Markets News, March 26, 2026: Stocks End Sharply Lower, Oil Surges as Investors Digest Iran News; Nasdaq Closes in Correction Territory
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Stock Market Today: Indexes End Sharply Lower, Oil Surges as Investors Digest Iran News; Nasdaq Closes in Correction Territory
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Meta’s stock drops almost 8% as 2 court defeats add to Zuckerberg’s recent woes
Meta suffered stinging defeats in two separate trials involving child safety that underscore shifting public sentiment toward the social media industry.
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Oscars to leave Hollywood for downtown Los Angeles in 2029
Oscars to end over two-decade run at Dolby Theatre the same year it moves broadcast to YouTube
The Oscars are moving to a new venue, ending a more than two-decade run in Hollywood during the same year the Academy moves its annual awards broadcast to YouTube.
The Academy Awards will move to the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles starting in 2029. The venue, located within the 4m sq ft LA Live sports and entertainment complex will serve as the Oscars’ new home from the 101st ceremony through 2039.
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Market guide: Where the S&P 500 may be headed, depending on how the Iran war goes
The stock market has struggled this month as investors worried that persistently high oil prices will drive up costs and dampen consumer spending.
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Bitwise Announces Monthly Distributions for IMST, ICOI, IMRA, IGME, ICRC, and IETH
SAN FRANCISCO, March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bitwise Asset Management, a leading crypto asset manager, today announced the monthly distributions for its suite of Option Income Strategy ETFs: IMST, ICOI, IMRA, IGME, ICRC, and IETH.
|
Fund |
Ticker |
Distribution Per Share |
Distribution Rate |
30-Day SEC Yield |
Return of Capital |
Ex-Date / Record Date |
Payment Date |
1-Month Return |
1-Year Return |
Since Inception |
|
Bitwise Option |
$0.51618 |
50.68 % |
0.00 % |
100.00 % |
03/27/2026 |
03/31/3026 |
4.28 % |
N/A |
-27.64 % |
|
|
Bitwise MARA Option |
$0.24994 |
22.66 % |
0.00 % |
100.00 % |
03/27/2026 |
03/31/3026 |
-1.52 % |
N/A |
-42.91 % |
|
|
Bitwise Option |
$0.49519 |
51.01 % |
0.00 % |
100.00 % |
03/27/2026 |
03/31/3026 |
10.52 % |
N/A |
-47.71 % |
|
|
Bitwise GME Income |
$0.85361 |
40.29 % |
0.00 % |
57.40 % |
03/27/2026 |
03/31/3026 |
2.04 % |
N/A |
-11.58 % |
|
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Netflix raises prices across all streaming plans
The price hike comes as Netflix has been investing heavily in its content, including new ventures into the live events space and launching video podcasts.
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Oil prices rise as Iran rejects direct U.S. talks despite proposal review
Oil prices rose after Iran signaled it had no intention of holding direct talks with the United States.
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Rachel Reeves urged to raise taxes on companies profiting from war on Iran
Charities say taxes should rise for banks, defence and energy companies which stand to make windfall profits
Rachel Reeves is being urged to raise taxes on businesses generating “windfall” profits linked to the US-Israel war on Iran to fund emergency cost of living support for UK households.
With the government under pressure to respond, a group of leading charities, campaigners and trade unions said the chancellor could raise billions by taxing “excess profits” linked to the conflict.
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Apple expands U.S. manufacturing pledge, putting a third portfolio name under its umbrella
Qnity Electronics joins Broadcom and Corning.
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Anchorage Digital Bridges TRON To US Institutions With New Custody Support
Anchorage Digital is adding support for the TRON blockchain to expand U.S. institutional access.
Institutions can now custody TRX, TRON’s native token, through its platform and self-custody wallet, Porto. Future updates will include support for TRC-20 tokens and native TRX staking.
This integration strengthens Anchorage’s role as a key regulated infrastructure provider for TRON in the U.S. as it expands into institutional markets.
TRON is widely used globally, particularly for stablecoin activity and high-volume transactions.
“TRON is one of the most widely used blockchain networks globally, and its ecosystem continues to play an important role in the growth of digital assets and stablecoins,” said Anchorage Digital co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley.
TRON founder Justin Sun said the partnership reflects …
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Balloon Mortgages Explained: Key Features and Considerations
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Do 401(k) Withdrawals Affect Your Social Security Payments?
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These inflation-protected plays can help investors manage the impact of higher prices
Rising inflation can corrode near-retirees’ purchasing power, but there are a few ways to address the problem in your portfolio.
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Stock Market Today: Major Indexes Drop, Oil Moves Back Above $100/Barrel as Investors Digest Iran News; Nasdaq Poised to Close in Correction Territory
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March Monthly Meeting: Cramer shares his favorite stocks with wide moats
There will be no Morning Meeting on March 27. Join Jim Cramer for the March Monthly Meeting on March 27 at 12 p.m. ET.AI fears, geopolitical turmoil, and stubborn inflation: Companies have been under a ton of pressure this year. But looking further out, some names are set-up with better competitive advantages. Join Jim Cramer and Jeff Marks as they look at the companies with edges — and those without — along with updates on all 33 stocks in the portfolio.
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The Optimal Number of Stocks for Portfolio Diversification
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Spanish woman who won legal battle for right to euthanasia has assisted death
Noelia Castillo, 25, a paraplegic, had suffered from psychiatric illness and lived in constant pain
A Spanish woman who spent months fighting her father for the right to euthanasia after being sexually assaulted and becoming paraplegic has finally ended her life on her own terms by means of an assisted death.
Noelia Castillo, 25, had struggled with psychiatric illness since she was a teenager and tried to kill herself in October 2022 after being sexually assaulted. The attempt left her in constant pain and using a wheelchair. Eighteen months later, she used Spain’s euthanasia law, which was introduced in 2021, to secure permission to end her life.
In Spain, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 900 525 100. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie
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Best Jumbo CD Rates Our Experts Found Today, March 26, 2026: Up to 4.15%
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ICI Data Shows Retirement Assets Total $49.1 Trillion in Fourth Quarter 2025
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Total US retirement assets were $49.1 trillion as of December 31, 2025, up 2.1 percent from September and up 11.2 percent for the year. Retirement assets accounted for 34 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of December 2025.
Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) totaled $19.2 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of 1.7 percent from the end of the third quarter of 2025. Defined contribution (DC) plan assets were $14.2 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter, up 1.7 percent from September 30, 2025. Government defined benefit (DB) plans—including federal, state, and local government plans—held $10.0 trillion in assets as of the end of December 2025, a …
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Hertfordshire police to reinvestigate Andrew Tate sexual abuse claims
Announcement comes after IOPC said it was examining force’s response to allegations made in 2014 and 2015
A police force under investigation over its handling of sexual abuse claims against the self-professed misogynist Andrew Tate has reopened an inquiry into allegations against him.
Hertfordshire police said they had made the decision to reinvestigate alleged rape and sexual assault offences in the light of previous failures in 2014 and 2015.
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Elon Musk’s Boring Company eyes underground tunnel projects in 2 major US cities
Several U.S. cities could soon see major underground transportation upgrades led by billionaire Elon Musk’s The Boring Company (TBC).
In a Tuesday post on X, the construction company named the winners of its nationwide “Tunnel Vision Challenge,” naming New Orleans, Louisiana, and Dallas, Texas, as candidates for new transportation systems.
“Thanks again to all of the participants — your enthusiasm and positivity has been inspiring for the TBC team,” the company wrote.
Baltimore, Maryland, was initially named as a winner, but TBC later announced Wednesday that the project will not move forward following early discussions.
