20 bank stocks expected to benefit the most from rising interest rates as the Federal Reserve fights inflation

When companies report financial results, analysts tend to make comparisons to the year-earlier quarter. But there are times when sequential improvements can be telling. This is one of those times for ...

Biden will sign the Inflation Reduction Act today. Here’s MarketWatch’s rundown of how it will affect your energy bills, investments and drug costs.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday is scheduled to sign into law the Inflation Reduction Act — the Democrats’ big economic package aimed at addressing climate change, capping drug costs and raising hundre...

Housing Market Faces Growing Risk Of Multi-Year Collapse As New Home Construction Craters

Topline New housing starts unexpectedly plunged more than economists projected in July—and to the lowest level in more than a year—as home builders grappled with dwindling demand for new homes, and th...

‘I’m in a very lucky position’: I will receive a $300,000 inheritance. Should I pay off my mortgage or invest the money?

I currently owe $300,000 on my house with a 2.5%, 30-year mortgage. I am maxing out my retirement accounts — IRA and 401(k) — and looking to retire in less than 10 years. I will receive an inheritance...

WeWork’s Adam Neumann secures millions in funding for his new company Flow

Adam Neumann is back. The billionaire businessman who founded office-sharing company WeWork Inc. WE, -4.70% is back with another company called Flow, a residential real estate company attempting to ad...

Walmart, Target, Cisco, Deere, Housing Data, and Other Things for Investors to Watch This Week

Text size Earnings season continues next week in what will be an action-packed stretch for retail stocks. Walmart and Home Depot report results on Tuesday, followed by Bath & Body Works , Lowe’s, ...

An investor’s guide to the Inflation Reduction Act — and what the bill means for your portfolio

If investors thought they were finding their footing in a volatile stock market, a new tax, climate and healthcare spending bill from Capitol Hill might have them trying again to regain their stabilit...

Why an analyst says sell these four big software stocks

Salesforce Inc.’s stock gets a lot of love on Wall Street, with 43 of the 49 covering analysts tracked by FactSet rating the shares the equivalent of buy. But Guggenheim analyst John DiFucci bucked th...

This dividend-paying ETF is beating the stock market this year — and its manager expects the ‘euphoria’ recently seen in stocks won’t last

Hi! In this week’s ETF Wrap, you’ll get a look at how Austin Graff, a former PIMCO portfolio manager, is beating the stock market with the TrueShares Low Volatility Equity Income ETF. Please send feed...

Oil prices are down, but energy companies’ earnings estimates keep rising — these stocks are cheap

Oil prices have fallen from a peak earlier this year. But energy companies’ earnings estimates have kept rising on stronger demand and low capital spending. Below is a screen of large-cap oil stocks a...

Why home prices can stay high, complicating the Fed’s battle against inflation

Sky-high housing prices still threaten to complicate the Federal Reserve’s inflation fight, even as America’s market for single-family homes shows signs of cooling in response to sharply higher intere...

Alphabet and 7 More Stocks Wall Street Loves That Aren’t Too Pricey

Ninety-four percent of the analysts who follow Alphabet, Google’s parent company, rate it at Buy. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Text size Investors usually have to pay up to get high-quality stock...

Should you rent or sell your home if you’re setting off overseas?

One of the biggest questions that many older workers face when embarking on an international remote working or digital nomad lifestyle is what to do with their single most valuable asset: their home. ...

Blackstone’s Giant Real Estate Fund Faces a Test

Blackstone Group is the world’s largest manager of alternative assets such as private equity and real estate. It is also a leader in one of the industry’s biggest initiatives—attracting retail investo...

Annual home price growth saw ‘the greatest single-month slowdown’ since at least the early 1970s. Does this mean homebuyers are finally getting a break?

Are home buyers getting some much-needed relief in the form of lower home prices? Getty Images Is this the news home buyers have finally been looking for? In June, the annual home price growth rate sa...

Zillow is almost done selling homes, but stock slumps as the hard part is still to come

Zillow Group Inc. is almost done selling all the homes it bought in a flurry that led to a flameout of its iBuying business, but its plans for the future led to shares plunging in extended trading Thu...

‘I’m stuck in a penny-pincher mindset’: My spouse and I bought a home, but he only wants to buy high-end items. How can we agree?

