Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Mostly Slip After Dow, S&P 500 Hit Record Highs; Oil Falls After Trump Says Venezuela Will Give US Sanctioned Crude

We Asked One Borrower What They Regret Most About Their Student Loans

8 minutes ago

Amie Wilkinson says she would think twice about student loans if she had a do-over.

Wilkinson, 45, graduated from college in California with a double Bachelor’s of Arts in English and Political Science in 2001. When Wilkinson graduated, she had taken around $60,000 in debt, but now, that debt has more than doubled, to about $150,000, she said.

After about 15 years of being on the standard repayment plan and forbearances, Wilkinson applied for the Income-Based Repayment plan, which allowed her to lower her payments according to her income and family size. Currently, Wilkinson has zero-dollar monthly payments under IBR, and while these payments have helped her manage her budget, they have also resulted in the interest on her student loan growing exponentially.

Investopedia spoke with Wilkinson about her student loans and their impact on her financial situation. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Read the interview here.

–Elizabeth Guevara

People Are Betting Millions of Dollars on Invasions, Regime Changes and More

31 minutes ago

The world is unsettled—and people are wagering on what will happen next.

Event contracts tied to geopolitical events in the Middle East, China, and elsewhere are trending on prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi. Trading volumes have risen on questions like “Israel strikes Iran by January 31, 2026?” and “World leaders out before 2027?” alongside the more regular fare related to sports and where the S&P 500 will close. An Investopedia scan of 20 popular geopolitically linked bets on those two platforms recently found a total of more than $110 million in wagers across them.

Attacks, conquests, and the fall of governments or their leaders appear to be the lottery tickets of the moment. Over $10.5 million in trading volume has been generated on the question “Will the U.S. invade Venezuela?”—referring to the U.S. using military operations intended to establish control of the country, Polymarket’s site shows.

And there’s almost $1.4 million in trading volume tied to the question of whether Israel will strike Iran by the end of January on the same venue. On Kalshi, a contract guessing who the next leader of Venezuela will be has generated over $2 million in trading volume and; around $1 million has been bet on one that guesses at which world leaders will be out before the end of the year.

Read the full article here.

–Crystal Kim

Job Openings Were Scarcer in November

49 minutes ago

For the first time in four years, unemployed people significantly outnumbered job openings in November as the job market continued to deteriorate.

U.S. employers had 7.1 million job openings in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday. That was a decrease from 7.4 million in October, the fewest since September 2024, and below the 7.6 million openings forecasters had expected, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. There was less than one job for every unemployed worker, with the ratio slipping to 0.9 from 1:1 in September. It was the lowest ratio since 2021.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data added detail to a BLS report last month showing the unemployment rate rose to a four-year high in November as employers cut back on hiring. Uncertainty about tariffs, President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration, and the adoption of artificial intelligence software have all taken a toll on the labor market, although employers have mostly avoided mass layoffs so far.

“Today’s report is another signal that the job market lacks dynamism but isn’t completely breaking down,” Ali Jaffery, an economist at CIBC, wrote in a commentary. “The pace of hiring is slow, but firms are still not comfortable firing either.”

Data from Wednesday’s report, alongside a highly anticipated report on the job market due Friday, will likely be scrutinized by officials at the Federal Reserve later in the month when they meet to set the nation’s monetary policy. The Fed has cut its key interest rate at its last three meetings in an effort to prevent the job market slowdown from becoming a severe increase in unemployment.

–Diccon Hyatt

The US Labor Market Has Weakened. What Will Friday’s Jobs Report Reveal?

1 hr 33 min ago

Forecasters believe the U.S. job market expanded slowly in December, extending a streak of underwhelming hiring numbers.

A report Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to show the U.S. economy added 73,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.5% from 4.6% the month before, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. The job growth would be slightly higher than the 64,000 jobs added in November, when the unemployment rate hit its highest level since 2021.

Over the past several months, tariffs have dragged on hiring, and job seekers have had a difficult time finding work, even as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown reduces the number of workers. The U.S. economy only added 17,000 jobs per month on average between May and November, compared to 147,000 per month in the 12 months leading up to April 2025, when Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner.

Some experts believe the BLS has been overestimating job growth in recent months, and that even those weak hiring figures are too optimistic. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economy has likely been losing 20,000 jobs a month on average since April.

Read the full story here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Albertsons Stock Sinks on Weaker-Than-Expected Sales, Lowered Outlook

2 hr 10 min ago

Delayed SNAP funding hit Albertsons Cos. (ACI)’s fiscal 2025 third-quarter identical sales. It expects drug-price negotiations to affect their current-quarter pharmacy sales.

Shares of Albertsons sank 6% Wednesday morning after the Boise, Idaho-based supermarket chain reported weaker-than-expected Q3 net sales and lowered the midpoint of its full-year guidance range for identical sales growth.

