Author: Money Mechanics

Iran war developments, PPI data, start of Q1 earnings season will be in focus during the week ahead. Netflix is gearing up for a potential breakout as its Q1 earnings loom. Johnson & Johnson faces a likely stumble with a projected earnings dip in the spotlight. U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, but the S&P 500 still managed to score its best week since November as traders kept an eye on the fragile two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. Source: Investing.com For the week, the benchmark S&P 500 jumped 3.6%, the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3%,…

Catastrophe risk software provider KatRisk has acquired RED, a specialist provider of catastrophe models, including earthquake, flood, landslide, and wind risk models.According to KatRisk, the acquisition of RED accelerates the development of a high-fidelity U.S. earthquake model and strengthens multi-peril catastrophe modeling portfolio for insurers, reinsurers, and financial institutions. The company also revealed that RED’s European earthquake model will be integrated into SpatialKat, allowing clients to seamlessly gain access to earthquake risk data alongside KatRisk’s other perils in the near term. In addition, KatRisk’s existing strengths within flood, tropical cyclone wind, severe convective storm (SCS), and in the near future…

The March 2026 Consumer Price Index of All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) report indicates that inflation increased by 0.9% this month, well above the 0.3% from February. These data were released at 8:30 am EST on April 10, 2026, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Before seasonal adjustment, the year-over-year (Y-o-Y) inflation rate in the all-items index grew by 3.3%, as higher oil prices had a noticeable impact. Despite that, this month’s results missed economists’ consensus estimates. The table below is courtesy of Investing.com. The left column represents March’s figures, while the right column represents forecasters’ expectations. As you can see,…

Easter weekend also sidelined many would-be buyers. The Iran war ceasefire announced Tuesday could ease mortgage rates. U.S. pending home sales fell 2.4% year over year during the four weeks ending April 5, the biggest decline in three months. Sales fell most in Providence, RI (-15.5%), Houston (-15.4%) and New York (-15.3%). They increased most in West Palm Beach, FL (20.9%), San Francisco (16.7%) and San Jose, CA (11.4%). Homes are selling slowly, too: The typical home that went under contract did so in 51 days nationwide, the longest span for this time of year since 2019.  Homebuyers are backing…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned bank executives for a meeting this week where they encouraged the executives to use Anthropic’s new Mythos model to detect vulnerabilities, according to Bloomberg.  Indeed, while JPMorgan Chase was the only bank listed as one of the initial partner organizations with access to the model, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley are reportedly testing Mythos as well. Anthropic announced the model this week but said it would be limiting access for now, in part because Mythos — despite not being trained specifically for cybersecurity — is…

This WeekOnce again, developments in the Iran conflict drove markets, and economic data started to capture the impact of the conflict.In positive news, this week saw negotiations for a ceasefire begin:Monday: President Trump posted that the U.S. and Iran “”have had… very good and productive conversations regarding a… resolution of hostilities,” which Iran later denied.Tuesday: The U.S. sent a 15-point plan to Iran for a ceasefire, which Iran rejected.Wednesday: Iran counters with a five-point plan for a ceasefire, including reparations and Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz.Thursday: President Trump posts that he’s pausing attacks on Iranian power plants for…

US stock futures slid sharply Sunday evening after President Donald Trump said the US would move to block all maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, following the collapse of weekend negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) fell about 1.2%, pointing to a drop of more than 580 points at the open. Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) and Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) also declined 1.3% and 1.4% respectively. Last week, optimism around a temporary ceasefire had driven a strong rally. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) posted a gain of about 3.6%, while the…

In-brief analysis March 24, 2026 We have released a new international dataset containing end-use consumption data for most countries of the world, with annual data through 2023. The new data set disaggregates the existing total international consumption values into up to 34 end-use sub-sectors, such as construction, mining, refining, residential, and commercial. Our end-use data set categorizes end-use consumption by region, country, fuel, sector, and sub-sector in which the energy is consumed. In the example above, we break down the fuels used in Europe to produce chemicals. Our new end-use data fulfill the requirement under…

In-brief analysis March 25, 2026 Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Coal Report and Quarterly Coal ReportNote: The 2025 data points are annualized using the first three quarters of 2025 data from the most recent Quarterly Coal Report. The United States produced 10 million short tons (MMst) of coke used in steel manufacturing in 2025, a drop of 78% from 1980 when it produced 46 MMst, according to EIA’s most recent Annual Coal Report and Quarterly Coal Report. Similarly, we estimate the United States consumed 9.3 MMst of coke in…

I am buying in April. A lot of you will disagree. There is no wrong answer. By David Enna, Tipswatch.com Let’s take a moment to ponder what happened in March: The United States went to war in the Mideast, gas prices surged higher, the stock market fell into chaos (briefly) and U.S. inflation took a huge leap higher. Way down on our list of concerns was: What’s going to happen to Series I Savings Bonds at the May 1 rate reset? On February 27, I would have confidently told you: The variable rate was going to fall to about 2.0%…