Mortgage rates have dipped — is it a good time to buy a home? Experts weigh in.

Getty Images Some mortgage rates have fallen slightly: The average interest rate on a fixed rate 30-year mortgage now sits at 4.20% and the average annual percentage rate is 4.25%, down from 4.29% and...

Why Moving to a State with Low Income Taxes Could Cost You

That’s what financial professionals are telling clients who are fed up with high income tax rates in their home state and weighing an out-of-state move. They’re counseling clients to take an in-depth ...

Stagflation Is Coming. What You Need to Know.

There is no question that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is going to push inflation higher, given the amount of energy and food commodities produced by the region and the responses by countries and comp...

Opinion: Sanctioning Russia is a masterstroke that will cement the dollar’s dominant role in world affairs

LONDON (Project Syndicate)— The savage fighting in Ukraine has led many to wonder whether Russian President Vladimir Putin’s supposed strategic brilliance is all that it was chalked up to be. Though P...

The Stock Market Has Gotten Crushed. Why the Pain Isn’t Over.

Text size The Fed and Ukraine crisis are two negative catalysts for stocks going forward. Dreamstime The S&P 500 is down about 9% from its all-time high, hit in early January. And the pain might n...

Semiconductor sales to Russia banned, but that shouldn’t hurt Intel, AMD and other chip makers

Semiconductor companies are banning sales to Russia following the company’s invasion of Ukraine, but an analyst says the companies shouldn’t feel much of an effect. As Russian forces continued to bomb...

Russia’s Swift Exclusion Could See More Cyber War. 10 Stocks That Could Benefit.

Tough new financial sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine could lead to a surge in cyber attacks and spur investment in cybersecurity companies, according to research from broker and invest...

3 simple rules for cushioning yourself against inflation

This article is reprinted by permission from NerdWallet.  Inflation — the rise in consumer prices — is a slow erosion of your money over time. Before 2021, the U.S. hadn’t seen annual core inflation m...

Zoom, Salesforce, Target, Costco, and Other Stocks for Investors to Watch This Week

U.S. stock and bond markets will have plenty of action on the last day of February with earnings from HP Inc., Lucid Group, and stay-at-home play Zoom Video Communications expected on Monday. Earnings...

Buffett: Berkshire Hathaway Finds ‘Little That Excites Us’ in the Stock Market

Berkshire Hathaway finds “little that excites us” in the stock market, CEO Warren Buffett said in his annual shareholder letter released Saturday morning. “That’s largely because of a truism: Long-ter...

Warren Buffett: Berkshire Hathaway Paid 1% of All U.S. Corporate Tax Receipts

Berkshire Hathaway has the largest amount of domestic infrastructure assets of any American company and paid $3.3 billion in federal taxes in 2021—or nearly 1% of all corporate tax receipts—CEO Warren...

Is Now the Time to Buy or Sell? 7 Stocks to Consider During Turbulent Times.

I asked two market strategists whether U.S. investors should buy stocks here despite the pall of war in Ukraine. One says definitely, and the other says to hold off. Both are convincing. This is why I...

Mortgage rates fall amid geopolitical uncertainty. How the Russia-Ukraine crisis could impact home buyers — and interest rates

Home buyers are seeing temporary relief from rising interest rates as markets react to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But in the longer term, inflation remains a serious concern. The 30-year fixed-rate...

Punishing Putin Through Swift Is Thorny

As the U.S. and Europe weigh how to respond to Russia sending troops into Ukraine, financial sanctions are prime among those measures. U.S. and European countries have contemplated seeking to cut off ...

Why Stocks Rebounded After Russia Invaded Ukraine

Russia invaded Ukraine to start the biggest land war in Europe since Hitler. U.S. stocks soared. What gives? It isn’t that Wall Street secretly loves Vladimir Putin. A close look at the market’s perfo...

Tesla Stock Is Plunging. It’s Probably Musk’s Twitter This Time.

