Author: News Room

Stocks remain off to a winning start in 2023 despite rising recession fears and uncertainty around the stability of the banking sector. Take a closer look, however, it’s clear the market is far from moving in lockstep.Instead, the S&P 500 has demonstrated a high degree of dispersion, a measure of the variation in returns within an index or a market. Dispersion is on display as investors jump quickly on a hot stock or other investing trend, and are even quicker to get out of industries and sectors heading lower, said stock-market technical analysts, who described the phenomenon as a sign…

Investors can’t wait for the Federal Reserve to start pivoting. This past week’s action—illuminated by a pink full moon—shows that they might have to wait a bit longer. The S&P 500 index slid 0.1% in the shortened trading week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1%. But while equity markets were little changed, bond yields declined in the early part of the week as weakening economic data stoked fears of a recession among fixed-income traders. The stock market is known to be a forward-looking mechanism, but with the S&P 500 trading at 18…

To the Editor:The most alarming part of this article (“What’s Ahead for TikTok,” Cover Story, March 31) is that the average American spends 90 minutes a day on this brain-rotting poison. Ban TikTok! To the Editor:I don’t understand all the hand-wringing in Washington over TikTok. If lawmakers want it out of the hands of most Americans without looking like they’re legislating against young voters, just give it time. Once millennial parents take to it, the kids will be on to something new. Paul Antico, On Barrons.comThe Facts, Please To the Editor:I think that the parties who are advocating the banning…

The March jobs report was pretty strong by almost any measure. Some 236,000 new jobs. A superlow 3.5% unemployment rate. And more Americans entering the labor force looking for work. Not exactly what the Federal Reserve wanted as it seeks to slow the economy and prevent a tight labor market from exacerbating inflation. Don’t miss: Jobs report ‘likely tips the scales toward another rate hike in May’: economists react to March release Also see: Jobs report shows 236,000 gain in March — lifting 2023 total above 1 million — but U.S. labor market shows hints of cooling So why are…

Gold prices are hot. At $2,023.70 an ounce—up 2.8% this past week—gold has about 2% to rise to hit its record high of $2,069.40, set in 2020. The yellow metal has gained 11% over the past month, and 24% from its recent November low, to flirt with the record. Gold prices are typically driven by three factors. Gold is worth more in dollars when the greenback falls in value. Lower bond yields mean less competition for gold, which produces no income. And greater risk aversion makes gold more popular. Bond yields collapsed in March—the two-year U.S. Treasury note yield was…

The office of Vice President Kamala Harris said she’ll take a flight Friday afternoon to Nashville, Tenn., and meet there with state legislators. The trip comes after Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state legislature over their role in a protest that called for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. Harris, who initially had no public events on her schedule for Friday, denounced the GOP move in Tennessee in a tweet on Friday, saying it was “undemocratic and dangerous.” Read the full article here

The contest to become the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee is heating up, with Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nation, and longshot candidate Vivek Ramaswamy each announcing runs since the beginning of the year, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson joining the fray in a Sunday-show appearance on April 2. Another notable move has been the rollout of a campaign-style book by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in which he argues that his approach to managing his state can provide a model for the rest of the country. And former President Donald Trump appears to be getting…

The numbers: Total consumer credit rose $15.3 billion in February, down from a revised $19.5 billion gain in the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Friday. That translates into a 3.8% annual rate in February, down from a 4.9% gain in the prior month. Economists had been expecting a $20 billion gain in February from the initial January estimate of $14.8 billion , according to the Wall Street Journal forecast. Key details: Revolving credit, like credit cards, rose 5% in February after a revised 12.8% gain in the prior month. That was up from the initial estimate of a 11.1%…

A bombshell report this week alleged that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been accepting lavish gifts from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow for decades without disclosing them, such as trips on Crow’s superyacht and private plane.Some Americans are wondering whether Thomas, 74, could lose his spot on the Supreme Court over not disclosing these gifts. Google searches along the lines of “Could Clarence Thomas be impeached?” have spiked on Google in the days since the allegations were first reported. Read more: Watchdog groups call for Justice Clarence Thomas to address reported failure to disclose gifts from real-estate tycoon Here is…

April is National Financial Literacy Month. To mark the occasion, MarketWatch will publish a series of “Financial Fitness” articles to help readers improve their fiscal health, and offer advice on how to save, invest and spend their money wisely. Read more here.Let’s pick a round number. How much money do you need to make to afford a $1 million home? And what about a $500,000 home? Both of those figures are obviously higher than the $363,000 median price for a home in the U.S., but an analysis by MarketWatch based on Realtor.com data helps demystify those big, bold house prices. Mortgage…