Author: Money Mechanics

(Image credit: Getty Images)Stocks trended lower throughout Monday’s session as caution set in ahead of the December Fed meeting. The central bank is widely expected to announce its third straight quarter-point rate cut Wednesday afternoon. However, uncertainty remains about what’s in store for interest rates and the economy in 2026.”This week’s FOMC decision could set the tone for the remainder of 2025 and beyond, shaping expectations for monetary policy, risk appetite, and market leadership,” says Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide.Another rate cut “would reinforce the narrative of easing financial conditions,” while “any deviation from the expected path, or…

Gold () futures opened at $4,228.10 per troy ounce on Monday, down 0.4% from Friday’s closing price of $4,243. The price of gold declined in early trading. The U.S. central bank’s policymaking committee will meet Tuesday and Wednesday to confirm or adjust interest rates. Analysts and investors largely expect a quarter-point rate reduction. CME FedWatch currently estimates with 89.6% probability that the Fed will lower the target rate to a range of 3.50% to 3.75% from the current range of 3.75% to 4%. Learn more: . Lower interest rates reduce borrowing costs for businesses and consumers, which can encourage spending,…

The US dollar index has slipped over the past week as more traders expect the to cut rates. It is trying to hold on to the rebound that began near 96.55, but soft US data and stronger major currencies are keeping it stuck around 99. The risk of more weakness is growing.Fed Focused Data Destabilizes US Dollar on December 3 showed that the private sector shed 32,000 in November. Markets had expected a gain of about 5,000, so this drop strengthened the view that the labor market is cooling. That shift put early pressure on the US dollar and supported…

The proposal, outlined in the Federal Register, would also extend from two to four quarters the period that banks can remain in the CBLR framework without meeting all qualifying criteria. Comments on the proposed rule are due Jan. 30, 2026. In its latest advocacy update, released on Monday, the Mortgage Bankers Association noted that it has long supported the CBLR, arguing that it provides regulatory relief for banks that opt in by removing the need to calculate and report risk-based capital ratios. MBA wrote in a comment letter in October that the ratio should be lowered to 8%, and that…

jayk7/Moment via GettyFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysA study from OpenAI aimed to assess the business impacts of AI. Productivity gains were found to vary between particular roles.Early studies like this should be taken with a grain of salt.The use of AI is saving workers an average of 40 minutes to one hour of work per day, according to a new report from OpenAI.The report, published Monday and titled “The state of enterprise AI,” focused on the use of ChatGPT Enterprise across a range of industries, and homed in on the roles and tasks benefiting most from…

(BOE Report) – Kazakhstan’s Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which accounts for 1% of global crude supply, will not return to full export capacity until at least December 11 after a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a key part of its terminal, two industry sources told Reuters. The CPC terminal, which handles around 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, was damaged by a Ukrainian naval drone attack on Nov. 29, sending global oil prices up over $1 a barrel. The CPC, which includes Russian, Kazakh and U.S. shareholders, said the attack briefly halted operations because of serious damage to Single-Point Mooring (SPM)-2 – essentially…

Key Takeaways Conventional wisdom says that a target-date fund can be a simple approach to retirement planning, but a 2025 survey found that 84% of wealthy retirement investors who are nearing retirement prefer other options. Target-date funds are one-size-fits-all, which may work better for younger investors but less well as investors get older. Wealthier retirees aren’t just saving more but spreading money across different account types and pulling from them strategically to keep more of what they’ve earned. More than two-thirds of 401(k) account holders have money in target-date funds (TDFs), which shift investments from riskier to more stable assets…

Key Takeaways Confluent stock jumped nearly 30% Monday morning after IBM announced a deal to acquire the company.IBM will pay $31 per share for the data management software maker, valuing Confluent at $11 billion. Shares of Confluent (CFLT) surged Monday morning after IBM (IBM) announced a deal to acquire the software maker for $31 per share, valuing Confluent at $11 billion. Confluent’s software helps companies manage and organize large amounts of data, an in-demand service as many companies are looking to manage massive data sets that are used in the training and running of artificial intelligence models. IBM said that…

A multigenerational holiday table offers clues to how each generation may approach the Great Wealth Transfer.gettyEvery December, Americans gather for what may be the country’s most multigenerational ritual: the holiday table. For many families, that means Christmas; for others, it may be Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, or simply an end-of-year meal shared with the people we love. Whatever the tradition, this is the giving season. A moment when stories, rituals, and sometimes grievances (nod here to Festivus) are exchanged as freely as gifts.The holiday season may also be a lens for understanding a much larger form of giving already underway: the…

(Image credit: Getty Images)After the early steps taken to lower rates from the Fed and historically low spreads in many sectors of public credit, traditional fixed income yields are near the lows of the last few years, prompting advisers to turn to private credit as they look for more durable income solutions.Asset-based and real estate lending, in particular, offer a timely entry point, providing elevated yields, short to intermediate durations and strong collateral backing.Over the next 12 to 24 months, these strategies offer a window of opportunity to access income streams supported by structural protections while helping to fill financing…