Finance

Wall Street rallies to one of its best days of the year after inflation report

Published

2 years ago

August 13, 2024

Wall Street rallies to one of its best days of the year after inflation report

U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday to one of their best days of the year after the first of several highly anticipated reports on the economy this week came in better than expected.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.7% for its third-best day of 2024 after the U.S. government reported inflation at the wholesale level slowed last month by more than economists expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 408 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite clambered 2.3% higher.

What You Need To Know

U.S. stocks rose to one of their best days of the year as Wall Street relaxed after the first of several highly anticipated reports on the economy this week came in better than expected

The S&P 500 rallied 1.7% Tuesday after the government reported inflation at the wholesale level slowed last month by more than anticipated

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2.4%

Starbucks soared after naming Brian Niccol, the head of Chipotle, as its new CEO

High inflation has been the scourge of shoppers and financial markets for years. It finally looks to be slowing enough to get the Federal Reserve to ease up on high interest rates, which the Fed has been keeping at economy-crunching levels in order to stifle inflation.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market following the inflation data, as traders remain convinced the Fed’s meeting next month will bring the first cut to interest rates since the COVID crash of 2020. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.84% from 3.91% late Monday.

All is not clear, though. On Wednesday, the U.S. government will deliver the latest monthly update on inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling, which could be less encouraging. And on Thursday will come a report showing how much U.S. shoppers are spending at retailers.

A growing worry on Wall Street is that the Fed may have kept interest rates too high for too long and undercut the U.S. economy by making it so expensive to borrow money. The economy is still growing, and many economists don’t expect a recession, but a sharp slowdown in U.S. hiring last month raised questions about its strength.

Such questions weigh because even cuts to interest rates haven’t been enough for stocks to rise significantly in the ensuing 18 months if a recession hits, according to Chris Haverland, global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

Home Depot on Tuesday delivered stronger profit for the spring quarter than analysts expected, but it also said high interest rates and uncertainty about the economy are keeping some customers from spending on home improvement projects.

The retail giant lowered its full-year forecasts for an important measure of sales and for profit, even though it topped expectations for the second quarter. Its stock rose 1.2% after flipping earlier between modest gains and losses.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Starbucks soared 24.5% after it convinced Brian Niccol to leave his job as CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill to take over the coffee chain. He will start as chairman and chief executive next month and will replace Laxman Narasimhan, who is stepping down immediately.

Chipotle, meanwhile, dropped 7.5%. Niccol has been its chief executive since 2018 and its chairman since 2020, and he helped its stock rise more than 240% for the five years through Monday. That tower’s over the S&P 500’s 96% return including dividends. Chipotle said its chief operating officer, Scott Boatwright, would be its interim CEO.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were modestly higher across much of Europe and Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was an outlier and jumped 3.4%.

Japan’s market has been viciously volatile recently, including the worst drop for the Nikkei 225 since the Black Monday crash of 1987. It’s been swinging since a hike to interest rates by the Bank of Japan forced many hedge funds and other investors to abandon a popular trade all at once, where they had borrowed Japanese yen at cheap rates to invest elsewhere. The forced selling that followed the surge in the Japanese yen’s value reverberated around the world.

But a promise last week by a top Bank of Japan official not to raise rates further as long as markets are “unstable” has helped calm the market.

Another worry that’s made Wall Street so shaky the last month is concerns that investors went overboard in their mania around artificial-intelligence technology and took the prices of Big Tech and AI-related stocks too high.

Nvidia, the company whose chips are powering much of the move into AI, has been at the center of the action. After soaring more than 170% through the year’s first six and a half months, it plunged more than 20% over the ensuing three weeks.

On Tuesday, Nvidia rose 6.5% and was the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500. All the other stocks in the small group known as the “Magnificent Seven” also climbed. They almost singlehandedly pushed the S&P 500 to dozens of all-time highs earlier this year, even as high interest rates weighed on much of the rest of the stock market.

Unlike much of the early part of this year, it wasn’t just the Magnificent Seven rising Tuesday. Wall Street’s rally was more widespread, and nearly 85% of the stocks in the S&P 500 rose. The smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index also climbed 1.6%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 90.04 points to 5,434.43. The Dow added 408.63 to 39,765.64, and the Nasdaq composite gained 407.00 to 17,187.61.

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Finance

How to make your offer stand out in a competitive housing market

Published

22 minutes ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

How to make your offer stand out in a competitive housing market

With the weather finally thawed and kids out of school, spring and summer are the busiest seasons for homebuying. This can mean more options to choose from on the market — but it can also mean more competition.

Going through the work of putting together an offer on a house you are excited about, only to get beat out by other buyers, can feel like a major letdown. So, how can you make your home offer stand out if you are wading into a hot housing market? From having your own affairs in order to being flexible and savvy in the offer you craft, here are some tricks you can implement to improve your odds of winning out.

Have everything in order before bidding

If you are trying to buy in a fast-moving, competitive market, it is vital that you have all your ducks in a row before you get to the point of submitting an offer on a home. This means working with an experienced, knowledgeable real estate agent you can trust, and already having mortgage preapproval in hand, so you have a ballpark idea of how much you will actually be able to borrow.

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The former will help you ensure you are putting your best (and most strategic) foot forward when you make an offer, and the latter will provide peace of mind for the seller, given that “in a competitive market, sellers will likely have multiple offers to choose from and will look for a buyer who is able to close on the sale,” said Zillow.

