Buffett Cuts Gates Foundation From Berkshire Donations — What It Signals for Investors

Warren Buffett made a landmark personal and financial decision on Tuesday: for the first time in 20 years, he omitted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from his annual charitable gifts of Berkshire Hathaway stock. Instead, the 95-year-old chairman directed all of this year's donations to four family-linked foundations — donating 9 million Class B Berkshire shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 1 million shares each to the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the Novo ...
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IBM Shares Crater 23% After Shocking Q2 Miss — What Investors Need to Know

IBM delivered one of the most brutal earnings surprises of the season on Tuesday. The company released preliminary second-quarter results that badly missed Wall Street expectations, sending shares plunging more than 23% in premarket trading. IBM reported adjusted earnings of $2.93 per share on revenue of $17.2 billion — versus analyst expectations of $3.01 per share and $17.86 billion in revenue, according to FactSet. That is a $660 million revenue shortfall, driven by a confluence of market disruption and operational ...
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June CPI Drops 0.4% — Inflation Is Cooling and Rate Hike Odds Just Collapsed

Inflation just delivered a surprise gift to investors. The Consumer Price Index fell 0.4% in June — its biggest single-month drop since April 2020 — bringing the annual inflation rate down to 3.5%, well below the 3.8% economists had expected. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, was flat on the month, pushing its 12-month rate to 2.6%. Both figures came in significantly below Wall Street forecasts and below May's readings, signaling a meaningful turn in the inflation story ...
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Trump’s Hormuz ‘Protection Tax’ Just Made Oil Markets Spicy (And Your Portfolio Might Feel It)

So here's the plot twist nobody saw coming: President Trump just announced the U.S. will start charging a 20% "protection tax" on cargo moving through the Strait of Hormuz. Yes, you read that right. The world's most critical oil chokepoint just got a toll booth, and it's run by America. Let's break down what actually happened. On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social that the U.S. will become the "protector" of the Strait of Hormuz—basically the world's most important shipping lane ...
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The Market Never Sleeps (And Nasdaq Wants to Prove It)

Here's a wild thought: what if you could trade stocks at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday? Nasdaq is betting you'd want to. The exchange just announced it's filing papers with the SEC to go full 24/5—that's 24 hours a day, five days a week. No more waiting until 9:30 a.m. to make your moves. The timeline? Second half of 2026, assuming regulators don't throw a wrench in the works. This isn't Nasdaq pulling an idea out of thin air. NYSE already ...
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Summer Slump? Not If You Know Where to Look

Here's the thing about summer in the stock market: everyone acts like it's supposed to be boring. Trading volumes drop, options get pricey, and everyone's basically just waiting for earnings season to disappoint them. It's like the market decided to take a vacation without telling anyone. But here's where most traders get it wrong—they're thinking too American. While we're grilling burgers and pretending to work, half the world is throwing massive shopping festivals that would make Black Friday jealous. Take China. Their ...
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Fed’s Waller Puts Rate Hikes Back on the Table — Here’s What It Means for Your Portfolio

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller delivered a carefully worded but unmistakably hawkish speech in New York on Monday that directly challenges the market's expectations for interest rate cuts in 2026. Waller acknowledged that inflation has remained stubbornly above the Fed's 2% target and explicitly stated that a rate hike remains "an equally plausible" scenario alongside one where inflation eventually cools. His remarks arrive at a sensitive moment: investors had been quietly pricing in the possibility of rate cuts later this ...
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Trump’s Hormuz Toll Sends Oil Spiking 7% — What Energy Investors Need to Know Now

Oil markets were jolted on Monday after President Trump declared the United States the self-proclaimed "Guardian of the Hormuz Strait" and announced a 20% fee on all cargo transiting the critical waterway. West Texas Intermediate crude spiked 7% on the news, pushing through $75 a barrel, while Brent crude nearly touched $80. Trump's post on Truth Social also confirmed the reimposition of a blockade of Iranian ports near the strait, escalating a conflict that had already been straining oil markets ...
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