We’ve gone from lead-acid batteries in our cars to the lithium-ion batteries that power our phones and devices in a relatively short amount of time. The next generation of batteries will need to be big enough to power homes, cities and our electrical grid because experts believe that’ll be key to our transition away from...Read More

Ask palladium traders, and they’ll tell you that the semiconductor shortage isn’t just punching the automotive industry in the gut. There could be signs of life, however, with a recent technical rebound amid a rallying dollar. Monday’s trading session saw the dollar gain strengthen as investors expect the Federal Reserve to follow through with its...Read More

The congested Port of Los Angeles is shown in San Pedro, California, U.S., September 29, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) – White House officials, scrambling to relieve global supply bottlenecks choking U.S. ports, highways and railways, warn Americans may face higher prices and some empty shelves this Christmas season. The supply crisis, driven...Read More

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Monday expressed confidence in the leadership of Kristalina Georgieva, its managing director, following allegations that she had manipulated data to placate China when she was a senior World Bank official. The decision came less than a month after an independent inquiry commissioned by the World Bank...Read More

Households and corporations are looking at additional costs of more than 1.3 billion euros per month in total from soaring electricity and natural gas rates. This explains the government’s difficulty in fully covering the hikes from the budget (just like all other governments in Europe) and ominous projections for a tough and “cold” winter ahead...Read More

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Congress has seemingly kicked the debt ceiling deadline down the road – but the threat of a future default still exists. On Oct. 7, 2021, lawmakers in the Senate agreed to extend the government’s ability to borrow...Read More

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a policy speech at the second-day sitting of the 5th Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo released on September 30, 2021 by North Korea’s Korean...Read More

FILE PHOTO: A construction worker climbs above a line of fencing at the site of a large public infrastructure reconstruction project of an elevated roadway and bridges in upper Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., April 22, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs cut its U.S. economic growth target to 5.6% for...Read More

The U.S. economy is facing a new threat: rising energy prices. Crude oil has risen 64% this year to a seven-year high. Natural-gas prices have roughly doubled over the past six months to a seven-year high. Heating oil has risen 68% this year. Prices at the pump are up nearly a dollar over the past...Read More

A US dollar bill. Credit: Tris-T7 / CC BY 4.0 As the U.S. dollar is entering the crypto age, the U.S. government is considering the tremendous change the digital dollar would bring. According to a Bloomberg report, the guidance will come through three pending reports related to public and private efforts to digitize the world’s...Read More