Markets & Investing
Coverage of financial markets, investment strategies, and the economic forces that move money. Connects macro trends to real decisions for investors and professionals.
Latest in Markets & Investing
Money market funds hold $7.89 trillion, with $3.11 trillion of it in retail accounts
Money market funds held $7.89 trillion in total assets at the end of the week ended Wednesday, September 30, after a $45.45 billion weekly decline,...
Vanguard’s new sweep terms took effect October 1, and cash above $247,500 at every program bank can land in an excess bank that very likely has no FDIC coverage
Vanguard’s revised bank sweep terms took effect October 1, 2026, and they set a Program Bank Deposit Limit of $247,500 for each participating bank. Cash...
The SEC proposed crypto custody rules for investment advisers and registered funds October 1
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put a crypto custody proposal on the table on October 1, 2026, aimed at the firms that hold other...
The SEC voted September 30 to propose opening private markets to retail investors, through interval funds and adviser performance fees
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted on September 30, 2026, to propose rule amendments that would widen the door for retail investors to reach...
The SEC says a fund manager misled retail investors and is forfeiting a nearly $3 million interest in SpaceX
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says Meyer Global Management LLC and its chief executive, Owen E.H. Meyer, defrauded retail investors in private funds that...
Vanguard’s brokerage agreement changed October 1: an ETF conversion is now irreversible, and a third-party vendor can take a percentage of a foreign dividend tax reclaim
An amendment to the Vanguard Brokerage Services account agreement took effect on October 1, 2026, and two of its new sections change what a client...
The SEC voted Sept. 30 to propose letting funds sold to retail investors charge performance fees on gains
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted on Sept. 30 to propose rule changes that would let more funds sold to ordinary investors pay their advisers...
The 10-year Treasury yield climbed half a point in September, marking down bond funds
The 10-year Treasury yield ended September 0.50 percentage points higher than it began, which is the kind of move that forces bond funds to mark...
The Fed raised what it pays banks on reserves to 3.90% on Sept. 17
The Federal Reserve raised the interest rate it pays banks on reserve balances to 3.90% on Sept. 17, up a quarter point from 3.65%. The...
The Federal Reserve moved Sept. 30 to halve swings in big banks’ capital requirements
Capital requirements tied to the annual bank stress test are meant to swing far less from one year to the next under changes the Federal...
A brokerage must repay $1,232,939 and pay a $400,000 fine over unit investment trusts
FINRA ordered American Portfolios Financial Services, Inc. to pay $1,232,939 in restitution, plus interest, and fined the firm $400,000 for failing to supervise recommendations that...
Microsoft raised its dividend 8% to 98 cents, payable Dec. 10 to Nov. 19 holders
Microsoft declared a quarterly dividend of 98 cents per share on September 15, 2026, a step up that the company describes as a 7 cent...
The Federal Reserve raised its discount rate to 4.00% on Sept. 16
The Federal Reserve Board voted on September 16, 2026, to raise the primary credit rate, the discount rate at which banks borrow directly from Federal...
Money market fund assets reached $8.44 trillion in August, Crane Data says
Assets in U.S. money market funds rose to $8.44 trillion in August, Crane Data said on Sept. 25, recovering most of a July slide but...
General Mills’ quarterly profit fell 67% to 74 cents a share
A $1.046 billion gain from selling its U.S. yogurt business lifted General Mills’ profit in the year-earlier quarter, and the absence of that gain is...
Costco collected $5.9 billion in membership fees last fiscal year, up 11%
Costco Wholesale collected $5.907 billion in membership fees in fiscal 2026, up roughly 11% from $5.323 billion a year earlier, the company reported on Sept....
Money market funds average 3.66% while the one-month Treasury yield is 4.04%
A 38-basis-point gap separates two places retirees commonly park cash. Crane Data’s 100 index of large money market funds yielded 3.66% on a seven-day basis...
Retirees can lock in 3.28% above inflation on 30-year TIPS, up from 2.98% on Sept. 1, Treasury data show
The 30-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities real yield stood at 3.28% on Sept. 28, up from 2.98% on Sept. 1, according to the Treasury Department’s daily...
The two-year Treasury yield hit 4.92% on Monday, up from 4.39% on Sept. 1, lifting what new CDs and bonds can pay
Two-year Treasurys yielded 4.92% on Monday, Sept. 28, up from 4.39% on Sept. 1, and the increase raises the benchmark against which new CDs and...
Fed officials now see their key rate at 3.9% at the end of 2028
In projections released Sept. 16, the median Federal Reserve official puts the federal funds rate at 3.9% at the end of 2028, half a point...