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Asia has no shortage of entrepreneurs, engineers or giant domestic markets. Yet when it comes to producing the kind of blockbuster listings seen in the U.S., the region continues to lag.  View More

In this article.KS11HXSCLHXSCLSSNLFSSNLFBABAJDJDFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Screens showing surging stock shares at the Taiwan Stock Exchange office, following U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise decision to pause the global tariffs, in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 10, 2025. Daniel Ceng | Anadolu | Getty Images Asia has no shortage of entrepreneurs, engineers or giant domestic markets. Yet when it comes to producing the kind of blockbuster listings seen in the U.S., the region continues to lag. The challenge is not a lack of technological capability. Across China, India, South Korea and Japan, companies dominate industries ranging from semiconductors and electric vehicles to robotics and advanced manufacturing. The bigger question is whether Asia's capital markets are structured to nurture firms into mega-cap public companies."Asia has the technological capability, scale, and talent base to support mega-IPOs, but capital markets remain constrained by structural and behavioral factors," said Lenny Zéphirin, founder of the Zephirin Group. Asia has produced large listings, but few on the scale of the U.S.'s biggest technology offerings. Memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is planning a Shanghai IPO expected to raise at least 29.5 billion yuan ($4.3 billion), potentially the country's largest since 2022, and Indian telco Jio Platforms is seeking a valuation of about $120 billion in its planned IPO.In comparison, Space X debuted at a valuation of $1.77 trillion, even topping $2 trillion in its earliest days of trading.A valuation premium has historically prompted some of Asia's biggest technology companies to tap U.S. markets. Chinese internet giants Alibaba and JD.com both listed in New York to access deeper pools of international capital before later pursuing listings in Hong Kong. A common theme emerges across the region: companies often face less patient private capital, stricter listing requirements and lower valuation multiples than their U.S. counterparts."The big driver in the U.S. has been a very large amount of private capital being available through private equity firms to carry these sorts of firms through to a stage where they come to market with a very, very high valuation," said John Fildes, partner at Bain & Co.The U.S. market also continues to reward technology companies with higher valuation multiples than Asian exchanges, echoed analysts. China and Hong Kong: Technology isn't the constraint China arguably has the industrial base to produce companies comparable in scale to America's largest technology firms. Leadership in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotics and advanced manufacturing demonstrates that innovation is not the primary bottleneck.Instead, analysts point to the financial ecosystem."China certainly has the industrial capabilities, market scale and talent pool to create a mega-sized company," said Wenjie Ding, investment strategist for global capital investment at China Asset Management.China's venture capital industry generally operates with shorter investment horizons than the U.S., while cross-border capital remains more restricted and institutional capital is less willing to fund long-duration, high-risk innovation.Ding argued that larger allocations from domestic insurers and pension funds, together with expanded cross-border investment channels through Hong Kong, would help narrow the gap.Hong Kong retains the infrastructure to host very large offerings but lacks the ecosystem that consistently produces them, said Zéphirin.The city's largest IPOs have historically been dominated by banks rather than venture-backed technology companies, while analyst-driven valuation narratives remain less developed. South Korea: World-class industries, valuation discount South Korea is home to globally competitive semiconductor, battery and technology companies, but industry experts noted that the market structure has prevented many firms from achieving U.S.-style valuations.Peter Kim, global investment strategist at KB Financial Group, said SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics now account for roughly half of the benchmark Kospi index, leaving the rest of the market comparatively small. Even SK Hynix has plans for a U.S. listing as investors increasingly reward semiconductor firms with higher valuations overseas.Other strengths, including autos and shipbuilding, belong to industries that traditionally trade at lower valuation multiples.Analysts also pointed to the chaebol system of family-run conglomerates. "Chaebols were central to Korea's industrial catch‑up, but today they are more hindrance than help for creating new, independently listed champions," Polka Mishra of Javelin Wealth told CNBC via email.She added that the long-standing "Korea discount," concentrated ownership and historically limited cornerstone investment have also restrained mega-IPOs. Recent governance reforms and a new cornerstone investor framework could improve confidence, but meaningful