Author: News Room

In the U.S., whether you’re considered middle class or not may depend on where you live. In some states, you can earn over $150,000 and still be considered middle class.GOBankingRates determined the income range needed to qualify as middle class in all 50 states using the latest available data from 2022 on household median income from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey. The personal finance site defines “middle class” as households with an annual income that is two-thirds to double a state’s median income.In two states — Maryland and New Jersey — the high end of the middle-class…

A defense attorney for Donald Trump yelled at prosecution witness Michael Cohen during cross-examination about a 2016 phone call at issue in the former president’s criminal hush money trial.The defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, demanded that Cohen tell him whether Cohen had lied during direct examination in saying he made an Oct. 24, 2016, call to Trump to reveal he had gotten porn star Stormy Daniels to agree not to go public with her claim of having sex with Trump.Blanche confronted Cohen with text messages from that same day which suggested he was calling then-Trump Organization security chief Keith Schiller that…

The National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts (NCSLT) and loan servicer Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) may have to pay $3 million in compensation to student loan borrowers whose requests for payment relief, including during the COVID-19 national emergency, went ignored, according to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  The student loans in question are private and part of a securitized pool of loans acquired by NCSLT, the CFPB said in a statement. Since 2006, PHEAA has been the primary servicer for active loans held by the NCSLT and services a portfolio of nearly $17.8 billion in student loans.The CFPB filed an…

Our goal here at Credible Operations, Inc., NMLS Number 1681276, referred to as “Credible” below, is to give you the tools and confidence you need to improve your finances. Although we do promote products from our partner lenders who compensate us for our services, all opinions are our own. The interest rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 6.500% as of April 25, which is unchanged from yesterday. Additionally, the interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 7.500%, which is also unchanged from yesterday. With mortgage rates changing daily, it’s a good idea to check today’s rate before applying…

Unfortunately, the word “scam” has become too common in today’s world. A scam is an act by a dishonest person or organization to trick someone out of something, usually money. Search common scams and you’ll get pages of results. I found one site that listed 21. However, there are two scams missing from the list that you may not have heard about but are becoming more common. Two recent situations in my life show why I believe that the nature of these scams makes seniors particularly vulnerable. Gift Card Draining I went out to dinner with a family member. He…

The decisions by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday to agree to two presidential debates will ensure the continuation of a tradition that dates back to 1960. But it might look a little different this year: the candidates will first debate on June 27 on CNN, months ahead of the usual fall matchups, in events that will not be organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has overseen debates in every US presidential election cycle since 1988. It’s just the latest evolution in the history of US presidential debates. The first televised presidential debates, between…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the US inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.US inflation fell to 3.4 per cent in April, in line with economists’ expectations, prompting investors to increase their bets on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year and sending Wall Street equities indices to record highs.The consumer price index data released by the US labour department on Wednesday compared with March’s rate of 3.5 per cent and ended a four-month streak in which inflation outstripped expectations.“It is something of a relief that for the first time this year, CPI did not…

One of the names we have traded in the specialty retail space for gains is Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BOOT). That said, now we are waiting for a pullback. The company just reported earnings, and while the initial reaction was negative, shares are about flat. In this column, we discuss the company and the just-reported fiscal Q3 earnings and why we think a neutral rating makes sense here. We would be bullish on a retracement into the low $90s based on the growth and valuation combination here. Let us discuss. What is Boot Barn all about? This company has been…

Last updated: May 15, 2024 14:24 EDT | 2 min read Huobi HK pulls its HTX Hong Kong License application, raising questions about the company’s future in the region. Huobi Global (HGBL) Hong Kong Limited, a subsidiary of HTX, withdrew its application for a cryptocurrency trading license from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) for the second time on May 14.HTX’s Huobi HK Withdraws Hong Kong License Bid AgainHuobi HK is no longer on the SFC’s list of virtual asset trading platform applicants, indicating it has withdrawn its application again. This decision came just two months after Huobi HK…

OpenAI’s chief scientist and cofounder, who played an instrumental role in CEO Sam Altman’s short-lived ouster from OpenAI in November, announced that he was leaving the company on Tuesday. “After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI,” Ilya Sutskever said in a social media post. “I am excited for what comes next — a project that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time.” Sutskever played a central role in the dramatic firing – and return – of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last year, a management crisis that ultimately…