Investing
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A eulogy for the muscle car
The muscle car died exactly as it wanted. In a blast of tire smoke and squeal, on a race track, burning gasoline so fast it could empty an 18.5-gallon tank in under five minutes. In its final crowning moment, it set a record quarter-mile time for an absurdly cheap cost, measured in dollars per horsepower.…
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‘She is a grifter’: My father set up a $500,000 trust for my troubled sister, and asked me to be trustee. What are the risks involved in being a trustee?
Can you help me understand the risks involved in being a trustee? My elderly father wrote a will, with the help of a lawyer, which divides up his substantial assets equally among his children. However, one sibling is a problem child, a spendthrift, and can’t be trusted. She is a grifter, unmarried, unemployed, broke, drifting,…
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What’s worth streaming in April 2023? There’s almost too much to watch, but here’s where to start.
Feel like there’s just too much to watch these days? You’re not alone. And it’s about to get worse. We’re experiencing an avalanche of prestige television — the single busiest stretch of the year — and it’s all thanks to a tweak in Emmy eligibility rules. This year, in order to qualify for Emmy nominations,…
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‘Trapped in the gap’: Many middle-income seniors earn too much for affordable housing but not enough to pay market rates
Deb Morgan, 74, made the decision in 2021 to sell her home in Aiken, S.C., and move closer to her son in Cincinnati. While the booming real-estate market helped her get more for her South Carolina home than she imagined, the market also worked against her when finding a new place to live. Morgan didn’t…
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Failed U.S. banks struck a $22.5 billion blow to the deposit insurance fund. Who will pay the price?Â
Recent bank failures have blown a $22.5 billion hole in the insurance fund that protects bank customers–sparking a debate over who will pay to patch it up. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is expected to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s deposit insurance fund roughly $20 billion, the agency estimates, while Signature Bank SBNY,…
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U.S. stocks end sharply higher after inflation report, Nasdaq scores best quarter since 2020
U.S. stocks closed sharply higher Friday, following a softer-than-expected inflation report for February. The Nasdaq Composite ended March with its largest quarterly gain since 2020. How stocks traded The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.26% rose 415.12 points, or 1.3%, to close at 33,274.15. The S&P 500 SPX, +1.44% gained 58.48 points, or 1.4%, to…
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Money is moving out of bank accounts, but not necessarily because customers are panicking
But even before the crisis — which is hopefully subsiding — more retail banking customers said they were already pulling cash from their primary bank accounts, according to new information from J.D. Power. While inflation grinds away at account balances, rising interest rates have lured customers to take more of their money out of lower-yielding…
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The S&P 500 has hit a wall, but powerful market forces are shaping up to push it through
The stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index SPX, +1.44%, continues to struggle to make headway. The downtrend that began at the beginning of February is still in place. It is a series of lower highs and lower lows on the SPX chart, and the S&P 500 has repeatedly run into resistance at…
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Are tech stocks becoming a haven again? ‘It’s a mistake,’ say market analysts.
Volatility among banking-sector stocks caused by the quick collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month has ignited a rush into technology stocks to the extent that are now seen as a safe-haven trade. The tech-focused Nasdaq-100 index NDX, +1.68%, which tracks the top 100 nonfinancial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange, has risen 18.5%…
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Here are the 20 best performing stocks of March — and the 20 worst
(Updated with closing prices on March 31.) Technology stocks dominated during March, with remarkable gains for a sector that tumbled last year. Meanwhile, two high-profile bank failures took their toll on the financial sector — but maybe that sector performed better than you expected. Below are lists of the month’s best and worst performing stocks…