Financial Face-Off: Cash-back credit cards vs. travel-rewards cards: Which gives you the most bang for your buck?

Hello and welcome to Financial Face-off, a MarketWatch column where we help you weigh a financial decision. Our columnist will give her verdict. Tell us whether you think she’s right in the comments. And please share your suggestions for future Financial Face-off columns by emailing our columnist at lalbrecht@marketwatch.com.  The face-off Vacation season is here […]

Continue Reading

Futures Movers: Oil prices jump more than 2% after Saudi Arabia sets July production cut

Oil futures opened sharply higher Sunday evening, after Saudi Arabia agreed to deliver an additional 1 million–barrel daily production cut next month as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies moved to extend existing production targets. Price action West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery CL00, +0.98% CL.1, +0.98% CLN23, +0.98% remained […]

Continue Reading

Financial Crime: Retired doctor known as the ‘yellow man’ sentenced for selling toxic chemical as weight-loss drug that killed customer

Retired New Jersey doctor William Merlino spent his golden years selling weight-loss drugs online. But the problem was that the pills he sold were made from DNP, or dinitrophenol, a chemical used as a herbicide or wood preservative that is toxic for human consumption, federal prosecutors said. He compounded and pressed the pills himself in […]

Continue Reading

Encore: Almost half of today’s working households are at risk of a lower standard of living in retirement

The Center for Retirement Research first released its National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) in 2006. The goal was to summarize in a single number the extent to which today’s workers would be prepared for retirement.  The Index uses the Federal Reserve’s triennial undefined to compare projected replacement rates — retirement income as a percentage of […]

Continue Reading

: Beyond OpenAI: 7 promising startups that have saved lives, sped up drug development and improved manufacturing

OpenAI is stealing the spotlight as the definitive artificial-intelligence startup — for now. Backed by Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +0.85%, the progenitor of ChatGPT-4 has become the focus of the AI wave, but other AI startups are emerging in fields including healthcare, education and manufacturing. Based on recent interviews with venture capitalists and tech executives in […]

Continue Reading

: West Coast dockworkers accused of disrupting port operations, raising fears of shipping backups

Union dockworkers at West Coast ports on Friday were accused by their employers of engaging in “concerted and disruptive work actions,” moves that threatened operations at some of the nation’s largest import hubs. The dockworkers’ union, the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, “is staging concerted and disruptive work actions that have effectively shut down operations […]

Continue Reading