Investing

Investors can now trade stocks for free through most brokers. But how do brokerages make money if they’re waiving commissions? A deep dive into the commission-free trading movement reveals various business activities that build profits, sometimes to the disadvantage of clients. As a result, larger customers and frequent traders might want to consider paying for

Wall Street followed European bourses sharply lower on fears that rising coronavirus infections will dampen business activity and as hopes for pre-election fiscal relief in the US dimmed. The US S&P 500 index fell as much as 2.9 per cent in afternoon trading on Monday, before trimming its losses to trade 2.1 per cent lower,

Facebook’s plans for its gaming platform are taking off, soaring above the simple fields of Flash-based FarmVille to a cloud-based service that will potentially deliver a much more sophisticated streaming experience. As Tim Bradshaw and Hannah Murphy report, the Facebook Gaming upgrade, unveiled today, will start with some basic offerings, but will give developers the

What Is Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)? Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is a type of insurance policy that protects lenders from the risk of default—or nonpayment by the borrower—and foreclosure. PMI helps homebuyers who are either unable or choose not to make a significant down payment obtain mortgage financing at an affordable rate. If a borrower

Police in Finland are hunting a hacker who has stolen tens of thousands of patient records from a psychotherapy centre and is blackmailing victims to keep the data private. The cyber attacks, which started two years ago, have accessed the records of 40,000 patients from a centre run by Vastaamo, a private company that runs

Facebook is set to become the latest big tech company to move into cloud-based gaming, marking its biggest push to position itself as a destination for playing video games since the heyday of FarmVille a decade ago. Users of Facebook’s website and main Android app will be able to play a new game instantly, without

Silver is an interesting topic. Its direction is relatively easy to predict for several reasons. While there are no guarantees, the reasons silver will trade higher or lower in the future should be known by potential investors. If you’re going to go long silver, then there are several ways to do it, but one popular

Japan has spent 50 years fretting about its low birth rate and declining population but new prime minister Yoshihide Suga has hit on a different solution: fertility treatment. In his leadership campaign, Mr Suga called for in vitro fertilisation to be covered on national health insurance. The prime minister wants to make it affordable in

Amy Kazmin in New Delhi India’s central bank governor, Shaktikanta Das, has tested positive for coronavirus, the latest in a series of top Indian officials to be infected by the pathogen. Mr Das, who took the helm as the Reserve Bank of India cheif nearly two years ago, tweeted on Sunday night that he had

There are a vast number of agencies assigned to regulate and oversee financial institutions and financial markets, including the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Each agency has specific responsibilities, allowing them to function independently. Though the effectiveness and efficiency with which these regulatory

Belarusian authorities launched a brutal crackdown on Sunday evening on protesters who took to the streets for an 11th straight weekend to demand the departure of strongman leader, Alexander Lukashenko. In the capital Minsk, riot police used stun grenades to disperse protesters, who hard turned out in their tens of thousands to protest against Mr

US healthcare workers fear surging Covid-19 cases could overwhelm hospitals as governors scrambled on Sunday to address record rises in new infections across the country.  New York governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said the state was developing a new strategy to find “micro-clusters” of Covid-19 infections. Testing must get more local, he said, pointing to

When we talk about the top savers among countries, we are really talking about which countries have the highest savings rates. These are not necessarily the nations with the highest incomes. For example, a country where the average person makes $10,000 and saves $2,000 would have a 20% savings rate. Another country where people save

Source: Texas Instruments | Wikipedia Volatility has once again returned to Wall Street. Swinging between positive and negative territory in the previous five sessions, the market’s movements have largely been tied to updates on the ongoing stimulus talks. Working for months to pass additional stimulus measures, both sides of the aisle are making a last-ditch

It was President Donald Trump who inspired Wisconsin high school student Courvosia Cotton to vote. Mr Cotton lives in Milwaukee, a city in a battleground county in a battleground state. He turned 18 on June 1, days after the country erupted into protest after a white police officer killed Minnesota resident George Floyd. The black