MUSK SAYS TESLA, SPACEX TO BUILD ADVANCED CHIP MANUFACTURING FACILITY
The next phase will involve collaboration with local officials and regulators, along with geotechnical borings to determine feasibility.
In a Wednesday update, TBC provided additional details on its early discussions with local leaders in both Dallas and New Orleans, saying both proposed projects had “great initial meetings.”
Two additional cities — Hendersonville, Tennessee, and San Antonio, Texas — remain under consideration as discussions continue.
ELON MUSK MISLED TWITTER INVESTORS AHEAD OF ACQUISITION, JURY SAYS
The challenge, which launched in January, invited proposals for a one-mile tunnel concept, with the winning concept promised a free build.
Separately, TBC was recently selected to begin negotiations on a proposed underground transit system connecting Universal Orlando’s parks.
The company’s most notable project is the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop, which opened in 2021 after about a year of construction.
ALTMAN CALLS MUSK’S SPACE DATA CENTER PLANS ‘RIDICULOUS’ FOR CURRENT AI COMPUTING NEEDS
The system reduced a 45-minute walk across the convention campus to roughly two minutes, according to its website.
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The Vegas Loop was later expanded in 2024 to 2.1 miles and five stations.
TBC could not be immediately reached by FOX Business for comment.
FOX Business’ Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
Trump has deployed ICE agents to the nation’s airports. What’s their role?
The president says ICE agents are being stationed at airports to help reduce long wait times. Here’s a look at what they’re authorized to do.
(Image credit: Nam Y. Huh)
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CFTC Chair Says Crypto Perpetuals Are Coming To The US ‘In The Next Few Weeks’
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig expects to approve perpetual futures contracts for crypto trading in the U.S. within the next few weeks, ending years of offshore dominance by exchanges like Binance and bringing a popular trading product back to American markets.
The Perpetual Problem
Crypto perpetual futures exploded offshore around 2017-2018 as U.S. regulators remained averse to the product despite its popularity.
The main regulatory hurdle centers on how to characterize perpetuals under the Commodity Exchange Act, which originally only covered futures contracts and options before Dodd-Frank added swaps.
The debate focuses on whether perpetuals qualify as “contracts for future delivery” given their perpetual existence with no settlement date.
This uncertainty forced U.S. exchanges to launch workarounds like Coinbase’s (NASDAQ:COIN) 50-year futures contracts that mimic perpetuals without technically being perpetual.
“We’re going to fix that,” Selig said. …
YouGov withdraws survey said to show rising church attendance in England and Wales
Research suggested resurgence in Christianity, especially among young people, but some respondents found to be ‘fraudulent’
A YouGov survey showing a significant rise in church attendance in parts of the UK has been withdrawn after some respondents were found to be fraudulent.
The poll was central to a Quiet Revival report, published by the Bible Society last year, which prompted news stories about an apparent resurgence in Christianity, particularly among young people.
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Trump says officials who opened probe into Powell showed ‘courage’
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Labour failing to live up to ambition to overhaul public services, analysis finds
Ministers not on course to meet their objectives, including to shift power from Whitehall to local areas, says IfG
Keir Starmer’s drive to overhaul public services is failing to live up to its aims of shifting power from Whitehall to local areas, a report from the Institute for Government (IfG) has found.
Last summer, the government set out its three guiding principles for reform aimed at making public services such as the NHS, court system and children’s social care easier to access and better at helping people.
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Is Day Trading Profitable?
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Stock Market Today: Major Indexes SinkDrop, Oil Moves Back Above $100/Barrel as Investors Digest Iran News; Nasdaq Poised to Close in Correction Territory
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Meta boosts investment in West Texas AI data center by over sixfold to $10 billion
Meta is increasing investment at a data center in El Paso, Texas, to $10 billion from $1.5 billion, as the company ramps up spending on AI infrastructure.
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Why memory chip stocks are getting hit hard for the second day in a row
Every weekday, the Investing Club releases the Homestretch; an actionable afternoon update just in time for the last hour of trading.
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Mike Novogratz Says Bitcoin Trading Well Through War Chaos, Sees Grind To $80,000 With Few Sellers Left
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has outperformed nearly every major asset class during the US-Iran conflict, according to Galaxy Digital Inc (NASDAQ:GLXY) CEO Mike Novogratz.
Novogratz said he expects BTC to grind toward $80,000 before meeting real resistance. “It doesn’t trade stunningly well, but it’s outperformed a ton of other assets in this wartime,” he said. “There are not a lot of sellers left.”
What Novogratz Is Seeing
Bitcoin dipped to $67,000 earlier this month as oil spiked above $100 and Treasury yields surged.
Korea, Japan, gold and silver all got hit harder.
The S&P 500 stayed surprisingly intact, which Novogratz attributed partly to US large-cap growth names like Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) acting as earnings machines less exposed to energy shocks.
Speaking on the latest All Things Markets podcast …
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Crude Oil Catapults As U.S.-Iran Lock Horns Over Peace Proposal
(RTTNews) – Crude oil has skyrocketed on Thursday as the U.S.-Iran standoff over the 15-point peace proposal deepens the Middle East conflict.
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Hungary charges journalist after claims minister was in touch with Moscow
Investigative reporter Szabolcs Panyi covered story alleging foreign minister had passed information to Sergei Lavrov
The Hungarian government has filed charges against one of the country’s most prominent investigative journalists, accusing him of spying for Ukraine, as officials grapple with the fallout of allegations that Budapest shared confidential EU information with Moscow.
The claims of espionage cap off a tumultuous week in Hungarian politics, in which relations with the EU plummeted to new lows and polls suggested that Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party is still lagging behind in support before next month’s election.
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New York City hospitals drop Palantir as controversial AI firm expands in UK
The decision follows activist pressure as Palantir faces growing scrutiny over NHS and UK government deals
New York City’s public hospital system announced that it would not be renewing its contract with Palantir as controversy mounts in the UK over the data analytics and AI firm’s government contract.
The president of the US’ largest municipal public health care system, Dr Mitchell Katz, testified last week before the New York City Council that the agreement with Palantir would expire in October.
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Nicolás Maduro asks US court to throw out case against him
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KKR Acquires Nothing Bundt Cakes From Roark Capital For $2 Billion
KKR & Co Inc (NYSE:KKR) is acquiring Nothing Bundt Cakes from private equity firm Roark Capital for more than $2 billion.
The company added 390 locations since Roark acquired the chain in 2021. The private equity firm has been looking for a buyer for the U.S. bakery chain since last year, Restaurant Business reported.
• KKR shares are advancing steadily. Why are KKR shares climbing?
Nothing Bundt Cakes was founded in 1997 by Dena Trip and Debbie Shwetz. The bakery makes customizable bundt cakes for all occasions and has more than 600 locations across the U.S.
KKR previously …
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Los Angeles County board votes to analyze Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger’s job impact
Los Angeles County voted in favor of an analysis into the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery and its impact on the entertainment industry.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the motion Tuesday to have the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) conduct a “comprehensive economic impact analysis” on the direct and indirect impact the merger could have on employment in the county.
“Entertainment is more than what we watch on a screen—it’s part of who we are as Angelenos and a cornerstone of our economy. Thousands of families rely on this industry for their livelihoods, and we must protect their jobs and our signature industry,” Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath said in a statement.
She continued, “As the proposed merger moves forward, we need a clear understanding of its impacts on jobs, competition, and the future of storytelling. Today, we took action to support workers, strengthen our local economy, and keep Los Angeles at the center of the global entertainment industry.”
