Preliminary estimates suggest that suicide deaths declined amid the unprecedented mental-health and economic challenges last year. But experts are urging against complacency — and raising concerns about certain populations during the pandemic’s second year. The U.S. had 2,677 fewer suicide deaths in 2020 than in 2019, translating to a 5.6% …
Read More »
Europe overtook China in 2020 to become the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, amid a pedal-to-the-metal push to increase EV adoption from governments and supercharged demand from consumers. The registrations of new electric vehicles topped 1.33 million in the key European markets last year, compared with 1.25 million in …
Read More »
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 …
Read More »
Gold futures declined in Wednesday dealings, with the precious metal relinquishing some of the modest recovery from the previous session amid a trifecta of headwinds: a stronger U.S. dollar, rising stocks and higher bond yields. “Higher yields in the US are continuing to provide some support for the dollar which, …
Read More »
Interest rates declined for the sixth consecutive month to 3.40% in June, according to the latest Ellie Mae Insight Report. Rates for 30-year fixed-rate conventional loans and FHA loans dropped to 3.40%, and rates on VA loans dropped to 3.20%. New purchase loans now make up 42% of all closed …
Read More »
(FILES) This file photo taken on September 25, 2014 shows a packet of Camel cigaretes taken in Paris. joel saget/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images British American Tobacco said its first-half profit edged higher, as sales of higher-priced items and cost cuts offset a fall in volume. British American Tobacco BATS, +1.11% BTI, …
Read More »
Stephen Roach, a Yale University senior fellow and former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman, tells MarketWatch that his forecast for a sharp deterioration of the U.S. dollar could be a very near-term phenomenon, not an event that looms off in the distance. “I do think it’s something that happens sooner rather …
Read More »
Oil prices failed to find support on Wednesday, even after U.S. government data showed an unexpected weekly decline in domestic crude supplies, along with a fall in stocks at the Cushing, Okla. storage hub. “Any further upside [for prices] will be rather tepid from here,” said Tariq Zahir, managing member …
Read More »
U.S. stocks have soared, but low trading volume suggests many investors got shaken out in March and have been sulking on the sidelines. As the chart below shows, trading volume for the SPDR S&P 500 Trust SPY, -2.23%, which tracks the benchmark S&P 500 Index SPX, -2.28%, rose during the …
Read More »