Author: Press Room

With the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening cycle having marked its one-year anniversary, many investors–including us–have been astonished by the resilience of the U.S. economy in the face of such an aggressive series of rate hikes and quantitative tightening. Yet the news is not all rosy. Bank failures in March marked the first lagged effect from the Fed’s aggressive tightening cycle. Broader risks may materialize later this year as tighter lending standards reduce credit availability, weighing on GDP growth. Smaller banks, responsible for 57% of total loan growth last year, are expected to pull back on credit more than their…

With $28,950 owed per U.S. borrower on average, many parents want to help their children avoid the burden of student loans. But doing so might cost parents their own financial futures. When I coach people who are parents with their finances, we often run into the friction of saving for retirement versus paying for their children’s college. It’s possible to do both, but not without strain and stress for most American families. The median household net worth sits at only $121,760, according to the Federal Reserve. In full disclosure, I am not a licensed financial advisor. The information here is…

Mortgage rates rose for the first time in over a month, according to weekly data compiled by mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.39% as of April 13, up from 6.27% recorded last week. One year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.11%.Meanwhile, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.76%. Last week it averaged 5.54%. At the same time in 2022, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.38%. “For the first time in over a month, mortgage rates moved up due to shifting market expectations,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “Home prices have stabilized somewhat, but with supply…

Michelin announced the recall on Thursday of more than half a million snow tires for falling short of traction standards outlined by federal regulation.  The recall affects the Agilis CrossClimate C-Metric tires, which Michelin says are commonly found on vehicles such as the Ford Transit, RAM ProMaster, Volkswagen Crafter, Nissan NV200, Chevrolet City Express and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. “These tires are marked with the Alpine Symbol, but do not meet the traction requirements for snow tires,” the company said in a statement. “As such, these tires fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 139, ‘New Pneumatic…

Language matters when you’re talking to kids — especially in the heat of a moment.When a child is misbehaving or throwing a tantrum, it’s easy to blurt out whatever you think might get them to calm down and behave. But certain common phrases could “inadvertently shame” that child and cause lasting damage to their self-esteem, says Dr. Tovah Klein, a child psychologist and author of the book “How Toddlers Thrive.”Any phrase that comes across as “blaming [the] child for either a behavior or an emotion that they’re having” is a problem, says Klein, who’s also the director of the Barnard…

Amazon’s Whole Foods is letting go some corporate employees as part of a planned reorganization of select teams, and as its parent company closely examines costs.Whole Foods plans to reorganize certain global and regional support teams over the next two months, the company’s executive team wrote in a memo to employees on Thursday. As a result, the upscale grocer is laying off several hundred employees from those teams, a spokesperson confirmed. The cuts translate to about less than half of a percent of the company’s global workforce, a Whole Foods Market spokesperson said.”We often talk about how simplifying our work…

The ongoing commercial real estate slowdown has a new victim: Blackstone, the largest owner of commercial real estate globally. The company saw its distributable earnings — the profit distributed to shareholders after expenses — plunge 36% since last year. That’s raising eyebrows on Wall Street as investors assess the fallout from last month’s regional banking crisis. Blackstone’s decline was largely driven by an easing of value in its real estate investments. The company’s real estate segment’s distributable earnings fell 58% since last year. Profits from sales fell 54% to $4.4 billion, down from $9.5 billion last year. After decades of…

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Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has voiced concerns over the lack of regulatory clarity in the United States, a development that has fed into increasing questions about the future of cryptocurrencies in the country.But how might this regulatory ambiguity affect the selection of the best cryptos to buy now?Speaking at a London-based fintech event, Armstrong suggested the company might consider relocating if the situation doesn’t improve.He emphasized the potential of the U.S. as a significant market for cryptocurrencies, but the absence of clear regulations is proving to be a hindrance.Meanwhile, Coinbase’s stock experienced a 4.19 % decline on Wednesday as cryptocurrency…

Most major private-investment firms are working to cut down on emissions their portfolio companies send into the atmosphere. Private-equity executives know they need to make these changes to win investor commitments, especially from the $5.2 trillion public-pension sector.Efforts are underway at Blackstone, KKR, Carlyle, Apollo, and other private-equity heavyweights. They’re moving quickly to profit from decarbonization as an investment theme, pushing into a crowded field of solar-panel suppliers and climate-data providers. The competition for seizing on these opportunities is fierce: annual global clean-energy investments need to triple to $4 trillion in the next few years to reach net-zero emissions by…