Economics

KEY POINTS

Tesla reported 418,227 vehicle deliveries in the fourth quarter.

The electric vehicle maker faces steep competition across the globe from companies including BYD, Kia, Hyundai and Volkswagen.

In the U.S., a $7,500 federal government incentive for EVs came to an end on Sept. 30.

The "Oracle of Omaha" has officially retired. Mostly.

At age 95, legendary investor Warren Buffett stepped down on Wednesday as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the once-failing textile business he spent 60 years building into one of the world's largest and most powerful companies.

Today marks another step in Buffett's long — and still partial — goodbye from Berkshire Hathaway. It's the first day under Buffett's longtime deputy and handpicked successor, Greg Abel.

The precious metals thrived as the U.S. dollar suffered in the wake of Trump trade policies.

Gold and silver prices are about to record their biggest annual gains since 1979.

Rising sharply in late April after Donald Trump’s rocky global tariff rollout, the price of gold has soared nearly 70% in 2025. Silver, up more than 30% in December alone, has surged more than 160% this year.

While there are a few factors at play, the rally can trace its origins to the unease over volatile trade policies announced by the Trump administration earlier this year, as well as a concern that they could weaken the U.S. dollar and hurt its appeal around the world. Often referred to as “safe haven” assets, precious metals rise when investors move out of more volatile assets, like stocks.

United Site Services, which owns 350,000 portable restrooms, filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey on Monday with a plan to eliminate $2.4 billion in debt and hand control to the company's lenders.

USS, which is owned by private equity firm Platinum Equity Partners, said that a majority of the company's lenders have agreed to support the restructuring plan. Despite the high level of support, one large holdout creditor opposes the plan and could pursue a path of "delay and litigation," according to USS' court filings.

Consumers across income levels are cutting back on extras and digging for deals — leading some shoppers to the aisles of Aldi.

Newlyweds Brittany Zwier and Frank Martinez are starting their life together looking for ways to save money. Zwier, 32, and Martinez, 40, have an annual income of more than $100,000 — but are finding their dollars aren’t stretching as far as they used to.

The couple now buys groceries exclusively at the no-frills supermarket chain Aldi, where they say the prices are cheaper than at other stores.

Zwier and Martinez are not alone. For millions of Americans, the cost of living has risen sharply in recent years, fueled by a mix of persistent inflation, high interest rates, soaring energy costs and consumer price increases due to tariffs.

The American Dream typically includes a home with a white picket fence, but what happens when younger generations can only afford the fence?

A new research paper has found the millennial generation is giving up on the thought of ever buying a house with experts estimating fewer will live out the American Dream of becoming homeowners.

Economists Seung Hyeong Lee of Northwestern University and Younggeun Yoo of the University of Chicago recently published a paper looking at homeownership rates of Americans born in the 1990s and how their attitudes toward homeownership may affect their behavior. 

Lee and Yoo estimate just about 74% of people born in 1990 will become homeowners by retirement, a 9.6% decline from the nearly 84 percent of people born in 1950 who have bought a house.

Nearly half of our readers now wait three years or more to replace their phones as spec upgrades have plateaued.

Consumers’ confidence in the economy was shaken in December as Americans grew anxious about high prices and the impact of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 3.8 points to 89.1 in December, the fifth straight monthly decline and approaching the 85.7 reading from April, when Trump rolled out his import taxes on U.S. trading partners. November’s reading was upwardly revised to 92.9.

A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market remained stable at 70.7, but still well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It was the 11th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.

Most Americans aren’t making end-of-year charitable giving plans, according to the results of a new AP-NORC poll, despite the many fundraising appeals made by nonprofits that rely on donation surges in the calendar’s final month to reach budget targets.

The survey, which was conducted in early December by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that about half of U.S. adults say they’ve already made their charitable contributions for 2025. Just 18% say they’ve donated and will donate again before the year is over. Only 6% report they haven’t given yet but will do so by December’s end. The rest, 30%, haven’t donated and don’t plan to.

