Stock Futures Tick Higher After CPI Inflation Data Matches Expectations; JPMorgan Results Mixed to Kick Off Bank Earnings Season

Mortgage Rates Just Dropped to a 15-Month Low. Is It Time to Jump on a Rate Lock?

FROM 4 minutes ago

If you’ve been keeping an eye on mortgage rates, this week may have finally felt like a small break. After hovering at higher levels for much of the past year, rates on 30-year fixed mortgages for new home purchases have been slowly drifting lower in recent weeks, pushing the national average down as far as 6.23% mid-day on Monday.

That’s the lowest 30-year average homebuyers have seen since early October 2024. As the chart below shows, mortgage rates spent much of the past year near higher levels, topping 7% at several points before beginning a gradual pullback.

For buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines, today’s reading offers some welcome relief. But predicting where rates go from here is difficult. Mortgage rates can shift quickly in response to new economic data, changes in investor sentiment, or broader market moves—and similar moments in the past haven’t always led to the same outcome.

That uncertainty is why many buyers face the same question when rates reach a low point: wait for clearer signals, or lock in what’s available today.

Read the full article here.

–Sabrina Karl

How Childhood Hardship Can Cut Retirement Wealth by 50%

FROM 38 minutes ago

Enduring childhood abuse or a parental divorce often has negative consequences for a person’s wealth later in life, says a recent report from the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College. And that can have a big impact on retirement security.

In the December 2025 study, CRR researchers found that facing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—like emotional neglect, household mental illness, or alcoholism—resulted in people aged 52 to 60 having a net worth that was substantially lower than those who did not.

Analyzing data from a longitudinal survey spanning from 1979 to 2018 of more than 12,500 people, the researchers found that the median net wealth of people who did not have such adverse experiences during childhood was $110,000, while those who did had a net worth that was 44% to 77% lower.

The researchers controlled for both parental income and education.

Read the full article here.

–Trina Paul

DOJ’s Powell Probe Has People Asking One Big Question: What Happens to Interest Rates?

FROM 56 minutes ago

The Justice Department (DOJ) has opened a criminal probe involving Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, an unusual development arriving just weeks before the Fed’s next interest rate decision. If you’re seeing those headlines and wondering whether they could affect what the Fed does next, it’s a fair question.

Fed rate decisions shape everyday finances, influencing both the return savers earn on cash in the bank and the costs borrowers pay on variable-rate debt such as a credit card balance. Whether this latest news has any bearing on interest rates depends largely on how the Fed’s decision-making process works—and whether there’s any reason to expect that process to change.

Despite the DOJ news, market expectations for the Fed’s next move have remained largely unchanged. Investors are still pricing in little chance that the Fed will cut interest rates at its upcoming meeting, with the central bank set to announce its decision on Jan. 28. Futures pricing currently puts the probability of a January rate cut at only 5%, roughly where it stood before the DOJ probe became public.

Expectations climb for rate cuts at later Fed meetings, as shown in the chart below. But current market pricing suggests that it may take until the June meeting for the Fed’s benchmark rate to be lowered by at least a quarter point.

Read the full article here.

–Sabrina Karl

Delta Stock Drops as Profit Forecasts Disappoint

FROM 1 hr 30 min ago

Delta Air Lines (DAL) forecast fiscal 2026 adjusted profit growth of 20% at the midpoint of its range. Investors were looking for more.

Shares of the Atlanta-based carrier fell nearly 6% before the bell after it guided for full-year adjusted earnings per share of $6.50 to $7.50. The midpoint of the range was well below the $7.26 consensus forecast of analysts polled by Visible Alpha. It also projected current-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.50 to $0.90, with the midpoint below the $0.72 consensus.

Delta, the largest U.S. airline by revenue, also reported slightly disappointing fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter profit of $1.55, which missed the Visible Alpha estimate by a penny. Operating revenue of $16.00 billion topped the consensus projection of $15.75 billion.

For its fiscal 2025 year, Delta made $5 billion in profit on more than $63 billion in operating revenue—strongly aided by remuneration growth of 11% to $8.2 billion from credit card partner American Express (AXP)—yet it once again lost money flying passengers. It registered a lower passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM), 17.37 cents, than cost per available seat mile (CASM), 19.31 cents, a slightly worse ratio than in 2024.

On the plus side, Delta announced it had reached a deal with Boeing (BA) to purchase 30 787-10 widebody aircraft, with options for 30 more, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2031. 

“Delta is building the fleet for the future, enhancing the customer experience, driving operational improvements and providing steady replacements for less efficient, older aircraft in the decade to come,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said.

Stock Futures Point Lower Ahead of CPI Inflation Data, Bank Earnings

FROM 2 hr 11 min ago

Futures contracts associated with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%.

S&P 500 futures also were down 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 futures pointed 0.3% lower.