Category: United States

Authorities in Israel are investigating claims made by U.S. researchers that traders put outsize short positions on Israeli stocks and an exchange-traded fund ahead of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Reuters reported Monday. The Israel Securities Authority said the matter “is known to the authority and is under investigation by all the relevant parties,” […]

U.S. stocks took a breather Monday, finishing slightly lower amid some tempering of enthusiasm over the potential for Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 ended last week at 2023 highs. How did stocks trade? The Dow DJIA fell 41.06 points, or 0.1%, to close at 36,204.44, snapping a […]

Timothy Sloan, the former chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co., is suing the bank for $ 34 million for alleged contractual violations surrounding his departure in 2019 during a fake-account scandal at the bank. The lawsuit accuses Wells Fargo WFC, +0.19% of using Sloan “as a scapegoat” even though he wasn’t responsible for the […]

Industry data showed that U.S. car sales were subdued in November, economists said. On Monday, the Commerce Department, using research from Wards Intelligence, reported sales at a 15.3 million unit rate in November. That’s below the consensus estimate of 15.5 million units. It is down from 15.4 million in October. The highest rate of the […]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will hear a case with big implications for victims of the opioid epidemic, as well as for corporate bankruptcies.  The court will hear arguments on the legality of a bankruptcy settlement involving Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin. The settlement would help compensate victims of the […]

Gold futures edged lower Monday after reaching an all-time high on Sunday night in electronic trade. Gold GC00, -0.18% was trading at $ 2,084,30 an ounce, having reached $ 2,152.30 overnight. Expectations the Fed will cut interest rates next year, as well as tension in the Middle East, have helped fuel the yellow metal. “This […]

SYDNEY — Australia’s biggest food retailers are facing a parliamentary inquiry into alleged price gouging after the country’s center-left Labor government agreed on Sunday to an investigation amid an ongoing steep jump in the cost of living. Coles COL, +0.66% and Woolworths WOW, +0.84% will face the inquiry after Greens senator Nick McKim called for […]

Dear Quentin, I am at my wit’s end and hope someone can recommend ways to help my daughter’s unwillingness to manage her money. When I am gone her chances are slim to none. I am a senior citizen and I’ve had cancer four times in the last three years, so I don’t know how much […]

Dear Quentin, I am in my 60s — a widow with no kids, but a big extended family. I own my own house and car. I have a couple of investment accounts, a savings account and a pension. I have listed one of my brothers as beneficiary for all of my assets. What can I […]

Netflix has a full slate of buzzy new shows and Oscar-hopeful movies coming in December. On the movie side, there’s “May December” (Dec. 1), a provocative drama from director Todd Haynes about an actress (Natalie Portman) who travels to meet a woman (Julianne Moore) who was at the center of a decades-old scandal who she’ll […]

As the Republican presidential primary’s fourth debate approaches, Nikki Haley looks like she’s winning the battle to become the main challenger to front-runner Donald Trump, but that could be as far as she gets. “She’s the one with all of the momentum right now,” said Melissa Miller, a professor of political science at Bowling Green […]

If you’re shopping for a Christmas tree — a real, live tree, that is — you should be prepared to pay more to spruce up your home this year. The median retail price paid for a Christmas tree across the country was $ 80 last year, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. And those […]

Ever since the collapse of cryptocurrencies last year, lawsuits have been flying. But a series of class-action suits targeting celebrity endorsers of crypto exchanges like FTX and Binance have been piling up in federal court in Miami, all filed by the same group of South Florida lawyers. The latest suit names global soccer superstar Cristiano […]

The nation’s $ 1.7 trillion in student debt is not spread equally.  That’s one takeaway from an analysis of government data released earlier this month zeroing in on the average student debt in each state.  Maryland tops the list with $ 43,116 of student debt per borrower, according to the analysis published by Degree Choices, […]

Dear MarketWatch, I am 67 years old, single and retired at 66. After taxes, I receive $ 3,100 per month from a pension. After taxes and my Part B Medicare payment, I receive $ 2,100 per month from Social Security. I have approximately $ 100,000 in mutual funds/savings accounts and $ 500,000 in my 401(k) […]

Dear Quentin, My father lent my brother the funds to purchase a house in 2006. The loan was formal and registered in the county. The interest was 4%, and it was a 30-year loan for $ 300,000. It was bought as an investment property for my brother. It is in a very rural area.  My […]

Dear MarketWatch, I am a 60 year-old single woman who lives with a partner, who is a disabled. We are not married mostly due to financial reasons. I have just started receiving Social Security disability benefits after being forced to retire in 2021. I have a pension of $ 3,200 per month and a Social […]

Dear Moneyist, I’m 35 and have been dating a man 20 years older than me; he is 55. I have a 5-year-old child. Things were going well until we started having conversations about the relationship being serious and possibly merging our assets.  He shared his home with his ex-wife after being married for 20 years. […]

December is an odd month for streaming, with only a handful of new releases to look forward to. However, there are new episodes of quite a few very good shows that premiered in November, mostly on Hulu and Apple, and Netflix has its annual batch of Oscar hopefuls — making December a month to potentially […]

“ChatGPT and other generative AI systems make it easier for criminals and propagandists to prey on human vulnerabilities. ” ChatGPT launched on Nov. 30, 2022, ushering in what many have called artificial intelligence’s breakout year. Within days of its release, ChatGPT went viral. Screenshots of conversations snowballed across social media, and the use of ChatGPT skyrocketed […]