Author: Money Mechanics

Each week in our Ask the Editor series, Joy Taylor, The Kiplinger Tax Letter editor, answers questions on topics submitted by readers. This week, she’s looking at four questions on tax refunds, how to get the IRS to abate a penalty and related topics. (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Tax Letter or subscribe.)1. Erroneous bank account information for tax refundQuestion: I helped my granddaughter prepare her tax return and claim a refund. I filed her 2025 Form 1040 using the same bank account information shown on her 2024 Form 1040. However, I was unaware that my granddaughter had…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe writer is founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy and a professor at Columbia University. He was previously senior director for energy and climate change at the US National Security Council during the Barack Obama administration.In March 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington to press a US president on slowing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Inside the White House, the dilemma was stark. The US wanted to tighten the economic noose on Tehran, but without triggering…

New York Fed President John Williams expressed concern Thursday about the Iran war’s impact on the economy, saying it already has shown signs of hiking prices and slowing growth.In a speech delivered to bankers in his home district, Williams noted that the conflict has “intensified the uncertainty” around national and local conditions. While he generally expressed confidence that growth would continue and inflation would ease through the year, he said there are threats to both sides of the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate for stable prices and low unemployment.”Assuming energy supply disruptions ease reasonably soon, energy prices should come down, and…

In 1900, Hershey released its first chocolate bar turning what once was a luxury into an affordable, accessible treat. Over the last 125 years, the candy company has continued that innovation, bringing items like Reese’s, Twizzlers, and Jolly Rancher to our candy drawers. But now, it seems the retailer is ready to change tack. In recent years, Hershey has expanded into other categories, acquiring snack brands like Skinny Pop, Pirate’s Booty, and One protein bars. Former CEO Michele Buck led much of that transition in the early 2020s. “Our plan was to expand further into snacking, not diversify out of…

The casualty insurance-linked securities and casualty reinsurance sidecar market is seen as primed for expansion, with speakers at today’s SIFMA ILS conference in Miami saying the aligned nature of the structures and the motivation of cedents to participate all suggest traction will persist.During a panel discussion this morning at the conference, moderator Andras Bohm, Managing Director and Global Head of Structuring, Gallagher Securities, was bullish on growth potential for non-cat and casualty sidecars. In essence, the increasing maturity of this segment of the market is driving greater confidence, while the alignment inherent in the structures is helping fuel investor interest…

Pending home sales are declining and touring activity is slumping.  U.S. pending home sales fell 4.1% from a year earlier during the four weeks ending April 12, the biggest decline in over a year.  Sales fell in all but seven of the 50 biggest U.S. metro areas, with the biggest declines in Providence, RI (-17.5%), Houston (-16.9%) and Nassau County, NY (-14.8%). The biggest increases were in San Francisco (9.6%), West Palm Beach, FL (8.2%) and Miami (6.4%).  Homebuying demand is unseasonably slow. Home-touring activity is up just 11% since the start of the year, compared to a 40% increase…

pros and cons Pros Hi-res audio supportMulti-room integrationDolby Atmos support Cons More expensive than competitorsVague EQ settings Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.Sonos has perhaps been the most recognized name in the home speaker market for some time, but Denon has something to say about that. The company recently launched its lineup of second-generation home speakers: the Denon Home 200, Home 400, and Home 600.The Denon Home 400 is the mid-tier option in the lineup, and it’s designed to go head-to-head with the Sonos Era 300. It has a similar, larger form factor, up-firing Dolby Atmos speakers, and…

(By Oil & Gas 360) – Geothermal energy is having a moment, and this time, it’s not driven by policy headlines or climate targets alone. It’s being pulled forward by something more immediate: the need for reliable, always-on power. A series of recent developments is reshaping how investors and operators think about geothermal’s role in the U.S. energy mix. EIG’s launch of a dedicated geothermal investment fund signals that institutional capital is moving beyond pilot projects and into scalable deployment. The focus is clear, backing baseload power solutions that can compete in a grid increasingly defined by volatility and rising…

(Image credit: Getty Images)The Nasdaq Composite about-faced mid-morning and resumed its upward march on Thursday, as tech stocks carry on in the face of war. All three main U.S. equity indexes spent time in the red before rising, keeping a bullish trend intact, despite multiple disruptions and continuing volatility in the crude oil market.According to Bloomberg, leaders in the Middle East and Europe say it’ll take “about six months” to negotiate a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran and are calling for the parties to open the Strait of Hormuz immediately.”Gulf states believe Iran is looking to build a…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldIf the Trump administration is to be believed, the announcement of a two-week ceasefire with Iran was an “overwhelming victory” for Washington, and the economy is “roaring back”.However, reports of Iran demanding payment for passage through the Strait of Hormuz in Chinese yuan or crypto suggest wider economic consequences from the conflict. Meanwhile, European and Asian investors are becoming leerier of exposure to the US and its currency. Even US investors are fearful of efforts to undermine the integrity of…