The financial news that actually matters
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 6.21% for the week ending May 22, 2026, up 11 basis points from 6.10% the week before, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey tracked through the Federal Reserve’s FRED database. The jump snapped a brief downward streak and arrived during a week when energy-driven inflation,…
For more than a year, roughly 7.5 million student loan borrowers enrolled in the SAVE repayment plan have been frozen in place. Most were put into administrative forbearance after courts blocked the program in 2024, their monthly payments paused but their futures unresolved. That uncertainty just ended, and the outcome is worse than many of…
On March 24, 2026, a barrel of Brent crude oil cost $108.42. Seven days later, it cost $126.69. By the second week of April, it had fallen back below $110. That kind of round-trip, roughly $18 up and then down again in the span of a single week, has only happened a handful of times…
Two of Wall Street’s most-watched indexes moved in opposite directions on May 1, 2026, and the split captured an economy that cannot decide whether it is thriving or bracing for trouble. The S&P 500 closed at a record 7,230.12, up 21.11 points on the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152.87 points to 49,499.27…
At the grocery store, the sticker shock is hard to miss. A pound of ground beef that averaged around $5.50 last spring now costs closer to $6.17, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics average retail price data. Scale that up across a week of family dinners and the budget strain adds up quickly. BLS figures…
Home insurance premiums are rising for the 5th straight year — California faces a 16% jump after the LA wildfires When State Farm sent renewal notices to roughly one million California policyholders this spring, the number at the bottom was 17% higher than the year before. That single rate hike, the largest a named carrier…
American households spent less freely in the first three months of 2026, even as the prices they faced climbed at the fastest pace in over a year. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.0% annual rate in the first quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis advance estimate released April 30. But beneath that…
Maria works split shifts at two small restaurants in Phoenix. She has no 401(k), no employer match, and no pension. Neither does the freelance graphic designer in Atlanta billing clients through three gig platforms, nor the home health aide in rural Ohio employed by a five-person agency. Bureau of Labor Statistics data from March 2023…
Spirit Airlines pulled every flight from its schedule at 3 a.m. on Saturday, June 14, 2026, told passengers not to come to the airport, and began shutting down permanently. After 34 years of ultra-low-cost flying, the carrier’s collapse has eliminated roughly 17,000 jobs and left a potentially enormous number of travelers holding tickets that may…
A server at a Chicago restaurant rings up a $50 dinner. The customer leaves a $15 tip and pays with a credit card. The restaurant’s payment processor charges interchange on the full $65, plus the sales tax. That means the restaurant is paying a bank fee on money that belongs to the server and money…