stand – Finance News Today

Job applicants who master this one skill stand out more in the age of AI

Finance News — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 20:28:46 +0000

Young Americans are looking for ways to stand out from their peers.

Read More: Job applicants who master this one skill stand out more in the age of AI

Outrunning Entropy, Why Bitcoin Can’t Stand Still

Finance News — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:37:19 +0000

The IBD Process

Synchronizing a new node to the network tip involves several distinct stages:

Peer discovery and chain selection where the node connects to random peers and determines the most-work chain.
Header download when block headers are fetched and connected to form the full header chain.
Block download when the node requests blocks belonging to that chain from multiple peers simultaneously.
Block and transaction validation where each block’s transactions are verified before the next one is processed.

While block validation itself is inherently sequential, each block depends on the state produced by the previous one, much of the surrounding work runs in parallel. Header synchronization, block downloads and script verification can all occur concurrently on different threads. An ideal IBD saturates all subsystems maximally: network threads fetching data, validation threads verifying signatures, and database threads writing the resulting state.

Without continuous performance improvement, cheap nodes might not be able to join the network in the future.

Intro

Bitcoin’s “don’t trust, verify” culture requires that the ledger can be rebuilt by anyone from scratch. After processing all historical transactions every user should arrive at the exact same local state of everyone’s funds as the rest of the network.

This reproducibility is at the heart of Bitcoin’s trust-minimized design, but it comes at a significant cost: after almost 17 years, this ever-growing database forces newcomers to do more work than ever before they can join the Bitcoin network.

When bootstrapping a new node it has to download, verify, and persist every block from genesis to the current chain tip – a resource-intensive synchronization process called Initial Block Download (IBD).

While consumer hardware continues to improve, keeping IBD requirements low remains critical for maintaining decentralization by keeping validation accessible to everyone – from lower-powered devices like Raspberry Pis to high-powered servers.

Benchmarking process

Performance optimization begins with understanding how software components, data patterns, hardware, and network conditions interact to create bottlenecks in performance. This requires extensive experimentation, most of which gets discarded. Beyond the usual balancing act between speed, memory usage, and maintainability, Bitcoin Core developers must choose the lowest-risk/highest-return changes. Valid-but-minor optimizations are often rejected as too risky relative to their benefit.

We have a significant suite of micro-benchmarks to ensure existing functionality doesn’t degrade in performance. These are useful for catching regressions, i.e. performance backslides in individual pieces of code, but aren’t necessarily representative of overall IBD performance.

Contributors proposing optimizations provide reproducers and measurements across different environments: operating systems, compilers, storage types (SSD…

CrowdStrike makes case on AI with an excellent quarter — where we stand

Finance News — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 16:51:05 +0000

Where things stand, global responses — and what comes next

Finance News — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 04:20:32 +0000

People protest against the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, ICE immigration raids, and in support of Palestinians during a demonstration outside the Westwood Federal Building in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 22, 2025. Iran on Sunday threatened US bases in the Middle East after massive air strikes that Washington said had destroyed Tehran’s nuclear program, though some officials cautioned that the extent of damage was unclear. International concern focused on fears that the unprecedented US attacks would deepen conflict in the volatile region after Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran earlier this month. (Photo by Bing Guan / AFP) (Photo by BING GUAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Bing Guan | Afp | Getty Images

The U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran is extending into its third day with each side doubling down on sharper responses in the days ahead, deepening fears of a wider war that could rattle the global economy.

Where things stand

Washington and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Saturday, killing the Islamic state’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering retaliatory strikes from Tehran.

Tehran has struck back with missiles and drones against Israel and Gulf countries that host U.S. military bases, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Civilian infrastructures were also hit by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, including Dubai’s luxury hotel Fairmont The Palm and the Dubai International Airport.

The death of Khamenei, who ruled Iran for over three decades and held ultimate power, has raised the question of who will run Iran next as he had not publicly designated a successor. A council comprising Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the judiciary head and a member of the Guardians Council, has temporarily assumed leadership duties on Sunday.

More than 200 people in Iran have been killed during the strikes, according to Iranian state media.

Three American service members have been killed and another five were seriously wounded, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

Market reaction so far

Crude oil prices jumped Monday morning as traders parsed risks of a major oil supply disruption.

U.S. crude oil rose more than 8%, or $5.55, to $72.57 per barrel while the global benchmark Brent jumped about 9%, or $6.54, to $79.41.

Precious metals gold and silver climbed around 2% as investors flocked to the safe-haven assets amid global risk-off sentiment.

Risk assets are pulling back. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 521 points, or 1%. S&P 500 futures lost 1% and Nasdaq 100 futures declined a little more than 1%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.2%, while the Topix fell 1.34%. Hong Kong Hang Seng index opened 1.15% down, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was down 0.25%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.48%.

De-escalation or spiraling tensions?

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that there might be more American casualties as the operations unfold. Trump told the Daily Mail…

AI will dominate hiring in 2026. LinkedIn exec’s top tips to stand out

Finance News — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 07:45:15 +0000

Around 80% of workers feel unprepared for the job hunt in 2026, new LinkedIn research finds.

Filadendron | E+ | Getty Images

Artificial intelligence could be something of a game changer for recruiters as firms continue to be inundated with job applications, according to one LinkedIn executive.

