Author: Press Room

By Lucy Lazarony, Next Avenue Kathi Balasek was still grieving for her late husband when she decided to buy a new car. She soon learned why people discourage recently bereaved family members and friends from making big financial decisions like buying a car while still grappling with their loss. “I bought a car I didn’t need — overpaid, had all the bells and whistles, extended warranties etc. — based solely on the color,” says Balasek a widow, advocate and university professor in Chico, California. “To be fair,” she adds, “the color was called cashmere.” Balasek now understands her rash action…

The average rate on the 30-year-fixed mortgage jumped 27 basis points Friday morning following the release of the government’s monthly employment report. The rate is now 6.53%, according to Mortgage News Daily.That is 42 basis points higher than Sept. 17, the day before the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by half a percentage point. Mortgage rates do not follow the Fed, but they loosely follow the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury.For mortgage rates, it is all about what the expectation is next for the Fed. As such, there was a lot of anticipation leading up to this particular monthly…

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke directly to Elon Musk Friday on the billionaire’s X platform, part of an effort to counter false conspiracies about federal disaster aid for victims of Hurricane Helene that Musk spread on X, where his follower count stands over 200 million.”No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights,” wrote Buttigieg. “If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.”Buttigieg was replying to a post from Musk that falsely claimed the Federal Aviation Administration was shutting down airspace in the disaster zone and “throttling” flights transporting supplies.An FAA spokesperson…

Sign up for CNN’s Adulthood, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide has tips to help you make more informed decisions around personal finance, career, wellness and personal connections. Megan Rathmell thought she’d bombed her job interview earlier this year, assuming her nervousness and lack of preparation had cost her the opportunity.   The 20-year-old later found out she got the job as a paralegal — and what made her stand out was her ability to do two important things: maintain eye contact and carry on a conversation.  “My boss told me that I was a good communicator and that I…

This article was written byFollowProviding commentary and analysis, principally focused on global macro, foreign exchange, and equities as an asset class. Primary interests include equity investing from an international perspective, and FX fair values.Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A strike that closed US east and Gulf coast ports will be suspended after the dockworkers’ union and the group representing ocean carriers reached an agreement on Thursday, averting for now a costly blow to the economy ahead of the presidential election. The agreement extends the International Longshoremen’s Association’s employment contract, which had expired, until January 15. It will allow them to return to work for the first time in three days, the union and the shipping lines’ group said in a…

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are concerned that “election-related grievances,” such as a belief in voter fraud, could motivate domestic extremists to engage in violence in the weeks before and after the November election, as it did during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to a new intelligence bulletin from the agencies. Domestic violent extremists [DVEs] “continue to create, exploit, and promote narratives about the election process or legal decisions involving political figures, and we are concerned that these grievances could motivate some DVEs to engage in violence, as we saw during the 2020…

The golden years are something to anticipate. Life is expected to become easier and less complicated with time for family, traveling, and hobbies becoming attainable. A comfortable retirement is part of the American dream; however, this dream has a price tag and the burden of saving for retirement luxuries has fallen to the individual. Each generation, and every individual person, faces different issues in accumulating retirement savings including the lack of employer sponsored plan options, failure to start saving until later in life, and a general lack of retirement funding. At the heart of these matters is an overwhelming degree…

Mortgage rates are up slightly, with long-term notes lifting off a two-year low from last week. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage inched up to 6.12% from last week’s reading of 6.08%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 7.49% a year ago. “The decline in mortgage rates has stalled due to a mix of escalating geopolitical tensions and a rebound in short-term rates that indicate the market’s enthusiasm on rate cuts was premature,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.  “Zooming out to the bigger…

A federal judge on Wednesday set back Republican efforts to thwart President Biden’s student loan bailout, allowing the government to proceed with his debt cancellation plan weeks before the November election.  U.S. District Judge Randal Hall of Augusta removed Georgia from a lawsuit brought by seven Republican-led states against the Biden administration after he determined the Peach State lacked standing to sue over the loan forgiveness action. The judge said Georgia had failed to show it would be harmed by the administration’s plan to eliminate $73 billion in student loan debt held by tens of millions of Americans.The decision came…