Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Equity investors are heading into 2026 with a market valuation signal that has appeared only a couple of times since the 19th century, and it is forcing a hard look at what comes next. The combination of stretched prices and strong earnings has pushed long term valuation gauges into territory that historically preceded very different…
Market history rarely hands investors a simple yes or no, and 2026 is no exception. Past cycles suggest both the possibility of more gains and the risk of a sharp setback, leaving anyone with a 401(k) or brokerage account trying to weigh optimism against hard lessons from previous booms and busts. I see the most…
President Trump has framed his sweeping tariffs as proof that America is “strong” again, pointing to rising customs revenue as a sign that trading partners are finally paying up. The data tell a different story, one in which households shoulder higher prices while the promised gains for workers and growth remain elusive. I see a…
President Donald Trump has turned a sanctions enforcement operation off the coast of Venezuela into a blunt declaration of ownership, saying the United States will keep or sell crude seized from tankers linked to Nicolás Maduro’s government. His comments move the dispute beyond maritime policing and into a direct contest over who controls Venezuelan oil…
Wall Street’s favorite barometer of anxiety is flashing something close to serenity as 2025 winds down, even after a powerful multi‑year rally in U.S. equities. The CBOE Volatility Index, better known as the VIX, is sitting near levels that historically signal comfort rather than concern, even as the economic and policy backdrop grows more complicated…
Flames and smoke over the Gulf of Finland have turned Russia’s main Baltic oil gateway into a battlefield, as a wave of 221 drones ripped through air defenses and set critical fuel infrastructure ablaze. The strikes around St. Petersburg and its satellite ports have inflicted losses that Russian officials and independent analysts alike estimate in…
Michael Burry has become shorthand for market skepticism, but his latest alarm is not about a single stock. His new focus is on how deeply American households are tied to equities, and how fragile that wealth could be if sentiment turns. If he is right, the risk stretches far beyond his headline‑grabbing short on Palantir…
The stock market is entering 2026 with a statistical pattern that has appeared only twice in roughly a century and a half, and both prior instances ended badly for overconfident investors. The S&P 500 has delivered a powerful multi‑year surge, valuations are stretched by several historic measures, and a handful of giant technology names are…
Jim Beam is preparing to turn off the stills at its flagship Kentucky distillery for a full year, a dramatic move that underscores how President Donald Trump’s trade wars have collided with a global bourbon glut. The company’s decision to halt whiskey production in Clermont in 2026 ties together swelling inventories, retaliatory tariffs on American…
President Donald Trump is presiding over an economy that is cooling from an inflation shock without collapsing into recession, yet the political pressure to deliver faster growth and cheaper prices at the same time is only intensifying. The one move that could plausibly do both is not another tariff barrage or a new culture-war fight,…