Understand the market, the property and the seller

When it comes to this, the real estate agent you work with can make all the difference. “Their deep market knowledge allows agents to identify accurate comparable listings and help buyers price offers more strategically,” said USA Today. They will also “know how quickly homes are selling in a given area and can communicate quickly and effectively with listing agents.”

An agent can often get insight into what is most important to a particular seller — whether that is a quick closing timeline, the security of a cash offer or an above-listing price — and help ensure your offer checks those boxes.

Consider ways to sweeten your offer

Depending on what feels reasonable and is doable for you, there are a number of steps you can take to make your offer more enticing, including:

Increase your earnest money deposit. This is a deposit made upfront to demonstrate your seriousness about and ability to purchase the home. Typically, it is “around 1% to 3% of the purchase price,” but “in a competitive market, you may choose to increase this to 5% or higher to stand out and prove your commitment,” said Investopedia.

Add in an escalation clause. With an escalation clause, your offer automatically increases, up to a specified maximum, if another buyer in the running outbids you. This can “help you stay in the running if another offer comes in for slightly more than yours,” said Rocket Mortgage, though it is not always necessary or even allowed in certain markets.

Offer concessions. Offering the seller concessions can “make your offer more attractive,” said Rocket Mortgage, though it is also vital here to ensure what you offer is workable for you. Common examples of concessions include offering to pay certain fees, such as the agents’ commission or the seller’s real estate attorney fees, or purchasing the property as-is.

Finance

By the Numbers: Financial report reveals scale of financial costs, growth

Published

12 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

By the Numbers: Financial report reveals scale of financial costs, growth

Following a year marked by financial turbulence, Northwestern’s financial report for fiscal year 2025 revealed the University’s struggles and growth as they navigated a tumultuous landscape in higher education.

The latest report detailed fiscal year 2025, which began Sept. 1, 2024 and ended Aug. 31, 2025. It did not include the University’s stipulated $75 million payment to the federal government, which was part of the agreement struck in November 2025.

According to the University’s 2025 financial report, net assets sit at $16.2 billion, up from 2024’s $15.6 billion. However, the University spent almost $148 million more than it brought in during fiscal year 2025.

In the last five fiscal years, the University has increased steadily in operating costs for assets without donor restrictions.

Year-to-year increases in operating costs hovered around 10% in the past five fiscal years. Simultaneously, revenue growth has decreased year to year, from 12.8% between 2021 to 2022 to only 3.9% between 2024 to 2025.

Amanda Distel, NU’s chief financial officer, identified “rising benefits expenses, litigation, new labor contracts, and rapidly unfolding federal actions” as key challenges in fiscal year 2025 in the report.

Before the deal, NU invested between $30 to $40 million each month to sustain research impacted by the federal freeze, interim President Henry Bienen confirmed in an Oct. 24 interview with The Daily.

In an attempt to reduce costs, the University announced a switch in July to UnitedHealthcare from Blue Cross Blue Shield as the University’s employee health care administrator, effective Jan. 1. However, faculty and staff have reported increased out-of-pocket costs for certain services like mental health care.

Financial aid increased from $618.3 million in fiscal 2024 to $638.3 million in fiscal year 2025. Among undergraduate students in the 2024-25 school year, 15% are first-generation college students and 22% receive federal Pell Grants. According to the report, most families earning less than $70,000 per year attend at no cost, and most families earning less than $150,000 per year attend tuition-free.

Tuition is the second largest source of revenue behind grants and contracts. By the end of the fiscal year, the University held $778 million in outstanding conditional awards, an increase from fiscal 2024’s $713.5 million, according to the report.

Distel wrote that the number of gift commitments above $100,000 reached its highest in University history, calling it a “strong year of philanthropic support.”

Donor funds are categorized by whether or not restrictions were imposed on the time, use or nature of the donation. In fiscal 2025, University net assets without donor restrictions totaled $9.59 billion, or 59.1%, while net assets with donor restrictions totaled $6.65 billion, or 40.9%, of total net assets.

The University’s investment in construction efforts saw an immense uptick from $275.2 million in fiscal 2024 to $750.5 million in fiscal 2025.

This cost is spread across multiple projects, such as Ryan Field, which started construction in 2024 and is slated to open October 2026. The project operates with a $862 million budget, including a $480 million contribution from the Ryan family.

The Ann McIlrath Drake Executive Center, Cohen Lawn and Jacobs Center renovations also continued during the fiscal year.

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Related Stories:

— The Daily Explains: How does Northwestern spend its money?

— Northwestern NIH, NSF grant cessations total more than $1 billion

— Northwestern announces 3.3% tuition increase ahead of 2025-26 academic year

Finance

When should kids start learning about money? Advice from local financial advisor

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

When should kids start learning about money? Advice from local financial advisor

REDMOND, Wash. — When should kids start learning about money, and preparing for adult expenses like rent, car payments, and insurance?

It’s a question asked recently by an ARC Seattle viewer.

We took the question to Adam Powell, Financial Advisor at Private Advisory Group in Redmond. Powell talked with ARC Seattle co-anchor Steve McCarron to share insights on the right age to form money habits, common financial mistakes parents unknowingly pass down to their children, and practical tips to set kids up for long-term financial success.

Find more ARC Seattle stories on our YouTube page.

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