Author: Money Mechanics

If you are turning 65 in 2026, you have a critical seven-month window to sign up for Medicare — and missing it can be an expensive mistake. While some people are enrolled automatically, millions of others must take proactive steps to avoid gaps in their health coverage.With new 2026 changes now in effect — including a $2,100 out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs and lower negotiated prices for high-cost medications — there has never been a more important time to get your enrollment right. Here is exactly how to sign up, what documents you need, and the deadlines you cannot afford…

Key Takeaways Lori Calvasina, RBC Capital Markets’ head of U.S. equity strategy, thinks continued earnings growth can power stocks higher in 2026. Analysts raised earnings expectations for the last three months of 2025 over the course of the fourth quarter—’a rare thing,’ FactSet’s John Butters said. Can the S&P 500 post another year of double-digit returns? If it does, one market expert says, it’ll earn it. Some have warned that U.S. stocks can’t post outsize gains forever. After a decade of posting exceptional performance, helped by a strong dollar and valuation expansion, the S&P 500’s winning streak seems likely to…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Oil myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Oil prices fell nearly 5 per cent on Thursday as US-Iran tensions de-escalated and traders dialled back their bets on military action against one of the world’s major crude producers.Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped by $3 a barrel to $63.45, erasing most of this week’s gains. The protests in Iran, fresh US tariffs on buyers of Iranian oil and the prospect of a US intervention after reports of a heavy death toll all helped crude prices break above their 200-day moving average…

futures are transitioning from an expansionary momentum phase into a mean-reversion regime as defined by the VC PMI (Variable Price Momentum Indicator) framework. The recent price peak near $93.70 precisely aligned with the Daily Sell-1 VC PMI level, confirming statistical exhaustion rather than trend continuation. Within the VC PMI model, Sell-1 and Sell-2 levels represent extreme price deviations from the mean, where probability increasingly favors reversion rather than directional follow-through. Following rejection from Sell-1, price has rotated back toward the Daily VC PMI Mean (~$90.57). This level acts as a short-term equilibrium zone where volatility often compresses before resolution. Below…

US insurer Allstate has announced an estimated pre-tax catastrophe loss for the fourth quarter of 2025 of $209 million, which lifted the total for the current annual aggregate risk period for its catastrophe bonds to $2.757 billion while the run-rate of losses slowed in recent months.Allstate had reported  $594 million of pre-tax catastrophe losses for April 2025, then a further $777 million for May, an additional $619 million pre-tax for June, which took their Q2 2025 total cat losses to $1.99 billion or $1.57 billion, after-tax. Then at the end of Q3 2025, Allstate reported total catastrophe losses for the period were…

Please enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser or access the information through the links provided below. January 15, 2026 Federal Reserve Board issues enforcement action with former employee of PrimeLending For release at 11:00 a.m. EST The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced the execution of the enforcement action listed below: Consent prohibition order against Aquana Raffington Former employee of PrimeLending, a PlainsCapital Company, Dallas, Texas Conflicts of interest and fraud Additional enforcement actions can be searched for here. For media inquiries, please email [email protected] or call 202-452-2955.  …

Pending sales fell 6% in December—the largest seasonally adjusted decline since 2022—amid stubbornly high housing costs and economic uncertainty. The typical home that did sell spent 60 days on the market, the slowest December pace in a decade. The supply of homes for sale fell the most since 2023 as sellers retreated amid sluggish demand. The good news for buyers is mortgage rates have been falling and many sellers are offering concessions—the typical home that sold last month went for roughly 2% less than its list price. U.S. pending home sales declined 5.9% month over month in December to the…

Key Takeaways Experts, including former Fed chairs and the CEO of America’s largest bank, warn that President Trump’s efforts to pressure the central bank into lowering interest rates could backfire. They argue the loss of Fed independence would cause inflation expectations to rise and cause Treasury yields, which influence interest rates across the economy, to soar. President Donald Trump has long complained that interest rates are too high. Experts say his pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve isn’t helping him. While Trump and Powell have have a bumpy public relationship, this weekend’s affairs—Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Justice Department…

(Investing) – LONDON – Dozens of commercial ships have dropped anchor at a distance outside Iran’s port limits in recent days, according to data and shipping sources, as tensions with the United States grow. Such movements were precautionary given the tensions amid ongoing protests in Iran, the shipping sources said. Port limits are significant because they run a higher risk of collateral damage in the event of air strikes on nearby infrastructure. The U.S. is withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned its neighbours…

For speculative investors, the start of each year is always a good time to revisit an initial public offering (IPO) calendar. Almost every week, companies go public, with a handful of them offering considerable short-term upside potential.  Of course, they also carry substantial downside risk. But even for conservative investors who err on the side of caution, some stocks that have recently IPO’ed shouldn’t be overlooked, as they may justify a place in buy-and-hold portfolios.  For one biotechnology company in the healthcare sector that just went public, that could precisely be the case.  Last Year’s IPO Success Stories   Last year…