June housing starts jump 19%, fueled by strong multifamily gains

Key insight: Currency security is banking’s oldest technology problem, and today’s $100 bill still carries features that descend from the anti-counterfeiting Benjamin Franklin engineered into colonial notes by hand. Supporting data: By the end of the Civil War, nearly one-third of all U.S. currency in circulation was counterfeit, the Secret Service estimates. Forward look: Because…

The current state of Nvidia‘s stock (NVDA 2.43%) makes little sense on the surface. Despite reporting 85% yearly revenue growth in its latest quarter, the stock sells for just 32 times earnings, the same as the S&P 500‘s average P/E ratio. Some of that may have to do with the gains of nearly 1,700% since…

PayPal, the struggling payments processor, rallied in premarket trade on Wednesday on a report that rival Stripe is teaming up with private-equity group Advent International on a bid.

Our global markets watchlist tracks nine prominent indexes from economies around the world. The list includes the S&P 500 from the United States, TSX from Canada, the FTSE 100 from England, the DAXK from Germany, the CAC 40 from France, the Nikkei 225 from Japan, the Shanghai from China, the Hang Seng from Hong Kong,…

Mercer’s data showed 65% of plans had reached a solvency ratio of 120% or higher by quarter end. Nearly nine in ten plans, 89%, were at or above full funding, leaving just 11% still running a deficit. Samantha Allen, a Mercer principal based in Toronto, said the resilience of pension funding was a bright spot…

Odeta Kushi (pictured top), deputy chief economist at First American, said the latest flare-up fits a pattern she and her colleagues had already accounted for. Even if there is some volatility day-to-day, the overall pattern seems to be for elevated rates. “I think you can see some zigzag, but my baseline expectation is more of…