community.

Immediately at stake is nearly a trillion-dollar trade business between the U.S. and Europe, with millions of jobs threatened on both sides of the Atlantic. Most of that business is captured by the 19 countries of the European monetary union – particularly by Germany, France, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands.

If, as seems likely, the sanctions dispute with the U.S. were to escalate, those would be the countries with the most to lose because alternative markets for $300 billion of their export sales might not be readily available.

Still, it is important to keep those events in the proper perspective.

At the moment, the euro area economy is doing well. The current growth dynamics are keeping demand and output moving forward at twice the speed of the system's estimated potential and noninflationary growth. Apart from that, the fiscal and monetary policies have plenty of room to support economic activity and employment creation.

A 2.3 percent average annual growth in the first two quarters of this year is way above the euro area's estimated growth potential of 1.2 percent. In other words, the economy is hitting beyond the physical limits to growth that are set by the stock and quality of the human and physical capital, and are roughly approximated by the sum of the growth rates of productivity and labor supply.

So, if you want to keep the score, chalk that strong euro area growth up to the European Central Bank. Against all the odds — such as Germany's systematic opposition to monetary accommodation and Berlin's unrelenting pressure for a pro-cyclical fiscal austerity — the ECB managed to pull the euro area out of a deep recession and to set it on a path of accelerating economic activity.

And, in case of need, that steady growth momentum can be further — and safely — underpinned by fiscal and monetary policies.

On the fiscal side, Germany and the Netherlands, the two largest budget surplus countries, have plenty of room to expand domestic demand, and to allow their euro partners to sell more goods and services. That would support growth in the euro area and reduce the depressive impact of excessive German and Dutch trade surpluses — 8 percent and 10 percent of GDP, respectively — on the rest of the monetary union.

But whether they do that is a different matter. Based on their past, they won't. And the French, the Italians and the Spaniards will just keep quiet, pushed into a corner and chastised as spendthrifts and underperformers. In fact, those countries should vigorously push back, telling the Germans and the Dutch to stop living at their expense and to pursue, instead, a proper economic policy coordination to keep the euro area stable, balanced and prosperous.

The French — continuing to live the illusion of the mythical French-German couple — are finally doing something for themselves. They are allowing the budget deficit for 2019 to increase to 2.8 percent of GDP from 2.6 percent this year. A deeply unpopular government — with the president's latest approval rating sinking to the record-low 29 percent – seems to have understood that it had to shed the German pressure, and to moderate its ill-advised and growth-stifling reformist zeal.

Italy's new "Italians first" government is doing the same thing. Next year's budget deficit is projected to rise slightly to 2.4 percent of GDP from 2 percent this year. Italy is trying to help 6.5 million of its citizens living in utter poverty, and to step up investments to rebuild the country's crumbling infrastructure. Those efforts are taking place at a time of Italy's near-stagnant economic growth and a 10.4 percent unemployment rate, where 30.8 percent of Italian youth remain without a job and a meaningful future.

On the monetary side, the ECB is facing a benign inflation picture. The core consumer price index in August grew at an annual rate of 1.2 percent, marking a stable pattern since the beginning of the year. The annual growth of hourly labor costs in the first half of the year was also stable at 2.1 percent. With an estimated 0.8 percent in labor productivity gains, that gives a 1.3 percent increase in unit labor costs, showing that the underlying inflation is correctly indicated by the core CPI increase of 1.2 percent.

The euro area price stability, and the euro's steady trade-weighted exchange rate, constitute an appropriate background for a gradual withdrawal of monetary accommodation in the months ahead.

A total and irrevocable disagreement between the U.S. and the European Union about an ill-fated nuclear deal with Iran, and changes to the existing multilateral trading regime, are old news.

The new development is that Europeans have moved to block the extraterritorial reach of American legislation. They have also officially announced last week the establishment of an apparently flimsy "Special Purpose Vehicle" to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran, and to make it possible for the EU, and companies from other jurisdictions, to do business with the Islamic Republic.

Predictably, Washington has responded with dismay and a determination to break up the European sanctions-busting contraption.

The allied trans-Atlantic community is facing a serious existential threat. No matter how that plays out, things have gone so far that trade relations between the world's two largest economic systems will be impaired to the point of causing considerable damage to themselves and the rest of the world.

The 19 euro area economies have the means to limit the fallout of the impending trade clash. The area's current growth dynamics are good, and its fiscal and monetary policies have plenty of room to offset the expected weakening of external demand.

Commentary by Michael Ivanovitch, an independent analyst focusing on world economy, geopolitics and investment strategy. He served as a senior economist at the OECD in Paris, international economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and taught economics at Columbia Business School.

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New tsunami warning system was meant to be installed in Indonesia before quake

A lack of funding from currency devaluation prevented the installation of a new tsunami detection system in Indonesia before Friday's devastating earthquake, one of the researchers involved in the project told CNBC.

A 7.4 magnitude earthquakestruck Central Sulawesi province on Friday, unleashing six-meter high tsunami waves in the city of Palu and the neighboring town of Donggala. More than 832 people died, with the death toll expected to rise and many others believed to be affected by rubble and landslides.

Before the disaster, a team of U.S. and Indonesian institutions was working on a prototype that could provide officials with extra minutes of warning time than most tsunami detection programs. That could be vital in saving lives.

The program uses sensor nodes and cables to recognize changes underwater and transmits that information to the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics, or BMKG, said Louise Comfort, who is part of the initiative.

"This type of data is really important in determining tsunamis," said Comfort, a professor and director of the Center for Disaster Management at the University of Pittsburgh.

Early detection can be critical to dealing with natural disasters, especially for a country like Indonesia. Southeast Asia's largest economy sits on the Ring of Fire, a belt of sites around the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

In 2004, a 9.3 magnitude undersea earthquake triggered a massive tsunami off the coast of Sumatra that killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean. A series of powerful earthquakes hit the Indonesian island of Lombok last month, killing hundreds.

Comfort's team received a grant for the venture in 2013 and successfully tested the system in 2016. But funding that was approved in late July to install the tsunami prototype "was not sufficient to cover the cost" due to recent devaluation of the Indonesian rupiah, Comfort explained.

Coordination was also another factor, she said: "There are three agencies that need to work together, plus our set of six institutions — four from the U.S., two from Indonesia — that need to put it in place."

Because of Indonesia's location, "tsunamis will come again and they will come in other cities," Comfort warned.

Hundreds of aftershocks continue to reverberate around Central Sulawesi, hindering rescue operations, according to humanitarian agencies.

"It is very bad, the biggest challenge is access," said Martin Faller, Asia-Pacific deputy director at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which handles Red Cross organizations across the world. The Indonesia Red Cross was operating "very, very cautiously because this is a very, very dangerous environment," Faller continued.

"People are very frightened, they are not going into buildings, they stay on the streets because they are afraid there could be more heavy shocks," he said, noting the high risk that disaster relief teams were taking to access affected people.

