After several twists and turns this year, stock investors are in a celebratory mood. The S&P 500 set a new high for the year on Friday, a day after clocking its best month of 2023 in November, in a rally that quickly erased the benchmark index’s steep drop over the summer. The reversal has come […]
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American oil fields are gushing again. Only three years after U.S. oil production collapsed during the pandemic, energy companies are cranking out a record 13.2 million barrels a day, more than Russia or Saudi Arabia. The flow of oil has grown by roughly 800,000 barrels a day since early 2022 and analysts expect the industry […]
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Shares of Berkshire Hathaway barely budged on Wednesday, a day after its vice chairman, Charlie Munger, died, reflecting the view among shareholders that Mr. Munger’s absence on the conglomerate’s day to day would have little impact on its future, even as they mourned the loss of the man who helped shape Berkshire’s culture. Mr. Munger, […]
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Charles T. Munger, who quit a well-established law career to be Warren E. Buffett’s partner and maxim-spouting alter-ego as they transformed a foundering New England textile company into the spectacularly successful investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, died on Tuesday in California, where he lived. He was 99. His death, at a hospital, was announced by Berkshire […]
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Federal Reserve officials appear to be dialing back the chances of future interest rate increases, after months in which they have carefully kept the possibility of further policy changes alive for fear that inflation would prove stubborn. Several Fed officials — including two who often push for higher interest rates — hinted on Tuesday that […]
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Stocks soared on Tuesday, after an inflation reading raised hopes that the Federal Reserve’s campaign to slow inflation may have reached its limits. The S&P 500 rose 1.9 percent on Tuesday, while the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies’ stocks, which are more exposed to the ups and downs of the economy, climbed roughly 5 […]
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Where the economy is working (and where it isn’t) With a year to go before Election Day, polls increasingly show that American voters believe next year will be a rematch between President Biden and Donald Trump — with the former president in the lead in key battleground states despite his legal troubles (more on that […]
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Stocks and bonds rallied on Friday, extending a sharp reversal after fresh data about the health of the U.S. labor market capped a tumultuous week for investors. The 10-year government bond yield, which underpin rates on everything from mortgages to business loans, dropped more than 0.1 percentage points on Friday, another large decline for a […]
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Heat, drought, flood and famine. Evidence of climate change is all around us. If the planet is to avoid even more severe consequences from global warming, the world’s leading energy agency says, consumption of oil, coal and natural gas needs to be reduced much more rapidly, and clean energy sources like wind and solar power […]
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Nov. 3, 2023, 6:30 a.m. ET Nov. 3, 2023, 6:30 a.m. ET Many employers are still struggling to find available workers, but the labor market is loosening. At the same time, companies are balancing cost concerns — especially as interest rates remain elevated — with the need to entice employees. Overall, labor market churn has […]
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Waiting on the Fed and Treasury The Fed hasn’t budged on interest rates since July, and it’s expected to stand pat again today. Still, an anxious Wall Street will be closely watching for any change in the central bank’s higher-for-longer strategy on rates, including the possibility of a new increase as soon as next month. […]
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The interest rates on mortgages, credit cards and business loans have shot up in recent months, even as the Federal Reserve has left its key rate unchanged since July. The rapid rise has startled investors and put policymakers in a tough spot. The focal point has been on the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, which underpins […]
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Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the two largest U.S. oil companies, this month committed to spending more than $50 billion each to buy smaller companies in deals that would let them produce more oil and natural gas for decades to come. But a day after Chevron announced its acquisition, the International Energy Agency released an exhaustive […]
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Home buyers, entrepreneurs and public officials are confronting a new reality: If they want to hold off on big purchases or investments until borrowing is less expensive, it’s probably going to be a long wait. Governments are paying more to borrow money for new schools and parks. Developers are struggling to find loans to buy […]
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One of the most important interest rates in the world this week flirted with a level it hadn’t reached in more than 16 years, putting pressure on the economy and the stock market. The 10-year Treasury yield, a measure of how much it costs the U.S. government to borrow that is widely used as a […]
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This may be a tale about the rise of a German sandal brand, but it is not a straightforward fashion story. After all, for a large chunk of its 249-year history, Birkenstock was synonymous with extremely unfashionable stereotypes. The sandals were often worn by hippies and off-duty hikers, eccentric aunts and science teachers with a […]