According to Horvath, who proposed the motion, the DEO will “develop workforce strategies, including job training and placement programs, to support and retain entertainment industry workers” and report back to the Los Angeles board in 60 days with a final report due in 120 days.
Los Angeles County Counsel will then submit a final report to the Department of Justice regarding potential antitrust issues.
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Actress Jane Fonda, who heads the Committee for the First Amendment, supported the motion for “fighting” for the entertainment industry.
“Los Angeles runs on the creativity and hard work of the people behind our entertainment industry. As this acquisition moves forward, we need to make sure workers and storytellers aren’t left behind. I’m grateful to Supervisor Lindsey Horvath for fighting for our industry and for the people who power it every day,” Fonda said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Paramount for a comment.
WHY NETFLIX’S CEO DROPPED HIS BID TO BUY WARNER BROS DISCOVERY AND TRUMP ‘DIDN’T CARE’
Paramount won the ongoing bidding war to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery in February, though the merger has not yet been finalized.
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Critics of the bid have expressed concerns that the consolidation of two legacy studios under one company could lead to mass layoffs in the entertainment industry. Others have expressed fears over Paramount CEO David Ellison, who has a friendly relationship with President Donald Trump, having control over CNN.
Musk’s lawsuit against X advertisers thrown out by US judge
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London has England’s highest levels of child poverty, data shows
About 38% of children in London live in relative poverty, compared with 29% in England as a whole
London has England’s highest levels of child poverty and most extreme concentrations of hardship, data has revealed. In two boroughs more than half of children live below the breadline.
In Britain, child poverty rates flatlined in 2024-25 compared with the previous year. About 4 million youngsters (27%) live in households earning less than 60% of the national median income after housing costs are taken into account.
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Reform busy firefighting in Scotland but may yet set Holyrood’s politics ablaze
With Nigel Farage’s party neck and neck with Labour for second place behind the SNP, disruption seems likely
Hope, change, progressive change, change with fairness at its heart – from a harbour north of Edinburgh to a hipster arts venue in Glasgow’s Barras Market, Scotland’s political parties spent the first official day of the Holyrood election campaign reaching for the phrase that best encapsulates what people will get if they vote for them on 7 May.
Only one of the main parties did not hold an event to set out their stall on Thursday: possibly Reform UK was too busy firefighting after another of its Scottish parliament candidates quit, bringing to four the number who have stepped down or been suspended since they stood with the party leader, Nigel Farage, under a hail of turquoise confetti last week.
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Volunteer Met officer ‘sought to intimidate Al Jazeera journalists’
Scotland Yard investigating off-duty officer’s apparent involvement in altercation with journalists covering arson attack in Golders Green
A volunteer police officer is being investigated over claims he sought to intimidate Al Jazeera journalists who were covering a suspected antisemitic hate crime in north-west London on Monday, Scotland Yard has said.
David Soffer, who was off-duty at the time of his alleged involvement, has been referred to the Met’s department of professional standards over his apparent involvement in the altercation between Golders Green residents and the journalists.
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From 4% to 22%: Car loan rates by credit score and where to find the lowest APRs
Some of the highest average rates reached 21.85% for deep subprime borrowers looking to finance a used car.
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Stock Market Today: Major Indexes Sink, Oil Moves Back Above $100/Barrel as Investors Digest Iran News; Nasdaq Poised to Close in Correction Territory
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NS&I boss forced out as bank faces £470m payout over missing savings
Pensions minister promises the ‘full truth’ as external advisers are hired to identify the scale of the errors
The chief executive of the state-backed National Savings and Investments bank has been forced out over a scandal that left thousands of bereaved families owed almost £500m.
The savings institution is in discussions with the Treasury to repay about 37,500 people who collectively have £470m in deposits trapped in the bank after long-running operational errors.
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This emerging market is sizzling while U.S. stocks falter, charts show
Jay Woods breaks down the charts on this emerging market.
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AI Is Making CEOs Step Down, Too
US senators aim to sanction Hungary over obstructing Ukraine aid
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Key Social Security Updates You Should Know
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BlackRock’s Larry Fink says expanding market participation is needed to address wealth gap amid AI boom
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned in his annual chairman’s letter that wealth inequality could worsen if more people don’t participate in financial markets to reap the benefits of investing.
Fink said that the vast majority of wealth has flowed to people who own assets, as opposed to those who earned most of their income from working, and warned that artificial intelligence (AI) could exacerbate that trend.
“Since 1989, a dollar in the U.S. stock market has grown more than 15 times the value of a dollar tied to median wages. Now AI threatens to repeat that pattern at an even larger scale – concentrating wealth among the companies and investors positioned to capture it,” Fink wrote.
He said that at the corporate level, the companies that have the “data, infrastructure, and capital to deploy AI at scale are positioned to benefit disproportionately.”
BLACKROCK CEO SAYS TRUMP ACCOUNTS COULD BE A ‘VERY SIGNIFICANT STEP’ FOR YOUNG AMERICANS
“That is not unusual, and none of this is inherently problematic. Market leadership has always shifted with technological change,” Fink said. “The broader question is who participates in the gains. When market capitalization rises but ownership remains narrow, prosperity can feel increasingly distant to those on the outside.”
He noted that it’s unclear how the deployment of AI will impact the labor force, particularly for entry-level white-collar workers.
BLACKROCK: AS AMERICANS STRUGGLE TO SAVE FOR RETIREMENT, 71% BACK THIS TRUMP PROPOSAL
Fink added that, historically, automation has boosted productivity and, over time, broadened the range of work available even as certain roles were displaced – though he cautioned that “new roles take time to emerge, and workers don’t always move seamlessly from old ones to new ones.”
“One thing is clear: AI will create significant economic value. Ensuring that participation in that growth expands alongside it is both the challenge and the opportunity,” he wrote.
Fink went on to discuss ways to broaden participation in financial markets to expand access to the market to a larger segment of Americans.
BLACKROCK’S LARRY FINK SAYS US STILL TOP DESTINATION FOR GLOBAL INVESTORS TO PARK MONEY
He said that the newly created Trump Accounts could be a “very significant step” in encouraging young people to put their money in the market.
Trump Accounts are savings accounts given to newborns and seeded with money from the government and philanthropic benefactors as well as parental contributions that are invested in a broad index of U.S. stocks. They may also be created for people under the age of 18, and are held in custody by a parent or guardian until the child turns 18.
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Fink said market-based approaches like that could also be used for programs like Social Security to stabilize the safety net program, which is approaching insolvency in under a decade.
DOJ admits ICE courthouse arrests relied on erroneous information
Hundreds of immigrants have been arrested at immigration courthouses. It is unclear whether the federal government’s admission could lead to some of those arrests being overturned.
(Image credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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Why Is Cipher Digital (CIFR) Stock Falling Thursday?
Cipher Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR) shares are trading lower during Thursday’s session. The decline follows a volatile week for the data center operator.
Bitcoin Pullback Pressures Crypto Miners
Digital asset markets are facing downward pressure today. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell 2.93% over the last 24 hours to approximately $68,983.
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also shed 1.74% and 1.28%, respectively.
Insider Activity Triggers Caution
Investors are reacting to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing from Wednesday. Director Cary Grossman sold 30,000 shares on Monday. The transaction occurred at an average price of $14.54 per share. This sale reduced Grossman’s total …
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Trump describes UK aircraft carriers as ‘toys’ in latest anti-Nato jibe
Starmer tells MPs he will not react to US president’s repeated insults amid Iran war
Donald Trump has dismissed British warships as “toys” in his latest jibe at Nato countries for their lack of involvement in the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Speaking at the White House on Thursday, he claimed he had told the UK: “Don’t bother, we don’t need it.”