Speaking from Palu over the weekend, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said heavy equipment, food, water and fuel supplies were on the way.

"The risk of epidemics is also a challenge," Faller warned. For now, the Red Cross and its volunteers are helping residents with immediate needs that include health, emergency first-aid as well as psycho-social assistance, Faller said.

Faller said that the Red Cross has released 1 million Swiss francs in aid and is currently appealing to the world for 20 million Swiss francs, a number he expects will rise as the death toll mounts.

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Canada and the US have reportedly agreed to a NAFTA framework

The United States and Canada have reached an agreement on a framework North American Free Trade Agreement deal, Reuters reported Sunday evening, citing a Canadian source.

Following that report from the wire service, the Canadian dollar strengthened to a four-month high against the U.S. dollar, Reuters said.

The new agreement framework involves offering more dairy access to U.S. farmers, as well as Canada agreeing to a side-letter arrangement effectively capping automobile exports to the United States, the Reuters source said.

Multiple sources told CNBC on Sunday that Canada was set to sign onto an agreement, and Dow Jones reported that an announcement was "imminent:"

That followed the news that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had called for a late-night Sunday meeting with his Cabinet as the two countries had reportedly made substantial progress in free trade talks.

Negotiators were racing to meet a U.S.-imposed Sept. 30 deadline to reach an agreement with Canada as they tried to roll out a new North American trade pact.

Canada, America's second-largest trading partner, was left out when the U.S. and Mexico reached a preliminary deal in late August to revamp NAFTA. Canada was expected to join the talks after that, and the two sides have sparred over dairy products.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he was prepared to move ahead with just Mexico, but some in Congress, which has to approve a deal, were against leaving Canada behind.

Trudeau had earlier told reporters in New York during U.N. week that they will keep working on a "broad range of alternatives."

—Reuters contributed to this report.

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California governor signs tough net neutrality bill

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the nation's toughest net neutrality measure Sunday, requiring internet providers to maintain a level playing field online.

Advocates of net neutrality hope the move in the home of the global technology industry will have national implications, prompting Congress to enact national net neutrality rules or encouraging other states to follow suit.

It's the latest example of the nation's most populous state seeking to drive public policy outside its borders and rebuff President Donald Trump's agenda.

The Federal Communications Commission last year repealed rules that prevented internet companies from exercising more control over what people watch and see on the internet.

California's measure is likely to face a legal challenge from internet companies.

Telecommunications companies lobbied hard to kill it or water it down, saying it would lead to higher internet and cellphone bills and discourage investments in faster internet. They say it's unrealistic to expect them to comply with internet regulations that differ from state to state.

Net neutrality advocates worry that without rules, internet providers could create fast lanes and slow lanes that favor their own sites and apps or make it harder for consumers to see content from competitors.

That could limit consumer choice or shut out upstart companies that can't afford to buy access to the fast lane, critics say.

The measure, written by Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, prohibits internet providers from blocking or slowing data based on content or from favoring websites or video streams from companies that pay extra.

It also bans "zero rating," in which internet providers don't count certain content against a monthly data cap -- generally video streams produced by the company's own subsidiaries and partners.

Oregon, Washington and Vermont have approved legislation related to net neutrality, but California's measure is seen as the most comprehensive attempt to codify the principle in a way that might survive a likely court challenge. An identical bill was introduced in New York.

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Elon Musk tells Tesla staff to 'ignore the distractions,' hints at being profitable

Elon Musk believes Tesla is "very close" to turning a profit after years of burning through cash, but warned that Sunday would prove pivotal to the car marker achieving an "epic victory."

On the heels of a turbulent last few weeks that culminated in Tesla reaching a settlement with securities regulators, the company is expected to report third quarter production numbers this week.

In two emails obtained by CNBC, Musk exhorted staffers to "ignore the distractions" and that the company was close to "proving naysayers wrong." With Sunday being the end of the quarter, Musk said that Tesla must go "all out" on production in order to "achieve a victory beyond all expectations."

A report in Electrek suggested Tesla has already met its ambitious production goals for its Model 3, after setting a record in the second quarter. The publication reported that Tesla has already broken its record ahead of the third quarter's close, suggesting it would exceed guidance of 50,000 Model 3's produced.

Meanwhile, investors on Monday will also digest Tesla's settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the company's brief flirtation with going private. On Saturday, regulators announced that both Musk and the company would be fined $20 million each, and the billionaire would be forced to give up his role as chairman of the board while remaining CEO.

Below are the two emails Musk sent to staff:

Friday, September 28:

Ignore all distractions. One more hardcore weekend and we will all be victorious.

Thanks for being amazing.

Elon

Sunday, September 30:

We are very close to achieving profitability and proving the naysayers wrong, but to be certain, we must execute really well tomorrow (Sunday).

If we go all out tomorrow, we will achieve an epic victory beyond all expectations.

Go Tesla!!

Thanks for all your hard work,

Elon

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California governor signs law mandating women on corporate boards of publicly-traded companies

California has become the first state to require publicly traded companies to include women on their boards of directors. Gov. Jerry Brown approved the legislation Sunday that forces changes at California-based corporations by 2020.

Some European countries already require corporate boards to include women. A fourth of publicly held corporations with headquarters in California don't have any women on their boards of directors.

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson says having more women on boards will make companies more successful. The Santa Barbara Democrat authored the measure. The California Chamber of Commerce has argued that the composition of corporate boards should be determined internally, not mandated by government.

The chamber says the new law will prioritize gender over other aspects of diversity.

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Kanye West doubles down on Trump support, who returns the favor after controversial SNL appearance

Kanye West delivered a speech supportive of President Donald Trump during the season premiere of Saturday Night Live — who returned the favor on Sunday by applauding his performance.

West, who has come under pressure for his unapologetic backing of Trump, performed two songs on SNL's 44th season opener, but still had more to say. The notoriously volatile rapper stayed on stage, donning a "Make America Great Again" hat, and delivered a pro-Trump speech.

The politicized rant didn't make the air, but comedian Chris Rock captured the moment and posted a live video to his Instagram story:

tweet

"I want to cry right now, black man in America, supposed to keep what you're feeling inside right now," West sang. He continued: "There's so many times I talk to like a white person about this and they say, 'How could you like Trump? He's racist. Well, if I was concerned about racism I would've moved out of America a long time ago."

There was a mixture of booing and cheering from the audience, and West's performance was widely panned on social media.

However, the embattled rapper did receive at least one high-profile compliment: From Trump himself. Via Twitter, the president said that while he did not watch SNL, he heard West was "great," and declared him as "leading the pack."

trump tweet 2

Later on Sunday, West posted a photo on his Twitter account, wearing the Trump campaign's signature "Make America Great Again" hat and reciting much of the president's economic manifesto:

tweet 2

West claimed that he was "bullied" by SNL producers backstage into not wearing MAGA gear on stage. "And then they say I'm in a sunken place," he said, a reference to the hit horror movie "Get Out," in which black characters are hypnotized into docile servitude. The phrase "sunken place" has since become a popular catchphrase for marginalization.

