Author: Money Mechanics

Nasdaq’s first half of 2026 was the strongest in U.S. exchange history.The company oversaw a record-breaking $129.3 billion raised from new listings, including seven of the 10 largest IPOs of the year. That cohort was led by SpaceX (SPCX), which held the largest IPO in history at Nasdaq in June, raising a historic $85.7 billion in the process.“The first half of 2026 demonstrates the strength of Nasdaq’s position at the center of the innovation economy. By connecting capital to opportunity, we’re helping the world’s most ambitious companies access the resources they need to innovate, scale, and lead.” said Jeff Thomas,…

Article published at 9:40 a.m. CTJJ Kinahan is Senior Vice President, Head of Retail Expansion and Alternative Investment Products at Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe).Key Takeaways:Nasdaq falls in early going as investors take profitsWarsh and central bankers talking in EuropeGold and silver prices fallingAfter a blockbuster ending to a remarkable quarter, the markets seem to be taking a break as we enter the third quarter, wallowing slightly below the flat line in the early trading.The Dow Jones Industrials is off by 0.19% while the S&P 500 is slipping by 0.21%. The Nasdaq Composite is gaining more momentum to the downside,…

I’ve chosen to defer my tax payments until I die.That’s not a loophole. It’s not evasion. It’s a sequence of decisions built on top of existing tax code, executed over decades.Depreciation is just half the story. The real game is chaining deferrals across a lifetime so you never pay the recapture — and neither do your heirs. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of…

When should you take Social Security if you have a pension?It’s one of the most common questions we hear from the retirees we work with at Peak Retirement Planning, where I am the founder and CEO.The answer is often very different for people in what we call the 2% Club: Retirees who have both a pension and $1 million-plus saved (I wrote a bestselling book on this group — you can request a free copy). From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special…

When Citicorp and Travelers Group merged in 1998, the new firm hired designer Paula Scher to create its logo. She sketched it — the same logo used today — during the first meeting, on a napkin, in a few minutes. The bill was $1.5 million.Asked how a doodle could be worth a fortune, Scher gave an answer that became famous in design circles: it took a few seconds to draw, but more than thirty years to learn how to draw it that fast. The client wasn’t paying for the minutes. It was paying for everything that made those minutes possible.A…

Mortgage rates have settled into a holding pattern, giving homebuyers a clearer picture of borrowing costs even if financing remains expensive. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.49% for the week ending June 25, according to Freddie Mac, and has hovered around the mid-6% range for the past six weeks. While that’s lower than the 6.77% average a year ago, it hasn’t been enough to reignite home sales.At the same time, housing inventory is improving in many markets, sellers are becoming more willing to negotiate, and the national median listing price has declined year over year while inventory has…

Village People lead singer Victor Willis has passed away at the age of 74 following a “short, but aggressive illness,” his loved ones have revealed. “We are profoundly sad to announce the death of VICTOR WILLIS, lead singer of Village People,” a statement posted to his official Facebook page reads. “Victor passed on Tuesday June 30, 2026 of a short but aggressive illness. Privacy is requested.” His wife, Karen Huff Willis, later issued a similar statement on the same account, along with a picture of her husband sporting his iconic Village People costume. President Donald Trump, who has routinely used…

Warren Buffett famously quipped that diversification is for people who don’t know what they’re doing. Judging by the explosive growth of S&P 500 ETFs over the past few decades, millions of investors are perfectly fine playing dumb — and their retirement accounts are thanking them for it.After all, beating the market year after year is incredibly hard. Even Warren Buffett couldn’t do it consistently. He’s considered the GOAT of long-term investing for good reason. Between 1964 and 2024, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) delivered an overall gain of more than 5,500,000%, or a compound annual gain of nearly 20%. By comparison, the…

The United States Supreme Court has concluded its current term with the usual flurry of rulings. This year, SCOTUS heard arguments in disputes ranging from gun rights to birthright citizenship, and, as usual, there’s been no shortage of controversy.However, the Court also issued decisions that can ultimately affect the financial bottom lines of everyday people across the country. These rulings, which involve property rights, the independence of monetary policy, and tariff authority, alter key rules for investors, consumers, and homeowners.Additionally, a separate tax case that the High Court declined to review leaves heightened IRS audit risk in place for some…

Catastrophe bond market momentum accelerated through the second-quarter of 2026 and has broken many records, with more than $11.3 billion of new risk capital analysed and tracked in the period, making Q2 2026 the biggest single quarter in the history of the cat bond market and driving H1 to set another high bar, Artemis’ new quarterly catastrophe bond market report shows.The Artemis Q2 2026 Catastrophe Bond and related insurance-linked securities (ILS) Market Report, available to download now, examines the cat bond and related ILS risk capital issued in the record second-quarter and key trends from the period, plus a review…