Independent coverage of money

How money moves, and how to move with it.

We cover the markets, the money, and how AI is changing both, without the usual script.

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Money

Student loan default in 2026: rehab now, while garnishment is paused

9.3 million borrowers are in default and wage garnishment has been paused since January. Rehab erases the default record. Treasury collects next.

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Crypto

EU exchanges have until January 8 to stop holding your USDT

ESMA's October 8 opinion pulls custody and transfers into the stablecoin ban it left open in 2025. EU holders of USDT have until January 8 to sell, swap or move it.

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Markets

What mortgage-backed securities yield in 2026: rates, spreads, buyers

Agency MBS yielded 5.86% on 8 October 2026 while the 30-year mortgage hit 7.40%. The layers between the two, the spread, and who still buys the bonds.

Money

Amazon's $309.5M returns settlement: claim filers share 7.3%

Most of Amazon's $309.5 million returns settlement pays out with no form. The claim form, due December 1, splits 7.3% against a $400 million pool.

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AI money

AI agents pick $198 pricier flights for the rich. Set a dollar cap.

In 325,000 test runs, 8 of 13 AI models steered users they read as wealthy to pricier picks, even when told to find the cheapest. A dollar cap mostly fixed it.

Money

Apple's Patreon deadline is October 31. A $10 patron nets $6 to $10.72.

Patreon creators must leave legacy billing by October 31. The bigger cost is where fans pay: a $10 patron leaves $8.41 on the web and $6 in the iOS app.

Markets

Payrolls added 29,000. The pay squeeze is an energy bill.

September added 29,000 jobs and pay rose 3.0%, level with core inflation. Energy, up 16.3% in a year, is what puts US paychecks behind prices.

Markets

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The 10-year hit 5.29%. Inflation bets added 12 basis points of it.

The 10-year Treasury rose 85 basis points in Q3 to a 2002 high. Treasury's own TIPS curve puts 73 of them on real yields and only 12 on inflation.

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Consumer confidence hit a 12-year low. Diesel is up 75%.

The Conference Board index fell to 81.9, the lowest since 2014. Consumers named fuel. The Fed's September statement never uses the word energy.

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Mortgage rates hit 6.76%. The MBS buyback bought 16 basis points.

Fannie and Freddie added $38B of agency bonds since December. The spread they target has gone sideways since January. The 10-year moved 99 points.

Money

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Why Fiverr stock fell 97% while its revenue doubled

Fiverr trades at $307 million, about the cash it holds. Revenue is double 2020's. Investors are pricing a buyer base that fell to 2.7 million.

Apollo warns of an agentic bank run. Savings still pay 0.37%.

The Fed pays banks 3.90% on reserves. The average savings account pays 0.37%. Meta's Muse can read that gap but can't move your money. You can, today.

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What YouTube pays creators in 2026: shares, thresholds, payouts

YouTube publishes shares, never rates. The 55% and 45% splits, the $100 payout floor, and the 10M Shorts gate that lands on February 1, 2027.

AI money

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An H100 now rents for $4.50 an hour. Idle cards lose to the API.

Nebius raised H100 rent to $4.50 an hour on October 1. Serving one request at a time, a self-hosted 70B model now costs more than OpenAI Sol in batch.