The difference between a 6.5% and 7.5% mortgage doesn't sound enormous. On a $400,000 mortgage over 30 years: At 6.5%: $2,528 per month. At 7.5%: $2,797 per month. That's $269 more every month. And approximately $96,691 more in total interest over 30 years. One percentage point can be extremely expensive.

JUST IN: The average US 30-year fixed mortgage rate is holding at 7.40%. That's the highest level in nearly three years. Rates were just 5.98% in late February. In less than eight months, mortgage rates have climbed 1.42 percentage points. The cost of buying a home has changed dramatically.

Bank of America has been hit with more than $1.21 BILLION in federal penalties for anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations. The bank admitted willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act. The Treasury Department says it failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions on time. The enforcement actions include the largest penalty in OCC history.

JUST IN: Strategy just bought 3,273 more #Bitcoin for $255.0 million at ~$77,906 per coin. They now hold 818,334 $BTC.

BREAKING: The US-Iran peace talks have officially collapsed. Iran's foreign minister left Pakistan before the US delegation even arrived. Trump just canceled the Witkoff and Kushner trip entirely. The diplomatic momentum from yesterday is gone in less than 24 hours. Markets that were celebrating Friday's peace headlines are about to wake up to a very different Monday. Oil futures will move first.

JUST IN: Jane Street made $39.6 billion in trading revenue last year with only 3,500 employees. That is a Wall Street record. They beat JPMorgan by 11%, and did it with 1% of JPMorgan's headcount. $11 million of revenue per employee. One of the most ruthlessly efficient businesses ever built.

BREAKING: The DOJ just dropped its criminal probe into Fed Chair Jerome Powell. This ends months of pressure on Powell over the Fed renovation investigation. The move clears the path for Kevin Warsh's confirmation as the next Fed Chair, which had been blocked by GOP Senator Tillis until the probe ended.

NEW: $INTC just crushed Q1 earnings. Revenue came in at $13.58 billion versus $12.42 billion expected. Earnings per share hit $0.29 versus $0.01 expected. Data Center and AI revenue grew 22% from last year to $5.1 billion. That is six quarters in a row of beating Wall Street. The Intel turnaround most people wrote off is actually happening.

JUST IN: Tether just minted $1 billion in new $USDT today. Historically these mints precede buying pressure across Bitcoin and crypto markets. The printer is on. The capital is heading somewhere. Bullish or bearish?

People who went from broke to financially free: What is the one book that changed how you think about money?

BREAKING: $META is laying off 10% of its workforce, roughly 8,000 employees, starting May 20. This brings Zuckerberg's total cuts since 2022 to around 25,000. The money is being redirected to AI infrastructure spending of $115 to $135 billion in 2026. Record revenues. Record layoffs. That is the pattern now across big tech.

BREAKING: Iran just seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz overnight. Oil ticked higher this morning with WTI around $93. The ceasefire extension announced Wednesday is not holding in the waterway itself. Markets are selling off globally. Expect gas prices at the pump to move higher within 7 to 10 days. This is the second leg of the energy shock starting now.

NEW: $TSLA beat earnings last night with EPS of $0.41 vs $0.37 expected. Revenue missed at $22.39 billion vs $22.64 billion expected. The stock initially jumped 4% then gave it all back when the CFO confirmed $5 billion more capex than previously guided and warned of negative free cash flow ahead. The market read the headline, then it read the details.

#Bitcoin has never been hacked at the protocol level in 17 years of continuous operation. The network has processed billions of transactions without a single fraudulent transaction being confirmed on the base layer. That security record is unprecedented in financial history.