The Market

U.S. stock benchmarks turned higher Monday, following losses for all three major indexes last week as investors weighed brightening economic prospects against worries that interest rates will climb sooner than anticipated. Investors will be attentive to comments from a parade of speakers from the Federal Reserve, including those from Chairman …

SYDNEY — Blackstone Group Inc. made a takeover offer for Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd. valued at $ 6 billion, as regulators investigate Crown’s business practices and threaten to rescind its casinos licenses. The U.S. investment firm has offered 11.85 Australian dollars, or the equivalent of $ 9.15, a share for Crown, a 20% premium …

People who are staring at a federal income tax bill are getting a bit of a breather, now that the Internal Revenue Service has set May 17 as the new deadline to pay 2020 taxes and file a return during this tumultuous tax season. But gig workers, freelancers and self-employed …

Michael Cohen, former President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, said in a newly unsealed court document that he learned about startups in prison, as he pleaded to be released early from home confinement. Cohen — who was convicted in 2018 on charges including campaign-finance violations related to a hush-money scheme …

Dear Quentin, How can one best give sizable cash gifts to family and friends without being seen as “flaunting wealth”? We have some family and friends who are struggling to make ends meet, particularly as a result of the pandemic. Having means, we chose to help them financially and sent …

Dear Quentin, I don’t know where to start. So I will start at the beginning. I met a man at a friend’s wedding a few years ago. He was charming in that British-man-in-America sort of way (Hugh Grant has a lot to answer for), he told jokes (perhaps too many …

Dear MarketWatch,  I’m a single 54-year-old female looking to retire in the next 10 years, but looking to move to my future retirement spot during the next two years. I love dry summer weather, hiking, biking, water sports, year-round outdoor living. I don’t like cold, snowy winters, unless I’m driving …

COMO, Italy — The death rate is on the rise. In the last 24 hours in Italy, there have been 25,735 new cases of COVID-19, with the rate of infection stable at 7%, as half of Italy’s regions are once again in strict lockdown as designated red zones, one year …

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris expressed outrage and sympathy on Friday as they visited Atlanta to meet with Asian-American leaders in the wake of shootings that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent. “Hate can have no safe harbor in America,” Biden said in …