By Philip van Doorn
Circle said on Tuesday that it had applied with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish the First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A. This would be a traditionally regulated depository institution, although its focus would be on overseeing the management and circulation of USDC stablecoins.
Read: Why Circle鈥檚 proposed national stablecoin trust bank is a smart move
On Monday, Robinhood Markets Inc.
New uses and expanded availability for stablecoins and tokens will lead to new opportunities, but also new risks and regulatory scrutiny. In an article initially published by Project Syndicate, Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister of Greece, described many use cases for stablecoins and tokens 鈥 and a simple way for the U.S. government to prevent related financial meltdowns.
These stocks surged as SEC chair sounds upbeat on 鈥榯okenization鈥 of equitiesYou can now buy this lesser-known crypto in a traditional brokerage account. Here are the risks.
Stock-market bulls and bears
The S&P 500
To put the midyear return of 6.2% in perspective, consider that for 20 years through Wednesday, the S&P 500鈥檚 average annual return, again with dividends reinvested, was 10.7% according to FactSet.
So what鈥檚 in store for the stock market from here?
Joseph Adinolfi explained how a 鈥済olden cross鈥 trading pattern indicated more gains ahead for the S&P 500.
Then again, analysts at BCA Research recommended investors lower their allocations to U.S. stocks for this reason.
Another bear case: Here is the new top risk for stocks and bonds in the second half of 2025
More from Joseph Adinolfi: Fourth of July holiday highlights four reasons 鈥楢merican exceptionalism鈥 isn鈥檛 going anywhere
Playing it safer with a low-volatility bond ETF
Some investors and savers prefer to take as little risk as possible, putting their money in bank accounts or money-market funds to avoid the bond market鈥檚 price fluctuations. But you might consider an ultrashort bond fund designed to have low volatility while providing more income. Laura Mayfield of Fort Washington Investment Advisors described her approach to co-managing the Touchstone Ultra Short Income ETF
Another income angle: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and others boost dividends 鈥 check out how they have rewarded their committed shareholders
Amazon鈥檚 Prime Day(s)
This year鈥檚 Amazon
The Moneyist didn鈥檛 write this headline to be funny
Quentin Fottrell 鈥 aka the Moneyist 鈥 tackles serious questions from MarketWatch readers about all sorts of financial topics, including conflicts over money within families. Here are some of his stories from this week:
鈥業 do all the yardwork, cooking and cleaning鈥: I live with my daughter and her lazy boyfriend. She wants me to buy her house. Do I say yes?鈥業鈥檓 single鈥: At 70, I have $500,000 in stocks and $220,000 in savings. How do I invest my $130,000 windfall?鈥楳y whole financial world is upside down鈥: I鈥檓 鈥榤edically retired鈥 at 51 with $428K in stocks. Is this enough to live on?
Estate planning: Why LGBTQ+ couples are racing to do estate planning right now: 鈥業 don鈥檛 know an LGBTQ person that isn鈥檛 nervous
As you save and plan for retirement, you need to think about taxes
A traditional individual retirement account or an employer-sponsored account such as a 401(k) or 403(b) is funded with pretax money. This means you avoid paying income taxes on any money you contributed for that year. After that, any interest or dividends you earn, or capital gains you realize, will not be taxed until you begin to make withdrawals. The money you take out will all be fully taxable as regular income.
A Roth IRA, Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b) is funded with after-tax income. This means that after the money goes in, it will never be taxed when you make withdrawals. And the interest, dividends you are paid or capital gains you realize within the retirement account will never be taxed either.
And you can convert a traditional retirement account in full or in part to a Roth account to 鈥渢ake your tax lumps early鈥 if you choose to. But it isn鈥檛 an easy decision to make.
Beth Pinsker writes the Fix My Portfolio column. This week, she explained various factors to consider when deciding whether or not to convert to a Roth IRA, and when to do it.
More from Beth Pinsker: Women are about to be tremendously wealthy. So why is it so hard to find good financial help?
Here is the next AI trend for investors to ride
Coverage in the financial media of the development of generative artificial-intelligence technology has focused on the hardware 鈥 especially Nvidia Corp.鈥檚
But Laila Maidan explained why investors might want make a long-term AI play with a different group of companies, as Tony Kim, head of fundamental equities for BlackRock鈥檚 global technology team, expects generative AI to push into most industry sectors.
What to stream this month
With so many streaming services available, and the ability to switch them out from month to month, it can pay to manage your subscriptions and trim them to save money. Which ones have the most compelling new offerings for you?
Mike Murphy broke down what鈥檚 worth streaming in July on eight different services.
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