Author: Money Mechanics

Homes in Daly City, California, US, on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Jason Henry | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesOverall mortgage demand essentially flattened last week, as interest rates continue to hover in a narrow range. Borrowers are also pulling back from riskier loans, as they are offering smaller advantages.Total mortgage application volume increased 0.04% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, decreased to 6.57% from 6.59%, with points increasing to 0.65 from 0.63, including the origination…

(Investing) – NEW YORK – Oil prices fell more than 1% on Wednesday to their lowest levels since March as optimism over U.S.-Iran talks allayed supply concerns after U.S. President Donald Trump said talks in Qatar had gone well.  settled down $1.38, or 1.89%, to $71.57 a barrel, while  lost 92 cents, or 1.32%, at $68.58 a barrel. Both benchmarks closed at their lowest levels in four months. “The negotiations that are currently taking place in Qatar are perceived as being positive (and) that has allowed prices to drift further,” Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said. “There is a chance that we…

A Brazilian husband and wife who hold the Guinness World Record for the “world’s shortest married couple” are opening up about the ways in which they have customized their marital home in order to fit their special needs as they share a glimpse into their relationship in a new reality series. Paulo Gabriel da Silva Barros, 40, and Katyucia Lie Hoshino, 36, who cemented their place in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2016, when they tied the knot, are the latest subjects on the new TLC documentary-reality series “Most Extreme Humans.”The show profiles people from around the world…

NVIDIA Corp logo outside building-by BING-JHEN_HONG via iStock Nvidia (NVDA) is a Santa Clara-based semiconductor and accelerated computing powerhouse that has done something no company in history has achieved quite so dramatically: it developed the technology the world needs most at the exact moment the world needs it most. Founded in 1993 by CEO Jensen Huang, Nvidia both popularized and pioneered the GPU in the 90s. And has since built the most complete, most defensible AI infrastructure platform on Earth, spanning Blackwell and Vera Rubin compute architectures, NVLink interconnects, the CUDA software ecosystem, DGX AI supercomputers, Omniverse, and the emerging…

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Nina Raemont/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysPros: The brand’s slimmest smart ring yet, 40% smaller than the last gen. Extra day of battery life. Useful app add-ons and GLP-1 insights.Cons: Besides the slimmer physical form, it’s largely the same as the Oura Ring 4. However, it is around $50 more expensive with the same annual subscription.After a few weeks of wearing Oura’s skinniest Oura Ring 5 around my finger, I was riding the subway when I spotted a girl’s hand donning the not-so-slim Oura Ring 4. The ring’s chunkiness caught my attention, and I spent several…

Insiders are making notable trades across several tech stocks. This includes the newest quantum stock on the market, which is seeing significant insider purchases right out of the gate. Meanwhile, insiders are selling two other notable software companies. However, when it comes to analyst forecasts, upside is something that all three have in common. AppLovin CEO Sells More Than $50 Million in Discretionary MoveFirst up is advertising technology giant AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP). This name stormed onto the stock market scene in 2024, delivering a massive return of over 700%. The company added to this with a return of over 100%…

With the exception of equities and credit, implied volatilities amongst the major asset classes remained steady w/w following last week’s global AI/ Tech consolidation. Rate vols remain near one-year lows (2nd percentile) and treasury yields across the curve leveled off at slightly higher levels after jumping sharply post-FOMC. As oil prices and vols continue to fall, commodity traders are now looking to take advantage of the cheaper oil vols to hedge against the possibility of a supply driven rebound. Oil call skew is now noticeably steeper w/w with 1M 5-delta, deep out-of-the-money calls now trading at a 22 pt premium…

Actress Katherine Heigl is saying goodbye to her longtime Utah retreat—14 years after she took a step back from the Hollywood spotlight in order to enjoy a quieter life with her family at the extraordinary mountain home.Now, as she prepares to turn the page on the next chapter of her life, the 47-year-old former “Grey’s Anatomy” star is ready to move on from her 25-acre Oakley, UT, property, putting it on the market for $10.6 million.Heigl, who is also known for her starring roles in “27 Dresses” and “Knocked Up,” purchased the land on which her family’s custom mansion now…

Please enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser or access the information through the links provided below. July 01, 2026 Federal Reserve issues initial findings from its 2025 triennial payments study For release at 2:30 p.m. EDT The Federal Reserve on Wednesday issued initial findings from its 2025 triennial payments study. The information shows how consumers and businesses chose to make noncash payments, using different types of cards, ACH payments, and checks. The study shows that the total number of noncash payments made by consumers and businesses increased to 236.6…