The financial news that actually matters
Every major military power on Earth spent more on defense in 2024. Every one except the largest. The United States, which still accounts for roughly 37% of all global military expenditure, saw its spending edge down 0.3% in real terms, to about $997 billion, even as the rest of the world pushed the combined total…
A diplomatic opening that energy traders had been quietly banking on collapsed in early May 2026 when Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmael Baqaei, told reporters in Islamabad that no meeting between Tehran and Washington is planned. Oil prices responded within hours. Brent crude futures settled near $63.90 a barrel, up roughly 0.5% on the session,…
Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to roughly 8,750 U.S. employees, an estimated 7% of its domestic workforce, through a program set to begin in early May 2026. The offer, disclosed in an internal memo from Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Coleman and reported by the Associated Press, puts thousands of workers in front of a…
A heat pump is only as good as the person who installs it. That basic reality has become one of the biggest obstacles to Europe’s push to electrify home heating, and it is now the focus of a new investment from one of the world’s largest HVAC manufacturers. Carrier Global Corporation announced in spring 2026…
For years, Jeff Bezos trailed Elon Musk in the satellite race. SpaceX’s Starlink constellation grew into the dominant force in broadband from orbit while Amazon’s Project Kuiper struggled to get off the launchpad. Now Bezos is trying to close the gap in a single move. According to the terms of the merger agreement filed with…
Ken Schnitzer has been selling luxury cars in Dallas-Fort Worth for more than 40 years. The CEO of Park Place Dealerships has watched oil busts, credit crunches, and a global pandemic rattle his showrooms. But when he stood before a North Texas business forum this spring and put a price tag on what tariffs have…
The United States Postal Service is running out of cash. That was the message a March 17, 2026, House Oversight Committee hearing conveyed when its notice described an agency “expected to run out of money in 12 months,” placing the projected insolvency point in early 2027. Postmaster General Louis Steiner prepared testimony for that hearing…
Carlos Mejia, a rideshare driver in Houston, told ABC13 this spring that he was spending $400 a month on gasoline before he started shopping for a used Chevrolet Bolt. “A used EV with a home charger cuts that to maybe $80,” he said. Mejia’s math is catching on. Americans purchased 12% more pre-owned electric vehicles…
A military conflict with Iran that shut down the Strait of Hormuz tomorrow would not raise the price of bread or ground beef next week. It probably would not raise them this year. The shock would have to travel too far first: from tanker lanes in the Persian Gulf, through global natural gas markets, into…
Duke Energy has committed to spending $103 billion over the next five years on new power generation, transmission lines, and grid upgrades across its six-state territory, making it the largest capital plan in the company’s history. The company first announced the updated figure in its February 2025 fourth-quarter earnings release, covering planned capital deployment through…