Stock Market Today: Indexes Up, Gold & Silver Rise, Oil Falls

Rare Earth Stocks Rise on Report Trump to Launch $12B Critical Mineral Stockpile

FROM 3 minutes ago

Shares of USA Rare Earth (TO USE) and Idaho Strategic Resources (IDR) jumped 8% and 5%, respectively, Monday morning on a report that President Trump was set to launch a stockpile of critical minerals with $12 billion in seed money.

Critical Minerals (CRML) stock advanced 3.5% as well after Bloombergciting senior administration officials, reported that Trump was set to announce the initiative, called “Project Vault,” in “a bid to insulate manufacturers from supply shocks as the US works to slash its reliance on Chinese rare earths and other metals.”

The stockpile would focus on minerals like gallium and cobalt, which are needed for batteries, jet engines, and iPhones, but are subject to volatile prices, the report said.

The initiative “would represent a first-of-its-kind stockpile for the US private sector,” Bloomberg said, adding “more than a dozen companies so far” had signed on, including Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google, Boeing (BA), and General Motors (GM).

How Your Retirement Contributions Stack Up Against Others Your Age—And Why It Matters

FROM 1 hr 12 min ago

Most workers have only a rough sense of whether they’re contributing “enough” to their workplace retirement plan. Contribution rates are often set early in a career, when your budget is tight, and may stay unchanged for years. Yet these seemingly modest choices—setting a rate of 5%, 6%, or 7%—hold far more influence over long-term retirement readiness than many people realize.

Defined contribution plans, including 401(k)s403(b)s, 457 plans, and other employer retirement accounts, remain the primary way many Americans save for retirement. But most workers have little insight into how their own contribution rate stacks up.

Plan dashboards highlight balances, not behavior, and people rarely discuss their contribution choices with colleagues or friends. That lack of visibility makes it tough to assess whether you’re on track—and many workers don’t realize how much even a modest contribution change can add up to over time.

Read the full article here.

–Sabrina Karl

Why Just 14% of Workers Hit This 401(k) Milestone and How to Make It Your Target

FROM 2 hr 12 min ago

The reality of the U.S. retirement system is that most workers chronically under-save. Just over one-third of non-retirees said they thought their retirement savings plan was on track in 2023, according to a Federal Reserve survey.

Still, many workers are diligently saving and investing for retirement. Among participants with defined contribution (DC) plans with Vanguard as the recordkeeper, an estimated 14% contributed the annual maximum for employee elective deferrals in 2024. Defined contribution plans include 401(k)s and 403(b)s.

The annual maximum, which does not include contributions your employer makes, is $23,500 but if you’re older than 49, it’s $31,000, and it can be as much as $34,750 for older workers based on changes resulting from the SECURE 2.0 Act.

While saving less than the maximum doesn’t mean you’re necessarily falling short on retirement planning, meeting this goal could help you achieve a more secure retirement, especially if you have limited years to save within a DC plan.

Read the full article here.

–Jake Safane

This Year’s Super Bowl Party Will Cost $140. Here’s the Breakdown

FROM 2 hr 22 min ago

Wings and pizza might not break the bank if you’re hosting a Super Bowl party this year, according to a new report on football’s favorite snacks.

It will cost about $140 to serve food and drinks to 10 people at a Super Bowl party this year, according to Wells Fargo’s Agri-Food Institute, up $2 from last year. That’s a 1.6% rate of increase, slower than the inflation rate for groceries, which came in at 2.4%, according to the December Consumer Price Index.

Other food prices have climbed, but that will be somewhat offset by a boost to average hourly wages.

“Prices have crept up, but the good news is that average hourly wages have risen 3.8% to $31.99, giving party throwers more room to celebrate without breaking the bank,” the report said.

Read the full article here.

–Terry Lane

Why 2026 May Present Tough Times for Both Job Hunters and Employers

FROM 2 hr 56 min ago

Is the labor market getting worse for employers, or for job seekers? Yes. And forecasters expect that to continue into the new year.

Several trends have combined to create a labor market that isn’t working out well for anyone. Job seekers are seeing fewer openings and staying unemployed longer—the long-term unemployment rate hit its highest since November 2021 in September.

Yet, employers are having a hard time finding qualified candidates, with certain industries, such as homebuilding, suffering from labor shortages. The result has been a sharp slowdown in job creation. The job market actually lost jobs in two months in 2025something that hadn’t happened since the pandemic.

Economists forecast the U.S. economy will add an average of just 57,000 jobs per month in the first quarter of 2026, according to a survey of professional forecasters by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

That’s a sharp slowdown from the pre-tariff era. In the 12 months through April, when President Donald Trump announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs, job creation averaged 147,000 jobs per month. Since then, it has slowed to just more than a quarter of that level, at 38,600 per month.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

What Warsh’s Crisis-Era Fed Days Say About His Approach

FROM 3 hr 14 min ago

Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Federal Reserve, left a long track record when he served as Fed governor from 2006 to 2011.

Not all of that history is instructive for gauging his views today. Warsh was a hawk after the 2008 financial crisis, supporting the Fed’s extraordinary moves to halt the panic but arguing for a quicker removal once fears eased.

In recent years, he’s adopted a more dovish tone—aligning with Trump’s view that interest rates should be lower. It’s a dichotomy that market analysts will watch closely over Warsh’s four-year term after he replaces Fed Chair Jerome Powell in mid-May.

“We do believe Warsh will likely be a proponent of rate cuts in 2026, but the main question is whether his former hawkish persona makes a comeback down the road,” wrote Oscar Munoz, chief U.S. macro strategist at TD Securities.

Read the full article here.

–Polo Rocha

Stock Futures Fall to Begin Month as AI Spending Concerns Resurface

FROM 3 hr 53 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were fractionally lower.

S&P 500 futures pointed down 0.4%.

Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.7%.