The Daily

The US economy added 57,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in June. But beneath that mild headline number, the household survey delivered a sharper signal: full-time employment fell by 514,000 in a single month.

That brought the total number of full-time workers to 133.66 million, the lowest level since December 2024. It’s the third consecutive monthly decline.

 » Read more about: US full-time jobs decline by 514,000 in June, marking third straight drop  »

Key Points

• Bloom Energy makes solid oxide fuel-cell systems.

• Demand for Bloom’s servers has skyrocketed, with data center clients leading the charge.

• A $10,000 investment today is unlikely to grow into a million, unless Bloom becomes one of the most valuable companies in the world.

 » Read more about: Could Investing $10,000 in Bloom Energy Make You a Millionaire?  »

Some analysts have proclaimed that AI is more important and will be more transformative for human development than the creation of the railways. With the world’s largest technology companies now spending more than $1 trillion a year expanding their presence in the market, there’s no doubt this theme will dominate for the foreseeable future.

However,

 » Read more about: How to invest in the AI energy boom  »

The artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure build-out is booming, with hyperscalers devoting up to $700 billion in capital expenditures this year to build data centers. The AI gold rush has created significant distortions across industries, including memory chips and power solutions.

Technology companies are scrambling to secure reliable energy for their growing data center footprints,

 » Read more about: 3 Under-the-Radar AI Energy Stocks to Buy Right Now  »

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A married couple in their early 70s shifted their fixed-income money into municipal bonds for the simple pitch: tax-free interest, steady payments, less to worry about at tax time. Then they opened their tax return and saw a larger share of their Social Security benefit listed as taxable. Their lifestyle had not changed.

 » Read more about: A Retired Couple Loaded Up on Tax-Free Municipal Bonds. In Their 70s, the Interest Still Taxes Their Social Security.  »

Key PointsMicron is benefiting from high DRAM and NAND prices driven by demand for AI infrastructure build-out.The stock looks cheap, and the company is locking in long-term agreements. Micron Technology(NASDAQ: MU) once again turned in a spectacular quarter when it reported its fiscal third-quarter results after the bell on June 24. While the stock initially surged,

 » Read more about: Is Micron Stock a Buy as Revenue Continues to Surge?  »

In the course of preparing for retirement, one of the most important things you can do is create an account on SSA.gov to see what monthly Social Security benefit you’re in line for. That way, you’ll know what sort of check to expect once you bring your career to a close. But what if the number on the screen is lower than you expected?

 » Read more about: What to Do If Your Social Security Benefit Is Lower Than You Expected  »

Investors choosing between Invesco S&P SmallCap 600 Revenue ETF (RZG 0.91%) and Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF (VOOG 1.00%) must weigh the higher historical returns of large-cap growth against the recent momentum of small-cap revenue-weighted stocks.Both funds target growth, but they look for it in very different corners of the market. While RZG uses a revenue-weighted strategy to filter the small-cap universe,

 » Read more about: Vanguard S&P 500 Growth vs. Invesco SmallCap Revenue: How Do These ETFs Stack Up?  »

Indian equity mutual funds have delivered strong returns over the past decade, but the biggest winners haven’t come from every category or every fund house. Instead, the top of the SIP return charts is dominated by a handful of small-cap and mid-cap schemes, with a few asset management companies (AMCs) repeatedly producing the best-performing funds across multiple investment horizons.An analysis of SIP returns across three-,

 » Read more about: Which equity mutual funds topped SIP returns? These AMCs dominated the rankings  »

Key PointsHistorically, fund managers have not outperformed passive investing, but that may be changing.Higher fees have created headwinds that account managers haven’t always been able to overcome.You can expect a higher number of trade fees when your ETF is actively managed.Given the popularity of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), it’s hard to believe that the very first one became available in the U.S.

 » Read more about: The Rise of Active ETFs: Can Fund Managers Outperform Passive Investing?  »