participation from long-term institutions such as the National Pension Service will likely be needed before Korea can consistently produce much larger listings. India: Deep demand, but domestic ambitions India has a strong IPO market, underpinned by resilient domestic participation from retail investors, mutual funds and pension capital.Jio Platforms' planned listing could become a watershed moment for India's capital markets. The telecom and digital services giant has filed for an IPO expected to value the company at about $120 billion.But even at that size, it would remain well below the valuations of the biggest U.S. technology IPOs as Indian tech champions remain largely domestic-facing and under pressure to show profits earlier. Pranav Sayta, partner at EY India, said a structural shift toward equity investing has made the market unusually resilient, with systematic investment plans and pension money continuing to support listings despite periods of volatility.But analysts say producing a mega-IPO requires more than abundant demand."India, with its strong economy and abundant entrepreneurial talent, is well positioned to come out with many IPOs. But the time is not yet ripe for mega-IPOs of the scale of some of the large U.S. listings," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.He argues that India's largest technology companies remain focused primarily on the domestic market rather than pursuing global scale. Many startups also operate in lower-margin businesses such as food delivery and quick commerce, while investors typically demand profitability far earlier than their U.S. counterparts."The kind of abundant private equity funds available in the U.S. are not available for Indian startups," Vijayakumar said. "Also, there is pressure on Indian startups to show profits early. So, they pursue profit before growth."Taken together, analysts describe a gap that extends beyond individual exchanges. The U.S. benefits from plentiful venture capital willing to finance companies for a decade or more before listing, deep institutional and retail participation, broad analyst coverage and investors willing to pay for future growth.But the bigger picture is that Asia is gradually building many of the same ingredients. India's domestic savings pool continues to deepen, China is reopening its technology financing pipeline, South Korea is pursuing governance reforms and Hong Kong remains the region's gateway for international capital.—CNBC's Ellyani Hanis contributed to this report. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Cyberattacks from China-based entities are on the rise and not just targeting specific tech, analysts warn, as the U.S. AI race intensifies. View More

U.S.-based cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike has warned of increasing cyberattacks from China-based entities aimed at stealing artificial intelligence to narrow the tech gap with the U.S.Bill Hinton | Moment Mobile | Getty Images Cyberattacks aimed at stealing American artificial intelligence technology are increasingly expanding from tech-based attacks to the exploitation of human-level vulnerabilities, with China-based actors playing a growing role."As the AI race has heated up, the [People's Republic of China] has targeted the tech sector increasingly," said Matt Pearl, director of the strategic technologies program at the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.Rather than focusing on a specific trade secret, such as hardware designs, the hackers have broadened their interest to anything that could narrow the three- to four-month AI gap with the U.S., Pearl said. That, he said, ranges from understanding a company's product roadmap, particularly in highly competitive sectors, to identifying weaknesses in supply chains.The alleged cases are already piling up.In June, U.S.-based cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike said Chinese entities accounted for more than half of state-sponsored intrusions targeting technology companies, especially their AI assets, in the 12 months through March 31. watch nowVIDEO3:2903:29Limiting access to top AI models in the U.S. could hand China an opening as capability gap narrowsTechCheck American tech start-up Anthropic has also accused Chinese companies, including Alibaba, of illicit attempts to steal its AI capabilities. Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment.Last year, U.S.-based AI content detection startup Copyleaks said the responses generated by Chinese startup DeepSeek's R1 model resembled those produced by OpenAI's ChatGPT nearly three-quarters of the time, suggesting the open-source Chinese model may have been trained on the U.S.-developed one. "We haven't seen [the same stylistic match] in other LLMs," said Alon Yamin, CEO and co-founder of Copyleaks.DeepSeek and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Brian Abbott, founder and CEO of U.S.