Trump has previously alleged that he requested two aircraft carriers from the UK that Keir Starmer had initially rejected and then offered to send. Number 10 has denied that a request was made or denied.
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Iran’s hardline new leaders take control
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US House speaker gives Trump so-called ‘America First’ award amid global chaos
Critics have mocked Mike Johnson and Republicans for presenting the president with the newly concocted award
Amid an aggressive war in Iran, heightening and devastating pressure on Cuba, immigration enforcement operations throughout the country and a partial government shutdown, the lead Republican in the House has given Donald Trump a newly concocted award.
Democrats, lawmakers and commentators are criticizing and ridiculing the “America First” award given to Trump on Wednesday evening during the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser.
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Understanding 457 Plans: Post-Retirement Withdrawals & Rollovers
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Nepal’s PM-to-be uses rap to call for unity in first post-election message
Balendra Shah, 35, is a symbol of change in country whose government was toppled last year in youth-led uprising
Nepal’s rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah, who is about to be sworn in as the new prime minister, has issued his first post-election message via rap, urging unity.
Hours before the release he swore an oath as a newly elected lawmaker and is due to become the Himalayan republic’s new prime minister on Friday.
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Smart Money Is Moving Active—Northern Trust’s US Equity ETF Eyes The Spotlight
The active ETF boom just gained another heavyweight entrant. Northern Trust has launched the Northern Trust U.S. Equity ETF (NYSE:NOEQ), stepping beyond its traditionally niche, income-focused lineup into the highly competitive core U.S. equity space. The fund, which debuted on March 20, comes at a time when actively managed ETFs are seeing strong inflows as investors look for professional navigation in volatile markets.
NOEQ signals a strategic shift for the firm, which has historically leaned on its FlexShares brand for broader …
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Gold Plummets As Expectations Of An End To Gulf War Fade
(RTTNews) – Reversing the gains from yesterday, gold prices have plunged on Thursday as inflationary concerns drew back investors’ attention after the U.S. and Iran hardened their stances.
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Lawmakers call for Air Canada chief to resign after English-only message to plane crash victims
Quebec’s legislature passes vote calling on Michael Rousseau to step down, citing ‘lack of respect for the French language’ and families in mourning
The chief executive of Air Canada has apologized for his inability to express himself in French after politicians called for his resignation for his English-only message of condolence after Sunday’s deadly crash in New York.
But lawmakers in Canada’s lone Francophone province rejected the mea culpa as “too little too late” and overwhelmingly passed a motion calling for the head of Canada’s flagship carrier to step down.
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The delusion of easy victory from the air may have seduced the US into another war
Air superiority is supposed to deliver a quick triumph. But history has shown that promise to be written on the wind
To explore the roots of Donald Trump’s Iran military strategy and the pugilistic rhetoric of his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, means looking back 105 years. In 1921, a year before Benito Mussolini and his blackshirts marched on Rome to launch the Fascist era, an Italian general named Giulio Douhet published The Command of the Air, proposing a revolution in warfare.
Victory in the future, he said, would no longer come from the grinding trench combat of the Great War. Instead it meant large-scale aerial bombardments, targeting not just combatants but civilians and civilian infrastructure and logistics.
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Taxation of Treasury Bills: What You Need to Know
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Exclusive: Megapot raises $5 million to create a crypto-powered global lottery
Most lotteries are contained within a country or a state, and much of the time, people have to go to a physical location to buy a ticket. Patrick Lung founded Megapot in order to create a global lottery where people around the world can buy tickets from their phone.
On Thursday, the startup announced that it raised $5 million in a funding round led by Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Bankless Ventures, and the founders behind FanDuel, Betfair, and MyPrize. Lung declined to share the startup’s valuation, in an interview with Fortune.
Lung said he founded Megapot also because he viewed it as a way to bring the masses to blockchain. “I wanted to go build something that can actually bring a billion people on chain, so they can get all the benefits of crypto,” he said.
People can buy Megapot tickets from more than 150 countries, and it costs one dollar to buy a ticket for the daily lottery. Megapot has had 19 jackpot winners, with one person taking home about $200,000, according to Lung. The platform is not available in about 30 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
Crypto is the engine behind his startup, Lung said. Its permissionless protocols run on Base, a network built on Ethereum, meaning that anyone can access it, interact with it, and developers can build on top of it. Megapot also uses stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency often pegged to the U.S. dollar, to pay out users around the world.
Lung founded Megapot in January 2024 after working for about eight years at tech and crypto companies like Microsoft, Lyft, and Uniswap. His company currently has seven employees.
Megapot launched the latest version of its lottery on Tuesday, and it earns revenue by charging fees on tickets sold through its site. With the new capital from the raise, the startup plans to expand to more countries. Lung said that traditional lotteries are his company’s main competition, and that Megapot can offer larger jackpots and better odds than this incumbent system.
Lung cited his mom as the inspiration behind Megapot, “I want to build a product that’s actually built for my mom. [She] has actually bought a lottery ticket for two decades now every weekend,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to build …something that I can share with any person and they instantly understand why it should exist.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Lemonis calls out Democrat’s ‘disingenuous’ claim Trump wasn’t a factor in Florida election upset
Businessman Marcus Lemonis cast doubt on Florida Democrat Emily Gregory’s claim that President Donald Trump played no role in her recent election upset, saying it was unrealistic to suggest voters weren’t talking about the president.
“I didn’t appreciate the disingenuous nature of it,” Lemonis said during an appearance on “Varney & Co.”, reacting to remarks Gregory made on MS Now’s “Ana Cabrera Reports.”
Cabrera had asked the Florida Democrat, who flipped the deep-red Florida district that houses President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, how much voters have talked to her about the president, prompting her to suggest the issue had been absent from conversations.
LIZ PEEK: TRUMP’S ECONOMIC WINS ARE REAL — NOW HE NEEDS TO CONVINCE THE COUNTRY
“I would say roughly zero… it really was not a factor for any of my voters, any of my now constituents,” Gregory replied, adding that affordability was her winning issue instead.
“They’re focused on their lives, they’re focused on the absolute crushing cost of goods, the squeeze they are feeling. That’s what I heard every single day at the door, not the most famous constituent down the road,” she said.
Lemonis reacted in disbelief, telling Varney that, while affordability is a major concern for many voters, it strains credibility to suggest Trump has not been part of her discussions.
FED’S POWELL SAYS IT’S ‘TOO SOON TO KNOW’ IRAN WAR’S IMPACT ON ECONOMY
“Affordability is an issue… but to create this idea that nobody’s talking about the President of the United States, regardless of whose party, it just feels like she’s almost trying to make him a non-event,” he said.
At the same time, Lemonis warned Republicans will need a “very clear message” on the issue ahead of November’s midterms, saying his message to Trump would be to acknowledge that the issue is real.
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“I would say to him, ‘Listen, we need to stop exaggerating that this is the greatest economy we’ve ever seen and that there [are] no problems out there.’ And we need to say to people. ‘Listen, there’s a lot of things that we’re doing right, and there are a number of things that are not happening as well as they should be, and here’s what I’m gonna do about it,'” he said.
“When you talk to Americans and tell them that everything is fine, they don’t like it, regardless of what side they’re on.”
Why AleAnna (ANNA) Stock Is Trending Higher Thursday
AleAnna Inc. (NASDAQ:ANNA) shares are trading higher Thursday as energy markets react to new geopolitical developments.
WTI crude oil futures rose more than 3% to $93.5 per barrel. The Nasdaq is down 1.04% while the S&P 500 has shed 0.64%.
