Finance news

Central Bank: Lagarde does not rule out early ECB withdrawal

ECB boss Lagarde has always countered rumors of a withdrawal. In an interview, however, it is clear that she is already looking ahead to the election campaign in France.

Where to put the money?

Hello everyone, my wife and I (both 30) + child have a total monthly income of a good €7k. We currently set aside around €3k per month. We have too little equity to build/buy a house and therefore too little income. In 3 years you might build up €100k in equity, but the interest could be somewhere else and the construction and land costs will definitely not be any lower. So context: life between Munich, Ingolstadt and Augsburg. Child goes to school there and the costs are typical for southern Bavaria

Alberta and Ottawa Greenlight New Pacific Pipeline

Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith and federal Prime Minister Mark Carney have made the official announcement of a new oil pipeline, to be built to Canada’s Pacific coast, broadening the access of Canadian oil producers to the Asian market. The decision is a departure from previous Liberal governments’ energy agenda, which excluded the expansion of oil pipelines due to pressure from environmentalist groups and a focus on the energy transition away from hydrocarbons. Despite his firm support for th

China sends warning to Japan and the Philippines over ‘wrongful’ maritime talks

China has issued a legal warning to Japan and the Philippines over their planned maritime border talks, calling the move “internationally wrongful” and saying it had the right to hold both nations accountable. It is the latest protest from Beijing after Manila and Tokyo agreed in May to launch formal negotiations to delimit the maritime boundary of the exclusive economic zones and continental shelf between the two countries, which overlap with areas claimed by China. “The announcement,...

Fearing ‘bad luck’ omen, Chinese man repeatedly slaps twitching right eye, damaging vision

A superstitious man in central China suffered a retinal detachment after repeatedly slapping his twitching right eyelid, fearing it was an omen of misfortune. The belief stems from a popular Chinese saying: “A twitching left eye brings wealth, while a twitching right eye brings disaster.” The man, identified only as Le, lives in Wuhan in Hubei province. He had been troubled by a twitching right eyelid for several days. Resting his eyes and applying warm compresses brought no relief. Convinced...

Australian officials tell fans to give Neil the seal some flipping space

Like plenty of local boys before him, Neil has come home to the stretch of Australian coast where he was born. Unlike most of them, he trails fame, fans and property damage in his wake. He is also a 1,000 kg (2,200lb) elephant seal. In June, the bellowing and blubbery five-year-old mammal hauled himself onto land for his twice-yearly tour of beachside towns in southern Tasmania state after months of feeding at sea. That is posing problems now that he weighs as much as a small car and has a...

Monetary policy: Trump expands attack on Fed

The White House still wants to get rid of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and former boss Jerome Powell - despite a ruling by the US Supreme Court. Now the Atlanta Fed is also coming into focus.

Consumer Prices: The Fear of the AI ​​Inflation Shock

The massive expansion of the AI ​​infrastructure not only consumes billions in investments - it also results in higher prices for many products. Is there a threat of AI inflation now?

Japan’s disaster plans fail to keep pace with tourist boom

When the ground shook off Iwate prefecture at 9pm on Wednesday, the magnitude 6.0 jolt – the latest in a series of sizeable tremors – barely registered in a country still mopping up after two powerful typhoons and bracing for a fresh bout of torrential rain and landslides. Natural disasters have long been a fact of life in Japan, where schoolchildren rehearse earthquake evacuations the way other nations hold fire drills. Every September 1, in a ritual as much of collective memory as civil...

New employer has no match 401k with VOYA, how to proceed?

Basically the title. The company I now work for has a 401k program through VOYA, vested 100% immediately after the short probation period. Can contribute up to a specific amount every year, iirc $7,500. I understand this is obviously not ideal and I'm waiting on specifics about fees and such, but in the meantime I'm trying to assess the best way to go about this. Should I prioritize Roth IRA over this company 401k since the company is lower on the investing "hierarchy". I'd assume it's still wor

Trump blasts ‘hostile’ Fed and says Warsh ‘has to do what he has to do’ on interest rates

Trump, in the interview, also said he continues to plan to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook from the central bank’s board.

China's push east of Taiwan tests Japan-Philippines deterrence

Christine Lagarde: Interview with Les Échos

Putin is pushing Russia into an 'economic, political, and military abyss,' think tank says

For years, Vladimir Putin has had a convincing rebuttal to anyone who thought Western sanctions would bring his country to its knees. In the four years since Russia invaded Ukraine, GDP has stayed mostly in the green, its unemployment rate has declined, and average wages have skyrocketed. Even inflation has moderated sharply, after soaring to double digits in 2023. Putin has waved those figures at Western critics as proof that sanctions have failed to cripple Russia’s booming wartime economy. Ch

Carney Backs B.C. Tanker Ban as Alberta Unveils Pipeline Plan

Prime Minister Mark Carney threw a wrench into Alberta's West Coast pipeline ambitions on Thursday just hours before Premier Danielle Smith was set to unveil details of the province's long-awaited proposal. Speaking alongside B.C. Premier David Eby in Vancouver, Carney reaffirmed that Ottawa will maintain the federal ban on oil tankers along British Columbia's North Coast, effectively taking one of the most attractive export corridors off the table before Alberta's proposal even reached the fede

China signals openness to reducing gaping EU trade surplus as Brussels toughens stance

China told the European Union that it is open to exploring ways to cut its massive trade surplus with the bloc during talks in Brussels this week, according to multiple people briefed on the discussion. Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao signalled to EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic that China was willing to consider purchase agreements covering European goods. The discussions touched on lowering tariffs on EU-made goods, in a rare sign that China recognises that its billion-euro a day trade...