Trump and the rapper have been exchanging pleasantries since at least April, when West flattered the president. , "You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy," West said.

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How 'Venom' may give Sony a path to comic book movie riches beyond 'Spider-Man'

Sony Pictures is about to face a crucial test for its highly lucrative "Spider-Man" film rights — but the studio will have to pass it without the help of the wall-crawler himself.

Next weekend, the studio aims to score the latest superhero hit with "Venom," a movie based on Spider-Man's popular rival. Sony is betting that the anti-hero can pack theaters even without an appearance by Spider-Man, who is currently tied up in a partnership with Disney/Marvel's "Avengers" franchise.

Venom first appeared in a 1988 comic issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man." The series introduced readers to Eddie Brock, a disgraced reporter who blames Spider-Man for his fall from grace and merges with a living alien costume to become a gruesome facsimile of the heroic wall-crawler.

If "Venom" falls short, it would mark a setback to Sony's path to developing a franchise featuring Spider-Man's expansive cast of characters. But if it succeeds, it would go a long way towards building goodwill with movie-goers, and boosting the prospects for future films.

The studio announced in June that Jared Leto would star as Morbius, a vampire in Spider-Man's pantheon of characters. Sony has the right to develop movies based on hundreds of Marvel characters, and is already developing films based on several, according to a recent report in Variety.

Analysts say "Venom" has a lot going for it. It stars a popular leading man, Tom Hardy, and boasts a fan base deeply invested in the character. The movie also caters to an appetite for edgy and offbeat comic book movies like "Deadpool" and "Suicide Squad," which have been among the biggest box office earners in recent years.

Those factors are putting "Venom" on a path to top the $55.8 million opening haul for 2013's "Gravity," which holds the title for the best debut in October. Forecasts have estimated "Venom" could pull in $60 million to $65 million in its opening weekend, though recent projections are closer to $55 million.

The range puts it roughly on par with openings for Disney's "Ant-Man" and the first "Captain America" and "Thor" movies.

But the lingering question is whether the cult comic book character can keep theater seats filled after the inevitable flood of hardcore fans subsides.

Venom may be a lesser-known character among the general movie-going public, but the same was true for Deadpool and Iron Man just a few years ago, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore.

"Often the best superhero experience comes from the unknown," he said. "When you first go to see 'Deadpool' for the first time, you don't really have a point of reference unless you're a comic book aficionado."

To be sure, 20th Century Fox's massively successful "Deadpool" is a very different movie than "Venom." However, both characters debuted during Marvel Comics' era of hard-edged anti-heroes in the late 80s and early 90s.

For many fans of that era, Venom was Spider-Man's premiere enemy. He proved so popular that Marvel soon transformed him into an anti-hero who could carry his own stories — and sell his own comic books. His enduring popularity potentially makes "Venom" a major draw for Millennial movie-goers, said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.

"Venom is just a really, really popular villain in the overall world of comic books and there are a lot of diehard fans that really want to see a faithful version of this character in a movie," Robbins said. "I think that's driving a lot of the excitement for it leading into the release."

The character appeared on the silver screen in Sony's 2007 "Spider-Man 3," but the portrayal by Topher Grace left many fans disappointed, said Alisha Grauso, editorial lead at Atom Tickets. Those fans now see the new standalone movie as another opportunity to get the character right, she said.

A survey of Atom Ticket users ranked "Venom" as the most anticipated movie of the fall. Grauso says Tom Hardy is a major draw, in part because he's already proven himself to comic book fans as the Batman villain Bane in 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises."

Grauso added that "even fans who have reservations about the movie itself are eager to see what Hardy brings to the role."

Still, questions linger about "Venom." Reviews are under embargo until Sunday evening, and Robbins thinks critics will play a major part in audience turnout.

October is also a grab-bag of movie releases, and Robbins says it's difficult to predict how "Venom" will compete for ticket money with Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born" and the latest installment in the "Halloween" horror franchise.

October is usually a sparse month for superhero movies — but that was also the case for February, which is when "Deadpool" and Disney's "Black Panther" smashed records. If "Venom" succeeds, it could put October on the radar for movie studios looking to test the waters with new properties, said Dergarabedian.

"Studios are definitely thinking outside of the box and not having any constraints on the calendar," he said. "October could be yet another frontier for superhero movies to conquer."

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Teachers use mediation apps in class to rewire kids' brains, improve performance

Brooke Waterman shuts the lights off in her classroom and the students settle in.

Some sit with their legs crisscrossed. Others lie down on the rug. They close their eyes, and she turns on a guided meditation through the Calm app. It's so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Her second graders are never more quiet and focused than when they're meditating, she says.

"It's amazing to see these kids really tune into themselves and ignore the outside world for a minute," said Waterman, a teacher at Springbrook Elementary School in Westerly Rhode Island.

Between homework, tests, problems at home and in their social lives, kids are under intense pressure. More than a quarter of teens report feeling extreme stress during the school year, according to a 2013 survey from the American Psychological Association. Nearly half said they weren't doing enough or weren't sure if they were doing enough to manage their stress.

Teachers around the country like Waterman are using popular apps Calm and Headspace to introduce meditation to their lesson plans to help curb anxiety and improve performance in the classroom.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents and teachers to teach kids meditation, saying it helps them function more effectively and clearly. A 2015 report by the National Institutes of Health found that teaching children mindful activities like yoga and meditation can improve their cognitive, social and emotional skills as well as their academic performance. One trial by the AAP found that teaching mindfulness in schools could even lower symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I think a lot of education focuses on remembering facts or things that aren't necessarily dealing with your own life skills or tools to deal with emotions," said Calm co-founder Alex Tew. "So I think mindfulness is incredibly important for all ages, but if we can teach the kids to meditate, that's an amazing, actually world-changing opportunity."

Calm tweet

Calm launched Calm Schools in May of 2016, giving kindergarten through 12th grade teachers around the world free access to some of the app's meditation and mindfulness exercises. In just over two years, 54,000 teachers across 140 countries have signed up, with 41,000 from the U.S.

Competitor Headspace takes a slightly different approach. It works directly with 35 districts and around 300 schools in 15 states to offer their teachers access to the mindfulness app. One of those districts is Broward County. Headspace connected with the district earlier this year after a shooting at one of its schools, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Headspace also recently started working with the Puerto Rico Department of Education to help with stresses associated with Hurricane Maria, a deadly storm that continues to torment the island a year later. The start-up on Monday is unveiling a pricing plan on Monday for college students of $9.99 per year, a steep discount from the typical $95.88 per year.

