9 Out Of The 10 Highest-Paying College Majors Are In The Engineering Field, Plus FedEx Beats On Earnings

“You should resign. You should give back the money you took while this scam was going on, and you should be criminally investigated” — Senator Elizabeth Warren, laying in to Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf at his hearing in front of the Senate Banking Committee yesterday. Guess that’s what happens when your bank opens two million fake accounts.

Market Snapshot

  • U.S. markets closed slightly higher, with investors eagerly awaiting key announcements from both the Bank of Japan (which late last night unveiledmore stimulus measures—we’ll have more in tomorrow’s Brew) and the Federal Reserve
  • Shares of SeaWorld sank over 4% after the company announced it would be eliminating its dividend completely in order to raise capital to help phase out itswidely-criticized killer whale shows

Never Challenge Allergan to a Bidding War

…Because Allergan will pay up to 19 times the value of the company. Yes, you read that right. Most pharmaceutical acquisitions involve a still-healthy premium of 30-50%, but Allergan just agreed to a $1.7 billion deal to acquire Tobira Therapeutics, sending Tobira shares up 721% in one day. Not a typo. Outside of Tobira investors quite literally hitting the jackpot, what’s all the fuss about? Tobira focuses on therapies for a liver disease called NASH that’s associated with obesity and type-2 diabetes. Allergan’s CEO believes this will be the next “epidemic-level chronic disease,” and he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is.

FedEx Beats On Earnings

…And that’s good for everybody. The postal service squeaked by analyst expectations for the quarter, thanks largely to high volumes at its FedEx Ground service. Even better, the company has high hopes for the upcoming holiday season. So why should this matter to consumers? Believe it or not, FedEx’s performance is often seen as an indicator of the health of the U.S. economy, so the fact that FedEx is trending up is something to celebrate. Following the 1% share boost from the earnings announcement, FedEx shares have now risen 9% this year—not too shabby.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Comcast

…Will soon be available as your local cellular service provider. Comcast plans on leveraging its 15 million WiFi hotspots and 28 million customers to become a deadly foe to telecom giants like Verizon and AT&T. And in case that wasn’t enough Comcast news, we’ve got more: Comcast knows when to get up in a competitor’s grill, but it also knows that when you can’t beat ‘em, you gotta join ‘em. Comcast and Netflix got one step closer towards integrating streaming services yesterday in hopes of offering existing subscribers more services to help reduce churn (the numbers of customers that unsubscribe).

Adobe Impresses

…Everybody’s favorite software company bested earnings, again. What was it this time? Adobe reported revenue of $1.46 billion, an increase of 20% over last year. The company also raised expectations for the fourth quarter well above what analysts were expecting, which never hurts. A variety of factors contributed to the solid results—particularly impressive were the company’s digital media sales, which were up 29% compared to last quarter. The company is doubling down on its cloud-based services, and clearly it’s paying off—shares were up almost 6% after hours.

Other Stories

Economic Calendar

  • Monday: Housing Market Index (+)
  • Tuesday: Adobe (+)FedEx (+) Earnings; Housing Starts (-); Fed Meeting Begins
  • Wednesday: General Mills, Bed Bath & Beyond Earnings; Fed Meeting Announcement
  • Thursday: AutoZone, Rite Aid Earnings; Existing Home Sales; Weekly Jobless Claims
  • Friday: PMI Manufacturing Index

Still Debating On a College Major?

Well, it’s a great time to be studying engineering. In a report that shocked no one, Payscale found that nine out of the 10 highest-paying college majors are in the engineering field. The report also looked at colleges with the highest paid grads. The college that topped the list may surprise you. Here goes:

  • Petroleum engineering is the highest-paying major with the median salary at $172,000 for alumni who stayed in the field for 10+ years. At #2 is systems engineering with a median salary of $121,000. Is it too late to switch majors?
  • We all know what you’re thinking: what’s the one major on the list that’s not in the engineering field? How ‘bout actuarial science. These students can expect to eventually rake in $119,000. Not too shabby.
  • Now for the colleges and universities. SUNY Maritime College, a school limited to STEM degrees, has the highest paid grads based upon their mid-career median pay, with alumni taking home $147,000 a year. Playing second fiddle is Harvard at $141,000.
  • All of the colleges on the top 10 list offer engineering degrees except for two—Claremont McKenna and Babson College. Sometimes it pays to be different.

Interview Question of the Day

Burlington is part French and part English. If 70% of the population speaks English and 60% of the population speaks French. What is the minimum percentage of French speaking persons who also speak English? (Answer)

Business Person of the Day

Emma Walmsley — British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline’s former head of consumer healthcare, who will succeed Andrew Witty as the company’s new CEO. The 47-year-old Walmsley will make Glaxo the first top-tier pharmaceutical company to be led by a woman.

Food for Thought

Just 95 of the nation’s roughly 9,000 publicly listed companies have informed the SEC of a data breach since January 2010. Yet the number of breaches or hacks across all U.S. businesses—public and private—totaled 2,642 during the same period, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Companies spent $86 billion globally on protection efforts last year. Is it enough?

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