Author: Money Mechanics

By David Enna, Tipswatch.com As the Federal Reserve continues on a path toward lower short-term interest rates, the bond market isn’t tagging along. Instead, yields on medium- and longer-term Treasurys have been increasing, not falling. The Fed began its latest phase of rate-cutting on Sept. 17, 2025, and has now cut the federal funds rate by 75 basis points over the last four months. That has brought short-term rates down, but has had no effect in lowering longer-term rates: Click on image for larger version. Here is a view of 10-year real and nominal Treasury yields over the last three…

As we head into the final weeks of the year, we’re excited to welcome the newest agents who joined Redfin in November. Their expertise and enthusiasm are already adding momentum as we move into the holiday season and prepare for the housing market reset expected in 2026.  Redfin agent Teresa Asher Teresa Asher is returning to Redfin’s Maryland office after a brief hiatus at eXp and Century 21. She brings 30 years of real estate experience, from new home sales to running her own advertising agency, and later resale. Teresa first joined Redfin during COVID, growing into a team manager…

Key Takeaways Vanguard expects U.S. stocks to produce 4% to 5% average annualized returns over the next five to 10 years.The firm’s bear case for AI: The U.S. economy experiences “anemic growth reminiscent of the decade” after the 2008 financial crisis. Artificial intelligence could completely change the way the world works. It still may not do much for stock portfolios. Vanguard said AI stands to be a transformative technology and boost the U.S. economy, but the asset manager still forecasts long-term returns—single-digits over the next decade—that might represent a wake-up call for investors accustomed to the historically unusual powerhouse gains…

(BOE Report) – Oil exports of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which ships oil from Kazakhstan via a pipeline and subsequently a Russian Black Sea terminal, declined by 12% in November from October, two industry sources said on Thursday. CPC, which handles around 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, was attacked by a Ukrainian drone on November 29, when one of three key exporting units were severely damaged. Since then, only one single point mooring (SPM-1) has been operational, while SPM-2 was damaged and SPM-3 has been under maintenance since the middle of November. The sources said exports declined last month…

Key Takeaways Disney and OpenAI on Thursday announced a three-year licensing agreement to bring Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel characters to OpenAI’s image and video generation tools.Disney will also invest $1 billion in OpenAI as part of the deal. Darth Vader, Captain America, and Mickey Mouse are coming to ChatGPT. The Walt Disney Company (DIS) and OpenAI announced a three-year licensing deal Thursday to make Disney characters available through the ChatGPT maker’s image and video generation tools, with Disney also investing $1 billion in OpenAI. Starting early next year, users of the ChatGPT image generator and OpenAI’s Sora short-form video…

Key Takeaways Not everyone understands crypto (or wants to learn). It’s crucial to know your recipient.Giving Bitcoin is relatively easy through exchanges, apps, and hardware wallets.Bitcoin is highly volatile, swinging between a low in the mid-$70,000s and a high in the mid-$120,000s this year. Giving Bitcoin for Christmas might sound like a great idea. For one thing, it’s far more memorable than a gift card or a sweater. However, Bitcoin is not a typical present. Its value moves up and down significantly. Plus, not everyone wants to manage a digital asset. So before sending someone perhaps their first investment in…

Greece took the top spot on International Living’s 2026 list of the best countries to live, thanks to destinations like Santorini (pictured here), which blends beauty, culture and everyday value.gettyLooking for the best countries to live in? You’re not alone. According to a new International Living survey, 66% of Americans say current conditions in the U.S. have made them more likely to move abroad sooner rather than later.“The main motivators are rising living costs, political fatigue and a desire for a simpler, healthier, more connected daily life,” Jennifer Stevens, executive editor at International Living, told me in an interview. “Many…

To help you understand what is going on in the global economy and what we expect to happen in the future, our highly experienced Kiplinger Letter team will keep you abreast of the latest developments and forecasts (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe). You’ll get all the latest news first by subscribing, but we will publish many (but not all) of the forecasts a few days afterward online. Here’s the latest…After a year of tariffs and policy shocks, 2026 will be pivotal for the global economy. Can the post-pandemic economy grow sustainably if the geopolitical environment…

For most of us, the only time we want to see an envelope from the IRS is if it contains a tax refund check. So when we see an envelope from the federal tax agency that doesn’t contain money, we get nervous.Wondering what we did wrong, we tear open the envelope. We pull out a short, cryptic letter that says the IRS had discovered a math error on our return. The letter states that the IRS has corrected the mistake, increasing our tax liability.That might be a relief if the amount of money involved is nominal, but what if we…

Key Takeaways Oracle led tech stocks lower Thursday after the cloud computing provider’s quarterly sales missed analysts’ estimates.New commitments from AI heavyweights Nvidia and Meta failed to offset the revenue miss, and resolve concerns about Oracle’s reliance on a few big clients. Oracle’s (ORCL) stock tumbled Thursday, dragging other tech stocks down along with it, a day after the cloud computing giant posted sales that missed analysts’ estimates. Oracle said new agreements with AI heavyweights Meta Platforms (META) and Nvidia (NVDA) helped grow its backlog to a record $523 billion, though that failed to sway investors from selling off Thursday…