Markets
What Circuit Breakers Do in a Market Selloff
Three thresholds at 7, 13, and 20 percent can halt the entire U.S. stock market — rules written after 1987 that have only ever fully triggered once.
Valentina Sokolov · May 20, 2026
Markets
Market analysis focused where household money meets financial markets: retailer and consumer goods equities, mortgage and deposit rates, currency effects on imported goods, and agricultural and energy commodities. Aimed at investors in consumer sectors and at analysts translating market moves into household consequences.
Markets
ETF vs. Index Fund: The Mechanics That Differ
Both track an index cheaply, but one trades all day through a stock exchange and the other prices once — and the plumbing behind that difference explains spreads, taxes, and flash crashes.
Valentina Sokolov · April 27, 2026
Markets
How Earnings Guidance Moves Stocks
Results tell you the last quarter; guidance tells you what management expects next — and the market prices the second number, which is why beats fall and misses rise.
Valentina Sokolov · April 5, 2026
Markets
Market Cap vs. Free Float, Explained
A company's headline value counts every share; the tradable slice — what indexes weight and liquidity depends on — can be less than half of it.
Valentina Sokolov · March 13, 2026
Markets
How Treasury Auctions Set Yields
Every week the Treasury sells billions in new debt by auction, and the winning bids — not the Fed, not the news — determine where the world's benchmark interest rates sit.
Valentina Sokolov · February 18, 2026