The financial news that actually matters
A record 22.7 million renter households spent more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs in 2024, the highest total ever recorded by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. The figure landed even as some rental markets showed signs of softening, with vacancy rates ticking upward and asking rents flattening in several…
New-car buyers in the United States are now spending an average of $773 each month on their vehicle loans, and nearly one in five of those buyers has crossed the $1,000-per-month threshold. The figures, drawn from Edmunds data covering the fourth quarter of 2024, signal that financing costs have become a defining pressure point for…
American workers and job seekers absorbed a sharp blow in June 2026 when U.S. employers added just 57,000 positions to nonfarm payrolls, one of the weakest monthly gains in recent memory. The unemployment rate held at 4.2%, but that apparent stability masked a troubling detail: the labor force itself shrank, meaning fewer people were even…
Starting this month, roughly 7.5 million student-loan borrowers enrolled in the SAVE repayment plan will begin receiving notices from their loan servicers telling them they have 90 days to pick a different repayment option. The clock starts July 1, 2026, and anyone who does not act within that window faces automatic placement into another plan…
Shake Shack’s stock fell sharply after the burger chain revealed that its sales growth came entirely from higher prices, not from attracting more diners. Guest traffic declined for at least two consecutive quarters, according to the company’s own filings, even as same-store sales ticked higher. The split between rising tabs and shrinking foot traffic offers…
Working parents who channel childcare expenses through a dependent-care flexible spending account can exclude up to $5,000 a year from federal income tax, a benefit that directly reduces taxable wages before a single dollar reaches the IRS. That $5,000 cap, set by federal statute and confirmed for 2025 by the IRS, applies to joint filers…
Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the United States, plans to shut down roughly 60 stores over the next 18 months, a move that will eliminate locations across its sprawling network of supermarkets. The company disclosed $100 million in store-closure costs during its first fiscal quarter of 2025, the first concrete financial signal of the…
Hundreds of thousands of older Americans living on Social Security could see a chunk of their monthly benefits seized to repay defaulted student loans. Federal law allows the government to withhold up to 15 percent of a borrower’s Social Security check, or the amount above a $750 monthly floor, whichever is less. The Department of…
Bank of America’s equity and quantitative strategy team has flagged speculation readings that, in every prior instance, preceded a significant equity market decline. The warning draws on a framework of bear‑market signposts that the bank has tracked across multiple cycles, including the peaks of 2000, 2007, and 2021. With the Federal Reserve’s policy rate still…
Ed Yardeni, the veteran Wall Street strategist, raised his estimated probability of a U.S. market meltdown to 35% from 20%, while slashing his odds of a meltup to just 5% from 20%. The shift, reported in March 2026, reflects his assessment that war-driven oil price shocks and Federal Reserve policy constraints are compounding risks for…