Author: Money Mechanics

Good morning. It is a pleasure to join you for the annual Women in Housing and Finance Symposium.1 As a woman in finance, I appreciate this organization’s focus on women in the industry. Thank you for the invitation to join you. Today I would like to discuss an issue that is critical to ensuring the financial security of all Americans, but especially those who are most financially vulnerable—consumer fraud. Obviously, this is not a new topic, in fact, it has been around as long as money itself. Since people have transacted things of value, there have been those who seek…

Recent reforms made by Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to increase the UK’s share of the global insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, has led to belief that the UK regime offers a highly competitive platform that compares well with other alternative jurisdictions across the globe, Pool Re CEO Tom Clementi told Artemis.During a recent interview with Artemis, Clementi, CEO of the UK government backed mutual terrorism reinsurance firm, shared how important the UK’s ILS regulatory framework is towards Pool Re’s mission within the catastrophe bond market. “The domestic regime in the UK provides us with a very good platform to access the…

World famous fantasy author Melissa McPhail was a celebrated master of building exciting worlds on the page—a skill that she extended to her extraordinary custom estate in Oregon, which is now set to be sold at auction, four years after the writer’s tragic death.McPhail, who was best known for her critically acclaimed five-book series “A Pattern of Shadow & Light,” poured a staggering $11 million into creating her perfect abode on the 7-acre parcel of land in the Willamette Valley.The sizable estate, which is known as Silverado Villa, was designed to serve as far more than just a private residence,…

(Oil & Gas 360) – The Permian Basin has been written off before. Each time, it proved the opposite: it grew faster, produced more, and pushed U.S. oil supply to new highs. But today, the question isn’t whether the Permian is running out. It’s how much longer it can keep doing what it’s done for the past decade, and more importantly, whether it can do more when the world suddenly needs it. That question is no longer theoretical. With the Iran war disrupting flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries roughly 20% of global oil, markets are once again…

Just as the spring homebuying season was set to kick off, the market seemingly opened its doors: Inventory was up year over year, list prices had cooled from recent highs, and mortgage rates were at their lowest point since 2024. Yet, despite these favorable indicators, April saw homebuilder sentiment fall to its lowest level since September 2025, while consumer sentiment dropped to a record low.That mismatch between what the numbers are showing and what consumers are feeling underlies the situation facing the housing market today: Fundamentally, the vibes are off.Economist and columnist Kyla Scanlon popularized the “vibes” framework in 2022…

In-brief analysis May 5, 2026 Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, EIA-861, Annual Electric Power Industry Report, October 2025, final data for 2019–24, and EIA-861M (formerly EIA-826), Monthly Electric Power Industry Report, February 2026, preliminary data for 2025 Commercial electricity sales in Virginia increased by nearly 30.0 million megawatthours (MWh) between 2019 and 2025, much faster growth than in any other state except Texas, a much larger state, according to our Annual Electric Power Industry Report. The growth in sales of electricity in Virginia is largely driven by a concentration of data centers,…

  Almost nobody in ancient Rome really cared about the mayhem that was happening in the “colonies”, much of it perpetrated by Rome itself… provided everything felt fine on the homefront. Later, Rome burned to the ground and citizens of the colonies snickered as it did. Is it the same situation in America today? It likely is. How long can the current narrative persist… the bizarre narrative that a massive global fertilizer and fuel supply shock means citizens need to get rid of their gold because America’s fiat Fed is supposedly “big and strong”? Savvy gold bugs around the world…

Home prices during the AI boom have surged far faster in the Bay Area’s luxury zip codes than its non luxury zip codes—a split not seen before the launch of GPT-3.5 or in other major U.S. metros. Luxury zip codes in the San Francisco Bay Area saw a 13.4% average jump in home prices in the two years following the launch of ChatGPT. That’s a significantly larger jump than any other price segment in the Bay Area and is more than double the 6.3% average increase in the segment immediately below luxury. The most affordable Bay Area zip codes saw…

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Google appears to be ditching its Pixel thermometer feature.Leaks show a “Pixel Glow” feature taking its place.The Pixel was the only flagship phone with a thermometer.I’ve been a loyal Pixel user since the beginning, but I might be tempted to switch because Google is removing one of my single favorite features from the Pixel.Google introduced a temperature sensor and built-in thermometer app into the Pixel 8 Pro in 2023. It was a fairly unique feature, and the Pixel was the only flagship phone to have it.…

(Image credit: Alex Wong / Staff)Your short-haul flights with Delta Air Lines are about to change. The airline recently announced it would discontinue complimentary drinks and snacks on 450 short-haul flights, starting May 19.What constitutes a short-haul flight? According to Delta, it’s any route less than 349 miles. This affects some of the country’s busiest routes, such as New York to Boston, Charlotte to Atlanta and Los Angeles to San Francisco. The change applies to all Delta Main and Delta Comfort+ passengers. First-class passengers won’t be affected.This comes at a time when air travel is facing challenges due to rising…