Calm Classroom, a nonprofit not affiliated with the Calm app, trains educators to teach mindfulness in the classroom. It studied the impact of its program at Wendell Smith Elementary, a Chicago Public School that teaches preschool through eighth grade. Its research showed practicing mindfulness led to a 69 percent decrease in students disrupting classroom instruction, a 91 percent decrease in running or excessive noise in the hallways and a 72 percent decrease in fighting, bullying and disruptive behavior.

Meditating improves performance by increasing connectivity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex — a key area of the brain associated with executive control, according to a 2017 NIH study. That helps boost the mental processes that regulate attention, decision making, impulse inhibition, working memory, time management, critical reasoning and problem solving.

One 2017 NIH study found that meditation increases resting state functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -- a key region that is broadly implicated in regulating attention, decision making, short-term memory and cognitive control

For teachers who are new to meditation, apps are trying to fill the void.

Christina Machado, a teacher at Sally Ride Elementary School in Los Angeles, started using the app Calm's guided meditations to settle her students after lunch and recess four years ago.

At first, she couldn't get them to sit still for more than a minute, then it was three minutes, then five minutes.

Now, if she forgets about it after lunch or recess, students will remind her "it's time for Calm." Their favorite guided meditation is called the body scan, which focuses on relaxing different parts of the body.

"During lunch and recess, you see your friends and your energy is all over the place and you end up wasting 10 minutes to sit down and say, 'Let's start math,'" Machado said. "But if I spend three to five minutes on the body scan, it deregulates them almost immediately."

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How shoemaker Taft uses Instagram to become the go-to dress shoe for NBA players off the court

Kory and Mallory Stevens never thought they would be designing and selling stylish shoes that athletes seem to love. Yet after a dual boost from crowdfunding and social media, here they are.

In 2013, the husband and wife team launched Taft (their son's middle name) as a sock company. After multiple customers saw their products and suggested they sell shoes, the Stevens' abandoned socks and did exactly that — and the rest is history.

"Since we launched shoes, the trajectory has really sped up. It has been a really crazy ride. Ever since we launched shoes it has been on the way up," Kory Stevens told CNBC in a recent interview.

The 29-year-old Burbank, California native attended Brigham Young University, where he started out as a linguistics major with a desire to work in soccer. He gave up on that dream after a corruption scandals engulfed FIFA, the sport's regulator.

After creating a successful Kickstarter campaign to start a sock business, Taft slowly garnered a huge social media following, primarily on Instagram. By the time the brand switched to shoes, Taft had over 200,000 followers on the popular social media site, which eventually more than doubled to its current following.

In the years since its launch, Provo, Utah-based Taft is now expecting to ring up $20 million in sales this year, translating its massive following on social media into a stepping stone to becoming a luxury brand. Most notably, Taft has become popular with urban professionals, celebrities and professional basketball players — all with a staff of only seven people.

Taft has enlisted bold face names like singer Tim McGraw, action hero Dwayne Johnson and NBA star James Harden to advertise the shoes. The company has manufactured them in Spain, but with new investment and a boost from social media, it recently opened a factory in Portugal.

Over the last few months, the company raised $5.4 million, and counts NBA stars Dwyane Wade and Andre Iguodala among their investors.

"I think having a big internet account is a huge asset for us," said Stevens, noting how active many athletes and entertainers are on social media. Those influencers have helped grease sales, he added.

"All of these guys comment on our photos. So what we will do is reach out on Instagram," which works better than a cold-call, Stevens added. "So having that presence makes us legit. They will [direct message] us and say how much they love it."

Taft's unique set of names for each shoe are personal. Each one is taken from an aspect in Kory and Mallory's life. For instance: The popular "Jack Boot" was named after Kory's grandfather and nephew, while the Lucca was named after the town in Italy that inspired the couple to start Taft. Other names are pulled from the names of their son's favorite movie and cartoon characters, he added.

Kory designs all the shoes himself, right down to the stitching. It's a surprising skill from someone who wasn't formally trained in fashion design (although he was once voted "best dressed" in high school).

"I didn't learn how to design shoes, but now I handle all shoe designs for the company," he said. "I'm not a design by trade but I think I am good at it."

Taft has begun to to expand more into the NBA world, establishing good relationships with players from the Utah Jazz.

Stevens said he plans to establish more connections in the league, with hopes to entice an up-and-coming young crop of basketball stars into being Taft ambassadors. The company's long-term goal is to become the premier dress shoe brand of NBA players when they're off the court, a space that even Nike and Adidas have yet to fill.

"We have gotten very lucky with celebrities and athletes liking our products, but professional athletes really like the brand. We have good relationships with these guys and wanted to lean into that category." said Stevens.

"When they are walking from the bus to the locker room, I want them to be wearing Taft," he added.

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Here's why NYC has become a buyer's market, in the throes of a housing trend last seen in 2009

New York City's pricey real estate has become a "buyers market," new data suggests, characterized by lowball offers and a rise in the number of properties staying on the market for longer.

The latest figures from Warburg Realty show that among higher-priced homes, New York City is in the throes of a "major shift" that reflects a cooling market, the likes of which hasn't been seen in almost a decade.

"Offers 20 percent and 25 percent below asking prices began to flow in, a phenomenon last seen in 2009," wrote Warburg Realty founder and CEO Frederick W. Peters in the report, which surveys real estate conditions around the city.

Warburg's report dovetails with separate data showing a definitive cooling in New York's housing market. The number of homes for sale in the city recently hit a record, according to StreetEasy data, amid fewer sales transactions. Meanwhile, September's report from real estate firm MNS showed Manhattan apartment rental prices — the most expensive in the city — on the decline.

"While few sellers struck deals at those radically reduced offer prices, they signal a major shift in our marketplace, one which has been building for at least 18 months," Peters said.

In today's market, sellers should not expect multiple offers, he added. "The majority of deals result from a single offer," Peters said — nor should they expect things to move quickly. "The days on market average has soared during 2018."

According to Warburg data, homes listed at $1 million or more are spending over 100 days on the market. Those listed between $8 million and $12 million are spending an average of 175 days on the market. (Click on the chart to enlarge.)

There's also a greater difference between asking prices and selling prices today, compared to in 2015, the height of the market:

Peters added that "throughout the market we caution sellers not to expect multiple offers any more. In today's market, the majority of deals result from a single offer. And we caution not to expect that it will be quick."

Looking ahead, he anticipates "a stabilizing market. ... Deal flow will increase as more sellers accept the current price realities and new, more moderate price benchmarks will be set. And the show will go on."

Don't miss: Millennials are flocking to US cities where they may never be able to afford a home

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How you answer one question may determine how well you live in retirement

No one knows how long they will live. Yet how realistic your estimate is can make or break your retirement plans.

When you decide about claiming Social Security retirement benefits, one of the first questions you need to ask is how long you may live. And when you decide how much you will save toward retirement, your longevity is a key factor you need to consider.

But the problem is that a lot of people fail to hit the mark.

"Whenever we do our surveys, we always ask people, 'How long do you expect to live?'" said Jamie Hopkins, professor of retirement planning at The American College. "What we always see is people underestimate how long they're going to live."

