Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
The Department of Homeland Security reversed its plan to suspend TSA PreCheck during the ongoing government shutdown, backing down after swift backlash from travelers, airlines, and members of Congress. The abrupt U-turn, which came roughly one week into the funding lapse, left Global Entry users without the same relief and raised pointed questions about whether…
The Vanguard S&P 500 Value ETF, ticker VOOV, has been outpacing the broader S&P 500 this year as investors rotate into cheaper, dividend-paying stocks and away from the high-growth names that dominated recent rallies. The fund tracks the S&P 500 Value Index, a subset of the S&P 500 that filters for stocks with lower price-to-book…
Gold prices slid sharply this month, falling below $5,000 an ounce from late-January record highs, rattling traders who had grown accustomed to a relentless rally. Billionaire Thomas Kaplan, chairman of NovaGold Resources and one of the most vocal gold bulls in the investment world, is telling anyone who will listen that the pullback is a…
New federal data and central bank research show that the job market has cooled for recent U.S. college graduates, tightening the search for entry-level roles just as a new class leaves campus. The squeeze is especially severe for graduates in lower-paying majors, who are entering a weak hiring cycle with smaller financial cushions than peers…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has accused the Federal Reserve of running annual losses of more than $100 billion and of operating under a statutory framework that limits independent audits of key monetary policy decisions. The criticism surfaced in mid-2025 coverage and resurfaced in reporting on his Feb. 4, 2026, congressional testimony, as he clashed with…
Precious metals surged on February 20, 2026, after the Supreme Court struck down tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and President Trump responded by announcing a 15% global import surcharge under a different legal authority. Silver posted a roughly 9% gain while gold rose, as investors reacted to the tariff ruling, the…
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has warned that President Trump’s trade policies are turning the United States into a “scary place to invest,” increasing the risk of stagflation as GDP growth has already slowed. The warning comes ahead of a new 10% import surcharge scheduled to take effect on February 24, 2026, layering fresh costs…
The Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s sweeping tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, and the ruling has set off a corporate scramble for refunds on billions of dollars in collected duties. For collectors of luxury Swiss watches and other high-end imports that carried steep tariff surcharges, the decision could…
Warren Buffett used his 2025 shareholder letter to make a striking claim: if roughly 800 of the largest U.S. corporations matched Berkshire Hathaway’s federal tax contributions, individual Americans would owe nothing to the IRS, and Social Security could be fully funded without raising personal rates. The assertion, delivered alongside Berkshire’s 2024 annual report, doubles as…
Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company has opened a massive new production campus in Olathe, Kansas, backed by more than $400 million in investment and built to run four high-speed production lines across 700,000 square feet. The facility, which sits on 150 acres, represents one of the largest single-site beverage manufacturing expansions in the Coca-Cola system in…
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