Market News

Gold fell 13% to $4,022.90 a troy ounce over the past three months, marking its biggest quarterly decline since 2013. Silver dropped 20% to $59.48, its worst quarter since 2020.

The S&P 500 is up 14% and the Nasdaq has jumped 20%—the biggest quarterly rallies for both since the second quarter of 2020.

Welltower spent more than $40 billion over six years to acquire tens of thousands of senior-housing units and now owns more than 2,500 senior-living communities, the most of anyone in the industry. Welltower’s market value has increased close to sevenfold to about $160 billion since 2020, making it the world’s largest publicly traded real-estate company.

Those who bought homes since 2022 now collectively pay an estimated $65 billion annually in avoidable mortgage costs. People with higher incomes and who are older are often the ones paying the steepest price.

Capital spending by five hyperscalers will be an estimated $741 billion this year, up nearly 75% from last year, fueling demand for resources. Economists expect the AI build-out to add to inflation over the next year.

The dominance of the U.S. dollar, currently used in roughly 80% of international trade finance, has historically given Washington a big advantage in policing global business. Most international transactions denominated in U.S. dollars must be settled by American banks, giving Washington the ability to monitor them—and cut off users’ dollars if necessary, crippling their operations. But when U.S. adversaries use yuan to run their businesses, the transactions don’t enter the U.S.-led banking system, neutering Washington’s powers.

The Trump administration’s Energy Department plans to offer $17.5 billion in low-interest loans for utilities to finance Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors. The loans aim to speed up construction of 10 reactors in the U.S. by up to three years, with new AP1000s potentially online by 2035.

Condos are for sale at the site of Florida’s Surfside tragedy but not one has sold. The Dubai developer is still trying after more than a year to sell its first unit where a condo building collapse.

The typical profit margin for a flipped home rose to 25.4% in the first quarter, up from 24.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Margins had been declining since peaking at more than 34% in the second quarter of 2024.

For 2026, the combined free cash flow at the five hyperscalers is expected to drop 91% to about $16 billion, while net income is projected to rise 25% to $506 billion. Current forecasts have free cash flow rebounding sharply to $185 billion in 2028 and then soaring to $387 billion in 2029. The consensus view for now is that capex growth will taper off after next year while revenue keeps surging, allowing free cash flow to rebound in a V-shaped recovery.