In 2016, life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 78.6 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For men, it was 76.1 years, while for women it was 81.1.

The leading causes of death are heart disease, cancer and accidents, according to the agency.

But once you live to a certain age — say 65 — that increases the likelihood that you will live into your old age.

But if you have not planned to live that long, you could end up broke.

"What we don't want to have happen is wake up on our 95^th birthday or 100^th birthday and find out that we're out of money," said Catherine Collinson, president and CEO of the Transamerica Institute and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

No one has a crystal ball to predict how long they are going to live, Collinson said. But you can take steps to make sure your projected life span is accurate.

Using an online calculator or working with a financial advisor to come up with an estimate is a great place to start. But keep in mind that that number is just an approximation, and those calculations can have flaws.

Collinson's own financial advisor pegged her life expectancy at 95. But her grandmother lived to be 97.

As a result, Collinson decided to plan for a longer life than the calculator projected.

Keep in mind that average life expectancies are just that — an average. That means that some individuals will not live to that age while others will pass it, Hopkins said.

"Mostly we're going to modify it up," Hopkins said. "If we're doing planning, the risk is not so much dying younger.

"It's outliving our assets in retirement."

It may be tempting to answer certain questions less honestly — like how much you really drink, smoke or exercise per week.

But keep in mind that those little white lies can greatly offset your estimated life span and your financial plan.

Family health history is one metric that is used. But so is your own health status and your ability to change it.

Medical care and advances could significantly extend your life.

"There's tremendous potential that people can live even longer than what is in the life expectancy tables," Collinson said. "We should be planning for that."

Carolyn McClanahan, founder and director of financial planning at Life Planning Partners, said she had to convince one client who had had a minor stroke and a heart attack that he would live past 72, the age at which he decided he was going to prematurely die.

That client wanted to give his money away to his children. But McClanahan convinced him not to. The reason: He was getting quality health care and taking all the steps he needed to, and his life expectancy was actually 84.

Today, that client is 75.

The lesson: "Don't go blowing your financial plan," McClanahan said.

There are a couple of steps you can take to make sure you do not outlive your money.

By delaying Social Security retirement benefits until the maximum age — 70 years old — you can ensure you get the highest monthly check available to you.

If you cannot wait until then, your full retirement age — 66 or 67 years old for most — is the point at which you will receive your full benefit based on your work record.

More from Fixed Income Strategies:
More retirees head back to college in their golden years
Pay down student loans without sacrificing retirement
Reverse mortgages have pros and cons for seniors

Another way to stretch out your income is through annuities.

As you get older, particularly your 70s or 80s, think about creating lifelong income, McClanahan said. Immediate fixed annuities, in particular, offer steady pay, she said.

"Now that interest rates are going up, they're not a bad deal," McClanahan said.

But make sure you get objective advice when purchasing an annuity, she said, such as through a fee-only fiduciary rather than an annuity salesperson.

Another question you need to ask yourself as you're planning is, "How long am I going to die?" said Ken Dychtwald, founder and CEO of AgeWave.

In other words, how long will you be sick and how long will you need to pay for that care?

Dychtwald's own mother lived until she was 93, but for more than 10 of her last years she suffered from Alzheimer's disease, he said. The home care she required cost more than $100,000 per year.

That is another topic you want to be sure you plan for through insurance and when talking with a financial advisor.

"What is your state of mind and state of body and how expensive is it to be cared for?" Dychtwald said. "That's a big wildly expensive variable."

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Trump uses Kavanaugh delay as rallying cry for midterm elections

President Donald Trump on Saturday used the stalled nomination of his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a rallying cry for Republican voters in November congressional elections.

At a West Virginia rally, Trump did not say a word about the testimony of university professor Christine Blasey Ford who detailed her sexual assault allegation against Kavanaugh at an extraordinary hearing on Thursday.

After that hearing, Trump bowed to pressure from moderate Senate Republicans and ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to further investigate.

Trump told supporters, who packed a hockey rink to the rafters for a raucous and freewheeling speech, that the delay showed why they need to vote against "mean and nasty and untruthful" Democrats in the Nov. 6 midterms.

"I will tell you, he has suffered. The meanness, the anger," Trump said.

Trump was campaigning in a state he won by more than 40 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election to try to boost support for Republican Senate candidate Patrick Morrisey, who is trailing in polls behind Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.

Manchin is one of a handful of senators seen as key swing votes on Kavanaugh's appointment.

It was the first of five rallies for Trump this week to energize supporters and volunteers ahead of Nov. 6 congressional elections, where Republicans are at risk of losing control of Congress.

"A lot of what we've done - some people could say all of what we've done - is at stake in November," Trump said, urging supporters to get involved.

"We are just five weeks away from one of the most important congressional elections in our lifetimes," he said.

Kavanaugh's troubled confirmation has disappointed conservative voters and energized Democrats.

Trump touted a poll done in West Virginia after the Senate hearing by the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative activist group that is backing Kavanaugh with a $1.5 million ad campaign.

The polling showed 58 percent of voters in the state want the confirmation to go ahead, while 28 percent are opposed.

"We think that in general, the attention on this hasn't swayed opinion so much as it has hardened intensity," a White House official said, speaking on background.

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Tropical storm Florence is a reminder that homeowners may need flood insurance

Floods are the nation's most common and costly natural disaster. Yet, standard homeowners and renters insurance policies specifically don't cover that.

"Your homeowners policy will cover water damage if water came from above," said Jason Hargraves, managing editor of insuranceQuotes.com. "If your house is damaged from water that comes from the ground up, you'll need flood insurance for that."

In the wake of Florence, the storm which left widespread flooding and destruction across the Carolinas, it's a good reminder to homeowners of the importance of having separate insurance coverage for flood damage, David Maurstad, deputy associate administrator for insurance and mitigation at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and chief executive of the government's National Flood Insurance Program, recently told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

Flood-caused property damage generally is covered under a National Flood Insurance Program policy, if the homeowner has one.

The problem is that most people don't. Only 12 percent of homeowners have a flood insurance policy, according to a 2016 poll from the insurance institute.

Yet, it doesn't take much water to do substantial damage.

By FEMA estimates, even an inch of water inside a home can generate $26,807 in structural and possession losses for an "average" one-story property of 2,500 square feet.

Aid from FEMA and other sources typically isn't enough to cover that, either. FEMA data provided to The Advocate in 2016 estimated the average grant payout provided to homeowners after Superstorm Sandy was $8,016; for Hurricane Katrina, $7,114.

You can buy coverage through the NFIP or a private insurer, depending on where you live.

"It's really meant for people who live in an area that's in danger of flooding," Hargraves said. But that's not restricted to coastal communities.

"If a storm stalls inland, it will overflow creeks and rivers," he added. "You don't have to be on the coast to worry about a tidal surge."

"Even if you live 100 miles inland," Hargraves said, "check with your agent to see what's available and what deductible you can afford."