Dear Quentin, My spouse and I spent years saving for a new house, and living well below our means. It may sound weird, but now that we have a new home, we feel overwhelmed by the prospect of spending ...

We have $1.1 million to spend on a new house for retirement, but we also want to travel – is buying a home even worth it right now?

Dear MarketWatch,  My wife and I are 64 and 65 years old, respectively. I plan on retiring in two years when I’ll be fully vested with my current employer, avoiding early stock withdrawal penalties, a...

Pfizer, Cisco, and 5 Other Stocks With the Cash Flow to Raise Their Dividends

A company’s free cash is a lifeline for dividends, buybacks and other uses of capital. If that well runs dry or even slows down, a company can be forced to dial down its spending. For this screen, Bar...

My boyfriend, 68, has almost no ‘mad money’ for fun activities and trips. He lives with his father, 95, and expects to inherit his house. Is it unreasonable to expect him to get a part-time job?

I am a 65-year-old retired woman with modest Social Security and annuity payments. I also own my own home and have savings. I’ve been seeing a 68-year-old retiree since just before the pandemic. He li...

‘Continuing home price deceleration.’ Here’s what 5 economists and real estate pros predict will happen to the housing market this year

What will happen in the housing market this year? Getty Images When will home price growth really slow down? Will mortgage rates continue their upward climb? What do I need to know if I’m trying to bu...

AMD, PayPal, Starbucks, Uber, Paramount, and Other Stocks to Watch This Week

It’s the peak stretch of second-quarter earnings season, with roughly 150 S&P 500 firms scheduled to report this week. The highlights on the economic calendar will be a pair of purchasing managers...

AMD, PayPal, Starbucks, Uber, Paramount, and Other Stocks for Investors to Watch This Week

It’s the peak stretch of second-quarter earnings season, with roughly 150 S&P 500 firms scheduled to report this week. The highlights on the economic calendar will be a pair of purchasing managers...

I want to refinance my mortgage, but I’m about to turn 70. Is it wise to refinance at my time of life?

I hope you can help me figure this out. I am 69 years old and will turn 70 at the end of the month. I’ve been offered a cash out refinance loan and need to decide whether to take a 15- or 30-year loan...

China Home Sales Plunge in July, as Mortgage Revolt Deters Buyers

A nascent two-month recovery in China’s home sales ended in July, as a widespread mortgage revolt over concerns that ailing property developers wouldn’t be able to deliver still-unfinished apartments ...

Housing affordability plunges to lowest level since 2006. The property market’s ‘great slowdown’ is here, Bank of America says

A “great slowdown” is happening in the U.S. housing market, a new report from Bank of America says, as mortgage originations shrink and spending on household items softens. Amid weak home sales number...

Investors are snapping up homes at a furious rate — in some regions they bought up to 20% of houses for sale

First-time homebuyers who struggled to snag a property this past spring might have been competing with deep-pocketed investors.  While the share of investor purchases has fallen from its February peak...

Individual Investors Ramp Up Bets on Tech Stocks

Listen to article (2 minutes) Technology stocks have taken a beating this year. Many individual investors have used it as an opportunity to double down. The Nasdaq Composite Index—home to the big tech...

Buy Opendoor Stock. The iBuyer Is a Bargain.

Opendoor has more than doubled the number of metro markets in which it operates, to more than 50, since 2021. Courtesy of OpenDoor Text size When Zillow Group abandoned its online buying of homes in N...

When will the Fed stop raising interest rates? The ‘terminal rate’ may still be far off

The U.S. economy is somewhere in the middle of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hiking saga to tame inflation, but people already want to know where the story ends. That’s what’s getting discussed ...

Kraft Heinz’s Earnings Beat Forecasts. Why the Stock Is Falling Anyway.

Text size Kraft Heinz posted second-quarter adjusted earnings that beat Wall Street expectations. Alex Wong/Getty Images Kraft Heinz posted higher earnings than analysts expected and raised its full-y...

With the Fed raising rates, should you pause plans to buy a house or car?

As if wasn’t already tough enough to make a major purchase at a time when living costs are skyrocketing, the interest rates to finance those pricey purchases are going up. Now consumers are confrontin...