Vlad Tenev, the CEO and co-founder of trading app Robinhood, has a unique relationship with copper cookware.
The big picture: Wealth preservation comes in many forms and can't be taken for granted, as Tenev saw firsthand growing up amid hyperinflation in Bulgaria — an early experience that helped shape how he thinks about Robinhood's mission.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels vowed on Tuesday to defy a U.S.-led naval mission and continue targeting Red Sea shipping off the coast of Yemen in support of Hamas.
By the numbers: There have been 37 incidents involving shipping vessels from Nov. 19 to Dec. 18, most of which were concentrated near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to Ambrey Analytics, the digital intelligence arm of the Ambrey maritime risk management group.
Days before Christmas, the Internal Revenue Service said it is waiving $1 billion in tax penalties for 4.7 million individuals, businesses and organizations who owe back taxes.
Why it matters: The rare relief is about $200 on average for each affected taxpayer and about 70% of those affected have household incomes below $100,000, the IRS announced Tuesday.
Driving the news: The federal agency said last week that two Empower Brands air fryer models have an internal connector that can break during use, creating a burn risk.
"Until the threat of these tariffs returning is fully removed, the uncertainty will continue to restrict American Whiskey export growth in our most important international market."
— Distilled Spirits Council CEO Chris Swonger in a statement praising the Biden administration for negotiating the extension of a suspension of the European Union's retaliatory tariffs on American whiskey.
The New York Post wrote Anthony Scaramucci's "financial obituary" in July 2022, with a cartoon image of him on a sinking rowboat laden with bitcoin, but the entrepreneur tells Axios he's not dead.
What he's saying: "This is the most successful year of my career," Scaramucci says, with his core fund in SkyBridge up 25% as of Dec. 15, which he attributes to his decision to reinvent the investment firm and move into digital assets.
The consequences of decades-high interest rates around the world are still rippling across the global economy, and some of the poorest nations are buckling under the historic debt burden.
Why it matters: It is one of the lagged effects of a worldwide tightening campaign that looks to be over.
Still, the aftermath is being felt across low-income countries as global interest rates soar — making it more expensive to pay off debt and drawing parallels to the crisis of the 1980s.
Shares of U.S. Steel surged on Monday after Japan-based Nippon Steel announced plans to purchase the once-iconic American producer in a deal valued at $14.9 billion, nearly double what U.S. rival Cleveland-Cliffs had offered for the company just four months ago.
By the numbers: The stock was in negative territory for the year until this past August when Cleveland-Cliffs made a splashy bid to merge — and it's now sitting on gains of nearly 100%.
Autonomous trucking developer Torc Robotics is test-driving its prototypes on historic Route 66 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as it works toward commercial deployment.
Driving the news: Torc says it's on track to use its autonomous trucks for deliveries with no safety driver by 2027, and recently unveiled more detailed plans to get them operating across the American Southwest.
Global shipping giants are rerouting vessels away from the Red Sea as conflicts related to the Hamas-Israel war spread.
Driving the news: In response to the war, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been attacking merchant ships in the Red Sea before or after they move through the Suez Canal.
