Author: Money Mechanics

The crypto industry’s long had an obsession with mass adoption — and right now, there’s a huge opportunity to win round millions of consumers. In major economies, interest rates are beginning to tumble. The European Central Bank has slashed theirs four times so far this year, with the Bank of England opting for three. And the Federal Reserve has just unveiled its first cut so far in 2025. While this is great news for those borrowing money — as it reduces the cost of mortgages, car loans and credit cards — it puts savers at a disadvantage, as their cash…

With U.S. stock futures trading lower this morning on Monday, some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are as follows: Wall Street expects Firefly Aerospace Inc. FLY to report a quarterly loss of 46 cents per share on revenue of $17.25 million before the opening bell, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Firefly Aerospace shares slipped 0.04% to close at $45.20 on Friday. PRA Group Inc. PRAA announced a proposed offering of €300.0 million of senior notes due 2032. PRA Group shares fell 4.1% to close at $16.58 on Friday. Genfit SA GNFT is projected to release…

’s latest surge reflects more than short-term volatility. Citi Research’s three-month target of $3,800/oz positions bullion as both a cyclical beneficiary of a weakening US labor market and a structural hedge against doubts over Federal Reserve independence With spot trading near $3,704, investors face a critical choice: treat gold’s advance as a tactical trade or recognize its deeper role as a portfolio anchor in an era of political and policy uncertainty. Cyclical Tailwinds: Labor Market Weakness Recent labor data show mounting evidence of cooling conditions in the U.S. economy. growth is slowing, are edging higher, and wage pressures are moderating.…

Based on our extensive data on the catastrophe bond market it’s clear another record is coming into view. We have already tracked and listed 95 individual catastrophe bond issuances in the Artemis Deal Directory so far in 2025, which equals the full-year record set for number of deals issued and tracked by us in 2023.With the market currently anticipated to continue setting a strong pace for new catastrophe bond issuances through the rest of this year, 2025 is likely to meaningfully eclipse the previous annual high for the number of deals we’ve analysed and listed in the Deal Directory. Impressively,…

Data tracking the sales volume of large trucks in the U.S. is flashing a warning sign about the state of the economy. Heavy trucks sales — or those exceeding 14,000 pounds in gross vehicle weight — have dropped to levels not seen in four years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The volume is down more than 15% in August compared with a year ago and 21% compared with the same month in 2023. Economists and investors have historically tracked how much of these vehicles — think tractor-trailers — are being sold in the U.S. as a leading…

U.K.-based fintech Tide has entered the unicorn club with a fresh funding of $120 million led by TPG, as the startup now serves over 1.6 million micro and small enterprises globally — with more than half of them based in India, the company’s largest and fastest-growing market. The new round — a mix of primary and secondary investment, though the startup declined to confirm the exact split — values the eight-year-old startup at $1.5 billion. It includes share sales by employees, early angels, and a few minority investors. TPG backed the round through its multi-sector impact vehicle, The Rise Fund,…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Asia-Pacific economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The writer is chair of Rockefeller International. His latest book is ‘What Went Wrong With Capitalism’The protests roiling Jakarta have raised questions about how this economic star fell from the sky. But it’s not just Indonesia. South-east Asia — including Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — is a region of many fading stars. Once home to the world’s fastest growing economies, it is lately home to the most rapidly declining expectations for economic growth. In the decade from 2010, stock markets in…

Market OverviewThe Fed cut rates, and stocks, which were already in an uptrend as extensively noted here, accelerated to new all-time highs. We continue to see technology leading to the upside, which confirms the risk-on environment. The Nasdaq led the rally higher last week, closing up 2.21%. The S&P 500 followed, closing up 1.22%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.05%. There are still strong opportunities coming from China, which is set to benefit from dollar weakness and lower rates.Stocks I LikeDomo DOMO – 50% Return Potential What’s Happening Domo, Inc. (DOMO) is a leading cloud-based software company providing…

The median home-sale price in Santa Barbara, the most expensive college town in the U.S., is almost $2 million.  When it comes to housing, the most expensive college town in the U.S. is Santa Barbara, CA, home to a University of California campus with about 26,000 students. Santa Barbara’s median home-sale price is nearly $2 million, more than double the next-most expensive college town.  Second-place Boca Raton, FL, home to Florida Atlantic University and its 30,000-plus students, has a median home-sale price of more than $820,000. The two most expensive college towns in the country have one big thing in…

(Oil Price)-OPEC+’s decision last week to increase its collective oil production has surprised many, given the soft outlook for oil prices for the remainder of this year and into next. It is true that the 137,000 barrels per day (bpd) rise from October is much lower than the 411,000 bpd and 555,000 bpd respective increases for the June and July period, and for the August and September timeframe.   However, the rise in oil output also means that the group – which comprises the original OPEC members ‘plus’ Russia – is beginning to reverse the second part of around 1.65…