-based start-up Agentiq Capital, told CNBC in June that he believed an employee he hired from China last year was an agent of Beijing who purposely altered code and website content to prevent the company from getting venture capital funding. Abbott alleged the employee replaced references to "ASI," or artificial superintelligence, with "fintech," a once-trending term that many investors have soured on.The individual was dismissed earlier this year, Abbott said, and the company filed a complaint with the FBI. CNBC was unable to independently verify the allegation."China's economic espionage campaign is a continuing threat that costs the American economy hundreds of billions of dollars per year and puts our national security at risk," the FBI said in a statement to CNBC. "The FBI prioritizes investigating any potential theft of US technology by foreign actors and remains unwavering in our commitment to protect the homeland."The Cyberspace Administration of China and the U.S. Department of State did not offer a comment when contacted by CNBC. None of the individuals interviewed for this piece said they had heard of a similar instance of state-directed subversion of U.S. technology. Graham Webster, editor-in-chief of Stanford University's DigiChina Project, said distinguishing state-sponsored espionage from individual or corporate-level efforts can be difficult. He also pointed out that the conversation about Chinese AI is also affected by major U.S. companies gearing up for major initial public offerings."[The] narrative is overtaking reality in a lot of decisions," Webster said."The U.S. government is trying to hold China back to some extent," he added, referring to technology export controls. "We should not be surprised that the Chinese government tries otherwise." Start-ups more at risk Capital has been a defining driver of the AI race so far, with start-ups racing to rival tech giants or position themselves for acquisitions. But that's also created "cyber poverty lines" where small businesses lack the resources of large companies to defend against cyberattacks, said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the non-profit National Cybersecurity Alliance. Human vulnerabilities often pose the greater risk, Steinhauer said, particularly as attackers rely on "social engineering" tactics amplified by AI-powered content campaigns. Cyberattacks can also target new or contracted employees to breach systems."We've seen a lot of cases within our company, new employees that are joining the company, immediately they're a target of cyberattacks to get access to our AI models," Copyleaks' Yamin said. He expects to see more such cases.Government and company-led efforts also impact start-up operating costs.Anthropic on June 11 announced a program called Claude Corps to train 1,000 people in AI and match them with non-profits in the U.S. Meanwhile in China, policymakers have rolled out significant AI support, including free or subsidized computing power and rent-free office space for start-ups.Isaac Stone Fish, founder and chief executive of consultancy Strategy Risks, said Beijing tends to focus more heavily on large corporations, but startups remain especially exposed since they don't necessarily have cyber expertise."And Beijing's attempt[s] have certainly increased over the last 18 months, since the release of DeepSeek really kicked off the US-China AI race," Stone Fish said."Beijing wants to ensure that Chinese companies are at the vanguard of the global AI race," he said. "One way that it does that is by sometimes working to suppress the development of American AI companies, through supply chain restrictions, employee harassment, hacking, targeted government subsidies of copycat competitors, among other strategies.""We've seen a lot of cases within our company, new employees that are joining the company, immediately they're a target of cyberattacks to get access to our AI models," Copyleaks' Yamin said. He expects to see more such cases.For startups, balancing rapid innovation with security remains a challenge.Abbott said the employee he hired was initially willing to work for free, and eventually received a few thousand dollars a month in addition to stock options, before the firing. "If we paid everybody market rate, for a scrappy start-up I could never afford to do this," he said, emphasizing the "need to secure our economy of start-ups stateside." 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Trump's 927-page financial disclosure report for 2025 totals more than 900 pages detailing holdings in cryptocurrency and stocks. View More

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after signing a presidential memo at the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, June 29, 2026.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images President Donald Trump's annual financial disclosure report was released on Tuesday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, revealing income of hundreds of millions of dollars from proceeds of crypto tokens and holdings of hundreds of individual company stocks.Trump's disclosure report for 2025, which was the first year of his second non-consecutive term in the White House, totals 927 pages.The report reveals that Trump's crypto-related income included about $515 million from the sale of tokens released by the firm World Liberty Financial, and $65 million from sales of equity in WLF's holding company.WLF is the Trump-linked crypto company co-founded by members of his family that issues the WLFI governance token and USD1 stablecoin.Trump, who first made his name in business with real estate developments in New York, also disclosed that he received $635 million in royalties from what were