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Cranberry Journal

Friday, October 16, 2026

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Markets
  • S&P 5007,711.37−0.42%
  • Nasdaq26,371.33−1.28%
  • Dow52,296.54+0.23%
  • 10-yr yield5.08%−0.24%
  • Crude$95.47−1.07%
At the close · Oct 16

Money

Top stories in Money

A largely empty shopping mall corridor lined with storefronts, in black and white. Money

Retail Sales Rose 0.8 Per Cent in September and Are Up 6.3 Per Cent in a Year. Leave Out Cars and Gasoline and the Gain Was 0.2 Per Cent.

The Census Bureau said on Thursday 15 October that U.S. retail and food services sales were $745.0 billion in September, up 0.8 per cent from August and 6.3 per cent from a year earlier. Once autos and gasoline stations are removed, the gain was 0.2 per cent, a figure the bureau flags as statistically indistinguishable from zero. August was revised up to 1.3 per cent.

By Daniel Okafor  

More in Money

A red wooden barn with white-trimmed windows stands in deep snow beside a split-rail fence and bare trees under a grey winter sky in New England.

Filling a Heating-Oil Tank in Massachusetts Costs About $700 More Than Last Year. The State Has Declared an Energy Emergency.

Home heating oil averaged $6.08 a gallon in Massachusetts on 28 September, up 73 per cent from $3.52 a year earlier, and Governor Maura Healey declared a state of energy emergency on Monday. Energy-assistance directors expect households that heat with oil in the Northeast to pay about half as much again as last winter. The wholesale price has more than doubled, so the increase is already in the tank.

By Daniel Okafor  

An older couple sit on a sofa going through bills and papers on a coffee table, the man holding a phone and the woman a pen.

Florida Says Atlantic Coast Life Is $170 Million Short. South Carolina Says $900 Million of Annuities Unlock This Year.

Florida's insurance regulator suspended Atlantic Coast Life's licence on 30 September, finding that once its investments are valued under state limits the insurer has been short of required surplus since at least September 2025, by $170 million at the end of June. South Carolina, where the company is based, has asked a court to take it over. Its petition says about $900 million of the insurer's annuities reach the end of their surrender-charge periods this year.

By Daniel Okafor  

Two men walk past the stone facade of the Treasury Department building in Washington, with 'The Department of the Treasury' carved above three doors and seals mounted between them.

Washington Paid $709 Billion of Interest This Year, Almost as Much as It Sent the States for Medicaid

The Treasury paid $709.3 billion of interest on its securities in the fiscal year that ended on Wednesday, according to its daily cash statement, up 16 per cent from a year earlier and more than twice the level of 2022. Medicaid grants to the states came to $721.4 billion. Four years ago interest was about half of Medicaid. The average rate on the debt is still below 3.5 per cent, while new ten-year debt costs 5.3.

By Daniel Okafor  

A planner page with the 31st marked by an orange highlighter, the surrounding squares labelled Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.

The Catch-Up Contribution Changes Hands in 2027, Not 2026

From taxable years beginning after 31 December 2026, a saver whose Social Security wages from the plan's own sponsor topped $145,000 the year before can no longer make a pre-tax catch-up contribution. It has to be Roth. The threshold is measured per employer, on last year's wages, which catches people who do not think of themselves as high earners.

By Daniel Okafor  

A scattered layer of US one-dollar bills photographed from above.

A Month Ago a Fed Hike Was a Coin Toss. The Market Now Treats It as Settled.

The Federal Reserve decides on Wednesday whether to raise its benchmark rate from 3.50 to 3.75 percent. After Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech, betting on a hike was roughly even. After August's core inflation came in above forecast and oil rose toward $108, futures priced it at about 85 percent on Monday. For households, the effects arrive at very different speeds.

By Daniel Okafor  

A fuel pump nozzle at a petrol station.

The Pump Is Where the Shock Reaches the Household

Brent above $100 arrives in a household budget faster than almost any other price. Headline inflation is expected near 3.4 percent while core is forecast to ease toward 2.4, and that gap is the whole question — because a family does not buy the core index.

By Daniel Okafor