"On the Money" airs on CNBC Saturdays at 5:30 a.m. ET, or check listings for air times in local markets.

More from Personal Finance:
How to get money if you don't have flood insurance
FEMA's flood insurance chief says agency ready for onslaught of Florence claims
Your home, auto may need better insurance protection from flooding

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Meet four women changing the face of NFL coaching

Women account for nearly half of the NFL's fan base, yet they make up just a third of league employees, according to CBS News. The league continues to be overwhelmingly male-dominated — there has never been a woman head coach or general manager of an NFL team.

But there are a few women working hard to break the sport's glass ceiling. In fact, at an NFL forum held earlier this year for women in sports, Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera encouraged those women to keep pushing to make their football goals reality.

"There are jobs for women involved in the NFL and they're not on the outside, they're on the inside," CBS News reports him saying. "They're making decisions."

Below are four women who have forged their own paths on NFL coaching staffs:

In 2015, Jennifer Welter served as an intern for the Arizona Cardinals, working six weeks over the summer as an assistant coach under linebacker coach Bob Sanders. She was the first woman to hold such a role on an NFL coaching staff.

"I think it's time," Sports Illustrated reports then-head coach Bruce Arians saying. "I am not afraid to step out and be different. Jen is a quality coach. She has earned this. I think she can help our players get better."

In an October 2017 interview with CNBC Make It, Welter says one of the keys to her success in football has been male mentors who believed in her potential.

"When you're the first woman, and there's no women in the room," she says, "a man has to open the door for you. And that's when it really has to be about progress and working together. Because if it's not in alignment, it's going to be a really tough process."

During the 2016-2017 season, Kathryn Smith became the first woman to hold a full-time coaching position in the NFL. She worked as a Special Teams Quality Control Coach for the Buffalo Bills, where she helped to formulate game plans and build playbooks for the team. Smith held that position for one season under then-head coach Rex Ryan.

She tells CNNMoney that it's crazy to hear that she was the first woman in that position because "you don't set out to be a trailblazer, and I didn't know that that's where my path was going to lead me."

Before stepping into her history-making role, Smith worked under Ryan when he was head coach of the New York Jets as a game-day/special events intern in 2003, reports ESPN. In 2005, she became a college scouting intern for the team, and then a player personnel assistant for the team in 2007. In 2014, Ryan appointed her to an administrative assistant position, a job she also held in 2015 when Ryan moved over to the Bills.

This year, Katie Sowers became the NFL's first openly gay and second full-time female coach, reports ESPN. Sowers, 31, works as an offensive assistant coach for the San Francisco 49ers, making her the team's first female assistant coach.

In 2016, Sowers worked with coach Kyle Shanahan when he was an offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, according to ESPN. Before that, she played pro football for the Women's Football Alliance and was chosen to compete for the national team in the Women's World Championship.

In an interview with Outsports.com, she spoke about the importance of building more inclusive workplaces.

"There are so many people who identify as LGBT in the NFL, as in any business, that do not feel comfortable being public about their sexual orientation," she said. "The more we can create an environment that welcomes all types of people, no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, the more we can help ease the pain and burden that many carry every day."

Twitter

In 2018, Kelsey Martinez became the Oakland Raiders' first female assistant coach in the franchise's history. She is currently the only woman in the NFL working as a strength and conditioning coach, according to NFL.com.

In an interview with the Raiders' website, running back coach Jemal Singleton talked about the positive impact that he hopes 26-year-old Martinez's presence will have on his daughter.

"My daughter is five, so right now she's at such an impressionable age that the sights and sounds she's around will impact her really for the rest of her life," said Singleton. "And to be in a situation here — I don't know if it's the first, or the only — but to get to have a female strength coach in Kelsey is unbelievable. Because now my daughter can see there's so many different roles when you come here. You hear [play-by-play announcer] Beth Mowins on the call [during games], you see Kelsey out there working the players, and it's one of those things as a father you want your daughter to have those aspirations to be whatever she wants to be."

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Don't miss: 3 tricks to help you succeed at anything, from the NFL's first female coach

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Porsche plays to its base as it preps for a major shift ahead

The roar on the track is a siren call for Porsche owners and fans.

The German luxury auto brand is holding Rennsport Reunion VI at the famed Laguna Seca Raceway outside Monterey, California. The weekend gathering of Porsche owners and enthusiasts is a chance for the faithful to revel, and in some cases race, vintage Porsche models. Think of it as Woodstock for the Porsche faithful.

"It's great!" said Melinda Palmer, as she and her husband parked their Porsche Boxster and prepared to enjoy a day at a Porsche-palooza. "Where do you find so many beautiful cars like this except at Rennsport."

More than 60,000 people, many who own a Porsche, are expected to spend their weekend at Laguna Seca. Events like these may be even more important as the company continues to push the brand in new directions. While the big attraction are the races featuring amateur and professional drivers, the chance to check out scores of classic and rare Porsche models may be what many people love the most about the weekend.

"You see cars you may not have seen before, new ones, " said Jim Yoder, who drove his Porsche from Orange County up to Monterey.

The enthusiasm seen at Rennsport, doesn't surprise Michelle Krebs, an analyst for Autotrader. She said Porsche has among the highest brand loyalty rates in the auto business, even as it has expanded the line-up to include SUVs.

"Just a few years ago when Porsche announced it would sell SUVs and everyone said, 'you'll ruin the brand!', but that decision may have saved the brand," said Krebs.

The popularity of the Cayenne and Macan models has also allowed Porsche to invest heavily developing its first all-electric car, the Taycan. It's scheduled to roll out late next year and many are wondering if the Taycan will live up to the heritage of Porsche.

Detlev von Platen, a member of the Porsche executive board, said the Taycan will hit the mark.

"People are asking for true value, for authentic things and therefore it's very important that we come with our heritage, with our DNA," he said.

DNA you can feel and hear on pit row at Laguna Seca, as Porsches rev up before hitting the track.

As Bob Musclewhite sat in his Boxster, he summarized what makes Rennsport so special for Porsche fans. "It's about people, not necessarily the car. it's a community," he said.

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Meet Kieran Murphy, the straight-talking, dealmaking CEO of GE Healthcare, on the future without GE

It was a sunny Saturday evening in the English countryside in June 2017 when Kieran Murphy noticed two missed calls from his boss John Flannery.

When the two General Electric executives finally connected on the third try around 7 p.m., Flannery said Murphy needed to be on a plane the next morning. Flannery was replacing GE's long-time CEO Jeff Immelt and needed Murphy to take over as CEO of GE Healthcare right away.

"What should have been a long discussion with my wife had to be cut short. I spent the rest of the evening organizing for a trip to the U.S. the following morning where we prepared for the handover and the announcement," Murphy told CNBC in a phone interview from his farm in Cambridgeshire, a county in eastern England where the couple has horses and grows what he describes as "modest" crops of wheat and barley.