Albertsons reported Q3 net sales of $19.12 billion, just below the $19.16 billion consensus of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. Its identical sales of 2.4% also just missed the mark, which the company estimated was dinged by about 10 to 20 basis points because of “the temporary government shutdown and related delayed SNAP funding.”

Albertsons now sees full-year identical sales growth of 2.2% to 2.5%, down from a prior range of 2.2% to 2.75%, because of “a 16 to 18 basis point impact for fiscal 2025 or a 65 to 70 basis point impact for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 related to the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program which took effect on January 1, 2026, resulting in lower pharmacy sales.”

Shares of Albertsons are down nearly 20% over the past year.

The Best Markets for First-Time Homebuyers in 2026

3 hr 18 min ago

First-time homebuyers in 2026 will continue to face a tough housing market thanks to sky-high housing prices and elevated mortgage rates.

However, there are some areas where conditions are expected to be more favorable for first-time homebuyers, according to a new report from Realtor.com.

Places like Rochester, N.Y., Harrisburg, Pa., and Granite City, Ill. should offer a mix of affordability, abundant inventory, local amenities and solid economic outlooks that present attractive buying opportunities for first-time homebuyers, according to the report.

“Buying your first home is one of the biggest financial and lifestyle decisions you’ll make, and where you buy can not only influence how soon you can take that step, it can shape the tradeoffs that homebuying requires,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, in a prepared statement. 

Read the full article here.

–Terry Lane

What’s the ‘Next Big Thing’ in AI? Here’s What Nvidia and AMD Execs Say It Could Be

4 hr 13 min ago

The AI boom is only getting started, according to the industry’s biggest players, with some predicting that the next wave of innovations will come in the physical world.

So-called physical AI, which powers autonomous machines like humanoid robots and self-driving cars, could be the “next big thing,” Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su told CNBC in an interview Tuesday. The company, Su said, is making physical AI a key part of its strategy.

Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, who’s told investors he expects AI-driven robotics to transform industries and Nvidia to be a leading beneficiary of that shift, said Monday that he believes a pivotal “ChatGPT moment” for robotics may have arrived, with the company’s release of several new AI models for developers meant to unlock applications in the physical world.

“Robotaxis are among the first to benefit,” Huang said, with Nvidia’s AI-powered driver assistance software set to be used in a new Mercedes-Benz car to enter production this year.

Analysts at Wedbush and Bernstein applauded Huang’s autonomous vision, with Bernstein telling clients physical AI could be “set for an inflection with Autonomous Driving leading the charge.”

Read the full article here.

–Kara Greenberg

The Next Round of Smart Glasses Could be AI-Powered—and ‘Mind-Blowing’

4 hr 52 min ago

The outlook for smart glasses may have finally cleared up.

Tech and retail experts are optimistic they can get Americans to reconsider adding glasses to their lineups of pocketable personal electronics. The product is becoming more practical and intuitive thanks to AI, the advent of lightweight electronics and partnerships with fashionable eyewear brands, industry executives say.

A number of brand names are racing to release what they hope will be the next big hit, including Snap (SNAP) and Apple (AAPL). Meta (META) is working with Ray-Ban’s parent company EssilorLuxottica SA, while Google (GOOG) has partnered with Samsung and Warby Parker (WRBY), according to company statements.

Meta’s new Ray-Ban Display and other buzzy releases helped the category grow nearly 250% in 2025, International Data Corp. said. Meta said Tuesday that it is delaying the international release of the Display so it can focus on meeting “overwhelming” domestic demand, citing a waitlist for its products.

Read the full article here.

–Sarina Trangle

Apogee Enterprises Stock Dives After Outlook Cut; CFO to Depart

5 hr 25 min ago

Apogee Enterprises (APOG) has cut its fiscal 2026 outlook again. Its stock is tanking in premarket trading Wednesday.

Shares of Apogee Enterprises are dropping 11% after the Minneapolis-based architectural building products and services provider lowered its full-year net sales and profit forecasts for the second straight quarter.

Apogee Enterprises, which reported fiscal third-quarter results before the bell, now sees fiscal 2026 net sales of $1.39 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $3.40 to $3.50. Last quarter, it guided for net sales of $1.39 billion to $1.42 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.60 to $3.90—figures that themselves had been reduced from prior projections.

Separately, Apogee Enterprises announced that CFO Matthew Osberg resigned “to pursue another professional opportunity.” Osberg will remain with the firm until Jan. 16 “to ensure a smooth transition.” Apogee Enterprises named Mark Augdahl interim CFO, effective immediately.

That news comes on the heels of another C-suite change for the company. On Oct. 31, CEO Ty Silberhorn was ousted and replaced by Independent Chair Donald Nolan.

Apogee Enterprises stock has lost more than a third of its value over the past year.

Stock Futures Mostly Slip After Dow, S&P 500 Hit Record Highs

6 hr 22 min ago

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

S&P 500 futures were down 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.3%.