Author: Money Mechanics

Most kitchens are well-stocked with pantry staples, the foundation of all recipes. But every good chef knows that the best meals feature a variety of flavors, including some spice. Technique is important: Too much or too little of any single ingredient can make a big difference.The same approach applies to portfolios. Earlier this year, many U.S. investors learned that their mix was off after foreign stocks significantly outpaced U.S. shares … just as the S&P 500 stumbled badly. It quickly became clear that many investors were underexposed to foreign markets and overexposed to the United States.In a June survey, Schwab…

Cold, dry Arctic air moving across the central and eastern US early next week will cause temperatures to drop to 10-15 degrees below average, according to the Weather Prediction Center. The chilly forecast is causing natural gas prices to spike, as the demand for heating fuel increase,s as it normally does this time of year. Natural gas now provides about 40% of US electricity. U.S. natural gas futures on Monday climbed above $4.30 per MMBtu, the highest since March. The colder forecast is one factor behind the price rise; the other is robust LNG exports to Europe and Asia. Trading Economics…

November has historically been a strong month for the S&P 500 — the best on average over the past 15 years. With US markets still near record highs after a brief pullback, choosing the right stocks now matters even more. A good way to start is by focusing on companies already showing solid upward momentum. To find them, we used Investing.com’s stock screener to highlight the 10 best-performing US large-cap stocks with a market value above $10 billion.These stocks have gained between 255.3% and 525.4% since the start of the year. However, according to InvestingPro’s Fair Value—which combines several well-known…

Having already seen its parametric tropical cyclone insurance triggered by major hurricane Melissa’s winds, Jamaica is now set to also benefit from a payout under its CCRIF SPC parametric excess rainfall policy, taking the total it will receive to $91.9 million.CCRIF SPC, the Caribbean and Central America Parametric Insurance Facility and Development Insurer, said it will pay Jamaica’s government $21.1 million under its excess rainfall policy. Melissa brought torrential rains alongside its damaging winds and now Jamaica’s foresight in purchasing parametric disaster insurance is set to assist in the country’s recovery from the catastrophe. Last week, CCRIF announced that it…

Florida’s single-family housing market revealed a striking disconnect in early November 2025, with homes taking a median 98 days to sell, 21 days longer than the national median of 77 days, even as market conditions shifted decisively in favor of buyers. The state’s housing inventory reached 97,224 active listings for the week ending Nov. 1, with 43.9% of sellers cutting prices to attract buyers. Despite these concessions, Florida homes lingered on the market significantly longer than properties elsewhere in the country, suggesting buyers are exercising newfound negotiating power or facing affordability challenges at higher price points. Inventory builds as buyer…

Lance Whitney / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysMirror your Android phone to your TV in three simple ways.Use built-in mirroring, Chromecast, or a wired adapter.Enjoy videos, games, and apps on a larger screen easily.Your Android phone (or Android tablet) may have a decent-sized screen. But if you use it to watch videos, play games, or work with other apps, you may yearn for a much bigger screen to amp up the experience.One way to achieve that is by mirroring your device to your TV. This way, you control the…

Key Takeaways Your credit score is an important part of your financial profile. If your score is above average, you may be able to secure lower interest rates on loans and better terms on lines of credit. In September of 2024, the average credit score in the U.S. was around 715, per credit bureau Experian. States like Mississippi and Louisiana are on the lower end of the national average, around 680 to 690, while Minnesota and Wisconsin have the highest credit score averages at 742 and 738, respectively. Being aware of your credit score is an essential part of modern…

(World Oil)– ConocoPhillips raised its total spending plans for the Willow oil and natural gas project in Alaska to as much as $9 billion, citing inflation and other rising costs. The Houston oil giant, which initially estimated that its spending on the North Slope project was in the range of $7 billion to $7.5 billion, now expects oil production there to begin in early 2029, according to a statement Thursday. General inflationary costs of about $700 million are the biggest driver of the higher range of $8.5 billion to $9 billion. Shares of ConocoPhillips, which reported third-quarter earnings Thursday that…

Some companies have large shareholders who don’t intend to sell their shares publicly. They include family or founding owners, officers of the company, private equity investors and, sometimes, other public companies.Mathematically, that reduces the shares available to investors. So that all investors have equal chance of owning all stocks in an index, most modern indexes only include “free-float” adjusted market cap. Often, a minimum free float is required to qualify a stock to be added to an index. In fact, most index stocks have floats over 80%. We’ve noticed that recent initial public offerings (IPOs) have lower free float compared to historic…

Key Takeaways Quantum computing stocks have rallied even more dramatically than AI stocks in the past year as investors increased their bets on the technology.Technological breakthroughs from tech giants like Google have increased quantum’s visibility and potentially expedited the technology’s commercialization.Still, the stocks are susceptible to dramatic swings driven by the slightest shifts in sentiment. Move over, AI. Quantum computing stocks—those representing a technology that teases vast computing power—have soared in the past year, making even the artificial-intelligence rally look tame. Shares of D-Wave Quantum (QBTS) and Rigetti Computing (RGTI) have soared 2,700% and 3,100%, respectively, over that period. Quantum…