Author: Money Mechanics

Good afternoon. I would like to thank Governor Jónsson for the invitation to take part in the Central Bank of Iceland’s Reykjavík Economic Conference. It is a pleasure to be here in Reykjavík with you and to share my thoughts on formulating a practical approach to monetary policy decision making.1 As you know, the Federal Reserve conducts monetary policy to support a strong and stable economy. In doing so, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) pursues the congressionally mandated goals of maximum employment and price stability. The Fed uses a variety of tools to carry out its monetary policy strategy…

’s reactions to material US-Iran war news in recent months have been backwards. Contrary to logic and precedent, gold has plunged when the war intensified and rallied when it cooled. Several potential explanations for this odd technical behavior suggest it will prove a short-lived anomaly. The longer Iran can keep the globally-critical Strait of Hormuz closed, the more bullish gold’s short-term outlook becomes. Since Trump went to war with Iran at the end of February, most of gold’s biggest daily moves have been spawned by war news. For example, on March 18th gold plunged 3.6% after Israeli airstrikes hit Iran’s…

Bond vigilantes are a popular topic in financial media. Part of this is that most people find government bonds boring, and they would rather read about equities, which can have more exciting returns as well as more interesting company and sector specific stories. Bond market vigilantes who are about to discipline naughty governments creates a fun narrative hook to a market that is otherwise characterised by daily price changes of around 20 basis points.However, if you are actually paid to invest in bonds, the “bond vigilante” narrative is a trap. Government bond markets are boring, technical markets, and you do…

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Solar generators can help during weather emergencies. Prepare your setup before an emergency hits. Severe weather events are becoming more common.Solar power stations are becoming all the rage. They’re finding their way into homes all across the country and being put to a multitude of uses, from harvesting solar energy to save money on power bills to creating a resilient power source that can cope with the increasing number of weather emergencies we are now having to endure.Just the other day, I was reading about how a…

After losing nearly 8% through the first three months of the year, the S&P 500 Index has rallied on a renewed AI trade and increasingly bullish investor sentiment. Large- and mega-cap U.S. equities have seen a surge in inflows, helping push the benchmark index up more than 18% since the start of Q2. Despite the recent turnaround, uncertainty persists. Much of the rally is tied to mega-cap companies benefiting from the memory chip shortage, leaving investors wondering how long the S&P 500’s rally can last. Add in an expanding $1 trillion market cap club and looming initial public offerings (IPOs)…

More Ground Rules for RetirementAuthor: Jann FreedRecently, I had the opportunity to attend a local event called Poetry Palooza. I participated in a workshop with Jewel Rodgers, the State Poet of Nebraska. Her workshop, “Big Mood,” was an interactive lab to help writers master the art of vocal dynamics, body language, and tone of voice. The goal was to bridge the gap between what we write and what the audience feels. While I am not specifically a poet, I am a speaker and writer and can benefit from learning how to use body language and tone of voice to make…

(Image credit: Getty Images)Stocks were choppy Friday as market participants awaited updates on negotiations with Iran. A continued rally in tech stocks kept the price action positive into the close, with all three main equity indexes ending the week at new all-time highs.Following news on Thursday that the U.S. and Iran agreed to extend their ceasefire for 60 days, President Donald Trump on Friday said via a Truth Social post that he is making “a final determination” on a Middle East peace plan. According to Trump, Iran must agree to “never have a Nuclear Weapon or bomb” and to reopen…

Austin, Texas-based Oracle Corporation (ORCL) offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Valued at a market cap of $549.2 billion, the company offers various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning ERP, Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management EPM, and others. Companies with a market capitalization of $200 billion or more are typically referred to as “mega-cap stocks.” ORCL fits right into that category, with its market cap exceeding this threshold, reflecting its substantial size and influence in the software infrastructure industry. More News from Barchart However, the stock currently trades 43.5% below its 52-week…

Americans have spent nearly $450 extra per household on rising energy costs during the Iran war, according to an analysis shared exclusively with CNBC’s Steve Liesman.The average household has shelled out $447.19 for additional fuel-related expenses since the conflict began, data from Moody’s Analytics found. That’s cumulatively cost American consumers nearly $60 billion as gas prices and airline fares surge.Moody’s data puts a dollar amount on a portion of the economic pain Americans are feeling as the U.S.-Iran war reaches its three-month mark. Higher energy costs can force consumers to raid their savings and lean more on debt to cover…

Artificial intelligence is changing the world, and simultaneously inventing a whole new language to describe how it’s doing it. Spend five minutes reading about AI and you’ll run into LLMs, RAG, RLHF, and a dozen other terms that can make even very smart people in the tech world feel insecure. This glossary is our attempt to fix that. We update it regularly as the field evolves, so consider it a living document, much like the AI systems it describes. Artificial general intelligence, or AGI, is a nebulous term. But it generally refers to AI that’s more capable than the average…