The financial news that actually matters
President Donald Trump left a two-day summit in Beijing in June 2026 claiming a major win: an agreement by Chinese President Xi Jinping to purchase 200 Boeing commercial jets. But on the three issues that will shape the U.S.-China rivalry for years, the summit produced nothing. No deal on Chinese rare earth exports. No new…
The cost of producing goods and services in the United States jumped at its fastest pace in more than three years during April, extending a streak that is making it harder for the Federal Reserve to justify cutting interest rates and raising the odds that consumers will feel the squeeze in the months ahead. The…
Ford Motor Company spent years and billions of dollars trying to become a major EV battery manufacturer. That chapter is over. The Dearborn automaker has launched Ford Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary that will build shipping-container-sized battery storage systems in the United States, targeting data centers, electric utilities, and large industrial operations. The goal: 20…
When Kevin Warsh calls the June 16-17 Federal Open Market Committee meeting to order, he will become the first new face at the head of that table in more than a decade. And the most probable outcome of his debut is also the quietest one: no rate cut, no rate hike, and no change to…
The world burned through more oil stockpiles in two months than most analysts thought possible. Global observed inventories fell by 246 million barrels across March and April 2026, the fastest two-month drawdown the International Energy Agency has ever recorded, according to its May Oil Market Report. That collapse unfolded even as governments were pumping emergency…
In just 11 weeks, the U.S. military campaign against Iran has burned through $29 billion in taxpayer money, and the Pentagon cannot fully explain where all of it went. That updated figure emerged during a House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on May 12, 2026, as reported by the Associated Press, representing a $4 billion jump…
Eight out of ten companies that rolled out AI or automation technologies followed up by cutting jobs. The financial payoff those cuts were supposed to deliver? It never showed up. A Gartner survey published on May 5, 2026 found that 80% of companies adopting AI or automation reduced their workforces afterward. But the same survey…
For the first time since the Federal Reserve’s bruising tightening campaign ended in mid-2023, the word “hike” is back on the board. As of late May 2026, federal funds futures tracked by the CME FedWatch tool imply a 27% probability that the Fed will raise its benchmark rate by the conclusion of the December 15-16…
Out of every dollar the average American household brought home after taxes in April 2024, just 3.6 cents went into savings. The rest vanished into rent, groceries, gas, and debt payments. That rate, reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, was the lowest the country had seen since the months leading up to the 2008…
The national average price of regular gasoline slipped to $4.51 per gallon in the most recent Energy Information Administration weekly survey, a small reprieve for drivers who have watched pump prices grind higher for much of the past year. But the relief may be short-lived. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index report, released…