This spike followed a fresh warning from President Donald Trump to Iran. The administration aims to advance peace talks to end regional conflicts. These conflicts continue to disrupt global energy supplies.
White House Issues “Hell” Warning
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the situation in a Wednesday briefing. “If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment… President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before… he is prepared to unleash hell,” Leavitt stated.
This rhetoric follows contradictory reports regarding …
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MEPs back plans for ‘return hubs’, raising fears of ‘human rights black holes’
European parliament votes in favour of sending refused asylum seekers to offshore hubs, in ‘historic setback for refugee rights’
People with no right to stay in the EU could be detained for up to two years or sent to offshore centres described by experts as possible “human rights black holes” under plans voted for by the European parliament on Thursday.
An alliance of mostly centre-right and far-right lawmakers voted for a proposal to increase returns of undocumented migrants to their home countries, in a further sign of strain on the grand coalition of centrist political forces that has traditionally driven EU lawmaking.
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Bitcoin’s Next Leg Down Is Coming And It Will Catch Most People Off Guard, Says Benjamin Cowen
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) will likely break below $60,000 in the coming weeks despite a false sense of security that prices will simply range between $60,000-$70,000 for the rest of the year, according to crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen’s historical pattern analysis.
The Midterm Year Pattern
Cowen points to a consistent pattern across midterm years: Bitcoin finds a low in February, rallies to a lower high in March, then drops into April.
This played out in 2014, 2018, and 2022—and appears to be repeating in 2026.
Bitcoin’s year-to-date returns historically start heading down around day 82-90 of the year.
The market currently sits on day 86, placing the potential breakdown within the next week or two based on historical precedent.
In 2014, 2018, and 2022, Bitcoin found resistance at the 21-week EMA or 20-week SMA during March rallies before rolling over. In 2026, Bitcoin hasn’t even reached that resistance level yet, suggesting weakness compared to prior cycles.
Why The Outperformance Narrative Is Wrong
Cowen challenges the narrative that Bitcoin …
Why Reddit Shares Are Trending Lower On Thursday?
Reddit Inc (NYSE:RDDT) stock is trading lower on Thursday. The decline follows a period of small executive stock sales, and broader market volatility is also pressuring the stock.
Broader Market Weakness
The social media platform faces headwinds from a declining tech sector. On Thursday, the Nasdaq dropped 1.35%. Similarly, the S&P 500 shed 0.99%. Reddit is underperforming these major indices today as all high-growth stocks are taking a beating, with investors rotating out of high-growth tech stocks.
Insider Sales Impact Sentiment
Recent SEC filings show insider selling by Reddit executives. Chief Technology Officer Christopher Brian Slowe sold 2,000 shares in a transaction executed on Thursday, totaling about …
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Elon Musk’s X Loses Advertiser Boycott Lawsuit As ‘Teflon Elon’ Legal Streak Unravels
A federal judge threw out Elon Musk’s antitrust lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers, Nestle, Shell (NYSE:SHEL), Mars, CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) on Thursday, ruling that X Corp failed to prove it was harmed by an alleged advertising boycott.
U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle didn’t just throw the case out, she ruled X can never refile it, saying the alleged conspiracy didn’t qualify as an antitrust violation in the first place.
The Backstory
X filed the suit in August 2024, claiming the advertisers used a WFA initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media to collectively pull billions in ad revenue from the platform after Musk’s 2022 Twitter takeover.
GARM folded within days of the filing, unable to fund a legal defense. That looked like a win for Musk …
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United Airlines, flight attendants reach labor deal for first raises since pandemic
United Airlines and its flight attendants union reached a new labor deal.
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Trump’s war in Iran is costing the U.S. economy 10,000 jobs a month, Goldman Sachs says
The U.S. military conflict with Iran is quietly draining the American labor market, with Goldman Sachs estimating that the oil price shock triggered by the war will suppress payroll growth by roughly 10,000 jobs per month through the end of the year — a toll that will be felt most acutely in restaurants, hotels, and retail stores across the country.
In a research note published Thursday, Goldman economist Pierfrancesco Mei laid out a detailed framework for how higher energy prices translate into labor market pain — and the picture isn’t pretty. As explained by the bank earlier in the week, its commodities strategists expect Brent crude to average $105 in March, spike to $115 in April, and then gradually retreat to $80 in the fourth quarter, assuming flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain severely disrupted for roughly six weeks. In an adverse scenario — one where the conflict deepens — Brent could peak as high as $140 a barrel, or $160 in a “severely adverse” scenario.
The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran shows no signs of imminent resolution, even as President Trump signals urgency to wrap it up. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has indicated the conflict is expected to last four to six weeks, in line with Goldman’s projections, while Trump told Fox Business that a deal could come as quickly as five days. But experts are far more skeptical: analysts at Brookings warn that without genuine regime change, Iran could rebuild its capabilities and fuel regional instability, while Maximilian Hess of Ementena Advisory told CNBC the situation is a “lose-lose for Washington,” with Iran’s drone advantage and Gulf pressure making a ground war increasingly likely.
Where the jobs are disappearing
The damage isn’t distributed evenly. Goldman’s sector-level analysis points to leisure and hospitality as the single hardest-hit industry, accounting for roughly 5,000 lost jobs per month, with retail trade shedding another 2,000. The logic is straightforward: when energy prices surge, consumers cut back on discretionary spending first — skipping vacations, eating out less, and trimming shopping trips — while continuing to pay for essentials like healthcare and housing. The oil shock, in other words, hits the working-class service economy well before it touches more insulated sectors.
That dynamic is hitting Gen Z especially hard. A recent Bank of America Institute report found that after nearly two years of lagging other generations in spending, Gen Z’s year-over-year spending growth had actually surpassed Baby Boomers’ by mid-2025 — fueled by slowing rent growth and wages rising roughly 9% year-over-year. But with national gas prices now up approximately 26% year-over-year as of March 23, BofA economists Joe Wadford and David Michael Tinsley warned that the recovery “could be snuffed out before it fully takes hold.” Gen Z carries the highest ratio of gasoline spending to discretionary spending of any generation — and many work in the very leisure and hospitality jobs Goldman now projects will see the steepest cuts. It’s a feedback loop that hits them from both sides: higher costs at the pump and fewer hours at work.
Shock weakened by shale — but not eliminated
Goldman is careful to note that the U.S. economy is far more resilient to oil price shocks than it was in the 1970s. The bank estimates that the effects of a 10% increase in oil prices on unemployment and payroll growth are now roughly one-third as large as they were between 1975 and 1999. Two structural shifts explain the change: the lower oil intensity of U.S. GDP, which reduces the drag on consumer spending and business investment, and the boom in domestic shale production since 2010, which creates an offsetting cushion of energy-sector jobs and capital expenditure.
That cushion, however, is thinner than it used to be. Dramatic productivity improvements in oil extraction mean that even if production ramps up in response to higher prices, the energy sector isn’t likely to add many new workers. Goldman does not expect a meaningful increase in energy capital expenditure, meaning support industries like pipeline construction, oil machinery manufacturing, and oil transportation will see little boost this time around.
Unemployment headed to 4.6%
The cumulative effect is showing up in Goldman’s macro forecasts, which were also adjusted earlier in the week. The bank said it expected the U.S. unemployment rate to climb 0.2 percentage points to 4.6% by the third quarter of 2026 — with the oil shock accounting for roughly half of that rise and the other half reflecting job growth that was already running too slowly to keep pace with labor supply before the conflict began.
