As rents continue to rise, consumers are beginning to feel the squeeze, a report notes.

Analysis of dollars spent on Bank of America credit and debit cards in July by the Bank of America Institute found that median rent payments paid increased by 7.4%, as compared to the previous year.

Roughly a third of U.S. households overall are renters,...

Like many, Lisa Schroeder and Rob Sample found themselves unemployed during the pandemic. Sample was laid off from his job of 28 years as a sales manager and trainer, and the couple was forced to temporarily shutter their beloved Portland, Oregon, restaurant Mother’s Bistro, where Schroeder is the executive chef. 

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That being said, no matter how you measure it, inflation is the highest it has been in the United States in decades. Some measures of inflation aim to capture changes in the overall cost of living while others are intended to gauge a more generalized trend. Moreover, the rate of inflation experienced by different households and different sectors of the economy can range widely.

Follow the inflation story on MarketWatch

decline of 13.5%. The young car maker, which went public last year, has struggled with production issues, but its production numbers released last month were seen as a positive by Wall Street, sending its stock rallying. The company also kept its target of producing 25,000 vehicles this year.

Traders, investors and economists are all counting on Wednesday’s consumer-price index report to show a decline in the annual headline U.S. inflation rate for July. But there’s another figure buried in the consumer-price index data that has the propensity to jolt markets.It’s called the core year-over-year CPI reading, a measure which strips out volatile food and energy costs. It came in at 5.9% for the 12 months that ended in June, and the consensus view is that it will inch up to 6.1% on a year-over-year basis for July. Gargi Chaudhuri of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money manager, sees the core reading coming in even a bit higher, at 6.2%, while a pair of Goldman Sachs analysts are warning that the near-term U.S. inflation picture “is likely to remain uncomfortably high.”Read: Goldman Sachs says it’s too soon for markets to be trading `a full Fed pivot’ A move higher in the annual CPI core rate would be significant because it would be seen as...

The Justice Department is poised to file an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.’s Google as soon as September over its dominance in the online advertising market.

The suit is expected to come after Justice Department officials rejected concessions offered by Google, according to a Bloomberg News report that cited people familiar with the matter.

With less than half a year to go until required minimum distributions are due, plus rising inflation and interest rates and a volatile stock market, some retirees may be wondering how to take their RMDs most financially efficient manner. Join MarketWatch's Alessandra Malito and Jody King, director of wealth planning at Fiduciary Trust Company, as they discuss the best strategies.

reported a second-quarter loss of $40 million, or 36 cents a share, compared with a loss of $26.9 million, or $1.55 a share, in the year-ago period. The company attributed its wider loss to greater stock-based compensation expenses. Sweetgreen did not provide adjusted earnings. Revenue rose to $124.9 million from $86.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast a loss of 30 cents a share on revenue of $130.2 million.

But she is leaving the tennis court after a legendary career that has included 23 Grand Slam singles titles — including the 2017 Australian Open while she was two months pregnant — and it sounds like she’s devastated by it. 

“I’m going to be honest. There is no happiness in this topic for me,” Williams writes in Vogue’s September issue. “I know it’s not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain. It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. I hate it. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads. I keep saying to myself, I wish it could be easy for me, but it’s not.” 

Read more: Serena Williams retiring from tennis to focus on family — and her venture-capital firm

Williams writes that while she is ready for what’s next, the subject of stepping off the court still brings an “uncomfortable lump” in her throat, and she cries. Moving away from tennis is such a painful subject for her, in fact, that she’s only been able to discuss it...

As other investors worry the U.S. could face a recession next year, ARK Investment Management founder Cathie Wood thinks one already has hit — and it could be over next year.

While many economists and strategists have been “resisting the notion that we are in a recession,” and anticipate that the U.S. may enter one next year, “we actually think we’ll be coming out of it in 2023,” said Wood, ARK’s chief executive officer and chief investment officer, during the firm’s monthly webcast Tuesday.

An earlier version of this report misstated Angi’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the latest quarter. It has been corrected.

The home-improvement frenzy is slowing down, and that’s actually proving beneficial for Angi Inc.

were sinking more than 11% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the luxury-goods reseller cut its forecast for the full year. The company posted a second-quarter net loss of $53.2 million, or 56 cents a share, compared with a loss of $71 million, or 78 cents a share, in the year-prior period. After adjustments, RealReal generated a loss per share of 40 cents, down from 50 cents in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts tracked by FactSet were anticipating a 47-cent adjusted loss on a per-share basis. RealReal's revenue climbed to $154.4 million from $104.9 million, while the FactSet consensus was for $154.1 million. Looking to the third quarter, executives at RealReal anticipate $145 million to $155 million in revenue along with a loss of $26 million to $30 million on the basis of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda). Analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $164.4 million in revenue and a $21.1 million loss on the basis of adjusted...

reported a second-quarter loss of $19.1 million, or 4 cents a share, on sales of $377 million, up from $280 million a year ago. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and other effects, the online-advertising powerhouse reported earnings of 20 cents a share.

