The financial news that actually matters
When married couples sit down to file their 2026 federal tax returns early next year, they will be able to shield $32,200 of income from taxation before a single bracket kicks in. That is $2,200 more than the 2025 standard deduction of $30,000, and it marks the largest single-year increase to this cornerstone tax provision…
A gallon of regular gasoline costs more than it did a month ago. So does a carton of eggs, a visit to the doctor, and the rent check. For months, Americans absorbed those increases with a shrug and a functioning job market. That cushion is thinning. In the span of a single week in May…
Flagstar Bank customers who had their Social Security numbers stolen in a December 2021 cyberattack now have until August 11 to file claims against a $31.5 million settlement fund. The deal resolves Forman v. Flagstar Bancorp, Inc., No. 2:22-cv-10167, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and covers an estimated 2.19…
A parent who borrowed $60,000 in federal PLUS loans to cover four years at a state university is staring down monthly payments north of $700 under a standard repayment schedule this fall, with interest rates on new PLUS disbursements now sitting at 9.07%. That same parent, by consolidating into a federal Direct Consolidation Loan and…
Three ships were hit or seized in the world’s most important oil corridor on a single day, and the president said the truce was fine. On Friday, May 8, 2026, U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. Hours later, Iran’s navy boarded and seized a separate vessel, the…
For every $100 of after-tax income the average American household earned in March, just $3.60 went into savings. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the personal savings rate held at 3.6% that month, with total personal saving at $857.3 billion. According to the agency’s historical tables, the rate has not been this low since…
The window of relative affordability that opened for homebuyers in early April has slammed shut. New 30-year fixed mortgages are pricing at 6.65% as of this morning, the highest daily rate since mid-March 2026, according to the Mortgage News Daily composite tracker. The trigger: the 30-year Treasury yield has crossed 5% and stayed there for…
In April, more than one in three homebuilders slashed base prices on new homes, the largest share to do so since the housing bust of 2009. Another 60% sweetened deals with free upgrades, closing-cost help, or mortgage-rate buydowns. The numbers, drawn from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, paint a picture…
Used cars and trucks jumped 1.5 percent in price during April, the steepest single-month increase the category has posted since at least mid-2022, according to Consumer Price Index figures the Bureau of Labor Statistics published in May 2026. In an inflation report that was otherwise quiet, the used-vehicle line stood out, and it arrived at…
Every container clearing U.S. customs right now carries a 10% surcharge that two federal courts have said the president had no legal authority to impose. The Court of International Trade ruled 2-1 against President Donald Trump’s global tariff in late May 2026, the second judicial rebuke of the administration’s trade powers in roughly ten days….