Economy
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The ‘super surge’ of money market funds is on with yields over 4.6% luring savers. Here’s what you need to know.
Last month’s bank failures, combined with a healthy yield advantage over bank deposit accounts, has prompted a “super surge” of assets into money market mutual funds, according to research firm Crane Data. Money market funds, which invest in very short-term, high-quality debt, in March enjoyed their third-best month of inflows ever, according to Crane, as…
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Tesla, Netflix earnings due: Cheaper cars, cheaper content, more workout videos, as ‘earnings recession’ seems likely
For anyone watching Netflix, the streaming services’ recent moves to cut costs could mean fewer films, lower-budget shows and — depending on your subscription — more ads. For anyone buying a Tesla, its moves to cut prices will make it easier on customers, but harder on profit-seeking investors. With both companies reporting results this week,…
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Good news on inflation: shocks that kept inflation percolating in the 1970s seem absent today, top economist says
Former IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard, one of the first economists to warn about high inflation in the waning days of the pandemic, now says inflation can come down on its own because the shocks that kept inflation percolation in the 1970s seem absent today. During the 1970s when inflation went higher, it set of…
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Credit-card balances have hit historic highs. Here’s what that says about consumers’ finances.
Credit-card debt climbed to a historic high at the end of last year. That’s according to new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which adds to earlier reports of record-smashing balances in 2022’s final quarter. Credit-card balances reached nearly $765 billion in the fourth quarter — up by more than $100 billion from about…
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We all know an emergency fund is important. Here’s how to get started.
Given all that’s going on in the world today, the concept of saving and building up an emergency fund may feel like a pipe dream. But no matter where you are or what you are dealing with in terms of your finances, there is a path toward slowly building up a safety net between yourself…
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‘Real estate is tangible. It enjoys a host of tax benefits’: Yes, investors can still make money in a cooling housing market
Rent growth is cooling and apartment landlords are feeling the heat, especially those who will soon need to refinance debt they took on to buy buildings. Yet one company is still upbeat on the outlook for multifamily rentals, particularly in the Sun Belt. “You have major supply constraints in most rental markets [and] the housing…
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U.S. billionaires have grown nearly one-third richer during the pandemic, while a ‘permanent underclass’ struggles, Oxfam says
Wealth inequality in the United States is “more extreme and dangerous than income inequality” and could be alleviated by a federal wealth tax, a new report says. The nation’s billionaires are almost a third richer than they were at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to new calculations by the global charity…
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Head of world’s largest asset manager says this is why Fed will struggle to bring down inflation
“‘I believe interest rates are going to be higher for longer…I believe inflation is going to be stickier for longer. In other words I think we’re going to have a 4%-ish floor on inflation.’” — Larry Fink, BlackRock Inc. That’s BlackRock Inc. BLK, +3.07% Chairman and CEO Larry Fink arguing that global “fragmentation” and reshoring…
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‘Get out of your own head’: How to reinvent yourself in retirement
As I see it, unretirement—when you work part time in retirement after leaving a full-time job, as I’m doing—is a period of reinvention. That can be a little uncomfortable, even scary. In her new book, “Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work,” Joanne Lipman has some useful ideas on how to do it.…
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Orange-juice futures are near a record. Sugar is at an 11-year high. And coffee is peaking too. What’s going on?
[]Some commodities that are grown rather than mined, known as “softs” to traders, have rallied so far this year, with sugar prices this week trading at their highest price in 11 years and orange-juice futures touching their highest prices on record. []“Most of the softs sector fall under the category of ‘weather derivatives’,” as weather…