Jobs, prices, taxes, markets and your money.
The White House says nearly 70 million American children now have government-created investment accounts after automatic enrollment wrapped up Oct. 1. A parent or guardian still has to formally claim the account, and the AP notes only newborns are funded.
New York's minimum wage will hold at $17 downstate and $16 upstate on Jan. 1 after a job-loss trigger written into the state's own 2023 wage law kicked in. Gov. Kathy Hochul, on the ballot next month, now wants the Legislature to change the trigger.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Axios the climb in Treasury yields tracks a global move rather than an American panic, and brushed off talk of an AI bubble. The bond market has not been asked for its opinion.
Trump declared on Truth Social that Europe agreed to release a "massive amount" of diesel immediately. The European Commission says negotiations are still underway, and diesel sat at $6.38 a gallon.
Treasury says every eligible child under 18 now has a Trump Account, more than 60 million of them created automatically this week. The $1,000 federal deposit for the youngest children still does not arrive until a parent claims the account.
Nearly a million people in 30 states who bought HealthCare.gov plans without a subsidy are getting $500 each, paid from surplus exchange fees. It is real money, and it is small next to what they pay in premiums.
Trump says South Korea will put $200 billion into American energy projects, led by eight nuclear reactors. The Alaska gas line in the package still depends on conditions Seoul has not waived.
Core inflation came in at 3.0% for August, lighter than Wall Street expected. The all-items number families actually live with was 3.4%, and consumers spent far faster than they earned.
First-time unemployment claims slipped to 197,000, one of the lowest readings in decades, even as energy costs squeeze employers. The next jobs report will say whether hiring is slowing underneath.
AnnualCreditReport.com is the site Congress created, and it is the one place entitled to give you reports from all three bureaus at no cost. It was redesigned in late July into a mobile-friendly layout, and the old dated look that people used to recognize as proof it was real is gone. Meanwhile the free weekly report, which began as a pandemic measure, is now permanent. Here is what you are entitled to, how to tell the real site from the imitations, what to look for on the report, and the freeze
