Business

'The Big Money Show' panel analyzes the state of the housing market after mortgage rates fall to a one-year low. President Donald Trump said he is directing representatives to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds to drive down rates, blaming former President Joe Biden for what he called a broken economy marked by inflation, crime and an "American Dream" he says his administration is restoring. The comments came in a social media post Thursday in which Trump leveled a broader critique of the Biden-era economy while highlighting past decisions he said strengthened key housing institutions."Biden ignored the Housing Market, and instead was immersed with High Crime, Open Borders, runaway INFLATION, the Afghanistan Disaster, and a Military that he left in Chaos and Confusion," Trump wrote...

WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) is piling on the pressure on MPs as they continue to fight for DWP compensation. The campaign group is waiting for the DWP to issue a fresh decision on what remedy to offer the generation of 1950s-born women impacted by their state pension age rising from 60 to 65 and then 66.WASPI and other campaign groups claim the women were not properly informed that their state pension age would be going up, with many unaware right up to the last minute. In a decision issued in December 2024, the DWP accepted that letters should have been sent out to the women sooner and apologised for this.But ministers argued that it would have made little difference to write to the women sooner and that most women did know of the change, and said there would be no c...

Caterpillar CEO Joe Creed demonstrates the Cat AI assistant, discusses the effect of tariffs and breaks down his strategy for 2026 on 'The Claman Countdown.' Construction equipment giant Caterpillar has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to improve job site safety and boost efficiency as the industry grapples with labor shortages. Speaking Wednesday on FOX Business’ "The Claman Countdown" from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026 in Las Vegas, Caterpillar CEO Joseph Creed highlighted the company's new Cat AI Assistant, which he said helps shorten training time for new operators while improving productivity and safety."Some of the things I hear when I talk to customers are, 'Hey, we have a shortage of operators, and we have new operators that aren't skille...

Some people are enduring waits of over a year for their disability benefit claims to be processed due to "unacceptably poor service levels", according to findings by the Commons spending watchdog. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), an influential parliamentary group, has issued warnings that these lengthy delays can plunge people into debt and poverty.In a report released on Friday, the committee criticised the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for failing to meet its target for processing new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims and for lacking an "adequate plan" to reduce waiting times. The committee revealed that only 51% of claims were processed within the target period of 75 working days in 2024/25, falling short of the department's goal to process 75% of new PIP claim...

FOX Business host Larry Kudlow resounds growing optimism for the U.S. economy on 'Kudlow.' What’s wrong with 5% growth? Or more? Just to reprise my New Year’s message that a Trump economic boom could deliver 5%, 6%, or even 7% growth, there are numbers out today that are uniformly stronger than even I thought. Economists take note: Mr. Trump knows the economy better than you do. And what’s wrong with 5%, or better, growth?The Atlanta Fed GDPNow for Q4, which you recall was the shutdown quarter, was revised up to 5.4%. Meanwhile, the productivity of the economy, which is one of the most significant variables, has averaged 4.5% in the last two quarters. That’s output per hour, for the non-farm economy. Perhaps more importantly, non-financial corporate productivity is up 3.8% in the ...

A campaign demanding an increase to the income tax threshold has received a major development as it reached a key threshold. A petition on the Parliament website, which has attracted more than 50,000 signatures and is growing rapidly, is halfway towards securing a major debate.It is halfway to 100,000 signups, which would mean it should be debated in the Commons, meaning the Treasury will be forced to lay out plans and defend its position. In the budget in November, Chancellor Rachel Reeves decided to extend the income tax freeze from the then-deadline of 2028 to 2031.Concerns are mounting that millions more people, including many of the country’s poorest workers, have been caught in the tax net through ‘fiscal drag’. This has occurred because the lowest income tax threshold has been st...

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William J. Pulte discusses efforts to make owning a home achievable for young Americans on 'Making Money.' "Builder-in-chief" President Donald Trump is bringing the housing market back to life, U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte told "Making Money" on Thursday. Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to ban institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes."I'm very confident we can resuscitate the housing market, but it's dead after what Joe Biden did," Pulte told FOX Business anchor Cheryl Casone. TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLANS TO BAN INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS FROM BUYING SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Ima...

Households in one part of the UK are being handed £90 supermarket and energy vouchers from this Thursday to help with the cost of living.The vouchers are being awarded to eligible households in Kent as part of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Household Support Fund, which provides local councils across England with a share of a funding pot worth £742 million. The fund is to help vulnerable households afford essential living costs over the winter months, including energy bills and food, with the money being awarded from now until March 31, 2026. Although this specific scheme applies in Kent, other local councils are giving out cost of living support in other parts of the UK too.It is up to local councils in England to independently decide how to share the cash, so there may be...

Micah Abigail LLC founder and credit repair expert Micah Smith speaks to Fox News Digital about the most important differences between FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0. Fewer Americans are applying for mortgages despite lower rates — even as lending standards tighten — signaling that high prices and financial pressures are outweighing modest rate relief. For the week ending Jan. 2, mortgage applications fell 9.7% from two weeks earlier, a steep drop marking a new low to close out 2025, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey. That’s a roughly 10% decline, meaning fewer people are trying to buy or refinance homes."MBA continues to expect mortgage rates to stay around current levels, with spells of refinance opportunities in the w...

Cold weather payments have been triggered for UK households this month, meaning thousands will benefit from payments of up to £50 to help with any extra heating costs during periods of extremely cold weather. Low-income families and claimants of specific benefits, including Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, and Support for Mortgage Interest, receive a £25 payment if the average temperature in their area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below for 7 consecutive days.According to the Met Office, temperatures this week plummeted to as low as -14C, and the agency has currently issued various snow and ice weather warnings for the majority of the UK.The Department for ...