Category: United States

As Americans brace for what could be a brutal flu season, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a report showing that Black, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native adults are less likely to receive flu vaccinations, and are more likely to be hospitalized with the illness, compared with white adults. The CDC […]

Rising rates and waning buyer demand is finally weighing on home prices.  With the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging at 7.12%, according to Mortgage News Daily, Zillow Z, +2.66%, Realtor.com, and John Burns Real Estate Consulting, all noted price drops in cities that were hot over the last two years. Most of these cities were pandemic […]

The numbers:  The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) monthly confidence fell 8 points to 38 in October, the trade group said on Tuesday. It’s the tenth month in a row that the index has fallen. Outside of the pandemic, the October reading of 38 is the lowest level since August 2012. A year ago, […]

Dear Quentin, My husband recently died and I am in the process of getting the financial paperwork into shape, because I am in my 80s and you never know. We made our will years ago, the usual kind — everything to the surviving partner.  When the remaining partner dies, our will states that our paid-for […]

It’s open season to begin seeking student-debt relief of $ 10,000 — or up to $ 20,000 for Pell Grant recipients — but regulators worry it could also be open season for fraudsters to bilk borrowers out of money. A day after President Joe Biden announced the launch of a Department of Education web portal […]

Americans are putting a bow on their troubles, and wrapping up their cares and woes.  In fact, they appear to be quite enthusiastic about the upcoming holiday season, despite stagnant wages, rising inflation and the ever-looming threat of recession, according to a survey by TransUnion TRU, +1.49%, the consumer credit-reporting agency, released Thursday. Indeed, shoppers […]

Janitors, cafeteria workers and teachers appear to have one thing in common: They’re fed up. In September, 21,700 school workers left their jobs, according to the latest government data. This includes everyone from teachers to janitors at public schools. The number of K-12 school workers fell to 7,755,400 in September from 7,777,100 in August. To […]

Speculation that the U.S. is considering a ban on aluminum from Russia contributed to a brief spike in prices for the metal a week ago, but some consumers have already voluntarily chosen to avoid metals from the country. That’s led the London Metal Exchange (LME) to consider options to circumvent trading distortions potentially caused by […]

This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org. The first rule of investing wisely is diversification. Hold a portfolio of stocks and bonds, financial advisers say, because if stocks go down, your bonds will come to the rescue and vice versa. Well, not this year. In 2022, stocks and bonds have generally been pummeled. The S&P […]

When a retired Boston Pops clarinetist gave $ 100 million to Boston University’s medical school last month, everyone focused on his unusual backstory. Edward Avedisian ended his career as an accomplished musician, but he was the son of Armenian immigrants who’d worked in the mills of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He and his four siblings had […]

The pandemic housing boom is officially over. Home price appreciation has stalled, with markets in the West leading the nation in declines, according to a new report. “Pandemic Boom Markets Cooling the Fastest,” a report from First American, looked at affordability as part of its Real House Price Index, and found that the doubling of […]

More than 60% of statewide markets measured by Rent.com saw rents drop in September compared to August — another sign of prices cooling down after soaring to dizzying highs earlier this year, according to a new analysis from the company. What’s more, national median rent prices month over month fell 2.5% overall, though rents still […]

So far, so good? Stocks ended the first full week of the earnings season on a strong note Friday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +2.47%, S&P 500 SPX, +2.37% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.81% to their strongest weekly gains since June. It gets more hectic in the week ahead, with 165 S&P 500 […]

Here’s a chart that speaks a thousand words about the state of the real-estate market right now. The chart above, part of a new report by real-estate brokerage Redfin RDFN, +2.29% on the property market, reveals how home sellers are adjusting to the new normal of 7% mortgage rates. The chart says that 7.9% of […]

Raymond James analyst Buck Horne lowered ratings on all of the home-builder stocks he covers, as he believes the recent “relentless” climb in mortgage rates has ensured a housing recession. “Interest rate volatility isn’t just slowing the for-sale market,” Horne wrote in a note to clients. “We are seeing a broad spectrum reduction in housing […]

Gold has been a store of wealth for millennia and in more recent times the price of gold has tended to move inversely with equities and dollars, providing investors with some diversification in their portfolios. However, this year gold has so far failed to work as a safety cushion for investors against the volatility in […]

This is Part Two of our list of suggested year-end strategies. Part 1 discusses gaming the federal standard deduction, and managing capital gains and losses. The tax environment is getting friendlier for workers. With year-end rapidly approaching, it’s time to consider moves that will lower your 2022 tax bill and hopefully position you for tax […]

Reddit-loving day traders are reportedly returning to their day jobs, according to the Wall Street Journal, but back in the world of high finance professional traders have adopted one of their signature trading strategies, according to one closely followed markets guru. An explosion of trading volume in options with one, or even zero, days left […]

U.K. bond yields rose while the British pound fell on Friday, reflecting both the political turmoil as well as the state of the underlying economy as retail sales fell by more than forecast. The pound GBPUSD, -1.11% slumped to $ 1.1118 from $ 1.1239. The yield on the 10-year gilt TMBMKGB-10Y, 4.005% rose 7 basis […]

Rexel SA said Friday that one of its business units has been placed under formal investigation for an alleged breach of French competition rules governing prices. The company RXL, -1.81% said it has been required to set aside a 20 million euro ($ 19.6 million) bank guarantee and a cash guarantee of EUR48 million to […]