The gold price has hit another record high, trading above $4,400 (£3,275) an ounce for the first time.

The price of the precious metal has risen on expectations the US central bank will cut interest rates further next year, analysts said.

Gold started the year worth $2,600 an ounce, but geopolitical tensions, the Trump tariffs and expectations of rate cuts have added to investor demand for safe haven assets, such as gold and other commodities.

Thousands of farms set to go bankrupt as grain farmers in particular hit by trade disruptions caused by price hikes

Donald Trump, having promised to “NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN”, appeared to come through for them this month when he unveiled a $12bn aid package. Industry leaders say thousands of farms will still go bust this year.

While the US president has vowed to increase domestic farm production, and even claimed this formed a “big part” of his plan to lower grocery prices for Americans, many US farmers are grappling with mounting financial issues – compounded by Trump’s agenda.

Grain farmers, in particular, have been hit by trade disruptions caused by tariff hikes, and $11bn of the US Department of Agriculture’s Farmer Bridge Assistance Program will go to row-crop farmers. Trump’s trade war with China has hit soya bean farmers the hardest, as China bought 54% of US soya bean exports last year, according to the American Soybean Association.

Donald Trump has been graded "F" on his handling of the economy, according to a new poll.

According to a survey by Emerson College, 36 percent of people gave the president an "F" grade on the economy. This 36 represented the largest proportion of respondents and far outstripped those who gave Trump an "A" grade on this policy area.

KEY POINTS

Shares of Broadcom, CoreWeave and Oracle all dropped on Monday, extending last week’s declines.

While the artificial intelligence boom shows no signs of easing, investors have grown concerned about how it will all be financed.

Oracle has lost almost half its value since the stock peaked in September.

Nasdaq, one of the world's largest exchanges that is home to tech companies Nvidia, Apple and Amazon, is planning to submit paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to roll out round-the-clock trading of stocks, as it looks to capitalize on a global demand for U.S. equities.

Investor demand for nonstop trading in U.S. stocks has surged in recent years, prompting regulators to introduce new rules and green-light proposals from major exchanges to enable trading beyond normal market hours.

The U.S. stock market represents almost two-thirds of the market value of listed companies globally, while total foreign holdings of U.S. equities reached $17 trillion last year, according to data compiled by Nasdaq.

After Amazon's acquisition of the Roomba-maker fell apart, it ran out of options.

iRobot, which brought robotic vacuum cleaners to the masses with its iconic Roomba models, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Massachusetts-based company plans to sell all assets to its primary supplier, a Chinese company known as Picea Robotics. If approved by a bankruptcy court, the move would allow iRobot to "continue operating in the ordinary course, pursue its product development roadmap, and maintain its global footprint," iRobot wrote in a press release.

The company expects the deal to close in February 2026, but says it will continue to operate "with no anticipated disruption to its app functionality, customer programs, global partners, supply chain relationships or ongoing product support." That means your Roomba should continue to clean normally and you'll be able to get consumables and replacement parts.

However, investors of common stock "will experience a total loss and not receive recovery on their investment" if the deal is approved, iRobot stated. The company didn't discuss how the move might affect its employees in the US or elsewhere.

A new AP-NORC poll finds this holiday season isn’t quite so merry for American shoppers, with the vast majority of U.S. adults saying they’ve noticed higher-than-usual prices for groceries, electricity, and holiday gifts.

The Federal Reserve’s early reappointment of its regional bank presidents took markets by surprise and eased concerns the central bank would soon lose its independence as Donald Trump continues demanding steeper rate cuts.

On Thursday, the Fed announced 11 out its 12 bank presidents were re-upped, leaving out the Atlanta Fed chief role as Raphael Bostic had announced previously that he’s stepping down.

“The reappointments for 11 of the reserve bank presidents takes a risk off the table that the president or his appointment of a new chairman might disrupt the structure and governance of the system going into 2026,” Robert Eisenbeis, who previously served as director of research at the Atlanta Fed, told Fortune via email.