Tariffs, market volatility and war in the Middle East couldn’t slow down the buying spree by individual investors, as they traded a record amount of stocks in the first half of the year. ... Read full Story
The GOP megabill has new tax breaks aimed at low- and moderate-income households, and spending cuts that could make it harder for some to receive public assistance or hold onto health insurance. ... Read full Story
The $7,500 tax credit that car shoppers can use for new EV purchases is set to expire at the end of September, according to the tax and spending bill that passed the House of Representatives on Thursday. ... Read full Story
By MarketWatch.com | Charles Passy | 7/3/2025 4:31 PM
Sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel are taking wagers on the famous Fourth of July eating contest — and interest is especially strong after Chestnut was banned last year. ... Read full Story
The Federal Reserve is likely to resume lowering interest rates in September, but it won’t be an easy call for the central bankers, economists said Thursday in the wake of the June jobs report. ... Read full Story
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite tallied fresh record closing highs on Thursday, buoyed by a stronger-than-expected jobs report that helped dampen expectations for a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in July. ... Read full Story
By MarketWatch.com | Brett Arends | 7/3/2025 3:08 PM
Jerome Powell and the Fed have been right to hold the line on interest rates, but Trump’s rate-cut demand can’t be held off for much longer. ... Read full Story
Also: A look ahead as the S&P 500 returns to setting record highs; how to decide on a Roth IRA conversion; and more pointed advice from the Moneyist. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 5, 2025 is:
cantankerous \kan-TANK-uh-rus\ adjective
A cantankerous person is often angry and annoyed, and a cantankerous animal or thing is difficult or irritating to deal with.
// Although the former postman was regarded by some townspeople as a scowling, cantankerous old coot, he was beloved by neighborhood children, to whom he would regularly hand out butterscotch candies from his front stoop with a twinkle in his eye.
“The film ‘Hard Truths,’ which opens in New York on Friday and nationwide in January, centers on [Marianne] Jean-Baptiste’s Pansy, a cantankerous middle-aged woman who spits venom at unsuspecting shop assistants, bald babies, her 20-something son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) and her dentist, among others.” — Simran Hans, The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2024
Did you know?
A person described as cantankerous may find it more difficult than most to turn that frown upside down, while a cantankerous mule/jalopy/etc. is difficult to deal with—it may not turn in your desired direction. It’s been speculated that cantankerous is a product of the obsolete word contack, meaning “contention,” under the influence of a pair of “difficult” words still in use: rancorous and cankerous. Rancorous brings the anger and “bitter deep-seated ill will” (as rancor can be understood to mean), and cankerous brings the perhaps understandable foul mood: a cankerous person suffers from painful sores—that is, cankers.