Author: Money Mechanics

(Image credit: Getty Images)Interest rates may be settling, but many Americans continue to hesitate to move to a new home, borrow money, or refinance debt.This isn’t because they’re concerned about where rates are headed next. It’s because they remember how quickly things changed not long ago.When borrowing costs rose sharply over a short period in 2025, many people were left with the impression that financial conditions could shift without warning.Article continues below 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 CLICK FOR…

(Image credit: Getty Images)If your travels bring you to my town, and you’d like a great cup of espresso and a dose of neighbors acting un-neighborly, please drop by our office.While I fix the coffee, my wife, Anne, will hand you a box filled with emails, photos, video clips and frustrating correspondence from readers who have begged neighbors to please trim or remove trees that pose an imminent, direct risk of harm.Fans of Judge Judy will immediately see a parallel: Some dog owners — who left their dogs off leash and someone was bitten — remain in complete denial of…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldIn the middle of yesterday afternoon, we had a nice newsletter outlined for today. It was very different from the one you are reading now: it pointed out how financial markets had, to a remarkable degree, taken the war in Iran in stride. It attributed this insouciance mainly to two main factors.First, borrowing the words of Marc Ostwald at ADM Investor Services, to a “deep seated and heavily conditioned” muscle memory in markets, built up over the past six years…

Gold (GC=F) April futures opened at $5,095 per troy ounce on Monday, down 1.2% from Friday’s closing price of $5,158.70. Gold has declined 4.7% in the past week. Rising oil prices are a primary catalyst for gold’s pullback. The Middle East war has damaged energy infrastructure and blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles 20% of the world’s oil. Middle East producers are cutting their output in response, prompting a supply shock and sending oil higher than $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022. President Trump downplayed the oil spike. On Truth Social, he predicted oil…

West Capital Lending (WCL) has sued loanDepot, accusing the California-based mortgage lender of engaging in a long-running compensation scheme that violates the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). The lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, marks the latest escalation in a bitter legal feud between the two companies. In October, loanDepot sued WCL for allegedly poaching hundreds of employees and misappropriating trade secrets. The suit also accused WCL of misclassifying about 600 loan officers as independent contractors to pay them on a 1099 basis, thereby avoiding the overhead costs associated with full-time employees.…

Apple is now manufacturing 25% of its iPhones in India — hitting a milestone JPMorgan predicted back in 2022 — as part of its long-term plan to reduce its reliance on China, Bloomberg reported. Last year, India accounted for 55 million iPhones of the roughly 220 million to 230 million produced worldwide, Bloomberg’s report said. Apple has also moved quickly to deepen that commitment: it began making the entire iPhone 17 lineup in India ahead of last September’s launch, and Apple CEO Tim Cook said the majority of U.S. demand is now fulfilled by India-made iPhones. That shift accelerated in…

(By Oil & Gas 360) – Oil prices surged past $100 per barrel as escalating tensions involving Iran rattled global energy markets and raised fears of supply disruptions across the Middle East. The spike prompted urgent discussions among the world’s largest economies. Finance ministers from the Group of Seven signaled they are prepared to release strategic oil reserves if needed to stabilize global supply and calm markets. The option remains under review, but officials say emergency stockpiles could be deployed if disruptions intensify or shipping routes become more constrained. The spike in prices has also pushed policymakers in Washington to…

US dollar rises despite weak US data as energy-driven inflation fears reshape market expectations. Oil surge and geopolitical tensions push investors toward the US dollar amid stagflation concerns. Inflation risks and delayed Fed rate cuts support DXY strength despite slowing growth. In early March, the index showed a move that normal market logic cannot fully explain. Usually, when the US economy shows signs of weakness, the US dollar tends to fall. But recently, that has not happened. The reason is that economic growth concerns are no longer the only thing driving markets. Investors are now also worried about a new…

With severe convective storms (SCS) having emerged in recent years as a significant catastrophe peril in the United States, SCS-focused cat bonds may offer a compelling opportunity for both re/insurers and insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors as the frequency and exposure of the peril continues to expand, according to Acrisure Re.In a recent report released by the reinsurance brokerage, analysts note that over the past decade, severe convective storms have accounted for half of global insured losses from secondary perils, with hail representing most of those losses. “In the United States, the frequency of loss‑generating SCS events has shown a persistent…

Key Takeaways After hitting a 5.98% average—a low since 2022—mortgage rates began climbing as the Iran conflict unfolded.Investopedia’s daily average has risen about 15 basis points over the past week amid renewed market volatility.Even with the recent uptick, mortgage rates remain below last year’s highs, making financial readiness more important than perfect timing. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. Mortgage rates recently gave homebuyers some relief, slipping below 6% for the first time in more than three years. The late-February milestone marked a notable shift after a long stretch of elevated borrowing costs. But the…