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More older people are still paying off mortgages

Nov 30, 2023
New data from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies shows that a growing number of people in their 60s, 70s and 80s still have mortgage debt, and they’re carrying more of it than than previous generations did.
In 1989, just 3% of homeowners over 80 still had a mortgage. Now, nearly a third do.
Nes/Getty Images

OPEC+ members say they'll cut oil production. Global markets don't seem to believe them.

Nov 30, 2023
Production cuts may no longer be as effective at propping up prices because electric vehicles are cutting into global demand.
OPEC+ members are promising a pullback of as much as 2 million barrels a day, at least half of that from the Saudis.
Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images

From college friends to business partners, these stationers are celebrating 10 years in business together

Nov 30, 2023
Danielle McCarthy and Ellen Kelly run a luxury wedding stationery business in Newport, Rhode Island, where they specialize in letterpress printing.
Kelly and McCarthy met their freshman year of college at an art school in Beverly, Massachusetts. Now, they both live and run their stationery business in Newport, Rhode Island.
Erin McGinn Photography

Facing pushback and government scrutiny, ESG investing may be headed for change

Nov 30, 2023
Environmental, social and governance funds, once a bright light in investing, are confronting potential regulation and political heat.
Larry Fink, the CEO of giant asset manager BlackRock, has been an advocate of allowing environmental, social and governance values to influence investment choices.
Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for IRC

The rural-urban income divide persists, and it may be widening

Nov 30, 2023
Cities are home to high-paid business services and rural areas have lost manufacturing, contributing to the 23% gap in earnings.
While the gap between the earnings of rural and urban workers is growing, inflation is a particular problem for rural residents. Above, a truck carries livestock feed near Wray, Colorado.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Why promoting financial investments is riskier than promoting sneakers

Nov 30, 2023
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a class action lawsuit over his relationship with the crypto exchange Binance.
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is being sued in a $1 billion lawsuit over his relationship with the crypto exchange Binance. Above, Ronaldo in 2020.
Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images

How inflation is impacting holiday ads

Advertisers are taking current market conditions into consideration when competing for consumer dollars.
A screenshot from Chevy's 2023 holiday ad, which features a family grappling with the effects of Alzheimer's. Some advertisers are ploying to viewers' emotions to distinguish their brands this year.
Chevrolet/General Motors via YouTube

For public good, not for profit.

The long-expected consumer pullback may finally be materializing

Nov 29, 2023
We spent more over the holiday, but we bought less — thanks to inflation.
While consumers spent a couple percent more this Black Friday weekend than last, they didn’t necessarily buy more.
Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images

EVs and hybrids drive 18% of car sales, doubling market share since 2021

Nov 29, 2023
Price dips and and an expansion of models to choose from contributed to the boost in third-quarter purchases.
Some car companies, like Honda, are making more hybrid models available, says Stephanie Brinley at S&P Global Mobility.
Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

The UN is holding this year's climate conference in a petrostate reachable only by air

Nov 29, 2023
And the leader of the COP28 gathering is the CEO of a giant oil company. Will those fossil fuel ties compromise the outcome?
The CEO of a fossil fuel company will host this year's COP28. "It's like the CEO of a cigarette company presiding over a conference on lung cancer and its treatment," says Andreas Sieber, with climate non-profit 350.org.
Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images