U.S. durable-goods orders rise for fourth month in past five
Sales of big-ticket manufactured goods and overall U.S....
Sales of big-ticket manufactured goods and overall U.S. business investment showed signs of revival toward the end of 2024, but it’s unclear whether a two-year industry slump is ending.
Orders for durable goods omitting transportation rose 0.3% in December and increased for the fourth time in the past five months. Durable goods are items such as computers and appliances meant to last at least three years
Overall orders fell 2.2% in the month, but almost entirely because of a decline in bookings for Boeing aircraft.
The ups and downs of the struggling U.S. plane manufacturer has skewed the headline durable-goods number for more than a year.
American manufacturers hope for bigger things in 2025, but not all the headwinds have died down. Interest rates remain high because of lingering inflation and some of Trump’s threatened tariffs could exacerbate price pressures.
Blackstone's $1B gas plant deal tied to data center growth
Blackstone Energy Transition Partners has reached a deal to purchase...
Blackstone Energy Transition Partners has reached a deal to purchase the Potomac Energy Center, a 774-megawatt gas-fired power plant in northern Virginia, for approximately $1 billion. The plant's proximity to a major data center hub highlights growing investor interest in energy assets essential for powering AI infrastructure.
Tax season has arrived. Starting yesterday, the IRS began accepting and...
Tax season has arrived. Starting yesterday, the IRS began accepting and processing your 2024 federal income tax returns and will continue to do so through April 15 (there are some exceptions).
Sure, this feels a little like your professor explaining that you have a final paper due at the end of the semester and it would be wise to “start now.” But the sooner you file, the sooner you’ll get your refund. Nearly two-thirds of Americans who filed taxes got a refund last year, and the average windfall was more than $3,100.
Trump bans transgender service members from military. President...
Trump bans transgender service members from military. President Donald Trump signed new executive orders yesterday aimed at revamping the US military. One order bars transgender people from serving—something Trump also did during his last term that Joe Biden reversed—while another order eliminates DEI initiatives from the Defense Department. The president also signed an order reinstating people who were discharged during the pandemic for refusing to get Covid vaccines, and one calling for the US to develop its own version of Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense system.
The Justice Department said it fired “a number of DOJ officials” involved in prosecuting President Donald Trump.
Perplexity AI is among the suitors hoping to buy TikTok, and it presented ByteDance with a new merger proposal that would give the US government a 50% stake in the company if it IPOs in the future.
Survivors marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz with a solemn ceremony at the site of the Nazi death camp attended by several world leaders.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s controversial pick to head the US Department of Health and Human Services, will face senators at a confirmation hearing tomorrow.
New Zealand eased its visa rules to allow foreigners to work while traveling in the country in an effort to boost tourism, in case your digital nomad dreams include working from a hobbit hole.
Oil prices end lower on Trump’s tariff talk, concerns over AI-related power demand
Oil futures settled lower on Monday, as the Trump administration’s...
Oil futures settled lower on Monday, as the Trump administration’s ongoing tariff threats and their potential economic impact, along with concerns over the potential for a slowdown in AI-related power demand, contributed to a 2% drop in U.S. benchmark crude prices.
President Donald Trump paused steep retaliatory tariffs that he had threatened against Colombia, a key source of U.S. crude imports, but the risk of U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico remained.
Meanwhile, the emergence of Chinese startup DeepSeek, which has cheaply trained high-performing artificial-intelligence models, raised concerns about the outlook for AI-related spending and power needs.
West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery declined by $1.49, or 2%, to settle at $73.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
March Brent crude , the global benchmark, shed $1.42, or 1.8%, to $77.08 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
February gasolinelost 1% to $2.03 a gallon, while February heating oil fell 2.2% to $2.46 a gallon.
Natural gas for February delivery settled at $3.70 per million British thermal units, down 8.2%, after gaining 2% last week.
