Author: Money Mechanics

April 15, 2026 07:33 AM EDT Why Oracle Is One of the Biggest Winners of This Week’s Rally So Far FROM 14 minutes ago Optimism around new deals and AI offerings has made Oracle one of the biggest winners of this week’s rally. Could it help pull the stock out of its recent slump? Shares of Oracle (ORCL) climbed close to 5% Tuesday, after jumping nearly 13% Monday, after the cloud computing giant announced an expansion of its partnership with Bloom Energy (BE) to power its expanding network of data centers. Oracle also announced a new suite of agentic AI…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Tax Day is finally here and recent changes to tax laws may result in larger refunds for many Americans. Notably, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) expands key provisions, including higher standard deductions, tax-free tips and overtime, as well as new targeted deductions and credits.Rather than spending this additional cash, taxpayers have a timely opportunity to put it to work in the stock market. Investing a 2026 tax refund in high-quality stocks can offer meaningful long-term rewards. While all investments carry risk, disciplined investing can potentially transform a modest sum today into a significant nest egg…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK companies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The UK Competition and Markets Authority has ordered the AA to pay almost £5mn in penalties and refunds over hidden fees for driving school customers, in the first financial sanction meted out by the agency under new consumer protection laws.The CMA has fined the AA £4.2mn and ordered the company to refund learner drivers more than £760,000, after a £3 mandatory booking fee for lessons was not included in the upfront price, the antitrust watchdog said on Wednesday.The investigation is part of…

In-brief analysis April 14, 2026 In our April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we expect U.S. hydropower generation will increase by 5% in 2026 but remain 1.8% below the 10-year average following snow drought conditions in some states. Hydropower generation in 2025 increased to 245 billion kilowatthours (BkWh), about 4 BkWh more than the record-low generation year 2024. In 2026, we expect generation will be 259 BkWh, which would represent 6% of U.S. electricity generation. Seasonal precipitation in the form of rain and snowpack accumulation are the two main factors that help predict water supply and…

Key Takeaways Oil trades within a compressed structure as the inflation signal from PPI feeds into yields, USD and energy pricing Refining constraints and shipping disruptions remain the core drivers of structural tightness The active structure spans 89.00 to 101.57 with a regime pivot near 100.00 Post-PPI repricing will determine whether the system expands toward 111.70 or rotates toward the lower base Market Structure and Levels enters the post- phase within a well-defined structure shaped by supply constraints and macro repricing. The active range extends from 89.00 to 101.57, with the regime pivot positioned near 100.00. Around this level price…

These days, it pays to have a diversified portfolio that goes beyond a “plain vanilla” 60/40, according to a new Morningstar report . The financial services firm’s portfolio of 11 different asset classes beat an allocation of 60% U.S. stocks and 40% high-quality U.S. bonds by 5 percentage points in 2025. It was the best showing for a diversified portfolio since 2009, said Amy Arnott, a portfolio strategist at Morningstar. That outperformance continued into 2026, with the diversified holdings topping the traditional split by 3 percentage points, as of April 13, she told CNBC. The winning portfolio is broken down…

OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation is facing skepticism from some of its own investors as the company scrambles to reorient itself around enterprise customers and fend off Anthropic, according to the Financial Times. Anthropic’s annualized revenue jumped from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $30 billion by the end of March, driven largely by demand for its coding tools. One investor who has backed both companies told the FT that justifying OpenAI’s round required assuming an IPO valuation of $1.2 trillion or more — making Anthropic’s current $380 billion valuation look like the relative bargain. The secondary market tells…

The first quarter of 2026 saw record trading volumes in European equities, driven by sustained investor interest in the region alongside ongoing geopolitical developments. For Cboe Europe, it was a record-breaking period, as we retained our position as Europe’s largest equities exchange and delivered all-time high trading days across some key services.Key Takeaways1. Record Growth Across European Equities MarketsAcross the industry, European equities volumes reached an all‑time high in Q1, with total addressable average daily value-traded (ADVT) increasing 23% year‑over‑year to €94.4bn. This growth was accompanied by a slight increase in activity on lit continuous order books, as investors prioritised…

California has spent years passing land-use reforms aimed at making it easier to build more housing, but the state’s housing market looks anything but unified.The new Market Clock from Realtor.com® shows California’s biggest metros are scattered across multiple phases of the buyer-seller cycle: San Francisco is an early seller’s market at 11 o’clock, San Jose is a late seller’s market at 1, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego sit at 2 in early balanced territory, and Riverside has moved all the way to 5, into early buyer territory.That spread mirrors a broader national pattern. Across the top 50 metros, the…

As the economy struggles and many Americans look for ways to save money, Costco has proven resilient. The chain has continued to grow its membership and retain nearly 90% of its members worldwide. That shift may signal a broader change in how middle-class shoppers are spending. “Costco’s jump in March 2026 sales isn’t just about cheap hot dogs. It’s proof that the middle class is retreating from the ‘convenience’ of the corner store and moving into saving at the warehouse,” RTMNexus CEO and TheStreet Advisor Dominick Miserandino shared with TheStreet. “At Q2 end, we had 40.4 million paid executive memberships,…