On the same day it received an offer to acquire the company for roughly $20 billion, Unity Software Inc. reported a loss that was less than feared and pulled back on its guidance for the year, and shares slipped in the extended session.

Unity  U,

Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. fell 5% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the cryptocurrency exchange said volumes and monthly user counts could be lower in the current quarter than what was seen in the last one, as “soft” crypto market activity continues.

The company posted a net loss of $1.09 billion, or $4.98 a share, whereas it recorded net income of $1.61 billion, or $6.42 a share, in the year-before quarter. Analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting a $2.47 loss on a per-share basis.

As other investors worry the U.S. could face a recession next year, ARK Investment Management founder Cathie Wood thinks one already has hit — and it could be over next year.

While many economists and strategists have been “resisting the notion that we are in a recession,” and anticipate that the U.S. may enter one next year, “we actually think we’ll be coming out of it in 2023,” said Wood, ARK’s chief executive officer and chief investment officer, during the firm’s monthly webcast Tuesday.

“We...

So it’s not as if her retirement is going to look like your retirement, or mine.

But…here are three things about her retirement that sound pretty wise, or sensible, for all of us.

1. Don’t think of it as an end, but as a beginning.

Cliché? Sure. But still true. Williams isn’t just moving away from her first career but moving toward her second. “I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams tells Vogue. “It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me.” She says she had initially thought about her next move as a “transition,” but she didn’t want to appropriate that word from the transgender community. Williams is leaving tennis age 40 because she still wants to have another baby. “Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.” That includes not just expanding her family, but also a huge range of other ventures.

Marianela Collada, a...

Ford Motor Co. this week will reopen its order banks exclusive to reservation holders for the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck. With this round comes a slightly longer battery range and a higher sticker price for model year 2023.

Citing “significant material cost increases and other factors,” the automaker said in a release it would increase the manufacturer’s suggested retail price on the Lightning starting with this wave of orders. The base model of the truck will go up by $7,000, or 17.5%, to just under $47,000. Customers with an order already on the books will not be impacted.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has the edge again over Donald Trump to score the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to the latest odds in the betting market PredictIt.

The former president’s prospects have edged down as reports say the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence.

DUNCANSVILLE, Pa. — Researchers are seeking thousands of volunteers in the U.S. and Europe to test the first potential vaccine against Lyme disease in 20 years — in hopes of better fighting the tick-borne threat.

Lyme is a growing problem, with cases rising and warming weather helping ticks expand their habitat. While a vaccine for dogs has long been available, the only Lyme vaccine for humans was pulled off the U.S. market in 2002 from lack of demand, leaving people to rely on bug spray and tick checks.

Tennis star Serena Williams says she is retiring from tennis.

Williams announced the news in a Vogue article published on Tuesday morning that she co-wrote with writer Rob Haskell.

Williams is one of the greatest athletes of all time. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles — the most of any man or woman in the Open Era, which began in 1968.

DUNCANSVILLE, Pa. — Researchers are seeking thousands of volunteers in the U.S. and Europe to test the first potential vaccine against Lyme disease in 20 years — in hopes of better fighting the tick-borne threat.

Lyme is a growing problem, with cases rising and warming weather helping ticks expand their habitat. While a vaccine for dogs has long been available, the only Lyme vaccine for humans was pulled off the U.S. market in 2002 from lack of demand, leaving people to rely on bug spray and tick checks.

Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. were falling in after-hours trading Tuesday after the cryptocurrency exchange said volumes and monthly user counts could be lower in the current quarter than what was seen in the last one, as “soft” crypto market activity continues.

The company posted a net loss of $1.09 billion, or $4.98 a share, whereas it recorded net income of $1.61 billion, or $6.42 a share, in the year-before quarter. Analysts tracked by FactSet were expecting a $2.47 loss on a per-share basis.

After long pushing Congress for such legislation, President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law a bipartisan $280 billion bill focused on domestic semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research.

The House approved the Chips and Science Act in a 243-187 vote on July 28, a day after the Senate gave its OK in a 64-33 vote. Biden had been expected to sign the legislation quickly, but there were delays due to his lingering case of COVID-19.

reported a second-quarter loss of $176.4 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with a loss of $140.1 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 30% to $591.2 million from $454.1 million in the year-ago quarter, but bookings fell 4% to $639.9 million from $665.5 million in the year-ago period.