The financial news that actually matters
Roughly one in every eight credit card accounts in the United States was at least 90 days past due during the first quarter of 2025. The serious delinquency rate held at 13.1%, according to the New York Fed’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, matching the recent peak and sitting at a level the…
Last Memorial Day, filling up the tank felt almost like a bargain. Gas prices had sunk to their lowest inflation-adjusted level since 2003, and some stations were flirting with sub-$3.00 gallons. Twelve months later, the pump tells a very different story. With an estimated 45 million drivers set to hit U.S. highways over the long…
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield surged to roughly 4.60% on Wednesday, its highest closing level in about a year, after a hotter-than-expected inflation report forced bond traders to confront a scenario most had written off: the Federal Reserve raising interest rates again. Futures markets tied to the fed funds rate now imply an estimated 30%…
Jerome Powell may have already cast his final consequential vote as Federal Reserve chair. Whether he used it to break ranks will become public knowledge on Wednesday afternoon. The Fed held its benchmark interest rate steady at the April 28-29 meeting, keeping the federal funds rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range where it has sat since…
Turn 67 this month, file for Social Security, and the check that lands in your bank account will average about $2,071. That figure comes straight from the Social Security Administration’s 2026 COLA fact sheet. Now set it next to what a typical American in their late 60s actually spends: the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer…
The average American household is now paying roughly $1,500 more per year because of import tariffs imposed since early 2025, according to the Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania. That figure, drawn from the research group’s updated analysis published in February 2026, accounts for two federal court rulings that struck down portions of…
Picture a homeowner in suburban Denver who bought a three-bedroom house in 2020 with a 2.875% fixed-rate mortgage. Her home has appreciated roughly 40% since then. On paper, she has more than $200,000 in equity. In practice, she is stuck. Selling and buying a comparable house at today’s rates would add nearly $900 a month…
A gallon of regular gasoline in the United States now costs more than it did at any point during the 2022 price spike, and the government agency responsible for tracking energy markets says relief is not coming soon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, updated in May 2026, projects that global oil inventories…
Sixty percent of U.S. homebuilders offered sales incentives in April 2026, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Market Index. That figure has now held steady for 13 consecutive months, the longest sustained stretch of widespread discounting the survey has recorded in the current cycle. At the same time, 36 percent of builders…
For the first time in eight years, Florida homeowners insured through the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation will see their premiums go down instead of up. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced in January 2026 that Citizens policyholders will receive an average rate reduction of 8.7%, with some customers seeing cuts above 10%, effective…