Author: Money Mechanics

The Trump administration has been targeting state-level AI regulation, with the president declaring in a social media post this week that the industry needs “one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes.” This comes after a 10-year ban on state AI regulation was initially included in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” before ultimately getting removed by the Senate in a 99-1 vote.  The idea then apparently took on a new form, with the administration reportedly drafting an executive order that would establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a mission to challenge state AI laws through lawsuits.…

This trading week is—Thankfully—shorter than usual. But there’s still work to do. Stock and bond markets are closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. But the week will still bring several economic releases, along with earnings reports from companies including John Deere, Alibaba, Applied Digital and Dell Technologies. The September report on U.S. retail sales, delayed by the government shutdown, will be released just ahead of Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Weekly jobless claims, pending home sales, durable-goods orders and the latest consumer confidence survey are also on time. Some data originally scheduled for this week…

Elon Musk has built companies that reshaped entire industries — from Tesla’s (TSLA) electric vehicle (EV) systems to SpaceX’s reusable rockets and now xAI’s ambitious supercomputer development. But his latest prediction about the future of work is one of his most disruptive yet. In a high-profile conversation with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Musk argued that artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing so quickly that many traditional jobs — including highly technical roles like coding — may not exist in the future. “There will come a point where no job is needed,” he said. “You can have a job if you…

Mid-tier and junior miners’ just-reported epic record third-quarter results are the best this industry has ever achieved! These smaller gold miners in this sector’s sweet spot for upside potential shattered all records, trouncing the larger majors’ performances. Mid-tiers’ long-soaring and colossal earnings which are still blasting higher support much-higher stock prices. These miners’ fundamentals are utterly phenomenal. The leading mid-tier-gold-stock benchmark is the J VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF. With $8.3b in net assets mid-week, it remains the second-largest gold-stock ETF after its big-brother GDX. That is dominated by far-larger major gold miners, though there is much overlap between these…

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack on Thursday gave indications that she thinks the central bank could be nearing the end of what could be a brief rate-cutting cycle.The policymaker told CNBC that she thinks the current level of interest rates is “barely restrictive, if at all” when it comes to the economic impact. Restrictiveness is a key metric for Fed officials, who are divided ideologically over whether labor market weakness or inflation is a bigger threat. Hammack has been more in the hawkish camp when it comes to inflation, preferring higher rates and more restrictive policy as a bulwark…

(Oil price)– The COP30 climate summit is ditching an earlier draft of a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, according to the latest draft of negotiating texts at the global gathering in Belem, Brazil. Many countries at COP30 have mobilized and supported a so-called “roadmap” to transition away from fossil fuels. But the latest draft document of the summit has removed reference to transitioning away from fossil fuels entirely, Reuters reports. While more than 80 countries joined the call for a roadmap to move away from fossil fuels, others have resisted any deal on phasing out of oil, gas, and…

Rates will stay mostly steady today after the delayed September jobs report showed both a rising unemployment rate, and strong but concentrated jobs growth in the private sector. The path forward for the Fed’s December 10 meeting is unclear with no more official jobs data until December 16. The Fed is looking for a clear signal on the job market, but the September data is sending a mixed message with rising unemployment and strong jobs growth in leisure/hospitality and healthcare sectors. Overall, the message tilts negative, pointing to a weakening—but not recessionary—labor market. The unemployment rate rose from 4.33% to…

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are only days away, and you can find hundreds of discounts across nearly every category, including popular tech items like laptops, TVs, gaming consoles, tablets, and more. Lucky for you, if you want to get your holiday shopping done early, several retailers are already slashing prices, including one of the most popular retailers for fast shipping and a wide variety — Amazon. Amazon’s official Black Friday sale kicked off on Thursday, Nov. 20, starting over a week of seasonal savings. Also: Our favorite early Black Friday deals As ZDNET’s deals and shopping editor, I have a trained eye for…

Key Takeaways Generosity can become costly when social spending—such as buying a round of drinks, over-gifting, or saying yes to every event—undermines your savings goals.Tracking where your money is going can reveal patterns and help you make spending choices that align with your priorities. Generosity is good—but what if it starts to sabotage your savings? You might be spending out of habit or social pressure without realizing how much it’s costing you.  “One of the first things I tell people who consider working with me is that I’m not the fun police,” says Erik Scudder, a certified financial planner and…

Every day, investors see oil prices splashed across the headlines. “WTI tops $90.” “Crude slides on demand fears.”It’s easy to assume those numbers tell the whole story about energy investing. But from an oil patch operator’s perspective, price is only one variable in a far more complex equation.In reality, investor returns in oil and gas projects depend far more on engineering, geology and operating discipline than on the price of a barrel quoted in financial news. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters…