The Market

Dear MarketWatch, Any ideas for an upscale retirement area with lots of hiking and biking? Great restaurants and culture? Near an airport?   We are unsure where we want to retire. We live in Northern New Jersey right near New York City. The area has gotten too congested and expensive. Ideally, …

Private-equity firm Silver Lake made out like a bandit this week by piggybacking off the stock market frenzy stoked in recent weeks by users of a Reddit message board. Silver Lake was able to clear a profit of roughly $ 112 million on Wednesday by selling 44.4m newly minted shares …

Move over, January: at least two other months have greater predictive power of stock-market returns than you do. January has a reputation as being able to forecast the U.S. market’s direction over the ensuing 11 months of a year. This alleged ability is known as the “January Predictor” and “January …

“ ‘It just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective.’ ” — Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on double masking Dr. Anthony Fauci says two masks are better than one. “It just makes common sense that it likely would …

WeWork is in talks to combine with a special-purpose acquisition company, according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would usher the office-leasing company into the public markets more than a year after its high-profile failure to stage a traditional initial public offering. WeWork’s board and its Chief …

Headphone maker Koss Corp., whose heavily shorted stock has been among those skyrocketing in recent weeks amid support from investors on Reddit’s WallStreetBets message board, swung to a second-quarter profit thanks to higher sales. Shares of Koss rallied more than 45% in the extended session Thursday, after closing down 28% …

The numbers: Sales of newly built homes occurred at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 842,000 in December, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. That was 1.6% above the downwardly-revised pace of 829,000 in November. Analysts polled by MarketWatch had projected new-home sales to occur at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 875,000. Compared to …

When Congress ordered the Department of Education to stop garnishing the wages of borrowers who defaulted on their student loans as part of the CARES Act, the coronavirus relief bill passed in March, it took months for thousands to feel the impact in their paychecks.  Though the Department has refunded …

GameStop Corp.’s stock movement continued to turn efficient market theory on its head Wednesday, streaking to a record that valued the retail chain at more than $ 24 billion. GameStop GME, +134.84% shares rose as much as 157% to an intraday high of $ 380 Wednesday and closed up 135% …