Author: Money Mechanics

Key Takeaways Shares of Oracle, Microsoft, Nvidia, and other tech heavyweights with ties to OpenAI have gained this week after a string of positive developments for the startup.Worries about OpenAI’s ability to meet its obligations have rattled confidence in the AI trade in recent months, particularly shares of companies that have struck big deals with the company. Fresh optimism about OpenAI’s finances is boosting some corners of the AI trade. Though OpenAI isn’t publicly traded yet, the world’s most valuable private startup has been firing back at worries about its competitiveness and ability to make money lately. That’s helped inject…

KEY TAKEAWAYS The unemployment rate for workers with college experience increased in 2025, while it has fallen for workers without college experience.Industries that hire the most college graduates lost an average of 9,000 jobs per month from 2023 to 2025, reversing a trend that once favored degree holders.A Goldman Sachs analysis points to a frozen labor market, not AI, as the main driver. A college degree has long been one of the most reliable guards against unemployment. That shield may be breaking, a new Goldman Sachs analysis argues. The unemployment rate for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher climbed…

GE Vernova said the energy giant has completed a modernization project at InterGen’s 800‑MW Coryton Power Plant in the UK. The group on February 9 said the work included two high-efficiency (HE) upgrades on GT26 gas turbines, delivering 85 MW of additional generation capacity, a 2.46% efficiency gain. The project also is expected to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by about 67,500 tonnes annually. Officials on Monday said the modernization work supports grid reliability as more renewable energy resources are added to the transmission and distribution system. The Coryton plant is a combined-cycle facility located 30 miles east of London…

U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON DC 20585 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 10, 2026 Natural gas prices rose sharply in January, averaging $7.72 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), as cold weather increased heating demand, reduced production, and led to record storage withdrawals during Winter Storm Fern. The drawdown for the week ending January 30 was the largest weekly net withdrawal recorded in the history of EIA’s Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report. In the February Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) now forecasts U.S. natural gas inventories to end the withdrawal season in late…

Investors are turning away from large-cap tech stocks in favor of value stocks. The Russell 2000 stands out as one of the biggest winners of this rotation. Which Russell 2000 stocks should you be watching right now? The reached a new record high on Monday, closing at 50,135.87. It is now up 4.3% for the year, doing much better than the , which is up 1.7%, and the Nasdaq, which is roughly flat. The Dow’s strong performance comes mainly from investors moving money out of technology stocks and into more stable, value-focused companies. That shift has helped small-cap stocks even…

This Week In A Nutshell   Two weak labor market reports nudged rates ever so slightly lower last week, but the star of the show is this week’s official jobs report. That will determine whether the Fed might cut rates earlier than expected. Upcoming Attractions   With the brief partial government shutdown ending last week, we are in for a week with two heavy hitters, the jobs report and the CPI report. Jobs report (Wednesday): The most important release of the week! The unemployment rate, which the Fed is mainly focused on, is expected to remain steady at 4.4%. Job…

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.How many times have you lost your phone or left your keys behind somewhere? If you’re anything like me, I’m betting quite a lot. Thankfully, this doesn’t always turn into a bad day where you need to replace your phone or call a locksmith thanks to tough phone cases and AirTags.But it can, and I prefer prevention over cure, which is why I like to tether important stuff to myself, especially when I’m traveling or hiking. And the tether I’ve been using for many years now is from a US company…

Key Takeaways There’s no universal rule that investors in their 50s should start investing in bonds—asset allocation should be driven by an individualized financial plan.When deciding on your bond allocation, consider how soon you’ll need your money.Before you enter retirement, consider boosting your bond allocation and following a bucketing strategy to avoid selling stocks during market downturns. If you’re in your 50s, you may be nearing retirement but still have a few years in the workforce. You might consider making your portfolio more conservative as you get older, increasing your allocation to fixed income. However, just because you’re getting closer to…

With investors appearing comparatively less rattled by recent uncertainty and market volatility, rising expectations of Fed rate cuts in 2026 and the prospect of a more accommodative regulatory environment could lift investor risk appetite for IPOs, providing an additional tailwind for the IPO market.According to analysts at Goldman Sachs, as quoted on Reuters, U.S. equity markets are expected to see a notable rebound in IPO activity in 2026. Analysts at the Wall Street brokerage project total IPO proceeds to quadruple, potentially reaching a record $160 billion, as high-profile companies such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic advance toward public listings.The forecast…

Key Takeaways The 50/30/20 rule still works conceptually, but rising costs can make the 50% “needs” limit harder to follow.The 15/65/20 rule prioritizes saving first, allowing more room for essentials and enabling guilt-free spending with the rest.Because it’s built on percentages, the 15/65/20 rule can flex as income and circumstances change. What the 50/30/20 Rule Gets Right—And Where It Starts to Strain The 50/30/20 rule divides after-tax income into three buckets: 50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for saving. Its appeal has always been about its simplicity. Instead of tracking dozens of categories, budgeters can focus on broad…