described as "Celebration Coins." It was not immediately clear what those coins are. The Bloomberg news service reported that the royalties were related to CIC Digital LLC, Trump's memecoin business.Trump's golf and club properties continued to generate major revenue, according to the disclosure.The president reported more than $290 million in income related to revenue from his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, his Trump National Doral golf property, his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, his Jupiter Golf Club and Trump National Washington, D.C.One of the largest bursts of stock buying by Trump detailed in the disclosure occurred on Aug. 18, 2025. The document shows three successive purchases of some of the biggest names in technology — Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia — with each trade valued at between $5 million and $25 million. The values of Trump's holdings are given in dollar ranges, not in absolute amounts, as is normal for U.S. government ethics filings.The trades were among the largest individual stock transactions in the disclosure.The Nvidia purchase came exactly one week after Trump announced that Nvidia and AMD had agreed to give the U.S. government 15% of their H20 chip sales to China in exchange for export approval. That deal reopened a key China revenue stream for Nvidia.Apple also announced an additional $100 billion in U.S. investment on Aug. 6, bringing its total planned U.S. commitment to $600 billion.The filing also shows that Trump purchased Amazon stock worth between $500,000 and $1 million on Sept. 23. That was the same day a trial began in Seattle federal court for a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission, which alleged Amazon duped customers into paying for Prime memberships.The trial ended two days later after Amazon agreed to settle the suit by paying a $1 billion civil penalty to the FTC and refunds totaling $1.5 billion to an estimated 35 million customers.Trump also reported receiving a total of more than $86 million in settlements of legal disputes from media companies including ABC, CBS, Meta, YouTube and X.The massive filing is peppered with eye-opening assets, some of which are highly valued.One line, on page 157, discloses an investment in gold bars valued at between $500,000 and $1 million.Trump also disclosed receiving gifts totaling more than $370,000, primarily tickets to sports events.They included 10 tickets to the FIFA men's World Cup worth $15,000 from FIFA President Gianni Infantino, 10 Super Bowl LIX tickets from New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson, 15 tickets each to two UFC events from UFC CEO Dana White as well as tickets to other NFL, MLB, NCAA and golf events. He disclosed that a statue from Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino depicting Trump with his fist raised after an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, was worth $250,000.The disclosure also reveals a bevy of royalty deals that paint a picture of just how exhaustively Trump has been able to capitalize on his name and political brand since entering political life.The royalty income includes: $4.7 million received through a licensing agreement for "Trump Watches" with The Best Watches on Earth LLC; a deal related to the publication of "The Greenwood Bible," a collaboration with "God Bless the USA" singer Lee Greenwood, netting $208,486; a licensing deal for "Trump Sneakers & Fragrances" for $67,634; an endorsement of a "'45' Guitar" for $35,920; and publishing agreements for "Letters to Trump," "Save America" and "A MAGA Journey," for $590,730, $1,893,965 and $552,685, respectively.Another line item shows Trump received a $200,000 speaking fee for a fundraising event in Naples, Florida, in December 2022.The disclosure says the income from the watches and the sneakers-and-fragrances deal was "inadvertently omitted from" Trump's prior financial disclosure, as was the balance he was owed from the 2022 speaking event.The president's disclosed liabilities included civil trial verdict judgments in favor of the writer E. Jean Carroll, who had accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s, and of defaming her after she went public with those allegations in 2019. The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Trump's appeal of a jury verdict awarding Carroll $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming her.Trump is still appealing another jury's verdict, which awarded Carroll $83.3 million in that case for defamation. Trump denies sexually assaulting Carroll.The disclosure also includes asset and income information for first lady Melania Trump — including $10.7 million in net proceeds through a license agreement related to her self-titled documentary film, "Melania."A separate license agreement with the film's publisher, Skyhorse, netted her an additional $521,161 in income.Melania Trump also reported $6,011,259 in income from a separate license agreement "for the sale of NFTs and other collectibles," the form shows. Read more CNBC politics coverageTrump bought as much as $5 million in Axon stock before ICE sought Taser dealSupreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, blocks Trump orderLobbyists push House panel to block a ban on defense contractors buying back stock