Goldman noted that its unemployment projections align closely with simulations run through the Federal Reserve’s own FRB/US model, lending additional credibility to the estimates. In a severely adverse oil price scenario, however, the unemployment hit could reach 0.3 percentage points above the baseline — a scenario that would push joblessness meaningfully higher and potentially force the Fed’s hand on interest rates.
The findings, authored by Goldman’s U.S. Economics team led by chief economist Jan Hatzius, come as Wall Street is increasingly war-gaming the macroeconomic fallout of the Iran conflict — a crisis that has already prompted Goldman to cut its GDP growth forecast and raise its inflation outlook. For younger Americans — who just months ago were finally catching a financial break — the war’s economic cost may prove a particularly cruel twist. The 10,000-jobs-per-month drag is described as a net figure, accounting for any limited gains the energy sector manages to produce. The bottom line: for American workers, the war in Iran has an economic price tag — and it’s being paid every single month.
For this story, Fortune journalists used generative AI as a research tool. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Finnish MP convicted for saying homosexuality is ‘developmental disorder’
Christian Democrat Päivi Räsänen, who was fined €1,800, was supported by conservative US group Alliance Defending Freedom
A Finnish member of parliament has been found guilty by the country’s supreme court of inciting hatred after claiming that homosexuality was a “developmental disorder”, in a conviction that prompted criticism from far-right government ministers.
Päivi Räsänen, of the Christian Democrats, made the claims in a pamphlet first published in 2004 and reproduced on the website of the Luther Foundation Finland and the Finnish Evangelical Mission Diocese in 2007.
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Gen Z’s credit scores are cratering—and Trump’s student loan crackdown is the biggest reason why
The Trump administration has moved aggressively to restart student loan collections, and a record number of borrowers can’t keep up. The result is showing up in a damaging and lasting way: A generation of young Americans are watching their credit scores collapse.
Credit scores are a core part of personal finance in the U.S. They determine Americans’ access to favorable loans and credit cards, and can even factor into applying for a job. Having good credit is especially relevant for young people, who can benefit the most from better loan terms and job opportunities as they make major financial decisions.
Without years of a good credit baseline, Generation Z is also the most likely to suffer the biggest drops when things go wrong.
Gen Z bears the brunt of falling credit scores
Credit scores are dipping for all Americans. The national average credit score fell to 714 in the second half of 2025, according to a report released Tuesday by FICO, an analytics company that produces the most widely used credit scoring model. It was a decline from the 715 average recorded in the first half of the year, and represented the lowest score since early 2020.
Last year already ranked as the worst for U.S. consumer credit quality since the 2008 financial crisis, FICO reported in September, when the agency found that 2025 delinquencies for auto loans, credit cards, and personal loans were at their highest level since 2009. To be sure, the trough in 2009 was nearly 30 points lower, at 686, and the score had climbed all the way to an all-time high of 718 in 2023 before the recent back-to-back declines.
But while most Americans dealt with only modest declines and remained in a “prime” borrowing position—considered to be within the high 600s and low 700s—it’s a different story for young people. While only around 10% of Americans overall saw their scores fall by 50 or more points between 2024 and 2025, that share jumped to 14.4% of people ages 18 to 29.
Many factors can contribute to a significant score downgrade, including a history of opening up multiple new credit lines. But one of the biggest reasons for Gen Z’s declining creditworthiness is that more young Americans are missing deadlines to make loan payments, specifically their student loan obligations, according to the FICO report.
More than 7 million student loan borrowers had a new credit delinquency reported last year, causing an average 62-point drop for those with missed payments. A decline that big from the national average shuts consumers out of prime borrowing status and the best loan terms. It might also bring many dangerously close to a low credit rating, potentially saddling young Americans with expensive interest rates, reducing employment opportunities, and further distancing Gen Z from homeownership.
Student loan delinquencies hit record highs
Student loan delinquencies have been on the rise ever since payments resumed in force at the end of 2024. A record 7.7 million borrowers had defaulted on $181 billion in federal student loans by the end of last year, in addition to 3 million other recipients who had missed payment deadlines by at least three months, according to the Department of Education.
These payments had been fully on pause between 2020 and 2023, part of the Biden administration’s pandemic relief efforts. Even after deadlines resumed, exemptions and follow-up relief shielded many borrowers from negative credit effects if they missed payments, but those measures have largely been wiped away since Donald Trump returned to office.
Earlier this month, a federal court ruled against Joe Biden’s signature affordable repayment program, meaning millions of borrowers who were enrolled in it will soon see the check come due.
Nearly 7.9 million student loan recipients had a delinquency in the first three quarters of 2025, according to a February report by the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. The total number of delinquencies represented a quarter of all payments due, around triple the pre-pandemic delinquency rate. The report pinned most of the responsibility on the administration’s student loan actions, including a recent measure freezing thousands of applications for favorable payment plans linked to income level.
The Century Foundation’s report also tracked a large decline in borrowers’ credit scores. Around 2 million student loan borrowers who faced delinquency last year saw an average 100-point drop in their credit scores from 680 to 580, a below-average rating that makes good loan terms virtually inaccessible. Borrowers at that score level face apartment rental rejections—many landlords require 650 or higher just to apply—and are effectively locked out of homeownership: Just 1.2% of mortgages in 2024 went to borrowers with scores below 580.
The long-term ramifications of this mass downgrading are significant. Negative credit information typically remains on a report for seven years, meaning a generation of young workers may be barred from securing housing, passing employment credit checks, or obtaining affordable personal loans for nearly a decade. An analysis earlier this year found that student loan defaults now occur every nine seconds, a rate that could cast a pall on Gen Z’s hopes for economic mobility well into the 2030s.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Federal Reserve urges judge to deny bid to revive Jerome Powell probe subpoenas
President Donald Trump, in his latest jibe at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, called him a “moron,’ and blasted him over keeping interest rates too high.
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Trump’s Economy Faces 4.2% Inflation In 2026 — OECD Says The Fed Is Frozen
The U.S. entered 2026 poised for a rare growth upgrade — until the war in Iran wiped out that momentum, as the Middle East energy shock pushed headline inflation to its highest level in four years.
On Thursday, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) made it clear: inflation is rising.
For President Donald Trump, heading into the 2026 midterms, it’s a difficult hand as the GOP looks to maintain a razor-thin majority. The Federal Reserve is likely to hold interest rates steady, while the expected growth boost for the U.S. economy has all but vanished.
What The OECD Report Actually Said
U.S. headline inflation is now projected to rise from 2.6% in 2025 to 4.2% in 2026. That’s a 1.2 percentage-point upward revision from the December 2025 forecast. Should energy price pressures fade, headline inflation could fall to 1.6% in 2027.
The OECD projects core inflation, which excludes food and energy, at 3% in 2026. That’s still above the Fed’s 2% target through the full year.
The driver is clear. Brent crude oil prices are roughly 40% higher in 2026 than the OECD assumed in December.
Lower effective tariff rates on U.S. imports — following the Supreme Court’s IEEPA ruling — can partially offset price pressures, the Paris-based organization noted. However, “the impact of higher energy prices on inflation will more than offset the effect from the decline in effective tariff rates.”
On growth, the U.S. remains resilient relative …
Coinbase, Better Bring Crypto-Backed Mortgages To Millions Of Americans
Better Home & Finance Holding Company (NASDAQ:BETR) shares are up on Thursday. The company launched a groundbreaking partnership with Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) to offer token-backed mortgages.
This innovative approach allows millions of Americans to secure home loans by pledging Bitcoin or USDC without needing to liquidate their assets.
Details
The partnership aims to democratize homeownership for the 52 million Americans who own digital assets. It will enable them to use their crypto holdings as collateral for conforming mortgages.
