The financial news that actually matters
A pound of ground beef averaged $5.63 in March 2026, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics average price data, up 12.1% from a year earlier. A dozen large Grade A eggs, meanwhile, averaged roughly $3.10, down 44.7% from the record highs that rattled shoppers in early 2025. And the government’s official measure of grocery inflation?…
The national housing market just posted its weakest price growth in nearly 15 years. Median home prices rose only 0.5% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, landing at $404,300, according to the National Association of Realtors’ quarterly metro report released in early May. According to NAR’s historical quarterly series, that is the…
Two years ago, nearly half of all mortgaged homes in the United States qualified as “equity-rich,” a term the property data firm ATTOM uses when an owner owes less than 50% of the home’s estimated market value. In the first quarter of 2025, that share dropped to 43.3%, the lowest level since 2021 and a…
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.37% for the week ending May 8, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. That marks the second consecutive weekly increase, erasing a month of modest declines that had briefly given spring buyers some breathing room. Meanwhile, fed-funds futures now price in zero Federal Reserve rate cuts…
The Social Security Administration has knocked roughly 430,000 disability claims out of a backlog that once topped 1.2 million, a reduction the agency says amounts to about one-third of the pileup that built up during the pandemic and years of tight budgets. Separately, SSA finished distributing $17 billion in retroactive payments under the Social Security…
The average American worker’s paycheck grew 3.6% over the past year. That sounds like progress until you look at what everything costs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April 2026 Employment Situation report, released May 8, average hourly earnings for private nonfarm workers hit $35.53, up from $34.30 a year earlier. But consumer prices…
Freshworks Inc. is eliminating roughly 500 jobs, about 11 percent of its workforce, as the company accelerates a shift toward artificial intelligence that its leadership says will redefine how it builds and sells software. The San Mateo, California-based maker of customer service and IT tools disclosed the restructuring in a regulatory filing in May 2026,…
For years, homeowners insurance was the kind of bill most people glanced at and paid. That era appears to be over. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March 2026 found that 71% of U.S. homeowners say their premiums have risen in recent years, with 42% calling the increase substantial. Among those paying more, 57%…
In 2014, a licensed firearms dealer in Wisconsin opened his monthly bank statement and found a letter instead. His account was being closed. No fraud allegation, no compliance violation, no explanation beyond a boilerplate reference to the bank’s right to terminate relationships at its discretion. He was one of dozens of gun retailers, payday lenders,…
The clock is running out for anyone still holding a canceled Spirit Airlines ticket. Frontier Airlines’ rescue fares, which cut up to 50% off base prices for stranded Spirit customers, expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on May 10, 2026. After that, the discounts disappear for good, and passengers booking flights on routes Spirit once served…