The Italian government is expected to introduce the harshest public health restrictions since the end of its first national lockdown in May as new coronavirus cases hit a fresh daily record on Saturday. A draft government decree leaked to multiple Italian media outlets on Saturday suggested that Giuseppe Conte, prime minister, was preparing as early

While buy low and sell high is a strategy that has resulted in big accumulations of wealth, this isn’t how the professionals find their success. Instead, a savvy investor strategically deploys their money in order to allow it to work in more than one way—they multi-task their money. The retail investor who is accustomed to working

Japan Inc has found a new purpose for automation: business continuity in the uncertain era of Covid-19. Shares in Japan’s office, medical and industrial goods suppliers including Askul, MonotaRo and As One have soared as heavy investments in robots helped these companies to handle a jump in online orders during the pandemic. Coronavirus has boosted

When China’s Communist party delegates meet on Monday to thrash out their economic plan for the next five years, the semiconductor industry will be high on the agenda. Beijing’s 30-year push to build a homegrown chip sector has taken on a new sense of urgency as Donald Trump’s administration tightens its chokehold on China’s leading

In 1993, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) was founded in Denver as a means for former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ells to save up for his dream of owning a fine-dining restaurant. Now Ells, along with many Chipotle insiders and institutional investors, have massive positions in the global fast-food chain, with a market capitalization of $36.38 billion

Jeffrey Smith, CEO of Starboard Value LP and Chairman of Papa John’s International Inc. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Company: ACI Worldwide, Inc. (ACIW) Business: ACI Worldwide, Inc. develops and markets software products and services focused on facilitating electronic payments. Its products and services are used principally by financial institutions, retailers, billers and electronic payment processors,

US states were grappling with surges in coronavirus cases that threatened to overwhelm hospitals as Donald Trump and Joe Biden staged competing campaign rallies on Saturday with just 10 days to go until the presidential election. Mr Trump was due to visit three battleground states — North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin — on Saturday alone

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López has fled the country after spending the past 18 months holed up inside the Spanish ambassador’s residence in Caracas following his involvement in a failed uprising against the government of Nicolás Maduro. Senior figures from his Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) party confirmed the news to the Financial Times, without saying

If you’re traveling on your own, no problem. Just book your tickets. All you have to do is compare prices on an airfare search site to find the cheapest flight available. But what about when you’re traveling with family and friends? Here’s where it gets interesting. You could shop the usual way–entering the total number of

Franklin Templeton is on track to end 2020 as one of the worst-selling retail asset managers after investors pulled money from its funds ahead of its landmark takeover of rival Legg Mason. The US group has suffered the highest year-to-date outflows of any fund house globally in 2020, bleeding a net $41.6bn, according to data

Boohoo is a battleground stock. Since its IPO in 2014, the £3.5bn fast-fashion ecommerce company has been the subject of enthusiasm and scepticism in equal measure. The narratives being spun by both sides of the trade are pretty easy to follow. Bulls rightly point to Boohoo’s industry-leading profit margins, double-digit revenue growth and effective social

What Is a Financial Advisor? A financial advisor is a professional who is engaged in the business of informing and educating clients about wealth, investment and other sorts of money matters—and sometimes managing these financial affairs as well. It’s an umbrella term that includes stockbrokers, financial planners, investment advisors, tax preparers, bankers, insurance agents, and

About 10m fewer people watched the final presidential debate on Thursday night than the first one a month ago amid signs there are not that many voters up for grabs with just over a week until the election. Nearly 63m people tuned into the debate, according to Nielsen, the television ratings provider — a 14

McDonald’s has called on a judge to throw out a lawsuit from a group of black former franchisees who have accused the fast-food group of putting them out of business by setting them up to fail. About 50 former franchisees claimed in the suit that there had been an “exodus” of black franchisees from the

Nearly 75% of all Twitter stock is owned not by individuals but by institutional investors who buy large stakes in companies for their clients. The names below shuffle places on the list from time to time, but the latest figures available, for mid-June 2019, place The Vanguard Group, Inc. at the top of the heap