Investing News

What Is BRIC? BRIC is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The BRIC economies, or the “Big Four,” were collectively seen as emerging economic powerhouses. Economist Jim O’Neill, chair of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, introduced the acronym in his 2001 paper, “Building Better Global Economic BRICs.” After the 2008-2009 financial crisis the economic

What Is a Rewards Credit Card? Rewards credit cards offer you some type of “reward”—typically cash back, points, or travel miles—for every dollar you spend, sometimes up to certain limits. Depending on the card, you can then use your rewards in a variety of ways. Key Takeaways Rewards credit cards typically offer cash back, points,

Running out of money during retirement is a fear that haunts many of us. An inadequate pension, an unexpected financial emergency, or the death of a breadwinning spouse could suddenly make life very uncomfortable and push an older, already vulnerable person over the poverty line. One potential solution for struggling older property owners is to

Mortgage rates again moved a notable increment lower Tuesday, resulting in an almost two-tenths of a point drop so far in October’s 30-year average. Now sitting in high 6% territory, it was just a week ago that the flagship average recorded a 20-year high in the mid-7% range. Today’s National Mortgage Rate Averages Rates on

The time it takes a savings bond to reach face (par) value depends on the series of bond and the value at which it was sold. There are presently three different series of U.S. savings bonds. Series EE and Series I are intended to be savings bonds, and Series HH is intended to be an

The non-fungible token (NFT) world continues to evolve, with investors looking for new collections to create returns in a bear market. This week, DoDoor, Kitaro World, and Renga Black Box are among the top trending NFT collections. Key Takeaways Kitaro World surged 1,270% in value over the past week after combining web2 and web3 ideas for its

A long-awaited digital collectible feature has finally arrived on Instagram after parent company Meta announced last week that its non-fungible tokens (NFTs) would be available to millions of U.S. users. The new feature lets Facebook and Instagram users connect their cryptocurrency wallets to their accounts and show off their NFTs. Meta also announced NFT support

It’s not just higher mortgage payments: Increases to the target range for the federal funds rate by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) could mean the U.S. will pay as much as $1 trillion more this decade on interest payments for the national debt, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. With inflation at its

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), signed into law by President Donald Trump on Dec. 27, 2020, included new funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which expired Aug. 8, 2020. The PPP was a U.S. loan program established to help small businesses affected by the economic slowdown associated with the COVID pandemic to pay

Fiat vs. Representative Money: An Overview Fiat money is physical money—both paper money and coins—while representative money is a form of currency that represents the intent to pay, such as a check. Both fiat and representative money are backed by something. Without any backing, they would be completely worthless. Fiat money is backed by a

Stock market or equity indexes are composite measurements reflecting price movements of component stocks. Investors use indexes as a benchmark to gauge portfolio performance and as a barometer for overall market sentiment. When stock indexes trend upward, it reflects a bull market but when they trend lower, it signifies a bear market. In the United States,

Value-at-risk (VaR) is a widely used measure of downside investment risk for a single investment or a portfolio of investments. VaR gives the minimum loss in value or percentage on a portfolio or asset over a specific period of time for a certain level of confidence. The confidence level is often chosen so as to give an

Editor’s note: Below you’ll find the week 108 release of the NYC Recovery Index, originally published September 27, 2022. Visit the NYC Recovery index homepage for the latest data. New York City’s economic recovery suffered a small setback for the week ended September 17, 2022, with the overall index score declining to 75 out of

One would assume that the strongest economies would have the strongest global currencies; however, that is not always the case. It turns out that long-term movements in currency prices are more important than exchange rates, which is why the British pound is worth more than the U.S. dollar. But this does not change the fact

Almost every overseas traveler needs to exchange currency at some point during a trip. If you don’t know the tricks, it can be extremely expensive. Trading currency at the hotel or even a currency kiosk in an airport or elsewhere in the country can be costly due to poor exchange rates and high fees. For

Derivatives offer investors a powerful way to participate in the price action of an underlying security. Investors who trade in these financial instruments seek to transfer certain risks associated with the underlying security to another party. Let’s look at five derivative contracts and see how they might enhance your annual returns. Key Takeaways Five of the more popular derivatives are options,

ACH Transfers vs. Wire Transfers: An Overview Electronic payments are becoming increasingly popular as more people choose to pay bills or send money online because doing so has become more convenient, easy, and cheap. Two of the easiest ways to send money directly from a bank account are automated clearing house (ACH) transfers and wire

Barry Sternlicht, CEO, Starwood Capital Group  Scott Mlyn | CNBC The Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hike path – an attempt to calm the highest inflation in decades – is set to cause damage to the global economy if the central bank keeps going, according to billionaire Barry Sternlicht. “They are going to cause unbelievable calamities

If you’re eligible for Social Security spousal benefits, how much you’ll receive depends on a number of factors, including your age, the amount of your spouse’s benefit, and whether you have other retirement benefits available to you. Who’s eligible? Anyone whose spouse, ex-spouse, or deceased spouse was or is eligible for benefits, once you have

Barry Sternlicht, CEO, Starwood Capital Group  Scott Mlyn | CNBC The Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hike path – an attempt to calm the highest inflation in decades – is set to cause damage to the global economy if the central bank keeps going, according to billionaire Barry Sternlicht. “They are going to cause unbelievable calamities