The Daily Editor

Americans hoping mortgage rates will soon return to the levels seen earlier this year may have to wait longer than expected, according to one of the country’s leading housing economists.

Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), said mortgage rates around 7.5 percent could remain the norm until geopolitical and economic uncertainties resolve.

 » Read more about: When Will Mortgage Rates Drop? Top Housing Market Economist’s Prediction  »

This live blog is refreshed throughout the day with the latest updates from the market. To find the latest Stock Market Today threads, click here.

 » Read more about: Stock Market Today (Oct. 12, 2026): S&P 500 moderates as Wall Street gears up for earnings  »

The energy sector came roaring back in the third quarter of 2026. After finishing at the bottom of the sector rankings in Q2, Energy gained 16.5% in Q3, easily outpacing every other sector and the S&P 500’s 2.0% return. That was a remarkable turnaround, but the headline sector number doesn’t fully capture what happened beneath the surface,

 » Read more about: Energy Stocks Soared in Q3 as Fuel Markets Tightened  »

Key Points

• Meta Platforms’ new Muse AI agents open the door to a big new revenue stream.

• Microsoft continues to see strong cloud computing and enterprise software growth.

• Netflix has seen growth slow, but the stock is reasonably valued.

 » Read more about: President Trump Just Dropped Over $1 Million Into 3 Tech Stocks — Should You Buy Them Too?  »

 » Read more about: Stock Market Midday, Oct. 12: Dow Edges Higher as Investors Rotate Into Value Stocks  »

Investing.com analysis finds some of the strongest adoption of AI for investment research outside traditional U.S. financial and technology hubs

Before you buy NVIDIA: our AI model’s stock picks are beating the market by 120%+. See the list now »

California investors are embracing artificial intelligence more than those in any other U.S.

 » Read more about: Investing.com AI index: How US investors use AI in investment research, by state  »

Concerned about an AI bubble? Sign up for The Daily Upside for smart and actionable market news, built for investors.

Like Labubus and tinned fish, ETFs are very in style.

Launches are breaking records and issuers are increasingly introducing ETF versions of existing strategies: As of Oct.

 » Read more about: ETFs on Track to Outnumber Mutual Funds Early Next Year  »

Interest rates have risen, yet stocks are not falling. The dollar-yen is weakening, yet Nikkei futures are soft. Only Bitcoin is moving in the opposite direction.

It is easy to dismiss such days by saying the market is acting strangely. However, when you look at multiple markets, you realize that not everything reacts to the same factor in the same way.

 » Read more about: Days When Interest Rates, Dollar-Yen, Stocks, and Crypto Diverge: Cross-Market Observation Notes with AI  »

In preparation for purchasing a condo in February, I went around and asked various banks for their “latest partner interest rates” as of October.

To conclude, there was a 0.552% interest rate difference between the lowest and highest banks.

Although I mostly write about investment topics, a mortgage is actually “one of the largest fixed costs in life that you cannot just leave alone.”

 » Read more about: [October 2026] Mortgage interest rates, minimum 1.195% | maximum 1.747%. I asked 9 banks. We chose SBI Shinsei Bank.  »

The Social Security Administration will announce the long-awaited 2027 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on Oct. 14, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Until then, we can only speculate about where the COLA will end up, based on recent inflation data and future projections.

Recent estimates from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) put the COLA somewhere around 3.5%.

 » Read more about: Spousal Social Security Beneficiaries Might Be in for a Smaller 2027 COLA Than Expected, but the Average Check Will Still Reach This Major Milestone  »