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Economy

Economy news from Live News Chat: jobs, inflation, interest rates and trade, explained.

A gas pump nozzle at a night-time gas station pouring a stream of gold coins onto wet pavement lit red and blue

Trump Tells a Georgia Rally “We’re Making a Freaking Fortune” on Oil. Drivers Are Paying $1.23 More a Gallon Than Last Year.

“I don’t give a damn. I’m going to say it. We’re making a freaking fortune.” Donald Trump said that on Saturday night at the Guardian Centers…

By Mark Masterson · Oct 25 · 3 min read

Economy
Two Rallies, One Script: Obama Tears Into Trump Over Canada, the Gold-Plated White House and ‘Straight Up Grifting’

Oct 25
$Flat two-color print of a navy video game controller behind a large red dollar sign and a blank desk calendar page$

Economy
GTA 6’s ‘$1 Billion Sick Day’, a Figure Back in US Headlines This Week, Works Out to About $400 Million on Its Own Numbers

Oct 21
World News
120 Million Barrels of Diesel: The US Demands Europe’s Emergency Reserves or Threatens an Export Ban

Oct 2

More in Economy

A diesel pump nozzle in the foreground and a row of parked semi-trucks at a truck stop under a dawn sky

Is a Trucker Strike Starting October 1? The Rumor Traces Back to One Instagram Video

No, truckers are not going on strike on October 1, and the rumor traces…

By Mark Masterson · Oct 1

Donald Trump at a White House podium in front of a falling red chart, with a gas price sign showing 5.99 dollars and a grocery receipt in the foreground

Trump’s Economy Approval Falls to 26%, Two Points Below Biden’s Worst in the AP-NORC Poll

Only 26% of Americans now approve of Donald Trump’s handling of the economy, according…

By Mark Masterson · Oct 1

A caseworker rubs her forehead at a desk piled with case files while families wait in plastic chairs in a county benefits office

75% of SNAP’s Administrative Costs Shift to the States Thursday, the Same Day Benefits Rise

On Thursday, October 1, SNAP benefits go up and the federal government stops paying…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 29

Hand holding a fuel nozzle beside a glowing gas pump display, with SUVs and pickup trucks lined up at the station at dusk

34.5 MPG by 2031: Trump Signs Off on Rolling Back Biden’s Fuel Economy Rules

President Trump said Saturday he has approved new federal fuel economy standards, and his…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 27

A McDonald's restaurant wrapped in scaffolding and orange safety fencing during a renovation, lit golden arches above a wet parking lot at dusk

$800,000 Per Restaurant Is the Real Price of McDonald’s $8.5 Billion Overhaul

McDonald’s held an investor day on Tuesday, announced a decade-long plan to rebuild its…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 24

Rows of plastic-wrapped ground beef packages in a refrigerated supermarket case, with empty white price tag holders clipped to the shelf rail

The Ground Beef Number Washington Is Quoting Is $9 a Pound, Not the $7.16 the Government Measures

A House Republican, speaking anonymously about his party’s midterm prospects, told MS NOW that…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 22

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at a lectern in front of a navy curtain and American flag, with a lit gas station at dusk blended into the background

Trump’s Handpicked Fed Chair Delivered a Rate Hike, Not the Cut He Was Hired For

The Fed raised rates for the first time since 2023 over Trump's objections. The…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 16

Stacked cases of motor oil on steel warehouse shelving with a small purchase-limit sign clipped to the shelf edge

Costco’s Two-Case Motor Oil Limit Traces Back to a Wrecked Gas Plant in Qatar

Costco capped Kirkland motor oil at two cases a week and pushed a 10-quart…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 14

A Walmart Supercenter at dusk with a gas station sign in the foreground showing regular unleaded above four dollars

Walmart’s Slowest Sales Growth in Six Years Is a Gas Price Warning, Not a Recession Call

Walmart posted its weakest U.S. sales growth in six years as gas above $4…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 13

Global trade operations room with wall displays showing currency tickers and cross-border payment flow maps

The Dollar Still Rules, but BRICS Is Learning to Trade Without It

A widely shared claim that only 35% of trade among BRICS nations is still…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 9

Coastal oil refinery complex at dusk, distillation columns and crude storage tanks lit by orange lamps, a dark smoke plume rising from a fire inside the plant, and an oil tanker anchored offshore

Saudi Arabia Moved Its Oil West to Escape Iran. That Put It Inside Houthi Range.

