Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways Major U.S. exchanges in July proposed generic listing standards for commodity- and crypto-based ETFs. The SEC could greenlight those rules next month. That could speed the approval of a range of new products. Fund shops big and small have lately filed to launch a slew of new ETFs that would track altcoins, memecoins, and tokens. Those who enjoyed the “Summer of Crypto” may not need to fret about the coming of fall. The top U.S. securities regulator is expected to soon decide how new crypto spot ETFs are launched, a move that could herald a raft of new…

Key Takeaways Delaying Social Security boosts your monthly benefit, but serious illness may make early claiming a more practical option. Calculating your breakeven age can help you decide whether delaying benefits or collecting early makes sense. If an illness shortens your expected lifespan, claiming earlier can help ensure you collect more in lifetime benefits and that money can be used for more immediate medical needs. Waiting to collect Social Security retirement benefits can provide a big boost to your retirement income, but if you have a serious illness, is it really worth the wait? We connected with Chuck Czajka—a certified…

Shares of Hormel Foods (HRL) dropped sharply in premarket trading Thursday after the Spam maker said it expects “near-term pressures” continuing through the current quarter. The Austin, Minn.-based company reported fiscal third-quarter sales that increased nearly 5% year-over-year to $3.03 billion, topping the $2.98 billion consensus projection of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. However, adjusted earnings per share of $0.35 came up short of the $0.41 estimate. The company’s results “were disappointing, and we fell short of our expectations,” said interim CEO Jeff Ettinger. “The steep rise in commodity input costs affecting our industry was the largest contributor to our…

Key Takeaways Buffett maintains a concentrated portfolio with Apple Inc. (AAPL), American Express Company (AXP), and Bank of America (BAC) as top holdings. New investments include homebuilders Lennar (LEN) and D.R. Horton (DHI), steel producer Nucor (NUE), and, most notably, UnitedHealth Group (UNH)—the troubled health insurance giant. Berkshire Hathaway added to its existing stakes in Pool Corp (POOL) and Constellation Brands (STZ). Standing at $344.1 billion, Buffett’s massive cash pile is roughly unchanged from the March 2025 record of $347 billion. The second quarter of 2025 marked a historic transition for Berkshire Hathaway. On May 3, 2025, Warren Buffett, the…

Target’s share price, Swiss safe havens and Medicare coverage are all subjects we covered recently — but why? Test your knowledge of this week’s financial and business news.If you’ve been following Kiplinger, you should have no trouble. And if you slip up on an answer or two, you can follow the links below the quiz to refresh your memory.Stories making the newsRead more on the stories making the news this week, from the Kiplinger team: From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters Profit…

Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is releasing estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) for 2019, in addition to estimates of GDP by industry and compensation by industry for 2018.1  These estimates were developed under the Statistical Improvement Program funded by the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Gross Domestic Product for 2019 The estimates of GDP for the CNMI show that real GDP—GDP adjusted to remove price changes—decreased 11.2 percent in 2019 after decreasing 19.3 percent in 2018 (table 1.3). As shown in…

At 64, Robin is retired with a healthy $700,000 nest egg. On paper, she should feel secure. Yet instead of enjoying her days, she finds herself opening her retirement account app five times a day, watching the balance tick up and down with the market. Each dip sparks anxiety: What if I run out? What if this isn’t enough? She isn’t the only one worrying. A recent Allianz survey found that 64% of respondents are more worried about running out of money during retirement than dying. This may be due to many retirees trying to survive on too little, with…

futures have mounted an impressive recovery from last week’s capitulation low of $3362.8, a move that originated within the Buy 2 Weekly zone ($3328) and coincided with the completion of a 30-day cycle trough. The subsequent surge, marked by a strong mean-reversion rally, propelled price through the VC PMI Weekly pivot ($3388) and confirmed bullish momentum once daily pivots aligned with weekly levels. Currently, the market trades at $3467.8, pressing against a confluence of resistance: the Sell 2 Daily ($3468) and the Sell 2 Weekly ($3468). This convergence forms a critical decision point, where probability favors short-term mean reversion, but…

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, has unveiled its new parametric insurance product, “Weather Insurance Index”, a new offering designed to help insurers manage financial losses caused by severe or unusual weather.As a parametric solution, the product has been designed to provide an automatic fixed payout whenever predefined weather conditions are met. The product relies on an index built from key weather data points, including temperature, rainfall, wind, snow, and sunshine. Once the data crosses the agreed threshold, claims are settled swiftly and efficiently, without the need for a physical damage assessment. The Japanese insurer noted…

I haven’t been writing a lot during August, nor have I done many podcast episodes. I feel like I make this apology almost every year, but it seems every year August just gets slower, and slower, and slower – and any content I push out gets less engagement during August than during any other full month (although the end of December, naturally, gets very thin as well. It’s really remarkable how August has changed during my career. In the 1990s, there were maybe a couple of weeks that were a little thin in the markets, but that has metastasized so…