Trump's annual disclosure was filed after he received a 45-day extension and does not appear to have triggered a late fee for the annual report itself. But the filing says he paid late filing fees for transactions that had not previously been reported on required periodic transaction reports. The disclosure does not specify the total amount paid. The Office of Government Ethics' standard late filing fee is $200.The ethics office also released the annual financial disclosure report of Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday.Vance's report is a mere 17 pages.The vice president's report details earnings from his book, the firm Narya Capital, which he founded, the Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, where he had served as managing partner, and bitcoin holdings valued at between $250,000 and $500,000. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Wall Street poured into chipmakers not named Nvidia in the second quarter, as the artificial intelligence boom expanded to include more suppliers. View More

In this articleMUAMDINTCFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony for the company's semiconductor manufacturing facility in Clay, New York, on Jan. 16, 2026.Heather Ainsworth | Bloomberg | Getty Images Chipmakers not named Nvidia soared in the second quarter as investors widened their artificial intelligence portfolios, with Micron and Intel more than tripling in value and Advanced Micro Devices not far behind. Those three companies gained about $2 trillion in combined market cap in the period and are now the 10th, 11th and 12th most valuable U.S. tech companies. While AI chipmaker Nvidia remains the biggest company by market cap and continues to notch massive revenue growth, the stock only gained 15% in the second quarter. Its hyperscaler customers — Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft — showed mixed results in the period, with Meta's stock falling by almost 2% for the worst performance in the group, and Alphabet's stock leading the pack by gaining 24%."The rotation out of AI hyperscalers into AI enablers has shifted investors' euphoria into semis, driving spectacular rallies," wrote Barclays analyst Anshul Gupta, in a note on Tuesday. Micron, one of three major computer memory producers, saw its shares rise over 240% during the quarter, adding roughly $920 billion in market cap. Last week, the company reported that revenue in the latest quarter more than quadrupled due to skyrocketing memory prices from AI chipmakers. Micron's gross margin, the profit left after accounting for the cost of goods sold, jumped to 84.9% in the third quarter from 39% a year earlier. Shares of Intel, the legacy maker of central processing units, jumped 216% in the quarter, resulting in an added $480 billion in market cap for the company. Intel is building U.S. chip factories while simultaneously benefiting from renewed demand for CPUs as more AI moves to devices. AMD, Intel's rival in CPUs, added $615 billion in value after its stock price nearly tripled. AMD also makes graphics processing units, though it's far behind Nvidia in that market. Analysts previously said market moves during the quarter could represent a "changing of the guard in AI," as investors pile into companies that make semiconductors complementary to Nvidia's chips, and bet that a massive expansion in capital expenditures for AI data centers will boost a wider range of companies.Other parts of the AI infrastructure supply chain aside from memory and processors also boomed. Shares of Marvell, which makes networking gear, climbed about 200%. Shares of Arm, which supplies technology and designs to other chipmakers, rose 134% in the quarter. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) rose 71% in the period, the fund's best quarterly performance since it started trading in 2000.WATCH: Chinese memory chips flooding market not a near-term threat to Micron watch nowVIDEO4:2204:22Why Chinese memory chips may not be a near-term threat to MicronFast Money Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Women tend to earn less and spend more time outside of the workforce, which may reduce their Social Security benefits. Here's what to consider before claiming. View More

Image Source | Image Source | Getty Images Women rely more on Social Security for income in retirement compared to men, according to new research from the AARP Public Policy Institute.Yet on average, women receive about $4,800 less in Social Security retirement benefits annually than men, according to the provider of public policy research at AARP, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing individuals 50 and over.The research pointed out a couple of factors that leave women at a financial disadvantage in retirement.First, women still tend to earn less than men. In the first quarter of 2026, women had $1,098 in median weekly earnings, or 80.6% of the $1,362 median for men, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Second, 61% of caregivers are women, according to AARP's research. Consequently, they are more likely to take time out of the workforce or reduce their working hours to make time for those caregiving responsibilities. More from Women and Wealth:Women tend to be 'risk-appropriate' investors, expert says: How that helps35% of Gen Z homebuyers