The financial news that actually matters
Three dates in the next three weeks could decide what you pay on your mortgage, what your savings account earns, and whether your 401(k) glides or lurches into summer. On April 29, 2026, the Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady. The same day, the Senate Banking Committee advanced Kevin Warsh’s nomination to replace…
A family of four booking round-trip flights from Chicago to Orlando for Memorial Day weekend will find fares hovering around $2,400 on many routes, up from roughly $2,000 at the same time last year. That is not a premium cabin or a last-minute splurge. That is economy, booked weeks in advance, on a corridor millions…
The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge just hit 3.5% — up from 2.8% in December — and rate cuts in 2026 are now off the table At the start of the year, the inflation story felt like it was winding down. The Federal Reserve’s preferred price measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, had eased to roughly…
The last time Americans saved this little of their paychecks, the economy was sliding into the worst recession in a generation. In March 2026, the personal saving rate dropped to 3.6%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the lowest reading since December 2007. But unlike a typical consumer boom, the culprit was not a…
A home listed for sale in the United States now takes a median of 64 days to go under contract, the longest stretch since the early months of the pandemic, according to Redfin’s latest housing market update. That alone would signal a slower market. But the more striking number is the one underneath it: roughly…
During the last full week of May 2026, West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the spot market lost roughly $18 a barrel, sliding from about $126 to $108. It was one of the sharpest weekly declines in recent memory, driven by shifting expectations around OPEC+ output and a pullback in the geopolitical risk premium that…
The first batch of May 2026 Social Security payments arrives on Tuesday, May 13, and for the roughly 68 million Americans who depend on these benefits, every deposit this year reflects a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment that kicked in back in January. For the average retired worker, that translates to about $56 extra per month. Not…
Spirit Airlines is done flying. The ultra-low-cost carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2024, attempted a restructuring, and then pulled the plug entirely in spring 2025, announcing an orderly wind-down of all operations. Every remaining flight was canceled. Passengers were told not to show up at the airport. As of June 2026,…
Filling a 15-gallon tank now costs about $66.45 at the national average, up from roughly $45.15 three months ago. That difference, nearly $80 a month for a once-a-week fill-up, traces directly to a military conflict the White House says is already over. Regular unleaded gasoline averaged $4.43 a gallon nationally for the week ending May…
Tens of millions of Americans who paid late-filing or late-payment penalties to the IRS between 2020 and 2023 may be entitled to get that money back, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate. But the window to act is closing fast. July 10, 2026, is the general deadline for filing a refund claim, and once it…