Baylor plays LSU on Tuesday night in the Texas Bowl, Dave Aranda’s team looking for its seventh straight win to finish the season in a matchup that sets the table for the Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal.The Bears bumping right up against a College Football Playoff game is fitting because one might argue Baylor could be in it without the most brutal loss in school history — one of the wildest on record in a sport made for mind-melting defeats.As we prepare to cross over into 2025, let’s celebrate the 25 worst losses of all time. “Worst” is mostly an evaluation of…
Author: usaeverydaylife
Despite an attempt to broaden away from megacap tech, Wall Street remains reliant on those names. The S & P 500 climbed around 23% between the start of 2024 and Dec. 19. Bespoke Investment Group found that the “Magnificent 7” — a group that includes high fliers such as Nvidia , Microsoft , Apple and Meta Platforms — contributed 13.7 percentage points, or more than half, of that total gain. Coming off 2023’s year of tech driving the broader market rebound, investors wondered if the bull market could expand and have other groups participate. While there were points at which…
The Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut forecast may not be as generous as fixed income investors had hoped, but the tax-exempt municipal bond space will continue to offer a solid deal in the new year. The central bank has dialed back interest rates three times in 2024, but policymakers only see two more reductions in the new year. That’s down from four they had predicted in September. “There’s a lot of uncertainty out there on the path for rates going forward,” said Paul Malloy, head of U.S. municipals at Vanguard. “When I think about that, what’s the best asset that…
Home Depot navigated a challenging 2024 marked by elevated interest rates and a cautious consumer. But as the year progressed, signs of recovery emerged, setting the stage for a rebound in 2025, fueled by increased housing turnover and pent-up demand in the home improvement market. Year-to-date performance: up 12% Forward price-to-earnings multiple: 25 versus a five-year average of 21.5 Our rating: Buy-equivalent 1 Our price target: $440 a share HD YTD mountain Home Depot year to date performance. ’24 look back Home Depot had a rollercoaster year in 2024, starting slow in a high-rate environment before finding momentum later in…
Manchester United’s final game of 2024 felt like the moment the big top on the Old Trafford circus started to sink.Before now, United’s calamities in the last decade or so have been incubated to a tier most other clubs can only dream of: finishing bottom of a Champions League group; coming eighth in the Premier League but winning the FA Cup; losing a Europa League final 11-10 on penalties.As we turn into 2025, however, the ground on which this weekly entertainment show is built is crumbling to a base level.After Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, Newcastle’s 2-0 win inflicted on United…
Though 2024 is shaping up to be a strong year for the S & P 500, some major underperformers restricted upside. The index is tracking to end the year about 23.8% higher, far outperforming the 11% advance seen in an average year between 2014 and 2023. However, those gains weren’t equally distributed: the top-performing sector of communication services has surged more than 40%; the biggest-laggard of materials has slid nearly 2%. Indeed, while the best-performing stock in the S & P 500 surged more than 300% this year, the biggest losers plummeted more than 60%. Here’s the top three worst…
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on July 25, 2024.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty ImagesA U.S. military court on Monday upheld a judge’s ruling that said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acted improperly this year when he invalidated plea agreements for three men accused of planning the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.The Court of Military Commission Review heard an appeal that sought to preserve Austin’s move in August to unravel the plea deals with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. The agreements allow the defendants to plead…
TYSONS, Va. — Byron Leftwich slips into the Northern Virginia brunch spot unrecognized and unbothered.Lean and broad-shouldered at 6-foot-5, the former NFL quarterback looks like he could still play even though his 45th birthday looms in a couple of weeks. After a nine-year playing career, Leftwich made a meteoric rise up the coaching ranks. As offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he helped Tom Brady and Bruce Arians on a storybook Super Bowl march to cap the 2020 season. Leftwich was a legitimate head coaching candidate in the winter of 2022.But time moves quickly, circumstances change and memories fade.…
Personal finances are top of mind for many households as they get set to ring in the new year.About 38% of Americans ranked financial stability as their No. 1 focus area for 2025, according to a recent Allianz Life survey.CNBC reached out to certified financial planners on its Financial Advisor Council to list their top resolutions for households as they look ahead to the coming year.Here’s the financial advice they offered.Kamila Elliott, Co-founder and CEO of Collective Wealth PartnersKamila Elliott, CFP, is co-founder and CEO of Collective Wealth Partners in Atlanta.Kamila ElliottCreate and stick to your budget! Max out on…
There’s good news in the housing market to close out 2024: there’s a lot more supply. The bad news: a lot of that supply is stale, sitting unsold for much longer than usual. Active listings in November were 12.1% higher than they were in November 2023 and hit the highest level since 2020, according to a new report from Redfin.More than half of those homes (54.5%), however, had sat on the market for at least 60 days without going under a contract of sale. That is the highest share for any November since 2019 and is up nearly 50% from the…