The financial news that actually matters
American stock prices have climbed to a valuation extreme matched only once in modern history, during the dot-com frenzy that peaked in March 2000. Federal Reserve data tracking the S&P 500 index and the total market value of U.S. corporate equities both point to the same conclusion: the gap between what investors are paying for…
American credit-card holders carrying a balance are now paying a record 22.15% annual percentage rate, according to Federal Reserve data, at the same time that late payments on card loans have reached levels not seen in 15 years. The collision of peak borrowing costs and deteriorating repayment performance raises a pointed question: whether the pricing…
Vincent Dispoto Jr., the owner of two small New Jersey investment firms, pleaded guilty to wire fraud after running a scheme that spanned from December 1988 to January 2025 and caused approximately $6.99 million in losses. A federal judge sentenced him on August 26, 2025, to 151 months in prison for defrauding more than 60…
Semiconductor stocks pulled the Nasdaq Composite down 387.28 points on Thursday, a 1.5 percent drop that left the index at 25,881.95 and sent ripples through the retirement accounts of millions of Americans who hold broad index funds in their 401(k) plans. Chip names such as Micron led the decline, and the selling spread to markets…
American households now owe a record $18.8 trillion in combined debt, a figure that includes mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, and student loans. The total, drawn from the Federal Reserve’s Financial Accounts, reflects steady borrowing growth even as interest rates have stayed elevated through much of the past year. For the roughly 130 million households…
Homeowners who have carried the same insurance policy for years are losing coverage after a drone or satellite photograph flags a dark streak on their roof. State regulators in North Carolina and Delaware have each issued formal bulletins warning that insurers are relying on aerial imagery to cancel or nonrenew policies, sometimes over cosmetic blemishes…
Catalina Corona, a personal assistant to an elderly married couple on Long Island, pleaded guilty to wire fraud after stealing approximately $10 million from her employers over a span of roughly seven years. The scheme, which ran from about 2017 to 2024, involved hundreds of forged checks and direct transfers from the couple’s accounts. The…
Bank customers who overdraw their accounts at the largest U.S. financial institutions will keep paying fees far above $5 after Congress and the White House nullified the only federal rule that would have imposed such a cap. President Trump signed the resolution on May 9, 2025, turning it into Public Law 119-10 and ending a…
Xin Liu, a 40-year-old Chinese national living in Apopka, Florida, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for her role as a courier in an elder-fraud conspiracy. Between July 22 and July 30, 2025, Liu made at least six cash pickup trips across Florida, collecting packages from elderly victims and verifying their contents before…
People who used Google Assistant on phones, tablets, smart speakers, or other devices could collect up to $56 each from a $68 million settlement fund, and they do not need to provide documentation to file a claim. The deadline to submit is August 27. The payout resolves allegations that Google recorded users without proper consent,…