April 25, 2024
Funds

The Fed’s High Interest Rates Are Helping Pension Funds Close the Gap

This is commentary by Allan Sloan, an independent business journalist and seven-time winner of the Loeb Award, business journalism’s highest honor. We hear lots of talk about the problems that high interest rates have been causing since the Federal Reserve began jacking up rates two years ago. We also hear endless talk from people waiting

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Investment

5 Ways to Cut Your Taxes on Income Investments

Tax day is almost here, and, thanks to higher interest rates, many investors are finding they earned a lot more income from their portfolios in 2023—and now they owe the government a piece of it. “That’s a good thing,” says Mary Ellen Stanek, co-chief investment officer at Baird Asset Management. “But it means investors need

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Loans

Biden Forgave Another $5 Billion in Student Loans. Here’s Who Qualifies.

President Joe Biden is forgiving another $5 billion in student debt, bringing the total loan forgiveness approved by the administration to $137 billion.  The relief came just one week after the last round of student debt cancellation for borrowers that took out less than $12,000 and have been in repayment for at least a decade.

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Finance

Martin Luther King’s Lessons for a Wayward Finance Industry

About the author: Christopher Smart is managing partner of the Arbroath Group, an investment strategy consultancy, and was a senior economic policy adviser in the Obama administration. This Martin Luther King Jr. holiday falls on the day the civil rights leader would have turned 95, which raises countless questions about the world, had he lived

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Crypto

Bitcoin Wavers as Crypto ETF Trading Gathers Steam. Where Prices Go Next.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies wavered Friday as volatile trading continued in the aftermath of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The price of Bitcoin has shed 1% over the past 24 hours to $45,950, having notched gains in this period as high as near $48,600—around its best levels

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Investors

Argentina Is Taking a Chain Saw to Its Economy. Investors Love It.

Goodbye shock therapy. Hello, chain saw austerity. That’s the label Argentine President Javier Milei’s detractors have devised for his dynamic first month in power. Investors are pleased, so far. “The probability of success for Milei is larger than of failure,” says Alejo Czerwonko, chief investment officer for emerging markets Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management.

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Crypto

Bitcoin Price Whipsaws as ETF Excitement Builds After SEC Hack

Cryptocurrencies saw volatile trading Wednesday as traders awaited a decision from the Securities and Exchange Commission on whether to approve spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Digital assets have been buoyed for months by ETF approval hopes, with anticipation reaching fever pitch after the agency’s social media account was breached on Tuesday and falsely posted that the

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Investors

Europe’s Decision to Ground Boeing 737 MAX 9 Jets Tells Investors Something

The European aviation regulators have followed orders by the Federal Aviation Administration for the temporary grounding of many Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, after a MAX 9 operated by Alaska Air lost a section of its fuselage in midair on Friday. The damaged plane was able to return to the Portland, Ore., airport, where the

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Property

China Is Trying to Fix Its Property Market. The Outlook Isn’t Bright.

Liu Jianguo, a 47-year-old teacher in the second-tier city of Guiyang, considers himself lucky. He lives in a sliver of China where the property market isn’t withering. “I have friends in the big cities,” he said. “They are aware they’re in a bad place for buying or selling real estate.” New home prices in China’s

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