Moving back home

Living at home as a 20-something was once viewed as a failure to launch and even a source of embarrassment in the US, where the culture places a premium on independence. That is no longer the case. Living at home is now often viewed as a sign of financial prudence, and for some, a long-term prospect. Chronically high living costs are helping reshape the milestones of early adulthood in America. The national median home price hovers above $400,000. Rents are at record highs in cities across the US, and many recent college graduates are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt. Young people say that living at home in 2026 doesn’t carry the stigma it once did because life has become so unaffordable. About 55pc of young adults who moved back home said it was out of financial necessity, according to a spring survey by financial services firm Thrivent.

(Adapted from “Moving Back Home Used to Be a Sign of Failure. Now It Shows Financial Savvy,” by Rebecca Picciotto and Nicholas G. Miller, published on July 4, by the Wall Street Journal)

Data centre millions

Towns and neighbourhoods across America have rejected data centres.

Residents have staged noisy protests, with public anger driving a movement against the spread of these massive, multibillion-dollar projects. At the same time, a select few are quietly saying yes to data centres and becoming wealthy in the process. The Kilitis are one of 96 families in Salem Township, an unassuming community in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, who collectively sold about 1,700 acres to a single data-centre developer, QTS, an arm of the investment firm Blackstone.

The families sold for an average of $330,000 an acre and earned $5.5m on average. The total sale price was $586m.? These Pennsylvania families are part of a burgeoning class of newly minted multimillionaires. They are raking in fortunes because they own one of the most valuable commodities in the US today: land that can be used to build a data centre for artificial intelligence.

(Adapted from “The Americans Striking It Rich In The Data-Centre Buildout,” by Will Parker, published on July 13, by the Wall Street Journal)

Digital thefts

While credit card theft and fraud isn’t new, with the proliferation of tap-to-pay and growing use of retail apps, these digital thefts are shaping the next wave of organised retail crime in America and earning Chinese gangs as much as $1bn annually, police said. Unlike typical retail theft operations — where criminals clear out shelves in big box stores and resell merchandise piece by piece on online marketplaces — the crimes can be carried out right under a store employee’s nose or from a computer anywhere in the world. Fraudsters have selected retailers as their targets because their platforms carry sensitive information such as stored credit cards and personal data, but they do not have the same level of security as banks, according to industry experts and law enforcement. There’s no firm data on how much retailers are losing from digital forms of retail crime, but CNBC found around a dozen criminal cases across the country.

(Adapted from “Inside The Chinese Fraud Rings Stealing Billions From Banks And Retailers,” by Gabrielle Fonrouge, Scott Zamost and Anna Gleason, published on July 13, by the Wall Street Journal)

Worsening US outlook

Worsening US outlook Despite a booming stock market and improving inflation numbers, the public is as depressed about the economy as it has been since the years just after the pandemic and increasingly concerned about the cost of everyday goods, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey. The result: continued deeply negative approval numbers for President Donald Trump yet only a modest advantage for Democrats when it comes to the public’s preference for control of Congress. In response to higher prices, 47pc of the public report cutting back on essential items, like food and medical care, up 6 points from the April survey. Still, the Democratic Party has just a 4-point advantage on congressional preference, unchanged from April, as it appears the party is only benefiting modestly from the dissatisfaction with the economy and the Iran war.

(Adapted from “Economic Outlook Is Worsening And Trump Is Getting Blamed, CNBC Survey Finds,” by Steve Liesman, published on July 17, 2026, by CNBC)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, July 20th, 2026