The U.S. national debt just broke a record that stood since World War II. Interest payments alone now cost more than the entire defense budget. Not the wars. Not the weapons. The whole thing. And the debt keeps growing every year because Washington keeps spending more than it takes in and nobody in either party
July 30 is Tim Cook‘s last earnings call as Apple’s CEO. He’s been running the company since 2011, and when he gets off that call, John Ternus takes over. That alone makes this quarter worth paying attention to, beyond the usual revenue-and-margins conversation. Bank of America published its preview note ahead of the July 30
The things that look permanent are usually the ones getting worked on hardest. You just don’t see the scaffolding until it comes down. Think about the objects that haven’t changed in your lifetime. The stop sign. The three-pronged plug. The red can sitting in a cooler at a gas station in a country whose language
Oracle (ORCL) has spent two years telling Wall Street it can build AI infrastructure faster than anyone else. A land commissioner in New Mexico just made that harder. On Monday, Oracle stock fell about 3.5% to a fresh 52-week low, trading near $122 after touching $120.03 earlier in the day. The trigger for the drop
Alphabet reports Q2 2026 earnings on July 22. Most investors going into the print are focused on Search growth and whether Cloud can sustain its acceleration. But Bank of America’s latest note highlights something that could make the headline numbers look unusual: an estimated $80 billion boost to Q2 operating income that has almost nothing
Every time you buy a stock, something happens that most investors never think about. The trade confirms on your screen in seconds. But behind it, a network of brokers, custodians, clearinghouses, and exchanges quietly gets to work, each maintaining its own records, each reconciling with the others. In U.S. equity markets, that process now takes
IBM’s board faced an uncomfortable decision after learning that the company’s second quarter had fallen well short of expectations. Directors can now take a breather and wait until the scheduled earnings release and let executives explain the results in detail. Or they could warn investors immediately and risk a violent market reaction. They opted for
Gasoline has been on a roller coaster ride. Ask anyone with a truck, and they’ll tell you small price changes at the pump have a big impact when the fill-up is over, and the receipt hits your pocket. Since mid-April, gas prices have gone from $4 for regular unleaded gas to a peak of about
Pursuing financial independence has become a shared discipline for millions of Americans, organized around a deliberate approach to save relentlessly, invest every spare dollar, and let compounding do the rest. For a large share of that community, the framing gets treated less like a strategy and more like gospel. In practice, the creed often tips
Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, has built a reputation for backing artificial intelligence stocks. But even her highest-conviction holdings aren’t immune to profit-taking. That’s exactly what she’s doing with AMD this week, selling more shares after the chipmaker’s recent pullback. In 2025, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P