Economists Find Career Earnings of Low-Income Graduates Lag
College is supposed to be the great equalizer — the way to pull yourself out of a low-income background and position yourself for a better shot at the American Dream. But does it work? Yes, somewhat, but college is not as powerful as you might believe. Although low-income students do get an earnings boost by getting a bachelor’s degree, they don’t come close to students from middle- or high-income backgrounds with the same degrees,...
Saving Money When You’re Young? You Can Start Small
When you’re young and juggling lots of financial responsibilities, from repaying student loans to saving up for a down payment on a home, you may have only a few dollars left over each month to put away for retirement. The problem is, you generally need a lot more than just pocket change to invest in the mutual funds that will help grow your savings. Today, the average minimum investment for a U.S. stock fund — a core holding in any...
U.S. Stocks Halt Slide Amid Oil Rally
New York — U.S. stocks halted a five-day slide that dragged global equities into a bear market, as oil rebounded with its best day in seven years and bank shares jumped the most since 2011. Treasuries had the biggest drop of the year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index’s rally trimmed its loss for the week to less than 1 percent amid data showing higher retail sales. Lenders rallied 4 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie...
Some Funds Offer Stability, But at a Price
New York — Freaked out by the stock market’s big swings? Then the investment industry has something it built just for you: funds that hope to offer a steadier ride. That sounds especially comforting after this year’s jarring start for markets, in which drops of more than 1 percent have become typical. But be careful, the funds carry their own risks. These mutual funds and exchange-traded funds own stocks that could charitably be...
Cheap Oil, Good for Consumers, Hits Stocks
New York — Wall Street is drowning in oil. Stocks are having their worst start to a year in history in part because of a rapid plunge in the price of oil. The price of crude is down 28 percent this year already, which in turn has dragged down energy company shares in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index by 13 percent, which has helped pull the overall index down 9 percent. This even though low oil prices — and the cheap prices for...