The tokenized asset pledge acts as a substitute for the cash down payment. This means customers can …
Savings Accounts vs. Roth IRAs: Key Differences Explained
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Opinion | My Book Is Banned in Hong Kong
Trump says UK’s aircraft carriers are just ‘toys’, repeating complaint about lack of support for US in Iran – UK politics live
The comments were part of a broader address in which he condemned Nato allies
Yesterday the Conservative party said that it wanted to ban political parties from distributing campaign literature in a foreign language. Announcing a plan to propose an amendement to the representation of the people bill to make this law, the shadow communities minister Paul Holmes said:
Campaigning in a foreign language as the Greens did in Gorton and Denton only fosters greater division. A coherent national culture relies on shared values, and an inclusive electoral process relies on a common tongue.
I think it’s for political parties to choose how they campaign and communicate with British voters. If they’re using British money that is funding their campaigns and they’re speaking to people who have the right to vote, then why would you not show those voters the respect of communication?
What fuels division is Nick Timothy standing up and singling out Muslim forms of worship for a ban when he’s not applying that to forms of worship that other religions are talking about.
It just doesn’t compute, does it? I worked in Number 10. Briefly, I had a Number 10 phone. There was a paranoia about devices like that falling into other people’s hands.
And so whether it was the Met Police, whether it was Morgan McSweeney, and what sounds like pretty evasive set of reporting, even when you look at that transcript, or whether it was the Number 10 security team following up something that at the time they could not have been sure had not been taken by a state actor, a phone with all sorts of government secrets potentially in it, that’s precisely why people in government have two separate phones.
I don’t believe McSwindle had his iPhone stolen
Honest believe, Matt. It’s smacks of the liar Johnson defence of ‘lost all my WhatsApp messages’. We mustn’t take the public for fools. And I am afraid this smacks of too convenient by far. I won’t do it. I will say what I actually think. And I don’t believe it. End of!
I believe the report was made. McSwindle didn’t mention that he was the chief of staff to the PM. A significant omission of he’d wanted the police to prioritise the offence.
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Oil And The Art Of The Deal: Jim Cramer Examines The ‘Trump Put’
Jim Cramer is calling out what he sees as unwarranted negativity on Wall Street.
On CNBC’s Mad Money Wednesday evening, the veteran host said investors are missing the true signal in the market—falling oil prices—and overlooking the power of the “Trump Put,” a reference to the president’s willingness to prop up confidence when markets wobble.
- USO is moving. See the chart and price action here.
Doom Bobs And Naysayers
Cramer took aim at what he labeled the “doom Bobs,” pessimistic observers who insist oil will stay elevated even if the Middle East conflict cools and that high prices will condemn the global economy to stagnation.
“That’s just wrong,” Cramer said, arguing that traders are stuck in denial about how quickly sentiment can change when President Donald Trump‘s rhetoric and diplomacy is in play.
“When in doubt in this market, check the direction of oil. Ignore those who scoff at every …
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Cohere Expands Into Audio Market With New Transcription Capabilities
Cohere has launched Transcribe, an automatic speech recognition (ASR) model, now available for download as open source.
The model, designed for real-world application, is intended to enhance AI-driven tasks such as meeting transcription and speech analytics to support customer support interactions, a press release stated.
“Our objective was straightforward: push the frontier of dedicated ASR model accuracy under practical conditions. The model was trained from scratch with a deliberate focus on minimizing word error rate (WER), while keeping production readiness top-of-mind. In other words, not just a research artifact, but a system designed for everyday use,” Cohere stated.
What Does Transcribe Do?
Transcribe supports 14 languages, including English, French and Chinese. The model ranks first for accuracy on Hugging Face’s Open ASR Leaderboard, outperforming other ASR models such as Whisper Large v3 and ElevenLabs Scribe v2, with a WER of just 5.42%.
“We’re genuinely impressed with what Cohere has built with …
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MTA launches new app with real-time subway and bus tracking
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has revamped its mobile app to provide more accurate, real-time information for subway and bus riders. The update, rolled out on Wednesday, allows riders to track trains and buses, receive service alerts, and connect with customer support agents available 24/7. It also introduces new features such as station wayfinding, transfer information, and the ability to save favorite subway lines and bus routes.
Replacing the 2024 version built by an outside contractor, the new app was developed in-house by MTA staff at minimal cost, enabling the agency to make regular updates without relying on third parties. The revamp, designed specifically for subway and bus users, is part of a broader effort to improve the transit experience for New Yorkers.
The app’s developers reportedly ride the transit system themselves, bringing an authentic New York commuter perspective to its design, according to Curbed. The agency also tested the app extensively with outside participants to ensure it accommodates the city’s diverse commuting patterns.
While it presents a new, streamlined appearance, the app retains some of its predecessors’ popular features, including favorited lines, routes, and stops, per-station arrival times for specific trains and buses, improved user location accuracy, and an in-app trip planner.
The app does not store any user data, including location. While it is tailored for subway and bus riders, railroad customers can continue to use the TrainTime App, which allows them to buy and use Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North tickets, plan trips, and track trains.
Access to key information, such as real-time subway arrivals, station wayfinding, and transfer details, has been enhanced to make navigating the subway system faster and easier.
The app also provides more accurate, higher-frequency updates on subway arrival times and locations. It also offers a clearer view of stations with multiple levels and lines, highlights service changes affecting specific lines at individual stations, and shows riders where to stand on platforms for boarding and exiting.
Commuters with disabilities will also benefit from a new accessibility mode. By tapping the wheelchair icon, users can highlight accessible stations, monitor elevator and escalator status, and take advantage of screen reader and font-scaling features. The app also continues to allow users to book and manage Access-A-Ride trips.
Additional improvements include clearer subway direction labels, upgraded service alert icons, and live arrival times for subway-to-subway and subway-to-bus transfers. The app also provides a direct link to the MTA’s official lost-and-found page, making it easier for riders to file claims for lost property.
The new app does not yet allow users to refill OMNY cards or accounts or check their balances, though the MTA told Curbed that this feature is likely to be added within the year.
“The new MTA App is all about giving subway and bus customers the smoothest ride possible. Having quick access to real-time arrivals, clearer station layouts, and better transfer information makes it easier to move through the system with confidence. Rider experience is at the heart of everything we do, and the new MTA App reflects that commitment,” Shanifah Rieara, MTA Chief Customer Officer, said.
RELATED:
- MTA to replace more than 2,000 NYC subway cars, largest order in agency history
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- How does the MTA deal with snowstorms? Jet engine-powered snow blowers
The post MTA launches new app with real-time subway and bus tracking first appeared on 6sqft.
Goldman Sachs says crypto prices may have bottomed and these stocks have attractive setups
Crypto prices may have found their floor after months of declines, and Goldman Sachs sees three good stock opportunities from here.
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Pernod Said to Weigh Deal for Brown-Forman
How My Founder Burnout Hurt My Startup
War in Iran ‘not a Nato matter’, Finland president says in defence of alliance – as it happened
The comments came after the US president lashed out as Nato, saying it didn’t help to open the strait of Hormuz when requested
Meanwhile, the US president, Donald Trump, has once again lashed out against Nato allies saying in a social media post that they have “done absolutely nothing to help” in Iran campaign.
“The USA needs nothing from Nato, but ‘never forget’ this very important point in time,” he warned.
