Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways The Fed’s preferred inflation measure is due on Friday, as well as the latest GDP update, home sales data, and September consumer sentiment earlier in the week.Several Fed officials will deliver remarks in the wake of the central bank’s move last week to cut interest rates for the first time this year.Micron, Costco, AutoZone and CarMax lead the firms on this week’s corporate reporting calendar. The Fed is back to cutting rates. What’ll it do next? We’ll learn more this week. After last week’s decision by the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates for the first time this…

According to the recent YouGov/Economist poll, President Donald Trump‘s approval rating has taken a nosedive, reaching its lowest point in his second term.The survey conducted last week has shown a significant drop in President Trump’s approval rating. The poll revealed that only 39% of Americans surveyed approved of Trump’s presidency, a decline from the 41% recorded over the previous three weeks and 40% in mid-August.This latest survey also marked a record for Trump’s second term, with 57% of Americans expressing disapproval of his handling of the presidency. The poll indicated a net approval of minus 18, the second-lowest recorded by the YouGov/Economist…

The altcoin market gained 6% last week but started this week on a cautious note as investors await the . is holding near the $115,000 level, with traders shifting focus toward it while waiting for signals on the Fed’s rate outlook. If the Fed delivers a dovish message, risk appetite could rise, drawing more funds back into altcoins. The total altcoin market cap, excluding Bitcoin, is climbing further and holding near record levels. If large-cap altcoins break above key resistance, it could spark a rally in the final quarter of the year. Ethereum, which has grown its market share to…

With the new year nearly a quarter finished, a variety of trends and themes have already started to make themselves known. For the normally sleepy municipal bond sector, these trends have created a pretty volatile and difficult environment to navigate. Tailwinds and headwinds have churned the seas of the normally calm waters of state and local government credit. There are crosswinds for sure. For investors with big positions in muni bond holdings, reducing these stormy seas is paramount. Luckily, there are ways to navigate these crosswinds and potentially finish the year with some gains, all while collecting income. With these…

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz addresses the Bundestag during a debate over the 2025 federal budget on September 17, 2025 in Berlin, Germany.Nadja Wohlleben | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesHuge investment pledges and major fiscal changes had bolstered hopes that Germany could give the euro zone economy a much-needed boost, but economists are starting to question if — and when — that will happen.Germany was a hub of excitement earlier this year, with many politicians, analysts and economists sharing big hopes of an economic rebound — domestically, and across Europe.It had moved to amend its long-standing debt brake rule, which…

This photo of the iPhone 17 Pro Max in Cosmic Orange was taken with the telephoto lens on an iPhone 17 Pro Max. Jason Hiner/ZDNETThe idea of “tyranny of choice” says that having a set of good choices is supposed to let everyone find exactly what makes them most happy, but the reality is that having so many good choices can often lead to anxiety, indecisiveness, and discontent. If we apply this concept to the iPhone 17 lineup, then Apple is quite the tyrant this year.After all, the base model iPhone 17 is more pro than ever and offers the…

(World Oil)–  Colombian oil producer Ecopetrol SA is pursuing oil and gas deals in Brazil that could include a cluster of onshore Petrobras fields in the northeastern state of Bahia. “We believe that Brazilian onshore has great potential, especially in natural gas,” Jorge Martínez, the head of Ecopetrol’s operations in Brazil, said in an interview from the company’s offices in Rio de Janeiro. Ecopetrol is looking to leverage its expertise at onshore fields in Colombia to expand in Brazil, Latin America’s biggest oil producer. Petrobras and other oil majors have focused on mega fields in deep waters, and there are…

Congress is placing greater reliance on Stealth Taxes to raise revenue, as I’ve warned taxpayers for years. That makes the tax code more confusing and causes taxpayers to fall into expensive traps.One onerous effect of a Stealth Tax is that, while the taxpayer stays in the same bracket in the in the tax rate tables, the taxpayer’s marginal tax rate increases.The marginal tax rate is the tax rate on the last dollar of income earned. In the tax rate tables, the highest marginal tax rate is 37%.But Stealth Taxes increase the tax bill by reducing tax breaks or adding other…

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 16, TD Cowen raised the price target on the stock to $270 from $240 while maintaining its Buy rating on the shares. The rating affirmation follows the firm’s GenAl Public Cloud Survey. The 2025 GenAI Public Cloud Survey has revealed that Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the second-place choice for companies considering additional cloud providers. Survey results demonstrate that Google Cloud Platform, or GCP, had a solid showing. However, there is still a gap between GCP and market leaders Amazon’s (AMZN) Amazon Web Services, or AWS,…

Ty Cobb, a former attorney for the White House under President Donald Trump‘s administration, has drawn a comparison between the suspension of comedian Jimmy Kimmel and the tactics employed by the Nazis.Cobb sees a similarity between ABC’s suspension of Kimmel and the Nazis’ strategy of removing comedians from German airwaves back in 1939. The suspension was a result of threats made by Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission’s chair, towards Kimmel and ABC, following remarks made by the comedian about Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin.The indefinite suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” by ABC was met with approval by Trump. Cobb voiced his…