Author: Money Mechanics

(BOE Report) – The U.S. eased sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector on Friday, issuing two general licenses that allow global energy companies to resume oil and gas operations in the OPEC member and for other companies to negotiate contracts on investments in new energy operations. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general license allowing Chevron, BP, Eni, Shell and Repsol to resume oil and gas operations in Venezuela. The other license allows companies around the world to enter contracts for new investments in Venezuelan oil and gas. It does not allow transactions with companies in Russia, Iran, or China or entities…

This WeekThis week featured two heavyweights of economic data: jobs and inflation (and another artificial intelligence-related selloff on Thursday).Starting with the negatives… annual revisions erased over 400,000 job gains last year, meaning the economy added just 181,000 for the whole year (down from +1.5 million in 2024) – the least in a non-recession year since 2003!However, the more recent data were better. The economy added 130,000 jobs in January – double expectations – and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3% from 4.4%. Plus, the private sector has started to stabilize, gaining 172,000 in January, compared to losing 20,000 in August.The CPI…

Feb 13 (Reuters) – Paramount Skydance has named Rene Augustine, a former Trump administration attorney, as its senior vice president ‌of global public policy, according to a company memo ‌seen by Reuters, amid an ongoing takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery. Augustine, who ​served in the Trump administration as a special assistant to the president and senior associate counsel in the office of White House Counsel, will join Paramount Skydance on February 17, reporting to Chief ‌Legal Officer Makan ⁠Delrahim. “In her role, Rene will be responsible for developing strategic policies that advance our business objectives and ⁠building key diplomatic…

futures remain in a powerful structural uptrend, trading near 5,047 and holding above key short-term moving averages. The 9-day SMA near 4,995 and the 18-day SMA around 5,007 now act as first-level dynamic support. Price acceptance above these levels keeps bullish momentum intact and aligns with VC PMI mean support, favoring continuation toward higher resistance targets. The chart reflects a strong institutional accumulation pattern that began in late January, with expanding volume and rising open interest confirming participation. Bollinger Bands have widened, signaling volatility expansion and the potential for large directional swings as we move into the February and March…

Customers shop at Walmart in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jan. 22, 2026.Will Newton | Getty ImagesInvestors got some good news this week on the state of the labor market, and more may be on the way Friday on inflation.The consumer price index, a broad measure of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, is expected to show a 2.5% gain from a year ago, according to the Dow Jones consensus forecast for the January release. If that ends up being accurate, it would bring the widely cited inflation gauge back to its May 2025 level — a month after President…

Filings show that RenaissanceRe’s recently established Stratos Fund catastrophe bond strategy is an investment vehicle for a single institutional investor, with this managed account seemingly representing the interests of an allocator that has switched to a fund-of-one from the co-mingled Medici cat bond fund strategy.When global reinsurance company and third-party capital manager RenaissanceRe (RenRe) reported its recent fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results, it was revealed that a new catastrophe bond investment strategy had been launched. As we explained, the Stratos Fund is a segregated account that is separately managed within the RenaissanceRe Upsilon Fund Ltd. structure, set up by the…

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of single people struggle to afford their regular rent or mortgage payments, compared with 39% of married people, according to a recent Redfin survey conducted by Ipsos. These survey results in this report are from a Redfin survey conducted by Ipsos in November 2025, fielded to 4,000 U.S. residents. We consider survey respondents to struggle with housing payments if they selected “I struggle greatly to afford them,” “I regularly struggle, but sometimes okay,” or “I sometimes struggle, but generally okay.” Please see the end of this report for more on methodology.  Many Americans struggle to afford housing…

We aim to deliver the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter. ZDNET offers 33 years of experience, 30 hands-on product reviewers, and 10,000 square feet of lab space to ensure we bring you the best of tech. In 2025, we refined our approach to deals, developing a measurable system for sharing savings with readers like you. Our editor’s deal rating badges are affixed to most of our deal content, making it easy to interpret our expertise to help you make the best purchase decision.At the core of this approach is a percentage-off-based system to classify savings offered on top-tech…

(World Oil) – JERA Co., Inc., through its subsidiary JERA Americas Inc., has completed its previously announced acquisition of upstream natural gas assets in the Haynesville shale of western Louisiana, expanding the company’s U.S. upstream and LNG-linked portfolio. The transaction gives JERA full ownership of the South Mansfield upstream asset, acquired from Williams and GeoSouthern Energy affiliates for an upfront investment of approximately $1.5 billion. The Haynesville acquisition strengthens the company’s position across Louisiana, where it maintains a growing portfolio spanning natural gas, LNG, renewables, ammonia and carbon capture initiatives. The South Mansfield asset is located in the core Haynesville basin and benefits from proximity to Gulf…

Key Takeaways Americans, on average, say it takes $2.3 million to count as wealthy.Other measures—including net worth, retirement savings, living without debt, and financial flexibility—are not directly related to income.A high-income earner carrying significant debt may be less financially secure than a debt-free person with a modest salary. Americans say you need $2.3 million to be wealthy and $839,000 to be “financially comfortable,” according to Schwab’s 2025 Modern Wealth Survey. But that number measures aspiration, not financial health. Wealth isn’t just income. Net worth, debt load, retirement savings, and financial flexibility all shape how secure you actually are. Top Income…