The Market

Starbucks Corp. SBUX, +2.68% was upgraded to buy from neutral at BTIG based on the upcoming benefits from restaurant reopenings and federal stimulus cash that will hit consumer bank accounts. BTIG maintained its $ 130 price target. Analysts note that the re-openings are “faster than expected,” and BTIG expects same-store …

Dear Quentin, We have family friends that we’ve known since before we had kids several years ago. Since then we’ve gotten pregnant at the same time, weathered COVID-19 as a pod, and relied on each other for relationship and career advice. One thing that makes us sad, though, is seeing …

How long is the long term in the bond market? Would you believe 57 years? That’s how long you must be prepared to own U.S. government bonds if you want to be assured of not losing to inflation. This depressing statistic comes from the just-released 2021 edition of Credit Suisse’s …

Gold futures edged higher Monday, looking to build on last week’s rise as investors continue to monitor bond yields and the U.S. dollar. “Hammered by [U.S. dollar] strength and the backup in rates, gold’s multi-month downtrend is forming a base that recently embraced the support at $ 1,680, paving the way …

Asian markets were mixed in subdued trading Monday, ahead of a meeting by the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK, +0.17% was flat while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index HSI, -0.01% rose 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.96% sank 0.6% and South Korea’s Kospi 180721, …

Digital-payments company Stripe said Sunday it had closed a $ 600 million funding round that values the company at $ 95 billion — more than double its valuation a year ago. Stripe said it would use the money to beef up its European operations — especially its co-headquarters in Dublin …

Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama got a surprise ally in U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, with the conservative lawmaker revealing on Friday that he supports their efforts to unionize. The Republican senator from Florida accused Amazon AMZN in an op-ed published by USA Today that of waging “a war against working-class values” as …

Dear Catey, We are a physician and engineer couple planning to retire in 10 to 15 years. After spending most of our adult lives in several cold places (Wisconsin and Illinois, among them), we would like to move south and retire there. Our plan is to take up jobs in …

How are you? It’s been quite a year. It’s one year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus public-health emergency a “pandemic.” Looking back, we can see how far we have come, and how we have already begun the return to a kind of normality, a New Normal. In …