are single women. Here's why they need an estate planSocial Security gender gap means women receive about $4,800 less in annual benefitsTrump administration expands list of graduate degrees subject to higher borrowing limitsHere’s how Trump Accounts could affect women’s retirement savings gapOlder women may inherit most of $54 trillion in spousal 'great wealth transfer' Both drivers tend to leave women with less retirement savings, making them more reliant on Social Security, according to AARP's research. Women also tend to live around five years longer than men on average, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.Research shows women are also more likely to need care. When paid care is used, the average lifetime cost for women age 65 and over is $350,000 versus $250,000 for men, according to JPMorgan Asset Management.  These factors make claiming Social Security retirement benefits a high-stakes decision for women, financial advisors say. More than 63 million Americans are receiving Social Security retirement benefits, including workers, their dependents and survivors, according to Social Security Administration data as of the end of May. Women represent about 28 million retired worker beneficiaries and almost 2 million spousal beneficiaries, according to the data. More than 3.3 million older widows are also receiving benefits. Weigh the tradeoffs of claiming For both men and women, the age when they decide to start Social Security retirement benefits can come with big trade-offs.Claim at 62 — the earliest retirement eligibility age — and receive a permanently reduced benefit. That may be just 70% of your full benefit, assuming your full retirement age is 67, according to the Social Security Administration.At age 67, beneficiaries stand to receive 100% of the benefits due to them, provided they were born in 1960 or later. Others may have an earlier full retirement age if they were born before 1960. For every year individuals wait to claim from full retirement age up to age 70, they stand to receive an 8% benefit boost.Experts generally encourage beneficiaries to wait to claim.Holding off on claiming may be especially beneficial for women, who would benefit from higher monthly checks if they live longer. watch nowVIDEO3:0903:09Generating income for retirement: Here's what to knowSquawk Box Social Security benefits receive an annual cost-of-living adjustments to keep up with inflation. Because the Social Security Administration uses the 35 years with the highest earnings to calculate benefits, it may help women to work longer if they can to help boost their earnings record.Individuals who claim Social Security retirement benefits before full retirement age and who continue to work will be subject to a retirement earnings test, which means their benefits may be reduced if their income exceeds certain thresholds. However, after they reach full retirement age, this test no longer applies and their benefits will be recalculated to credit them for the months their benefits were reduced or withheld, according to the Social Security Administration.Health status and longevity are also factors to consider as would-be retirees decide when to claim, according to Niv Persaud, a certified financial planner and managing director at Transition Planning & Guidance in Atlanta. One of Persaud's clients who was recovering from cancer decided to claim Social Security early because she was worried that she didn't have the longevity to justify waiting, she said.It also helps to consider what other sources of retirement income you expect to have and how much you expect to spend in retirement, Persaud said. Factor in marital status Nearly 60% of women receive Social Security benefits based on their own work records, according to AARP's research.Women with spouses who earn more than them may be able to receive higher Social Security payments.About 5 million women receive benefits either solely based on their spouse's work record or in combination with their own retirement benefit amount, according to the AARP. Those benefits average $1,110 per month, according to the research. Divorced women who were married to their ex-spouse for at least 10 years may be able to receive benefits based on their ex's record. Moreover, when a spouse dies, women may claim survivor benefits based on that individual's work record — even if that person is an ex.About 3.3 million women age 60 and over receive survivor benefits, according to the AARP. Couples with higher-earning spouses may want to coordinate their claiming decisions."A spouse's claiming decision is not just their problem," said Jeff Judge, a certified financial planner and managing director at Chesapeake Financial Planners in Forest Hill, Maryland.When the partner with the higher benefit dies, the surviving spouse may inherit that amount, he said. The size of the payments surviving spouses receive depends on their age and the amount the decedent was entitled to at the time of their death, according to the Social Security Administration. If the deceased spouse was receiving reduced benefits, the survivor benefits will also be lowered, according to the agency."Women should care deeply about that coordination," Judge said. Consider looping in a professional for help The Social Security Administration provides estimated