Author: Money Mechanics

A new Redfin analysis takes a look at how much Bay Area real estate OpenAI and Anthropic employees could hypothetically purchase with their IPO earnings, in the wake of two massively valuable AI companies filing confidentially to go public.  OpenAI employees could buy 20% of all homes in San Francisco, or 15% of all homes in San Jose.  Anthropic employees could purchase almost 1 of every 10 homes in San Francisco, or about 7% of Oakland’s real estate.  With the wealth created through the two massive AI public offerings coming down the pipeline, current and former employees of OpenAI and…

The trustees of Social Security and Medicare recently estimated that the retirement trust fund would run out of money earlier than they estimated last year. That estimated stimulated considerable discussion and analysis, much of it centered on how accurate the estimate is likely to be. There was a particularly good analysis from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (CRR). The CRR report praises the trustees for acknowledging that a couple of its longstanding assumptions were too optimistic. In the trustees’ latest report, those assumptions finally are changed to make the projections more realistic.The CRR report then points to…

Wednesday’s late surge for a mixed close evolved into Thursday’s across-the-board rally for the main U.S. equity indexes after a major gauge of global risk appetite recovered from another steep sell-off. Big companies are still making huge commitments to artificial intelligence, and stocks are still trending higher ahead of a summer reporting season that’s going to heat up next week.The front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures contract was down 2.3% to $71.85 per barrel, even as the U.S. and Iran continue to attack targets around the Strait of Hormuz.And tech stocks took off again, as the Korea Composite Stock…

High mortgage rates may have put a damper on growth in the short-term rental market in recent years, but in a twist of fate, they appear to be boosting bookings and profits for longtime hosts.Mortgage rates above 6% have drastically slowed new investment in short-term rental (STR) properties, limiting competition for tenured hosts who have lower rates locked in, according to the new 2026 Midyear Outlook report from AirDNA, the leading provider of STR data and analytics.For Airbnb hosts, it means 2026 is “a better year to own than to buy,” the report states.”At the beginning of the year, we…

If you still pay bills by mail, send birthday cards or holiday greetings, or regularly mail important documents, you can expect to pay a little more at the post office soon.Beginning July 12, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is raising the price of a Forever stamp from 78 cents to 82 cents, a 4-cent increase. The price hike is part of a broader mailing services adjustment that also affects postcards and international mail.While four cents may not seem like much, the savings can add up if you buy stamps now in larger quantities. And because Forever stamps never expire, many…

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) opened at $62,233.37 on Thursday, July 9, 2026, down 1.7% from Wednesday’s opening price. The value of bitcoin rose to $62,870.76 by 8:39 a.m. ET. Ethereum (ETH-USD) opened at $1,742.06, down 1.5% from yesterday’s opening price. The price of ethereum moved to $1,744.40 by 8:39 a.m. ET. The opening prices of bitcoin and ethereum this morning continue to trend lower as the week goes on, but prices this week are in a stronger position than they were last week. That’s a slice of good news for crypto investors, especially as geopolitical tensions have re-erupted in the Middle East.…

In-brief analysis July 9, 2026 The United States remained the world’s largest crude oil producer in 2025, according to our International Energy Statistics database, extending a streak that began in 2018 when the United States overtook Russia to become the world’s leading producer. Crude oil production in the United States, including lease condensate, averaged a record-high 13.6 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2025, breaking the previous U.S. and global production record of 13.2 million b/d set in 2024. U.S. crude oil production was about 40% higher on average in 2025 than that from the…

Please enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser or access the information through the links provided below. July 09, 2026 Federal Reserve Board issues enforcement action with TS Banking Group, Inc. and TS Contrarian Bancshares, Inc. For release at 11:00 a.m. EDT The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced the execution of the following enforcement action listed below: TS Banking Group, Inc., Treynor, Iowa and TS Contrarian Bancshares, Inc., Treynor, Iowa Written Agreement dated July 6, 2026 Additional enforcement actions can be searched for here. For media inquiries, please email…

High mortgage rates coupled with record-high prices are causing homebuyers to pull back.Sales of previously owned homes in June dropped 2.4% from May to 4.09 million units on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. Housing analysts were predicting a slight gain month over month. June sales were, however, 2.8% higher than the same month a year prior. “The back-and-forth in monthly home sales activity, driven by mild fluctuations in mortgage rates, shows how sensitive home buyers are to affordability conditions,” said Lawrence Yun, the Realtors’ chief economist, in a release. “However, job gains—more than…

Kerry Wan/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.The LG CineBeam Q is a compact, lightweight projector that is as at home in your living room as it is on the go. With a max screen size of 120 inches, you can set up a custom cinema experience in your house or backyard. And right now, when you order directly from LG, you can save $500, bringing the price to just $800. Plus, you can get a free S40T soundbar (a $170 value) to round out your home theater ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinals.Also: This tiny projector…