Houthi strikes wounded 73 in Saudi Arabia's south. The Jazan refinery they hit has…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 8

An empty Home Depot parking lot with a For Sale by Owner yard sign in the foreground, illustrating the frozen housing market

21.2% of Homeowners Already Pay 6% or More. Home Depot Still Calls It a Waiting Game.

The lock-in that was supposed to be thawing by now already flipped a year…

By Mark Masterson · Sep 3

Archive

An emptied government office floor with vacant cubicles, stacked cardboard boxes and a single desk lamp still lit, sunlight striped across the carpet through venetian blinds

The IRS Lost a Third of Its Audit Revenue, and the Money to Rebuild the Staff Ran Out on New Year’s Eve

A laden crude oil tanker at dusk in the Strait of Hormuz as a military helicopter tows a minesweeping sonar sled nearby

Oil at $94 Is Priced on the Mines Nobody Can Find, Not the Ones the Navy Cleared

A line of stationary transport trucks waits under the lit canopy of a commercial border inspection plaza at night, barrier arms down and booths empty, with a Canadian flag on a pole at the left

Canada Walks Away and Suspends Trade Talks as 50% New Tariff Kicks In

A line of transport trucks waits at customs booths on the Canadian side of the Ambassador Bridge, with the bridge and the Detroit skyline behind them on an overcast morning.

Three Days After Trump Declared a Canada Deal, 50 Percent Tariffs Took Effect Anyway

The granite colonnade of the US Treasury Department building in Washington DC beneath dark storm clouds, with wet pavement in the foreground

Bessent Doubled the Bond Buybacks and the Market Gave Him Exactly One Day

An open suburban mailbox holding a plain white envelope with a car parked in a driveway behind it

State Farm Is Sending Back $5 Billion It Collected When Auto Premiums Jumped 20 Percent

A highway gas station price totem at dusk displaying regular gasoline at 4.08 and diesel at 5.43 per gallon, with a pickup truck refueling under the canopy behind it

Record August Gas at $4.08 Is a Refining Story, Not a Crude One

An empty school hallway lined with closed lockers, a stack of unclaimed staff ID lanyards on the front-desk counter and a paper sign on the glass reading HIRING PAUSED

The Unemployment Rate Fell to 4.1% Because People Stopped Looking

A printed notice taped to a mailbox post in the foreground of a quiet suburban cul-de-sac of single-family homes at sunset

HOA Foreclosures Jumped 40% Because the Associations Themselves Ran Out of Money

Weathered hands at a kitchen table holding a calculator beside a Social Security Administration benefits statement, a utility bill and a handwritten notepad

The 2027 Social Security COLA Is Coming, and a 43-Year-Old Tax Rule Will Take a Piece of It

Shipping containers stacked at a US cargo port at sunset with an American flag in the foreground

Temporary Tariffs Expire Today as Trump Administration Locks in Permanent Duties on 60 Countries

Oil tanker at sea with fire and black smoke rising from its bow in the Red Sea

Houthis Hit Two Saudi Oil Tankers in the Red Sea, and Crude Is Suddenly Knocking on $100

Shipping containers with Canadian maple leaf flags at a cargo port under overcast skies

New 50% Tariffs on Canadian Hockey Sticks, Cheese, and Cars, and the USMCA May Be Dead

Gas station price sign showing four dollars per gallon at sunset with cars at pumps

Gas Prices Hit $4 a Gallon Again as Iran War Squeezes American Wallets