Author: Money Mechanics

(Oil Price) – The global LNG shipping market has turned sharply higher in recent days, with charter rates for modern LNG carriers surging from roughly $40,000 last week to around $300,000 per day as traders scramble to secure vessels amid escalating disruption in the Middle East. According to shipbroker Fearnleys’ latest weekly LNG report, cited by Riviera Maritime Media, daily spot charter rates for 174,000-cubic-meter LNG carriers along the U.S. Gulf-Europe route have climbed to approximately $300,000 per day, up about $260,000 compared with last week. Rates on the key U.S. Gulf-Asia route covering Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China have also…

Key Takeaways The average retirement account balance for Americans in their 70s is $250,000, but the median is significantly lower than that.Once required minimum distributions (RMDs) start at 73, it’s wise to have a plan for your taxes. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. You’ve spent decades building your retirement savings. Now comes the part where you make it last. In your 70s, the questions change. It’s no longer about how much you can save—it’s about how much you can safely spend without running out of money. The average American in their 70s has $250,000…

Key Takeaways According to Fidelity, millennials (ages 30-45 in 2026) had an average 401(k) balance of $80,700 as of September 2025, with an 8.8% average savings rate. As of October 2025, according to Empower, people in their 30s had a median of $81,441 in their 401(k), and 40-somethings had $164,580.The averages, Empower found, were higher: $211,257 for 30-somethings, and $419,948 for 40-somethings. Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. The average millennial had about $80,700 saved for retirement as of September 2025, according to Fidelity Investments. That looks modest next to Gen X’s $217,500 and boomers’ $267,900,…

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) is one of the S&P 500 stocks that Jim Cramer shared his take on. Cramer showed optimistic sentiment toward the company’s stock, as he remarked: Next up… was another data center play with a fantastic bang-up quarter last week, Dell Technologies, up 29.4%. Now, this stock had been steadily sinking lower throughout the last fall and into the new year as Wall Street thought they’d be crushed by skyrocketing memory and data storage costs. But last week, Dell shocked Wall Street with a huge fourth quarter beat driven by strong AI product sales and far better…

Making less money but making steady headway may be a crude way to boil down what early 2026 was looking like for many homebuilding business leaders. Public homebuilder execs were not discussing a plain-and-simple “recovery trade.” The most consistent post-earnings themes – across demand, pricing, margins and capital strategy – indicated a market that is functioning – even promising, but requiring grinding effort and deep stores of patience. Demand is tracking slightly higher overall, but affordability remains the main barrier, and incentives are carrying much of the load that price increases could not. Vestra Advisors’ Q4 2025 earnings summary highlights…

Key Takeaways Warren Buffett’s 90/10 strategy involves allocating 90% of assets to a low-cost S&P 500 index fund and 10% to short-term government bonds.The 90/10 rule offers simplicity, lower fees, and the potential for higher returns.The strategy is based on historical returns for the S&P 500, as well as Buffett’s skepticism about the performance of the average fund manager.Critics say such a high allocation to equities isn’t suitable for all investors, particularly those nearing retirement or already retired. The 90/10 rule comes from legendary Warren Buffett’s advice for average investors. Put 90% of your money into a low-cost S&P 500…

Key Takeaways The Trump administration is working on new rules to restrict exports of advanced chips, Bloomberg reported.Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and other semiconductor stocks slumped Thursday before paring back losses. America’s chip export rules could get tougher. That hit some big tech stocks today. The Trump administration is working on new rules that could require companies to obtain permission from the government for exports of “virtually all” of their AI accelerators, according to a Bloomberg report. The news weighed on a number of chip stocks during a down day for stocks broadly. Shares of AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced…

Key Takeaways Major stock indexes fell Thursday as the price of oil jumped on concerns about a possible supply shock.Investors fear that supply disruptions could spur inflation, weighing on economic activity and corporate profits. Stocks tumbled again Thursday. You can blame the price of oil. All three major U.S. indexes finished lower, with Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping nearly 800 points. (Read Investopedia’s full coverage of today’s trading here.) What’s going up? Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was recently at prices last seen in 2024. Rising oil prices, fueled by ongoing conflict in the Middle East—and, particularly, disruptions in…

Please enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser or access the information through the links provided below. March 05, 2026 Agencies clarify the capital treatment of tokenized securities Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Federal Reserve Board Office of the Comptroller of the Currency For release at 3:30 p.m. EST The federal bank regulatory agencies today jointly issued answers to frequently asked questions to clarify the capital treatment of tokenized securities. A security is often referred to as “tokenized” when ownership rights in the security are represented using distributed ledger technology.…

Today, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released new statistics measuring the outdoor recreation economy for the nation, all 50 states, and the District of Columbia. The new U.S. data show the value added of the outdoor recreation economy accounted for 2.4 percent ($696.7 billion) of current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) for the nation in 2024 (national table 2). Across states and the District of Columbia, value added for outdoor recreation as a share of state GDP ranged from 6.1 percent in Hawaii to 1.0 percent in the District of Columbia (state table 1).Inflation-adjusted (“real”) GDP for the outdoor recreation…