Murphy, 55, is probably one of the fastest rising stars at GE that you've never heard of. He's quickly climbed the ranks at its healthcare unit. Under his tenure, GE Healthcare has expanded outside its staid business of making MRI, X-ray and ultrasound machines and into new fields like information technology, gene therapy and bioengineering.

His new task is even bigger. He has to spin out GE Healthcare into a separate, independent company by the end of 2019.

The move makes sense for General Electric, allowing it to double down on its core industrial and energy businesses. But it's not without some risk.

The healthcare equipment maker is a bit of a cash cow, throwing off $3.4 billion in profit last year. It accounted for 15.8 percent of the conglomerate's total sales, but 43.2 percent of its operating profit in 2017. It's also one of GE's most consistent and least volatile performers, earning a reliable $3 billion or so a year since 2011. Its oil and gas segment, by comparison, has grappled with wild swings in growth and profitability.

GE's been struggling with shrinking profits in recent years, and its shares have lost more than half of their value over the past 12 months to $11.29 a share Friday. It was the largest company in the U.S. in 2000 when its shares were trading at $60 apiece and it had a market value of almost $500 billion. Its market value today is about a fifth of that. One of the original components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, GE was removed from the blue-chip index in June.

To be sure, GE is still one of the world's most recognizable brands. And the healthcare unit, which makes hospital equipment as well as lab supplies, gives up a powerful corporate parent in spinning out on its own.

Murphy said he's is excited, but doesn't seem all that worried, calling it "a huge challenge and a great opportunity."

He's been busy zigzagging across the world to prepare for the spinoff. GE Healthcare has operations in more than 140 countries, 52,000 employees and $19 billion in revenue last year. Those numbers make it large enough to get on the Fortune 500 list as a standalone company.

"His reputation within GE is that he is a good roll-up-your sleeves operator. They think he's very talented," said Scott Davis, chairman and CEO of Melius Research in New York.

GE Healthcare has drastically grown from its origins in 1896 when it began developing X-rays. The company has become a leader in the medical health-care field. It's already a dominant player in hospital and lab equipment and is a growing force in medical records, health-care software and is expanding its mark on gene therapy research.

The industry is stable, but growth in developed markets is fairly stagnant, Davis said. GE Healthcare's biggest markets are in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Murphy will have to grow through acquisition and enter more untested, less-regulated markets in underdeveloped nations to ensure its future growth and stay ahead of the company's main competitors: Siemens, Philips and Toshiba Medical Systems, which all make medical imaging technology like GE, Davis said.

Murphy's appointment could also mean other bigger roles, if history is any guide. Both Flannery and Immelt had his job before they were tapped to run all of GE.

Murphy said he and Flannery are "ideologically very similar."

"John is a great believer in teams and team performance as the route to corporate performance. We get on well and speak regularly. I am a big fan of his and think that his down-to-earth style is refreshing," Murphy said of Flannery.

Getting Flannery's call was exciting, said Murphy, but also tremendously humbling.

"Clearly one also feels a huge sense of responsibility," he said.

Murphy hadn't expected to run GE Healthcare when he began his career there in 2008 with the company's $713 million acquisition of Whatman, which specialized in laboratory filtration products and was folded into the GE Healthcare's Life Sciences division.

Born in Cork, Ireland, Murphy maintains close ties to his Irish roots. He received his undergraduate degree in agri-science and economics from the University of Dublin and a master's degree in marketing and business strategy from the University of Manchester. He still has the accent.

Former colleagues and current executives describe Murphy as private — eschewing the public spotlight — "refreshingly" honest, "no fluff," tough, a little bit coarse but never cruel or unkind. GE initially turned down interview requests. Murphy declined to discuss his family or other personal matters when he finally agreed to a call.

He attributes much of his drive to his upbringing on his family farm in Cork, Ireland, saying his parents had an "immense" work ethic.

"My mother worked hard into her 80s," he explained. "She ran a shop so she was looking after customers all the time and was always respectful to everyone she dealt with, both vendors and buyers. I inherited her desire to focus on people."

He's also prone to swear — an attribute many say comes with his blunt nature and a no-nonsense style, according to former executives who've worked with him. Former colleagues and employees also describe him as fair, accessible, respectful and level-headed.

"What you see is what you get with him, which was so refreshing in a corporate culture," said one former GE executive who worked with Murphy when he was running the Life Sciences business.

"He didn't want a lot of pretty pictures or where we would be in 10 years or any of that stuff, which is kind of the hallmark of a very Power Point friendly gigantic organization like GE," the person continued. "He just said 'tell me your three main challenges, like what are the things you are worried about the most ... and how can I help you solve them.'"

Murphy said he likes to "distill the key issues and the decisions that need to be made and move on.

"I like to think I'm honest and direct," he continued. "I'm approachable and I'll always give my opinion."

His blunt style has won him praise at GE, where he combined the old life sciences and medical diagnostics units to create the current GE Life Sciences. He was promoted in 2011 to run the combined group before Flannery tapped him to run the entire division. Murphy's credited with leading GE into the cell-therapy business with the acquisition of Biosafe in 2016 and was seen as having a big hand in helping to launch Vineti, a cell and gene therapy tech group.

The oncology market for the type of cell therapy Biosafe is working on is expected to reach $30 billion by 2030, the company said when the acquisition was announced. There were more than 600 gene therapy cancer treatments in clinical trials at the end of 2015, according to GE Healthcare.

A seasoned biotechnology executive, Murphy began his career at Janssen Pharmaceutical, a division of Johnson & Johnson, followed by leadership roles with Mallinckrodt, veterinary medicines provider Vericore, Novartis, Adprotech, ML Laboratories, Innovata and Whatman.

He has a track record of hiring strong people and being a hands-on manager, meeting directly with employees of all levels, no matter how junior, former colleagues say.

Paul Hitchin worked with Murphy for about 8 years in various roles at GE. He was the global head of financial planning and analysis in GE Healthcare Life Sciences when it was combining the old life sciences and medical diagnostics in 2014. Murphy oversaw the cost cutting and restructuring, which included lay offs.

"We took out a lot of heads during that period," said Hitchin, who left GE late last year for another job. He said Murphy was pretty "open and honest" with employees in the each of the divisions and would regularly hold town halls to keep them updated.

"I look back at that and think wow, as an individual how did he do that and how did he maintain the engagement levels during a period of such change where people were losing jobs and restructuring?" Hitchin said.

For his part, Murphy says he has few regrets.

"Naturally, I've missed out some acquisitions for a variety of reasons that I would like to have won, but that's business," he said.

"There have been some deals that caused problems in the business, but I think having a clear strategy helps when it comes to integration and how one runs the businesses being integrated," Murphy continued.

He said deals like GE's 2012 acquisition of biomanufacturing service Xcellerex and 2014 purchase of cell culture business HyClone helped to create a great side gene therapy business called Life Sciences. The Life Sciences division is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to study the use of the controversial CRISPR gene editing system to treat disease.