Janine Chamberlin, LinkedIn’s U.K. country manager, told CNBC Make It in an interview that AI will be a “critical part of how hiring is done in 2026,” as it speeds up processes.

“Last year was the year of experimentation and companies and professionals taking their first steps. 2026 is the year of more widespread adoption of AI tools, particularly in hiring,” she said.

AI can help recruiters speed up manual tasks such as going through very high volumes of applications and sifting through resumes and cover letters to find the right skills for a job.

“We’ve heard from 60% of recruiters that AI is helping them to find what they would call a ‘hidden gem’ talent — so people that they would have, in their manual search, overlooked, but actually AI is surfacing that as a candidate that is a good match for a specific job, because it can look very specifically at those skills so critically important to do it well,” Chamberlin said.

The job market has been rough for both employers and professionals as widespread layoffs dominate headlines and professionals face intense competition for jobs.

Over 1 million job cuts were announced in the U.S. in 2025, the highest level since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, according to data from consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Meanwhile, the number of applications per role have skyrocketed, making it difficult for employers to respond quickly to applications. In fact, new Linkedin research finds that U.S. applicants per open role have doubled since the spring of 2022.

Chamberlin said this is creating an overwhelming cycle in the job market that is difficult for both job seekers and recruiters to handle.

“The job search is tougher right now, because what we are seeing is that there’s such a high volume of applications for each role that there is available. So, if I’m a job seeker, I’m applying to lots of roles. On the flip side, there’s companies recruiters who are receiving lots of applications.

“Companies are finding it hard to filter through these applications quickly enough to find people with the right skill set for the jobs that they’re hiring for. And the job seeker on the other side of that is waiting to hear back from companies whilst getting increasingly anxious because they might not be hearing back,” Chamberlin said.

The anxious job seeker then goes and applies to more roles to increase their chances of getting a job, continuing the cycle.

Chamberlin says AI is a “big part of the solution,” with 93% of recruiters planning to increase their use of AI in 2026, per the LinkedIn research.

Avoid sending generic applications

The start of the new year typically brings an influx of new job openings and motivated job…

How job seekers can stand out in a hiring recession

Finance News — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:32:07 +0000

Maskot | Digitalvision | Getty Images

A cooling labor market, characterized by sluggish hiring and anemic job creation, made it hard for job seekers to find work in 2025, according to economists.

“It’s fair to say that 2025 was a hiring recession in the United States,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a note Friday. That recession affects both blue- and white-collar workers, she wrote.

U.S. employers added 584,000 jobs last year, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued Friday. That marks the worst year for total job gains outside of a recession since 2003, according to Long. There has been little job creation since April, meaning most gains took place early in the year, she wrote.

Most hiring has also been concentrated in the health-care sector, making it difficult for workers to participate across the broad labor market, economists said.

“Healthcare alone accounted for roughly 69% of all job growth across 2025,” Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist at career site ZipRecruiter, wrote in a note Friday. “The reliance on a single industry to keep job growth positive uncovers the unstable foundation in play going into 2026.”

Long-term unemployment has also climbed. In December, 26% of all unemployed workers had been out of work for at least six months, the highest share since February 2022, according to the BLS.

That suggests “unemployment is increasingly becoming a permanent state rather than a temporary transition,” Bachaud said.

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the hiring rate had fallen to 3.2% in November. That’s one of the lowest rates since 2013, according to Long.

Job market likely to remain cool for months

Overall, the current state of the labor market shows a stark turnaround from the scorching market of 2021 and 2022.

At that time, the so-called “great resignation” was in full swing, with job openings at record highs, pay growth at its highest in decades and workers able to leave their jobs in droves for better positions.

Economists called that labor market, in which workers enjoyed considerable leverage, unsustainable over the long run.

How job seekers can stand out

There are ways for job seekers to improve their chances at landing a new position, even in a lackluster hiring environment, according to job experts.

7 portfolio stocks that stand to benefit most from Fed rate cuts

Finance News — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 10:12:14 +0000

Breakdown of where borrowing rates stand

Finance News — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 15:53:31 +0000

The trickle down from the Fed’s benchmark interest rate appears most obvious in credit cards, although by the numbers it’s a very slight change.

The average rate for credit card balances had been steadily increasing since the Fed began raising rates in 2022 until it finally crested just below 21% last fall, according to Bankrate. Since then, rates have nudged downward and have been hovering around 20.1% for the first half of 2025.

Auto loans have also seen very little movement in the first half of 2025, and 30-year fixed rate mortgages, whose rates are more closely tied to the yield on 10-year Treasurys, have hovered between 6.6% and 7.1% after hitting a low near 6% last fall, according to Freddie Mac.

‘No guarantee’ of lower borrowing costs

President Donald Trump has argued that maintaining a federal funds rate that is too high makes it harder for businesses and consumers to borrow, essentially pumping the brakes on economic growth and the housing market.

Still, “there is no guarantee” that a rate cut would translate into lower borrowing costs for most Americans, according to Brett House, an economics professor at Columbia Business School.

Some variable-rate loans, like credit cards, have a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark, while others, like mortgage rates, are more closely pegged to Treasury yields and the U.S. economy, he said. “It is entirely likely that cuts to the fed funds rate in the face of increasing inflation would push mortgage rates up, not down.”

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

Honeywell’s post-earnings drop was disrespectful. Here’s where we stand on

Finance News — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 06:36:13 +0000