monthly benefits based on when an individual decides to claim from age 62 to age 70.The agency may also track eligibility for spousal and survivor benefits.Still, it's helpful to keep a record of your earnings history and marriages to troubleshoot for errors. When it comes to deciding when to claim, the Social Security Administration cannot give personalized advice. Experts say it's worthwhile to talk to a professional — preferably a fiduciary who will prioritize your best interests — who can run the numbers.Judge said he typically carves out an entire meeting to go over Social Security with clients. After educating clients and answering their questions, he said he lets them make their claiming decision on their own. "The difference between a good decision and a bad decision on Social Security probably pays for a financial planner," Judge said. 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"Caterpillar jumped out at me," Burry said. "I have never shorted Caterpillar. It has always done great for me on the long side in the past." View More

In this article.SOXFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Michael Burry attends "The Big Short" New York screening at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York, on Nov. 23, 2015.Astrid Stawiarz | Getty Images Michael Burry said Tuesday he has placed a bearish wager against Caterpillar, believing the construction-equipment maker has become one of the market's most overvalued beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence investment boom.The famed investor said he shorted Caterpillar shares at $1,060.98, alongside new bearish positions in Nvidia, Applied Materials, Tesla and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), as he prepared for what he believes is an increasingly overextended rally in AI-linked stocks."Caterpillar jumped out at me," Burry wrote in a Tuesday SubStack post. "I have never shorted Caterpillar. It has always done great for me on the long side in the past."Caterpillar shares just capped off the first half of 2026 with an 86% gain, making the construction equipment giant one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 this year as investors increasingly embraced it as a proxy for the global AI infrastructure buildout. Stock Chart IconStock chart iconCaterpillar year to date Burry said Caterpillar's stock valuation has reached levels that caught his attention. He shared a chart showing Caterpillar's price-to-sales ratio climbing to the highest level in at least three decades at the same time the stock surged to record highs.The investor, who famously predicted and profited from the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, also reiterated his broader concerns about semiconductor valuations. He said the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is trading about 65% above its 200-day moving average, a level he said was only reached previously during the dot-com bubble in 2000."The proximate cause of today's rally is big spending announced out of Korea. Well, I see that as the beginning of the end," Burry said. "It is only a matter of time now." Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

The moves come as oil traders monitor the prospect for U.S.-Iran talks in Doha on Tuesday. View More

In this article@LCO.1@LCO.2@CL.1Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT People walk along the Corniche area in Doha, Qatar, on June 29, 2026. United States and Iranian negotiators are scheduled to hold high-level talks in Doha, according to media reports.Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Oil prices closed out a month marked by significant declines on Tuesday, as energy market traders closely monitored the potential for fresh talks between the U.S. and Iran in Qatar.Brent crude futures for August delivery, the international benchmark, ticked lower to $72.92 per barrel. The contract dropped roughly 21% in June, its largest monthly decline since March 2020.U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for August delivery dropped 1.8% to $69.50. The U.S. oil market standard dropped more than 20% in June, its worst monthly performance since late 2021.The moves came as oil traders monitored prospects for U.S.-Iran talks in Doha. Still, both Brent and WTI are up on the year as the U.S. war with Iran squeezed production and distribution.U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said talks between the two countries would take place in Qatar's capital on Tuesday, claiming via social media that Tehran had "requested a meeting" following an exchange of U.S. airstrikes over the weekend. A spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday reportedly denied that talks were scheduled over the coming days. An Iranian technical delegation's visit to Qatar this week was unrelated to U.S. officials visiting the country, the spokesperson said.U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha on Tuesday. A Qatari government spokesperson said they would meet mediators, not directly with Iranians.The mixed messaging appears to underscore the fragility of an interim peace deal reached by the U.S. and Iran earlier this month. The two countries struck a 14-point memorandum of understanding on June 17 to pause fighting that had crippled global oil flows