This year is not shaping up to be the worst in U.S. history for a balanced 60% stock/40% bond portfolio. It’s important to point this out not just to correct the misleading historical narrative that h...
Tag: financial services
Crypto poses threat to ‘financial stability’ of everyday Americans, feds warn
President Joe Biden’s administration expressed concern over recent developments in cryptocurrency markets and their impact on average Americans’ financial health as it introduced a series of reports F...
2 things too many of you get wrong about the 4% rule
Plus, what the 4% rule might look like in practice. Getty Images/iStockphoto In July, I wrote this column about a man who was working with a financial planner and withdrawing 4% from his investment ac...
Can the Fed tame inflation without crushing the stock market? What investors need to know.
The Federal Reserve isn’t trying to slam the stock market as it rapidly raises interest rates in its bid to slow inflation still running red hot — but investors need to be prepared for more pain and v...
U.S. Treasury recommends exploring creation of a digital dollar
The Biden administration is moving one step closer to developing a central bank digital currency, known as the digital dollar, saying it would help reinforce the U.S. role as a leader in the world fin...
Toomey tells SEC chief to be ‘on notice’ that Supreme Court may overrule new climate rule
Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee took aim at Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler’s plan to implement a new rule requiring disclosure of climate change risks during a heari...
A further 27% drop in the S&P 500 could be coming if inflation hawks are right, Goldman Sachs team warns
Not exactly TGIF this Friday. What the sellside is slowly realizing is not just that the Fed is going to be aggressive in September after the latest shocking inflation figure, but that the central ban...
The $2,000 bonus for opening a new bank account? It exists, and here’s the deal with it
Banks are paying cash bonuses, and here are some of the best. Getty Images/iStockphoto High-yield savings accounts are now paying far more than they did last year — see the best savings account rates ...
Apple is now the market’s most-shorted stock. If Tesla is an example, that’s bullish.
Apple shareholders need not worry that it’s the most-shorted U.S. stock. I’m referring to the report from short-seller analytics firm S3 Partners that, after 864 days in which Tesla TSLA, +0.38% was a...
A punishing selloff in short-term debt is pushing one rate near the ‘magic’ level that ‘frightens’ markets
The yield on the 1-year Treasury note is testing 4%, a level that traders say could spill over into other rates and send shivers through financial markets, as the Federal Reserve presses forward in ea...
Opinion: Surprise! CDs are back in vogue with Treasurys and I-bonds as safe havens for your cash
If there’s a silver lining to the current economic situation that features soaring inflation and falling stocks, it’s that savers can get more for their money. Even after just a few months of rising i...
She’s one of the youngest billionaires in the world, but still practices this thrifty savings habit ‘all the time’ — and so should you
Particularly as concerns of a recession loom, experts say that saving is essential — even if you don’t have millions. Getty Images At 26 years old, Norwegian heiress Alexandra Andresen is worth an est...
Walmart, Target Urge Lawmakers to Pass Bill Taking Aim at Visa, Mastercard Fees
More than 1,600 merchants including Walmart and Target are urging U.S. lawmakers to pass legislation that aims to break the hold that Visa and Mastercard have over the credit-card market. The bill, wh...
PayPal’s New CFO Takes Leave of Absence
Text size PayPal is in the midst of a turnaround after the company was forced to retreat from some of its more ambitious growth goals earlier this year. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images PayPal ’s new chie...
What will people do after getting $10,000 or $20,000 in student debt forgiven? MarketWatch asked readers — here’s the No. 1 answer.
Americans’ student debt loads are poised to lighten up and people are making plans on what’s next for their freed-up cash. Borrowers appear to have two prime targets in mind: getting current on their ...
Cash Is No Longer Trash. T-Bill Yields Near 4%.
Text size After years of yielding near zero, cash is suddenly a better investment. Eva Hambach/AFP via Getty Images Cash is no longer trash. For the first time in 15 years, investors can get nearly 4%...
‘This is never factored into the equation.’ One big thing people forget to consider when thinking about how much they need to retire
I’m sure you’ve pictured it: on the beach mid-weekday, gently lapping waves falling on white sand, sipping an umbrella drink — and you no longer have to check your email, other than to confirm your di...
The next financial crisis may already be brewing, but not where many expect
A growing number of traders, academics, and bond-market gurus are worried that the $24 trillion market for U.S. Treasury debt could be headed for a crisis as the Federal Reserve kicks its “quantitativ...
Opinion: Billionaires typically own concentrated stock positions — this investor posted a 30-fold gain over 10 years on one little-known company
True or false: To build big wealth in the stock market, it pays to be widely diversified. If you guessed “true,” you might want to reconsider. Successful investors from Warren Buffett to Ron Baron tea...
I have $950,000 invested with a large financial firm, but they are charging me $1,100 a month in management fees. Is this reasonable?
Is your financial planner charging you too much? Getty Images/iStockphoto Question: I am currently a customer with a large bank and have about $950,000 invested in the markets through them. I am being...
PayPal is ‘clearly now at a turning point,’ its CEO says
“It’s an uncertain macroeconomic environment, but I think we finally got the guidance right, and we’re executing against that.” — PayPal CEO Dan Schulman Pandemic darling PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL, -2...
Mr. ‘Big Short’ Burry Takes on Goldman Sachs
Financier Michael Burry became a household name after the 2015 film “The Big Short” which depicted his bet on the subprime-mortgage meltdown that sparked the 2008 financial crisis. What m...
These five stocks in the S&P 500 lost almost half a trillion dollars in value in one day amid widespread wipeout
A decline in gasoline prices couldn’t mask the problem that spooked investors on Sept. 13: Core consumer prices resumed their rapid increase during August. Fear of the Federal Reserve’s ongoing tighte...
The biggest Fed rate hike in 40 years? It could be coming next week.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and times are, arguably, increasingly desperate. The persistence of high inflation might force the Federal Reserve to resort to the biggest increase in a k...
The S&P 500 sank 5% in a very bad week for stocks. These 20 lost as much as 24%.
U.S. stocks sputtered Friday to close out the week in the red. The day’s declines of less than 1% for the broad indexes paled against Tuesday’s, when they sank 4% to 5%. For the week, the Dow Jones In...