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The U.S. trade deficit ballooned to $77.6 billion in May, up 42 percent month over month from April’s $54.6 billion and marking the widest gap since March 2025. This is the highest monthly deficit in over a year, driven by a potent combination of surging imports and retreating exports. Imports

This market update highlights key developments across equities, fixed income, and the broader economic landscape. Equities – A Flat Headline with Wide Gaps Underneath The S&P 500 returned -0.35% in September. That small number hides a wide split. Technology was the only sector to gain, rising about 5% on continued

Concluding our Plan for Retirement series, we explain why the most valuable retirement plan is one that continues to evolve. Over the course of this series, we have explored the decisions that shape a confident retirement: defining what you want this next chapter to look like, building a cash flow

Four Federal Reserve officials spoke on Tuesday, and each was working from the same backdrop: the September hike that lifted the overnight target range by a quarter point to between 3.75% and 4%. Governor Michael Barr told the Detroit Economic Club that he does not yet see a clear trend

August’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, showed inflation running cooler than expected even as consumers kept spending. Headline PCE rose 3.4% from a year ago, and core PCE, which excludes food and energy, rose 3.0%. Both came in below forecasts, helped by the Bureau

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note moved above 5% this morning, reaching its highest intraday level since 2007. The move extends a climb that has lifted the benchmark roughly a full percentage point from its February low. For context, the 10-year yield began 2026 at about 4.15% and

Congressional control hangs on a handful of seats this November. Republicans hold the House 219 to 214, meaning Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to retake the majority. The Senate math is tighter still: Republicans hold a 53 to 47 edge, with 13 Democratic and 22 Republican

If you have read a headline this year about Social Security “running out of money,” it is worth pausing on what that phrase does and does not mean. The program is not disappearing. But the trust funds that supplement it are on a timeline, and understanding that timeline changes how

What Happened The Fed raised rates a quarter point this week, its first increase since July 2023. The vote was unanimous. The funds rate now sits at 3.75% to 4.00%. Chair Warsh framed it as removing accommodation, undoing part of the 2024 and 2025 rate cuts rather than a true

National economic data often describes the country as a single unit. Gross domestic product rises or falls. Inflation accelerates or slows. Yet those averages can conceal very different experiences underneath. Economists call this pattern a K-shaped economy: one group of households, workers, or businesses moves upward while another moves downward