archivestocks and bonds

The U.S. dollar has been a symbol of American power for decades. Of the $7.5 trillion in global currency transactions that take place each day, some 90 percent feature the dollar. The majority of central banks see it as the core of their reserves. Consumers run to it in times of stress. Businesses prefer it for trade invoicing, whether they are based in Milwaukee or Malaysia.The dollar may not lose its globally dominant role anytime soon. After all, there isn’t an obvious alternative waiting in the wings. But it is...

NEW YORK — (AP) — U.S. stocks jumped in a widespread rally Tuesday, and other U.S. investments steadied a day after falling sharply on worries about President Donald Trump's trade war and his attacks on the head of the Federal Reserve.The S&P 500 climbed 2.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,016 points, or 2.7%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 2.7%. All three indexes more than made up their big losses from the start of the week.The value of the U.S. dollar also stabilized after sliding against the euro and...

NEW YORK — (AP) — U.S. stocks jumped in a widespread rally Tuesday, and other U.S. investments steadied a day after falling sharply on worries about President Donald Trump's trade war and his attacks on the head of the Federal Reserve.The S&P 500 climbed 2.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,016 points, or 2.7%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 2.7%. All three indexes more than made up their big losses from the start of the week.The value of the U.S. dollar also stabilized after sliding against the euro and...

Investing in choppy markets, especially with an unpredictable president at the helm, can be distressing. It can be even more so if you are relying on these investments to pay for something as important as your child’s college tuition, and you need the money in the foreseeable future.Plenty of busy parents found themselves in this position last week, reminded by the recent market plunge that college enrollment was creeping up on them, and some may not have dialed back their risky stock positions, or at least not enough.But situations like...

Last weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on television and said people who wanted to retire right now were not paying attention to the stock market.On the NBC program “Meet the Press,” referring to those who have “put away for years in their savings account,” he said the following: “I think they don’t look at the day-to-day fluctuations of what’s happening.”Is that true? I asked readers of our Your Money newsletter who were on the cusp of retirement whether they were watching the markets and, if so, why?About 400 people...

The bedrock of the financial system trembled on Friday, with government bond yields rising sharply as the chaotic rollout of tariffs shook investors’ faith in the pivotal role played by the United States in the financial system.U.S. government bonds, known as Treasuries because they are issued by the U.S. Treasury, are backed by the full faith of the American government, and the market for Treasuries has long been deemed one of the safest and most stable in the world.But the Treasury market’s erratic behavior all week has raised fears that...

A haunting childhood moment defined how John Kakuk would think about investing his own money when the time came. During the 2008 financial crisis, his mother asked him if he would be willing to contribute the meager savings in his piggy bank to his family’s grocery fund should his father, a lawyer, lose his job.“She was very anxious,” Mr. Kakuk, then 12, remembered.His family averted disaster. “As far as I know, we didn’t miss a mortgage payment, we didn’t get a car repossessed, nothing like that,” recalled Mr. Kakuk, 28,...

This time, maybe the stock market is the economy.Financial markets around the world have plummeted in the days since President Trump announced sweeping tariffs, setting off a global trade war. The S&P 500 declined more than 10 percent in two days last week, and it swung wildly on Monday amid news of further tariffs and rumors of delays. Stock indexes in Asia and Europe have fallen sharply as well.Experts often caution that the stock market can be a misleading measure of the broader economy. Share prices can move for a...

Wall Street’s main benchmark, the S&P 500, has lost more than 16 percent since setting an all-time high on Feb. 19, mostly because of worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs.Any kind of uncertainty around the economy will give Wall Street pause, but the trade war is making it more difficult for companies, households and others to feel confident enough to invest, spend and make long-term plans.The tariffs announced on “Liberation Day” sent stocks reeling to their worst day since since the COVID crash of 2020 because they were much harsher...

“Inflation is a low drip, like boiling a frog: The impact kind of creeps up on you, but when it hits, it doesn’t feel good,” Mr. Haynes said.Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can bail out of stocks now, then jump back in when the market stabilizes. Gains historically have come in unpredictable spurts, and the biggest advances often come within days of the worst declines. If you missed the 10 best days over the 20 years from 2005 to 2024, you would have reduced your returns by more than...