through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Located in the Persian Gulf between Oman and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical energy choke points. The narrow waterway typically handles around 20% of the world's oil traffic.'Situation can change very quickly'Energy analysts say they have been surprised by the pace of the sell-off in the oil market, noting that it has been far more aggressive than most had expected. "The price action in recent weeks reflects a market that is treating this temporary ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran as a permanent deal. This is clearly not the case, and as we have seen over the last four months, the situation can change very quickly," strategists at ING said in a research note published Monday. "It took long enough to agree on a temporary ceasefire. Reaching a permanent deal which tackles the nuclear issue within 60 days would be very optimistic. Of course, there is always the potential for the ceasefire to be extended, which would effectively be kicking the can down the road," the ING strategists added. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Taxpayers may believe that income tax doesn't apply to agricultural land sales, but this isn't always true. Tax liability depends on location and capital asset classification. Here's what is taxable and how to save taxes.  View More

Many graduate students will be subject to higher federal student loan caps than previously expected, after a court ruling last week. Here's what to know. View More

Alvaro Gonzalez | Moment | Getty Images Some graduate students will be able to borrow more in federal student loans than previously expected after a recent court order. Under President Donald Trump's "one big beautiful bill act," starting July 1, new graduate students will be subject to an annual federal student loan cap of $20,500 a year, while so-called professional students can take out up to $50,000.But a federal judge in Washington froze last week the U.S. Department of Education's definition of a "professional degree." Judge Beryl A. Howell, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said that the agency, during its regulatory process, had narrowed the scope of those degrees beyond what Congress intended."This latest federal ruling changes the picture quite a bit," said Kathleen Boyd, a certified financial planner and founder of Student Loan Savvy in San Diego, California, because it "opens the door for more graduate programs to qualify for the higher annual federal loan limits."Here's what students need to know about the borrowing cap changes. Expanded list of 'professional degrees' While it worked to implement the "big beautiful bill" changes, the Education Department narrowed the definition of a professional degree from the government's long-standing interpretation of the word, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. In the end, the Trump administration identified just 11 degrees, including medicine, dentistry and theology, that fit under the label. Women were expected to be especially hard-hit by the change, as they account for more than 70% of graduates in programs excluded from the higher borrowing limits, according to a report by EdTrust, a research and advocacy organization. More from Women and Wealth:Women tend to be 'risk-appropriate' investors, expert says: How that helps35% of Gen Z homebuyers are single women. Here's why they need an estate planSocial Security gender gap means women receive about $4,800 less in annual benefitsTrump administration expands list of graduate degrees subject to higher borrowing limitsHere’s how Trump Accounts could affect women’s retirement savings gapOlder women may inherit most of $54 trillion in spousal 'great wealth transfer' On Monday, the Education Department published an updated and longer list of over 20 professional degrees that will be subject to the larger loan caps, at least during the court's stay. Those include registered nursing, physician associates and speech-language pathology. Valerie Fuller, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, applauded the ruling. "This preliminary ruling is an important step for nurse practitioner students, the future healthcare workforce and the patients who depend on NPs for access to high-quality care," Fuller said. It's possible the Trump administration will still change the list or appeal the court's decision, Boyd said. For now, she is telling her clients "not to assume their program is limited to the lower borrowing cap just yet." "I encourage folks to stay connected with their financial aid offices and wait for additional guidance from them," Boyd said. Loan caps still in place Importantly, the court's ruling did not eliminate the "big beautiful bill act's" loan caps, said Nancy Nierman, assistant director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program in New York, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate repayment. Previously, many graduate students were able to borrow up to the cost of attendance. Now, professional students can borrow up to $50,000 a year, for a total of $200,000. Other graduate students are subject to an annual cap of $20,500 and an aggregate limit of $100,000. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

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