The Fed signaled the peak is near. What that means for your cash.

Thursday · October 8, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThe Fed's own notes say it is nearly done The record of the Federal Reserve's September meeting came out yesterday afternoon, and it read like a committee that knows it is near the end. Most officials backed the

There's an argument inside the Fed, and today we get to read it.

Wednesday · October 7, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldToday the Fed lets us read the argument This afternoon at two o'clock Eastern the Federal Reserve publishes the minutes of its last meeting, the one on September 16 where Kevin Warsh and the committee lifted the target rate to

Should a record high change what you do with your money?

Tuesday · October 6, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldTwo markets, two different stories Wall Street kept throwing a party on Monday while the bond market frowned. The Nasdaq closed at another record, up more than a percent on the strength of the big technology names, with Nvidia touching a fresh

Four quiet moves this quarter that keep more of your money.

Monday · October 5, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldA quiet week with one loud moment Good morning. Friday turned a weak jobs report into a rally. The Nasdaq closed at a record and the S&P 500 rose about three quarters of a percent, as traders decided that a

Is the job market finally turning? What the numbers say.

Friday · October 2, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThe job market cracked, and the story changed The September jobs report, out this morning, was soft almost everywhere you looked. Employers added just 29,000 positions, roughly a third of what forecasters expected, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2

The Fed's favorite inflation number finally blinked.

Thursday · October 1, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldInflation cooled, and the market barely noticed The Federal Reserve's favorite inflation gauge finally gave some ground. The PCE price index for August eased to 3.4 percent over the past year, down from 3.7, and the core measure

There's a number for how nervous the country just got.

Wednesday · September 30, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldAmerica's nerves cracked in September The mood soured this week, and there is a number for it. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index dropped 6.7 points in September to 81.9, well under the reading near 89

Could a strait you'll never sail raise your grocery bill?

Tuesday · September 29, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThe pump, not the ticker, ran the day Monday the thing steering the market was not an earnings report or the Fed. It was a shipping lane. Oil jumped after talks between Washington and Tehran broke down over the Strait of Hormuz,

Three jobs-and-inflation reports in four days. Skip the drama.

Monday · September 28, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThis week, the numbers do the talking Good morning. Last week the market kept its eyes fixed on the bond pit, where the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to about 5.17 percent, close to levels last seen eighteen years ago, and

Would you take a 7-minute air taxi over the bridge?

Friday · September 25, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldWhen good news makes the market frown Thursday handed Wall Street a batch of genuinely good economic news, and the market sulked about it. New claims for unemployment fell to 197,000, a very low number, and the government revised second-quarter

A Fed insider just admitted what the others won't

Wednesday · September 23, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldA Fed official said the quiet part out loud The stock market keeps setting records, and at the very same moment a Federal Reserve official is warning that the road ahead may hurt. Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee said this week that

A trillion-dollar chipmaker, and the quiet risk nobody mentions

Tuesday · September 22, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThe mood flipped, and chips led the charge What a difference a few days makes. Last Wednesday the market was shaken by the Fed's rate hike and the Dow shed six hundred points. On Monday it closed at a record,

The inflation number the Fed watches (and it isn't the CPI)

Monday · September 21, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThis week, the Fed's own inflation number Wall Street starts a loaded week. More than ten Federal Reserve officials are booked to speak, all of them trying to explain last week's hawkish rate hike, and on Friday the

A shutdown won't touch your Social Security check — here's why

Sunday · September 20, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldWhy gold keeps setting records Gold has pushed into record territory, around $4,380 an ounce, and the buyer doing the most to push it there is not a nervous family in Texas. It is the world's central banks. They

Could a phone call in your grandchild's voice fool you?

Friday · September 18, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThe job market is why rates stay high Cut through a loud week and one number tells the story. On Thursday the Labor Department said new claims for unemployment fell to 196,000, the lowest since mid-July, and the running pace

Prime just hit 7% — the debt to pay down first

Thursday · September 17, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThe Fed moved, and it wasn't a one-off After months of the whole country guessing, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate on Wednesday, a quarter point, to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent. It is the

The 10-year just hit a 2007 high — here's the upside for you

Wednesday · September 16, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldSafe money finally pays like it used to The whole country will watch the Federal Reserve this afternoon, but the number that matters most to a household moved yesterday, quietly and on its own. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.

The stealth retirement account just got a bigger limit for 2027.

Tuesday · September 15, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldA few names sneezed, and the whole market caught a cold Stocks slipped on Monday, and the reason says a lot about how the market is built now. The pullback came out of one corner: artificial-intelligence and chip stocks fell after

Turning 60 to 63? You can put an extra $11,250 in your 401(k).

Monday · September 14, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldFed week, and this time the question is a hike The week ahead has one appointment that matters, and for the first time in a good while it points the wrong way for borrowers. The Federal Reserve decides on Wednesday, and after

Is an in-line inflation number good enough for the Fed?

Sunday · September 13, 2026 · with Ray Above the FoldThe number the week waited for landed on the line After a jittery few days, the big report came in about where economists guessed. Consumer prices in August rose 0.4 percent for the month, holding the yearly rate at 3.4

A cheaper electric car is here. Does the math work for you?

Friday · September 11, 2026 · № 29 · with Ray Above the FoldThe market talked itself into a rate hike The week did something it has not done in a long while: it started pricing in a rate increase. After wholesale prices ran hot on Thursday, with the producer index up 5.4

Medicare's 2026 premium is up nearly 10%. What it takes from your check.

Thursday · September 10, 2026 · № 28 · with Ray Above the FoldThe dollar slid to a four-month low, and gold answered While the stock tickers grabbed the headlines with a third straight down day, the quieter move mattered more. The U.S. dollar slipped to its weakest level in four months

Will an oil spike undo the Fed's plan to hold?

Wednesday · September 9, 2026 · № 27 · with Ray Above the FoldDay one back, and oil did the talking The desks reopened after the long weekend and walked straight into a selloff. The Dow dropped 628 points, about 1.2 percent, its worst day in weeks, as oil jumped on fresh Middle

There's a year-end deadline on retirement accounts with a 25% penalty attached.

Sunday · September 6, 2026 · № 25 · with Ray Above the FoldThe oil group meets today, and your gas is watching On a quiet Sunday, one meeting still matters at the pump. OPEC+, the group of producers that steers roughly a third of the world's oil, holds a review today,