Unshackled from GE, and now with his own balance sheet, Murphy will be free to pursue more deals. He was reluctant to say what he's thinking of pursuing after the spinoff. However, he did share his vision for GE Healthcare.

"I want to change the course of disease treatment through integrated diagnostics and precision therapy and our precision health strategy has the power to improve outcomes," Murphy said. "I love our commitment to new areas like cell and gene therapy, the next frontier of medicine."

"My only goal is to be able to look back on my career in 10 or 15 years and think that I made a difference," he said.

— CNBC's Christina Farr and John W. Schoen contributed to this report.

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Here's where Brazi Bites is today after its feeding frenzy on 'Shark Tank'

What started as a dream to share Brazilian cheese bread across the nation turned into a reality for one husband and wife team – and "Shark Tank" helped play a big role.

Brazi Bites, a brand of gluten-free cheese bread, is en route to becoming a popular household name.

"The 'Shark Tank Effect' is real!" exclaimed Junea Rocha, the brand's CEO and co-founder.

"Within 3 days of airing we were completely sold out of product in grocery stores nationwide. It was unbelievable," Rocha said. "Viewers watched the show, went to the locator on our website, drove to stores and bought Brazi Bites in the freezer section. And they bought all of it!"

Rocha added that Brazi Bites has had a remarkable run since airing. Following the appearance of "Shark Tank," distribution has grown to 7,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada, and revenue has grown from under $1 million to $13 million in 2 years.

This may come as no surprise to people who saw their appearance on the show, and considering the Sharks were chomping at the bit to make a deal.

That is, until a game-changing detail about equity in the company came to light. When the pair asked for a $200,000 investment in exchange for 10 percent stake, a heated negotiation stirred.

So what's next for Brazi Bites? "Brazi fans are ready for other new and exciting Latin foods, and we have them on the way," Rocha said. "Stay tuned."

Watch what happens with this feeding frenzy tonight on "Shark Tank" at 9P ET on CNBC.

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Outside money is flooding into the tightest House races ahead of midterm election

With just six weeks left to the crucial November election, a handful of battleground races for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives have captured an outsized share of campaign cash in the 2018 midterm cycle.

Much of that cash is coming from political action committees (PACs) and other so-called "soft money" groups that can accept unlimited contributions, as long as they don't coordinate their spending with individual candidates.

The money is funding a blizzard of television and digital ad campaigns aimed at flipping control of Congress from Republican to Democratic control.

Democrats face long odds in the Senate, but political pundits give them much better chance of picking up a net gain of 23 seats, which would give them a slim House majority.

Over the last several election cycles, "soft money" has played an increasingly important role in overall campaign finance.

As of the end of September, total outside spending totaled roughly $460 million, about evenly split in favor or Republicans and Democrats. The case has also supercharged a handful of tight races around the country.

Here are the districts that are pulling the biggest share of soft money spending.

It's not surprising that Pennsylvania's 17th is seeing a flood of cash, thanks to a realignment of a congressional districts that landed two incumbents in a race for the same seat.

This recently redrawn suburban Pittsburg district pits Democrat Rep. Conor Lamb – who won his seat in another district in a special election last spring. Lamb is running against another incumbent, Republican Keith Rothfus, who currently represents the old Pennsylvania 12th district, which overlaps heavily with the new 17th. The maps were redrawn after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in January that the old districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered in Republicans' favor.

The race in the new 17th has touched off a campaign finance slugfest between the major party finance arms, the Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee (DCCC) and the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC).

Lamb became a familiar name in Pennsylvania after a narrow win in a widely watched in March special election for Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District. That seat had been held by a Republican for over a decade, and President Donald Trump won the district by 20 points. Political pundits have given Democrats a slight edge.

Montana has also seen a torrent of outside spending for its statewide at-large Congressional district, following a special election in 2017 to fill a seat left vacant after Republican Ryan Zinke resigned to become Secretary of the Interior in the Trump administration.

Rep. Greg Gianforte narrowly won that race in a costly and closely-watched campaign, which included Gianforte's pleading guilty to charges of physically assaulting a reporter the night before the election.

It's been two decades since Montana sent a Democrat the House, and state Rep. Kathleen Williams is hoping to break the GOP winning streak. After prevailing in a six-way Democratic primary in June, Williams is hoping to capitalize on frustration with the GOP-controlled Congress.

Montana voters have elected both a Democratic Senator and governor, but the state voted for President Donald Trump by nearly 21 points in 2016.

This coastal southern California district, one of the tightest races in the country, pits incumbent Republican Dana Rohrabacher against Democrat Harley Rouda, a lawyer and real estate businessman.

According to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, the race is a dead heat, with both Rouda and Rohrabacher drawing 45 percent of the vote.

An affluent Southern California district, the 48th District has been a traditional Republican strong hold. The GOP holds a 10-point advantage in voter registrations, but Hillary Clinton won the district by two points.

Rouda was endorsed by both progressive groups and the mainstream DCCC in a contested primary. Rohrabacher voted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but voted against the tax reform bill.

The bulk of outside spending in the race for this open seat is flowing to the Democratic candidate, Mike Levin, a lawyer who has been active in environmental causes. He faces Republican Diane Harkey, a former state lawmaker.

Since 2000, this Orange County district had been held by Republican Darrell Issa, who announced his retirement in January.

So far, Levin has also outraised Harkey in direct campaign contributions with about $2.6 million, more than three times as much as his opponent.

The heavy cash advantage seems to be paying off for Levin. He leads with a 51 percent to 41 percent advantage in the latest New York Times Siena college poll.

Both parties see an opportunity in this seat vacated by the retirement of incumbent Republican Ed Royce. The district sprawls across parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

Though Royce has held the seat since 2013, Clinton carried the district by nearly 9 percentage points in 2016. The campaign to fill Royce's seat pits Democrat Gil Cisneros against Young Kim, a Republican former state Assembly member. Cisneros, a philanthropist and Navy veteran, won a $266 million jackpot in the California lottery with his wife in 2010.

Kim, a former state legislator, has been endorsed by Royce. That endorsement seems to be paying off: Kim is enjoying a 10 point lead, according to a recent Monmouth University poll.

Cisneros has raised roughly $5.5 million to Kim's $1.2 million in direct contributions as of the latest campaign finance report.

Democrats are spending big to unseat incumbent Republican Mike Coffman in this suburban district that voted for Clinton by nearly 10 points in 2016.

Coffman faces Democratic challenger Jason Crow, a lawyer and former Army Ranger, who is appealing to voters as a check on President Trump. That campaign strategy has prompted Coffman to distance himself from the White House.

So far, outside spending is about evenly matched: Both sides have raised about $2.3 million each in direct contributions, based on the latest campaign finance filings.

Recent polling shows Crow with a substantial advantage, with 51 percent of voters to 40 percent for Coffman, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll.

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