Author: Money Mechanics

TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC evening in Los Angeles late last week brought together two of the more straight-talking investors working in AI right now. Carter Reum is co-founder of M13, an early-stage firm with $2.5 billion in assets under management that has been a seed or Series A investor in 17 unicorns, he says. Chang Xu is a partner at Basis Set Ventures, which launched in 2017 as one of the first early-stage funds focused exclusively on AI and is now investing out of its fourth fund, with nearly $1 billion in assets under management. On stage, in a sun-filled room in…

(By Oil & Gas 360) – For much of the modern energy era, executives, investors, and policymakers operated under a shared assumption that periods of disruption would eventually give way to a familiar pattern. Prices would rise, capital would flow into the sector, production would increase, and supply growth would ultimately restore balance. Markets might experience volatility along the way, but the underlying cycle remained recognizable. Every downturn carried the expectation of recovery, and every recovery carried the seeds of the next downturn. That framework helped shape investment decisions for decades. It influenced how companies allocated capital, how governments approached energy…

The U.S. House and Senate have passed a landmark housing bill with bipartisan support, setting the stage for President Donald Trump to sign it.The House voted 358-32 to pass the 21st Century Road to Housing Act on Tuesday night, one day after the Senate easily passed the bill by a vote of 85-5. The one-two step came after months of sometimes-contentious negotiations over the dozens of provisions in the bill, before the Senate and the House announced a bipartisan compromise last week.The bill’s 45 provisions are aimed at cutting red tape and encouraging the construction of more homes. The bill…

 The Shiller/CAPE ratio chart. The US stock market is outrageously overvalued but… It’s nowhere near as horrifically overvalued as the US government bond market. In 1979, at the height of the last 40year stagflation cycle, 15% rates meant the government’s interest payments on its debt (of about $800 billion) were $120 billion, or approximately 25% of its annual revenues. Today, 15% rates on its $40 trillion of debt would be $6 trillion, more than the roughly $5 trillion in annual revenues… which is more than 100% of those revenues. In a nutshell, rate hikes of significance would obliterate the US…

“Keeping Up With the Kardashians” producer Jeff Jenkins is preparing to part ways with his longtime Los Angeles mansion—having brought the “Zen-inspired” retreat to the market for $1.78 million nearly two decades after he bought it.Jenkins, whose producing credits also include “The Simple Life,” “Total Divas,” “Total Bellas,” “Bling Empire,” and “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” purchased the Hollywood Hills hideaway for $940,000 in 2007, according to records, just a few months before the Kardashian family’s hit series premiered. Tucked inside one of the area’s most discreet celebrity enclaves, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom residence offers a rare combination of privacy,…

Event contracts and digital asset derivatives are emerging under CFTC oversight, while listed options and ETFs remain SEC-regulated. Meanwhile, some platforms are offering both. This panel will examine:•    The SEC and CFTC frameworks and their implications for innovation.•    Whether event contracts should be viewed as gaming, financial hedging, or a hybrid.•    How crypto-linked options and ETFs fit into the regulatory patchwork.•    What market participants need to prepare for as regulatory convergence (or conflict) plays out. Moderator: The Honorable Dawn D. Stump, Principal, Stump Strategic Panelists: JJ Kinahan, Senior Vice President, Head of Retail Expansion and Alternative…

The Senate heard testimony on Tuesday regarding federal taxes on the profits from home sales, which industry advocates say could be discouraging millions of homeowners from selling.Kevin Brown, president of the National Association of Realtors®, urged Congress to raise the exclusion limits on capital gains taxes for home sellers, which currently kick in at $250,000 in profits for single people and $500,000 for joint filers.NAR wants to see those limits doubled, which would make profits of up to $1 million for married home sellers exempt from capital gains taxes. Testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs,…

A steep sell-off in South Korea spread to Europe and the U.S. on Tuesday, as investors, traders and speculators asked hard questions about the sustainability of capex plans amid what so far has seemed to be an ever-expanding artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is talking up another cutting-edge corner of the stock market.The KOSPI Index, which includes South Korea-based semiconductor stocks such as Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) and SK Hynix (HXSCL), fell 910 points, or 9.99%, to 8,203 on Tuesday. The two chipmakers, which account for more than half of the KOSPI’s value, had led the index past…

A major overhaul is coming for federal student loan borrowers. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was passed into law last year, but many of the changes related to student loans go into effect starting July 1, 2026. Those changes can affect everything from loan forgiveness eligibility, repayment options, loan limits, and much more. Whether you’re looking to borrow loans for the upcoming school year or you’re paying off existing loans, here’s what you need to know before July 1. Jump to FAQ section: New repayment options What are the new repayment plans? Here’s a look at the two…

In-brief analysis June 23, 2026 On April 28, 2026, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it was leaving OPEC, effective on May 1. OPEC was formed in 1960 by Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, with the stated objective to “coordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries.” OPEC is best known for its effect on global crude oil prices. The UAE joined OPEC as the emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967 and as of 2025 held the third-largest crude oil production capacity in the group behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The UAE…