“NATO NATIONS HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP WITH THE LUNATIC NATION, NOW MILITARILY DECIMATED, OF IRAN. THE U.S.A. NEEDS NOTHING FROM NATO, BUT “NEVER FORGET” THIS VERY IMPORTANT POINT IN TIME! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
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Inside Meta’s chaotic AI boomtown in rural Louisiana
Welcome to Eye on AI, with AI reporter Sharon Goldman. In this edition: With AI focus, Meta lays Off 700 while rewarding top executives…Google’s memory breakthrough deepens chip selloff...Outgoing CEOs of major companies are citing AI as a factor in their decisions to step down.
Reporting on the ground in northeast Louisiana last month, where Meta is building its massive Hyperion AI data center on over 2,250 acres of former farmland, I was struck by a street sign just minutes from soybean fields, grain silos, and grazing cows.
The sign, marking a newly-built road leading into the construction site, carries an appropriate name: Far Far Away Lane. The nod to Star Wars hints at a new frontier, but the Meta site is so disorientingly vast that what’s happening there feels less like sci-fi and more like the early stages of a city rising from the dirt. The site is five miles long and a mile wide at some points, steel frames jut from the ground, heavy machinery operates around the clock, and an endless stream of trucks pours in before sunrise, feeding a project where thousands of workers in hardhats and neon vests swarm. Residents complain about damage to their vehicles from rocks kicked up by the trucks hurtling to and from the Meta site.
Something enormous and unfamiliar has landed in rural Richland Parish, and it represents not just Meta’s stratospheric AI ambitions, but the financial, energy-hungry reality of building the infrastructure that underpins the AI boom.
I hope you’ll check out the second article in my series on the effects of the AI data center boom on local communities (the first was a December story on a data center developer’s designs on a vast desert site outside of Phoenix). Meta’s Hyperion arrives at a moment when data centers are no longer just an infrastructure issue—they’re becoming a political one. Just this week, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a moratorium on new data center development, citing concerns about energy use, environmental impact, and strain on local communities. And Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) just floated taxing AI data centers to fund support for workers displaced by automation—a sign that policymakers are starting to connect the infrastructure buildout directly to labor disruption.
But in northeast Louisiana, the impact is hyperlocal. Meta’s project is transforming Richland Parish into a chaotic boomtown almost overnight, with attendant winners and losers. Some businesses are seeing a surge in demand from construction crews, while some residents are being pushed out as housing costs climb and landlords look to capitalize on the influx of higher-paying workers.
Supporters of the project argue that the Meta investment represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a region that has struggled with poverty, job loss, and population decline for decades. But for some Richland Parish residents, the experience is less one of opportunity than of spectatorship: watching the bustle of progress unfold nearby—and suffering through its accompanying headaches—without being able to participate or share in its rewards.
It remains to be seen how this unprecedented AI data center spending spree will play out. Collectively, the biggest tech hyperscalers are projected to invest roughly $630 billion to $700 billion in 2026 alone, a 62% jump from 2025, with total AI-related data-center capital expenditures expected to reach $5.2 trillion by 2030, driven largely by GPUs and energy infrastructure. Across tech, finance, and policy circles, there’s a growing question: is this a lasting buildout, or the kind of spending surge that precedes a correction?
Meanwhile, Meta’s Hyperion is just an example of something that is becoming more familiar across the country: mega-scale data center projects, providing the computing power underpinning the AI boom and the U.S. race against China to dominate the sector, are changing landscapes, straining energy grids and water tables, and reshaping the economy.
Because Hyperion is among the furthest along of today’s mega AI data center projects, it may offer one of the first glimpses of how this boom plays out—and the rest of the country is watching. Read the full story here.
With that, here’s more AI news.
Sharon Goldman
sharon.goldman@fortune.com
@sharongoldman
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Next says Middle East conflict could raise clothing prices by up to 10%
Retailer says higher fuel and factory costs may hit supply chains and lead to ‘significant increase in prices’
The boss of Next has said clothing prices could rise by 4% to 10% if conflict in the Middle East extends into the autumn and factories are hit by higher fuel and fabric costs.
Simon Wolfson said the clothing and home retailer had so far seen little disruption to its supply chain.
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Stock Market Today: Major Indexes Fall, Oil Moves Back Above $100/Barrel as Investors Digest Iran Developments; Dow Sheds 350 Points
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US passengers enraged by hours-long lines and missed flights: ‘Absolutely insane’
Some people are opting not to travel at all amid what they call ‘a manufactured crisis by the Trump administration’
Passengers across the US have had their travel plans upended by the latest Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which has triggered widespread staffing shortages at airports as security employees go weeks without pay.
“We are returning from St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, to Boston today and it took fully three hours to get through US customs. Absolutely insane,” Boston-based passenger John Hildebrandt told the Guardian.
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Trump’s Maha agenda stalled as top CDC and surgeon general roles sit empty
Trump has yet to nominate a permanent CDC director and the Senate confirmation of his pick for top doctor is in limbo
The Trump administration’s “Make America healthy again” (Maha) agenda appears to be stalled as two of the government’s most influential public health positions sit empty.
The president has yet to nominate a permanent director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), leaving an agency that has been plagued by turmoil for the past year without a leader. At the same time, Trump’s controversial pick for surgeon general, Casey Means, remains in limbo as her nomination stalls in the Senate.
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Nicolás Maduro appears again in New York court on ‘narco-terrorism’ charges
Deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, who both pleaded not guilty, were captured by US military in January
The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro again appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year.
The hearing opened with the defense and prosecution arguing over whether Maduro should be allowed to use Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defense. The defense has insisted that the US is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking government money from being used for his legal costs.
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Trump’s war is delivering a gut punch to the US economy
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XRP Plunges 4% As Leverage Drops 78%: What Is Going On?
XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is down 4% on the day, despite Binance leverage ratios plunging 78% from 0.59 in mid-July 2025 to just 0.13 now as speculative positions flush out and the derivatives market resets.
The Leverage Unwind
Binance’s Estimated Leverage Ratio for XRP has collapsed from around 0.59 in mid-July to 0.13, indicating that most highly leveraged positions have been flushed out.
Analysts calculate this ratio by dividing an exchange’s open interest by its coin reserves to measure average leverage used.
At the same time, XRP’s open interest on Binance stands at only $375 million, significantly lower than peaks recorded over the past year.
“The main takeaway is that speculative pressure has eased significantly,” explained Amr Taha, an analyst at CryptoQuant.
“Binance’s XRP derivatives market now looks much less overheated, potentially creating a cleaner setup for its next major move,” he added.
The Liquidation Risk Has Dropped
In theory, this deleveraging is a positive …
Labour vows to ban trail hunting as it opens public consultation
Police and animal rights activists say the practice is frequently used as a ‘smokescreen’ for illegal foxhunting
The UK government has said it will ban trail hunting, the rural sport that police and animal rights activists have long accused of being a “smokescreen” for illegal foxhunting.
“We pledged to ban trail hunting in our manifesto and that is exactly what we intend to do,” said Sue Hayman, the animal welfare minister. “The nature of trail hunting makes it difficult to ensure wild and domestic animals are not put at risk of being killed or injured – that is clearly unacceptable.”
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Savannah Guthrie fears her fame could be reason for mother’s disappearance
Today show host calls 84-year-old mother’s disappearance ‘unbearable’ in first interview since possible kidnapping
Savannah Guthrie says she fears her own fame could have been the reason for her mother Nancy’s disappearance, which she has called “unbearable” in her first interview since the possible kidnapping.
Guthrie, a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show Today, discussed the possible reasons for the disappearance of Nancy, who is 84 years old and was reported missing on 1 February from her home near Tucson, Arizona, in an interview with Guthrie’s colleague Hoda Kotb.
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A Cornell Researcher Built a Corporate ‘BS’ Detector—Here’s What It Reveals About Your Workplace
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