Smith Brain Trust

The mortgage rates we experienced from 2020 into early 2022 are coming back to haunt the housing market. Current interest rates of about 7% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage have homebuyers leery of purchasing a house and sellers reluctant to put theirs on the market for fear of losing their 3%…

Health safety for residents following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has been a top concern. Has it really been safe enough to return – both for the short- and long-term?

A new viral TikTok trend is music to the ears of women fighting against the gender gap in the music industry.

In the fourth quarter of last year, the number of Americans paying $1,000 a month or more for a vehicle hit a record high of 15.7%.

Treasury payments towards the interest on the debt represent the federal government’s largest spending increase so far this year. As the Wall Street Journal reports, it’s contributing to a deficit for the first four months of this fiscal year that has widened to $460 billion, up 78% from $259…

When asked if she would issue the same call to action to corporations she gave them in 2020, Professor Rachelle Sampson said “I would.”

The Federal Reserve Board has engaged six of the biggest U.S. banks in a pilot Climate Scenario Analysis (CSA) to assess and “advance the ability of supervisors and banks to analyze and manage emerging climate-related financial risks.”

“If I were advising, I would think that it would be unwise for South Africa to conduct this exercise, especially in the vicinity of the anniversary.” That’s University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance, Lemma Senbet reacting to South Africa’s…

The stars were out Sunday night during Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium—and not just the injured Patrick Mahomes leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a comeback win over the Philadelphia Eagles, or the pregnant Rihanna pumping up the crowd during the halftime show.

The unimaginable happened in March 2020. Many employers shuttered their offices and told their employees to work from home. Today, although office workers are still not coming in every day, offices across 10 major U.S. cities are over 50% filled for the first time since the pandemic started.