Author: Money Mechanics

A congressional subcommittee is probing brokerage giant Compass’ private listings partnership with the Midwest Real Estate Data multiple listing service to determine if it is anticompetitive.The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust sent letters this week to Compass CEO Robert Reffkin and MRED CEO Rebecca Jensen requesting a briefing on their business practices.The inquiry comes after Compass and MRED, the MLS for the Chicago area, in April announced a deal to distribute Compass Private Exclusives listings nationwide through the MRED database, which has historically operated only as a regional service.The letters from Rep. Scott Fitzgerald…

Your business is going to spend more on AI this year. Three-quarters of finance leaders raised technology budgets for 2026, nearly half of them by 10% or more, and financial services firms led every other sector with increases around 15%.The decision to spend is made. The harder question is the one your budget process is not built to answer: How do you forecast a cost that changes based on how your people use a tool?Most firms get this wrong in two specific ways. Let’s review both before you build your AI budget. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance…

Costco has agreed to a $14 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit alleging the warehouse club sent misleading promotional emails to customers in Washington. While the settlement has received preliminary court approval, the details — including how much each eligible customer will receive — are still being worked out.The promotional emails in question were sent out between June 2, 2021, and July 7, 2026. As part of the terms of the settlement, Costco denies any wrongdoing and says it complied fully with the law.While the settlement awaits final approval, here’s what Costco members need to know about who’s…

Stocks rallied off their mid-morning lows on Friday on reports that Pakistan is attempting to restart peace talks between the U.S. and Iran. But worries about the impact of rising oil prices and new tariffs on inflation, as well as another round of poorly received tech earnings, had main indexes reversing course heading into the weekend.At the close, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5% at 51,947 and the broader S&P 500 was 0.05% higher at 7,411. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, on the other hand, was 0.6% lower at 24,975. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched back-to-back weekly…

These are good times for copper producers. Demand for their product is decidedly robust, particularly for copper coil or copper plate or the ultra-pure copper broken up literally into atoms to make tiny, high-speed computer chips. Or all the wiring and related equipment used in data centers. Copper is trading at $6.32 per pound in New York and $13,895 per ton in London, a bit below all-time highs reached in May. The price is up more than 700%, whether in New York or London, since the end of 1999, Macrotrends noted. Freeport-McMoRan second-quarter results better than expected Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), the…

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee at BEXCO convention and exhibition centre in Busan on July 19, 2026. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty ImagesSouth Korean President Lee Jae Myung invoked Japan’s epochal property crash in the early 1990s, stoking concerns about Seoul’s real estate market as he prepares to revise taxes aimed at stabilizing the housing sector. Lee said “quite a few people” were concerned the country could face Japan’s “lost” 20…

Anthropic/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysOpus 5 targets coding, knowledge work, and agent workflows.Anthropic says it uses fewer tokens for similar quality.Developers get faster output and smarter tool controls.To the surprise of no one, Anthropic has released Claude Opus 5. After releasing the controversial Mythos 5 and Fable 5 last month and Sonnet 5 on July 1, it was inevitable that Opus would be bumped from 4.8 to 5. That’s happening today. I’ve been impressed with Opus 4.8. I’ve been using it for a number of large coding projects, and it’s handled them quite…

(Investing) – Physical crude oil prices in the Middle East, Europe and Africa rose this week to two-month highs, with some approaching $110 per barrel. Supply disruptions linked to conflicts in Iran and Ukraine left buyers searching for alternative sources. Dated Brent, the global oil price benchmark used to price over 60% of the world’s physical crude cargoes, reached $105.70 per barrel on Thursday, according to LSEG data. This marked its highest level since late May and the first time it crossed $100 since early June. North Sea Forties crude, priced against Brent, climbed to $108.77 on Friday. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis…

Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) reported strong second-quarter 2026 results, with executives highlighting broad-based revenue growth across its divisions, record activity in its index and listings businesses, and continued demand for financial technology products tied to market modernization, artificial intelligence and financial crime prevention. Chair and CEO Adena Friedman said Nasdaq delivered “outstanding growth across each of our divisions,” supported by demand for market infrastructure and mission-critical technology. The company reported $1.5 billion in net revenue, up 15%, and $1.2 billion in solutions revenue, up 17%. Annualized recurring revenue rose 12% year over year to $3.3 billion. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Youngwood said…

Article published at 9:00 a.m. CTJJ Kinahan is Senior Vice President, Head of Retail Expansion and Alternative Investment Products at Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe).Key Takeaways:Dow is major mover in early tradingAmerican Express shares tumbleIntel shares move to the upsideInvestors are taking a breather as they buckle down ahead of the weekend and as oil prices calm down after yesterday’s increase.In early trading, WTI Crude Oil prices eased to a tad below $89 a barrel. Yesterday they rose 6.17% to $92.29 a barrel, triggered by the escalating warfare in the Middle East. At their peak Thursday, prices were closing in…