Author: Money Mechanics

The Ombudsman’s Office annual report, which I delivered to the Director, is available today on our webpage.This year, we reflected on our ombudsman standards of practice of independence, impartiality, and confidentiality as we assist consumers, financial entities, consumer or trade groups, and others in informally resolving process issues with the CFPB. Our standards of practice are evergreen; they are ever relevant and foundational to our work, serving as a framework as we advocate for fair process in new ways each year.As in previous reports, the Ombudsman in Practice section describes our inreach (internal engagement), including an updated chart reflecting new,…

(BOE Report) – Two tankers chartered by Chevron carrying Venezuelan crude reached U.S. waters on Thursday, marking the first U.S. imports of the South American country’s oil following a new license granted by Washington, vessel tracking data showed. The U.S. Treasury Department last month issued a restricted license to Chevron allowing the U.S. company to operate in the OPEC country and export its oil after a three-month pause triggered by more strict policies towards sanctioned Venezuela. The vessels MediterraneanVoyager and Canopus Voyager loaded Venezuelan Boscan and Hamaca crudes earlier this month after negotiations with PDVSA, which is Chevron’s partner in several joint…

Stock futures are pointing to a slightly higher open on Friday after several days of losses as investors anxiously await to hear what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has to say about the outlook for interest rates.  Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3% recently, while those linked to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq added 0.2%. The benchmark S&P 500 comes into Friday’s session on a five day losing streak, and each of the major indexes—after hitting a series of record highs—are on track to post weekly losses for the first time in three weeks.…

KEY TAKEAWAYS Meta Platforms has reportedly agreed to spend more than $10 billion on cloud services from Google, as the search giant seeks to catch up with larger rivals in the space, namely Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.The deal struck by Alphabet’s Google spans six years, according to CNBC.Google reportedly struck a cloud deal in June with OpenAI, which had earlier relied on Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure. Meta Platforms (META)  has reportedly agreed to spend more than $10 billion on cloud services from Google, as the search giant seeks to catch up with larger rivals in the space, namely Amazon Web…

Each week, in our Ask the Editor series, Joy Taylor, The Kiplinger Tax Letter Editor, answers questions on topics submitted by readers. This week, she’s looking at questions on what Congress will do next with taxes. (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Tax Letter or subscribe.)1. Federal government shutdownQuestion: What are the chances that the federal government will shut down after September 30?Joy Taylor: Although there is a chance the federal government will close on October 1, the odds are better that Democrats and Republicans in Congress will reach a short-term extension agreement to fund the government for maybe…

A revival of merger and acquisition activity and initial public offerings (IPOs) was firmly on the pro side of the column when Wall Street debated the merits of a second Trump presidency. The first aspect hasn’t come to pass, as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has retained many of the strict Biden-era M&A rules. However, the 2025 IPO market is starting to heat up, led by artificial intelligence startup CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWV). CRWV shares debuted on March 28 and rose from $40 to $170 in less than three months. Most IPOs won’t achieve this type of parabolic success, but investor…

Real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) by state increased in 48 states and the District of Columbia in 2023, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The percent change in real PCE ranged from 7.3 percent in Maine to –0.6 percent in Alabama (table 1). Real personal income increased in 46 states and the District of Columbia in 2023, with the percent change ranging from 6.0 percent in Vermont to –2.0 percent in Iowa. Regional estimates of real PCE and real personal income are the current-dollar estimates adjusted by the corresponding regional price parity (RPP) and…

After a powerful rally, the stock market is now confronting a wall of worry as uncertainty grows amid Fed policy ambiguity, slowing economic growth, sticky , and the ripple effects of President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade war policies. In this environment, investors are seeking refuge in stocks that offer stability and potential upside. Two such companies are AT&T (NYSE:) and Newmont Goldcorp (NYSE:), which offer compelling attributes to weather the current market headwinds. Here’s why these stocks stand strong and what makes them compelling buys in the present-day landscape.1. AT&T: The Reliable Dividend FortressYear-To-Date Performance: +29.3% Market Cap: $210.6 Billion…

I am catching up after my vacation, and have been somewhat struggling to find timely topics to discuss. One of the problems of the Trump administration for me is that the focus of discussion are on political economy topics — and the administration’s actions do not have a whole lot of serious support.Trump gave in to his love of posting tariff rates on social media, and just unloaded another broadside on unfortunate (mainly non-OECD) countries. It remains to be seen how sustainable this round of tariffs will be, but it seems more likely that he can ignore domestic complaints that…

For thousands of years, gold (and to a lesser extent silver) have been mediums of exchange and methods of preserving wealth over time.Throughout 2024 and 2025, gold prices have been surging, driven by a combination of central bank buying, shifts away from U.S. dollar dominance, and a fear of financial exclusion, i.e., “debanking”.Let’s examine why gold is surging, the evolving narrative surrounding gold, Central Banks, and cryptocurrencies.Record-Breaking Price MomentumAccording to the World Gold Council, during the first quarter of 2025, the London PM price of gold averaged US$ $2,860 per ounce, representing a 38 percent annual increase and setting new…