Unexpected effect of tax reform

To be honest, I have become very dissatisfied with politics in the last few months and have not read any details of all the resolutions. As an upwardly mobile person who comes from the lower socioeconomic class, I am usually at a clear disadvantage with current politics anyway. I was even more surprised at the result that, as a top earner, I would actually pay minimally less income tax next year. So it's not like anything gets stuck thanks to rising social security contributions and perspective

Piero Cipollone: The digital transformation of money, payments and finance

Am I wrong that passive flows, not earnings, are what's actually propping this market up?

Top 10 S&P names are about 41% of index weight now but only around a third of the index's earnings. Every payroll deduction into a 401k or target date fund buys that same top heavy basket no matter what the price is. Feels like real price discovery on the median stock has basically stopped mattering. Genuinely curious what people think breaks this. Does the passive bid just compound until valuations look insane by any historical measure, or is there some mechanism that forces a reversal before t

Trump Administration Advances New California Oil Lease Plans

The Bureau of Land Management is giving California another chance to weigh in on oil and gas leasing—whether the state wants it or not. On Thursday, the BLM opened a 30-day public scoping period for 50 federal oil and gas parcels covering roughly 36,000 acres across Kern, Kings, Fresno, and San Luis Obispo counties. The parcels could be included in a future federal lease sale, marking the latest step in the Trump administration's effort to revive domestic energy development on public lands. If t

OPEC+ Plans Another Output Hike. The Market Barely Notices.

The seven-member group of OPEC+ oil producers that has been restraining production since 2023 is set to extend a series of output quota hikes they launched after the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that set off the latest war in the Middle East. Yet the UAE is already shipping record volumes of crude abroad, right after it quit OPEC. According to unnamed sources who spoke to Reuters, the OPEC seven, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan, and Oman, will likely decide

Gen. Christopher Donahue relinquishes command of US Army Europe and Africa

U.S. Army Gen. Christopher Donahue relinquished command on Thursday. The Army has not given a reason for the leadership change.

Married Americans tend to be wealthier and happier. Gen Z is forgoing the institution anyway

Gen Z defines the American Dream as having financial stability and being happy. Marriage could help them reach both of those goals, but many aren't sold on it.

Kuwait Wants Consortiums to Bid for $7 Billion Oil Pipeline Deal

Kuwait’s state oil firm, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), has asked some of the asset management funds bidding for a stake in its oil pipeline network to tap other investors in their bids for the planned sale estimated at $7 billion, anonymous sources familiar with the process told Reuters on Thursday. Early this year, it emerged that KPC is considering following in the footsteps of its Saudi and Abu Dhabi peers by tapping major international infrastructure investors to buy a stake in its oil

Are we being screwed over by the reforms?

When it comes to tax reform, it is said that the reform package will increase the basic tax allowance and thus relieve the burden on people. From the current €12,348 to around €12,900 in 2028. But am I missing something, or does the framing here just feel like absolute bullshit?? Due to cold progression and the Federal Constitutional Court, according to which the subsistence minimum must remain tax-free, the basic amount must therefore be increased by inflation anyway. That would just mean

Federal Reserve Board issues enforcement action with Small Business Bank and announces termination enforcement actions with BNP Paribas S.A., BNP Paribas USA, Inc., BNP Paribas Securities Corp., and Community Bankshares, Inc.

Federal Reserve Board issues enforcement action with Small Business Bank and announces termination enforcement actions with BNP Paribas S.A., BNP Paribas USA, Inc., BNP Paribas Securities Corp., and Community Bankshares, Inc.

Wall Street: Weak jobs, strong stock market: Wall Street hopes for the Fed

The cooling job market is taking pressure off the Fed and increasing hopes of interest rate cuts. The AI ​​story is still intact - but is viewed in a more differentiated way.

Philippine senator links fatal school shooting to 764 online extremist network

A deadly school shooting in the central Philippines has prompted warnings from lawmakers and cybersecurity experts that violent online extremist networks may be approaching Filipino children through gaming platforms and chat groups. At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Philippine Senator Risa Hontiveros said there were signs that the perpetrators behind a deadly school shooting in Tacloban City might have been influenced by 764, a nihilistic violent extremist network accused of targeting vulnerable

Is expansion of Philippine bases for US use on track? Chinese think tank weighs in

Satellite imagery shows that Philippine military bases open to US troops have expanded more slowly than expected, according to a Chinese think tank. In a report published on Thursday, the Beijing-based South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) zoomed in on the nine sites covered by the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the two treaty allies. It said the sites reflected Washington’s efforts to transform the Philippines from a “strategic rear” into a...

Execs Predict Where Henry Hub Price Will Land in Future

Executives from oil and gas firms revealed where they expect the Henry Hub natural gas price to be at various points in the future in the second quarter Dallas Fed Energy Survey.