Text size Shares of Tesla have dropped more than 17% this week. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images Recent declines in Tesla stock have deviated from market-related trading patterns, leavin...

Home Depot leads the list of 20 worst performers in the S&P 500 on Tuesday

Slightly positive isn’t good enough for this stock market. While market jitters on Feb. 22 were driven by Russia’s movement of troops into Ukraine, the U.S. stock market was also adjusting to the idea...

Home Depot Stock Dips Despite Earnings Beat and Dividend Hike

Text size Home Depot posted better-than-expected sales and profits Tuesday. Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Home Depot stock lost steam Tuesday even as the home-improvement retailer reported stronger-t...

Online Real Estate Isn’t Worth the Chance

You can make a lot of money on physical real estate right now, but recent results from major online real-estate players show 2022 isn’t the year to play Monopoly in the stock market. The carnage isn’t...

For White-Collar Workers, It’s Prime Time to Get a Big Raise

White-collar professionals are reaping big pay gains as worker bargaining power spreads across the U.S. economy and shows early signs of durability. Wall Street banks are boosting compensation for emp...

European stocks and U.S. equity futures wobble as Kremlin says U.S-Russia summit not a done deal

European stocks fell Monday, as investors clung to hopes that diplomacy will prevali over an increasingly tense Russia-Ukraine crisis. Technology stocks led the downside on the heels of sharp losses f...

Many Americans Will Be Getting Smaller Tax Refunds This Year. Here’s Why.

The flood of federal pandemic-relief money was welcome last year, but it is causing disappointment and confusion as taxpayers prepare their 2021 returns. Many will be getting smaller-than-expected ref...

JPMorgan Now Expects Nine Straight Fed Rate Increases Until March 2023

Text size Wall Street banks are predicting more aggressive rate increases by the Federal Reserve. Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images Economists at JPMorgan Chase said the Federal Reserve would likely r...

How Stocks Perform Just Before and After a Drastic Fed Interest-Rate Increase

Text size Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve. Graeme Jennings / POOL/AFP via Getty Images The Federal Reserve could implement two interest-rate increases in one fell swoop next month. The sto...

Bitcoin Falls to Below $40,000 as Wall Street in ‘Full De-Risking Mode’

Text size Dreamstime.com Bitcoin fell below $40,000 Friday on renewed worries of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine and the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates this year.  Bitcoin, the world’s...

Scorned Treasury Bonds Could Be Good Bet After Fed Boosts Rates

Rarely has there been such unanimity of opinion among both Federal Reserve officials and the cadre of analysts who track and try to predict their future moves. Monetary policy will be tightened with a...

The WSJ Tax Guide 2022: What to Know Now About Tax Filing and Refunds

Feb. 18, 2022 5:30 am ET Get ready for a wild tax season. Every year more than 200 million Americans sign and send income-tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service. But the 2022 filing season will b...

Week’s Best: Wealthy Investors Are Hanging On to Their Cash

Advisors take note: despite a January increase in consumer prices not seen in four decades, investors are stubbornly clinging to cash positions or cash equivalents like CDs, according to a new survey ...

What Will Stocks Do if War—or Peace—Erupts in Ukraine?

Text size A Ukrainian guard at a checkpoint on the border with Russia. There could be a financial toll, as well as a heavy human one, if the Kremlin launches an invasion. Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Ukrinf...

‘Take advantage of this pullback,’ says Morgan Stanley executive who sees buying opportunities amid Russia-Ukraine tension

Tension centered on Russia and Ukraine has opened up an opportunity for investors to put cash to work in the stock market, according to Andrew Slimmon, senior portfolio manager for equities at Morgan ...

‘We live 5 minutes from our in-laws who have a larger home’: Is it a good idea to swap houses? Will I end up with a surprise tax bill?

I am a California resident. My husband and I own a 1,800-square-foot home that we bought in 2019 for $1.5 million. We have between 40% and 50% equity in the property due to a large down payment. We li...