Staff Reporter

Cristina Brown

Bylines

Published work

A suburban house beside three ascending stacks of coins, with a rising red line chart in the background.

#Treasury yieldsOct 8, 2026

Treasury Yields at a 24-Year High: Mortgages and Stocks

Why higher Treasury yields raise mortgage costs and make bonds more competitive with stocks, with payment examples and a breakdown of mortgage spreads.

Split composite image of an oil refinery and tanker at sunset merging into a financial district skyline, with a falling white line chart and red candlestick chart overlaid across both scenes

#stock marketSep 15, 2026

Seven Shocks, One Week: Will Retail Psychology Break the Rally?

Iran, oil, a hot CPI print, a Fed hike, 5% yields, and AI warnings hit in 48 hours. Weighing which actually moves retail investors.

Wide industrial photograph of an oil refinery at dusk with pipework and storage tanks, representing the strained global fuel-refining capacity behind record diesel prices

#stock marketSep 11, 2026

Diesel at $6, Yields Near 5%: How Should Investors Position Through the AI Rally?

Record diesel prices, a surging 10-year Treasury yield, and hot PPI data are converging just as the AI trade shows fresh strength. Here's how to weigh the risk and position for the weeks ahead.

An illustration of a terracotta arrow breaking through a dashed forecast line and rising sharply, while a faint stock market line trends downward in the background, with a Federal Reserve building silhouette and a clock counting down, representing the August jobs report beating expectations while markets brace for the Fed's rate decision.

#jobs reportSep 5, 2026

The Jobs Report Broke the Other Way. Now What?

August payrolls hit 162,000, triple the forecast. Treasury yields jumped, stocks fell, and hike odds converged near 58-59%, but the Fed's real decision now waits on September 11 inflation data.

Two people in business suits shaking hands across a table in a bright, largely empty office, representing hiring in a slow-growth labor market

#jobs reportSep 4, 2026

The Jobs Report Just Stopped Meaning What It Used To

Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech inverted the jobs-report trade. August payrolls land with hike odds near 66% — and a weak print may no longer rescue stocks.

A balance scale weighing a glowing AI computer chip against gold bars and an hourglass, with a stock market chart in the background, representing the tradeoff between AI exposure and defensive assets.

#AI stocksSep 2, 2026

Is It Safe to Invest in AI Right Now? A Balanced 2026 Framework

AI valuations rival the dot-com peak amid inflation, Fed uncertainty, and Taiwan Strait risk. A framework for balancing AI exposure against defensive assets in 2026.

Stacked gold bars, the classic store-of-value asset investors are buying as a hedge against dollar debasement

#Debasement tradeAug 27, 2026

The Debasement Trade: Why Washington's Yield Fixes Are Pushing Money Into Gold and Bitcoin

Big Tech's AI bond binge and a $2 trillion deficit are pushing 30-year Treasury yields toward 2007 highs. Washington's liquidity fixes are now feeding fears of currency debasement.

Extreme close-up of a computer CPU processor showing its grid pattern and metallic connectors, representing the silicon at the center of the domestic-versus-offshore fab debate.

#supply chain localizationAug 25, 2026

The Domestic Fab Premium: How Tariffs Are Repricing Semiconductor Stocks by Geography

As tariffs and CHIPS Act disbursements reshape where chips get made, equity markets are starting to reward domestic manufacturing footprints and discount cross-border fabless exposure. Here's the ticker-by-ticker read.

Stacked shipping containers at a cargo port, representing the cross-border freight now caught in the U.S.-Canada tariff dispute.

#US Canada tariffsAug 23, 2026

50% and Rising: The Stocks Set to Win — and Lose — as the U.S.-Canada Trade War Reignites

The U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on $20B of Canadian goods on August 22, and Canada's dollar-for-dollar retaliation hits September 8. Here's the ticker-by-ticker read on who absorbs the shock and who's insulated.

Key ConceptAug 21, 2026

Stock Buybacks, Explained Simply

A beginner's guide to corporate share buybacks: how a company repurchases its own stock, what it does to earnings and the balance sheet, and what the market reads into the announcement.

Key ConceptAug 20, 2026

P/E, PEG, Forward P/E, and Forward PEG, Explained Simply

A plain-English guide to P/E, PEG, forward P/E, and forward PEG — what each ratio measures, and what their long-term levels tell you about a stock's economics.

Key ConceptAug 1, 2026

CPI, PPI, and Fed Rate Decisions: Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers to common questions about the difference between CPI and PPI, why the Fed held rates in July 2026, and why stocks sometimes rise on weak economic data.