Category: United States

Consumers are facing significant price hikes from streaming services for digital entertainment. Once hailed as a cost-effective, superior alternative to traditional cable TV, streaming platforms are now under scrutiny for what appears to be a strategy of overcharging for often subpar content. The surge in subscription costs, a stark departure from the initial affordability that […]

Shares of Charles Schwab Corp. fell Monday after the financial-services and brokerage company reported first-quarter earnings that fell as client trading activity increased but revenue per trade continued to decline. Adjusted profit and revenue just topped expectations, however, as strength in the asset-management business offset misses in trading and bank deposit-account fees. The stock SCHW, […]

Temenos shares surged by 20% on Monday after an independent review into allegations made by Hindenburg Research said the short-seller’s claims were “inaccurate and misleading.” The review –- which was carried out by lawyers and accountants from Schellenberg Wittmer, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Alvarez & Marsal Switzerland –- said Hindenburg Research made misleading claims in […]

“Selling into market weakness is one of the most bearish things that corporate insiders can do.” Corporate insiders as a group seem to believe there’s an above-average chance of a major U.S. stock market drop. Consider the proportion of publicly traded U.S. companies in which insiders are buying more shares than they are selling. As […]

The Department of Justice on Wednesday accused drug maker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. of fraudulent practices related the pricing of its blockbuster vision-impairment drug Eylea, boosting its sales in the process. The agency alleged that Regeneron REGN, -0.81% inflated Medicare reimbursement rates on Eylea for years by “knowingly submitting” false sales price reports to the Centers […]

Critics have long framed tax refunds in a less-than-flattering light, saying they’re merely the Internal Revenue Service repaying an interest-free loan to people who overpaid the taxman throughout the year. This year, there’s an additional reason to stay sober about refunds — and it stems from how the tax code deals with the rising cost […]

Dollar bulls may try to go four-for-four on Wednesday when the Labor Department releases the March U.S. consumer-price-index report. While inflation has continued to trend down, hotter-than-expected readings in the past three months have seen the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, rise an […]

SYDNEY — The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to come quickly to a decision to keep interest rates on hold at its policy meeting on Wednesday, but the central bank is nevertheless set to wrestle with the problems of sticky inflation at a time of increasing financial stress. The consensus heading into the […]

Nearly 55,000 home sellers who sold their houses to Opendoor Technologies Inc. OPEN, -3.48% will receive checks after the real-estate company settled a lawsuit alleging that it misled people into selling their homes for less than what they could have gotten on the open market. The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday announced that it was […]

April is National Financial Literacy Month. To mark the occasion, MarketWatch will publish a series of “Financial Fitness” articles to help readers improve their fiscal health, and offer advice on how to save, invest and spend their money wisely. Read more here. Dear Quentin, Please don’t judge me on what is in the past. There was […]

Dear Quentin, My sister and I are going to inherit a house and property that is currently occupied by our mother and stepfather. There is no public transportation near the house, no Uber UBER, -1.43% and no Lyft LYFT, -0.67%. I have a physical disability, and I have never driven. I think the house and […]

Individual investors are buying fewer stocks in what appears to be a seasonal, pre-Tax Day lull ahead of April 15, but their interest in highly leveraged exchange-traded funds is heating up at the same time. Retail wallets tend to “feel the gravitational pull” from the U.S. income-tax deadline in mid-April, and that’s no different this […]

The numbers: The final reading of U.S. growth in the 2023 fourth quarter was raised a few notches to a 3.4% annual pace, reflecting strong consumer spending and a surprisingly resilient economy. Previously the government said gross domestic product had expanded at a 3.2% rate in the final three months of last year. The figure […]

Dear Quentin, My wife had a cousin, “Bob,” who was married and had no children. He told her that he and his wife, “Mary,” had made new wills, prepared by an attorney, and that he had made sure that if he died first, Mary would state that my wife would inherit part of their estate. […]

People want to stay in their homes as they age for a variety of reasons, some for the familiarity, social connections, autonomy, or the cost, but a new report shows that it may be more expensive to grow old in your own home than in an assisted-living facility. Over the past year, inflation and the […]

Dear Tax Guy, My sister recently remarried. She and her husband are both widowed, in their 80s and they each have three grown middle-aged children. She has a special-needs trust for a disabled adult child who lives in a step-up care facility. I believe that my sister’s assets exceed those of her husband. They live […]

The numbers: Construction of new U.S. homes rebounded 10.7% in February to an annual pace of 1.52 million units, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That is the biggest gain in nine months. Despite the increase, starts are still below December’s level. Economists on Wall Street were expecting a 7.4% rise in housing starts in February to […]

While many consumers now do a large portion of their shopping online, the era of digital commerce is also becoming the era of digital disappointment, according to a new survey. The survey, from automation platform Celigo, found that 88% of U.S. shoppers and 79% of United Kingdom shoppers reported having at least one instance of […]

Even for a billionaire, Donald Trump’s $ 454 million appeals bond is proving too expensive to finance. In a legal filing before the New York Court of Appeals on Monday, the former president said he has approached nearly 30 surety companies to help back the bond he needs in order to pursue an appeal, and […]

Dear Quentin, I am 62 and one of three children. My parents divorced when I was seven. The last home that we all resided in as a family had remained in my father’s possession since the divorce. It was used by my cousin while attending law school and served as the first home my wife […]