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Exxon Mobil announced on Wednesday that it was acquiring Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5 billion, doubling down on fossil fuel production even as many global policymakers grow increasingly concerned about climate change and the oil industry’s reluctance to shift to cleaner energy. After decades of investing in projects around the world, the deal would squarely […]
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Hoping to cash in a paper savings bond that’s been lying around for a few decades? Set aside a lot of time for disappointment. Those government-backed slips, doled out by generations of well-meaning grandparents to children expecting more exciting gifts, were long thought to be as good as cash. Shaped like dollar bills, savings bonds […]
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This is one of those stretches when you may want to avoid looking at your investments. Performance reports for the three months that ended in September are arriving now, and they are ugly. The vast majority of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds — the vehicles used by most Americans for their investments — fell. There […]
Read MoreStocks are sliding, government bond yields are soaring, and investors are reacting strongly to incremental economic information, parsing it for even the slightest hints about the path ahead. . Such sensitivity among investors has left markets jittery — veering between fears that the economy is running too hot and worries about a downturn so sharp […]
Read MoreHeather Mahmood-Corley, a real estate agent, was seeing decent demand for houses in the Phoenix area just a few weeks ago, with interested shoppers and multiple offers. But as mortgage rates pick up again, she is already watching would-be home buyers retrench. “You’ve got a lot of people on edge,” said Ms. Mahmood-Corley, a Redfin […]
Read MoreStocks are sliding, government bond yields are soaring, and investors are reacting strongly to scraps of economic information that they typically ignore. In other words, the markets are jittery — veering between fears that the economy is running too hot and worries about a downturn so sharp that the country tumbles into recession. It’s an […]
Read MoreThe U.S. government’s persistent budget deficit and growing debts were low on Wall Street’s list of worries when interest rates were at rock bottom for years. But borrowing costs have risen so sharply that it is causing many investors and economists to fret that the United States’ big debt pile could prove less sustainable. Federal […]
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A House mutiny messes up the markets Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida moved on Monday to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker, looking to exact punishment on the top House Republican for siding with Democrats to forge a short-term deal to avert a government shutdown. The extraordinary power play — just the third time in more […]
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The new movie “Dumb Money” dramatizes the true story of an unlikely messiah named Roaring Kitty who decides to sink his life savings into shares of the video-game seller GameStop and then praise the stock to his fans. So many people buy GameStop shares that the company’s valuation soars, crushing the positions of professional hedge […]
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The stock market is staggering to the end of its worst month of the year so far, dragged down by fears of a looming government shutdown, striking autoworkers, surging oil prices and the prospect of interest rates remaining high for longer than previously thought. Combined, they are darkening the outlook for the economy. The S&P […]
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An accountant in northeast China deposited her life savings and received a letter guaranteeing her investment in a trust firm. Workers at a state-owned utility pooled money from friends and relatives believing that their investments were backed by the government. A man sank $140,000 into an account that he was told would make a 10.1 […]
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Isolated from the world and pulled closer into Beijing’s orbit over the past three years, Hong Kong is finding that its fortunes are tied more than ever to China. The city’s stock market, which is seen as a proxy for China’s economy, is among the world’s worst performing this year. The rivers of money that […]
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What rising oil prices mean for the Fed Crude oil has slipped below the 10-month high it hit on Tuesday. But analysts say the monthslong rally that has sent prices close to $100 a barrel isn’t over, posing a big risk for global growth and complicating central bankers’ efforts to tame inflation. Expect Jay Powell […]
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A battle between Detroit carmakers and the United Auto Workers union, which escalated on Friday with targeted strikes in three locations, is unfolding amid a once-in-a-century technological upheaval that poses huge risks for both the companies and the union. The strike has come as the traditional automakers invest billions to develop electric vehicles while still […]
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Call it Wall Street’s Groundhog Day. When shares of Arm, the British chip designer, begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Thursday in the year’s biggest initial public offering, investors, tech executives, bankers and start-up founders will be watching closely for how it performs. If Arm’s stock falls, they will know that the market […]
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