The Kasimovskoye underground gas storage facility operated by Gazprom, in Kasimov, Russia. Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg Text size Vladimir Putin was rash enough to invade Ukraine. Could he double his bet ...
Tag: Economy & Policy
The Fed Has Begun Raising Interest Rates. Here’s When It Will Start to Cut.
Text size The Fed is battling inflation. Gasoline prices are a big part of the problem. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Financial markets deserve their reputation for focusing on the future. Investors are loo...
Treasuries Are Getting Crushed. It Might Continue for a Long Time.
Text size Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images The price of Treasury bonds has plummeted recently. That could be just the start of a painful road ahead for bond investors. The price of bonds decline ...
RMD Age Stands to Rise to 75 as House Passes Secure Act 2.0. Here’s What to Know.
Dreamstime Text size The second major piece of retirement legislation in little more than two years advanced in the House on Tuesday, putting required minimum distributions in line to rise to age 75 o...
Defense Stocks Take a Hit on U.S. Defense Spending Request
Text size Defense stocks trade for about 18 times estimated 2022 earnings. Jose Luis Magana / AFP) Defense stocks are taking a small hit after details of the coming defense budget were released. On Mo...
Bank Earnings Are Coming. One Stock Analysts Like—and Another They Say to Sell.
Text size Analysts say Bank of America is positioned to do well in the current economy. Stephen Chernin/Getty Images With bank earnings coming in a few weeks, Bank of America is looking like a winner ...
Lessons from the 1970s for Today’s Markets Turmoil
Text size President Gerald Ford, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller at the White House in Washington, D.C. in 1975. National Archives/AFP via Getty Images About t...
M&T Bank Stock Looks Like a Buy
Text size Citigroup’s Keith Horowitz’s price target of $220 on M&T Bank shares suggests 20% upside from Friday’s close. Daniel Tepper/Bloomberg Like a child waiting for a birthday present only to ...
Worried About Getting Audited? Here Are Red Flags for the IRS.
Even though the Internal Revenue Service is auditing fewer taxpayers these days, you still don’t want to put a target on your back. Among those more likely to get audited: Small-business owners with l...
Why the Postwar 1940s May Tell Us More About Our Inflation Than the ‘70s
Illustration by Elias Stein Text size As inflation stirs, economists have fixated on the 1970s. That’s a mistake, says Guggenheim’s chief investment officer, Scott Minerd, who believes the causes of t...
If the Fed Pulls This Off, It’s Party Time
Text size College students party at the beach during spring break on South Padre Island, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images Party like it’s 1994? Rather than 1999, the year made famous by Prince’s purpl...
Stock Market Gets Boost From Bond Selloff. Time to Sell the Rip?
Text size NYSE The Federal Reserve is talking tough about fighting inflation—and the stock market loves it. Don’t expect equities to be so relaxed if Powell & Co. act on their words. The S&P 5...
How Putin’s War Made These 3 Fertilizer Producers Hot Stocks
Illustration by Elias Stein Text size Since Russia invaded Ukraine, shares of Saskatoon, Canada’s Nutrien , the Western Hemisphere’s top fertilizer maker, have climbed 37%. The Energy Select Sector SP...
Why Housing May Not Get as Hammered as Usual in This Rate Hike Cycle
Traditional home buyers are sure to be pinched by rising mortgage rates, but better-financed investors could keep prices rising. Here, a home for sale in Houston last summer. Brandon Bell/Getty Images...
Mortgage Rates Rose Even Higher. Here’s How Much More You’d Pay Now.
New-home sales fell in February due, in part, to the effects of rising mortgage rates on affordability. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Text size Mortgage rates climbed past 4% last week—and their rapid ...
Texas Survey Shows Why Oil Producers Aren’t Drilling More
Text size The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas surveyed 141 oil and gas firms in the 11th Fed District, which includes Texas and parts of New Mexico and Louisiana. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Oil and gas...
Russian Stock Market Rises After Closing for a Month
Text size Stocks in Russia, closed since the end of February following the invasion of Ukraine, began trading again Thursday. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images The Russian stock market, which has been clo...
Inverted Yield Curve Signals a Recession. A Different Curve Tells a More Upbeat Story.
Text size The Federal Reserve, led by Jerome Powell, raised interest rates for the first time since 2018 earlier this month. Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images The most-watched yield curve is close to...
Why Today’s Inflation Might Resemble the 1940s More Than the 1970s
Text size While the surge in energy prices has some likening the inflationary environment to the 1970s-80s, some observers think the postwar period is a better comparison. Here, pricey per-gallon cost...
Treasuries Are Selling Off. Blame Powell’s Comments on Half-Point Rate Hikes.
Fed chief Jerome Powell, shown Monday at a conference in Washington, D.C., said ‘nothing’ would prevent the central bank from raising rates by a half-point at a coming meeting if needed. S...
China Made Pro-Market Promises. Here’s What Analysts Are Saying.
Text size Workers at a construction site in Hong Kong on March 18, 2022. Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images Headwinds had battered Chinese markets for months—Covid-19 outbreaks, U.S. delisting concer...
How Will the Fed’s New Interest Rate Policy Affect Real Estate Prices?
Text size Rising mortgage rates will further restrict housing affordability. Brandon Bell/Getty Images About the author: Clare Losey is an assistant research economist at Texas A&M University’s Te...
Biden’s Wealth Tax Proposal Would Target More Than Billionaires
Text size President Joe Biden’s new budget proposal includes a wealth tax it says would target the top 0.01% of households. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images About the author: Thomas Hoenig is a dist...