Markets
Market Cap vs. Free Float, Explained
A company's headline value counts every share; the tradable slice — what indexes weight and liquidity depends on — can be less than half of it.
Valentina Sokolov · March 13, 2026
Markets
Market analysis focused where household money meets financial markets: retailer and consumer goods equities, mortgage and deposit rates, currency effects on imported goods, and agricultural and energy commodities. Aimed at investors in consumer sectors and at analysts translating market moves into household consequences.
Market analysis focused where household money meets financial markets: retailer and consumer goods equities, mortgage and deposit rates, currency effects on imported goods, and agricultural and energy commodities. Aimed at investors in consumer sectors and at analysts translating market moves into household consequences.
Markets
How Treasury Auctions Set Yields
Every week the Treasury sells billions in new debt by auction, and the winning bids — not the Fed, not the news — determine where the world's benchmark interest rates sit.
Valentina Sokolov · February 18, 2026
Markets
What the VIX Actually Measures
The Cboe Volatility Index is not a fear dial — it is the price of S&P 500 insurance over the next 30 days, implied by options prices and quoted like a yield.
Lena Fischer · January 26, 2026
Markets
How the S&P 500 Index Is Built and Rebalanced
Five hundred large-cap U.S. companies, weighted by float-adjusted market value, decide what most index funds own — and committee rules, not formulas alone, govern membership.
Valentina Sokolov · January 4, 2026