Author: Money Mechanics

So far, the gasoline price shock in Canada has not been as bad as what happened after the pandemic, but I am not incredibly optimistic about the medium-term outlook. The above figure is the national average cost for unleaded gasoline (at self-service stations if you want to get even more specific), but the data ends in March, so it is missing the price rise since then. In my neck of the woods in the Greater Montreal Area, the pump price has been around $2 per litre, although Montreal is normally higher than the national average series shown above.The Carney government…

Surfshark and Kerry Wan/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysSurfshark has launched a new VPN protocol that promises better security and barrier-breaking speeds.Instead of sharing a tunnel with other user traffic, Dausos provides each user with their own tunnel.Initial tests reveal promise, but it isn’t quite there, yet, in terms of performance compared to WireGuard. Surfshark has unveiled Dausos, a new virtual private network (VPN) protocol designed to improve consumer-grade VPN speeds and security.What is Dausos?Named after the Lithuanian word for heaven and as a nod to ascendence, Dausos is Surfshark’s proprietary VPN protocol, which the company hopes will set…

(Oil & Gas 360) By Michael Smolinski – Our Predictions: Strait Of Hormuz Safely Open In 3-4 Weeks, We’ve Seen Retail Oil Price Highs, Much Higher Natural Gas Prices Will Follow April Lows.      Operation Epic Fury jumped retail oil prices to burdensome highs.  Responses to Operation Epic Fury include the Weekly California No. 2 Diesel retail price jumping up to $7.567 per gallon two weeks ago (Figure 1, bold line) and the West Coast retail gasoline price to $5.396 (red line).  The California diesel price high is $1.699 (29%) more than its Russian invasion high.  The West Coast…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Crude oil rebounded, bond yields ticked higher and stock prices sagged on Monday, after a Middle East ceasefire unraveled over the weekend. The Nasdaq Composite’s 13-session winning streak ended, as all three main U.S. equity indexes finished in the red. Meanwhile, Kevin Warsh will appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, as the process of confirming President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next Fed chair begins.The front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures contract rose 5.3% to $86.93 per barrel, while Brent crude oil futures, a global benchmark, climbed 5.2% to $95.06. WTI is up…

(Image credit: Getty Images)George Carlin, the counterculture king of comedy, saw life through cynical eyes, but his quips and social critiques often rang true. From the mundanity of daily routines to the absurdity of the human condition, Carlin was known for stripping away societal pretenses to reveal raw, uncomfortable truths.While some of his observations were controversial, many provide a surprisingly grounded blueprint for retirees to live by. From his views on keeping up with the Joneses to the hard-earned right to take it easy, here are six George Carlin quotes retirees can live by.7 George Carlin quotes that do more…

Refresh 2026-04-20T18:45:48.397Z Why has Sen. Tillis vowed to block Warsh’s nomination? Republican Sen. Thom Tillis from North Carolina, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, has vowed to block any Federal Reserve nomination until a Department of Justice probe into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell is resolved.In January, the DOJ served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas and threatened a criminal indictment related to Chair Powell’s congressional testimony last June about a multi-year project to renovate historic buildings. In early April, Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked those subpoenas, writing…

The stock market has been picking up steam recently on hopes that the war in Iran may soon come to an end. However, at the end of the first quarter, the S&P 500 was down 4.6%, and many stocks were struggling. But despite the decline in the overall market at the time, Warren Buffett had indicated that he hadn’t seen much of a reason to be all that bullish on stocks. Although many investors may have believed otherwise, given the recent rally and the S&P 500 hitting new records, the Oracle of Omaha has remained largely cautious with respect to…

Fermi co-founder and CEO Toby Neugebauer and CFO Miles Everson have suddenly departed the AI nuclear power firm, sending shares down 22% on Monday. The company said Neugebauer has stepped down as chairman, although he still remains on the board. Lead Independent Board Director Marius Haas has stepped into the role of chairman, the company said Monday. Everson has been elected as a board director as a result of the exercise of director designation rights held by the Melissa A. Neugebauer 2020 Trust. Fermi, which was co-founded by former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, is developing an AI campus in…

Link to Report: Macro Volatility DigestWHAT STANDS OUT:Implied volatilities normalized across asset classes last week as momentum built toward a peace deal between US and Iran. Equity, rates, credit, and FX implied volatilities all fell below their long-term averages. WTI 1M implied vol collapsed by nearly 30 pts wk/wk to 47% – though notably we still see strong demand for call options with oil skew remaining inverted. This suggests that despite widespread optimism of an imminent deal, oil traders still see elevated risk of a prolonged conflict – a prescient call given the weekend developments.When equities first bottomed out at…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Private-equity investment is accelerating consolidation across the accounting industry.More than 100 CPA firm deals were completed in 2025, according to CPA Trendlines’ 2026 PE Deal Tracker, up from roughly two dozen just two years earlier, a transformation that’s changing the quality of how tax services are delivered across the profession.For most taxpayers, the shift may have little impact. Returns are still filed, deadlines are met, and refunds are processed as expected. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues…