Author: Emily Carter

That’s how much the average Wall Street bonus was in 2024. The figure marks a 31% increase from $186,100 the prior year, according to a report from the New York state comptroller’s office. Wall Street bonuses have an outsized impact on New York City’s economy and workers. They often make up a large chunk of annual compensation for employees at financial firms and are a sizable source of the city’s income tax revenue. In 2023, Wall Street was behind about 18% of all of New York City’s economic activity. The comptroller’s office estimates that the 2024 bonuses will generate $600…

After some very public internal jostling, President-elect Donald Trump moved to assure Wall Street with his pick late Friday of hedge fund billionaire Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary. The move followed a few days in which Trump bro Elon Musk publicly argued in favor of Howard Lutnick, a co-chair of the Trump transition team and the CEO of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick instead was chosen to be the new secretary of the Commerce Department, where he will have a portfolio that includes trade and tariffs, topics dear to Trump’s heart. Markets are signaling they like the move as Dow Jones Industrial Average…

Gilead Sciences GILD 0.57%increase; green up pointing triangle, a biotech company focused on treatments for cancer and HIV, isn’t pitching itself as an obesity-drug developer. But that hasn’t stopped some Wall Street analysts from trying to do that on its behalf. Seasoned Jefferies analyst Michael Yee published a market-moving note to investors last week: He dug up recent patents and cross-referenced them with prior data to unearth what looked like the makings of an early-stage metabolic program that could one day become an obesity program. There was even data on monkeys to back that up, which the company will be presenting at…

Intersect Power is installing Tesla Megapack batteries to store and dispatch electricity in Scurry County, Texas. Photo: Intersect Power Sheldon Kimber sees a lucrative opportunity in bottling sunshine. The 46-year-old entrepreneur is installing hundreds of giant batteries the size of shipping containers around sun-soaked Texas and California. The batteries charge up during the day when solar power is abundant. When electricity demand rises in the evening, straining the power grid, Kimber sells that stored energy at higher prices.  

Few investments did better in 2024 than gold, which is wrapping up its best year since 2010 and one of its largest annual gains on record. Wall Street’s gold bugs think prices will climb even higher in 2025. Prices for the precious metal are up 27% in 2024 to $2,617.20 a troy ounce. That is better than the S&P 500’s 25% gain and not far behind the 31% increase of the technology-stock-laden Nasdaq Composite Index.

House hunters don’t need to be told that property is too expensive right now. But Wall Street has an idea by just how much. The stock market is pricing portfolios of American homes at a hefty discount to what houses are changing hands for in the open market. Shares of single-family landlords Invitation Homes INVH 0.91%increase; green up pointing triangle and American Homes 4 Rent AMH 0.27%increase; green up pointing triangle are trading at 35% and 20% discounts to their net asset values, respectively, according to real-estate analytics firm Green Street. Invitation Homes’ stock has traded at a particularly large discount to NAV since interest rates began to…

The TXSE Group on Wednesday announced it has raised $120 million for a new electronic trading platform dubbed the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE). Its investors, including BlackRock and Citadel Securities, “represent a significant portion of the equity volume on U.S. lit exchanges and together comprise a majority of all U.S. listed retail volume,” the group said. (A lit exchange is an open and public one, in contrast to a so-called dark pool of capital.) That’s a strong vote of confidence in the Texas exchange—and of frustration with the New York duopoly. TXSE CEO James Lee explained that the new exchange’s goal is to “create…

The S&P 500 surged 2.1% on Friday, its largest gain since the post-election rally, following another week of tariff threats. Despite Friday’s gains, the S&P 500 closed its fourth consecutive week lower, the longest losing streak since August. Conflict is escalating in the Middle East, more he US are striking Houthis in Yemen in an effort to enable ships to use the Suez. Energy led US sectors, while consumer stocks lagged. China was the best performing region. Fixed income yields were relatively flat this week. Gold surpassed $3,000 for the first time. Crypto remained weak, with Ethereum underperforming significantly this…

President Donald Trump has finally delivered on his campaign rhetoric by imposing sweeping tariffs, signaling a dramatic shift toward protectionism. He announced a 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10 percent tariff on China, stating that the opportunity to reach a deal had passed. Not content to stop there, Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on European and other countries’ steel and aluminum products and threatened other allied countries with more tariffs. The fallout was swift. Canada responded with 25% tariffs on U.S. products, pulled American liquor from store shelves, and even threatened to cut off electricity to U.S. states, prompting Trump to consider doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Meanwhile,…

Less than a week after breaking the $2,900 per ounce barrier, gold has surged past $3,000 per ounce, driven primarily by deepening economic uncertainty. The S&P 500 has entered correction territory, tumbling over 10 percent from its recent highs as fears of a slowdown grip markets, with persistent inflation and sluggish growth stoking concerns of stagflation. Trade tensions have escalated once again, with wildly vacillating tariff threats — including a 200 percent duty on European wines and spirits — fueling uncertainty and rattling global supply chains.  Meanwhile, a growing schism in the political and military ties between the United States…