Tag: Markets

Taking Risk Is No Longer Necessary, but That Is a Problem

Commentary Taking risks is no longer necessary to make a return on your savings. Not long ago, “cash is trash” was a common theme as savings accounts yielded zero. Of course, such was the intent of the Federal Reserve following the financial crisis of 2008–09 in the hope that inflating asset prices would trickle down…


Asian Shares Higher After Report Shows Resilience in US Jobs

Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Monday after a report Friday showed resilience in the U.S. jobs market. European markets were closed for Easter holidays. Benchmarks rose in Tokyo and Seoul but fell in Shanghai. Markets were closed in Hong Kong and Sydney. U.S. futures were mixed and oil prices climbed. The highly anticipated…


Yen Sinks as Rates Outlook Diverges; New Zealand Dollar Tumbles

TOKYO—The yen sank against major peers on Monday after U.S. payrolls data bolstered the case for further Federal Reserve rate hikes, highlighting a growing disparity with Japan where the central bank continues to pin the benchmark yield near zero. Meanwhile, the risk-sensitive New Zealand and Australian dollars weakened amid heightened U.S.–China tensions over Taiwan, with…


Is the Party Over for Tech Stocks?

Commentary At the annual Boys’ Club of New York luncheon on April 4, a 16-year-old guest asked hedge fund manager Chase Coleman what stock he should buy. It was an innocuous and softball question. Buy the FAANGs, Coleman said, referring to the acronym of several mega-cap technology stocks including Apple, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms. Wait,…


Oil Steadies as Tighter Supply Balances Growth Concerns

LONDON—Oil steadied on Monday, after rising for three straight weeks, as looming supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ producers balanced concern about weakening global growth that may dampen fuel demand. Crude last week jumped more than 6 percent, a third weekly gain, after OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and…


Millennial Homeownership Exceeds 50 Percent in 2022

The year 2022 was the time when more than half of American millennials became homeowners. Before that year, the majority of them were renting a living place. According to research conducted by RentCafe.com, a nationwide apartment search website, 52 percent of millennials, the largest generation in the United States, owned their own house in 2022….


Sales of Used Electric Vehicles Jump by a Third in First Quarter

Used EV sales rose by a third in the first quarter of this year, with average retail prices dropping and remaining well below the price of new electric vehicles, even as Americans remain hesitant to adopt electric cars. The sale of EVs through a licensed dealership rose 32 percent year-over-year in Q1 to 42,753 units,…


Jobs Print Near Expectations, but Economy Clearly Is Slowing

Commentary New jobs created printed at 236,000 on April 7, according to the Establishment Survey, on par with market expectations of 230,000 jobs. The Household Survey printed lower, at 160,000. Net revisions were down 17,000 from January and February. Both the unemployment rate, at 3.5 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 5.8 million,…


Biden EPA Tightens Screws on Coal Plants

A new proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would boost emissions standards for coal-fired power plants, heartening public health advocates and raising questions from the energy industry about cost and feasibility. It comes after a February 2022 EPA ruling that reversed a Trump administration action in 2020 on the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards…


Tesla Cuts US Prices for 5th Time Since January

Tesla cut prices in the United States between 2 percent and nearly 6 percent, its website showed on Thursday, as the company extends a discount drive on its electric vehicles that analysts caution could hurt profitability. The fifth such cut in Tesla’s largest market since the start of the year comes as the United States…